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"Are you ready for another round of Tech It Up Tuesday, a series devoted to sharing an edtech tool, app, site or other resource that can be utilized in the classroom setting? This week's shout out goes to the LIFE Photo Archive powered by Google, a collection of unpublished historical images from LIFE Magazine that span from the 1750's to present-day. This database containing millions of images-a joint venture between LIFE Magazine and Google-is completely free and very simple to use. Just access the site and then select a category of photos to browse (decades, people, places, events, etc.) or use the search option to locate the desired image. Once a photo is found, it can be downloaded to your device and utilized in multimedia projects, documents, presentations, etc.-so long as it has an educational/non-commercial use."

"The world wide web has afforded the common people opportunities that were literally non existent during the times of our ancestors. Opportunity grows in proportion to knowledge, and thus the age of information can also be recognized as the age of opportunity, for those who have vision. So whether you wish to explore the ideas of the brilliant minds past, elicit your imagination, learn more about philosophy, politics, economics, ancient history, or some other topic of interest - or maybe you want to acquire certain knowledge relevant to a particular field of expertise - the internet has provided you with everything you need to create new opportunities that will culminate in personal growth and long lasting success. Below you will find a comprehensive list of literature that has something to offer for everyone; *Big shout out to Tiffany Davis via Bachelors Degree Online for being the original source for most of these listings;"

"Excited shouts of "left, left, left", "knock down that tree" or "pick up that stone" can only mean one thing: your students have discovered the virtual world of Minecraft. Since its launch in 2011, children and adults worldwide have spent hours creating unique environments. The video game generates a blank landscape of different terrains that players explore. They construct buildings, mine for useful materials and, depending on what mode you're in, may have to defend yourself from attacks or stave off hunger"

"My all time education hero, Sir Ken Robinson has been discussing the lack of creativity and that standardized does not fit all students. We were remiss back in 2012 when we did not mention him in our blog Apps to Foster More Creativity in the Classroom!  We made up for it by writing about him numerous times since, and in 2014 I had the honor of seeing, hearing and writing about him Live from ASCD 2014. He has been writing and speaking about the sad state of the fact that we are still running our schools under the Industrial Age, and our students have been educated on the standard of routine testing, using the multiple choice test model. With all the opting out going on in 2015 I would think that by know some of the administrators and government leaders would have come across his wonderful TED Talks and realized he has it all completely right. When I read this Commentary Q & A from Education Week - Sir Ken Robinson, I wanted to once again give him a shout out as he urges us all to start thinking of the future of our children's children."

"It's no secret that Apple products go hand-in-hand with education. In fact, for many Generation Xers, an Apple was the first computer ever seen in their classroom (shout out to the IIe!). With regular discounts for teachers and students, Apple products are the perfect back to school gift. And once you get back to school, time to hit the books and keep up that GPA. And here's some apps to help you do just that."

Shout out to Andy McKiel and Zoe Bettess' grade 3 Math class in this post! "I love Instagram because it prompts me to take and share pictures of things that I might otherwise glance at then forget about. Before cell phones entered my life I rarely took pictures. Last week I took the picture that you see below. Almost as soon as it appeared in my Facebook feed via Instagram, my friend Kelly commented with, "shouldn't they be more concerned about weight than the number of people?" Kelly is a middle school math teacher so this picture was right in her wheelhouse of math prompts. (If you want to use the picture as a math prompt, you are welcome to download it)."

" Learn the secrets to great leadership practices, and get immediate and practical solutions that address your needs. More Permissions ASCD respects intellectual property rights and adheres to the laws governing them. Learn more about our permissions policy and submit your request online. Policies and Requests Translations Rights Books in Translation Home Current Issue Archives Buy Contact Read Abstract Online June 2014 | Volume 71 Making a Difference Pages 16-21 Overcoming the Challenges of Poverty Julie Landsman Here are 15 things educators can do to make our schools and classrooms places where students thrive. Last year, when I was leading a staff development session with teachers at a high-poverty elementary school, a teacher described how one of her kindergarten students had drifted off to sleep at his seat-at 8:00 a.m. She had knelt down next to the child and began talking loudly in his ear, urging him to wake up. As if to ascertain that she'd done what was best for this boy, she turned to the rest of us and said, "We are a 'no excuses' school, right?" A fellow teacher who also lived in the part of Minneapolis where this school was located and knew the students well, asked, "Did you know Samuel has been homeless for a while now? Last night, there was a party at the place where he stays. He couldn't go to bed until four in the morning." I couldn't help but think that if the "no excuses" philosophy a school follows interferes with basic human compassion for high-needs kids, the staff needs to rethink how they are doing things. Maybe they could set up a couple of cots for homeless students in the office to give them an hour or two of sleep; this would yield more participation than shouting at children as they struggle to stay awake. This isn't the first time I've heard of adults viewing low-income children as "the problem" rather than trying to understand their lives. In a radio interview I heard, a teenage girl in New O

"It is quickly becoming a non-negotiable for all classrooms to leverage social media in order to communicate with families and other classrooms-thus engaging others in the daily lives of students. While simply posting "fun" photos is a start, this novelty wears off quickly, and as a result, we must think more critically about how we communicate via social media. We must think more critically about how we communicate via social media. As a second grade teacher who facilitates a student-centered classroom, I now believe our use of social media is an opportunity for students to partake in the type of learning in which they can thrive and shout their story to the world."

"In the past couple of weeks, I've been asked the same question multiple times after speaking, "Do you still believe Genius Hour and 20% Projects are the best way to engage students?" My initial response was to shout YES, without really thinking about my answer. But, as someone who ran the 20% Project with my students, wrote Genius Hour into our 9th grade English curriculum, has written a book on the subject, and speaks on its merit around the country…I thought it deserved some more thought. My answer, after much reflection, is still YES but with a small hesitation. A Genius Hour or 20% Time Project involves three of the main components that engage students (for clarification purposes, my definition of student engagement is "high attention" and "high commitment" throughout the learning process). The three components are: Student Choice Authentic Audience Intrinsic Reward When those three traits are present in the learning process students are most likely to have high attention and high commitment."

"At first glance, the Photos app on iOS does not look to have changed that much in recent software updates. However, if you dig a little deeper you will soon find a lot of useful shortcuts for managing photos on your iOS device. For this post I am going to give a shout out to Fraser Speirs (@fraserspeirs) and Federico Viticci (@viticci) because of their recent episode on this very topic over on the Canvas podcast. Some of these tips I had known about before, but a couple were brand new to me, so here are the best of the best."

"It's time for my students to make a guess: Where is the class they are meeting for the first time via Skype? "Is it North Carolina?" There is silence in the classroom as my fifth graders crane their necks toward the screen. "No!" shouts a voice from the computer speakers, and my students scramble back together. A buzz of "What could it be then?" envelops them. This is what it sounds like when 23 students engage in what is known as Mystery Skype. The idea is incredibly simple, but how it unfolds can be downright magical. When else can you see students using all of their background knowledge, tech savvy and common sense just to figure out where someone is in the world?"

"Starting from next week, EdTech and mLearning will be featuring a series of posts on the best educational web tools and mobile apps we have covered during this year. Today as we were working on some literacy and language arts' tools we thought to give a quick shout-out to two of the best resources to help you with the teaching of reading. These websites provide a wide range of materials (lessons plans, interactives, printables, graphic organizers...etc) all of which are designed specifically to help students develop their reading skills and become better readers."

Education exists in an uneasy domain and the teaching professional is forced to navigate between a multitude of conflicting tensions. Our education systems are dominated by abundance of voices all shouting for attention and offering a solution to the problems they have diagnosed. Each individual claims expertise and insights gained from years as a student is sufficient experience to allow one to speak with authority. - Educators need to find their voice. 

"Contrary to what you might think and hear, apps and screens aren't the best tools for kids to learn STEM concepts, even coding. Why? Innovation, pattern recognition, exploration, experimentation and creation underlie STEM principles. Kids need to manipulate tangible things. It's how they learn. While there are some great apps that supplement STEM learning, the best STEM activities for kids are blended ones -- the ones that require hands-on exploration, screens optional. Those that do require screens, like ones with coding apps, should augment the experience, not be the sole focus. Many of these toys and kits are designed for classroom use but are perfectly adaptable and suitable for home use, too, as my two kids, ages five and seven, will shout from the rooftops (supervised, don't worry). Check out these awesome blended learning STEM kits and toys. They'll have your little inventors ready to apply for their first patent in no time."

"With Pi Day coming up, we wanted to shout out to all the amazing YouTube creators who are making math videos! (Of course, if it's Pi Day videos you want, check out our "Hooray for Pi Day" post.) Math may not seem like a natural fit for the visually-driven medium of video -- but you'd be amazed by the creativity of some of these creators who bring the complexities of all levels of math to life on the small screen. Math teachers, this one's for you!"

The purpose of the survey was to ascertain the level of awareness and openness to mobile learning among English language teachers. I also wanted to find out to what degree and how teachers were already using mobile learning both in their teaching and and professional development and to establish whether they would be willing to pay for and use mobile content. The survey also collected information about the teachers' existing access to mobile services and the kinds of device they are using to get access to mobile Internet.

"The site enables students to collect together the advantages and disadvantages of a particular subject and create a list of each to see how they balance out."

The site enables students to collect together the advantages and disadvantages of a particular subject and create a list of each to see how they balance out.