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"Since I was wake at 5 AM on a Saturday (don't ask), I figured it was a good time to update my Personal Learning Network on Twitter. For years, I've been saying Twitter is the best free professional development tool available; I even teach an online course at two colleges on the subject."

"Changing the world sounds like a tall order. But in reality, educators play their role to help change the world every single day. The summer is a great time to start planting seeds of change in our personal or professional practice. Here are a few quick ideas to keep in mind over the next few weeks before we gear up to go back to school."

""If you're doing all that, who's doing your job?" "People only present because they think it looks good on their resume." "She's obviously all about herself, I mean, look at what she does." IMG_5438These three statements literally were shared with me this year, along with a couple others. Some to me, some with me…all about me. It's hard to hear statements like this and NOT feel as if they are attacking you personally, even though I doubt that was the intention. (er…I hope.) Last Monday at #ISTE13 I was able to go to George Couros's sesson on "Leading Innovative Change". I'm not sure what I thought this was going to be about, but I knew I wanted to see the Couros show, :) His intent was to share how his school division created a powerful vision for innovation and share the steps to guarantee success. What I heard was a defense for all that I believe in and have tried to convey as a teacher, as a technology facilitator, and as an assistant principal. What I heard was the reason I blog, tweet, and share."

"Social reading is revolutionizing the way anyone reads. While most participate in social media, such as Facebook or Twitter in their personal lives, social media in the form of social reading is expanding into the classroom, making reading more enjoyable and exciting for all readers young and old. The basis of social reading is simple, through the use of apps and devices reading goes beyond the actual words on the page and opens up a myriad of options for readers to share their thoughts, favorite quotes, and overall opinions of the things they have read. Social reading apps allow readers to connect and share, much like a book group, all through the use of technology. These 5 social reading apps make communicating about books and literature very simple and enjoyable all from the comforts of a tablet or smartphone."

"Given the importance of confidence in building powerful personalities and successful learners, here is a wonderful video from TED Ed to share with your students in class. This is an animated lesson explaining what confidence is all about and suggesting 3 main tips to boost ones confidence. You can access the full lesson with comprehension and discussion questions from this page. Enjoy"

"When teaching with digital natives in a digital world, one question facing many educators revolves around integrating technology to help facilitate learning: How do you work technology into the pedagogy, instead of just using something cool? That task can be especially daunting in language arts literacy classrooms where reading and writing skill development is the crux of daily lessons. However, as 1:1 technology initiatives roll out, integrating technology into the classroom is our reality. With hundreds of sites, apps, Chrome extensions, and platforms available, choosing the right ones can seem overwhelming. As an eighth-grade language arts teacher, I've experienced this myself. Following are four tools that can help provide immediate formative assessment data as well as top-of-the-rotation feedback to help students develop personal learning goals."

"We have come a long way with using Google on the iPad. We now have 50 official apps from Google, Inc. for iOS. The following is a list of Google Apps for iOS. This list is exhaustive and includes several apps that are not on the infographic Guide to Google Apps for the iPad. Some of these are natural for classroom integration, and some are more for personal or business use. Some are optimized for both iPad and iPhone; some are only optimized for iPhone. Each app title is linked directly to the App Store so you can click directly from your device to download each app."

"It's always a treat when a student can express themselves creatively in a way they're never tried before. With a tool they may not have used before, you can add discovery learning into the mix. The online creativity tools you've got here are great little resources that will develop creativity in all sorts of ways. Using these online creativity tools, students can add artistic personal touches to their work in many ways. They can: build fonts make themselves into a robot or a Picasso painting paint graffiti (without damaging public property) draw with fire (again, without damaging public property) turn pictures into words and textures These are fun online creativity tools to explore and engage your students with. Everyone can have fun with these. They're perfect for adding creative touches to projects of all sorts."

"Five years ago, Ricardo Veiga broke his tibia in a motorcycle accident. While he was experiencing the drawbacks of the ubiquitous plaster cast, he decided there just had to be a way of improving and personalizing the methods used to keep broken limbs immobile while they healed. During research conducted with Jordi Tura, Veiga came across a paper from a New Zealand student who had designed a mesh structure that overcame many of the drawbacks of conventional orthopedic casts. Here's Barcelona's cunning plan to be new heart for digital health, biotech Given its tech skills, concentration of universities and hospitals, and surge in funding, Barcelona has factors in common with Boston's biotech cluster. Read More Using that concept, they decided to create a prototype and a company to market the eventual product, which they christened Xkelet, a 3D-printed splint for helping heal broken bones."

"The Big Book of Makerspace Projects is definitely the next book you should add to both your school and personal library.  Colleen Graves and Aaron Graves offer up 51 awesome makerspace projects in this book that are fun and doable no matter what level you're at."

"At its core, the rise of "fake news" is first and foremost a sign that we have failed as a society to teach our citizens how to think critically about data and information. Take that email from a Nigerian prince offering to transfer you ten million dollars if you'll just send him $10,000 to cover the wire costs. Enough people get that email each day and wire those ten thousand dollars that this scam continues in 2016. The Internet has globalized the art of the scam and the reach of misinformation, allowing a single tweet to go viral across the planet, sowing chaos in countries on the other side of the world from the person sending it. At the heart of all such news is the inability to think critically about the information that surrounds us and to perform the necessary due diligence and research to verify and validate. In April 2013 when the AP's Twitter account was hacked and tweeted that there had been an explosion at the White House that left President Obama injured, automated stock trading algorithms took the news as fact and immediately launched a cascade of trading activity that plunged the Dow Jones by more than 100 points in less than 120 seconds. Human reporters, on the other hand, simply picked up the phone and called colleagues stationed at the White House to inquire if they were aware of any such attack and were quick to refute the false information."

"In September, 1982, Tom Lough started The National Logo Exchange with Steve Tipps and Glen Bull as a monthly newsletter for Logo teachers and parents. In January, 1986 The International Logo Exchange was launched with Dennis Harper as the editor-in-chief. In September, 1986 these two publications were combined and renamed Logo Exchange . The International Council for Computers in Education (ICCE) acquired the publication in 1987, designating it as the official journal of the ICCE Special Interest Group for Logo-Using Educators (SIG-Logo). In 1989 ICCE was renamed the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Logo Exchange continued as the ISTE journal for SIG-Logo until the fall of 1999, when the SIG was dissolved. The collected issues of Logo Exchange provide a window on Logo developments and Logo teaching over a span of 17 years. We are making these historic documents available here on the Logo Foundation Web site. All 18 volumes of The National Logo Exchange are posted here along with the four issues of The International Logo Exchange. We also include Last Logo Exchange, a collection of essays written by the former editors of Logo Exchange 15 years after it ceased publication. Click on an issue below to see a PDF scan of the original publication. These documents may be downloaded, reproduced, and copied for personal and educational uses provided that you do not charge for copies, and that you include the original copyright notices on them."

"Coding, computer programming and computer science are being discussed as possible curriculum topics, pedagogical tools and integration contexts within our elementary schools. I understand, however, that some teachers may feel a certain level of concern, worry or even anxiety when it comes to learning and teaching within this area. How are educators expected to teach coding with little to no experience? How can they develop and implement lessons without adequate formal instruction in the subject area? While these questions are valid, I challenge teachers to see the novelty of coding as a valuable professional and personal opportunity."

"The world wide web has afforded the common people opportunities that were literally non existent during the times of our ancestors. Opportunity grows in proportion to knowledge, and thus the age of information can also be recognized as the age of opportunity, for those who have vision. So whether you wish to explore the ideas of the brilliant minds past, elicit your imagination, learn more about philosophy, politics, economics, ancient history, or some other topic of interest - or maybe you want to acquire certain knowledge relevant to a particular field of expertise - the internet has provided you with everything you need to create new opportunities that will culminate in personal growth and long lasting success. Below you will find a comprehensive list of literature that has something to offer for everyone; *Big shout out to Tiffany Davis via Bachelors Degree Online for being the original source for most of these listings;"

For students engaging in creative personalised learning projects such as a 'Genius Hour' or 'Personal Passion project it can often be difficult for them to uncover the right project. Students have become so reliant upon their teachers to pose them problems that when they are given the option to explore one of their own design they don't know where to start. This is indeed a significant challenge as we know that our students will enter a workforce and world of learning beyond school where they must be active problem finders. How then might we provide the support they require without removing the opportunity for truly personalised exploration.  

"Play is abundant in the lives of those considered to be creative. It facilitates social bonding, boosts productivity and enhances your mood. As positive psychologist Christopher E. Peterson put it, play is "…a robust predictor of how satisfied we are with our lives." "We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once." - Friedrich Nietzsche  I have two left feet, so I'm glad Nietzsche wrote metaphorically. With this quote, I think he was saying something true and profound about the importance of play-that it's an essential part of living a good and balanced life. What I hope to convey are some philosophical, scientific, and personal reasons for why we should all get serious about messing around. I hope that by reading this, you'll feel compelled to actually pencil in some time for more frivolity."

"In a recent post, I wrote about card sorts as a tool to promote mathematical conversations and mentioned the value of "productive struggle" in the math classroom. This phrase has recently appeared on the growing list of educational buzzwords that are part of our professional lives these days. Although I am personally convinced that productive struggle is a necessary component for student growth, I am less sure of how to successfully implement it my own classroom."

"One of my favorite innovations in recent years is the idea of TED Talks. Whether you attend a session in person or watch online, you can learn and gain inspiration and see and hear people tell their stories and share their expertise firsthand. It's accessible, substantive information on virtually every topic imaginable. If reading the news first thing in the morning is bringing you down, why not save that task for a bit later in the day? Instead, take in one of these great TED talks with your breakfast. Since they're under 20 minutes, it's the perfect amount of time to spend with your breakfast and coffee--and you'll start the day informed, motivated, and ready to go do great things."

"We frequently hear students (and even teachers) make comments such as "I'm not good at math" or "I'm just not a math person." Interestingly enough, we rarely hear adults say "I'm not good at reading" or "I'm just not someone who reads." Math, like reading, is a basic life skill that we use on a daily basis in almost everything we do. According to growth mindset, no one is simply "bad at math." Just as you learned to read, ride a bicycle, or have a conversation, you can also learn to solve equations and apply mathematical concepts. In an effort to support student growth mindset in math classrooms, Amazon Education has teamed up with Common Sense Education, Edutopia, Teaching Channel, Stanford University's PERTS (Project for Educational Research That Scales), and others to develop and share meaningful resources for teachers to access anywhere."

"I've been traveling the country speaking on the power of a student's voice in his or her own educational experience along with the need for transforming learning spaces in today's schools. Both topics are very important to me not only for my own passion as an educator, but as a parent of two children. I've personally seen the impact a learning space can have on a child's experience within the classroom. Additionally, I've been fortunate to have my children surrounded by caring educators who value the importance listening to students. This week I have the pleasure of speaking at Blackboard World in D.C. When I arrived at Blackboard World, I knew the first stop I had to make, the student maker space. Blackboard invited students from all ages to participate in a day of creating their ideal learning environments. The company partnered with the Smithsonian to provide resources and guides to help facilitate the activities. Children would rotate between 5 stations throughout the day - each station lasting roughly thirty minutes."