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"You don't mean to bore students. In fact, sometimes you're downright interesting-the students are engaged, the buzz in the room is palpable, and even the hesitant students are asking questions. But the fact of the matter is, even the most charismatic and experienced teachers bore students sometimes. But the good news is, it may not be your fault. Judy Willis explains the neuroscience behind it all, and offers some simply tricks to help mitigate the reality that you and your content are instinctively low on a student's neuro totem pole. "

"Are you tired of delivering the same old lectures on the same subjects year after year? Are you using the same lesson materials over and over and wishing you could make learning in your classroom more interactive? While lectures and lessons can be informative and even "edutaining" when delivered with passion and good materials by knowledgeable experts, sadly many traditional lectures and lessons are boring, and even worse often ineffective. The good news is that the Web is loaded with great free tools that can enable teachers to bring a sense of fun and engagement to their lessons"

"Over the last few years, Thomas Goetz and his research team in Konstanz, Germany identified five different types of boredom and reached the conclusion that students tend to experience just one type over the course of their lifetimes. Interestingly enough, Goetz suggested that boredom was by far the most intense and most common emotion experienced by students as well. As it turns out, boredom leaves us feeling far more uncomfortable than any other emotion. It's no small wonder then that many parents invest great time, energy, and cash in the battle against it."

With the web at your fingertips, you can find numerous ways to keep your mind and body engaged and active. These 100 tools will help you get busy doing just about anything from organizing your DVD collection to planning your potential future, giving you no excuse to be bored or unemployed for long.

"Wordplay is a never-ending source of amusement for me, with puns, spoonerisms and double entendres bringing a little extra color and life to the everyday language that we sometimes take for granted. Swedish designer Daniel Carlmatz also loves to get creative with words, but in a different way. He set himself a challenge to create a new typographic logo each day for 365 days, using a common word and adding related visual elements through symbolism, creative use of negative space, and geometry. "The inspiration for the 365 day challenge came from trying to challenge myself to look at type and design from a different perspective," Daniel told Bored Panda. "The challenge was just an outlet for my personal design thinking. And yes, I did manage to finish it without missing a day!""

"One of the most boring and banned words in classrooms is 'went.' There are SO many synonyms that you're simply trying at all if you stick with the word 'went.' Lucky for you, there's hundreds (literally) of other ways to express yourself using the English language."

"Whenever I hear talk of student engagement I wonder what the problem is. I doubt that it's the students, their role possibly - but not them personally. I don't buy into the idea that most of our students are lazy or incompetent. Instead, I think they're bored. Every student I've taught could learn, just often not the same thing, or in the same way. And when I've asked my students about it, I've always found they love to learn; they just don't like school."

"Great teachers strive to make learning engaging, interactive, and fun for students. Certain subjects like the visual arts and hands-on sciences may lend themselves well to this. Language learning, on the other hand, has rarely been grouped with "the cool subjects." As technology advances, more and more tools have become available that when used correctly can make language learning anything but boring. As a teacher, you've already established a curriculum and methods for teaching your language, so instead of re-writing all of your work, pull from the myriad supplemental opportunities that can be found online to make lessons more engaging and therefore memorable. Here are five great websites that supplement your lessons, making language learning more interactive and fun."

"Most kids really appreciate today's technology. Want to know what the latest must-have phone is? What about the newest game or app? Often, you need look no further than the students in your classes. Many of them are passionate about using the coolest gadgets and tools. That's why teaching with cutting-edge technology can be a great way to connect with your students. The right app can make even the most boring or time-consuming subject seem interesting and understandable. Financial concepts like budgeting, buying a house, or running a business may not be the most exciting subjects for students, but it's important to teach kids financial literacy starting at a young age. ZipBooks is free accounting software that can help familiarize them with concepts around running a business. The interface is easy to grasp so students can jump right into the app with little instruction. It's not overwhelming like a lot of accounting software. Every element is labeled clearly, and there are in-app tips to help newcomers get started. There are lots of ways you could use ZipBooks in the classroom and we have outlined a couple ideas to get you started."

"Watch children, youth, and even adults when they are immersed in learning something of interest of them, and you will see often complete engagement and personal joy. When education is done "right", learners often feel and experience the following in their both formal and informal educational environments: Joy Engaged Excited Wonderment Intrinsically Motivated Creative Accomplishment and Pride (in themselves and in their work) Connected (to the content, to other learners, to experts) Purposeful Important Valued All of these feelings described above are often experienced as part of a FLOW state. The characteristics of "Flow" according to its originator and researcher, Czikszentmihalyi, are: Completely involved, focused, concentrating - with this either due to innate curiosity or as the result of training Sense of ecstasy - of being outside everyday reality Great inner clarity - knowing what needs to be done and how well it is going Knowing the activity is doable - that the skills are adequate, and neither anxious or bored Sense of serenity Timeliness - thoroughly focused on present, don't notice time passing Intrinsic motivation - whatever produces "flow" becomes its own reward."

"Kids across the nation are back in school, and moms and dads everywhere are rejoicing. If your kids still bring lunch to school, you can use some of that extra kidless time to download a few of these apps, which contain some great ideas for kid-friendly food. Peanut butter and jelly gets boring, so spice up those lunches with recipes from these apps."

"Your textbook is just another tool in your teacher's instructional kit. The problem is that for many of us it becomes a crutch when we first begin lesson planning. The textbook can be very useful for planning curriculums and lessons. It is a framework and guide that provides us a general overview of what should be covered within our classes. However, for our learners the textbook is often boring and tedious. No learner wants to spend hours sitting down reading or answering questions from a textbook for an entire year. I hope the following tips show you how to bring this tool to life for more hands-on, student-centered learning in the forthcoming year."

"Learning doesn't have to be boring. It can be enjoyable with the right tools and approach. If your child has a new iPad or a new hand-me-down model, check out these 10 apps that'll make learning their letters, state capitals and math facts fun. You can also check out this longer list, which includes games and other apps for younger kids, teens and beyon"

"Classroom discussions have been a staple of teaching forever, beginning with Socrates. I have taught using discussions, been a student in discussions, and observed other teachers' discussions thousands of times -- at least. Some have been boring, stifling or tedious enough to put me to sleep. Others have been so stimulating that I was sad to see them end. The difference between the two is obviously how interesting the topic is, but equally important is the level of student participation."

"How would you feel if someone described you as being colorless? Yeah, it's not exactly a compliment. Being called colorless is basically an unsubtle way of being told you are dull, uninteresting or boring. And just as some people are 'colorless', so is a lot of the content we deliver to our kids. But luckily it is a lot easier to inject a bit of color into a curriculum than it is into a personality. In a recently published slideshare titled 'Colour in Mathematics' Math teacher and blogger, Colleen Young, shows how she uses color to add clarity and engagement to her lessons:"

"I used to believe that informational texts were boring. I avoided having students read articles in social studies, because I thought students would hate informational texts. I'm not sure why I believed this, because I loved reading non-fiction books and articles. Still, I thought I was an outlier and that my students would be better off with a combination of hands-on learning and fictional narratives. I don't believe this anymore. Now I believe that informational texts can be inherently engaging, because we are naturally inclined to seek out information. I guess, on some level, I believe every person is a geek about something. So, with that in mind, here are seven ways to keep informational texts engaging for students:"

"The short answer is that Strogatz has discovered a certain thrill in rectifying the crimes and misdemeanors of math education. Strogatz asks his students, more than half of them seniors, to provide a "mathematical biography." Their stories reveal unpleasant experiences with math along the way. Rather than question the quality of the teaching they received, they blamed math itself-or worse, their own intelligence or lack of innate talent. Strogatz loves the challenge, "There's something remarkable about working with a group of students who think they hate math or find it boring, and then turning them around, even just a little bit.""

"3 Reasons Why Faculty Meetings Are a Waste of Time By Peter DeWitt on April 10, 2015 6:50 AM Faculty Meeting.png Many school leaders walk into a faculty meeting with a single idea of how they want to move forward and walk out with the same idea. That's telling... John Hattie talks a great deal about the Politics of Distraction, which means we focus on adult issues, and not enough time...if ever...on learning. That is happening around the U.S. for sure. Recently the Assembly of NY State only furthered those distractions, which you can read about here, which means that school leaders and teachers have to work harder to maintain a focus on learning. Quite frankly, well before mandates and accountability, school leaders focused on the politics of distraction and not on learning. Compliance is not new in schools. Faculty meetings were seen as a venue to get through and something that teachers were contractually obligated to attend. During these days of endless measures of compliance, principals can do a great deal to make sure they don't model the same harmful messages to staff that politicians are sending to teachers. Jim Knight calls that "Freedom within form." In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo quotes Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) when he writes, "Creativity is often misunderstood. People often think of it in terms of artistic work - unbridled, unguided effort that leads to beautiful effect. If you look deeper, however, you'll find that some of the most inspiring art forms - haikus, sonatas, religious paintings- are fraught with constraints. (p. 190)" Clearly, constraints have a wide definition. There is a clear difference between the constraints of compliance and the stupidity of the legislation just passed by the assembly in NY. As we move forward, principals still are charged...or at least should be...with the job of making sure they offer part...inspiration, part...teacher voice...and a great deal of focus on learning. There is never a more important tim