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The greatest challenge is moving beyond the glitz and pizzazz of the flashy technology to teach true literacy in this new milieu. Using the same skills used for centuries-analysis, synthesis, and evaluation-we must look at digital literacy as another realm within which to apply elements of critical thinking... Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media (text, sound, images), to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments. According to Gilster,5 the most critical of these is the ability to make educated judgments about what we find online.

"The NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition was released this past week, examining emerging technologies and their potential impact on teaching and learning worldwide. Part of the NMC Horizon Project, a 12-year effort, this report highlights "six trends, challenges, and emerging technologies that will affect current practice" over the next five years. Aside from being great content for your next Twitter chat, this year's iteration of the NMC Horizon Report is a must-read for 21st century educators and education policy makers alike. Following is a summary of major points."

"ome widely held ideas about the way children learn can lead educators and parents to adopt faulty teaching principles Jan 1, 2015 Credit: Kiyoshi Takahase segundo MYTH HUMANS USE ONLY 10 PERCENT OF THEIR BRAIN FACT The 10 percent myth (sometimes elevated to 20) is mere urban legend, one perpetrated by the plot of the 2011 movie Limitless, which pivoted around a wonder drug that endowed the protagonist with prodigious memory and analytical powers. In the classroom, teachers may entreat students to try harder, but doing so will not light up "unused" neural circuits; academic achievement does not improve by simply turning up a neural volume switch. MYTH "LEFT BRAIN" and "RIGHT BRAIN" PEOPLE DIFFER FACT The contention that we have a rational left brain and an intuitive, artistic right side is fable: humans use both hemispheres of the brain for all cognitive functions. The left brain/right brain notion originated from the realization that many (though not all) people process language more in the left hemisphere and spatial abilities and emotional expression more in the right. Psychologists have used the idea to explain distinctions between different personality types. In education, programs emerged that advocated less reliance on rational "left brain" activities. Brain-imaging studies show no evidence of the right hemisphere as a locus of creativity. And the brain recruits both left and right sides for both reading and math. MYTH YOU MUST SPEAK ONE LANGUAGE BEFORE LEARNING ANOTHER FACT Children who learn English at the same time as they learn French do not confuse one language with the other and so develop more slowly. This idea of interfering languages suggests that different areas of the brain compete for resources. In reality, young children who learn two languages, even at the same time, gain better generalized knowledge of language structure as a whole. MYTH BRAINS OF MALES AND FEMALES DIFFER IN WAYS THAT DICTATE LEARNING ABILITIES FACT Diffe

"If your school is planning to employ BYOD and is looking for some theoretical background about this trend then this comprehensive literature review is a must read. This review represents a reasonable and representative scan of the available literature on BYOD. The visual below is based on this literature review and sketches a general framework of what BYOD is all about, its models . reasons to use it and many more.This infographic is created by Pip Cleaves and the original version can be viewed from this link."

"Currently, there seems to be a gap between what our schools and universities teach and the lifelong learning skills students must learn to master on their own. And yet, the need for students to master lifelong skills has never been greater. Corporate leaders confirm their importance for promotion and advancement, while economists contend these skills hold the key to countering projected job losses due to automation. With all the buzz around the Common Core, MOOCs, and blended learning, it's time to prioritize skills that prepare students to learn for life. With schools like Summit Public Schools and Lindsay Unified making efforts to experiment with new approaches to learning, there's an opportunity to focus on a new set of skills. I believe these skills can be broken into three categories: Reflection, Research, and Resolving. Grounded in educator Malcolm Knowles' definition of learning, these 3Rs take students beyond the centuries-old, subject-specific 3Rs of reading, (w)riting, and (a)rithmetic. Armed with them, learners can thrive in a world where learning never ends."

"Today, teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics mostly stick to the theoretical aspects. Students must know the number of degrees in a triangle, but rarely do they get to put that knowledge to use through structured lessons. STEM Education in the 21st Century Read More The tools listed here are transforming the way teachers approach STEM education. Integrating these new tools into their lessons can help teachers teachers reinforce theoretical concepts by demonstrating their real-world applications. By showing students that the knowledge is relevant and useful, teachers can help them unlock new realms of creativity in all scientific realms and possibly change their future career trajectories."

"Similar to Google Alerts I covered in an earlier post, Google Scholar also has an "alert" feature that allows users to keep updated about the topics, news, and authors that interest them. Google scholar Alert is particularly useful for student researchers who are doing research around a topic area and want to have access to the latest and recent output about it. Creating an alert on Google Scholar will enable you to receive emails with updates and new releases about your alert. For instance, let's say your research topic is game-based learning and that one of the established authors you want to make sure to read his newest updates in this area is James Paul Gee. You can go ahead and create two alerts using the following key phrases : game-based learning, and James Paul Gee. From the time you create these alerts, anything published on Google Scholar with these two phrases in it will come directly to your inbox."

"As the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development points out, today's educators face a catch-22 - they must "help decidedly unstandardized students meet an expanding set of rigorous, standardized learning targets." Fortunately, teachers have a solution to this dilemma in differentiated instruction. A differentiated classroom accommodates the heterogeneity of students by tailoring instruction to each student's backgrounds, interests, skill, and readiness levels. Read on to learn more about differentiated teaching, why it works, and how to implement it in your classroom."

Handing Assessment Over to Students I have been giving a lot of thought about how to give my students more of a voice in their learning and in our classroom. Initially, I was focused on increasing their presence on our classroom blog through podcasts, videos, and blog posts. I even gave thought to asking my district IT to unblock Twitter so that we could create a class account (which I am still going to do). But never would assessment have crossed my mind. Fortunately, I took my thoughts to my PLN. Janine Campbell (@campbellartsoup) responded to my tweet about amplifying students' voices with rich insights and a couple articles that got the cerebral wheels turning. If you like what you read here, be sure to follow Janine on Twitter. Assessment for learning is a pedagogical golden nugget. No one ever said that the teacher had to do it alone. Why not give your students a voice in how they are assessed? It might tell you more about where they are at than assessing your class conventionally. Rubrics are my favorite way to assess student projects. I'm even pretty good at creating them. By doing so, I completely understand the assignment and learning outcomes for any given project. But do my students? Is there a way to better utilize rubrics as assessment of learning where students' voices are intensified. Yes! Allowing students to create the criteria for assessment does just that. It doesn't just serve the purpose of better summative assessment. Student-created rubrics also provides a medium for formative assessment as well. If my assignment is for students to analyze the effects of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on post-war America, I will be able to formatively assess the class' understanding of the main points of this event by the criteria that they suggest this assignment should be graded on. I will know that I need to reteach aspects of this event in American history if students believe that including a description of John Wilkes Booth's escape from Ford's The

Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, has asked the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to design and pursue innovative strategies that would aid the state to derive value for money in its procurement processes. He said to achieve significant headway by way of socio-economic development, conscious efforts must be made to improve public procurement.Dr Duffuor made the call in an address read for him at the fifth public forum, organized by the PPA in Kumasi, on Thursday.

Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, has asked the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to design and pursue innovative strategies that would aid the state to derive value for money in its procurement processes. He said to achieve significant headway by way of socio-economic development, conscious efforts must be made to improve public procurement.Dr Duffuor made the call in an address read for him at the fifth public forum, organized by the PPA in Kumasi, on Thursday.

"The first time linguist and game studies theorist James Gee played a video game, he failed many times over. But instead of giving up, he merrily persevered, choosing to exercise "learning muscles" he hadn't worked out since his grad school days. "Lots of young people pay lots of money to engage in an activity that is hard, long, and complex," he realized. Games were evidence that humans love learning. But why do they seem to love it more during Minecraft than in the classroom? A game, most simply defined, is nothing more than a set of problems that a player must solve in order to win. And whether played on a board, cards, a computer, an iPad, or a console, games have the ability to intrinsically shape the way we teach and learn language and literacy. "

"Reflection could also be described as the 'opposite' of activating prior knowledge. Reflection is functional neurologically (reinforcing learning as a 'memory), but also useful as a practice, helping students understand the scale and value of what they just experienced. Maker Education is no different-in fact, Maker Learning may benefit even more from reflection than more traditional academic experiences due to the fail-forward/try-again persistence required by this approach. (Check out our Maker Education resources for more reading.) Jackie Gerstein is one of our favorites here at TeachThought, and her usergeneratededucation site is a must-bookmark for all teachers. So, on to the questions for reflection in Maker Learning. Below, Jackie has written 23 possible reflection questions to get you started. Share any others you'd recommend in the comments."

"Evaluating a student's understanding of a topic is like taking a measurement. However, it requires measuring something that is difficult to see. It's not like I can stick a ruler into a student's brain to determine the size of their physics stuff. Now, most teachers use indirect means, usually a multiple-choice test or an exam in which students work through a problem. These are poor measures of student understanding. Someone could simply guess, or flub the answer through a silly mistake. So how can I accurately assess a student's understanding of physics? Until someone invents a way of reading a student's mind, I must do something else. I use a combination of written tests and video assessments."

"There's an old saying that the things that change your life are the books you read, the places you go, and the people you meet. But I'd like to add a fourth: the challenges you face (and how you face them) will always change your life. If we want our students to respond to challenges with creativity and inventiveness, we must create the conditions in which innovation is not only possible but encouraged. You don't help students learn to invent by giving worksheets or cookie-cutter assignments. In fact, these one-size-fits-all approaches may actually take up the time that could be used for such creativity. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. According to the Torrance Test-which measures CQ, or creativity quotient-the United States has been declining in creativity since 1990. There has to be a reason. Perhaps it is because we focus on students' weaknesses instead of their strengths. In many schools, we'll put a math genius who struggles with grammar into extra English classes. Should we not give this math genius access to college-level advanced math work, and figure out the basic English requirements he or she needs for a basic understanding of grammar? Why do we think that all students should be good at everything? We can either be average at everything or exceptional at something. With this in mind, here are some things we need to do to encourage student inventors as we nurture student passions, interests, and strengths."

"Social media's popularity means educators have a number of avenues to develop their professional learning networks and learn from one another. Blogging gives educators a platform to share best practices, pose questions to their peers, and explore new ideas about teaching and learning. Here, we've gathered 9 blogs that focus on technology integration, instructional technology, school leadership, and pedagogy. If you have a favorite blog that isn't on this list, use the comment section below to let us know."

"When students are learning about research topics and current events, they must also learn about how perspective and bias may affect the information they are reading. Teaching these lessons explicitly is critical in this era of "fake" news. The following tips and activities are designed to help students understand the choices that journalists make that may affect how readers interpret a story."