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"Your voice launches the immersive audio adventure that is one part Oregon Trail, one part Back to the Future, one part Choose Your Own Adventure, and one part classic radio theater. Guardians of History players become Time Travel Agents to explore historical civilizations and learn about the characters and institutions that influenced them. The free, choice-driven adventure is designed for all ages-both students and enthusiasts. A version is designed for players under 13. Time travel begins when you enable tell your smart speaker-Amazon Echo or Google Home, either "Alexa, open Guardians of History," or "OK Google, open Guardians of History." And, if you are using a screen-enabled device like Echo Show, Echo Spot or Google Home Hub, you will be able to see supporting illustrations to enrich the story."

"Kathleen Cushman, author of Fires in the Mind (and Edcamper!), has done countless studies on motivation and engagement. In many ways, her findings echo Daniel Pink's work in his text, Drive. Kathleen has just released a FREE eBOOK called The Motivation Equation. In the brief text, she describes design methodology that will help ignite students' passions. It's definitely worth a look!"

Woices is a FREE internet service that allows people to create, share and consume echoes, audio records which are linked to a very specific geographical location or real world object. Woices ultimate goal is to extend reality by creating a new layer of audio information, what we call the echoesphere, that will make the world a more interesting place.

"Students only need a model and a push to do amazing things. Then a smart teacher gets out of the way and let's the magic happen. When I first became engulfed in the amazing world of Twitter, I couldn't imagine not sharing the experience with my students. What started as a little spark and a hot mess three years ago has turned into a full-on immersion of social media in my classes. Twitter has amplified the voices of my students well beyond the walls of our classroom and it's echoing through the global learning landscape. Now, social media is an integral part of the learning that transpires and I can't imagine why others aren't using it. Recently, I guest moderated an #edtechchat that highlighted the versatility of Twitter in the classroom. With the help of my students who participated at 8pm on a Monday night and amazing educators across the world, we discussed the vibrancy Twitter can add to student learning"

""There just isn't enough time to integrate technology and adequately cover the curriculum." "What will happen next year when they go to a new classroom and realize school is work and not all 'fun and games?' You're setting them up for disappointment." "Playing games all day just isn't good teaching." Sentiments like these echo in the hallways and classrooms, offices, and teachers' lounges across the nation. Technology can be an important tool that helps teachers teach and students learn. But are we utilizing it to its fullest potential?"

"In case you didn't know there are thousands of educators and an array of learning communities over at Google+.  The bottom line is that many people are missing out on some great content, resources, and conversation.  From my point of view educators become quickly attached to one specific social media tool as their go to source for his/her Personal Learning Network (PLN).  Take Twitter for example.  Now anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love Twitter as a professional learning and networking tool. It has been and will continue to be my number one choice when it comes to learning in the foreseeable future. Twitter has many positive attributes, but also a growing number of negative aspects.  Some examples in my opinion, include an increasing amount of negativity and disrespect, rise in social media cliques, difficulty in following chats, noise, and overbearing opinions.  Even as Twitter still works great for me and others it is not the only player out there.  Nor should it be considered the best learning option for all. At times I just need to get away from the echo chamber to focus more on my learning."

"he sound of activity echoes throughout the classroom. I find myself engaged in a small-group conversation around the igneous rocks that the students in this group are holding. Remembering that shortly before that conversation I'd been about to redirect some students, I quickly scan the room searching for off-task behavior. To my delight, I find that a wide array of learning is taking place. In one corner, I see students watching a video and typing online reflections. In the other corner, I see students comparing their drawings on the rock cycle. This is what a good day built on learning centers looks like. As teachers strive to find ways of promoting key success skills while making use of limited resources, learning centers can be an invaluable tool in the secondary classroom. In addition, learning centers provide time-strapped teachers with opportunities for meaningful formative assessment that helps drive the classroom instruction. What are some strategies that secondary teachers can use to successfully launch learning centers in their classrooms?"

"It's time we create learning environments that make mathematics accessible for all students "But I'm just not a math person." We've all heard this refrain-and possibly even echoed it ourselves. As a young student, I felt this way for many years. For some reason, math just never clicked for me. My 11th-grade math class with Mr. Peterson changed all that. Why was his class different? He worked hard to bring us examples of math in the real world, connecting concepts back to our lives and making them feel relevant and accessible to us. He gave us voice and choice in our learning, and it made all the difference for me. I can only imagine how much my confidence and enthusiasm for math could have been changed had I experienced a similar instructional approach in all the grades prior. I've come to understand that there is no such thing as a "math person," and that high-quality math instruction is key to helping learners shed that perception. We know from decades of research that success in mathematics is more linked to opportunities to learn in a meaningful way than to innate intelligence, and we know that effective educators can nurture mathematical abilities in all students."

"A wave of concern about the ill effects of smartphones and their apps echoes fears of earlier innovations, including TV, the printing press, and writing itself."

"Have you noticed more discussion recently about Artificial Intelligence or AI? When first hearing "Artificial Intelligence" is there an image that pops into your mind? Is it something that you can easily define? Perhaps your understanding/reference point is something you've seen in the movies. For myself, being an 80s child, my initial frame of reference is Star Wars, I immediately think of R2D2 or C3PO. My mind then wanders to thoughts of "I, Robot" starring Will Smith, in which the robots developed the capacity to think like humans, to feel and to take action on their own. And more currently, I think of the Alexa, Echo, Siri and others that have gained popularity, even more so recently. But what is the true meaning of AI and how do we see it in daily life?"

"Information literacy has been a hot topic of recent conversation. Many folks believe that web sites that traffic in false information and 'fake news' may have influenced the last United States presidential election. Traffic on the Snopes web site, which debunks false rumors, has never been greater. Ideological separation also is being driven by the ways that we sort ourselves in our schools, neighborhoods, friendship groups, political affiliations, and faith institutions. Already often isolated from the dissimilar-minded, we then also self-select into individualized news media and online channels that can result in walled-garden 'echo chambers' or 'filter bubbles.' To combat our growing concerns about fake news and filter bubbles, we're going to have to take the task of information literacy more seriously. And that means rethinking some organizational and technological practices."

"The week after my dad passed, I decided to come back. Bereavement time was up and I felt that getting back into my classroom would help. I was wrong. By the third day I was still feeling lost, overwhelmed, and exhausted. I ended taking the last two days of the week off. I came back, what I felt as "refreshed", the following Monday. Only still feeling lost, overwhelmed, and exhausted. As soon as I walked into the school I immediately met with the principal and told him that I couldn't continue. I needed more time away to deal with my emotions and to understand the scope of what took place. I could hear words of my dad echoing in my ear - "take care of yourself… if you don't, you'll end up sick." While my dad's health wasn't that great, and he knew it; he always made sure that everyone else took better care of themselves. Exactly like me. I make sure that others are always put before me. I could not longer do that. I needed to take care of myself before I ended up lying on the floor unable to move, like Izzy in Grey's Anatomy. Those four extra days was what I needed. I processed his death, I cried, I slept (for nearly two whole days), and I remembered the good times. I sat on the couch catching up on missed shows, Netflix, and Days of our Lives. We stress the importance of good mental health to our students, but I wasn't heeding my own words. I knew that being in the classroom too soon after his death wasn't making me a good teacher for my students."