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"Makerspace is a relatively new method of teaching students in a space where they can get hands-on experience working with concepts they recently learned. The point of the space is to make, create, and invent new things. There are many advantages to giving students a place to apply concepts, and those benefits are true for all areas and fields of study. If you have been thinking about creating a maker space in your classroom, here are a few things to consider to help you understand why you should go ahead and do it."

"I often talk with educators (and parents and administrators) who are convinced that their students are working within Project Based Learning environments. They tell me about the wonderful projects the kids have created and how much fun the kids have. I'm always delighted to hear the kids are having fun in school! However, I find that when asked a few probing questions, it becomes clear whether or not PBL is actually happening or if the teachers are merely creating projects for students to complete."

"There are some great apps available for little ones who are learning their alphabet or are actually learning to read and write. Here are a couple that might work in your classroom."

"I was one of the first teachers in my district to receive an iPad to use in my classroom. I was elated. I immediately found all kinds of apps for doing administrative tasks, but I really struggled with how to use the iPad with 25 or more students and only one iPad. It has taken a lot of trial and error, but I've found some free apps that work for me in a whole group situation. Here are a few of the apps I have used successfully."

"This is Auburn's iPad's in the Kindergarten Classroom Initiative Auburn School Department is working to improve the literacy and math achievement of early learners by leverage iPads and their apps through an initiative called Advantage 2014."

Mentor texts in our classrooms could open up students' possibilities to these decisions-the options they have as writers. They can see that they are the decision makers and that multi-media requires creators of digital text to make many decisions so that their messages are clear and powerful.  Rather than be formulaic, I want my students' mentors to be pieces that open up what is possible in their own work.

"In recent weeks I have playing with the exciting combination of Easy Portfolio and Coaches Eye inside of the PE classroom. This has enabled the easy recording and storing of video analysis activities. Check out the apps working in concert together below."

"So many classroom activities are only fully realised when your students add their sketches to embellish their work, or to annotate a concept. Sometimes they just need to describe an object. Here are a series of apps that allow the creative little Picasso or Frida in your class to express themselves. Most of these are so intuitive that your students will be drawing before you know it."

"Almost two years ago to the day, I wrote a post, "The iPad: Why Teachers Should Care." Flash forward to today, both of the schools I work at have purchased one iPad for each classroom. Although I've already mastered how to manage all the iDevices in my personal household, learning to manage iPads in an institutional environment involved a bit more learning due to the complexities of software licensing and the necessity to keep institutional accounts separate from personal ones."

"Often times when I go into a classroom to work with students and iPads I connect my iPad to whatever projection system exists in the room. I'm pretty comfortable unplugging cables from computers, but not everyone is. Recently I set up a bunch of schools with a one-touch solution to switch their SMARTboard or projector between their computer and their iPad."

"Learning is all about asking questions and finding answers to them. An inquisitive mind is one that goes beyond the status quo and probes deep below surface meanings. To foster such kind of thinking inside our classroom requires some hard work and a serious investment in time and efforts. We, as teachers and educators, need to prepare the right environment where inquisitive minds can nourish and grow. We need to water this environment with a culture of asking questions."

" Because of pressure to teach bell-to-bell -- the pedagogical equivalent of force-feeding geese to make foie gras -- many classrooms now start with bell work, short exercises that students complete while the instructor attends to attendance and other administrative chores. Journal prompts and concept questions can focus students on nutritious academic content and initiate a positive tempo for the next 90 minutes of class. With the help of graduate student David Fictum, I collected several creative, practical and entertaining exercises that can function as bell ringers or sponge activities. Here they are: "

"As teachers, the pull of social media on your students attention will already be well known to you. The online world exerts a magnetic lure on the attention of young people today, offering community and information sharing, entertainment and gossip in ways that often pull students away from the blackboard. Understanding this dynamic, some educators are now bringing social media into the classroom in surprising ways. By working with something your students already enjoy and don't, perhaps, associate with learning, there are opportunities for creative teaching, as well as making genuine connection with your students."

"There are tons of awesome iPad apps and these 24 totally free games, tools, and resources are perfect for the science classroom. Explore this list to see what works with your students!"

"We've been in BYOD mode for half a year, and I've already shared some best practices for the classroom with you. Putting on my IT hat, here are some of the things I've learned that you should consider as you work through your own BYOD plans and implementation. "

"Students do not always have a great sense of time and many of my students over the years have miscalculated the time remaining on a particular task or assessment piece. This is a skill that they develop over time but not without some devastating consequences. These visual timers are exceptionally good for visual learners but work just as well for all the students in your class. Start to generate better time management in your class with the use of one or more of these visual timers."

"If you're a teacher, you probably don't have oodles of free time on your hands (unless you've thrown lesson planning and grading your students' work out the window!), but when you do, a good book recommendation is almost always welcome (trumped only by a good wine/beer/food recommendation!). I always enjoy a good 'beach read' when I need something brainless (read: flaky, easy reading), but sometimes I'm up for something with a little more substance. What better than something that can help you out in your classroom or professional life?"

"Last month, someone who works at a school in Milan, Italy contacted me. She wondered if I would be interested in connecting with a first grade classroom at her school to do something similar. Since the time change between our locations does not allow for synchronous conversation, we decided to play the game on Twitter using the hashtag #guessmynumber."

"There is a NEED and URGENCY of updating curriculum and instructional repertoire to give the critical literacies of our century justice. Upgrading and amplifying traditionally taught activities, lessons, units or entire classroom learning environments takes time and practice. Just as in any sport, if you want to get better at it, you have to put in the time and practice. The same holds true with upgrading and amplifying. Most educators are "not in shape" and not in the routine of upgrading their curriculum to embed emerging critical literacies and amplifying their own and their students' work."