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"Teachers change brains. While we often don't think of ourselves as brain changers, when we teach we have an enormous impact on our students' cognitive development. Recent advances in educational neuroscience are helping educators understand the critical role we play in building brain capacities important to students' learning and self-control. To understand how teachers change the brain, we need to begin with a reasonably new understanding of the biology of learning. The human brain is an experience-dependent organ. Throughout our lives, the cerebrum-the largest portion of our brain-fine-tunes itself to adapt to the world around us. The scientific term used to describe this is "neuroplasticity, " which involves three processes."

"Let's take a look at this vague idea of the 'classroom of the future.' This is all subjective, but it's worth talking about. So let's talk. Below are some ideas that are truly transformational-not that they haven't been said before. It's not this article that's transformational, but the ideas themselves. These ideas aren't just buzzwords or trendy edu-jargon but the kind of substance with the potential for lasting change. And the best part? This is stuff that's available not tomorrow with ten grand in classroom funding and 12 hours of summer PD, but today. Utopian visions of learning are tempting, if for no other reason than they absolve us of accountability to create it right now, leading to nebulous romanticizing about how powerful learning could be if we just did more of X and Y. But therein lies the rub: Tomorrow's learning is already available, and below are seven of the most compelling and powerful trends, concepts, and resources that represent its promise."

"A.I. that responds to your voice. Next-generation wireless networks. If this year's biggest consumer technology trends have a familiar ring, there's a reason for that."

"Parents today struggle to set screen time guidelines. One big reason is a lack of role models. Grandma doesn't have any tried-and-true sayings about iPad time. This stuff is just too new. But many experts on kids and media are also parents themselves. So when I was interviewing dozens of them for my book The Art of Screen Time, I asked them how they made screen time rules at home. None of them held themselves up as paragons, but it was interesting to see how the priorities they focused on in their own research corresponded with the priorities they set at home."

"Every year since 2001 we've picked what we call the 10 Breakthrough Technologies. People often ask, what exactly do you mean by "breakthrough"? It's a reasonable question-some of our picks haven't yet reached widespread use, while others may be on the cusp of becoming commercially available. What we're really looking for is a technology, or perhaps even a collection of technologies, that will have a profound effect on our lives. For this year, a new technique in artificial intelligence called GANs is giving machines imagination; artificial embryos, despite some thorny ethical constraints, are redefining how life can be created and are opening a research window into the early moments of a human life; and a pilot plant in the heart of Texas's petrochemical industry is attempting to create completely clean power from natural gas-probably a major energy source for the foreseeable future. These and the rest of our list will be worth keeping an eye on. -The Editors"

"For centuries, the majority of kids who attend school do so for one reason: it is mandatory. Think back to when you were in school, now envision you were offered the following choices: You master the material and receive a low grade You don't understand the material and receive a high-grade Which would you choose? Sure, some would rather master the material, but the majority would aim for the higher grade. In order to transform the learning process from standardization to personalization, we need to help students shift their view of school away from focusing on grades to focusing on their personal self-growth. We need to show them they are not just there because they have to be."

"When Abby walked in, I was speaking about metacognition for a reason. Part of that concept has to do with differentiating what is known from what isn't. Top students often figure out that they must focus their time studying less familiar material. But for most student's this is not intuitive. That's where I come in. Students learn early on that my first commitment is to teach them how to learn, and my second commitment is to my course content. Students go from "I'm not smart" to "I just haven't learned that...yet." It's a mindset shift that can make all the difference."

With good reason, much is made of learner agency but the concept of teacher agency is important too. If we hope to build a profession in which we are all self-navigating life-long learners, we must acknowledge the role that teacher agency plays. 

We struggle to achieve balance with so many parts of our lives. We see things in dichotomies and try to weigh one against the other believing that we must give time to one and not the other. This tendency to see things in often false dichotomies leads to the problem of the "want to' vs the 'have to'. Unfortunately, when we are faced with this dilemma we often make a choice in favour of the 'have to' but we chose this option for the wrong reasons.

"The terms "fail forward and computational thinking" are trending recently, but what does that really mean? Computational thinking is a method of reasoning that teaches students how to solve real-world, complex problems with strategies that computers use. Computational thinking and the Design Thinking Process are frameworks for problem-solving to help address the need for 21st century skills across our nation's K-12 school system. To make 21st century skills easier to comprehend and teach, Tata Consultancy Services and Discovery Education have teamed up to introduce "Ignite My Future In School," a free resource offering professional development, educator guides, model lesson plans, and curriculum connector resources that provide educators and students with 24/7 support. Aligned to national standards, "Ignite My Future in School" provides teachers, including Learning Leaders, with exclusive, cost-free, professional development experiences across the country and the initiative inspires educators to adopt a transdisciplinary approach. As part of Ignite "My Future In School," we've identified seven effective thinking strategies to equip young innovators with valuable problem-solving skills:"

"Sharing is something vital to a society's progression toward advancement. It is a practice that helps make a community stronger and more responsive to change. We may not be aware of it, but most of our formative education has been a form of sharing:.young learners often teach each other skills they have acquired, middle and high school students share information and ideas over lunch, and professors share expertise and perspectives with us in college. But for some reason, the close-the-door-isolationism of schools, combined with contrived PLC structures and a serious lack of time in the workday, has halted prolific sharing and schools are suffering as a result."

"All over Canada, and at many schools in North America, today is the first day of school. Doing the work that I do today, I did not realize that until I opened up Facebook this morning and was hit by a barrage of "the first day of grade _____" pictures all over my feed.  The excitement on the faces of many students was contagious, but it also seemed that some parents were pretty happy to send their kids back to school as well What I have been thinking about a lot lately is about how we maintain that "first-day" excitement in our students throughout the year? Although this is something that I do my best to support in my work, I know that this is not an easy task for educators and schools as there are so many variables in the lives of our students and ourselves that have an impact on our experience in school. My focus here is on how do we create an experience in school that is both joyous while challenging.  The reason both elements are essential is that it is easier to "challenge" our students to grow in a space where they are excited to be in the first place. If a student hates coming to school every day, it is going to be a lot tougher to push them toward growth."

"An increasing number of K-12 schools are transforming classrooms, libraries or other spaces into Informal workshop environments where students can tinker or invent, and with good reason. According to The NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition, "Makerspaces are also increasing student exposure to STEM subjects and technical disciplines. Learners are applying maker skills to address some of the world's pressing challenges with innovative solutions." But how do makerspaces get started? THE Journal spoke with several experts, who shared their insights into the makerspace planning phase - not just designing or equipping the space itself but preparing the students and staff so that they're able to make the best possible use of it."

"There's an old saying that the things that change your life are the books you read, the places you go, and the people you meet. But I'd like to add a fourth: the challenges you face (and how you face them) will always change your life. If we want our students to respond to challenges with creativity and inventiveness, we must create the conditions in which innovation is not only possible but encouraged. You don't help students learn to invent by giving worksheets or cookie-cutter assignments. In fact, these one-size-fits-all approaches may actually take up the time that could be used for such creativity. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. According to the Torrance Test-which measures CQ, or creativity quotient-the United States has been declining in creativity since 1990. There has to be a reason. Perhaps it is because we focus on students' weaknesses instead of their strengths. In many schools, we'll put a math genius who struggles with grammar into extra English classes. Should we not give this math genius access to college-level advanced math work, and figure out the basic English requirements he or she needs for a basic understanding of grammar? Why do we think that all students should be good at everything? We can either be average at everything or exceptional at something. With this in mind, here are some things we need to do to encourage student inventors as we nurture student passions, interests, and strengths."

"Representation matters: Girls do better on science tests when their textbooks include images of female scientists. And a 2017 survey by Microsoft found that girls in Europe begin to show interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields at 11 years old but lose it at around 15-and a lack of female role models is one reason for the drop in interest. That's why we've created this list of books showing girls and women who are passionate about STEM fields. After asking librarians for recommendations, pulling still more from School Library Journal, and checking best-seller and award lists, we selected picture books, biographies, novels, and memoirs appropriate for kids from kindergarten to 12th grade. These books-most of which were published in 2016-represent a wide range of STEM fields, from marine biology to volcanology to math. "

"Computer programming, otherwise known as coding, is currently offered in a small fraction of US K-12 schools. There has been a push to change this recently, as evidenced by several White House initiatives, the heavily publicized Hour of Code program, and recent large scale adoptions of hands on STEM programs such as Project Lead the Way. Serious challenges remain. Many schools find themselves ill-equipped to set up coding for schools programs, citing reasons such as insufficient human capital, out-of-date equipment, and high speed internet issues. Setting up effective coding programs at schools can be challenging, and there as many issues to consider including curriculum selection, staffing, professional development, and funding. One fundamental issue dogs nearly every program implementation. Trained engineers with coding backgrounds are needed to provide the level of rigor needed to support high quality computer programming courses. It is hard enough to find skilled engineers to handle private sector demand, and even more challenging to find those with in teaching. In this guide, we provide teachers and administrators with guidance on how to set up effective K-12 computer programming courses, whether they be comprehensive STEM curriculum implementations, daytime classes or after school clubs."

"Despite the popularity of project based learning, a lot of teachers haven't gotten around to trying it yet. You've been meaning to; you just haven't had time to learn how. Or maybe you're doing something you call project based learning, but you have a nagging feeling that you might not be doing it quite right. If any of this sounds familiar, then this will help. One reason PBL might be hard for some teachers to start is that there's just so much stuff out there about it.  Who has time to wade through it all? To solve this problem, I went out in search of the clearest, most authoritative information on PBL and put together a collection of materials that will help you get your feet wet, plus links to more resources for when you're ready to dig deeper."