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"Some of the best games for learning aren't developed with schools in mind. But these more commercial games can be tough to wedge into a classroom. Even the most motivated teachers have to sideline these games because of scarce technology, budget, and/or time. Summer break presents the perfect opportunity for students to dig into games and build skills that'll reap huge rewards when they return in the fall. Game making can be one of the best ways to get students thinking creatively while cultivating useful technical literacies, and there's a ton of absorbing tools that students won't tire of over the long break. Here are three options to choose from depending on the type of technology students have at home"

"Chances are, if you're teaching a group of younger students (elementary or middle school, though high schoolers are certainly not known for being super careful with their devices either), you're likely concerned about how they're handling your expensive classroom iPads. There are a ton of "tough" tablet cases out there designed to save your device when it is dropped/banged/slammed/smacked/otherwise injured, but just trying to protect them for when that happens isn't getting at the root of the problem. Teaching students how to properly handle their devices so that they don't get broken (or are less likely to, since obviously accidents happen) is a necessary approach (though I'd still recommend padding those iPads to high heaven in whatever case is most appropriate for your classroom needs)."

"Part of what makes games great is how subjective our enjoyment of them can be. The best games unravel in different ways for different people; we play them differently and in different contexts, changing what they mean to us. Unfortunately, when we evaluate games for the classroom we often don't consider how mutable they are. We see them as either containing a certain amount of educational content or not. Some games fit into this model, sure. But for games that are more akin to, say, modeling clay than quizzes -- the learning value is up for grabs; they need people to give them shape and context. On its face, Geoguessr -- a geography guessing game that tosses players into random parts of the world (using Google's Street View) -- doesn't seem to have much traditional educational value. There's not much to be memorized and used on a typical geography test. Players guess where they are rather than know it, and guessing is bad, right? Not quite. Because what Geoguessr gets kids to do is think about what the essence of geography is. It asks the player to consider "place" in every sense, not just from the perspective of a geographer. It asks the player to think like an anthropologist, a scientist, indeed - a detective. In fact, it's one of my go-to examples of "21st century literacy," that notoriously murky way of looking at the world that's tough to understand, let alone teach."

"Salut! Hi everyone! If you teach French, you know how tough it can be to find resources for your classroom. Of course, I'm talking about QUALITY resources. That's why a group of great teacher-authors has decided to put together a FREE French eBook of tips and links to freebies for the back-to-school season or should I say "pour la rentrée"? Laudalina from Profs et Soeurs is the mastermind of this amazing initiative and Ms. Joanne has been so generous to host the eBook. What about me? I was honored to organize it! But before we get to the eBook, I would also like to share 5 FREE websites you can use for extra activities when teaching French. They are presented in no specific order and I'm not affiliated with any of them. I just really think they're very useful."

"Making things with electronics is tough, but if you're just starting out, littleBits are an easy way to start experimenting with all kinds of projects. You can connect real world components to the cloud instantly, program If This Then That recipes, and even connect it all to an Arduino. Here's how to get started using them. "

"Studying for tests is tough on kids and parents. I'm frequently asked to speak and write about how parents can help their children remember things they need to learn for school. From my perspective as a neurologist and teacher, I've evaluated the neuroscience research about how the brain learns and remembers most successfully. This article brings together the strategies I've suggested, based on that research, reported by parents and educators to be most helpful"

"When Ernest Hemingway would stand at his desk, he had a funny habit as he wrote: when he was working on the tough bits he'd write in his boyish, punctuation-disregarding longhand. Once the juice started to flow, he'd switch to the typewriter. Hemingway was moving between unmediated and mediated work: the pencil to his page was unmediated, the typewriter mediated. The analog helped to find flow, the mediated helped find efficiency. As Clive Thompson, the author of Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better, would argue, working in analog or mediated ways changes how our brains and thoughts behave: anyone who's ever received a serendipitous answer from someone on Twitter has experienced how technology can amplify our social thinking, while at the same time if you've put off your projects because you're fiddling on Facebook, you know much tech can distract us--to the point of changing the structure of our brains."

"Disruptive behavior continues to be one of the most challenging issues that schools face today. Even one seriously incompliant student can threaten teaching and learning for the rest of the class. And though exceedingly rare given the large number of schools throughout our country, incidents of deadly violence shake our confidence in school safety. In the 1990s, amidst similar circumstances and fears, schools adopted "get tough" philosophies of discipline: increased suspensions, expulsions, school arrests and zero tolerance. By cracking down on all transgressions, school leaders hoped to send a message to students that misbehaviors would not be tolerated, and also make classrooms safer for learners that remained."

"Do you use Google Drive to manage your digital life? Most of us do. In fact, many online students use it to submit homework and projects to their online school. So, when it comes to online learning, Google Drive and it's myriad of features are a must-try suite of tools for you. It's not easy to truly become an expert-level user of Google Drive, though. There are a ton of keyboard shortcuts and features that are tough to master. These little-known features and shortcuts are actually going to save you a boatload of time, though."

"City of Immigrants is set in New York City in 1907. Players take on the role of a fourteen year-old Jewish immigrant named Lena Brodsky. Lena is from Russia and she arrived in New York after her older brother who came to New York a few years earlier and sent money home to buy passage for family members. Lena is now trying to earn money to send home so that her parents can come to New York. Throughout the game you meet other people in Lena's life in New York who are faced with tough choices just like she is."

"As we usher in the start of a new school year, it's time to hit the ground running in your classes! Math can be pretty tough, but since it is the language in which scientists interpret the Universe, there's really no getting around learning it. Check out these gifs that will help you visualize some tricky aspects of math, so you can dominate your exams this year."

"Open any newspaper or turn on any TV and the chances are you will see a negative report on the state of teaching. From heavy workloads to rising stress levels, times are tough. But there's lots to feel positive about too: I love my job. And despite the fact my life should be a recipe for disaster - I have two young children and a husband who is training to be a teacher - it's actually not. I've worked hard to find some sort of work-life balance. It's not been easy and I don't always get things right. "

"The Arduino is a cheap electronics board that allows you to make your own electronics without a ton of coding experience. We love the Arduino, but like any electronics project, coming up with ideas for what to build is tough. Whether you're just looking for inspiration or just need a place to start, let's take a look at ten of the coolest Arduino projects."

"Any parent who has battled with a child over homework night after night has to wonder: Do those math worksheets and book reports really make a difference to a student's long-term success? Or is homework just a headache-another distraction from family time and downtime, already diminished by the likes of music and dance lessons, sports practices, and part-time jobs? Allison, a mother of two middle-school girls from an affluent Boston suburb, describes a frenetic afterschool scenario: "My girls do gymnastics a few days a week, so homework happens for my 6th grader after gymnastics, at 6:30 p.m. She doesn't get to bed until 9. My 8th grader does her homework immediately after school, up until gymnastics. She eats dinner at 9:15 and then goes to bed, unless there is more homework to do, in which case she'll get to bed around 10." The girls miss out on sleep, and weeknight family dinners are tough to swing. Parental concerns about their children's homework loads are nothing new. Debates over the merits of homework-tasks that teachers ask students to complete during non-instructional time-have ebbed and flowed since the late 19th century, and today its value is again being scrutinized and weighed against possible negative impacts on family life and children's well-being."

"Starting school can be exciting for young kids. It can also be scary. That's true whether this is their first time going to school or they're starting a new grade. And the change in routine can be especially tough for kids with learning and attention issues. How can you help your young child feel less anxious about going to school? Here, four experts weigh in on why young kids may feel anxious about school, and how to help."

"And you thought Red Bull was bad. It turns out that while a can of the energy drink has 80 milligrams of caffeine, a small cup of Starbucks drip coffee has more than three times that amount. Since many beverages don't show their caffeine content, it can be tough to make sure you're not overdoing it - and the Mayo Clinic advises adults to limit their caffeine intake to 400 mg per day. More than that and you run the risk of unpleasant side effects ranging from migraine headaches to irritability, upset stomach, and even muscle tremors"

"In a perfect world, all of our students would come to school every day well rested, well fed, clean, healthy, happy, feeling good about themselves and ready to learn. But some of the time, and perhaps for a significant segment of our students, that is not the reality. So yes, schools need to be clear on their priorities and make tough choices in supporting students while making sure their basic and psychological needs are met before we can aspire to assist them with their self-fulfillment needs. It's a delicate dance schools must do in supporting students with their varying needs; a balancing act of sorts that comes with great consequence. What complicates this even further is the reality of the very dynamic, digital world our students are growing up in. With a shifting world, comes shifting needs. And along with shifting needs comes a shifting role that schools must take on in order to best prepare students moving forward. We must revisit the graphic above to explore and best support students with their changing needs in our DIGITAL WORLD. In some cases, students get these emerging needs related to our shifting world met at home, but for others, this is not the case for a variety of reasons."

"Staying motivated and driven is one of the easiest topics to deliberate on but truly one of the toughest to actually execute especially when the going gets tough. So what is it that keeps the fire in your belly burning.....unfazed by challenges and disappointments along the way ? "