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Last fall I asked readers to contribute to a list of tips for new teachers. I compiled that list and put it together as a Google Docs presentation of 131 tips. This year, I would like to expand the list with more tips from you. If you have a helpful tip for new teachers, be it technology related or not, please consider leaving a comment on this post and I will add it to the presentation. Last year's list is embedded below.

"A challenge of raising a connected generation of students is figuring out how to be a connected learner yourself. This requires learning about the tools that support connections and connected learning, and to accomplish this goal you may want to consider Google Certification. Which one is the best option? Here are two great ways you can accomplish this task. First you need to know what the difference is between a Google Certified Teacher and a Google Certified Trainer? Since there are some Google Teacher Academies coming up soon, it is time to break down the difference from both a Google Certified Teacher and Trainer. I will start with a quick overview and then give you five reasons why you would want to become either a Google Certified Teacher or a Google Certified Trainer - or both!"

"As the end of the 2012-2013 school year draws near, it may be advantageous for teachers to clean up their Google Drive. Not only will it be a new start for the 2013-2014 school year to delete files that are not needed that the teachers created, BUT removing student creations that were shared with the teachers will certainly provide for a clean start in the coming school year. As a added help, five videos have been created to help in this task. I urge teachers to take an hour of their time and remove items that are not needed in their Google Drive."

"It seems like the practice of professional development within schools has witnessed some radical changes throughout the years. According to We Are Teachers, there are ten main areas that have been touched by this change. Starting with the choice of topics of PDs, in the past such topics were particularly chosen by the principal or school administrators on behalf of the teaching staff. However, today, teachers are more inclined to guide their own PD through concerted efforts in professional learning networks. Also a comparison between the delivery style of PDs in the past with what it is now shows a considerable  shift from expert-centred lecture style where teachers were mere listeners to hands-on workshops that view teachers as experts."

"Games are being used much more widely in schools than they were when I first started writing about them 2 or 3 years ago. As of fall 2013, 74% of K-8 teachers were using digital games. 55% of these teachers have students playing digital games at least weekly, 9% daily. The games they are using are mostly designed to be educational, with only 5% playing commercial games, and 8% playing hybrids (commercial games adapted for education like MincraftEDU or SimCityEdu). These insights come from Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Sesame Workshop, who recently released a study surveying K-8 teachers in order to understand how they are implementing digital games in their classrooms."

"As teachers and educators, we are constantly required to review, evaluate and renew our teaching strategies to align them with  the cultural, technological and pedagogical ethos of the era we are living in. In today's era, the digital component is at the foreground which obviously calls for a new mindset, a novel conceptual framework that views technology not as an end itself but solely a mean to an educational end. It is a truism that digitally has opened a new horizon of unprecedented learning opportunities and experiences  but we can only tap into its full educational potential when we equip ourselves with the proper mindset: a growth and open mindset that as much as it adapts it also disrupts the century-old orthodoxies underlying teaching and learning practice. Teaching is a dynamic concept which is constantly evolving and expanding and that is why teachers and educators are forever learners. Engaging in such a life-long learning journey entails that teachers develop a set of robust thinking habits that allow them to fit in the rapidly evolving educational landscape.These habits are, according to Reid Wilson, what make the profile of a modern educator. Below is an awesome visual created by Wilson featuring some of the characteristics of a modern teacher which I want to bring to your attention. Have a look and share with us what you think of it. Enjoy"

"As the beginning of another school year approaches, students face the dreading reality of putting the sunny, less-stress summer days behind and preparing for the next 10 months of deadlines, papers, homework assignments, tests, grades and teachers that seem to not understand what it's like to be a student in 2014. While some students anticipate the teacher that gives less homework, is humorous, easy-going and fair, other students cross their fingers in hopes of the teacher that will understand and accept them for being quiet."

"Our PYP evaluation went really well and it was gratifying to hear the evaluators' positive observations of our school. They talked about our dynamic learning spaces, the energy of our teachers and learners and the respect that is evident between staff and students. They were impressed by how articulate our students are and the openness of our teachers. It was clear to them that the entire school community has a deep understanding of the PYP philosophy and that we have a strong culture of learning. Almost all their recommendations are things on which we are either working already or have identified for action through the self study. There's only one thing I found jarring in their feedback and it relates to my beliefs about inquiry learning. They noted that neither students nor teachers seem able to identify what particular inquiry cycles we follow. They said the children to whom they spoke didn't seem to be aware of the specific 'stages' of inquiry and that most teachers couldn't articulate how an inquiry cycle directs our planning. To be honest, I'm glad."

"So how should educators handle the death of a student's loved one? A new website - GrievingStudents.org - is trying to help teachers and school leaders answer that question. It's a database of fact sheets, advice and videos. The materials were produced by the Coalition to Support Grieving Students, a group including 10 national organizations that represent teachers, school administrators and support staff. Using census data, the group estimates that 1 in 20 children will lose a parent by the time he or she graduates from high school. And that doesn't include the many more kids who will lose a sibling, grandparent or close friend. Grief is a fact of life in our nation's schools; 7 out of 10 teachers have a student currently in their classroom who is grieving, according to research by the New York Life Foundation and the American Federation of Teachers."

"he video does not seem remarkable on first viewing. A title informs us that we are watching Ashley Hinton, a teacher at Vailsburg Elementary, a school in Newark, New Jersey. Hinton, a blonde woman in a colourful silk scarf, stands before a class of eight- and nine-year-old boys and girls, almost all of whom are African-American. "What might a character be feeling in a story?" she asks. She repeats the question, before engaging her pupils in a high-tempo conversation about what it is like to read a book and why authors write them, as she moves smartly around her classroom. On an October morning last year, I watched Doug Lemov play this video to a room full of teachers in the hall of an inner-London school. Many had brought their copy of Lemov's book, Teach Like a Champion, which in the last five years has passed through the hands of thousands of teachers and infiltrated hundreds of staffrooms. To my eyes, the video of Hinton's lesson was a glimpse into the classroom of an energetic and likable teacher, and pleasing enough. After leading a brief discussion, Lemov played it again, and then a third time."

If you are a parent, teacher, or other adult working with children, this blog aims to help you learn, as much as possible, about helping digital kids grow into thoughtful, collaborative, and savvy digital citizens. The blog's mission is to provide context for adults - defining and clarifying digital world issues, 21st Century learning challenges, and those virtual environments and devices that children take for granted. It's not really about technology anymore. Instead it's about lifelong learning, collaboration, problem solving, and flexibility. Media! Tech! Parenting! examines or reviews three or four items of digital news and information each week, surveying newspapers, blogs, research, and magazines, as well as the media, safety, and educational websites. Blog posts, as often as possible, provide links pointing readers toward the sites or publications covered in blog posts. I am Marti Weston, the principal blogger on Media!Tech!Parenting! In my professional life I focus on learning in a K-12 environment along with all the digital world issues that challenge teachers, students, and parents. With more than 30 years of teaching experience I also support parents by teaching three-five digital education classes, leading question and answer sessions, and maintaining current resources on the school's website. My professional work centers on four areas: Coaching teachers and helping them develop learning environments that are rich with 21st Century collaboration and problem solving. Helping students learn to use digital tools appropriately, understand their digital dossiers, and move - carefully - along the digital citizenship highway. Providing teachers, students and their parents added context that helps them evaluate media and learn more about how media affect their world, Offering parents information about the always changing, fast-paced virtual world and suggesting effective parenting skills and strategies that will help children grow into stro

"How do we distinguish knowledge, skills, and thinking from….learning? How do we make learning visible, so that we might surface and document powerful discoveries about the influence of our teaching on learners? These questions will guide several of my conversations with teachers on the ground this week, as we begin exploring John Hattie's work and the Reggio Emilia approach. Both concern themselves with the moves that students and teachers make as learning occurs, and both inspire teachers to commit to documentation, as the evidence captured helps teachers and students assess the impact of their efforts far better than grades do"

"Similar to Mac Apps for Teachers, Educational Windows Apps is a resource section we created last year to help teachers using Windows in their instruction find and access educational Windows apps. We haven't published a lot in there yet but we are planning to invest more time in Windows apps store this year. However, if you are looking for some good educational Windows apps to start with, the collection below features some of the most popular Windows apps among teachers and educators. We are re-sharing it with you below hoping you will find it helpful. Enjoy"

"One of the more exciting apps that has recently made it's way onto the social media scene is Periscope. Periscope is a live, interactive video streaming  app which allows users to broadcast media and footage while their followers engage in their content at the same time. When used in the classroom, students are able to connect with the world in real-time and interact with any of the content that is made available to them. One of the ways Periscope can be used to enhance a lesson or unit is with a teacher-directed Periscope. Inviting students to interact in this way now allows for personalizing what is needed from each individual at that very moment. When creating content with a screencast program, teachers must already anticipate the needs of their class. With Periscope, teachers can broadcast content live to their students with the ability to tailor the video on the spot in response to student questions and conversations. Flipping a lesson, re-teaching a strategy, or communicating classroom information all in real-time now gives the teacher the power to easily personalize instruction through the interactivity of this app. Students on the other hand, now have the power to pick the path of their own learning."

"As someone who has been fortunate enough to spend much of her professional career working in elementary schools -- both as an early-childhood (K-3) teacher and university-based teacher educator -- I'm often struck by the difference between how young children and teachers talk about literacy in the earliest years of school. Whether they're drawing pictures and asking you to "read" their latest story or eagerly inviting you to listen to an account of a favorite book, young children enter school enthusiastic about learning to read and write. In a world where they see print all around them -- scrolling on phone screens, in the books that they love, on the billboards they ponder -- learning to read and write makes a young child feel independent and capable. Yet early-childhood teachers point to the pressures associated with the Common Core State Standards and the accompanying standardized testing culture as deeply affecting classrooms, often characterized by a heightened focus on teaching young children to read and write as early as possible."

"ViewPure is absolutely an excellent tool for teachers and students. It allows you to watch YouTube videos in a clean and distraction-free interface. All the distractive features such as ads, related videos, and comments are removed providing students with an ideal environment for watching educational videos. Inappropriate content accompanying YouTube videos lead many teachers to shun away from incorporating YouTube videos in their instruction but with ViewPure this is no longer a problem and teachers are able to provide students with an enhanced YouTube experience with the minimum distraction possible. We said minimum because some ads are integrated with YouTube videos and ViewPure can not remove them."

"Today's teachers are key to the next generation's success. Barefoot supports primary educators with the confidence, knowledge, skills and resources to teach computer science. Resources aligned to the curricular for all UK nations. This includes FREE high-quality lesson plans and local CPD Workshops, all designed to help teachers gain confidence in bringing computer science to life in the classroom. CAS and BT are working together to support teachers in delivering the computing curriculum. BT - Barefoot Computing is part of BT's commitment to help build a culture of tech literacy and use the power of communications to make a better world. Find out more at www.techliteracy.co.uk CAS - For teachers who have found Barefoot Computing the first entry point on their CPD journey, Computing At School can be found by clicking here http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/"

"Leka DeGroot can relate to teachers who would like to bring coding to their classrooms but just can't fathom fitting it in. "Teachers often tell me, 'It sounds great but I don't have time, or I don't have the skills,' but you don't have to be a computer scientist to teach coding," assures DeGroot, a first grade teacher at Spirit Lake Elementary in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Just a few years ago DeGroot explored coding for the first time through Hour of Code. Today, she's a trainer for Code.org. She's driven by a desire to introduce students to computational thinking and integrating coding into the curriculum. "The basic concepts of listening to each other, communicating and collaborating, these are not just for computer science. We want every student to have those skills," DeGroot says. Even the youngest students benefit from the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills that coding provides. Not only do kids learn from it, they love it! Recently, for example, collaborated with a teacher in Wisconsin to have students write loop code dances for each other and then held a Google Hangout dance party. "

"There is a wealth of psychology research that can help teachers to improve how they work with students, but academic studies of this kind aren't always easy to access or translate into the realities of classroom practice. This series seeks to redress that by taking a selection of studies and making sense of the important information for teachers, as we all seek to answer the question: how can we help our students do better at school? This time, we consider growth mindset. "

"As the coronavirus continues to spread across the country, students are coming into class with misconceptions about the outbreak-and teachers are trying to figure out how best to explain the facts and debunk rumors.   Some teachers have made COVID-19 a focus of their lessons. Discussing the origin and effects of a new virus easily lends itself to science class. But teachers in other subjects-like algebra, statistics, and media literacy-have found ways to address the topic, too.  Designing a lesson around the outbreak could be a helpful way to answer students' questions and calm fears, said Stephen Brock, a professor and coordinator of the school psychology program at California State University, Sacramento.  And if students have misconceptions about the virus or how it spreads, providing more information could help kids more accurately gauge threat, he said. "