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"An idea that is beginning to gain a lot of favour in educational circles at the moment is the notion of fixed versus growth mindsets, and how they might relate to students and learning. Based on the work of Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck, the idea of mindset is related to our understanding of where ability comes from. It has recently been seized upon by educators as a tool to explore our knowledge of student achievement, and ways that such achievement might be improved."

Welcome to the Literature Learning Ladders website. This web project will help you make the connection between theory and practice by exploring some online resources related to literacy, themes, literature circles, technology, and learning.

Move the gold Life Span Bar at the bottom to navigate through social, political and cultural events. Rollover a circle, triangle or square to get event details. Click on these shapes to find out more.

A tutorial that models fractions with circles and number lines.

3D physics puzzle game. Try to get the balls into the blue circles by tilting the board.

"Due to Khan Academy's popularity, the idea of the flipped classroom has gained press and credibility within education circles. Briefly, the Flipped Classroom as described by Jonathan Martin is: Flip your instruction so that students watch and listen to your lectures… for homework, and then use your precious class-time for what previously, often, was done in homework: tackling difficult problems, working in groups, researching, collaborating, crafting and creating. Classrooms become laboratories or studios, and yet content delivery is preserved. Flip your instruction so that students watch and listen to your lectures… for homework, and then use your precious class-time for what previously, often, was done in homework: tackling difficult problems, working in groups, researching, collaborating, crafting and creating. Classrooms become laboratories or studios, and yet content delivery is preserved (http://www.connectedprincipals.com/archives/3367)."

"Flipped learning or flipped classroom is a learning concept that has been making some huge uproar within educational circles for the last couple of years. Flipped classroom is not a new concept as some would argue but only the advance of technology particularly the mobile and handheld gadgetry brought it to the surface and gave it more prominence . I have written profusely about this teaching/learning strategy and Flipped Learning Resources section here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning features some of these materials."

"f you're already an avid follower of our Polar Bear, Beluga Sky (Northern Lights) or Underwater Beluga Whale Cams, then you've heard the name Churchill over and over again. But where exactly is it and what makes it such a hot spot for these amazing and threatened creatures? On the western side of Hudson Bay and just southwest of the Northwest Passage is a little coastal town in Canada. The Northwest Passage, of course, was long sought after as a short-cut trade route for countries near the Arctic Circle. It could potentially allow places like Russia to have a direct route to Canada, Greenland or New York City without going south. Famously impassable, the Northwest Passage has now become more accessible as climate change melts the Arctic ice. This could be good news for shippers but is bad news for bears. More on that later."

"GeoCon Math is a new iPad app for students, teachers and math enthusiasts to study plane geometry in an interesting and exciting way. GeoCon HD re-invents the study of plane geometry by empowering users to create various geometric constructions with the touch of a finger. The app also offers easy tutorial steps that provide instruction on setting and moving points, constructing lines and circles, and creating intersection points."

"Teaching students that intelligence can grow and blossom with effort - rather than being a fixed trait they're just born with - is gaining traction in progressive education circles. And new research from Stanford is helping to build the case that nurturing a "growth mindset" can help many kids understand their true potential. The new research involves larger, more rigorous field trials that provide some of the first evidence that the social psychology strategy can be effective when implemented in schools on a wide scale. Even a one-time, 30-minute online intervention can spur academic gains for many students, particularly those with poor grades. The premise is that these positive effects can stick over years, leading for example to higher graduation rates; but long-term data is still needed to confirm that. "

"In 2004, Danielle Sullivan was working as a legislative aid when she had an Aha moment. In the years that she'd worked in Washington, nothing had changed in education. Sullivan decided to trade her desk on the Hill for one in a classroom. That year, she joined the DC Teaching Fellows and started teaching special education in DC's Logan Circle. Four years later, she had moved back to New York to teach in Ithaca, and found herself in the same boat as so many other teachers-burnt out, miserable, and struggling to reclaim her passion for education. Looking for a change, Sullivan signed up for a four-week National Writing Project seminar and found inspiration. "Being in a room, writing, with other teachers blew my mind," she remembers, "and put me on a trajectory for personal happiness." The experience of collaborating with teachers prompted Sullivan to start Extraordinary Teachers, her organization dedicated to empowering teachers to reignite their passion and take back their classrooms. "

"A group of children on a playground, each kid clutching a slip of paper with a number on it, moves along a line drawn in chalk, comparing numbers as they go and sorting themselves into ascending order from one to ten. Another group of children, sitting in a circle, passes pieces of fruit - an apple, an orange - from hand to hand until the color of the fruit they're holding matches the color of the T-shirt they're wearing. It may not look like it, but the children engaged in these exercises are learning computer science. In the first activity, they've turned themselves into a sorting network: a strategy computers use to sort random numbers into order. And in the second activity, they're acting out the process by which computer networks route information to its intended destination. Both are from a project called Computer Science Unplugged, which endeavors to teach students computer science without using computers."

"Happy birthday, Einstein! But this is also Pi Day, and a very special Pi Day at that. Why so special? The date is 3/14/15, the first five digits in the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter."

"Primary source documents, especially photographs, are powerful tools for grabbing the attention of students.  Sometimes it's challenging to find the right picture to connect to a historical fiction literature circle or to support a Social Studies lesson.  I'm a big fan of Google Image searches but another option is to check out the LIFE photo archive hosted by Google.  You can search over a hundred years worth of photographs by typing in a keyword or choosing a specific event or time period.  This is a terrific resource for teachers who work with students of any age!"

"Venn Diagram is an excellent free interactive tool  from the popular Read Write Think that students can use to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles. This tool is also available for both iOS and Android. The iPad app is particularly designed for use in the school setting providing students with a simple profile system where multiple users can create their own Venn diagrams on the same device. "

"After its launch the iPad quickly became the darling of the K-12 education community. Schools and teachers quickly saw the opportunities that it afforded students and jumped to get them into their hands. Fast forward a few years and it seems that a lot of schools have relegated the iPad to a supporting role or ditched them entirely. As mentioned elsewhere this is primarily due to a lack of clear vision, a misunderstanding of what the iPad is and an imiginative, uninspiring curriculum. While the iPad may no longer be the technology de jour in certain circles it is impossible to ignore what a compelling device the iPad is. So, why is the iPad still the best choice for schools, teachers and students."