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"And so last night I made the decision that I have been pulled toward for a long time. The Global Read Aloud will be back, albeit a bit more streamlined, but it will happen in 2021. I feel a bit like a flake, like I played with a lot of people's emotions, but in June it didn't feel possible, now it does. And I hope you can forgive me for that."

"Between school closures, learning loss, intensified educator burnout, widespread staff shortages and increased stressors at home, it's been hard not to focus on the negatives in education this year. In fact, it's human nature to get caught up in what went wrong-an innate survival mechanism called "negativity bias" vigilantly draws our attention to worries and risks so we can better remember and avoid threats. While I'm appreciative that my ancestors were wary folks, in 2021, I often saw myself and others trapped in this negative mindset, always tallying the losses and waiting for the next bad thing to happen. However, in my work with educators this year, I began to notice that some were able to metabolize this negativity and keep themselves and their classrooms positive and adaptive despite the obvious hindrances. Interviews with elementary classroom teachers spanning a variety of settings and grade levels revealed that these resilient educators utilized a common strategy: they practiced gratitude in their everyday lives."

The government has approved the continuation of e-Governance initiative MCA21, related to compliance of companies with various laws, till July 2021.An initiative of the Corporate Affairs Ministry, MCA21 is designed to fully automate all processes related to enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved continuation of MCA21 project for its second cycle from January, 2013 to July, 2021. It will be implemented as a non-plan scheme with an outlay of Rs 357.81 crore, including Rs 54.42 crore for independent project management and certification over the eight-and-a-half year period, according to an official release.

It's hard to imagine a time in recent history when we had more distractions, more challenges, more stuff to think about that is way more important than technology. But as someone reminded me earlier today, the show must go on. You still have work to do. You still have students who need an education. And the tools in this year's Teacher's Guide to Tech can help.

In this lesson, students examine the poetry of Amanda Gorman, who was chosen to read her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. Gorman's poem will complement Biden's message and themes of "unity."

"These aren't exactly beach reads, but they'll be useful when teachers want to reflect on the past year-and plan for the future."

"Over the summer of 2021, I collaborated with our 6th grade science teacher as part of a grant to find ways to incorporate makerspace activities into the curriculum. (Look for posts coming soon about some of the projects we did).  Part of our work was reading the book, Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond.  I found it to be a fantastic, practical resource for bringing hands-on maker learning into the classroom.  Reading this book as a maker librarian gave me a ton of ideas for new ways to collaborate with our STEM classes.   And it's an excellent resource for classroom teachers as well."

"My favorite unit to teach the last two years to my middle school students has been on "Fruit Loop Conspiracy Theories." Rather than study and discuss controversial political topics, we focus on the Apollo Moon landings and the skeptics (who are sometimes also "flat-earthers" on YouTube) who believe NASA never landed on the Moon, and the entire historical episode was faked thanks to Stanley Kubrick's moviemaking special effects. This lesson was the result of summer work I did with my Chicago colleague Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) in 2020, which I archived on the website, "Fact or Fiction? Apollo Moon Landings." Brian and I met through the Summer Institute in Digital Literacy in Rhode Island. I've served as faculty for the Institute the past two summers, in 2020 and 2021."

"In the documentary Mission: Joy - Finding Happiness in Troubled Times, the Dalai Lama and retired archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died in 2021, share two lifetimes' worth of wisdom on how to live with joy in troubled times. When writing The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, they asked co-author Doug Abrams to investigate the science of happiness.  "They said, 'This shouldn't be a Buddhist dialogue or a Christian dialogue. This should be about the nature of being human,'" Abrams recalled in the documentary. "They asked me to find out whether what they were saying was confirmed or contradicted by science.""

What changes when we refer to ourselves or our students as members of the community of thinkers and learners that they are apprenticed to? What changes when we are mindful in our use of a language of identity?

Your complete guide to understanding CVD diamonds. Q: Are CVD diamonds synthetic? A: No, CVD diamonds are neither synthetic nor artificial. They are as real as natural diamonds and are grown in a laboratory instead of being mined from under the surface of the earth.

"Most of us use web browsers out of habit. If you surf the web with Microsoft Edge, that may be because you use Windows. If you use Safari, that's probably because you are an Apple customer. If you are a Chrome user, that could be because you have a Google phone or laptop, or you downloaded the Google browser on your personal device after using it on computers at school or work. In other words, we turn to the browsers that are readily available and familiar. It's easy to fall into browser inertia because these apps are all fast, capable and serve the same purpose: visiting a website. So if the differences are minimal, why bother looking for something else? By the end of this column, I hope to persuade you to at least try something else: a new type of internet navigator called a private browser. This kind of browser, from less-known brands like DuckDuckGo and Brave, has emerged over the last three years. What stands out is that they minimize the data gathered about us by blocking the technologies used to track us."

The landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars is an excellent catalyst for a discussion with students about the nature of Mathematics. It is a chance to inspire curiosity and wonderment and to do so through a mathematical lens.