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"Educators are always seeking the 'Holy Grail' of teaching - engaged learners. It's even better when students don't realise they are learning but do so through having fun and being creative. That's where the iPad comes in."

"As teachers, the pull of social media on your students attention will already be well known to you. The online world exerts a magnetic lure on the attention of young people today, offering community and information sharing, entertainment and gossip in ways that often pull students away from the blackboard. Understanding this dynamic, some educators are now bringing social media into the classroom in surprising ways. By working with something your students already enjoy and don't, perhaps, associate with learning, there are opportunities for creative teaching, as well as making genuine connection with your students."

"It should be abundantly clear to anyone with experience around classrooms, teachers or students (which is to say almost all of us), that teaching is a highly emotional craft, loaded with possibility and expectation, importance and scale. It's troubling when the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future says that 46 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. And even worse, this turnover is also impacting the whole public education machine - learning, teacher education, teacher training, funding, public perception, and so on - in a dizzying cause-effect pattern stuck on repeat. Fixing this issue is an illusion, as it's not a single issue but rather a product of countless factors. However, there are six ways we can address it here and now."

"This year is the start of something special in education: computers are starting to be seen as an opportunity, not just a smarter typewriter. Since the new computing curriculum was announced last year, there has been renewed interest in teaching children how to program computers and not just use them to run applications"

"Thinking is troublesome. For one, it is an intimate act splicing time and space. It is done right here, but it spans moments in the pasts and reaches out uncertainly towards moments in the future. Put another way, you think in a singular, precise space about plural, imprecise times."

"Did you know that March is Women's History Month? Yes, I know that there is a month or day for celebrating just about everything out there, a number of these designations offer excellent teaching and learning opportunities. While it may fit better into some curricula better than others, the women that are highlighted by the NWHP (National Women's History Project) do come from different personal backgrounds, time periods, and professions."

"As a teacher, delving into the world of education technology can be daunting. There is SO MUCH out there. How is a busy teacher to know where to begin? Fortunately, Glenda Stewart-Smith of Surrey School District #36 in Canada has put together this collection of essential teaching tools. Each has been shown to be effective in the classroom. There is no need to dive in head-first. If you are drowning in a sea of edtech, wade in this proven pool first."

"I just returned from a conference where the organizers screened World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements, a documentary about John Hunter, the teacher from Charlottesville, Virginia whose elegant design of a classroom activity elicits the deep thinking and creative problem solving educators strive for. Hunter responded to questions with a crafted vision of teaching and touching anecdotes from his long years in the classroom. Over and over, he repeated a central theme: human interaction is at the heart of effective education. There's no app or standardized test for good teaching. (Or replacement for the kinds of things great teachers do differently.)"

"Teaching Math with Mangahigh"

" Our guest today walks us through the four stages of the SAMR model, an approach designed to help educators integrate technology into teaching and learning. Follow: @iPadWells @coolcatteacher @bamradionetwork #edtechchat #edchat #edtech"

"Using grapes to teach??? If that is your first thought then I am going to take it you are not yet familiar with Vine. To put it simply, Vine is a mobile app (iOS, Android, Windows) that enables users to create and post short (7 seconds max) looping video clips. These videos can then be shared on Vine's own social network, or to other social media services such as Twitter and Facebook. So how does this fit into the classroom? How can anything be taught in just 7 seconds? Well, author, teacher trainer, #Edchat founder and Twitter all-star Shelly Terrell has put together a very cool slide deck to show you how:"

"Whether you're a technophobe or a geeked-out early adopter, there's no denying that the world is run on computers, and the language of computers is code. It seems only natural that there's a wave of interest in the idea of teaching kids to code -- some say it should be a requirement in every school. I think no one would argue that every kid is cut out to be a programmer, but a basic understanding of code couldn't hurt. In fact, this knowledge could give a leg up in an increasingly technology-centric society. Hopefully this playlist of videos will help you learn more about some of the people and organizations who are working to change the opportunities available for kids to learn code. "

"We can't teach as fast as things change. By things I mean information. Perspectives. Ideologies. What's socially acceptable and what's not. Our collective cultural biases and intellectual prejudices."

"The short answer is that Strogatz has discovered a certain thrill in rectifying the crimes and misdemeanors of math education. Strogatz asks his students, more than half of them seniors, to provide a "mathematical biography." Their stories reveal unpleasant experiences with math along the way. Rather than question the quality of the teaching they received, they blamed math itself-or worse, their own intelligence or lack of innate talent. Strogatz loves the challenge, "There's something remarkable about working with a group of students who think they hate math or find it boring, and then turning them around, even just a little bit.""

"Following the post on iPad Apps for Music Education I received a couple of requests to feature a post on  iPad apps for  teaching and learning piano. And because I don't know any that I would recommend I crowdsourced the topic on my personal learning network and got a lot of feedback from music teachers. Based on these responses I compiled the list below for other piano teachers to consider. I hope you will find the list helpful. Enjoy."

"When you look at the very best work happening in iPad classrooms, you'll see students creating media, showcasing their understanding, collaborating with peers, and communicating with broad audiences. The pockets of excellence are ever-present and inspiring. On the whole, however, tablets are most often used to reproduce existing practices-to distribute resources and enable students to take notes. Past generations of school leaders might have been forgiven for permitting these patterns of technology adoption, but today we have the benefit of history to look back on. We know that without a change in our technology integration strategies, there's no reason to expect that a new device will magically create new teaching practices in schools. To make the most of the investment in tablet computers, school leaders need to do three things. First, they need to work with their communities to articulate a clear vision for how new technology will improve instruction. Second, they need to help educators imagine how new technologies can support those visions. Finally, they need to support teachers and students on a developmental journey that will take them from using tablets for consumption to using them for curation, creation, and connection."

"The air is getting cooler, the leaves are starting to change color, and the days are getting shorter. In just a few days the autumnal equinox will be here in the northern hemisphere. Here are some resources for teaching and learning about the sights and sounds of autumn."

"We're just finishing up a massive project of creating a supplementary curriculum for Seattle's Summer School program. We realized that the spirit of the lessons was even more important than the content. To this end, we designed the activities to encourage students to own their mathematical experiences, to give kids an opportunity-and a reason-to fall in love with math. So we introduce our lessons with this list of the 5 principles that you can use in your math teaching to make the classroom hum. We wanted to share the list here, even though school is almost out. Let us know if these principles speak to you, and if there's anything you think we're missing."

"Your father's school library and school librarian are rapidly disappearing. In this segment we talk about the many ways that the school library is changing teaching and learning."

"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."