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Backchanneling in Middle School Social Studies\nOne of the eighth grade social studies teachers at my middle school decided to try and engage his students even more during a classroom video by incorporating the backchanneling tool, TodaysMeet. \n\n * What is backchanneling? \n * Teacher: Pat Gerding [Twitter: gerdingp] [Website: http://www.minot.k12.nd.us/P.Gerding]\n

"Walk into our school library and you're bound to see scores of iPads propped up on the tables. Our students at Westlake High, a large suburban school on the outskirts of Austin, TX, are using them to read ebooks, download assignments, edit videos, write blog posts, and to do much more. Since we rolled out our 1:1 iPad program a year ago, more than 4,100 teachers and students, including eighth graders at the nearby middle school and even some of our elementary school classes, have taken advantage of these devices. In fact, they've become as much a part of students' everyday lives as their notebooks, backpacks, and textbooks."

"he term "project-based learning" gets tossed around a lot in discussions about how to connect students to what they're learning. Teachers might add projects meant to illustrate what students have learned, but may not realize what they're doing is actually called "project-oriented learning." And it's quite different from project-based learning, according to eighth grade Humanities teacher Azul Terronez."

"When teaching with digital natives in a digital world, one question facing many educators revolves around integrating technology to help facilitate learning: How do you work technology into the pedagogy, instead of just using something cool? That task can be especially daunting in language arts literacy classrooms where reading and writing skill development is the crux of daily lessons. However, as 1:1 technology initiatives roll out, integrating technology into the classroom is our reality. With hundreds of sites, apps, Chrome extensions, and platforms available, choosing the right ones can seem overwhelming. As an eighth-grade language arts teacher, I've experienced this myself. Following are four tools that can help provide immediate formative assessment data as well as top-of-the-rotation feedback to help students develop personal learning goals."

"It's no secret that fractions are a very difficult concept for students to understand. But why is that? Fractions are an extremely abstract concept, and without adequate concrete and representational experiences, students do not develop mental images of what the abstract symbols mean.   In Texas, students begin formal fraction instruction in 2nd grade under our newly adopted TEKS, but the symbolic notation for fractions (1/4, 2/3, etc.) is not taught until 3rd grade. The 2nd grade standards include: partition objects into equal parts and name the parts, including halves, fourths, and eighths, using words explain that the more fractional parts used to make a whole, the smaller the part; and the fewer the fractional parts, the larger the part use concrete models to count fractional parts beyond one whole using words and recognize how many parts it takes to equal one whole Let's take a closer look at each."

"At Burlington High School in Burlington, MA, we are entering our eighth month of a 1:1 iPad initiative that began in September 2011. Don't get me wrong, we think the iPad is a great device for learning and gives each of our students a dynamic learning tool that can be used across the content areas and to accomplish a variety of tasks. Many of the critics claim that we are backing our students into a corner by giving them one brand and one skill set to learn exclusively on one device. This is not the case at Burlington. Furthermore, I have support. "

"CHICAGO - By the time they reach eighth grade, according to federal tests, half of all African-American schoolboys have not mastered the most basic math skills that educators consider essential for their grade level. A new paper being released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests a promising approach for helping the most challenged students, who often arrive in high school several years behind their peers."

"I was super excited to attend Hack Education (originally called "EdubloggerCon"), an all-day unconference held the Friday before the formal start of ISTE 2014. This interactive day of learning, now in its eighth year, was touted to me as the event to attend in Atlanta, and it did not disappoint. The informal, small-group conversations were inclusive and welcoming. The "rule of two feet" meant that if you needed to move, you were encouraged. And session topics were diverse -- on the schedule were discussions about maker education, augmented reality, design thinking, game-based learning, coding in the classroom, digital storytelling, and many, many more!"

"I teach fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade Resource Room in a small public school. We are well endowed and all students grades 6 - 8 have their own iPads. I wanted to share some of the apps we use regularly in school. Please keep in mind, this is not a complete list, just what seems to be used over and over again. Also, make note that I am a special education teacher and some of these apps may be intended for younger students. Remember that not all kids are on page 39, let alone the same book - "

"(CNN)"I would rather not eat for a week than get my phone taken away. It's really bad," said Gia, a13-year-old. "I literally feel like I'm going to die." "When I get my phone taken away, I feel kind of naked," said Kyla, another 13-year-old. "I do feel kind of empty without my phone." Both participated in "#Being13: Inside the Secret World of Teens," a first-of-its-kind CNN study on social media and teens. More than 200 eighth graders from across the country allowed their social media feeds to be studied by child development experts who partnered with CNN. This is the first large scale study to analyze what kids actually say to each other on social media and why it matters so deeply to them."

"Eighth-grader Quin uses his passion for electronics to teach fellow students about 3D printing, arduinos, and other hands-on lessons in STEM skills. "

" brought a superhero into my classroom the other day. He wasn't wearing a cape. He didn't have an alias. But he had the greatest superpower of all: inspiration. When you teach using project-based learning (PBL), one brings outside expertise into the classroom. My eighth graders begin the year creating science fiction based origin stories for original superhero characters as an introduction to a greater advocacy unit. Therefore, it seemed natural to bring in an actual scientist. Which brought me to CalTech and Dr. Spyridon Michalakis."

"In search of the spell that will compel kids to turn pages, raise hands, journal and jump in, we asked teachers and experts in our social network community to share the novels they bring to their fourth- through eighth-grade students time and time again. We asked them which middle school novels not only inspire that magic-wand effect, but also teach cross-curricular content. "

"A while back, I was asked, "What engages students?" Sure, I could respond, sharing anecdotes about what I believed to be engaging, but I thought it would be so much better to lob that question to my own eighth graders. The responses I received from all 220 of them seemed to fall under 10 categories, representing reoccurring themes that appeared again and again. So, from the mouths of babes, here are my students' answers to the question: "What engages students?""

"Apple announced the eighth major release of its iOS mobile operating system at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The latest version of iOS include improvements to the Siri voice assistant, a new health and wellness app, and revamped notifications, among other things. With iOS 8 slated to arrive on devices in the coming weeks, now is the perfect time to ensure that your iPhone or iPad is prepared to receive the update. These tips will help make the transition to iOS 8 from iOS 7 as smooth as possible."

"Eighth-grader Quin uses his passion for electronics to teach fellow students about 3D printing, arduinos, and other hands-on lessons in STEM skills."

"As an eighth-grade teacher, I constantly hear from high school teachers how "we" don't teach certain topics in middle school. The students, they claim, don't know how to write a thesis statement or don't know how to use proper grammar, and this is clearly because we don't teach it. News flash: We're not just twiddling our thumbs down here in 'tween-land. It's taught. Retaught. Revised. Reworked. All those gaps you might see as deficiencies in the middle school teaching are misguided. What you are seeing, however, is the curse of the summer slide. "

"In December our hackerspace, Crash Space in Culver City, hosted an Instructables Build Night featuring Chibitronics Circuit Stickers. With Channukah around the corner, I thought an LED menorah would be a perfect project to see what I could make with the stick-on circuits. When celebrating Channukah, the candles of the menorah are lit each night, one for the first night, two for the second, and so on until the eighth night, when they are all lit. The middle candle is lit first each night, and is used to light the other eight candles. My goal for the LED menorah was for it function like the candles, with the center always lit, and an additional LED "candle" lit each night. I also wanted to set it up so that lighting the LED's each night didn't require additional construction. As you will see, the goals were met and turning on each additional LED was done using a pull tab, which allowed all the taping and construction to be done ahead of time."