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"Teachers across the United States are constantly finding new technology to bring to their classroom and assist with the teaching process. Similar to other subjects, dance teachers have a variety of mobile apps to choose from. From ballroom style dance and ballet to teachers who focus on young students, the following 5 mobile apps for dance instructors will help both improve classroom focus and alleviate much of the work involved with teaching a dance class:"

"The educator's role has or should change in this age of information abundance or Education 2.0-3.0.  The educator's role has always been to model and demonstrate effective learning, but  somewhere along the line, the major role of the educator became that of content and knowledge disseminater.   Now in this information age content is freely and abundantly available, it is more important than ever to assist learners in the process of how to learn."

"One of the lesser know features of iOS that adds an incredible amount of functionality to the iPad is Accessibility. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of the many benefits gained with Accessibility-and even fewer are aware of how to access them on their iPad even if they wanted to.  For the sake of narrowing the focus of this post somewhat, I decided to list and give a brief overview of what I believe are the (5) most useful features found in accessibility on your iPad.  Obviously, if you have special needs that require assistance to use your iPad, you might have a very different list of features.  Luckily Apple breaks this feature into several sections that include additional help with Vision, Hearing, and Interaction with your iPad."

"As many people with dyslexia already know, the iPad has developed into an indispensable tool for various language-based activities. During the last five years, Apple has put a great deal of effort into steadily improving the accessibility features of its mobile operating system, iOS. Currently, users can take advantage of built-in dictation, word prediction, and multiple text-to-speech options. In addition, the newest version of the operating system, iOS 8, allows for the installation of third-party keyboards. These mark an increase in the amount of assistive technology (AT) that can be used universally with iPad apps involving reading and writing."

"Calendars help you keep track of what you're doing and when, which is why it's always been one of the core apps on mobile devices from the earliest PDA (personal digital assistants), to the latest iPhones and iPads. That why, when iOS launched in 2007, it included a Calendar app. Whether you simply use Calendar by itself, or whether you sync it via iCloud, Google Calendar, Microsoft, or something else, it's the default way to add and find appointments and events."

"MakerBot has officially launched its MakerBot PrintShop app, a free iOS-only tool that's designed to assist those of you looking to 3D print your own little trinkets and doodads. That is, of course, assuming that you have one of the company's somewhat-pricey 3D printers. If not, a virtual designer will you forever be."

"During the month of June, I took a hiatus from blogging so that I could do some fun things and perform professional development. The fun things were: Watching my daughter graduate PreK. Watching her win the "Symphony" award. :) Taking both my girls to great places like the beaches and zoos.   The professional development opportunities included: Finishing my free resource iBook titled Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with One or more iPads! This book is the second in my Help! Series. These free resource iBooks are books for elementary music educators to use to assist them with integrating technology into their classrooms or teaching situations as well as access to numerous lesson plans. My first book was Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with a SMART Board! This new book compliments two courses that I am teaching in the next few weeks."

""While we're at it, maybe we should just design classrooms without windows. And, hey, I'll bet kids would really perform better if they spent their days in isolation." My friend was reacting (facetiously, of course) to a new study that found kindergartners scored better on a test of recall if their classroom's walls were completely bare. A room filled with posters, maps, and the kids' own art constituted a "distraction." The study, published last month in Psychological Science [1] and picked up by Science World Report, the Boston Globe, and other media outlets, looked at a whopping total of 24 children. A research assistant read to them about a topic such as plate tectonics or insects, then administered a paper-and-pencil test to see how many facts they remembered. On average, kids in the decorated rooms were "off task" 39 percent of the time and had a "learning score" of 42 percent. The respective numbers for those in the bare rooms were 28 percent and 55 percent. Now if you regularly read education studies, you won't be surprised to learn that the authors of this one never questioned, or even bothered to defend, the value of the science lessons they used - whether they were developmentally appropriate or presented effectively, whether they involved anything more than reading a list of facts or were likely to hold any interest for 5-year-olds. Nor did the researchers vouch for the quality of the assessment. Whatever raises kids' scores (on any test, and of any material) was simply assumed to be a good thing, and anything that lowers scores is bad."

"When working with young students, typing can be quite a difficult thing for them to do. In Book Creator, you can easily make a voice recording of the child telling the story but often having the written text there can make that story even more powerful. Just recently, I was training some assistant teachers on how to use Book Creator. I run a lot of workshops, and Book Creator is one of my most used apps on my iPad. I love it when I learn something new. So I just had to share this with you."

Have you ever felt that your online students needed more direction on how to approach a discussion board? Have you thought that with just a bit more assistance students would really engage in the forum and take it to the next level, rather than just do the minimum required to get points?

"Allowing learners to struggle will actually help them learn better, according to research on "productive failure" conducted by Manu Kapur, a researcher at the Learning Sciences Lab at the National Institute of Education of Singapore. Kapur's investigations find that while the model adopted by many teachers and employers when introducing others to new knowledge-providing lots of structure and guidance early on, until the students or workers show that they can do it on their own-makes intuitive sense, it's not the best way to promote learning. Rather, it's better to let neophytes wrestle with the material on their own for a while, refraining from giving them any assistance at the start."

"With the assistance of mobile technology, visual learners are given more opportunity to make the learning experience easier, more interactive, and fun. These people are able to comprehend words into pictures in their head and vice versa, according to a study by Penn Psychology. They are able to learn faster with the help of visual content, either as a photo or a video. This is not at all surprising as a recent study by the American researchers revealed that a human brain is able to process images in 13 milliseconds. Today, there are applications that are able to help simplify the learning process while on-the-go for visual learners. Here are the top educational tools you must try:"

"This is the second article I posted here on SAMR iPad apps in less than two weeks. Why? I love SAMR and I find it a very good pedagogical framework that teachers can draw on to not only integrate technology into their instruction but also assess the efficiency of this technology. And since iPad is a leitmotif in  today's learning, its alignment with SAMR model will definitely assist teachers in making the most of the educational potential of this versatile device. To this end , I am sharing with you this wonderful illustrative chart I stumbled upon on Apps in Education."

"Ever seen a cool font in a magazine ad, poster or on the web and wondered what font it is? Well, now you don't have to ponder all that any longer because there's a web tool that can identify mystery fonts. What the what? Well, almost. It's actually called WhatTheFont, a really swell site that assists users with discovering the names of unknown typefaces. So, the next time you catch a glimpse of some must-have text, then simply snag a screenshot of it, upload it to the WhatTheFont interface and wait for the result. Yep, it's that simple-and that nifty."

"So, you want to increase motivation for reading and writing, improve confidence levels and/or encourage ICT literacy? Well, regardless of the rationale, blogging is a very powerful learning tool that can assist teachers with these goals. Still not convinced that blogging is a meaningful activity? Then check out the nifty sketch note shown below, one that illustrates ten additional reasons you should get your blog on with your students."

"Remembrance Day commemorates the sacrifices of people in all armed conflicts.  In order to assist our fellow educators, here are a few Remembrance Day teaching resources that have been shared inside Cube for Teachers."

For educators, parents and learners Carol Dweck's research on the benefits of a Growth Mindset is naturally appealing. Those who have a growth mindset achieve better results than those who don't, are more resilient and accept challenge willingly. After two years of incorporating a growth mindset philosophy we are finding that the reality of shifting a student's disposition away from a fixed mindset and then maintaining a growth mindset is significantly more complex than at first imagined.

"For educators, parents and learners Carol Dweck's research on the benefits of a Growth Mindset is naturally appealing. Those who have a growth mindset achieve better results than those who don't, are more resilient and accept challenge willingly. In response schools have embraced the notion and classroom walls are adorned with posters identifying the characteristics of growth versus fixed mindsets. Teachers make efforts to shift their students towards a growth mindset and parents consider how they may assist in the process. After two years of incorporating a growth mindset philosophy we are finding that the reality of shifting a student's disposition away from a fixed mindset and then maintaining a growth mindset is significantly more complex than at first imagined. Numerous forces and influences play a role and progress is unlikely to match a linear curve. Where schools have made steps in the right direction, is in raising awareness of the two mindsets. In this regard the placement of posters and discussion around the role that our mindset has in our learning are steps in the right direction. Demonising the fixed mindset is perhaps an unnecessary step and our students may be better served by understanding that we all have times when we fall into a fixed mindset. Education of how we may recognise such times and apply strategies of mindfulness and metacognition would avoid shifting already vulnerable learners on to the circle of shame. Awareness is however far form the end of the journey towards reaping the benefits of a Growth Mindset."

"Are you a math teacher looking for some super cool resources to engage students and assist them with mastering content? Then look no further than this collection of Digital Tools for Math to locate exactly what you need to tech up your next lesson or project. With dozens of suggestions in the areas of web tools, apps, formative assessment, QR codes, math glossaries, and recommendations for whom and what to follow on social media, there's sure to be a tip, trick or tool for any math teacher!"

"Fast forward to today… Even though there are always new edtech trends emerging, I no longer find myself having those yikes moments when I read about them on Twitter or hear about them on a TEDx Talk. However, as I assist colleagues in the classroom, facilitate PD, and collaborate with a team of administrators and teachers to develop a new K-12 tech plan, I am finding that many of the individuals I encounter throughout my work day are currently experiencing what I did eight years ago-that same what the what feeling that often creates anxiety and doubt. That said, I did some surfing to try to locate a reference guide that could quickly (and visually) help my co-workers get a better grasp on some of the latest edtech buzzwords. Here is one of the resources I am sharing with them-and you. Hopefully it will help to eliminate some of that app-prehension you might have as you try to choose the best tools or ways to incorporate technology into your classroom!"

"In the last three posts I have been providing  ideas and reflection regarding the use of the internet in the classroom. You can explore these posts in the links that follow this paragraph. As promised I have ten more digital citizenship resources to add to the ten that were included in the last post. I do hope you find these links beneficial for student of all ages. If the facilitation of digital citizenship is not part of your district or schools curriculum… now is the time to include it. It really is a great way to assist students as they discover the wealth of learning experiences available on the worldwide web.   Enjoy exploring and sharing all of the resources, and come back for the next post providing even more! Also, feel free to explore the past three posts of this series in the immediate links below. "