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"One of the most powerful moments in my teaching journey was the summer I immersed myself in feedback and checking for understanding. It forced me to ask myself what and if my students were actually learning."

"After my recent presentation at FETC, I got the usual question, "How do you know so much about filmmaking?" My answer is simple, "Atomic Learning.""

"Some times when I am speaking at a conference about iPads in education teachers will share a concern that they have about every student getting an iPad. They are worried than the students will just work in isolation and our society will become even more fractured and self-centered with students never learning to work together. "

"Of the many ways that technology enhances our lives, one compelling example is assistive technology (AT) -- tools to help people with learning or motor disabilities complete everyday tasks. In schools, assistive tech can mean the difference between a student falling behind or being able to successfully work alongside other kids in an inclusion model. Check out Edutopia curator Ashley Cronin's new roundup on assistive technology for a comprehensive list of resources; to accompany that, I wanted to share some amazing videos I've found about how technology can empower kids with special needs."

"During this first week of school, I wanted to inspire my students to be creative and have fun with their learning. In years past I have always struggled to make my writing lessons fun and engaging, yet productive. This is year I decided to introduce writing with the help of my favorite tech tool: Augmented Reality! "

" Here is a handy cheat sheet made particularly for those of you who think they are not tech-savvy enough to carry out internet control safety planning for their kids. Check it out and share with us what you think of it. Enjoy"

"Our school is a 1:1 iPad school. We made the decision to go with iPads knowing that there are relative strengths and weaknesses of the device. For our purposes, it was decided that the strengths outweighed the weaknesses. One strength that factored heavily into the discussion was the camera, and putting the power to create multimedia work in the hands of every student. Here are 7 ways the camera can be leveraged for deeper learning in your class."

"It's inevitable that the kids of Generation Z will be the most naturally tech-literate generation yet, but that won't happen through osmosis. They'll still need tools to get them there. Kids older than 10 or so are covered: In the past few years, smart companies like littleBits and Kano have helped pave the way toward make learning about circuitry and motherboards as fun as playing with Legos. But those products are still a bit sophisticated. Think of them like the grammar and syntax of computer science: great educational tools, so long as you can already grasp a few basic building blocks. To get those building blocks-let's call it the alphabet-younger kids can now turn to Hackaball, a ball that's also a computer, that gets programmed via an iPad app."

"Last week Why Are There Clouds? was one of the most popular posts on the Free Tech for Teachers Facebook page. A good follow-up to that lesson is found in Where Does the Smell of Rain Come From? Produced by It's Okay to Be Smart, Where Does the Smell of Rain Come From? explains why we sometimes think we smell rain before a thunderstorm. Through the video we also learn about the role of petrichor in the lives of some animals."

"Gamification is a powerful way to engage students in the science and math classroom. The Universe and More, a nonprofit company founded by a high school teacher, has released a new game called Action Graphing. This iPad app helps students understand key concepts related to graphing.  Students will learn how to analyze and interpret graphs to model the motion of real objects.  They'll see how the slope of the line represents an object's velocity and the y-intercept of the line represents the object's position."

"Every teacher wants to be able to make his or her classroom environment the optimum place for learning, interacting and engaging. Today, there is a wide assortment of free technology options available to enhance your instruction. The tools are changing… quickly. So making the best choices, based on the resources available in your school, or through your board, is critical. Here are some top sure-fire picks to ensure your goal has real purpose, not just an introduction of technology for the sake of looking tech-savvy. These are easy to use teaching tools-about as grab-and-go as it gets. How about starting with lesson creation?"

"This infographic also promotes KUKA KORE, a program offering high schools, tech centers, community colleges and universities the opportunity to take advantage of certified robot education on KUKA products by incorporating them into their very own STEM, Advanced Manufacturing and Mechatronics programs. This will allow students to learn basic robot programming and operation skills on exercise hardware, gaining experience of robots and control technology that is already used in a variety of industries. Educators and students have the opportunity to be trained using advanced robotic technology."

"I've always been a fan of sharing openly.  I sometimes tell people that my life is an open book that no one wants to read.  The nature of my job and my position is one that interacts regularly with social media as both a way of learning and a means of sharing. Recently, I've been captivated by the phenomena of Meerkat and Periscope.  As I've seen throughout my many years in Ed Tech, whenever a new tool hits the market there are usually a slew of early adopters running out to grab it, figure out what it does, then figure out how we can use it for education.  I'm usually one of those first-adopters, but I've purposefully taken a more measured approach to the world of mobile live video streaming and becoming a "Digital Broadcaster"."

"Hackathons, tech shops, makerspaces: These terms are increasingly prevalent in today's vernacular, and for good reason. They represent a burgeoning global movement with people of all ages developing, designing, and often marketing their creations. In the age of the maker, anyone can be an inventor. Their potential impact on the world is enormous. Innovations and discoveries are no longer produced exclusively by scientists in white lab coats or research and development departments of major corporations. Thanks to affordable technologies and online environments, individual makers can launch small companies to manufacture and market their goods. This shift in industry is influencing the way we learn, shop, sell, and interact. Here are four ways this movement is changing our world. "

"According to Google Trends (see photo), a new term came into existence and quickly became synonymous with progressive education and a resurgence of STEAM education in America. That term is maker education, or makered for short, and can be seen in the graph as "born" according to google searches, around September of 2004. Although the exact number of makered programs is not currently known, schools that employ a progressive pedagogy (insert the word innovative for those working in the 21st century) or schools that make claims regarding the importance of differentiation, constructivism or experiential learning have built or are building makered programs. At first these programs seemed to be dependent on having state of the art Maker Spaces or FabLabs and high-tech tools, as most were found in well-funded private schools. That picture has changed rapidly in the past ten years since the makered movement has gained popularity, however. More and more public/charter schools and nonprofit programs are building programs for the average American child, that rival many private school programs. In fact, programs with limited budgets and space have reminded us that scarcity or "disability," are invaluable teachers in any good maker culture, as they breed creativity and self-reliance. Many of the makered programs serving lower income communities have access to mentors who never stopped working with their hands, even when it fell out of status in a consumer driven America in the 1980's (Curtis 2002). While lower income mentors may not know Python or what an Arduino is, they are skilled carpenters, mechanics, seamstresses, cooks and know what it means to be resourceful. "

"Technology isn't automatically valuable for teachers. Tech tools, ranging from student community platforms to online reading logs, become integral to classroom instruction when you create a culture around effective and educational use of technology with your students. This requires you and your students to consistently evaluate and adapt while being purposeful with the tools you choose and the lessons you pair them with. Here are three different ways to ensure that you're cultivating an effective EdTech culture in your classroom-one that promotes both education and fun learning opportunities for your students."

"Educator and blogger Alice Keeler has written extensively on integrating Google Classroom with everyday school work. Spanning three posts on her blog Teacher Tech, Keeler has assembled 46 ways teachers can take advantage of Classroom, the latest in Google's Apps for Education lineup. Google's cloud-based classroom organizer streamlines the flow of daily assignments and helps overcome teacher-student communication barriers."