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"Play is positive; gaming is good; and online engagement has begun supplying a generation with the love and feelings of connection that all humans crave. Some 7 billion hours a week are being poured into to this alternate world of engagement through online games. And 25 percent of Call of Duty players call in sick the day a new version the game comes out. These amazing and concerning facts paint a picture of the new world of gaming, said Jane McGonigal, who delivered the opening keynote address Wednesday at the FETC 2015 conference in Orlando, FL. The first person to earn a Ph.D. in the study of the effects of gaming, she is director of Games Research & Development at the Institute for the Future, a non-profit research group in Palo Alto, CA."

"I've previously posted several times about how much I love the Shadow Puppet app - there isn't anything out there that's an easier tool for creating a quick audio-narrated slideshow. It's perfect for English Language Learners. Today, the company behind Shadow Puppet has just released another new and free educational app that looks like it could be very useful. It's called Seesaw, and basically lets students easily create digital portfolios that can be shared with teachers and parents. It's free for teachers and students, and has a free and paid version for parents."

"It's not hyperbole to say that we're in danger of losing a generation of children to a world that, at the moment, cannot find its way forward without violence, conflict, and despair. It's not just war and violence that threaten, but a crumbling of the infrastructure of good thinking. That sounds vague, but we witness its impact daily. What we see around us is an increasing inability to collectively define and outline a satisfying vision of the future. Fear is rapidly replacing hope-and that's not a good formula for growing up whole. The news is particularly poignant as we transition into a new year, when much of the world aims to turn love and good will from slogans into reality. So here's a question for educators to consider: How do teachers help heal the world in 2015 and beyond?"

"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."

Many people think it's easy to be a freelance writer. If you love writing, then you shouldn't have a problem achieving your daily working goals, right? Well, actual freelance writers wouldn't jump to that conclusion so easily. Even when you are very familiar with the topic you need to cover, the content usually takes much longer than the period you had planned in your schedule.

Shout out to Andy McKiel and Zoe Bettess' grade 3 Math class in this post! "I love Instagram because it prompts me to take and share pictures of things that I might otherwise glance at then forget about. Before cell phones entered my life I rarely took pictures. Last week I took the picture that you see below. Almost as soon as it appeared in my Facebook feed via Instagram, my friend Kelly commented with, "shouldn't they be more concerned about weight than the number of people?" Kelly is a middle school math teacher so this picture was right in her wheelhouse of math prompts. (If you want to use the picture as a math prompt, you are welcome to download it)."

"There are many modern poets saying valid and beautiful things about the world, but few people are buying their books. Walk around any book shop and you might struggle to find the typically tiny poetry section. The art of poetry remains something literary, academic, and removed from ordinary reading habits. Yet poets go to great lengths to demonstrate that poetry is diverse, accessible, and relevant. After all, song and rap lyrics are widely-loved forms of poetry. There is also poetry, as they rightly point out, in text and Twitter feeds."

"We have recently started a class Twitter feed to extend our classroom beyond its walls and share our learning with the world. The students are so thrilled to upload their work samples for parents, teachers and other classes around the world to see. They excitedly wait to see whether we have any new followers or replies and my inbox is crowded with emails from my students sending me examples of their iPad work to post. They love to hear my laptop "ping", indicating a new email, and announce matter-of-factly to the class "That was me, just sending you my work for our Twitter". This latest technological venture for us has brought a new-found sense of enthusiasm to our learning environment. Last week as part of our History studies we connected with experts via Twitter to completely transform our History assessment. The existing assessment task required students to observe photos of old and new technology and pose and answer questions based on what they could see in the images. I immediately thought of Twitter and the possibility of engaging with experts to answer our questions, and provide us with new information that we could not gain ourselves by analyzing a photograph."

"Over the three years Jordan Ellenberg was writing his book, he repeatedly encountered the same reaction to its subject. "I'd be at a party, and I'd tell someone what my book was about, and then I'd be like-'Hey, where'd you go?'" What topic was so awful and off-putting as to make people flee at its mere mention? Math." Book Review: "How Not to be Wrong" by Jordan Ellenberg

"rodigies in piano or dance can study at schools like Juilliard to develop their musical or performing arts talent. By contrast, nothing like Juilliard exists for children who show great promise at math. But an ambitious experiment will soon change that: In fall 2015, a small, independent school that's exclusively tailored for math whizzes will open in downtown San Francisco."

"There are very few companies or products that actually enter the language as both a noun and a verb. Everyone knows what Google is, and chances are that we've all used it as a verb as well; after all, it's really common to say, "I need to Google something," instead of, "I need to look for something on the Internet." As much as Yahoo, AOL and Bing would love to have their names used in the same way, it simply hasn't happened, and unless something catastrophic happens to Google, it never will."

"Do you like discovering new Google related tips? I sure do! And that's why I'm starting a new series this Tuesday featuring 1 awesome Google tip each day, for 21 days!  The tips will cover a wide variety of Google products we all love such as: Google Search, Chrome, Drive, Plus, Maps, Calendar, Gmail, Adsense, YouTube and more! Each tip will be presented as an embedded Google+ post on this page, and if needed - followed by screenshots and examples to further explain the point."

"The summer is a great time for kids and adults to get outside an ride a bicycle. Even though I don't do jumps and tricks like I did as a kid, I still love to ride my mountain bike. I'm sure that you have students that enjoy bicycling riding too. Here are a couple of good lesson resources to connect to your students' interest in bicycle riding."

"Today as I was thinking about the iPad apps to feature in this list  I decided not to include what I call ' the traditional apps' I have been repeatedly featuring during the last couple of years. Instead, I am sharing 6 powerful apps that are usually overlooked by teachers. These apps are definitely a must try and I am pretty sure you will love them. From using iPads to manage content on students' iPads to apps that support teachers in Common Core instruction, these set of apps can do wonders to your teaching."

"Looking for some resources on inspirational quotes to use in class? Here are a few of my favourite Pinterest boards where you can have access to a wide collection of quotes and visuals that inspire a love of teaching and learning. Browse through the different materials provided there and you will definitely find some to use with your students in class. If you know about other resources to add to the list, please share with us in the comment form below. Enjoy "

"When working with young students, typing can be quite a difficult thing for them to do. In Book Creator, you can easily make a voice recording of the child telling the story but often having the written text there can make that story even more powerful. Just recently, I was training some assistant teachers on how to use Book Creator. I run a lot of workshops, and Book Creator is one of my most used apps on my iPad. I love it when I learn something new. So I just had to share this with you."

"Do you love to write? Do you have any idea about how with the act of writing affects your brain? Well this visual is perfect for you then! According to this visual, you can really boost your brainpower by understanding the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe. The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that is associated with speaking and writing. This area is also responsible for movement, reasoning, planning, and problem-solving. Meanwhile, the parietal lobe is also important for writing. This is the part of the brain that interprets words and language. Some medical patients with damage to this part of their brain often have trouble spelling and writing by hand."

"I love using current events with students as a high interest informational text.  There are tons of video and print news stories that can be accessed from terrific websites and iPad apps.  Here are a few of my favorites, add your picks in the comments section below!"

"There are tons of great apps available for the iPad which can be used to teach digital storytelling. I downloaded a few and, so far, my favorite is Toontastic. The app was designed with kids in mind but adults will love using it too. This is not only a great app to use in the classroom but also provides parents with a great tool to spend some fun quality time with their children. "

"When a U.S. psychology professor offered her students a bonus credit if they would silence and surrender their cellphones at the start of class, little did she know how rewarding the experiment would be. Sixty-one per cent of her students at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee "loved the activity," citing the improved environment for concentration, participation and even peacefulness when the phones went dumb. Of the 82 students, not a single one disliked the exercise."