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"Top 5 reasons why every teacher or educator should be using the power of Twitter!"

"April is National Poetry Month, and no matter what you teach,  you can transform the first five minutes of every class into an empowering, issues-packed, discussion-based, poetry-friendly space. In 30 Days of Poet Warriors: Young, Diverse Students, Writing for Change, I have compiled 30 poems and 16 videos by first-time poets and students that address race, immigration, moms, Michael Brown, and more."

"But when you're new at something, it's slow. It's painful, even. You suck at it. And when you realize you suck at it, you feel defeated. You second-guess every move. You are thinking so intentionally about every step that you sometimes feel like you are going nowhere. Over time, though, it becomes the backdrop. You've moved past the mechanics and you know what you're doing. It's a bit like driving a car. Remember when you sucked at driving? Remember when your heart would race if you went on the freeway? Remember when you had to tell yourself to turn on the turn signal? Well, that's what it's like when you are new at a creative process. You're suddenly the pimple-faced new driver trying to avoid an accident. I mention this, because I notice students who have never hit a place of creative fluency. They have no creative endurance. They give up quickly. They get frustrated too easily. They need too many instructions. But, honestly, it's because creativity has always been icing on the cake (which, honestly, is precisely what makes carrot cake a cake and not a loaf of zucchini bread). It's always been a "when we get to it" activity. It's been the culminating project. Then suddenly you have students who struggle to get anything done. However, it's not laziness. It's actually the byproduct of rarely getting the chance to make anything. "

"The term "design thinking" is often attached to maker spaces and STEM labs. However, design thinking is bigger than STEM. It begins with the premise of tapping into student curiosity and allowing them to create, test and re-create until they eventually ship what they made to a real audience (sometimes global but often local). Design thinking isn't a subject or a topic or a class. It's more of way of solving problems that encourages risk-taking and creativity. Design thinking is a flexible framework for getting the most out of the creative process. It is used in the arts, in engineering, in the corporate world, and in social and civic spaces. You can use it in every subject with every age group. It works when creating digital content or when building things with duct tape and cardboard."

"t's been two and a half years since Code.org hired our first salaried employee. We've been humbled to watch the landscape change in K-12 computer science (CS) over that time. This teacher-powered movement has reached hundreds of thousands of classrooms and millions of students. We've never been more confident in our ability to realize our vision - that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. Although only 25% of U.S. schools teach computer science and computer programming, the field is growing at a rapid pace. Enrollment in computer science is exploding. Over 10% of all U.S. students in grades K-8 registered accounts to begin coding in just the last 2 years. CS is the fastest-growing AP course of this decade. For the first time, the diversity of participating students is improving, with enrollment growth by women and students of color outpacing enrollment growth by White and Asian males."

"Our boys have just received The Lego Movie for their birthdays and absolutely love it. I think they have watched it every day since receiving it and now we all have the words "Everything is Awesome!" floating around in our heads all day every day. It could become our new family motto: Everything is Awesome!! This got me thinking about how we could use Lego in our homeschool. Since we have many boxes of the bricks and the boys enjoy playing with it, why not use it to help them learn! So I have made a massive list of how lego can be used as part of your homeschool.   I have split it up into subject areas to make it easier to navigate."

"We ALL know who they are.  They're the teachers who are smiling almost every time you pass them in the hallways. They look energized and motivated.  Most of the time, they'll take a moment to ask how your day is going or about something in your personal life.  They're the teachers who are adored by their students and parents.  They rarely pass on negative information or chime in during a teacher gripe fest.  They truly and genuinely LOVE their jobs, and it shows. Truthfully, I've had years where I really felt like this teacher and other years that I envied those who did.  But you know what I've figured out over the years? That this magical positive glow and overall attitude of happiness about teaching is a daily CHOICE when you enter your school building. In the wise words of Abraham Lincoln,  "Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.""

"This year's Hour of Code has received unprecedented coverage.  Hadi Padovi from code.org opened the Nasdaq stock exchange and celebrities came out in full force to push computer science.  We heard the same alarming statistics that 95% of CS jobs will go unfilled.  Millions of students worldwide participated in activities that resembled puzzles.  Padovi tweeted a reply to me when I asked how the popularity of HOC compared to last year: As good as the activities are, they lack some needed elements.  The Hour of Code activities are not tied into curriculum. They are a one day event centred on puzzles.  One hour is not enough.  I would draw a parallel by saying we do not host "hour of gym" or "hour of music" activities once each year. What happens now?  The need for students to learn code and computer science will not disappear over this week.   In fact, we resolved very little.  My hope is that this week will be a springboard for more coding.  If students are to benefit from Hour of Code, we need to: Bring Coding into the existing curriculum and into the classroom Push STEM and find ways to bring it to every school Ensure that every teacher and student is aware of coding, CS and STEM Work with High Schools and the job sector to facilitate these programs"

"We live in an era where robotics and artificial intelligence will replace many of our current jobs. Global connectivity will continue to allow companies to outsource labor to other countries. Our students will likely change jobs every five to seven years. The corporate ladder is gone and in its place, is a complex maze. They will inhabit a world of constant change. But how do we help students navigate that maze? We often hear that our current students will work in jobs that don't exist right now. But here's another reality: our current students will be the ones who create those jobs. Not every student will create the next Google or Pixar or Lyft. Some students will be engineers or artists or accountants. Some will work in technology, others in traditional corporate spaces and still others in social or civic spaces. Some of them will work in high-skilled manufacturing. But no matter how diverse their industries will be, our students will all someday face a common reality. They will need to be self-starters and self-managers. This is why metacognition is so vital. Metacognition happens when students analyze tasks, set goals, implement strategies and reflect on what we're learning."

"Close your eyes and listen. What do you hear? If the answer is "nothing", then try again. There are very few places in the world that are completely silent. Every room, every environment has a sound. Understanding this and using these soundscapes correctly within a school or college Drama production can make a massive difference to the suspension of disbelief you are trying to create. And the act of thinking about and designing them can be a fun exercise for a drama class and make sound a more inclusive subject."

In teaching and for learning relationships are everything.   This is one of those statements that cannot be overstated, it is true now, it has always been true.To craft a truly positive school climate demands our fullest attention to every detail of every relationship we build but the effort is well worth it.  

"nterested in integrating Scratch into your classroom this Fall, but aren't sure where to start? Here's a recap of our Scratch Across Every Subject Series!"

"Data is on overdrive. It's being generated at break-neck pace, flooding out of the dozens of connected devices we use every day, and it shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the number of internet users has grown over a billion in the last five years, more than half of the world's web traffic now comes from mobile phones. In its fifth year, Data Never Sleeps shows exactly how much data is created every single minute. From tweets to swipes, likes to shares, the digital world is exploding. Have a look."

"In India, 41km of highway road was constructed every day for the year of 2016. In the Indian government budget, it estimated the cost just for 2016 to be 19 billion USD. It would be financing any shortfall through tax-free government bonds. Computational thinking would have played an instrumental role in deciding on where the road would go through with taking into account the key hubs and may have saved the government millions, if not billions of dollars. Jeanette Wing (2012) defines computational thinking as the thought process involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution in a way that a computer-human or machine can effectively carry out. It is the process of abstraction by; choosing the right abstractions, operating in terms of multiple layers of abstraction simulations and defining the relationships between layers guided by efficiency, correctness, and flexibility. Computational thinking can best be related to as writing software or instructionals. Every action or non-action is accounted for in the way computational artifacts are constructed. Computational thinking is great for working out a solution but there is an argument that computational thinking does not put enough emphasis on the problem itself. Design thinking, on the other hand, attempts to understand the intent or problem before looking at any solution - computational or otherwise. Design thinking attempts to identify why the problem exists in the first place before solving it. IDEO defines design thinking as the application of empathy and experimentation to arrive at innovation solutions through making decisions based on stakeholder input and evidence based research. Using the Indian roading example, a design thinker would ask, what is the intent of building the roads in the first place?"

"What if you could squeeze an extra ten minutes out of your busy day and devote them to more meaningful interactions with students, colleagues and parents? While a school day is estimated to be around 6.7 hours, every educator knows that a teacher's workday is much longer. Carving out extra time in a teaching day may seem like a tall order for many educators, who often must steal hours from their evenings, cutting into their own professional development time and tipping the scales on their work-life balance. While a school day is estimated to be around 6.7 hours, every educator knows that a teacher's workday is much longer. Add the time required for all the other parts of the job-lesson planning, providing students extra support, grading, and parent and staff meetings-and teachers can expect to put in a 12- to 16-hour workday. Recent advancements in data analytics and artificial intelligence, however, may help teachers gain back some of those hours. These technologies offer new efficiencies and insights into classroom learning, allowing educators to harness the power of data from their learning management systems (LMSs) and freeing them up to focus their time on activities that truly lead to better learning outcomes."

"Every year thousands of educators gather for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference eager to learn about the newest features in favorite apps and to glean ideas from one another about how to effectively teach in new ways. The conference seems to grow every year and there is palpable excitement from educators who finally get to commune with their "tribe" - techy teachers from around the globe. But many of the products currently being marketed to educators are firmly rooted in the current moment of education. For the most part, they focus on how to help educators do what they already do more efficiently. Or they offer flashy digital tools meant to engage learners presumed to have short attention spans, and entice teachers with the analytics under the hood. But too often the conversations around what educators can do with technology in their classrooms focus on the current moment in a system that almost no one thinks is perfect. "I'm fascinated by trying to look forward rather than looking at what schools look like now," said Alan November during a presentation at the conference. November has long been invested in education, first as a teacher and now has a consultant and speaker. He suggests that to fundamentally change, education leaders need to define a new role for learners and then hire teachers who can help nurture those qualities. With that in mind, November proposes seven questions that he thinks should become standard in the interviewing and hiring process. "

"Drones do lots of good in the world, and the ways they can be used for good seem to be growing every day. (There's even a "UA Drones for Good" competition held in Dubai every year.) Here is our list of some of the ways that drones are being used for good right now. Know of others? Reach out and let us know on Twitter using the hashtag #dronesforgood. We'd love to see this list grow!"

"You may have heard of play. It's that thing children do - the diverse range of unstructured, spontaneous activities and behaviours. Children play in many ways, including by exploring movements, constructing with equipment, creating games, using imagination and chasing others around a playground. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises play as every child's basic right. But play is becoming extinct. Global studies, across generations, have confirmed outdoor children's play has been declining, across all age groups, for decades. Play is every child's basic right. from shutterstock.com Unstructured play improves learning and social and physical development. Providing a variety of play options, improved play access and fewer restrictions can encourage children to engage in physical activity with peers in line with their imaginations."

"Anyone who says you can't apply computational thinking and digital learning strategies to strengthen students' writing skills is wrong. To the contrary, this innovative learning style helps students hone critical-thinking skills across every discipline. In my classroom, I teach students computational thinking through free materials from Ignite My Future in School, a partnership between Tata Consultancy Services and Discovery Education. I especially enjoy using their Curriculum Connectors, online resources for teachers across disciplines to help their students apply computational thinking techniques. The core tenets of computational thinking are the building blocks that help my students become better learners and problem-solvers across every area of their work-from all areas of reading and language arts. Here's how five core computational thinking approaches help my students build stronger critical thinking and writing skills:"