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"Our first entry from our Diverse Teacher Voices program comes from Sharon Davison, a Kindergarten teacher from Vermont who responded to the "Dear First Year Me" prompt. For Sharon, there is some increased significance-or rather, there's significance for each one of us as readers. Sharon has taught for 32 years-and here she is, from 1983 to today, still tweeting, still blogging, still connecting, still serving. Beautiful! Her class twitter account can be found here. Give her a visit. Dear First Year Me, So you have decided to share your energy, strength, perseverance and courage to become a teacher! Congratulations!  You can do it because you care about making a difference.  Just remember to….."

"Dear Parent: I know. You're worried. Every day, your child comes home with a story about THAT kid. The one who is always hitting shoving pinching scratching maybe even biting other children. The one who always has to hold my hand in the hallway. The one who has a special spot at the carpet, and sometimes sits on a chair rather than the floor. The one who had to leave the block centre because blocks are not for throwing. The one who climbed over the playground fence right exactly as I was telling her to stop. The one who poured his neighbour's milk onto the floor in a fit of anger. On purpose. While I was watching.  And then, when I asked him to clean it up, emptied the ENTIRE paper towel dispenser. On purpose. While I was watching. The one who dropped the REAL ACTUAL F-word in gym class. You're worried that THAT child is detracting from your child's learning experience. You're worried that he takes up too much of my time and energy, and that your child won't get his fair share. You're worried that she is really going to hurt someone some day. You're worried that "someone" might be your child. You're worried that your child is going to start using aggression to get what she wants. You're worried your child is going to fall behind academically because I might not notice that he is struggling to hold a pencil. I know. Your child, this year, in this classroom, at this age, is not THAT child. Your child is not perfect, but she generally follows rules. He is able to share toys peaceably. She does not throw furniture. He raises his hand to speak. She works when it is time to work, and  plays when it is time to play. He can be trusted to go straight to the bathroom and straight back again with no shenanigans. She thinks that the S-word is "stupid" and the C-word is "crap." I know."

You've heard of Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) then why not Drop Everything and Blog? Nice blog post from Doug Pete

"Curation, as many of you know, is near and dear to my heart. (Heck I even wrote a book on the subject!) And especially now, for teachers, its becoming increasingly important as more and more digital devices begin to enter the classroom. Finding the right apps, videos or other digital resources can be tough. And keeping it all organized can be even tougher. I was excited to learn about appoLearning. This is a great resource where educators can find and share all the digital resources they are curating. All of the resources found there are vetted by other educators so you can trust that what you are search for will be the best of the best. Recently they unveiled Collections. And this is something I am really excited about."

A few years back a dear friend introduced me to the concept of Augmented Reality and I have been fascinated by it ever since. Augmented reality is when technology is used to create a  live view of an alternative, augmented world by generating sensory information through a computer or tablet. (This was the first video I saw that demonstrated Augmented Reality and I was awed by it!)  I have found it to be an effective tool to encourage deeper thinking and maximise instructional time in my classroom. The kids love it, other teachers are awed by it and you will have fun experimenting with it. There are many ways you can approach the application of Augmented Reality in you classroom. I have found the simplest to be Aurasma. Aurasma is an app for iPhone or iPad that can allow for augmented experiences to be embedded simply in your day-to-day teaching. 

Dear Teachers: Choosing the right skills is WAY more important than choosing the right tools. http://bit.ly/fhZ6Zp #edtech #edchat

"I get questions ALL the time from our dear PLN & blog readers! Mostly through Twitter and sometime through email. Let's answer this one I got this morning about my recent coloring & makerspace blog posts!"

"Over sixty years ago, our dear friend Benjamin Bloom chaired the committee of educators responsible for delivering what we all know today as Bloom's Taxonomy (a bit rich naming it after himself, but it does have a more catchy ring than Krathwohl's Taxonomy). As a key foundation to many modern teaching philosophies, Bloom's Taxonomy gives a theoretical progression to help classify learning objectives. While this theoretical model is the backbone for many of our education systems, turning the theory it into real classroom tasks requires a more practical slant on the taxonomy. In an effort to turn a high level taxonomy into meaningful classroom learning experiences a number of educators have translated each definition into a set of actionable Bloom's Taxonomy verbs. The below chart visualizes each level of the taxonomy, offering verbs that can be used to traverse a wide range of thinking skills and provide hands-on ideas and inspiration for practical classroom activities."

"Dear daughter: I know you find this hard to believe, but there are apps out there that you would enjoy that are NOT related to Minecraft. What? What's that you say? You have no interest in anything that's unrelated to Minecraft? Such as dinner or the dog or YOUR MOTHER? Sigh. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  If your kid, like mine, is completely obsessed with all things Minecraft, here's a list of apps he or she might find interesting. And if you have yet to introduce your kid to this addictive and educational game, start with the Pocket Edition and then jump head-first into the Minecraft well. Be warned: it's deep. VERY deep. And a bit on the expensive side -- most of these apps have an up-front price, as well as in-app purchases for extras. But what price peace and quiet?"

Dear Friend, Let me ask you a question. Are you about to take the AAPC exam for Certified Professional Coder for the first time? Or are you one of the many people who FAILED the exam the first time, and are now looking to retake the test, perhaps for the third or fourth time? It's Time To STOP Doing What's Not Working, And Get The CPC Practice Exam - Updated For 2020! CONTENTS OF THE PRACTICE EXAM:

"I asked my students to give reading a chance this year.  I promised them that if they liked reading, I would do my very best to protect that love.  That if they disliked it, or even hated it, I would try to create an experience that would perhaps change their perception even a little bit. I polled them at the beginning of the year and was frankly horrified at what I found.  Out of 130 students, 53.6% of students reported that on a scale from 1 to 10, reading was a 4 or less.  That's 70 students. 70 students that despite their previous teachers best intentions have already decided that reading is really not for them.  Out of those 70 students, 35 students reported that they hated it.  Hated it.  Not just dislike.    But hate. So what do you when you are faced with such insurmountable odds?  What program do you lean on?  What curriculum do you implement? For us; none. It turns out it is much simpler than following a curriculum. What made the biggest difference to all of my reading hating students?"