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"See, when we focus on this more timely and frequent feedback to change and adjust our instruction, we are focusing on the teacher side of things. The true beauty and value of more frequent and timely assessments is not just to help guide and drive our instruction, it's to provide frequent and timely feedback for our students so they can take more ownership and control over their learning."

"Two years ago I began flipping my writing instruction. I created short videos to replace the "mini-lessons" I had traditionally presented in class. I saw value in allowing students the opportunity to control the pace of their learning. As a teacher, I love having a resource I can point a student to if they are continuing to struggle with the structure of an argument body paragraph or how to write a thesis statement. In the past, I had to repeatedly explain these concepts. Flipping my writing instruction also creates more time in the classroom to actually write."

"I spend a significant amount of time watching Twitter; in particular teachers and educators on Twitter. I call this research although I know I am deluding myself as at best it is usually procrastination. I am beginning to notice with interest that Twitter is causing the power balance in education to be shifted slightly away from the centre with a number of grassroots initiatives that look as if they are influencing policy for example a few high profile Tweachers meeting with Ofsed and the Headteachers Roundtable . Among the many topics currently being debated in this Twibe is evidence informed teaching practice and Random Controlled Trials (RCT). This interest has been particularly apparent over the last 18 months or so. I see the trigger being a presentation given by Ben Goldacre a doctor, academic and author of the Guardian column Bad Science and the book Bad Pharma. "

"Genius Hour in the classroom is an approach to learning built around student curiosity, self-directed learning, and passion-based work. In traditional learning, teachers map out academic standards, and plan units and lessons based around those standards. In Genius Hour, students are in control, choosing what they study, how they study it, and what they do, produce, or create as a result. As a learning model, it promotes inquiry, research, creativity, and self-directed learning."

"This is our guide to the main settings you need to know in iOS 8. Learn how to configure Control Centre, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Data Roaming; find out how to manage Notifications and your privacy settings; set up a Personal Hotspot; use Siri and more."

"Teachers are doing some incredible things right now. They're basically magicians. A typical teacher has to figure out how to turn an extremely small budget into an effective year-long learning experience. And they do it all with a too-small (we think) salary and typically using their own money. We think it's time for teachers to have a little fun. That's why we've created a fun little ongoing initiative we're calling #TeacherSelfie. Basically, it's your chance to show off yourself, your classroom, or any of your passions in life to the rest of the teachers around the world. In order to make this happen, we've created the hashtag #TeacherSelfie and are going to be monitoring it on both Twitter and Instagram. You'll find feeds from both of those social networks below. An important note: we obviously don't control what gets posted and who uses the hashtag so please don't be mad if random other people sometimes use it!"

"Consider these words from Peter Gray, author of "Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life:" Free play is nature's means of teaching children that they are not helpless. In play, away from adults, children really do have control and can practice asserting it. In free play, children learn to make their own decisions, solve their own problems, create and abide by rules, and get along with others as equals rather than as obedient or rebellious subordinates. Peter Gray's words remind me of danah boyd's descriptions and analysis of the over-scheduled lives of teens in her recent book, "It's Complicated: the social lives of networked teens.""

"When it comes to brain development, time in the classroom may be less important than time on the playground. "The experience of play changes the connections of the neurons at the front end of your brain," says Sergio Pellis, a researcher at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. "And without play experience, those neurons aren't changed," he says. It is those changes in the prefrontal cortex during childhood that help wire up the brain's executive control center, which has a critical role in regulating emotions, making plans and solving problems, Pellis says. So play, he adds, is what prepares a young brain for life, love and even schoolwork."

"By definition, an avatar is a figure or character that you can create and customize the way you want. You can use this character to interact with other friends online . Users have the full control of what they want to feature for example the kind of background, accessories, clothes...etc. There are several reasons why you need to consider using avatars with students some of which include: Students can use avatar images in their profiles instead of their real pictures Avatar-creation provides students with hands-on activities in identity building Using avatars can increase students engagement and keep them focused and on-task Students can use avatars in their multimedia projects Below are some very good iPad apps that you can use with students to create avatars. Here is the link to access and download the chart in Google Doc version. "

"Carol Dweck studies human motivation. She spends her days diving into why people succeed (or don't) and what's within our control to foster success. As she describes it: "My work bridges developmental psychology, social psychology, and personality psychology, and examines the self-conceptions (or mindsets) people use to structure the self and guide their behavior. My research looks at the origins of these mindsets, their role in motivation and self-regulation, and their impact on achievement and interpersonal processes.""

"The [Home screen](/home screen) - known behind the scenes as SpringBoard - is the central hub of iPhone and iPad activity. It's not a destination. You're not meant to linger there and stare. It's a transport, a gateway. It's what gets you to your apps and your content. From the Home screen you can tap app and game icons, music and video players, web browsers and online stores. You can also access Spotlight to quickly search for apps, content, and more, and invoke Multitasking, Notification Center, Control Center, Siri, and more."

"The Lock screen exists in between states, when your iPhone or iPad is no longer asleep, but is also not yet open and fully functional. It can protect your device from unauthorized access and actions by a simple slide-to-unlock gesture, by a 4 number pin-code, by a strong alpha-numeric password, or Apple's Touch ID fingerprint identity scanner. Yet the Lock screen can be functional as well. If you want to, you can access Notification Center and Control Center, the Camera, and Siri. On the iPhone, you can even make emergency calls. Yes, the Lock screen can be secure or it can be convenient, it's entirely up to you!"

"The YMCA's Camp Combe is one of the most popular and best-known sleepaway camps in the New York Area. Serving over five hundred children a day during the summer months, the facility keeps its guests both busy and entertained with a whole host of activities including swimming, archery, high rope courses, nature walks, and...Minecraft? No, I'm not kidding. An hour outside of New York City, New York, a group of third-to-fifth graders this week dove into the camp's first ever Minecraft session. Of course, as creatively-oriented as the base game is, it doesn't really teach kids all that much as far as practical knowledge is concerned. That's why Camp Combe is using an educational variant of the title: MinecraftEdu. Deveoped by TeacherGaming, MinecraftEdu is a modified version of the base game whose sole purpose is to get its players interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. After logging in to MinecraftEdu, players are first taught the basics of the vanilla Minecraft experience - logging into a server, controlling their avatars, manipulating the environment, acceptable behaviors...you get the idea. Once they've been schooled in how to play, they're then given an objective; this task could be anything from building a bridge to creating a functional particle accelerator."

" "Even young kids have gotten very adept at Minecraft, so it can be quite intimidating for teachers," said Jason Schmidt, an instructional technologist for Bennington Public Schools who will teach the four-week MinecraftEdu MOOC, in a prepared statement. "If I can help get teachers over that hump, imagine how delighted students will be to have a learning environment tailored to their interests for a change." The other, Minecraft for Educators, "is a course for teachers who are wishing to gamify their learning experiences and deliver a unique pedagogy that will engage, enthuse and keep learners coming back for more," according to information released by the company. Both MOOCs are available through the Canvas Network. Minecraft for Educators will start January 26, 2015 and run through March 9. The company has also released a Minecraft app to allow students to submit assignments to the Canvas learning management system from within the game. Using the app, students can tag what they've made in the game for their teachers to visit, upload books they've written in game directly to the speed grader or use the game's circuitry tool to complete assignments that will be automatically graded. A video demonstration of the app is available at YouTube. Other MOOCs for teachers in the suite include: Digital Literacies 1; Digital Literacies 2; Five Habits of Highly Effective Teachers; Teachers without Borders: Educating Girls; and Tinker, Make and Learn. Among the other MOOC offerings in the new suite is a course designed specifically for parents, Parenting in the Digital Age, which aims to help them address issues such as cyberbullying, digital citizenship, exposure to inappropriate content, media literacy and screentime. Taught by Andrew Swickheimer, director of technology at Noblesville Schools, the self-paced course opens September 22. "Parental involvement in K-12 education has one of the biggest impacts on a child's commitment to learning," said Jared Stein, vice pres

"You hear a lot of advice about how to reduce stress at work. But most of it is about what to do over the long term - take up yoga, eat a healthy diet, keep a journal, or get more sleep. But what do you do when you're overcome with stress in the moment - at your desk, say, or in a meeting? Perhaps you've heard bad news from a client or were assigned yet another project. How can you regain control?"

"Since a studio offers a controlled workspace, you don't have to deal with the whims of natural light or environment. Several apps feature an intervalometer for firing off shots at specific intervals, which can then be combined into a time-lapse video later. But here I want to focus on a clever app that makes the process of creating time-lapse or stop-motion videos easy on the iPad. iStopMotion for iPad by Boinx Software ($9.99) can use the iPad's built-in camera or an iPhone (or iPod touch) with the help of the iStop-Motion Remote Camera app."

Handing Assessment Over to Students I have been giving a lot of thought about how to give my students more of a voice in their learning and in our classroom. Initially, I was focused on increasing their presence on our classroom blog through podcasts, videos, and blog posts. I even gave thought to asking my district IT to unblock Twitter so that we could create a class account (which I am still going to do). But never would assessment have crossed my mind. Fortunately, I took my thoughts to my PLN. Janine Campbell (@campbellartsoup) responded to my tweet about amplifying students' voices with rich insights and a couple articles that got the cerebral wheels turning. If you like what you read here, be sure to follow Janine on Twitter. Assessment for learning is a pedagogical golden nugget. No one ever said that the teacher had to do it alone. Why not give your students a voice in how they are assessed? It might tell you more about where they are at than assessing your class conventionally. Rubrics are my favorite way to assess student projects. I'm even pretty good at creating them. By doing so, I completely understand the assignment and learning outcomes for any given project. But do my students? Is there a way to better utilize rubrics as assessment of learning where students' voices are intensified. Yes! Allowing students to create the criteria for assessment does just that. It doesn't just serve the purpose of better summative assessment. Student-created rubrics also provides a medium for formative assessment as well. If my assignment is for students to analyze the effects of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on post-war America, I will be able to formatively assess the class' understanding of the main points of this event by the criteria that they suggest this assignment should be graded on. I will know that I need to reteach aspects of this event in American history if students believe that including a description of John Wilkes Booth's escape from Ford's The

"Looking for a pair of wireless headphones to complement your super tight jeans? JayBird's SB2 Sportsband headphones should serve as the perfect tech-cessory for your 80′s inspired hipster wardrobe thanks to their wide headband and small collection of colors ranging from subtle to almost neon. But what's that you say? You embrace the 80′s except when it comes to technology? Well you'll be happy to know that in addition to Bluetooth A2DP support, the headphones also support the newer apt-X Bluetooth audio codec, which is apparently included in Apple's new Mac Mini. However, if you wanted to take advantage of its CD-quality wireless sound with other gear like the iPhone. The iSport (pictured above) which is compatible with the iPhone and other iDevices, or the uSport which connects to the headphone jack of pretty much any other audio source. like with most Bluetooth headphones they include buttons on the side for controlling your music, as well as an integrated mic for making calls." By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com https://www.facebook.com/techvedicinc https://twitter.com/techvedicinc http://pinterest.com/techvedic1 http://techvedicinc.tumblr.com/ https://plus.google.com/u/0/110467075169904075419/

Are you getting any strange notification on Windows 8.1? Well, this is really mysterious. Opening Windows Update from Control Panel and finding new update "KB2866518" as per the following screenshot: