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"I've shared some of the reasons why I think News-O-Matic is a great choice for integrating informational text into your everyday instruction.  Not only is nonfiction reading an important skill, but students can learn how to become informed citizens by interacting with news stories on a daily basis.  News-O-Matic has developed a list of different ways to use this tool in the classroom, check out their top seven:"

"t didn't take long for Michael Godsey, an English teacher at Morro Bay High School in California, to realize that his decision to use a public radio podcast in the classroom was a wise one. It wasn't any old podcast he was introducing to his classes. It was "Serial," the murder-mystery phenomenon produced by reporter Sarah Koenig of "This American Life," which already was transfixing a wide swath of the adult population. "Even if they weren't into it, I told them it was the most popular podcast of all time, and that was interesting," Godsey says. He needn't have worried. The podcast seized his five classrooms of 10th- and 11th-graders. "I had kids cutting other classes so they could come listen to it again," he says. "Kids who were sick, who never did their homework, were listening at home." Godsey is one of a growing number of educators who are using podcasts like "Serial" to motivate their classrooms and address education requirements set by the Common Core state standards. Improving students' listening skills is one of the essential components of the new education mandates, and using audio in the classroom can be an effective way to promote listening."

"YouTube is a terrific resource for teachers looking for content to share with students. There are tons of videos that will reinforce key concepts and help kids get excited about what they are learning in the classroom. Since there are plenty of videos on YouTube that are not kid-friendly, YoouKids has developed an iPad app that helps teachers organize which clips they want to share with their students."

"The American Red Cross has a handful of apps on weather safety for iPad users looking to plan and prepare for natural disasters.  They also have a great iPad app to help students of any age stay safe.  With First Aid children can learn about different ways to act in situations that require first aid.  There are photographs, informational text, and diagrams to help students understand the best steps to take in an emergency.  First Aid includes extra features including the ability to switch from English to Spanish and a quiz to check for understanding."

"The Raspberry Pi was developed and built as a low-cost board to help encourage the understanding, learning and continued study of computing in schools. You probably know this already. But how, exactly, can schools embrace the Pi and promote this sort of education?"

"One challenge when creating lessons is to connect the learning objective with things the student cares about. It is important as a teacher that we know what the students are into. (Students do not do email or Facebook so ditch the make a fake Facebook page assignment, mom's use Facebook.) Minecraft, Instagram, Vine, Meme's… how can we incorporate the tools that students love to do into our assignments? A math teacher friend told me she assigned her students to take a picture of math outside the classroom. Very few of the students did it. She updated the assignment to "Take a selfie with the math" and suddenly the students were really into the task of finding math out in the real world. Having a selfie stick in class indicates to students that you value what they value. How can students include a selfie with their work? "Students, feel free to use the selfie stick." Do not forget to use the selfie stick yourself, because you're cool like that."

"Computational thinking isn't new. Three decades ago, Seymour Papert introduced computational thinking when he developed the concept of bricolage, which is the construction of something new from many sources. He rightly understood the significance of computers, and with computational thinking, he surmised that they would not only be an integral part of our educational process, but we would need to acquire new ways for learning when using computers. In essence, the bricoleur builds knowledge by engaging in a process of building precise steps that encourage the construction of knowledge. Papert recognized that over time, the learner's theory may change as the result of refining his or her responses in any of the four stages of computational thinking. Even before Papert's work, however, educational visionaries insisted that the way to solve problems in any field was by adopting sequential problem-solving methods, which became algorithmic or computational thinking. In short, we use computational thinking (CT) to solve problems."

"While educational standards may differ from school to school there is one thing that is always nearly the same: the classroom set out. Desks are arranged in rows or groups, and the teacher stands at the front and teach. This set out has changed very little in a hundred years even with all the technological advancements that have been made. Edtech not only changes the way that children learn but changes the way they interact with one another, the classroom space and their teacher. Things need to change if classrooms are to meet the needs of the modern learner. Below are ten ways to create the classroom of the future."