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"It might be true that some parents prefer to give their kids print books - even if they choose e-books for themselves - but when it's holiday travel time, it might be nice to keep stories on a single device. Apart from traveling lighter, these apps and games can keep kids engaged by allowing them to create stories, too."

"iOS: More apps go on sale or get discounted on a given day than anyone can really keep track of, but Apps Gone Free for the iPhone and iPad does a great job of keeping you up to date on which apps go on sale on what day and which apps go from paid to free-all right on your phone. "

"A key element to ensuring any successful pedagogy is student engagement. However, keeping students motivated and actively involved can be difficult. Besides the basic challenges of maintaining students' interest and participation in class, today's teachers also have to deal with growing numbers of students and the increased distraction from smart phones and other personal devices. One good way to keep students engaged in the learning process is by varying class exercises to include a combination of lectures, individual assignments, group work, computer activities, videos, and other pedagogical tools like games. Games are interactive, fun, and appealing to most students, and they also offer a number of specific benefits to the learning process."

"Upcoming Webinar: Keeping our kids safe online, hosted by MediaSmarts and TELUS"

"No one app or setting can keep your teens safe online, which means you need to start talking to your kids about your concerns."

"Dropbox is an awesome tool for teachers. It ticks a number of boxes including being free and easy to use, and the fact that it allows you to keep all of your files in one place for easy access from almost anywhere while keeping immense piles of paper out of the classroom really makes it a win. We hear from so many of you who list Dropbox as one of your absolute must-have apps as educators."

"I used to believe that informational texts were boring. I avoided having students read articles in social studies, because I thought students would hate informational texts. I'm not sure why I believed this, because I loved reading non-fiction books and articles. Still, I thought I was an outlier and that my students would be better off with a combination of hands-on learning and fictional narratives. I don't believe this anymore. Now I believe that informational texts can be inherently engaging, because we are naturally inclined to seek out information. I guess, on some level, I believe every person is a geek about something. So, with that in mind, here are seven ways to keep informational texts engaging for students:"

"Whatever fancy social media tools you might use to keep in touch with students and parents - Edmodo, Facebook, Twitter, Slack - you'll find that the most effective way of keeping in touch is email. It's can be targetted, the messages can be aimed directly to those who need to hear - and people will open them. Email (still) works, no matter what the hipsters tell you. These tools are the good ones - the best ways to manage your email lists and the content within them. They all approach the same issues in slightly different ways, so play around and see what suits you best."

"An ever-present worry for teachers through the summer months is that students will relax a little TOO much over the break. While it can be tempting to try to micromanage students' summer learning with packets and reading lists, there are tons of resources available online that can keep your students' brains active and their enthusiasm high. Take a step back and let students drive their own learning this summer. Here are five ways you can help students' excitement, motivation, and passion for engaging activities fuel their learning through the summer months."

"You know, my brand is sometimes a lot to live up to. I'm not always daring. I won't buy a 3D printer until I know I can get projects kiddos create cranked out in a timely fashion or that we can reliably afford the materials and upkeep supplies. You don't ALWAYS have to be daring in BIG ways, but you can dare everyday something. Dare to keep smiling to that kid who never smiles back. It's easy to smile to the kiddos you adore & have a connection with. But try to smile consistently, to that kiddos who is all prickles and burs. You will be surprised at the results. It took me 8 months once to get a reluctant grin back. When thinking about the next school year -I'd like to suggest we keep in mind that we should be ready to try new things without letting fear stop us. To go beyond our comfort zone. Even if you choose only one thing that makes you squirmy inside, that's good for your practice and our profession. This way, we can truly say to our kiddos that we are pushing ourselves to fail/win and try again just like we ask them to do every day!"

"Security-it's on our minds more than ever before.  It seems like there isn't a week that goes by where we don't hear about some new exploit that allows someone to hack your most personal information.  With our mobile devices containing more of this  information with each new iteration, we need to stand up, take notice and do something about it.  Through our own due diligence we can monitor some of this information.  But what about our devices?  What can we do to keep our iPads, and our data more secure?"

"Pity the summertime. All year, we long for better weather, using this season as a repository for our plans. I'll paint the house in the summer. I'll plant a garden in the summer. I'll reorganize the garage in - you guessed it - the summer. But all those plans jamming up our calendar doesn't leave much time for anything fun. These seven apps can help you keep track of your various household chores and projects, so you can spend more time getting things done and less time keeping track of them."

Get IN SHAPE for teaching and stay INSPIRED all the year through... Whether you're a newbie feeling IN OVER YOUR HEAD or a veteran teacher IN A RUT, you'll find ideas and plans to keep you energized. Even if you have everything completely IN CONTROL, be sure to check out the creative ideas and time-saving tips to help keep you on top of your game throughout the entire school year

Soshiku is a simple but powerful tool that manages your high school or college assignments. Soshiku keeps track of when your assignments are due and can even notify you via email or SMS

Recently, many libraries across the nation have begun adopting Twitter as a means to keep on the cutting edge of new technology as well as keep patrons informed and interested in library services.Not sure Twitter has a place in your library? Here are all the resources you'll need to make an informed decision on whether or not to become part of the growing number of Twitter users.

"How Online Reading Habits are Changing and What You Can Do to Keep Up"

"Many people have asked with the iPhone, iPad or iPod multi-tasking, is it possible to stop a background apps? With iOS 4, the iPhone, iPod and iPod Touch gained the ability to multi-task. Unfortunately while multi-tasking, the iOS devices keeps applications that you don't use in the background. These background apps are managed by the iOS device which keeps them in memory unless it runs out of ram. But these backgrounded apps can be a pain if you want extra memory for another app or if you want to stop an app that is running a service in the background like playing music. Fortunately, there is a way to stop any app running in the background on your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch."

New resource service launched, allowing teachers to keep control of their resources.

"In recent posts about keeping up with news and trends relevant to practice, we looked at harnessing social media in the form of portals for sharing slide presentations and curation sites for current awareness and webinars hosted by talented practitioners. I suggest that if you don't regularly refer to Pinterest, or if your Pinterest experience is limited to personal style, party planning or recipe collecting, you are not leveraging and contributing to its powerful professional communities."

"Nothing wrecks the experience of using a great mobile device like having poor battery life. You can have the latest, greatest iPad Air 2 or a flagship smartphone, but if your battery life struggles to keep up with your useof the device, it can quickly become frustrating and also put a dent in your productivity. iOS 8 gives us a greater ability to manage battery life on the iPad - in addition to standard best practices for improving iPad battery life (adjust brightness, keep unused services turned off etc.), we can now also see which iPad apps are using up the most battery."