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Mixbook.com is web-based but sets itself apart from the previously mentioned tools. It allows us to use storytelling in a way that we all are already comfortable and familiar with. The process does not create a new media, such as a podcast, a video clip uploaded to YouTube or a VoiceThread embedded in a blog or wiki, that most people are still getting comfortable in handling. Mixbook is a tool that allows anyone to tell a story by creating and publish it as a book!

"I believe that every single child is gifted and that every kid has a talent which we as educators should help uncover. This is not easy when you have a curriculum to follow and tons of material to teach. But that given we need to make time to work with kids in a different and more creative setting. It's important to let them explore new things that may not be present in your curriculum but are in your students' heads all the time. This is how we can awaken curiosity in young children and help them develop creative thinking. Interestingly though, this idea does not originate in education or teaching practice. It was actually inspired by Google's "20% Time" rule, which encourages employees to spend 20% of their time working on their own projects and ideas outside Google. This concept inspired the idea of a "Genius Hour" at school."

How might we define intelligence? What do we mean when we speak of intelligence and what evidence do we seek when we look for it? Is it a singular, fixed attribute determined at birth or does it vary across time and environment?

"Songza is a music discovery service designed to play the perfect tune for whatever mood or activity you are doing. Think about Pandora and how it designs its stations based off of other artists and songs. Songza does the same thing, but bases its music off of activities such as "Relaxing at Home" or "Cooking." Let's find out more after the jump."

"Everyone makes mistakes and children are no exception. What's important is how we learn from them. Yet, children grow up in a society that pressures them to be perfect and intelligent - to achieve the highest SAT scores, land prized scholarships, and get into the best universities. Parents reinforce this pressure at home when they cover up children's mistakes, correct homework to improve grades, or drill knowledge into kids until they get it right. Stress is increased when children are constantly praised for their intelligence. How does this focus on perfection and IQ affect learning? And how can we help children and teens believe in themselves by accepting their mistakes and learning from them?"

"I went to Edcamp Detroit last weekend and Erin Klein shared a free app that she has used in her classroom with a lot of success. The app is called Aurasma. The app allows individuals to create and publish their own augmented reality experiences they call "Auras." I'm sure you are thinking the same thing I was thinking when Erin was talking about this app, "Sounds cool, but what does it do?" Students and teachers can make lessons come alive with this platform. It is difficult to explain so I will explain it step by step, then show you what it looks like in action. "

"The iPad "certainly doesn't do everything a desktop or laptop computer does," Weston acknowledged. "It's not about the device, it's about the learning.""

"art of rethinking learning means rethinking the -which is what makes the following chart we spotted over at connectedprincipals compelling. Rather than simply a list of alternatives to homework, it instead contextualizes the need for work at home (or, "homework"). It does this by taking typical classroom situations-the introduction of new material, demonstrating a procedure, etc.), and offering alternatives to traditional homework assignments. In fact, most of them are alternatives to homework altogether, including group brainstorming, modeling/think-alouds, or even the iconic pop-quiz. Nothing ground-breaking, but food for thought, yes?"

"Recently, when I perused my twitter feed, I came upon a blog post titled Teacher as Learning Designer. Andrew Miller, the author, states: "If you are a teacher and you are trying to explain what you do, say, 'I am a learning designer!' Teachers need to be empowered with a variety of instructional designs to meet the needs of all students. They need to be honored for their expertise to create creative and engaging learning environments. We can re-frame the concept of "teaching" to truly encapsulate all that teachers can and should do!" The way teachers teach their students has, I believe, a direct correlation to the way in which they learn themselves. We have all read in the latest teaching journals that teachers of today have to be devoted to lifelong learning. But what does that mean, really? What elements affect teacher learning and then in turn affect how that teacher teaches?"

"I took my handicapped dog of 15 years for a walk in the grass. Maddie has gone from not being able to walk on her hind legs (a neurological problem) to gradually being able to walk with an awkward, back-legs-don't-really-know-where-they're-landing gait. Let me relate Maddie's experience to brain-compatible elements that my teachers implement at New Morning School every day. I provide my dog with the choice to engage in walking every day; she loves it. When children engage in activities they view as pleasurable, and when the projects are ones they have chosen, just as Maddie does, dopamine is released in the brain. This neurotransmitter increases attention and helps information to be stored in long-term memory.1"

"Conducting an extensive data mining for writing a scholarly academic paper does definitely require using online digital resources. Admittedly, a lot of the resources you want to cite in your paper can be found online and most of them through social media like Twitter. I have been experiencing this myself while working on the literature review of my thesis. I included many tweets in my paper using the APA style. To be sure my citations meet the academic standards I bought Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition . However after reading this guide, I wrote a short post on how to include citations in scholarly papers and today I am sharing with you another great resource on the same topic . This is basically an awesome chart featuring the different ways to cite social media using both MLA and APA style. I knew about this from our wonderful techy specialist Aditi Rao. "