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"reaching out to share their own tough truths and a bit of hope as well. "You need to tell new teachers how it gets better," one of them suggested. "You need to leave them with a bit of light." Point taken, and thanks for the feedback. I loved reopening this conversation! Veteran teacher friends: I'm wondering what you would add."

"In prepping for my on-campus course this semester I felt the need to freshen up my face-to-face discussion strategies. Digging around, I discovered some fabulous pedagogical portals well worth visiting for educators, both newbie and veteran.  Take a look if you and your partner teachers seek a little inspiration for engaging learners in meaningful conversations and a few new activities."

"Veteran researchers present five strategies-like maintaining success files and allowing choice-to help struggling students develop a positive attitude needed for success."

"Looking for direction in the ever-expanding world of education technology? You don't have to look hard to find education bloggers. But who are the true trend setters? EdTech is proud to spotlight some of the education industry's most influential thought-leaders in our latest crop of the top K-12 IT bloggers. These 50 blogs include veterans from years past, fresh picks from our editorial staff and nominations from our readers. This year, we've tried something new - dividing each blog into one of four categories to focus on where the bloggers' expertise lies."

"As a veteran English teacher in the Euclid City Schools, and someone who sees great value in integrating technology, I wanted to contribute to the ongoing dialog regarding tablet computing, specifically, the iPad, and its impact on student literacy and students' self perception of their own literacy. You can find an article detailing my teacher research below as well a short video I produced for this project and to share at the "

"Sally Hurd Smith, a veteran teacher, held up her brand-new tablet computer and shook it as she said, "I don't want this thing to take over my classroom." It was late June, a month before the first day of school. In a sixth-grade classroom in Greensboro, N.C., a dozen middle-school social-studies teachers were getting their second of three days of training on tablets that had been presented to them as a transformative educational tool. Every student and teacher in 18 of Guilford County's 24 middle schools would receive one, 15,450 in all, to be used for class work, homework, educational games - just about everything, eventually. "

"It's not easy being a teacher today. National, state and local politicians, philanthropists, researchers, journalists and many other people who have never actually taught a K-12 student are deciding how and what teachers should teach, and how their effectiveness should be assessed. Sadly, I've met many veteran teachers who are seriously considering retirement. Worse, I've encountered many promising young teachers who are wondering if they chose the wrong profession. How do I counsel teachers who share these thoughts with me? I remind them of two simple words: you matter. Indeed, teachers matter more now than ever."

"On any given day at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, visitors to the Lower School library might be surprised to find it bears little resemblance to the school libraries of years past. Several 5th graders sit at computers, developing 3D luggage tags using Tinkercad to be printed on the nearby Makerbot 3D printer. On the central library tables, students are creating Rube Goldberg machines using physical manipulatives or the RubeWorks iPad app. The library is a buzz of activity and student engagement, punctuated with squeals of excitement. And overseeing the makerspace is librarian Judy Houser, a veteran educator who took the visionary step of transforming this once quiet library into a space where students not only learn to love reading, but learn to explore, create and innovate using a variety of tools"

"School and district leaders that are thinking about personalizing education tell us one of their top concerns is how to train, support, and develop teachers effectively to teach in ways that may feel new and unfamiliar.  As former educators we agree that this is crucial, and are happy that they recognize the challenge and are ready to take it on. First and foremost, in order to support the teachers we are asking to teach in blended learning environments we have to understand the implications on teaching practice.  Over the past three years, we've worked with thousands of teachers tackling the question of how to personalize learning in their classrooms and we've gathered a set skills into 5 domains of blended learning teaching that we believe are new skills to master for veteran and novice teachers alike. This five-domain rubric was created, not for evaluation purposes (there are enough evaluation rubrics out there!), but for teachers to be able to self-assess, set goals and progress.  In the same way, we want blended learning to allow for students to have a better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, we want teachers to be able to identify blended specific skills and better understand their own strengths and areas for growth.  We wanted to give teachers, their coaches, and their leaders, a sense of what to strive for, and help them plot a path to get there through aligned professional development.  We also found that the teachers we work with cherish the opportunity to self-reflect, identify the skills they have and the skills they need, and take the time to set goals around where they want to shift their practice.  Many of our schools infuse these concepts into community of practices discussions for continuous learning."

Get IN SHAPE for teaching and stay INSPIRED all the year through... Whether you're a newbie feeling IN OVER YOUR HEAD or a veteran teacher IN A RUT, you'll find ideas and plans to keep you energized. Even if you have everything completely IN CONTROL, be sure to check out the creative ideas and time-saving tips to help keep you on top of your game throughout the entire school year

Whether you're new to the teaching field yourself or a seasoned veteran, you can find inspiration, advice and shared experiences by reading the blogs of other teachers. Both established bloggers and those new to the game like the bloggers listed here can offer some interesting and sometimes entertaining reading material for anyone involved in the education field. Check these new bloggers out the next time you're looking for something educational to read.

"The following TEDTalk by Rita Pierson reminds us of why we all got involved in teaching to begin with. While curriculum, assessment, and instructional design may be how you parse your thinking now, at one point it probably had more to do with content, curiosity, and relationships. In this talk, the 40-year veteran teacher reminds us that not only do relationships matters, sometimes they're all that matters."

"Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not

"May is an important month for teachers. Standardized testing kicks in gear, decisions are being made about next year's budget, and, of course, Teacher Appreciation Week. After ten years in the classroom, I've discovered that the best Teacher Appreciation gifts tend to be free- handwritten notes from students or words of encouragement from veteran teachers. My gift to you is this roundup of advice from voices in every academic discipline, as well as a heavy sprinkling of books about fictional teachers. There are some classics, some hot new titles, and a few books that might push you out of your comfort zone. Whether you are trying to up your game in a certain subject, study theory about different learning styles, or simply read a story about someone else surviving the classroom for a change, you'll find something in this list of 100 must-read books for and about teachers."

The potential of using video games for purposes other than entertainment is starting to be unleashed - not just by veteran scientists, but by young students.