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"One thing young children are not lacking in is imagination. They have no trouble pretending, playing make believe and suspending reality. We've recently crossed over into the augmented reality arena. Augmented Reality (AR) allows for a digitally enhanced view of the real world. It allows the user to open or create layers of digital information on top of the physical world that can be viewed through a mobile device. I've talked about our first foray in AR with Aurasma app here. Aurasma is a great tool, and now my student's are using the Chromville app to create in their own Augmented Reality worlds."

"One by one, in a room just off the gym floor at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, Calif., seventh graders go on the interview hot seat. Kyle McClerkins grills them on aspects of adolescent life: "What is the biggest challenge for middle school girls?" he asks. "What has changed about you from sixth grade to now?" Some 80 students have applied to be "peer leaders" in this school's new, alternative discipline program. Called "restorative justice" this school and the Oakland Unified School District are at the forefront of a new approach to school misconduct and discipline. Instead of suspending or expelling students who get into fights or act out, restorative justice seeks to resolve conflicts and build school community through talking and group dialogue. Its proponents say it could be an answer to the cycle of disruption and suspension, especially in minority communities where expulsion rates are higher than in predominantly white schools."

"It's becoming difficult to read the news in Los Angeles these days without running across yet another article about the problems faced by the sputtering LAUSD iPad initiative. Finally, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy announced this week that they were suspending the contracts with Apple and Pearson amid increasing scrutiny and investigation of the bidding process. According to Deasy, "it will also give us time to take into account concerns raised surrounding the project". There were always valid questions surrounding a bidding process that granted enormous contracts for digital courses that had not yet been developed. It's unfortunate however that an investigation into the bidding process became the catalyst for the project's suspension when it was the planning and implementation that fell woefully short in so many areas. Hindsight may be 20-20 but many were already pointing out substantial flaws in the plan at its initial announcement. As educators we know that failure is the breeding ground for learning and adapting. With that in mind, here are 5 lessons that can be drawn from the LAUSD iPad experience."

"If you're like most people, you think of drones in a military or even in a police context. It's no wonder why, really, when they most often appear in news reports on the heels of a drone strike we've carried out in another country,  when discussing drone monitoring or policing programs, or in exploring the many safety hazards they bring with them. This makes it easy to view drones in a negative or at least a violent light. But drones, just like all technology, are themselves neither good nor evil. Rather, it's all in how we use them. Given the right context and guidance, drones can make a creative tool for learning, creativity, and experimentation. There are, of course, many potential liabilities in using drones within an educational sphere, most pressing of which have to do with safety and liability. Another real issue even for hobbyists is the expense, which may require a grant or a campaign on GoFundMe or DonorsChoose.org to solve. Still, drones are the future and the future is now. For a moment, let's suspend some disbelief and any larger concerns, so we can look at the creative teaching potential inherent in this technology."

"If you're like most people, you think of drones in a military or even in a police context. It's no wonder why, really, when they most often appear in news reports on the heels of a drone strike we've carried out in another country,  when discussing drone monitoring or policing programs, or in exploring the many safety hazards they bring with them. This makes it easy to view drones in a negative or at least a violent light. But drones, just like all technology, are themselves neither good nor evil. Rather, it's all in how we use them. Given the right context and guidance, drones can make a creative tool for learning, creativity, and experimentation. There are, of course, many potential liabilities in using drones within an educational sphere, most pressing of which have to do with safety and liability. Another real issue even for hobbyists is the expense, which may require a grant or a campaign on GoFundMe or DonorsChoose.org to solve. Still, drones are the future and the future is now. For a moment, let's suspend some disbelief and any larger concerns, so we can look at the creative teaching potential inherent in this technology."

This is the blog of the teacher, Natalie Munroe, who has been suspended for writing her reactions to teaching high school students.

Ex-Penn St. associate Sandusky in prison for abuse http://alturl.com/qtoji BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Jerry Sandusky was charged Saturday of intimately battling 10 young boys over 15 decades, suggestions that smashed the Satisfied Area picture of Penn Condition baseball and led to the shooting of Area of Popularity instructor Joe Paterno. Sandusky, a 68-year-old outdated protecting instructor who was once Paterno's heir obvious, was in prison for 45 of 48 number. Sandusky revealed little sentiment as the judgment was study. The assess requested him to be taken to the city prison to welcome sentencing in about three months. He encounters the likelihood of life in prison.The assess suspended Sandusky's help and requested him locked up. In trial, Sandusky half-waved toward household as the cops led him away. Outside, he gently stepped to a sheriff's car with his arms cuffed before side of him. As he was placed in the car, someone screamed at him to "rot in terrible." Others thrown insults and he shaken his go no in reaction. The accuser known in trial documents as Sufferer 6 split down in rips upon listening to the decisions in the trial docket. bsequently, a district lawyer accepted him and said, "Did I ever lie to you?"