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""Imagine that your mind is a television," I told the small group of students I was visiting at the rural Oregon school where I worked as a counselor. "And you have a remote." I then asked them to change to a sad channel and notice how it made them feel. "Now let's change it to a happy channel." How did that feel? What differences did they notice? We practiced this for a while, the students taking turns to see how all sorts of different channels made us feel. We tried it while holding a yoga tree pose. The students noticed that certain thoughts made it easier to balance; others made it harder. What they were learning, of course, was how to be mindful of their thoughts and how those thoughts affect their bodies. They were also learning that they could direct their thoughts - that none of us is ever stuck on just one channel; that mindfulness gives us tools for dealing successfully with all manner of challenges and difficulties."

QuickDiff is an interesting tool that analyses differences in two very similar texts. It was actually developed for examining programming code, but could be a really useful tool to use with students to get them to look more closely at the texts they write and notice the mistakes and corrections and differences in the text.

QuickDiff is an interesting tool that analyses differences in two very similar texts. It was actually developed for examining programming code, but could be a really useful tool to use with students to get them to look more closely at the texts they write and notice the mistakes and corrections and differences in the text.

"Ever want your students to slow down and notice details when they read - whether they're perusing a book, a poem, a map or a political cartoon? Young people often want to hurry up and make meaning via a quick skim or a cursory glance when a text can demand patience and focus. Closely reading any text, whether written or visual, requires that students proceed more slowly and methodically, noticing details, making connections and asking questions. This takes practice. But it certainly helps when students want to read the text. We've selected 10 photos from The Times that we've used previously in our weekly "What's Going On in This Picture?" and that have already successfully caught students' and teachers' attention. These are some of our most popular images - ones that may make viewers say "huh?" on first glance, but that spark enough curiosity to make them want to dig deeper. (Please Note: You can quickly learn the backstory about any of these photos by clicking the link in each caption that takes you to the original post, then scrolling down to find the "reveal.") Below, we offer ideas from students and teachers who have engaged with these images for ways to use them, or images like them, to teach close reading and visual thinking skills."

"Have you ever noticed that iPhone video gets recorded according to the orientation of the device? If you haven't noticed that yet, pay attention to it now, because you'll create significantly better videos if you just rotate the iPhone into horizontal orientation before hitting that record video button. "

"Have you noticed how recently, more advertisement videos in YouTube have started to auto-play without prompting? I've noticed this is happening on other websites as well, in addition to YouTube. Since I often seem to have about 50 different tabs open in my web browser, this can present a challenge trying to find WHICH tab has the offending / playing video in it. It's an irritating and unnecessary problem to tolerate. I needed a way to block these video ads in YouTube and elsewhere."

"When electrical engineering professor Dr. Karen Shoop of Queen Mary University in London took her first knitting workshop, she noticed immediately that knitting is very similar to writing computer code. "I noticed that knitting instructions are largely binary (like computers) - in other words, knit or purl," she said. "More interesting were the knitting instructions, which read just like regular expressions [of code], used for string matching and manipulation when coding." Shoop also recognizes that the earliest stages of computing were inspired by handwork: "Of course, computers ultimately started off partially inspired by weaving and the Jacquard loom, or earlier Bouchon's loom. Arguably some of the earliest programmers were the people making the card/paper punch hole patterns for weaving patterns.""

"It has me thinking about my own experience with creative work. When I first got into drawing, I copied the styles of other artists. When I first got into poetry, I copied the style of my favorite poet. When I first wrote a novel, it was essentially fan fiction -- albeit at a time when no one knew that term. I have noticed similar trends among students. They often go through a phase of copying and mash-ups that occur before creating something truly original. I see this trend in art class, wood shop, in writer's workshops, and in STEM labs. So, this has me thinking about stages that I notice as students move from consumers of media to creators of media. I admit that this is not very scientific. There might be a better model out there that explains this phenomenon. However, here are seven stages I see students go through as they shift from consuming to creating: "

"One of the best perks of supporting the Los Angeles Central Library is advanced notice of the readings and talks coming through town as part of their ALOUD program. A few months ago, when I noticed that danah boyd was going to be talking about her recent book, "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens," with USC Professor and Connected Learning pioneer, Henry Jenkins, I snapped up a ticket. The talk took place at the end of July, and the ideas that these two scholars expressed about how young people are interacting with digital tools are still rattling around in my mind, inviting further exploration. "

"When nagging fails, turn to technology. Dr Grainne Oates noticed that her accountancy students were unmotivated away from the lecture hall. ''When I looked at their results and how they were performing, I found they were doing very little outside the classroom." She also noticed they were always attached to their mobile phones. She decided to use the idea of gamification - the strategy of turning a task into a game - and designed the HEd (Higher Education) app as a tool to change student behaviour. "

"This habit trains your mind to find the positive in every day and to identify your own agency in creating that positive. Rick Hanson, the author of The Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom, describes our brains as "like Velcro" for negative experiences -- we dwell on them, and "like Teflon" for positive experiences -- they slide right out of our minds. Our minds are practically programmed to notice and remember the things that aren't working -- and as teachers we know there are plenty of those each day. The little successes, growth, and positive moments are washed away by the tidal waves of what's not working in schools."

"Menomonee Falls - Once every few weeks this past school year, kindergarten teacher Tiffany Fadin corralled her squirmy young charges at Valley View Elementary to get feedback about their recent math lessons. "What specific things did we do in this unit that helped you learn?" she asked recently. "What things did not help you learn?" Behind Fadin, data points flashed on a board, showing how many more students could add and subtract within five digits than in weeks prior. The exercise was deliberate, underscoring a major shift in Menomonee Falls that's training everyone to use data to make decisions, from teachers and custodians to kindergartners. The strategies employed over the past four years have attracted national - even international - attention to Menomonee Falls, including visitors from Sweden and researchers from the Carnegie Foundation. Other districts around the state and other educational institutions, such as the State University of New York, are taking notes. Armed with promising new outcome data, Menomonee Falls Superintendent Pat Greco said she believes what they're doing is working, and that the district is the case study for how K-12 systems can increase achievement and efficiency. And they're doing it by employing methods rooted not in education, but in the manufacturing and health care industries. "Teachers were reticent about posting student performance data. They were reticent to invite feedback from students," said Greco, who began engaging a small core of staff in the work in 2011. "Now, student performance is the highest it's ever been," Greco said."

"A key goal of maker-centered education is to help young people and adults feel empowered to build and shape their worlds. Acquiring this sense of maker empowerment is strongly supported by learning to notice and engage with the designed dimension of one's physical and conceptual environment-in other words, by having a sensitivity to design. This sensitivity develops when young people and adults have opportunities to: look closely and reflect on the design of objects and systems, explore the complexity of design, and understand themselves as designers of their worlds."

Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) Admission Notices for 2020 Latest AWES admissions notifications for 2020 intake, Important dates, entrance exam details, application forms and deadlines for UG and PG courses for Army Welfare Education Society"

"At DonorsChoose.org we have noticed a recent trend in technology-based project requests. Teachers recognize that we live in an age of information and are excited to bring items such as iPads, laptops, iPods, and Kindles into their classrooms. Eric Crouch of Columbus, GA created a video about how he uses iPads to engage his first grade students. Take a peek into Mr. Crouch's classroom as he discusses the benefits of learning through iPads."

"We have been noticing that more and more students have been bringing their own iPads to school and thus the decision was made to purchase 20 iPad Minis instead of 30 with the anticipation that enough students would fall into the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) category to make it work."

"This past year, fourth and fifth grade students at Independence Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma, have had the opportunity to participate in an after-school Scratch Club led by STEM teacher Chris Simon. Scratch is a free program from the MIT Media Lab, which permits learners of any age to create games, tell stories, make animations, and much more. In its new 2.0 version, Scratch is entirely web-based, so it can even run on a Chromebook! Yesterday was the final day of "Scratch Club" for students at Independence Elementary this year, and several students shared the reasons why they enjoy Scratch and have loved the Scratch Club. In this five minute video compilation of their ideas, pay attention to how several students mention the importance of "agency" and choice. Many report how they love the opportunity to be self-directed in their learning and to have opportunities to use their imaginations to create. Also notice the way one student references the "hard fun" of programming, which is something Gary Stager talks about often in the context of students learning to code. "

"When I was a kid, I dreamt about our school desks as computer screens. How cool would it have been to be able to draw, write, and learn directly onto my own computer? As the years went on, people theorized that laptops would take over the classroom, but the price of these devices was too high for a 1 to 1 ratio. It never quite caught on in lower grade schools. Now, it is the age of the tablet. We have affordable high-powered computers that can provide all sorts of enrichment through an intuitive touch screen interface and the education world is taking notice. More and more classrooms are imagining the curriculum in the context of each child having his or her own tablet. Yet, some educators are still skeptical. How can a piece of technology truly enhance the learning process, without causing distraction?"

"How Much Did Steve Jobs Change the World? You might be reading this on your iPhone, iPad or computer, but whether or not you have a Macintosh or a PC, Steve Jobs is responsible for so much of the technology we are using today. Did you know that Windows computers copied the drop-down window interface from Apple computers? Yes, all true. So today, when the power went out in the school and we couldn't get on the Internet, I noticed what an important part of my life technology has become. Talk about making a dent in the world. Jobs' legacy will live on in generations to come. Here are 39 sites for using one of Jobs' greatest innovations: THE iPAD."

"One of the great things I've noticed in the last 2 years is how my teaching has evolved with the use of the iPads. It's been a gradual shift, but the way I am using them now is different than the first pilot year in 2011."

"As I continue my semester both as EAP teacher and MA student, I'm confronted with issues related to where learning occurs and how it is most facilitated. As a reflective practitioner, I notice the former evidenced differently among my students and have been trying to connect this to my own graduate experiences to come to some theories about the latter. Though my conclusions are not absolute, I keep questioning whether concrete learning outcomes provide the teacher/student with anything beyond disappointment and whether the teacher really teaches anything. "