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"2012 has been an amazing year for my growth as a professional. The main catalyst of this growth was when I started engaging with like-minded educationalists around the world on Twitter in January of this year. In particular, I learnt about new methodologies like brain-based learning, flipping the classroom and a variety of technology-based teaching aids."

"15+ Tips & Tricks to Use Evernote Like a Pro"

"Powers of Minus Ten: Bone is a neat iPad app for biology students. The app takes students through ten levels of viewing the inside of human bones. Students can zoom through and explore each of the microscopic levels. "

"Hooray! You have a brand new, shiny iPad to use in your classroom this year. Boo-there's only one iPad and 35 eager kids ready to use it. No need to worry-there are lots of amazing things you can do with a single iPad in your classroom, and it doesn't have to be a classroom management nightmare either. Here are 15 of our favorite apps that work great with a one iPad setup AND help to keep kids on task and engaged with what you are learning."

"Multi-award-winning Minecraft is a game of survival. You don't 'level up'; you build, explore, and survive whatever comes at you by placing blocks and going on adventures, either alone or with classmates. As you do, you explore, gather resources, craft, and fight for your survival. At the core of every action is problem-solving: Minecraft encourages kids to tinke"

"It's easy to focus on academics and college transcripts when children become tweens and teens, but retaining the agency and creativity inherent in play is crucial for them, too. But what is the high school equivalent for the kind of inquisitive learning that happens when little kids play in the sandbox, finger-paint, build with blocks or play make-believe?"

"The oft-shared John Dewey quote "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." is one that resonates with progressive educators around the world. Our education system however, seems to have missed all of those tweets and Pinterest pins. In a recent podcast (listen below) with Getting Smart's Emily Liebtag, I mentioned moving students from consumers to creators to contributors. Justin Tarte had said this in my TeachThought Podcast with him earlier this year and I appreciated that language. It certainly is a great step to shift our teaching and learning from having students just consuming information to the top of Bloom's taxonomy where they are creating. That next step, however, where their creations are at least potentially adding value to their community and perhaps the world at large is powerful. While it's true that our students are indeed the future, there are real reasons why we need to remember that they are also a big part of our today and our teaching and learning should reflect that."

"Computational thinking is intimately related to computer coding, which every kid in South Fayette starts learning in first grade. But they are not one and the same. At its core, computational thinking means breaking complex challenges into smaller questions that can be solved with a computer's number crunching, data compiling and sorting capabilities. Proponents say it's a problem-solving approach that works in any field, noting that computer modeling, big data and simulations are used in everything from textual analysis to medical research and environmental protection."

"Juan Carlos Galindo, a Wheaton High School ninth-grader with attention-deficit disorder, always had difficulty managing academic demands when he was younger. His mother, Virginia Munoz, a single mother of four, regularly found her son asleep with homework in his lap. She knew he was struggling, and she worried he would become a checked-out, rebellious teenager. In seventh grade, however, Juan Carlos was invited to participate in a maker learning partnership between Parkland Middle School in Rockville and the KID Museum in Bethesda. The maker philosophy emphasizes hands-on, self-guided projects to build kids' technical skills and confidence through tinkering, inventing and designing."