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"One thing it doesn't mean, or it really shouldn't mean, is that we replace any existing teachers with engineers or computer science specialists. "Learning how to code is certainly not an easy task, but it pales in comparison to learning how to teach," says Adam Enbar, cofounder of the Flatiron School, a coding academy in New York. Indeed, it doesn't matter how well you know your way around a line of code if you can't impart that information clearly to a pupil, a lesson Gina Sipley, a former English and social studies teacher, experienced firsthand when she herself was learning to code through a General Assembly course. "The teacher we had was a brilliant programmer, that was clear, but had never taught before," she explains. "So as the course went on, people sought out the teachers in the room and said, 'This doesn't make sense. How would you present the information?' I don't have a deep content knowledge at all, but I know how people learn best and how to structure lessons so people are going to get the most out of it." So, what's the smartest, most effective way to go about teaching our 3.1 million existing public school teachers to code, so they're prepared to teach our students?"

"It's time to set up week two's coding challenge. You are going to need a little help getting started on this one! We need to set up some colour selection tools in our drawing app. But adding colour selection can be challenging and there are many ways to accomplish this task. In this video, I go through one way of getting this task started in Hopscotch. The video will broach two new ideas: VARIABLES - or in Hopscotch parlance VALUES and colour number codes...."

"Some makerspace components are so commonly known that I can even use them to explain my job to non-educators: "I'm our makerspace coordinator. You know, the person who supports the kids with 3D printing and basic electronics and stuff like that." Then they know exactly what I mean. (I can tell because they respond with "Wow! That sounds like the best job ever!" They're right!) Educators planning makerspaces know they can start small with simple circuitry materials, cardboard and hot glue guns. Or they can go bigger with soldering capabilities and power drills. Or they can go to the biggest with 3D printers and laser cutters."

"No app is more integral to teens' social lives than Instagram. While Millennials relied on Facebook to navigate high school and college, connect with friends, and express themselves online, Gen Z's networks exist almost entirely on Instagram. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 72 percent of teens use the platform, which now has more than 1 billion monthly users. Instagram allows teens to chat with people they know, meet new people, stay in touch with friends from camp or sports, and bond by sharing photos or having discussions. But when those friendships go south, the app can become a portal of pain. According to a recent Pew survey, 59 percent of teens have been bullied online, and according to a 2017 survey conducted by Ditch the Label, a nonprofit anti-bullying group, more than one in five 12-to-20-year-olds experience bullying specifically on Instagram. "Instagram is a good place sometimes," said Riley, a 14-year-old who, like most kids in this story, asked to be referred to by her first name only, "but there's a lot of drama, bullying, and gossip to go along with it.""

"Starting school can be exciting for young kids. It can also be scary. That's true whether this is their first time going to school or they're starting a new grade. And the change in routine can be especially tough for kids with learning and attention issues. How can you help your young child feel less anxious about going to school? Here, four experts weigh in on why young kids may feel anxious about school, and how to help."

"Want to record a phone call from a Mac? Maybe you're interviewing someone for a podcast and want to record both sides of the conversation? Maybe you want to record a phone call for quality and training purposes? Whatever the purpose, there are several different ways to record a phone call from a Mac, but we're going to go with perhaps the easiest method that is decidedly low tech but highly reliable. "

"Anchor says it is "The easiest way to make a podcast. Ever." Well we will just see about that and also see if it is a good fit for you in the classroom. There are three things that make Anchor a bit different than its competition. One, there is no limit to what is hosted. That means no bandwidth limit, no storage limit and no time limit. Go crazy creators. The second thing is that you can "move" your podcast from one site to Anchor. The third thing is that it is completely free. As an educator who has relied on services before, I am a little skeptical about this one but we can discuss that later. There are mobile apps for iOS and Android but for this post I am going to focus on the online webservice."

"During CS Ed Week, countless teachers and students experienced computer science for the first time. Whether it was their first, second, or hundredth time, I hope that this taste of CS left them hungry for more. Code.org has created a great compilation of resources for how students can continue learning. In this post, I'd like to suggest some ideas for how teachers who are new(ish) to CS can go beyond the Hour of Code."

"As the new school year gets going there will be plenty of students and teachers who are adjusting to a new sleeping schedule. It can be tempting to stay up late to get "just one more thing" done. We're actually better off going to bed and getting up early than we are if stay up late trying to get something done. The Benefits of a Good Night's Sleep is a TED-Ed lesson that teaches us about the importance of sleeping on a steady schedule."

"Part of the purpose for student usage of technology in the classroom is to allow students to become creators not just consumers. A large part of this creative process for our learners is the resources that they find to put into their product. In this case we are talking about visual resources, or images. Many students and teachers go directly to Google and search images. They then copy and paste away. As many of us know, this can rise several issues. Two of them being: Inappropriate images appearing within the search. The use of pictures without permission of the rightful owner. These issues (and several others) have created the need of safe searching creative commons photos for educational use. Luckily there are several websites that students can go to for that very purpose!"

"After combing through four years of images from our popular What's Going On in This Picture? feature, we selected 40 photographs to highlight in this slide show. Many of these are our most commented-on images - some attracting nearly a thousand student comments. Others are simply our favorites. We invite teachers and students to use this bank of 40 intriguing images, all stripped of their captions or context, to practice visual thinking and close reading skills by holding a "What's Going On in This Picture?" discussion or writing activity."

"How should teachers - both K-12 and college - deal with the use of computers and phones by students in class? On the one hand, those sleek little supercomputers promise to connect us to all human knowledge. On the other hand, they are also scientifically designed by some of the world's top geniuses to feel as compelling as oxygen. So where does that leave teachers? Should you ban these devices in the classroom? Let students go whole hog? Or is there a happy medium? This seemingly simple topic ends up being what one professor and pedagogy expert calls "a Rorschach test for so much that's going on in education.""

"I recently was asked to give a webinar that would guide participants through selecting the right products for their makerspace, where I unveiled my "Worlds of Making 'MAKER' Framework." I was really excited about this opportunity, as it gave me the chance to address one of the questions I am most frequently asked. In my work with schools across the country, I have shied away from telling people what they should buy in their makerspace, although many want to know from me what they should buy. I strongly believe in following a process for how you and go about selecting the right products for your makerspace. My definition of what a makerspace is drives every decision I make for my makerspace, and that includes selecting the right products for my makerspace. Many people associate the Maker Movement with 'stuff' like 3D printers, but in my opinion, this isn't what pushes children outside of their comfort zone, it is that opportunity for open-ended exploration that is key. When creating a makerspace, many school districts just go out and buy things that other districts buy, really in essence, just replicating another school districts makerspace. But here's the reality: no two school makerspaces should be exactly alike because no two school communities are exactly alike."

Great monthly feature from the NY Times & American Statistical Association - What's going on in this graph? A new graph posted each month, together with visible thinking strategies, and the possibility of joining for an online (moderated) discussion to talk about predictions.

"I'm on a bit of a mission! Everywhere I go, I ask this question, "How many of you allow your students to publish for a global audience?" The result…very few hands go up if any. The reality is this is a real-world skill and can be a very important and authentic learning experience for students of all ages. What's holding you back?"

"Good morning! Stay six feet away. Pull up your mask. Don't forget to wear it at all times, even outdoors. Wash your hands. Go straight to your desk. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 germs. Goodbye! Wash your hands. Pull up your mask. Leave one at a time. Don't touch anything or anyone on your way out. See you tomorrow! This is pandemic education. It can feel so cold, so impersonal. The safety restrictions are necessary to keep COVID at bay, but what is this distance doing to our students? Plenty of research indicates that there are both physical and mental health benefits from hugging and other physical contact. Hugs reduce the negative effects of stress on the brain, by deactivating the part of the brain that responds to threats. They increase levels of oxytocin, the feel-good hormone, and ironically, may even boost the immune system. So this year's lack of contact could be taking a toll, especially on those students who don't receive much affection at home."

"Two years ago when Erick Hanson migrated from history teacher to media specialist he had one big goal in mind: to make the library cool again. "If kids weren't coming into the library to check out books because they need the information or they just want to read for leisure, where are they going instead?" says Hanson, who works at Pennsylvania's East Pennsboro School District, near Harrisburg. In a mobile age, books and desktops weren't much of a draw to the library, and foot traffic had seen better days. So he began wondering where kids were going instead and how he could meet them halfway. "It didn't take long for me to boil that down to YouTube as the major place where they're consuming content," says Hanson. "So the idea came about to turn our student consumers into creators." That year he began EP Media, an after-school YouTube club for both middle and high school students that has blossomed into one of the district's most hands-on, student-driven initiatives."

"The YouTube site can be messy. Did you know it's possible to watch YouTube videos without going to YouTube?"

"If you go back to the first days of the COVID crisis, when campuses across the country were shutting down, college students weren't very happy with emergency online learning. Surveys conducted then showed deep dissatisfaction, with as many as 70 percent saying they didn't like it. Low grades for remote instruction persisted for months. As the nation struggled under one of the worst public health threats in centuries, emergency instruction proceeded as the only viable way to keep higher education going, even though so few students liked it. Since then, things have taken a surprising turn. Today, 70 percent of college students give online and hybrid learning a thumbs-up."