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"There aren't a great deal of alternatives for YouTube fans on the iOS App Store, but for those who consume a lot of videos on their devices then the Jasmine YouTube Client for iOS is definitely worth checking out. The Jasmine application is fully iPhone 5 compatible and looks beautiful on the new 1136×640 display. It is also a universal app meaning that it is fully compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad."

"I am extremely excited that my second book is now available through Solution Tree entitled What Principals Need to Know About Teaching and Learning Science. It was a great deal of fun co-authoring this book with Keith Devereaux, one of my Science teachers at New Milford High School. It is our hope that this book becomes the go to resource for principals looking to establish and maintain effective science programs that focus on doing science as opposed to just knowing. Principals will not only find the latest research on effective science instruction, but also tips for integrating technology, purchasing materials, assessment, and establishing safe lab environments."

"Where do we look for apps to improve things like resilience, dealing with emotions, mindfulness, empathy, gratitude, bullying, trust, self-esteem and optimism? When will iTunes and others introduce a category for these incredibly important skills? Until then, listed below are 5 top emotional learning apps for school-aged children."

"Back in October, we published an article about the importance of holistic teaching. When students are stressed, their capacity for learning is drastically reduced. In psychology, Maslow's hierarchy of needs explains in part why anxious and depressed students are much more likely to fail. Even if the situation is not catastrophic, a student's mind and body "feel" that the situation is very serious. All their brainpower is fixated on dealing with the fight or flight response in the body, plus the repetitive thought patterns that affect daily activities like eating, sleeping, and relationships."

"As news gets faster and the amount of information we consume increases, the idea of information overload is one that is commonly banded about. With there being so many sites and blogs out there posting updates every day, trying to keep on top of it all is a common problem."

"With the Common Core adoption in the United States, teaching vocabulary is no longer strictly the domain of the English-Language Arts classroom. While Robert Marzano has been promoting the instruction of academic vocabulary for years-and many school literacy plans have included reading and writing across the content areas for years-it is now a matter of standard and law. Which makes it kind of a big deal."

"Ever wondered how your mind deals with complex sums and multiplications? A new study has imaged how the brain's activity levels change while taking on serious maths problems, and reveals for the first time that there are four distinct neural stages involved in coming up with a solution."

"Fact, I have anxiety about math facts. I have a degree in math. I graduated college with honors. I got the highest score at my university on the Putnam exam, which is supposedly a big deal to get a non-zero score. I taught high school math for 14 years. I am the Queen of Spreadsheets. I code for fun and share my coding projects. I repeated the 4th grade due to math facts. After 2 years of 4th grade, I never passed the timed math tests. If you ask me to do basic arithmetic in my head, even 7×8, I freeze. My heart races. I try to dodge the question. I'm perfectly capable. I'm more inclined to use strategies when doing math problems than memorization. When I'm alone and tallying student scores on a paper, I do great. If I need to design a spreadsheet and apply math, I excel at that. I am not alone. Reading Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler, for the first time in my life I realize I am not dumb."

"Part One in an NPR Ed series on mental health in schools. You might call it a silent epidemic. Up to one in five kids living in the U.S. shows signs or symptoms of a mental health disorder in a given year. So in a school classroom of 25 students, five of them may be struggling with the same issues many adults deal with: depression, anxiety, substance abuse. And yet most children - nearly 80 percent - who need mental health services won't get them. Whether treated or not, the children do go to school. And the problems they face can tie into major problems found in schools: chronic absence, low achievement, disruptive behavior and dropping out."

Great deal on LEGO books

"Makerspaces have the power to transform learning.  They can be amazing spaces of informal, hands-on learning and libraries are the perfect place for them because they make the space available to ALL students.  But a makerspace can't fix everything all at once.  I have many librarians ask me for help in starting their makerspaces.  And sometimes I tell them they need to go slower or deal with the underlying issues of their space first.  A $1,000 makerspace grant is not going to instantly change your school culture.  This wasn't a fun post to write, but I feel like it needs to be a part of the discussion of makerspaces and school libraries."

""AI won't obliterate jobs, but it will transform jobs," said Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Pink said he's told his own kids to "think about what you can do to augment what AI does-work that only humans can do that smart machines cannot." That includes: creativity; dealing with ambiguity, nuance and poorly defined problems; understanding other's emotions and point of view; Developing expertise and sense making; and Identifying reliable sources. "

"The world as we know it has fundamentally changed our learners.  It is not that they are learning differently per say, but the environment in which they learn has dramatically changed.  The challenge for educators and schools today is to make learning REAL (relevant, engaging, authentic, and lasting) for all students and aligning it more with their world.  A great deal of emphasis has been placed on personalized opportunities for students.  Whereas there are many benefits with this approach, the reliance on technology platform and human interaction can take away from intended outcomes. REAL learning places a greater emphasis on making learning personal for students.  Image credit: http://pblstem.com/ Below are some quick tips that can make learning more REAL (relevant, engaging, authentic, and lasting):"

""Imagine that your mind is a television," I told the small group of students I was visiting at the rural Oregon school where I worked as a counselor. "And you have a remote." I then asked them to change to a sad channel and notice how it made them feel. "Now let's change it to a happy channel." How did that feel? What differences did they notice? We practiced this for a while, the students taking turns to see how all sorts of different channels made us feel. We tried it while holding a yoga tree pose. The students noticed that certain thoughts made it easier to balance; others made it harder. What they were learning, of course, was how to be mindful of their thoughts and how those thoughts affect their bodies. They were also learning that they could direct their thoughts - that none of us is ever stuck on just one channel; that mindfulness gives us tools for dealing successfully with all manner of challenges and difficulties."

"Does a red flag mean your kid shouldn't use a particular app? Not at all. Most kids use social media apps safely -- and kids don't always use every feature of every app. Also, you can often disable certain features so they're no longer a problem. Finally, talking about using social media safely, responsibly, and respectfully is the best way to help your kid identify and avoid red flags. Here are the most common social media red flags, the apps they're found in, and tips for dealing with them. "

"One undeniable fact about teaching is that teachers not only need to be masters of content within their subject area, but they must also be masters of education as a subject. Another undeniable fact is that neither of those subject areas looks the same as when any teacher first mastered them. One effect of the integration of technology into our society is that change in almost everything is happening at a pace never before experienced by mankind. As much as some people may yearn for the simpler times of the past, life will continue to move forward as the natural order of society requires. The influence of additional information on any subject often affects how we deal with that subject. Once we had more information on the effects of smoking, smoking habits of millions of people changed. Once we learned what we now understand about the benefits of physical activity, several sports related industries were spawned. Once we learned what we now know of communication, music and print industries disappeared while being replaced with better in many ways."

"ell, I was planning on just dealing with 2 stages of the LAUNCH Cycle in this post, but I burned through the rest of the book yesterday.  The book itself is a very engaging read.  My post may reflect the nuts and bolts of the cycle, but the book is filled with practical applications and stories from the authors lives that show what the LAUNCH Cycle looks like.  That is the power of their work. It is based on experience and data. "