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"Is traditional reading and writing enough to be considered literate in the 21st century?I have put together my thoughts via a slide deck. Please note, that I am not advocating throwing out traditional reading and writing, but pushing the awareness that it simply might not be enough to prepare our students. We need to rethink our notion of critical literacy, develop authentic learning and assessment opportunities, upgrade and amplify our curriculum."

"I've been wanting to build my daughter an engineering wall for a long time.  A place for her to learn and play about some of the basics of engineering like pulleys and lights and pumps.  She loves designing and building, but all of the walls I had seen seemed either too complicated to build or not sturdy enough to be worth the time.  Then we went swimming and I had a burst of inspiration.  Pool noodles!  Light enough to hang on a wall, and sturdy enough to last a while.  And enter in my favorite wall hanging supply, Command™ products to get the job done.  Here's how we made an Awesome Pool Noodle Engineering Wall for Kids."

"I've been wanting to build my daughter an engineering wall for a long time.  A place for her to learn and play about some of the basics of engineering like pulleys and lights and pumps.  She loves designing and building, but all of the walls I had seen seemed either too complicated to build or not sturdy enough to be worth the time.  Then we went swimming and I had a burst of inspiration.  Pool noodles!  Light enough to hang on a wall, and sturdy enough to last a while.  And enter in my favorite wall hanging supply, Command™ products to get the job done.  Here's how we made an Awesome Pool Noodle Engineering Wall for Kids."

"There are a lot of dangerous stereotypes out there. "Asian students are always better at math." "Boys are always better at sports." And perhaps the most dangerous of all: "The current generation are all digital natives." It is easy to see the danger in the first two stereotypes. They tend to influence the way teachers, parents, peers and society in general classify, justify and treat whichever group is represented by the stereotype. I'm not sure enough people give enough thought to the third, equally dangerous, stereotype."

"In a recent piece here in TIME, I wrote about seven areas of explosive growth in tech that will drive our world and economy over the next 10-15 years. There, I said that for us to achieve this level of growth, we'll need millions of new workers skilled in STEM. At the moment, we just don't have enough of these skilled tech workers to make my vision of a connected world a reality. In fact, when I talk to big companies like Boeing, Intel, Qualcomm and so on, they fear that, as they grow, they will not have enough tech-educated staff to meet their engineering needs. One estimate says there will be 2.4 million STEM-based job vacancies in 2018 alone."

"We educators may be tempted to believe that once students develop growth mindset, they are adequately prepared to face life's challenges and changes. But growth mindset is not nearly enough by itself to thoroughly outfit anyone with all it takes to attain their full potential. Possessing a positive perspective is but one instrument in what must be a cohesive quartet that meets each child's fundamental needs. Growth mindset is indeed crucial, but not any more or less so than three other sets of readiness. Educators must nurture the whole child. The following four core capabilities are equally important and inextricably intertwined."

" Using Twitter sounds so simple. Type out no more than 140 characters - the maximum allowed in a single tweet - and hit send. That's all, right? Not quite. Twitter's interface may look simple, but it is not, and its complexity has turned off many people who tried the service. This is a problem because one of the big questions facing Twitter before it starts trading as a public company, perhaps as early as next month, is whether it can attract enough users to become a robust outlet for advertising dollars. Although Twitter brings in money from advertising, it does not yet sell enough ads to make a profit. "

"TED Books is an iPad app that provides TED fans with short electronic books produced once a month by TED conferences. The books are less than 20.000 words long "long enough to unleash a powerful narrative, but short enough to be read in a single sitting.""

"The iPad has been a great tool for education since it debuted in 2010, thanks in large part to an abundance of apps and games that blend information with entertainment. It's portable enough to use around the house or on the road, and it's simple enough that kids can use it without getting lost. It's also been a great tool for teaching children to become better readers. There are many apps available that parents can use to help their kids improve their reading skills significantly, whether they're just starting out or brushing up on some basics. Here are some of the best:"

"I took piano lessons as a kid, but it's hard lugging a piano around when you want to take your tune-playing on the road.  I tried teaching myself some chords on the guitar, but it turns out that you need big, strong hands to press down on the strings hard enough to make music. My hands are neither big, nor are they strong. So instead I picked up the ukulele, and, using YouTube, taught myself how to play.  The problem is, I've run out of songs to play that are remedial enough for me to learn. That's where Riffstation Play comes in."

"When using an iPad, there are not many free video editors that are robust enough, or have enough features, to warrant you spending a lot of time and effort on. Recently, I write about the Clips Video Editor. It is a great free option for schools or anyone else who is looking for a quick easy editor. Today I am writing about a new app that recently got a big overhaul to make it much more useable. It is called Cameo by Vimeo."

"As I mentioned in my article, "The Research Behind 20% Time", there is a lot of support for this type of inquiry-based learning in schools. However, I want to point out a few important pieces of information in this post on why many of the folks talking about the demise of Google's 20% time and whether or not Genius Hour is enough…are simply missing the point."

"You'd heard about this parent from other teachers. This parent was a handful. Rude. Combative. Aggressive. Even litigious. In response, you worry, if just a little. You have enough to deal with, and butting heads with an angry parent-especially one angry just because-doesn't sound like fun. You don't get paid enough for that hot mess. So you keep calm and hope to ride the year out. Maybe they won't call. Maybe they'll skip parent-teacher conferences. You've even considered grading their child a little easier just to avoid the hassle of it all. We've all been there. Nothing can solve this problem, but there are ways to take the edge off so that you can open up the lines of communication and deal with the parent on equal terms so that they're child has the best chance for success."

"When you find something cool that Adam Bellow likes, the chances are high that you will like it too! For me, this truism manifested itself recently in the form of a tweet Adam sent declaring his love for the recently released Tickle app for iOS. Tickle is a free coding app for the iPad that lets students create programs to control Spheros, Air Parrot Drones, and even Philips Hue Lights. Intrigued? I thought you might be! Here's what you need to know. Tickle started as a Kickstarter campaign, and uses block coding elements that were inspired by the likes of Scratch, Tynker, Blockly and Hopscotch. The simple coding interface is accessible enough to be used with early elementary students, but it has enough potential to challenge middle school students and beyond. Programs can be written and tested in the app without connecting to any other devices, but connecting to a Sphero or an Air Parrot Mini Drone is where the real fun begins."

"Over the years, I've listened with interest as many have spoken to the importance of helping kids establish and maintain a digital footprint that they can be proud of. I know that some college admissions officers make a study of such things. I also know it's not enough for kids to simply avoid certain online behaviors. When young people define their interests and share their expertise in service to others online, they begin forming a global network that enriches their learning and their lives immeasurably. This is the whole point of being connected. Senior year is the perfect time to make this a priority if kids haven't done it already, because this is often when young people begin to recognize what their contribution to the world might be. It's also when they begin to realize that when it comes to learning the things that truly interest them, school just hasn't been enough."

"Becoming a coding teacher doesn't need to be intimidating. I've tried to convert real programmers into after-school coding teachers and it completely bombed. Trust me -- as a well-trained teacher, you have all of the skills you need to be successful. Plus, it's not like you have to know enough to make the next Facebook, just enough to teach the basics! So let's get started."

" In our hyper-connected, 24/7 world, many of us are losing sleep - literally. Our own survey of more than 180 business leaders found that four out of 10 (43%) say they do not get enough sleep at least four nights a week. Such sleep deficiencies can undermine important forms of leadership behavior and eventually hurt financial performance. This article will explore the link between sleep and leadership before discussing solutions that can improve both individual well-being and organizational efficiency and effectiveness."

"THE WHOLE WORLD is exhausted. And it's killing us. But particularly me. As I write this, I'm at TED 2019 in Vancouver, which is a weeklong marathon of talks and workshops and coffee meetings and experiences and demos and late-night trivia contests and networking, networking, networking. Meanwhile, I'm sick as a dog with a virus I caught from my 3-year-old, I'm on deadline for what feels like a bazillion stories, and I'm pregnant, which means I need coffee but can't have too much, and need sleep but can only lay on my left side, and can't breathe without sitting propped up with a pillow anyway, since I can't safely take any cold medication. According to neuroscientist Matthew Walker, I'm doing serious damage to my health-and life-by not sleeping enough."

"As the Maker Movement has gained steams schools and educators alike have begun to incorporate makerspaces as exploratory centers for students to invent, tinker, create, and make to learn.  A makerspace can best be defined as a physical place where students can create real-world products/projects using real-world tools.  In 2013 I was fortunate enough to hire media specialist/teacher librarian Laura Fleming, who took the initiative to create a makerspace in our school.  Through her work I discovered some guiding principles that might just help you begin to create a makerspace in your school or integrate the process of making across the curriculum.  It is first important to understand three underlying qualities that essential in ensuring that students make to learn:"

"As with most workshops, the overwhelming influx of ideas from Alan's workshop left teachers with a mix of emotions, feeling somewhere in-between, "I'm not doing enough" and "There's so much out there, I want to try everything now!" A suggestion that Mike Pelletier aptly calls, "TBC" (Tech Baby Steps) is always a good idea. Begin with just one thing that grabbed your attention and go with it - make it work for your classroom, not as an add-on, but as an integration."