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"One of the most boring and banned words in classrooms is 'went.' There are SO many synonyms that you're simply trying at all if you stick with the word 'went.' Lucky for you, there's hundreds (literally) of other ways to express yourself using the English language."

As teachers we hope our lessons are engaging and that our students are engaged. We understand that positive learning experiences are more likely to occur when we are engaged cognitively and affectively by what we are doing and that when we are, new ideas and skills are more likely to stick. Engagement is an important consideration in learning and as such it is worth taking time to consider what it means to be engaged and perhaps how we bring the benefits of engagement to our teaching and our learning. 

"We typically teach students a growth mindset through online programs that demonstrate how the brain changes with learning (how the neurons grow stronger connections when students work on hard things and stick with them) and how to apply this to their schoolwork. These programs also contain testimonials from other students about how they've used a growth mindset to approach their schoolwork and to work toward meaningful goals in their lives. In the wake of the many exciting research results, educators became increasingly interested in promoting a growth mindset among their students. This was extremely gratifying. To see some of the great successes was even more gratifying. However, I slowly became aware that not all educators understood the concept fully."

"For years I wondered why all my beautiful small-scale models kept falling apart. I underestimated the most important factor: adhesive. You can glue almost everything with super glue - but some materials just won't stay together. Is it possible to glue rubber to glass? Will plastic stick to wood? Once you mix several different materials, it can get really confusing. For those moments it's convenient to have a handy table that gives a quick overview."

"Y'all know we love TED talks. Short, watchable snippets of useful information, thought provoking questions, personal stories, inspiration, and learning. While I always take something away from every TED talk that I watch, some stick with me more than others. That said, most don't come with a specific list of takeaways meant to help you with your everyday life. This talk, from David Pogue, offers 10 time saving tech tips. Most are for technologies that we use every day. They're simple, easy-to-do, they'll save you time, and make you feel like a suave tech person who can (seemingly) make their technology do whatever they need it to do with little effort. The video is embedded below, but we've typed out the handy list for you to reference later."

"Popularized by Angela Lee Duckworth's excellent TED Talk in April 2013, "Grit" has become a red-hot buzzword in education today. However, is this a legitimate concept that teachers should start integrating into their educational zeitgeist or just another passing trend? The research in favor of grit as a predictor of success is compelling, suggesting that this is a much-awaited key measuring stick that works on both students and teachers. Read on to learn more about this trending topic and decide for yourself whether grit is something that should play into your teaching techniques."

"When you need a quick pick-me-up, how much bang for your buck will you get at Starbucks? Chances are you probably order one of a handful of drinks and stick to that group on a regular basis. However, this in-depth chart from Thrillist might help you try something new if you're looking to juice up on the cheap."

"The district wide iPad committee that I served on was tasked with creating a list of core apps for the iPads. There was significant thought and care put into making the list. We wanted to stick with free apps, developmentally appropriate, focused on creation yet considering space limitations on the device. We liked this visual for sharing the apps so we tried to recreate our list in this style. http://www.teachthought.com/apps-2/47-core-teacher-apps-a-visual-library-of-apps-for-teachers/"

"Want to be a game piece in Candyland? Want to ride a roller coaster down the Rocky Mountains? Now you can do it all! … Well, you can make it look like you did it all. Juxtaposer is the best app for creating fun photomontages. Cut out a piece of one photo and stick it onto another. We can't stop playing with it! We're going to show you the ins and outs of this app and turn you into a pro user. Because everyone needs to know how to make a photo of themselves swimming in a tub of ice cream."

"It's that time where schools are deciding what apps students should have on their devices. While many schools stick with just free apps, others know that paid apps have a lot to offer. Paid apps are usually 50% off when purchased through Apple's Volume Purchase Program for Education, so outfitting an entire class with a paid app might not break the bank. I thought I'd share my top paid app picks for students' iPads. These apps are all open-ended and empower students to create something with their learning."

"What motivates people to work? Most people would say money, and those people would only be partially correct. In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, author Daniel Pink writes about radical practices implemented by Australian software company Atlassian and search engine giant Google that have taught us a lot about what really motivates human beings to work. Hint: it is not the proverbial carrot on a stick."

"For many teachers, online games are the scourge of the classroom - a drain on students' attention, time and potential. Any educator who has ever tried to teach a lesson using online resources or taken a class in the computer lab has probably experienced the frustration of finding a student on a gaming site instead of sticking to the intended lesson plan. But online games don't always have to be a distraction (see last week's post 5 Reasons to Embrace Gaming in the Classroom). In fact, there are many brilliant educational games out there that can actually engage and inspire students and equip them with the tools and ambition to approach a whole host of exciting careers and academic paths"

"While doodling has often been seen as frivolous at best and distracting at worst, the idea of sketchnoting has grounding in neuroscience research about how to improve memory. When ideas and related concepts can be encapsulated in an image, the brain remembers the information associated with that image. William Klemm, a professor of neuroscience at Texas A&M University, says the process is akin to a zip file. "This is a way to get your working memory to carry more," Klemm said at a Learning and the Brain conference in San Francisco."

"If you build it, will they come? Just because you create a makerspace (PDF) in your school doesn't guarantee that your community will embrace it. Students who have had all personal choice removed by traditional educational models can be passive and feel overwhelmed when faced with real-world problems or design challenges. Academic passivity is common in schools where students swallow content and regurgitate it on multiple-choice tests. Students simply want to know how to get the "A." This type of learning does not stick. Teachers may find the role of facilitator (or "guide on the side") uncomfortable if they are used to being the "sage on the stage." New technology in these spaces may be intimidating. Teachers need encouragement and professional development to change their mindsets and become facilitators of learning. How do you change your culture and ensure that your shiny new makerspace will empower students to acquire 21st-century skills? How do you change the culture of student apathy to encourage a mindset of doing? Follow these steps and design tips to build a culture of making and active learning."

"I've always found a sense of peace in the creative process. It's a time when I feel like I don't have to stick with the rules in place for all the different parts of my life. That freedom helps me come up with some of my most creative ideas and exciting projects. This has been true my entire life. When I entered the classroom, I wanted to give my students as many chances as possible to be creative. Over the years, I've seen amazing projects from students who dared to take creative chances. Until very recently, I thought these creative opportunities were the best way to engage kids in this process. It wasn't until I dove into the maker movement that I realized how much more is possible. I always come up with some big projects for my own students, but what about the rest of the building? I'd never been supported in larger school or district ideas, but this past year was different. With the support and challenge to do something for students outside of my classroom, I decided to go for it. After talking with some friends and our amazing media specialist, a makerspace in the library made the most sense. Here are some tips and tricks for putting together a makerspace in your school, and some thoughts on how it can be beneficial to your students."

"Trying to figure out if your lessons are resonating? Time to consider the idea of becoming a 'sticky teacher' and seeing how it works in the classroom. Here are a few quick tips that will help you understand how to make your lessons actually stick to your students' brains. These are the fundamental ideas and reasons behind sticky teaching - a fun term that will help teachers think twice about the most effective ways to truly connect with students."

"Studies have shown that typing notes requires shallower levels of cognitive processing than handwriting, as subjects often tend to type verbatim what they hear without really engaging with its substance to the level that is required for greater understanding and better recollection. In contrast, handwriting appears to be more cognitively demanding. According to these studies,  subjects who use handwriting are generally forced to rephrase what hear into their own words, thus creating "more effective memory cues by recreating the context (e.g., thought processes, emotions, conclusions) as well as content (e.g., individual facts) from the original learning session". The evidence against typing your notes is pretty compelling. And then there were tablets Tablets introduce another level of complexity to this problem, since they can be used both to type and handwrite notes. So what are we to do? Are we to avoid using the tablets and stick to pen and paper? If we do use tablets for note taking, are we to force students to handwrite notes on their tablets using a stylus? And are we to ban students from typing up notes on their tablets? After all, that is what the research appears to suggests."

"f you build it, will they come? Just because you create a makerspace (PDF) in your school doesn't guarantee that your community will embrace it. Students who have had all personal choice removed by traditional educational models can be passive and feel overwhelmed when faced with real-world problems or design challenges. Academic passivity is common in schools where students swallow content and regurgitate it on multiple-choice tests. Students simply want to know how to get the "A." This type of learning does not stick. Teachers may find the role of facilitator (or "guide on the side") uncomfortable if they are used to being the "sage on the stage." New technology in these spaces may be intimidating. Teachers need encouragement and professional development to change their mindsets and become facilitators of learning. How do you change your culture and ensure that your shiny new makerspace will empower students to acquire 21st-century skills? How do you change the culture of student apathy to encourage a mindset of doing? Follow these steps and design tips to build a culture of making and active learning."

"I've always found a sense of peace in the creative process. It's a time when I feel like I don't have to stick with the rules in place for all the different parts of my life. That freedom helps me come up with some of my most creative ideas and exciting projects. This has been true my entire life. When I entered the classroom, I wanted to give my students as many chances as possible to be creative. Over the years, I've seen amazing projects from students who dared to take creative chances. Until very recently, I thought these creative opportunities were the best way to engage kids in this process. It wasn't until I dove into the maker movement that I realized how much more is possible. I always come up with some big projects for my own students, but what about the rest of the building? I'd never been supported in larger school or district ideas, but this past year was different. With the support and challenge to do something for students outside of my classroom, I decided to go for it. After talking with some friends and our amazing media specialist, a makerspace in the library made the most sense. Here are some tips and tricks for putting together a makerspace in your school, and some thoughts on how it can be beneficial to your students."