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"It's not the "norm" today but it should be: Every K-12 classroom teacher needs access to a YouTube channel to publish student work as well as their own videos. The past two years I've used a classroom YouTube channel for my elementary STEM class. Video is a very powerful medium, and Google provides teachers via YouTube with (in the words of Jim Sill) unlimited, high definition, mobile-friendly video hosting for FREE. Consider: Over half the adults in the United States are now equipped with a smartphone capable of viewing YouTube videos. (56% as of June 2013) A year ago (in March 2014) PEW reported 63% of US adults watch online videos."

"If students want to run for office, run a business, or change how things are run where they live, work, or play, they need to be savvy users of social media. This starts with having a positive online reputation. I had the opportunity at Tech Forum New York to speak with four Innovative educators (see below for faces and end of article for names) from elementary, middle, and high school as well as a district administrator about how to best prepare students.   Below is their advice.  "

"Whether a teacher uses Daily 5 in the classroom or not, word work is an important piece of student daily learning. This article will provide an extensive list of iOS word work apps. Each app is listed by grade level and state, showing how it will best serve your students while they work with words in the classroom. All apps are free unless otherwise noted."

"If you've been keeping up on edtech news in the past decade, you might have noticed that coding courses have been targeting younger and younger students every year. Starting in college? Lost cause. High school? Behind! Elementary school? Perfect. The younger and younger the lessons will start, until we learn how to pre-program babies to be tech geniuses. While this might seem like micromanagement of children's destinies to some, we must all face the truth: coding is the new writing. As computer programming skills become more and more crucial to future careers, coding will become more prevalent as a required skill for high school graduation. So, once we've faced the music about the need for students to start programming instruction young, where do we begin? Coding camps are all the rage right now, and well worth the expense, but not all parents can afford the additional cost of instruction. So, we took a look at a few of the more affordable coding games out there to see just what the worldwide web has to offer"

I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students for multiple years. At my one school, I have them in class for a full day each week, and each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead "Wars," Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days and I love watching how 100% are fully engaged for the entire time.

"Bad News is a website that offers simulations that show visitors how misinformation is spread through social media. Bad News is available in two versions. The regular version is intended for those who are high school age or older. Bad News Junior is appropriate for middle school and older elementary school students. The difference between the two versions is found in the news topics that are used in the simulations. "

"Do you remember in elementary school when your teacher would pull a popsicle stick out of a jar at random with a student's name on it? And that was the student who was chosen to read their story or feed the goldfish or go to recess first? Well, I still used popsicle sticks in my high school classroom. After all, it's still the most fair way to decide which student is chosen! But, of course, being the owner of a blog called TeachBytes, I had to amp up my strategy to the 21st century"

"Consider the following scenarios: Laurie's school is trying to individualize students' learning experiences. As a 9th grade social studies teacher, Laurie is expected to use her school's learning management system to provide texts at multiple reading levels for her units so every student can read at their level. In one corner of an elementary school library are tables with lots of "gadgets" and a sign reading "Welcome to Our Makerspace!" Fazil, a 3rd grade teacher, is curious about this area and how it can be used to support his curricular goals. Guidance counselor Shonna is concerned that Maria, a 10th grader, is using Instagram in ways that might be damaging to her in the future. But Shonna doesn't feel she has the knowledge or experience to guide Maria in using social networking tools. In these instances, a school librarian would likely have the expertise to help a teacher use technology more advantageously. As expectations for classroom teachers to use-and understand-technology tools grow, the need for assistance in using these tools effectively is growing as well. Teachers don't always realize that one powerful source of such assistance is a school-based librarian. So, as a technology director who often sees good librarian-teacher collaboration, I want to highlight how powerful that assistance can be."

"Community and connection are more vital than ever as children reconnect after nearly two years of disrupted learning and isolation. Last year-the toughest one in terms of behavior management that I can remember-I used three tools to create a positive community in my second-grade classroom. They helped me build students' self-esteem, teach empathy and problem-solving, and inspire leadership among my students. This was my most successful year for behavior management, despite having a handful of children who needed a lot of support."

"Some times when I am speaking at a conference about iPads in education teachers will share a concern that they have about every student getting an iPad. They are worried than the students will just work in isolation and our society will become even more fractured and self-centered with students never learning to work together. "

"At Cindrich elementary school in Surrey, B.C., 10-year-old boys are putting themselves to bed earlier, an enthusiastic girl in Grade 6 takes herself for a run when she's feeling hyper, and a diminutive boy who is still learning English tells his teacher he will do better work if he sits on a special cushion. It is all part of self-regulation, a philosophy of education that is moving into public schools in British Columbia."