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"Whether this is your first year teaching and you're right out of school or you've been teaching for 30 years, the students sitting in your classroom are facing a different type of classroom than you had as a student. There is more technology, the subject material may vary slightly, but the biggest differences are likely cultural and social."

"Google Books is one of the wonderful research tools I use when searching for books. Google Books provides some important features for conducting accurate book searches and allows users to do a lot of things with the books they find. They can for instance search for key words and phrases from within the book, clip a portion of the text and share it, and download the book in different formats : PDF, EPUB, and in plain text. These and several other features render Google Books a great search platform that our students can draw on to help them with their research projects. Here is a visual guide I created to help you learn more about the different things you can with Google Books. Check out the presentation version of this visual at the end of this post."

"n a fast-paced world where information travels at the speed of light, note taking skills can make all the difference between effective and ineffective learning. Students can perform way better if they master the art of note taking. In this regard, I am sharing with you this wonderful note taking workshop prepared by Learning Commons which features the 6 important note taking skills students need to develop together with the different methods of taking notes and concluding with the five Rs."

"When I talk to people about mind mapping, I usually find myself facing one of two reactions: The person I'm speaking with either LOVES mind maps, or pretty much has no idea what they are or what they could be used for. We've discussed mind maps occasionally in the past, but I recently stumbled on this great graphic from Daniel Tay(who creates a bunch of different mind maps on different topics)."

"The following materials are being used to present to educators the idea that implementing maker education requires a different mindset, and often different roles and skills of the educator."

"The Arduino vs Raspberry Pi debate  has caused a bit of confusion to beginners on what these 2 little devices actually do. They are both pretty cheap, the same size, and to the untrained eye, look very similar. However they are very different.  The Raspberry Pi is a mini-computer, running a Linux operating system, and the Arduino is a microcontroller, without the typical OS style you may be used to. They both are focused on very different ideas."

"A few weeks ago Digital Inspiration posted a very informative article outlining the different web tools that can be used to send large files online. He also created this handy chart where he compared between the different services that you can use to send large files."

"Using games or game play elements in the classroom to drive learning outcomes is sill gaining popularity. Though most teachers aren't ready to embrace bringing serious games like Minecraft into their classrooms, many are willing to gamify learning or use other types of games. That said, getting an idea of how many teachers are (or aren't) using gamification (or are interested in doing so) is a somewhat difficult task: Many people define gamification in different ways, when it may be a more accurate description to identify different levels of gamification. The handy infographic below takes a look at gamification and more 'serious gaming' in organizational learning. It offers some interesting statistics on just what types (or levels) of gamification are happening in classrooms. Keep reading to learn more!"

"We published a post last year titled, "Why Good Teachers Quit." Nearly 70,000+ social shares-and scores of comments-later, and it's pretty clear that this idea (captured so well by Kay Bisaillon) is resonating with more teachers than we were aware. We've taken a few different approaches to the idea in the past, including 25 Ways To Reduce Teacher Burnout & Secrets For Teacher Survival, as well as The Best Teachers Don't Do What They're Told, as well as a recent post about "teaching differently." So here we are again, taking another look at teacher burnout, this time trying to understand how it happens. If you're increasingly tired, prone to the Sunday night blues, and have had your July's excitement increasingly replaced by a sense of dread, teacher burnout could be the reason why."

" I've spent a lot of time lately reflecting on the way I teach literacy in my classroom and about the ways that the digital text I often use to teach now is inherently different from the text I used to teach reading ten years ago. In an earlier post, I talked about some of the ways that I think using digital text in shared reading, such as when reading projected blog comments or tweets, is actually superior to the traditional text we have long used. Even if you are not convinced that digital text can work better than traditional text, it is difficult to argue that digital text is not here to stay or that it is not becoming increasingly important. It is and will be a significant part of our students' lives both now and in the future. If this will be true, it only makes sense to begin to teach children strategies for reading this new form of text."

"So if you've ever wanted to reach a broad audience as a podcaster, there's no time like the present. These days, the difference in quality produced by professional set-ups-with layers of soundproofing and pricey microphones-don't sound all that different from recordings made on a smaller budget.  But hardware and software alone don't make for polished audio. Having worked in studio settings ranging from small town radio stations, to control rooms of nationally syndicated radio shows, I can tell you that good technique is just as important.  For the best recordings on a budget, check out this list of tips and tools for the budding podcaster. "

"The myth about social media in the classroom is that if you use it, kids will be Tweeting, Facebooking and Snapchatting while you're trying to teach. We still have to focus on the task at hand. Don't mistake social media for socializing. They're different -- just as kids talking as they work in groups or talking while hanging out are different. You don't even have to bring the most popular social media sites into your classroom. You can use Fakebook or FakeTweet as students work on this form of conversation. Edublogs, Kidblog, Edmodo, and more will let you use social media competencies and writing techniques. Some teachers are even doing "tweets" on post-it notes as exit tickets. You can use mainstream social media, too."

"Using topics that children are naturally excited about is a great way to grab their attention across the content areas.  When it comes to sports, there are a few iPad apps that I love including the fantastic MLB.com At Bat.  You can ask students to write their own math problems using data they find within the app or assign each student a different team or player to create a graph of different stats.  This app asks you to subscribe for extra features but after you decline this option you can access all of the data you'll need for math projects!"

"You can't watch a video like you read a book; the modalities couldn't be much different. On the surface level a video uses light, color, sound, and moving images, with the potential for adding text and shape and color and light filters as overlays to communicate ideas, while the most basic text structures use alphanumeric symbols, paragraph and sentence structure, and an assortment of text features (e.g., white space, headings and subheadings, fonts, etc.) to convey their message. There is much, much more to it than this. Videos are meant to be consumed in short bursts, while literature, for example, is meant to be "sat with." Videos are (often manic) sprints, while texts are (often meandering) walks. Because of this very different tone and purpose as a matter of design, it's unfair to criticize videos as "less rigorous" than texts, just as it would be misleading to say that video is universally "more engaging" than text (something I may or may not have said in the past). It's more complex than that."

"Given the amazing freedom and creativity involved in this virtual playground, the best Minecraft books take on so many different forms. From handbooks to crafts to novels to activities, there there are so many different books to blow the mind of young Minecraft fans. So, to get things in order, we have gone exploring and found thirteen of the best minecraft books for kids!"

"The idea of connecting with other educators, school leaders, and parents online is a great one. But figuring out where to start can be a challenge. Currently, about 80% of U.S. teachers are on social media and using it to become better at their profession. In an effort to make sure these teachers are making the most of their time, we wanted to put together a handy visual guide that will help you grow your professional learning network (PLN) using social media. These tips and ideas are simple and there's a big reason for that. Instead of giving you 50-100 different ways to use the social networks, we wanted to start small. Teachers have basically no time to learn 100 different ways to use Twitter so why not instead offer our best tips in one simple-to-use visual."

"In response to some of the requests I received this week regarding iPad apps for early literacy. I decided to arrange apps into different categories and in different posts. Today's list features apps to help your kid or student temper with the notion of words. These are basically word games and puzzles that scaffold vocabulary and grammar learning. Enjoy"

"very year, many of my students seem to have difficulty grasping the idea of perimeter and area. I've found that the best way to help students learn the difference between the two while figuring out how to properly calculate each is to have them engage in several different hands-on activities. This week I'll share with you how I introduce these important measurement concepts separately, then reinforce them with engaging cumulative activities that emphasize both area and perimeter."

"I've always found a sense of peace in the creative process. It's a time when I feel like I don't have to stick with the rules in place for all the different parts of my life. That freedom helps me come up with some of my most creative ideas and exciting projects. This has been true my entire life. When I entered the classroom, I wanted to give my students as many chances as possible to be creative. Over the years, I've seen amazing projects from students who dared to take creative chances. Until very recently, I thought these creative opportunities were the best way to engage kids in this process. It wasn't until I dove into the maker movement that I realized how much more is possible. I always come up with some big projects for my own students, but what about the rest of the building? I'd never been supported in larger school or district ideas, but this past year was different. With the support and challenge to do something for students outside of my classroom, I decided to go for it. After talking with some friends and our amazing media specialist, a makerspace in the library made the most sense. Here are some tips and tricks for putting together a makerspace in your school, and some thoughts on how it can be beneficial to your students."

"With the announcement today of an Apple Special Event scheduled to take place on September 9th 2015, rumours have been making the rounds on the Internet for months as to what new products we can expect to see unveiled. One thing we can be pretty certain about is the release of iOS 9. It was first unveiled and demoed at WWDC 2015, with a full release touted for fall of this year. I've been playing with with the iOS 9 beta on a secondary iPad Air for a couple of weeks now to get to grips with it ahead of this. It's not radically different in the way iOS 7 was, however what it does is make the operating system feel even more polished and refined. In the main, there are lots of features which have each been made a bit better. However this adds up to make a noticeable difference! Rather than focus on all of them (there are just too many), I'll focus on some of the key new features and improvements and in particular what they may bring to iPad classrooms."