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"Creating and using mind maps is a great way to get students brainstorming ideas about a given topic, organize their thought processes and turn these ideas into a neatly written pieces. I have been using several web tools with my students over the past few years. From teaching vocabulary to getting students engaged in the prewriting process, I found the functionalities and ease of use of these web tools a great way to enhance students productivity."

"One of the most intimidating aspects of infusing technology into curriculum is that educators often believe that they will have to master and then teach their students to use new technology tools before assigning a project. These concerns are understandable as our time for professional development is finite and school curricula are already packed. However, consider the impact if, rather than focusing on new tools, we explored the skills students need to learn and then incorporated the most effective digital resources to accomplish those objectives."

"Makerspaces have made headlines recently. Several weeks ago New York City hosted the World Maker Faire. The White House had its first Maker Faire this summer, and schools and libraries across the country are installing these spaces. It is certainly tempting to start thinking about all the amazing tools you could put into your makerspace. If you know anything about Makers, you are probably thinking that you need a CNC machine, a 3-D printer, Dremels for everyone and a laser cutter since they are the gateway tool for making things. But buying a bunch of tools without first stopping to think about how they will be integrated into the culture and curriculum of your school is a recipe for a dusty and underused workshop. From my experience installing makerspaces in several dozen schools, I've developed a process that helps you think through your makerspace and how it fits into the culture and curriculum of your school. Skipping this process, or one like it, will almost certainly result in tension, missed teaching opportunities, and overspending."

"Do you know a teacher who just always seems to know about the latest technology, and makes it look so easy to produce cool content that students find fun and engaging? Maybe you are one of these teachers? It's doesn't have to be hard to use slick tech tools in the classroom. There are so many free, easy to use tools out there. Here are five of my favorites to recommend."

"Teaching compassion, empathy, or knowing how to help someone is best learned through direct experience. Autism Discovery Tool, by Spectrum Idea Lab Inc. is one such app that promotes not only understanding, but also ways to help address an individual's needs, and gives kids and adults a chance to "walk a mile in someone's shoes". It was intended as a tool to help kids on the spectrum, their families and caretakers identify both sensory styles and compensatory techniques so that they could open up a dialogue to communicate and share experiences. This little app however, has a much more powerful impact and reach. I consider it an essential app for all classrooms and families who deal with sensory issues, and not limited to those on the autistic spectrum alone."

"Since its release in 2009, Minecraft has sold millions of copies worldwide revolutionizing thus the gaming industry and providing game players with an endless world of possibilities. As a sandbox construction game, Minecraft has successfully and distinctively set itself from the crowd by incorporating the ethos of 21st century learning that include: creativity, challenge, problem solving, and strategic thinking all of which are adeptly adapted to the player's little gaming world. Minecraft provided players with the tools and resources to construct their own gaming reality and test their creative possibilities. In a relatively short time, Minecraft succeeded in marking a strong presence within the education sector  and became one of the leading educational learning platforms for students. As a culmination of its sweeping popularity among the educational community, Minecraft recently released  Minecraft for Education which is a website geared primarily towards providing teachers with a forum where they can share their ideas about how they use Minecraft in their teaching. Given this growing potential of Minecraft in education, we decided to compile the list  below featuring some of the best reads on Minecraft. These books will help you learn more about how educators are using Minecraft as a powerful instructional tool to engage students and teach different subjects."

"Find the right tools for you and your classroom. Don't dive into the world of becoming an edtech teacher just because your students have smartphones or you got a budget approval for an iPad. Use education technology as a learning tool, not as the entire toolkit. After all, you got into teaching not to just be the person handing out iPads and letting others do the teaching."

"Writing Re-Launched: Teaching with Digital Tools"

"In November I launched the ThingLink AppSmash Challenge to encourage educators to share great ways to combine two or more apps together to create, publish and share content using ThingLink as a presentation tool. The goal of the challenge was to create resources to help educators discover new possibilities for teaching and learning with an iPad to better meet our teaching and learning needs."

"One of the things I've struggled with during my tenure in education is how professional development is done in schools, especially around integration of technology. PD is already confined to a couple of weeks in the summer, but then throw on top of that the "sit-and-get" style in which we teach our content, and you can see why most teachers would rather surf Pinterest than learn during these sessions. We preach how "student-centered" we want the classroom to be, yet we spend hours talking at teachers and call this "professional learning." While this isn't unique to technology, I've found that a vast majority of technology training spends 90 percent of our time teaching us about tools, and 10 percent discussing how we could use these tools in the classroom (usually at the end of the workshop, when we are all exhausted)."

"The first year that Meyer Elementary School had a technology teacher, they focused on learning basic computer skills and tools, such as email, apps, and programs. Student learning of technology skills was disconnected from what they were learning in other classes. This year, Meyer's technology instructor teaches tech through various content areas, presenting technology use as something purposeful, connected to their learning, and relevant to real-world situations. "When they have a contextual tie to what they're doing in class, it lends validity," says Jeff Dahl, Meyer's technology teacher. "I can take those opportunities, teach them a tool, and hit content information at the same time.""

"Teaching a new language to non-native speakers may be one of the most challenging educational jobs out there, so ELL teachers can use all of the help they can get! Thankfully, many excellent resources for ELL and ESL exist online, from full-service websites to reference tools and communities, all designed to make the task of educating ELL students just a little bit easier and more effective. We've scoured the Internet to share 50 of the best of these resources, and we hope you'll find lots of valuable content and tools through these incredibly useful links for ELL educators."

What would your classroom be like without your students cracking open their oversized textbooks everyday? Probably a lot more interesting, especially for the kiddies. There are so many other resources out there for teachers to use, online and off, that teaching without textbooks is becoming more and more acceptable. If you don't believe us, scroll down this list of over 100 different resources - including websites, iPod lectures and field trips - that will encourage you to toss out your textbooks.

23 Tools For Students To Publish What They Learn http://t.co/vOW1rygjLA #edtech #teaching http://t.co/zymyrU0fhj

"At WWDC, Apple introduced Swift Playgrounds as a "revolutionary new app for iPad that makes learning Swift interactive and fun." A closer examination shows the new app is a powerful authoring tool any developer can use to teach critically important software coding skills. "

Modern graphic novels have emerged as effective teaching tools that help improve literacy, explain complex concepts, and get students excited about reading.

"Today, I had the privilege of teaching a high school staff about tech tools that I have used in my iPad filled classroom. Next year, the high school students will be using an iPad on a daily basis. The iPad will be theirs to use during the school year. "

"As both hardware and software design improve, the possibility of mobile learning is increasingly accessible. Video is undoubtedly at the core of a modern mobile learning experience. (As opposed to, say, an early 20th century "mobile" experience that was likely hands-on, place-based, and experiential.) To actually be useful beyond the cool-video-as-a-writing-prompt-every-once-in-a-while stage is going to require smarter tools. Teachers need to be able to capture, upload, download, edit, slow down, speed up, annotate, curate, share, and otherwise "own" video content so that is fully merges with everything else. With that in mind, below are 25 of the best resources for teaching with YouTube. Some are web-based, some are apps, and others are guides or tips. Let us know in the comments what your favorites are that we might've missed!"

"Having taught PE using iPad since it first came out in 2010 I have seen it grow rapidly as a tool to support teaching and learning. Having purchased one for personal use I could straight away see the opportunities it lent for me as a teacher with no fixed classroom.  All of a sudden I had access to information wherever I was round the school.  iPad 1 had its limitations though, namely the lack of a camera, but even without this it allowed me to make notes on learning, share videos with students about model technique and numerous other things to support my teaching, even simply planning and evaluating lessons on the go. Then came iPad 2 and the camera.  This changed everything and I knew straight away that this was the way forward for the whole of the department."