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"The iPhone and iPad come equipped with some great accessibility features that open the door to all kinds of functionality for those with hearing and visual impairments. One especially useful feature for those with auditory impairments is the ability to pair their iPhone or iPad with many supported hearing aids. There are even some hearing aids that carry the made for iPhone moniker so you know your experience will be seamless. To get started, you've just got to pair them together! "

"Have you ever had someone pass you their headphones to hear a song, and had your ears blasted by an outrageously loud volume level? Well, by default, anyone can crank the volume up on music played from an iOS device to 100%. That may sound like no big deal, but there are situations where listening to music that loud could potentially be problematic, leading to inattentiveness to the outside world or even theoretical hearing issues. This is particularly important for kids, who may not realize that the volume level is harmful. Thus, if you or your kids listen to a lot of music with headphones on from an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you may want to consider setting a maximum volume limit for the Music app."

What is the Mosquito Ringtone? The short version, A tone outside the audible range of hearing for most people over the age of 30. This means that you can get phone calls and receive text messages in class or school without teachers hearing it.

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me." What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is: Are teachers reaching their students?"

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me." What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is: Are teachers reaching their students?"

"We frequently hear students (and even teachers) make comments such as "I'm not good at math" or "I'm just not a math person." Interestingly enough, we rarely hear adults say "I'm not good at reading" or "I'm just not someone who reads." Math, like reading, is a basic life skill that we use on a daily basis in almost everything we do. According to growth mindset, no one is simply "bad at math." Just as you learned to read, ride a bicycle, or have a conversation, you can also learn to solve equations and apply mathematical concepts. In an effort to support student growth mindset in math classrooms, Amazon Education has teamed up with Common Sense Education, Edutopia, Teaching Channel, Stanford University's PERTS (Project for Educational Research That Scales), and others to develop and share meaningful resources for teachers to access anywhere."

"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."

"In this regard, The Best of Mobile Technology has gathered and reviewed some of the apps that you can use with your students. These apps are for students with hearing and visual impairement. I have included these apps into different presentations to make it easy for you to share and access them anytime you want."

"Imagine students' artwork hanging in your school's hallway and beside each masterpiece is a QR code. When parents, students, and other teachers scan the code using a mobile device, they hear the student telling about themselves and the relevance of their art… Or what about a QR code in the back of a library book that allows you to hear a student's review of the book? Or a QR code sent home to parents that allows them to listen to their 1st grader reading or telling a story? Sounds difficult, doesn't it? Well, don't worry - it really isn't hard at all! I'll give you two options for recording the audio files and will show you a couple of ways to "embed" them into QR codes."

"My students create many different artifacts, but the most meaningful are those in which my students show their learning and their thinking in ways that are far beyond what a worksheet could do. When they make a video or screencast of what they have learned, I can hear and see their thinking. I can also hear confidence or hesitation, self-corrections or errors in perception. Consider these math examples produced by my students."

"25 Things Successful Educators Do Differently - If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me." What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is:"

""Ms. Clark, when are we going to do that again?" Nothing makes me happier as an educator than hearing those words - and lately I have been hearing them a lot! It is not the question as much as the look on the faces of my students that I enjoy the most. It's the inspiring glow of engagement and enthusiasm and the fire in their eyes that makes me want to keep trying new projects. Their relentless desire to do collaborative-based work is proof that they enjoy the journey, the connections and the role of play in their learning. One of the thrills about being an educator in 2013 is this ability to redefine the typical classroom landscape in this way. This year we did it campus wide with some pretty amazing projects that helped everyone see the value in collaborating, and the immense power of thinking outside the box - in this case, I literally mean the constrictive box of the traditional classroo"

"Studies have shown that typing notes requires shallower levels of cognitive processing than handwriting, as subjects often tend to type verbatim what they hear without really engaging with its substance to the level that is required for greater understanding and better recollection. In contrast, handwriting appears to be more cognitively demanding. According to these studies,  subjects who use handwriting are generally forced to rephrase what hear into their own words, thus creating "more effective memory cues by recreating the context (e.g., thought processes, emotions, conclusions) as well as content (e.g., individual facts) from the original learning session". The evidence against typing your notes is pretty compelling. And then there were tablets Tablets introduce another level of complexity to this problem, since they can be used both to type and handwrite notes. So what are we to do? Are we to avoid using the tablets and stick to pen and paper? If we do use tablets for note taking, are we to force students to handwrite notes on their tablets using a stylus? And are we to ban students from typing up notes on their tablets? After all, that is what the research appears to suggests."

"The Managing Complex Change model puts language to that which makes some schools successful while others struggle. The model looks at five components necessary to create a desired environment. These include vision, skills, incentives, resources, action plan. If any one piece is missing the model indicates results schools will experience including change, confusion, anxiety, gradual change, frustration, and a false start. When thinking of successful schools such as Science Leadership Academy, The MET, The Island School, The iSchool, you will find they have all those components in place. On the other hand, when I hear teachers lamenting about their school failures, the model brings clarity to the fact that one or more of these components are missing. Below is the chart that lays this out. Following the chart, I'll take a look at what each missing component might look like in a school environment. As you read, consider which, if any are components, are missing at your school. save image Lack of Vision = Confusion When I hear exasperated teachers spinning their wheels, working so hard to get ready for all the various mandates and requirements, but never feeling a sense of accomplishment, it is clear there is not a tangible school vision that has been communicated. In some cases this is because what is being imposed does or can not reconcile with what the school wanted for their vision. Skill Deficit = Anxiety My heart goes out to those with a skill deficit. They are required to implement a curriculum they are not trained in using or being evaluated via measures with which they are not familiar. Or…they are put into a position they were not trained for or prepared to embrace. Social media provides a great medium for helping these teachers get up to speed, but when the outreach occurs, the anxiety is abundantly clear. Lack of Incentives = Gradual Change It is not unusual for innovative educators to feel like and be perceived as misfits. Islands onto their own

Cellphones in the classroom help break down barriers between the hearing and hearing impaired"

How can your learning network help you? By helping you to sift through all the data to identify the information that will be most useful to you. By helping you to identify learning resources and opportunities. By coaching you and answering your questions as you try to apply your learning to your work. By sharing their wisdom with you through dialogue. Building a personal learning network is requires that you not only seek to learn from others, but also that you also help others in the network learn. Even when you are a novice in a field of learning, you can still make contributions. Did you read an article that might be of interest to others? Then distribute it to other in your network with a short note that you thought they might find it interesting. Did you hear of a conference on the subject? Let others know about the program and speakers and, if you attend, circulate your notes and papers you collect to other network members. A personal learning network can be your most powerful learning tool no matter what the subject.

"I'm one of four teacher facilitators for our Junior Coding Club. We meet once a week during second nutrition break to code. The group's made up of many beginner coders, but also a couple of advanced coders. At lunch today, one of the advanced coders came rushing into the classroom, so excited to share his news. He decided to put a hold on Code Academy, and start using Scratch. During the week, he used the computer version of Scratch to create a flight simulator. This simulator was truly incredible! This Grade 4 student was so thrilled about what he did, that it was hard not to also feel thrilled. While it was wonderful to see this student so passionate about learning, it was also amazing to hear all of the thinking behind his choices. I was honestly in awe! He thought of everything. He even researched to find out the details about planes at take-off, and used this information in his simulator. He could explain all of his choices and the thinking behind these choices. In this short video clip below you can hear just a tiny snippet of this explanation."

"Ask our team, "What's new?" and you'll hear about how we're learning on the go with podcasts. Ask our teacher bloggers about new practices they're trying in their classrooms and you'll hear how their encouraging reflective learning with podcasts. At the start of a new school year, we think they are a great way to continue learning and stay engaged. So grab your headphones or sync the bluetooth, and get ready to listen and learn-here is our list of favorite podcasts you should check out to support your learning."

"Rivet is a reading app from Area 120 (a Google property). The free app offers more than 2,000 books for students to read independently. The books are appropriate for students in Kindergarten through second grade (5-8 years old). All of the books provide audio support to students in the form of an option to tap on a word and hear it read aloud. When students tap on a word they will hear it read aloud and can then read a definition of the word. Students also have the option to practice saying the word aloud. When students say a word aloud they get instant feedback on their pronunciation of that that word."