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"(CNN)"I would rather not eat for a week than get my phone taken away. It's really bad," said Gia, a13-year-old. "I literally feel like I'm going to die." "When I get my phone taken away, I feel kind of naked," said Kyla, another 13-year-old. "I do feel kind of empty without my phone." Both participated in "#Being13: Inside the Secret World of Teens," a first-of-its-kind CNN study on social media and teens. More than 200 eighth graders from across the country allowed their social media feeds to be studied by child development experts who partnered with CNN. This is the first large scale study to analyze what kids actually say to each other on social media and why it matters so deeply to them."

"If science is inquiry and inquiry is a fire, when does that fire start? When the world talks about STEM education for the most part they talk around elementary teachers rather than to elementary school teachers. This should not be seen as an insult or slur upon our value, but as a matter of course. Most "real" science does not start until middle school or even high school, and for school in poverty perhaps not even then. However, with the need to develop more students ready to step into STEM careers, and the corresponding efforts to grow educational foundations in those area elementary science will play a pivotal role."

"Welcome to your new classroom. I am sure you are going to explain and teach in a way that I might never understand. You see, I come from a day of filmstrip projectors that beeped, ditto paper that left my fingers blue and the students enjoying the scent, bells that really did ring out a mechanical melody, 16 millimeter films that, if in color, amazed the kids. In fact, if these films were shown backwards it provided bonus entertainment. In recent years I have heard words that are so strange to me. These words include foreign terms such as twitter, blog, wiki, Skype, web 2.0, clickers, and interactive whiteboards. I have heard all this talk about 21st century skills and I am not even sure if I can tell you what they are. So there you have it. I am not one of those digital natives, nor am I a digital immigrant! I may not even be an analog native or immigrant. So, even though I do not know all the new terms, I thought that I might give you a list of ten items I feel just might ensure success no matter what century it is."

Ultrinsic is a web-based college platform that provides incentives to students for academic achievement. Ultrinsic exclusively dedicates itself to motivating students to improve their grades. To participate in Ultrinsic, all a student does is log into their account at the beginning of each semester and choose the course they are registered for. Apparently this is for real: Based on the student's academic history, and the amount they choose to invest in their ability to reach that target grade, a cash reward will be calculated for the student. Therefore, any student can participate, no matter what end of the academic spectrum they fall into.

Simple Ways to Use Twitter: If you follow this minimalist approach, you don't have to spend a lot of time using Twitter to get a lot out of it, no matter what your goals are.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a learning style is a way in which an individual approaches learning. Many people understand material much better when it is presented in one format, for example a lab experiment, than when it is presented in another, like an audio presentation. Determining how you best learn and using materials that cater to this style can be a great way to make school and the entire process of acquiring new information easier and much more intuitive. Here are some great tools that you can use to cater to your individual learning style, no matter what that is. Visual Learners

Teens write a lot, but they do not think of their emails, instant and text messages as writing. This disconnect matters because teens believe good writing is an essential skill for success and that more writing instruction at school would help them.

How many "training sessions" have you sat through where you're eyes started to roll into the back of your head and you couldn't stay focused no matter how hard you tried?

The full text of The Future of Reputation is now available online for free. Click on the links below to download PDFs of each chapter. The front matter to the book is at the beginning of each chapter.

ThinkingGear is for educators who believe that teaching and assessing thinking matters. ThinkingGear aims to provide teachers with the online tools and resources they need to develop and implement thinking-centered lessons and instruction.

ooVoo is the next evolution in online communication - a remarkably easy way to have a face-to-face video chat with friends, family or colleagues, no matter where they are in the world. ooVoo Video Chat is remarkably easy to use: easy to download, easy to install, and best of all: it's FREE!

What is Spotlight? Spotlight is a daily 15 minute radio program. It uses a special English method of broadcasting. This makes Spotlight easier for many people to understand, no matter where in the world they live. We use: * fewer words (a vocabulary of 1500 words) * slower speed (about 90 words per minute, or half the normal speaking speed) * shorter sentences * read more People use Spotlight to help with English. But Spotlight is a real radio program, not just a lesson.

"CES 2011: SLJ's Picks A tablet for babies and why books and text still matter "

Resources and links from - Why Networked Learning Matters by Dr. Alec Couros