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"DisplayNote is a software and app solution that gives a way of tying all these elements together. Simply load the software onto your computer (Mac or PC). When you open it up, it will work as an overlay to the computer desktop and give you a bank of interactive tools that you can use from your computer or any interactive display. "

"iTunes and App Store users have long been able to gift apps, movies, and music, and thanks to a recent iBooks Store change, we can all give the gift of literature too, and complete the whole transaction right in our hand from iOS. Perhaps best of all, you can schedule the gift arrival to be on a specific date, and the gifted book arrives neatly in their email inbox right on time, which means that even total slacker holiday shoppers like me will be able to get something for everyone in time for Christmas. "

"Based on a recent spate of articles on homework, it's clear that the homework wars - how much? how often? - are still topic of big interest to both parents and teachers. Some teachers hate to give homework; others see it as a vital necessity. But according to some research presented by Annie Murphy Paul, the question isn't how much, but whether the homework teachers do give actually advances learning."

"Feedback is an inevitable part of teaching. Naturally, you're in a position where you're giving a whole lot of feedback, but you're likely on the receiving end of feedback as well. We've all been on the receiving end of feedback in various aspects of our lives, and I'm sure we've all experienced some feedback that was less than desirable - for a variety of reasons. Even if the feedback itself is inherently negative, the delivery and process of the feedback doesn't have to be. The handy infographic below (from ASCD) offers 7 important things to remember about feedback. These are important items to remember both when you're giving and getting feedback. Keep reading to learn more."

"Editor's note:  Vicki Davis just wrote a new book called, Reinventing Writing. I asked her if she could contribute a post to The Innovative Educator explaining specifically how social media has reinvented writing. This is that post.   As hall of fame baseball player, Babe Ruth said, "Yesterday's home runs won't win tomorrow's games." To level up writing, we need to take advantage of the out-of-the park features and capabilities that social media inspired concepts give writing instruction. Most of us know how it feels to write an exciting Facebook status update or a powerful tweet. Without delay, we know the impact of our words as they are retweeted, commented on, and liked (or ignored.) With this in mind, it stands to reason that students want a response too. Paper essays that are only seen by the teacher with a wastebasket as their final destiny are a needless waste of time and potential. Writing can be so much more exciting and it isn't that hard to do. Notably, social media is impacting writing in the classroom in ten powerful ways. You don't have to be on social media (or even like it)  to feel the lift social media concepts can give writing in your classroom, as I share in my new book  Reinventing Writing released just this month."

"Over the years I frequently used resources like the BBC's Week In Pictures and Ten by Ten to give students visual prompts about current events. I found that the pictures often sparked more questions from students than just giving them a news article to read. The Getty Images Stream iPad app could be used for the same purpose."

"I normally don't like to create "click bait" blog post titles, but this one seemed to fit. Twenty-five resources can be overwhelming, but there is a good mix of different types of items. There are links to websites with lesson plans, iOS apps, books, videos, and samples of student work to fit your learning style.  Scratch was developed by MIT a little over eight years ago. It uses a visual programming language that is easy to start for students of all ages. Teachers can start with the Scratch Jr. app for the iPad. That app, linked on the list.ly below, is designed specifically for 5-7 year olds. The only way to learn new skills, is to dig in and give it a try. I love the summer for this reason. It gives me the chance to keep up and learn something new. I am going to try Minecraft with my daughter, Gwen, after I finish up this blog post. "

"It's that time again! We're heading back into our classrooms to start another year of learning and growth. I don't know about you, but I love the freedom that summer gives me. I know our students do too. So as we head back into schedules, and structure, here are 5 ways you can boost thinking and productivity with a little movement in your classroom. Movement allows our brains a break from the intense thinking and focus required in schools. It's a chance to reboot, and even burn off a little of that extra fidgety energy. It can be a real struggle for many students to sit and focus. Give them a chance to be successful by adding some purposeful movement to the day."

Teachers have a lot on their plates. TeachClever can help by giving you tips and tricks for becoming more productive and efficient. Whether it's an online tool or a classroom tip, TeachClever will give you something practical you can use now.

Social media's ascent has led to an Internet experience based less on pages and more on people. As a corollary to this (and counter to Marshall McLuhan's thesis), the medium is no longer just the message. The permanence of words and images and their meaning in context has long been promoted as a foundation of media theory. In an increasingly real-time environment, however, content gives way to identity, and traditional contextual analysis gives way to dynamic social interactions.

"We use many Web 2.0 tools to help students with the research process. Some tools are selected to make the research process more transparent and to allow us to give feedback during the process. Some are used to help students keep track of sources. I've listed them and the way we use them below. I've tried to give a brief description. It may seem like a lot of tools but we tend to believe that one size doesn't fit all and the overarching skills supersede the tool itself."

"Giving feedback is a huge part of teaching. Whether you're teaching 8 year olds or university students, math or english, you give feedback on your students' work almost constantly. The questions may be multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer, or long essay format. You may be assessing students on their writing ability, cultural literacy, math, chemistry, foreign language, or some combination of the above. The feedback may be a part of a grade, or it may come at an earlier point in the process. Regardless of what you're offering feedback on, the goals of feedback are for the student to learn more, more efficiently, more effectively, and to better understand the material at hand."

"The rush to grit is pretty intense, but so is the push-back. I've been writing about grit in articles and a book (Fostering Grit) and giving lots of presentations on the subject. I've spoken to schools and parents; presented at conferences; and have been a guest on NPR. Universally, grit is embraced. Everyone sees the merit in teaching our kids to accept challenges, step out of their comfort zones, and know how to respond to failure. So far, so good. Grit is hanging in and never giving up, but it's more than that. Grit is being comfortable when you are outside of your comfort zone, and it's forging ahead when you hit the wall because you know that you'll get up and continue moving forward. Grit is a life skill! But sometimes teachers are uncomfortable with the notion of fostering or teaching for grit. They're uneasy with the role they must play and I get that. We went into education because we wanted to help students: we like it when they succeed and it gratifies us when our class is filled with smiles. When our kids do well, it tells us we've done a good job!"

"If you are lucky enough to have one, you know how quickly it can become a dumping ground for last-minute meetings, interruptions (welcomed and unwelcomed!), and procrastination. Before you throw up your hands and give up on getting any substantive work done during the school day, here are five tips to protect your preparation period. All of them require trust, upfront communication, and a little dose of courage -- and only you know your particular school's culture -- but I have seen great success when teachers give these strategies a try."

"The idea of dissection in the classroom is nothing new. Science teachers have been delighting (and occasionally sickening) students for decades by giving them hands-on experience with organisms and tools. What is new, however, is the movement to create un-making spaces in the classroom. Giving kids access to old, broken-down electronics and a safe place to take them apart as they seek to answer why and how things work is an effective and environmentally-friendly teaching technique."

"With Poetry Month right around the corner, optimize the mobile tablets that are already in the hands of your students by giving them the chance to interact with poetry. Whether they become content consumers by reading their favorite poems or content creators as they write their own, iPad and Android tablets provide students and teachers with lots of options. This list of mobile apps will help inspire young poets and give them the tools they need to create and publish their very own poems."

"It's a controversial topic: do you introduce social media in the classroom or ignore it? Whether you use traditional social platforms or social-focused tools, many educators find that this technology helps increase engagement and excitement with students, many of who are already very familiar with it. "Students communicate, research, collaborate, create and publish online with or without the help of parents or educators. These same students then hop on social media to promote, discuss and share their thoughts with the world. The digital environment is offering us some of the greatest learning opportunities that young learners have ever had," says Gail Leicht, an 8th grade teacher. Bringing social networking into the classroom gives quiet students a chance to shine; sharing their voice online is often easier than speaking out in class. It also opens the doors for collaboration and communication between peers, both inside and outside of the classroom. Not to mention, it gives teachers another opportunity to connect with students. Despite the benefits, many educators still shy away from using social networking in the classroom because they are unsure about how to integrate it successfully. In fact, fewer than 20 percent of U.S. teachers use social media in the classroom, according to USNews.com. Luckily, the process isn't quite as daunting as it seems. Not to mention, you don't need to use traditional social networks to take advantage of social networking in the classroom. Follow these simple steps and watch as your students start sharing, commenting and publishing while learning important lesson material."

"Tim, a Director of Instructional Technology from El Paso, Texas, gives a strong account of how iPad can be used as a tool for creation. He clearly details some of the concrete ways that the often-defended tablet can be used to produce videos, music, drawings, and works of art that move well beyond consumption. Kim, on the other hand, offers a unique perspective as an educator who has recently transitioned from supporting an iPad environment to using a Chromebook as his primary device. In his post, 3 Reasons Why Chromebook Beats iPad in 1:1 Programs, Kim gives the following three reasons for the superiority of the Chromebook: Chromebooks are for creating, and iPads are for consuming The App vs the Web The Google Ecosystem for Collaboration The most viable of these three reasons from Kim is the final one, the collaborative tools that are inherent in the Google ecosystem can be accessed seamlessly on a Chromebook. While iOS device access to Google tools continues to become less and less of an issue, schools that want to focus primarily on Google tools should look no further than Chromebooks. However, I would like to challenge Kim's first two points. As he notes in his discussion around his first point, the consumption versus creation debate with iPads and Chromebooks has been made countless times by those on both sides of this discussion."

BlackBerry Z10 is the touchscreen version which is very similar to the other smartphones available in the market. Display with 4.2inch screen gives a resolution of 1268 x 768 pixels i.e. 768 pixels per inch. The BlackBerry Z10 is easier to use than Android and more powerful, giving faster access to e-mails, tweets, facebook updates and messages. The Z10 has 16GB on inbuilt memory. Unlike the iPhone, the BlackBerry Z10 will allow user to extend the storage with microSD card slot. It sports a chip letting the phone act as a credit card at few payment terminals and share data wirelessly when tapped against some other phones. BlackBerry Z10 comes with handsome cameras with 8MP on back and 2MP on the front. The rear camera can record is a 1080p high definition camera while the front has 720p resolution. One more good thing about the BlackBerry Z10 is its battery life. The talk time is upto 10hrs on 3G. Upto 60 hours of audio playback and 11 hours of video playback. The BlackBerry messenger (BBM) in BlackBerry Z10 includes voice calling and video chatting and allows user to share its screen with another. Another distinguishing feature is the BlackBerry Balance which allows two personas on the same device still keeping the individual data secure. One can set Work mode and personal mode and can switch between them easily. The Time shift is a camera feature that lets you capture a group shot where everyone is smiling with their eyes wide open. BlackBerry Z10 introduces new browser which includes HTML5 support which has a reader mode. By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com https://www.facebook.com/techvedicinc https://twitter.com/techvedicinc http://pinterest.com/techvedic1 http://techvedicinc.tumblr.com/

"Long gone are the days of students reading textbooks, memorizing, and regurgitating information. Let 2015 be the year of increasing engagement and learning in your students. Giving students an authentic audience to showcase what they know can increase their sense of purpose, which can lead to a deeper understanding of what you want them to learn everyday in your class. If you've given your students a "pretend" audience, try some of these easy ways to boost learning and give students a real audience:"