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"The digital revolution, globalisation and demographic changes are transforming labour markets at a time when policy makers are also struggling with persistently slow productivity and wage growth and high levels of income inequality. The new OECD Jobs Strategy provides a comprehensive framework and detailed policy analysis and recommendations to help countries promote not only strong job creation but also foster job quality and inclusiveness as central policy priorities, while emphasising the importance of resilience and adaptability for good economic and labour market performance in a rapidly changing world of work. The key message is that flexibility-enhancing policies in product and labour markets are necessary but not sufficient. Policies and institutions that protect workers, foster inclusiveness and allow workers and firms to make the most of ongoing changes are also needed to promote good and sustainable outcomes. "The OECD's latest Jobs Strategy is a smart and sensible updating and rethinking of how countries should advance the goal of shared prosperity. I hope policymakers around the world not only read it but take its important advice." Jason Furman, Professor Harvard Kennedy School and former Chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers   "Inequality, economic insecurity, economic exclusion, are making the headlines.  Anger is high, populist rhetoric is on the rise.   What can be done?  What strategies to adopt?  These are the challenging questions taken up by the new OECD Jobs Strategy report.  I hope the report triggers the very serious discussions these issues deserve."    Olivier Blanchard, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute, Emeritus Professor at MIT and former Chief Economist of the IMF "

"Carolyn Cameron, one of the most open and progressive principals I have ever known (she was also my former boss), shared the following video regarding student expectations for school. The first point was that it was important to build relationships and know students as individuals. The nine other points are things that I really believe in, but it was great hearing it from a student perspective."

"As I continue my semester both as EAP teacher and MA student, I'm confronted with issues related to where learning occurs and how it is most facilitated. As a reflective practitioner, I notice the former evidenced differently among my students and have been trying to connect this to my own graduate experiences to come to some theories about the latter. Though my conclusions are not absolute, I keep questioning whether concrete learning outcomes provide the teacher/student with anything beyond disappointment and whether the teacher really teaches anything. "

"With all the acronyms that determine hundreds of different areas of education, it is easy to confuse them all. Since 2001, the letters STEM have been a normal part of educational vocabulary. The acronym STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This program was started by Judith A. Ramaley, the former director of the National Science Foundation's education and human-resources division."

"In September, 1982, Tom Lough started The National Logo Exchange with Steve Tipps and Glen Bull as a monthly newsletter for Logo teachers and parents. In January, 1986 The International Logo Exchange was launched with Dennis Harper as the editor-in-chief. In September, 1986 these two publications were combined and renamed Logo Exchange . The International Council for Computers in Education (ICCE) acquired the publication in 1987, designating it as the official journal of the ICCE Special Interest Group for Logo-Using Educators (SIG-Logo). In 1989 ICCE was renamed the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Logo Exchange continued as the ISTE journal for SIG-Logo until the fall of 1999, when the SIG was dissolved. The collected issues of Logo Exchange provide a window on Logo developments and Logo teaching over a span of 17 years. We are making these historic documents available here on the Logo Foundation Web site. All 18 volumes of The National Logo Exchange are posted here along with the four issues of The International Logo Exchange. We also include Last Logo Exchange, a collection of essays written by the former editors of Logo Exchange 15 years after it ceased publication. Click on an issue below to see a PDF scan of the original publication. These documents may be downloaded, reproduced, and copied for personal and educational uses provided that you do not charge for copies, and that you include the original copyright notices on them."

"At ISTE 2016 I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel, sponsored by Samsung Education, with other educators and industry experts, spending an hour talking about literacy in the age of technology. It was an engaging discussion that looked at how one district in Tennessee leveraged technology to improve reading in the middle grades and also how literacy instruction is being impacted by the use of technology. My role in the discussion was that of a former District Technology Leader and what I've seen when implementing district technology programs centered around literacy. For me this discussion really hit home. As a Father of a 2 daughters I see on an almost daily basis how computers, tablets and apps are impacting their literacy skills. For my 7 yr old she uses her tablet to find books she wants to read and also is able to practice her skills through read aloud and other features in the books. For my 3 year old she is able to use her manipulatives and other apps to practice her letters and letter sounds. It's truly incredible to watch both of them using the technology and its power to learn. As I've reflected on this panel a lot there are some important themes to remember when it comes to literacy and technology that we need to remember."

"Have you ever wondered if all those people you see staring intently at their smartphones -- nearly everywhere, and at all times -- are addicted to them? According to a former Google product manager you are about to hear from, Silicon Valley is engineering your phone, apps and social media to get you hooked. He is one of the few tech insiders to publicly acknowledge that the companies responsible for programming your phones are working hard to get you and your family to feel the need to check in constantly. Some programmers call it "brain hacking" and the tech world would probably prefer you didn't hear about it. But Tristan Harris openly questions the long-term consequences of it all and we think it's worth putting down your phone to listen."

"On my blog,Teachingwithsoul.com, I share my passion to support new teachers. I founded New Teacher Chat #ntchat for this purpose. Join me! Core Blogger @Edutopia @KIDS_DISCOVER, & former Principal. "

"Dig-It! Games, an independent developer of educational, interactive games founded by a former archaeologist and middle school teacher, has launched Can U Dig It!, its latest free game app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that turns kids into archaeologists as they dig for ancient artifacts using logic and a little luck. The puzzle app virtually transports players 11 and older to excavation sites in Central America to carefully collect more than 40 historically accurate artifacts."

"I have been sharing several visuals on Bloom's Taxonomy over the last couple of years but I never came across a graphic that captures the essence of the three versions of Bloom's taxonomy as the one below. Actually, Bloom's taxonomy comes only into two versions, the original which was created by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom sometime in the 1950s of last century. During the 1990s another group of educators and cognitive psychologists led by Lorin Anderson ( a former student of Bloom) updated the original version to make it convenient with the learning needs of the 21st century."

"n a rainy Saturday at Hackbright Academy classroom in San Francisco, a group of 35 adults sat at tables, desks, and on couches learning how to code. Marcy, a former artist and now programmer for Uber, taught the class. During a break, Marcy shared that she'd never taken a programming class prior to starting a job in art media. After completing courses at places like Hackbright and General Assembly, she realized how much she enjoyed coding and switched careers. Today she volunteers to teach coding on the weekends. Real world. Compare Marcy's story to Daria's, a high school junior. Daria applied to take her school's AP Computer Science class and was rejected. The reason? She lacked the math prerequisites. Even if she had the prerequisites, she lamented, the counselor told her that her grades probably wouldn't have been high enough to compete for one of the precious 30 seats in the single section that was offered. School world. Learning In The New Economy Of Information | MindShift Teaching in the New (Abundant) Economy of Information How We Can Connect School Life to Real Life Daria's and Marcy's stories speak to the differences between school world and real world. In Marcy's world learning is abundant and artists become coders. In Daria's world, learning is scarce and limited by classroom space and teacher availability."

"The learn-to-code movement is aiming younger. MIT and partners, for example, recently released a free iPad app with its visual programming language ScratchJr., so kindergartners could use it to code stories and games even before knowing how to read. Vikas Gupta, a former Google executive who founded the startup Wonder Workshop (formerly called Play-i), has taken a slightly different path. "We learned that in order to make programming of interest to young children, it has to be a tangible product. It can't be just software," he told Co.Exist last year. Enter Dot and Dash-Wonder Workshop's two new robots that teach coding skills to children as young as five that are now being field tested in a few dozen elementary school classrooms nationally. And they are definitely tangible: Dash hears and responds to sounds, navigates around a room and avoid obstacles, and comes to life with sound and lights. He can even play the xylophone. Dot, on the other hand, doesn't have wheels and is meant to interact with Dash via Bluetooth and act as a controller. Both have their own customizable "personalities." On the back end, through four apps that control both robots, they are secretly teaching coding skills such as "event-based programming, sequencing, conditionals, and loops.""

"3 Reasons Why Faculty Meetings Are a Waste of Time By Peter DeWitt on April 10, 2015 6:50 AM Faculty Meeting.png Many school leaders walk into a faculty meeting with a single idea of how they want to move forward and walk out with the same idea. That's telling... John Hattie talks a great deal about the Politics of Distraction, which means we focus on adult issues, and not enough time...if ever...on learning. That is happening around the U.S. for sure. Recently the Assembly of NY State only furthered those distractions, which you can read about here, which means that school leaders and teachers have to work harder to maintain a focus on learning. Quite frankly, well before mandates and accountability, school leaders focused on the politics of distraction and not on learning. Compliance is not new in schools. Faculty meetings were seen as a venue to get through and something that teachers were contractually obligated to attend. During these days of endless measures of compliance, principals can do a great deal to make sure they don't model the same harmful messages to staff that politicians are sending to teachers. Jim Knight calls that "Freedom within form." In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo quotes Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) when he writes, "Creativity is often misunderstood. People often think of it in terms of artistic work - unbridled, unguided effort that leads to beautiful effect. If you look deeper, however, you'll find that some of the most inspiring art forms - haikus, sonatas, religious paintings- are fraught with constraints. (p. 190)" Clearly, constraints have a wide definition. There is a clear difference between the constraints of compliance and the stupidity of the legislation just passed by the assembly in NY. As we move forward, principals still are charged...or at least should be...with the job of making sure they offer part...inspiration, part...teacher voice...and a great deal of focus on learning. There is never a more important tim

"Educational author and former teacher, Dr. Michael Schmoker shares in his book, Results Now, a study that found of 1,500 classrooms visited, 85 percent of them had engaged less than 50 percent of the students. In other words, only 15 percent of the classrooms had more than half of the class at least paying attention to the lesson. So, how do they know if a student is engaged? What do "engaged" students look like? In my many observations, here's some evidence to look for:"

"Algebra holds a lot on its shoulders. It is often referred to as the gateway to a successful math journey and for many it is the first time that math gets really really difficult. Pair that with all of the goodness that comes from middle school/early high school and you get a lot of pressure on a subject that has the potential to be one of the most memorable and powerful classes of a student's school career (that is coming from a former algebra teacher, so saying this with a 100% bias)."

"The beginning of the school year is a time to set the tone for a student's learning experience, including what teachers expect from students and families. But that first week of school is also the time to teach valuable learning skills that will be used throughout the year. Alan November, a former teacher turned lecturer, consultant and author, challenged teachers to rethink how they start the school year by outlining skills that are crucial to students to learn in the first five days of school. He shared his vision at the International Society for Technology in Education conference in Philadelphia."

"From ambitious entrepreneurs to casual meet-up participants, women are proactive about engaging with STEM and with other women in their field. Besides their shared affinity with science, tech, engineering, and math, they often find that they have another thing in common. Many of these women can recall a time when they walked into a classroom or office, looked around, and noticed that they were sharing the space with an overwhelming majority of men. This was the experience of Nicole Messier, a former student of aerospace engineering, who recalls that she had sparse female role models, teachers, or peers in her undergraduate program. Instead of following a traditional aerospace career, Messier instead decided to help change STEM's evident gender imbalance. She is now the CEO of blink blink, a purveyor of creative circuit kits that help beginners get their feet wet with simple electronics, arts & crafts with embedded circuitry, and wearable fashion technology. Not only did she co-found the company, she also collaboratively designed the kits with the very girls that they're made for."

"School and district leaders that are thinking about personalizing education tell us one of their top concerns is how to train, support, and develop teachers effectively to teach in ways that may feel new and unfamiliar.  As former educators we agree that this is crucial, and are happy that they recognize the challenge and are ready to take it on. First and foremost, in order to support the teachers we are asking to teach in blended learning environments we have to understand the implications on teaching practice.  Over the past three years, we've worked with thousands of teachers tackling the question of how to personalize learning in their classrooms and we've gathered a set skills into 5 domains of blended learning teaching that we believe are new skills to master for veteran and novice teachers alike. This five-domain rubric was created, not for evaluation purposes (there are enough evaluation rubrics out there!), but for teachers to be able to self-assess, set goals and progress.  In the same way, we want blended learning to allow for students to have a better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, we want teachers to be able to identify blended specific skills and better understand their own strengths and areas for growth.  We wanted to give teachers, their coaches, and their leaders, a sense of what to strive for, and help them plot a path to get there through aligned professional development.  We also found that the teachers we work with cherish the opportunity to self-reflect, identify the skills they have and the skills they need, and take the time to set goals around where they want to shift their practice.  Many of our schools infuse these concepts into community of practices discussions for continuous learning."

"We all know that the back-to-school season is exciting -- not just for students and educators, but for parents, businesses, and the media as well. It's a time when the greater community is primed to pay attention to its schools. As Nora Carr, Chief of Staff for Guilford County (NC) Schools and former president of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) has written, "In terms of PR heaven, it doesn't get any better than this." So it's important that educators consider back-to-school communications a key part of their work, taking advantage of this once-a-year opportunity to spread the word about what's happening in their school (or district) and set the tone for the engagement of families and other stakeholders for the rest of the school year."