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"Why coding? And why now? Many of us would quickly respond that learning to code is a necessary skill in today's world with the vast amount of technology tools available. However, it is a little more difficult to define why or how it is applicable in our daily lives. As an educator, ask yourself: What are the underlying skills that coding teaches students? What are the learning outcomes we want for students as a result of bringing coding into the classroom? Computer science is more than just coding. Thinking like a computer scientist involves more skills than just being able to write code. Educators need students to bring their creativity and ability to think collaboratively to a problem in order to solve it. The computer will not solve problems without a human first working through how to approach the problem."

Test scores, school report cards and Facebook posts complaining about homework problems often drive critiques of how math is taught in schools. Amid the debates, it has become increasingly clear that one ingredient is necessary for success: opportunities for students to talk about math. Unfortunately, these are often lacking in U.S. classrooms. We are both math education researchers. While we focus on different levels of the K-12 span, a common theme across our work is the role of talk in math classrooms - what talk can sound like, how talk impacts student learning, and how teachers can support math talk. Want to support your student's understanding of math? Talking will play a critical role. And a good place to start is to talk about math yourself.

"In a job search, you need to know what you are good at. Which can feel daunting at first if you have been taught not to brag about yourself, right? Often the default is to talk about your degree or how many years you worked for a company. But that doesn't tell people what you are good at."

"Dr. Seuss is gold-whimsical and visually interesting traipses through surreal worlds, and always full of life advice. And life advice is learning advice, and learning advice-well, that's why we're all here, yes? There are themes below that apply directly to the responsibilities of a teacher. Let's face it-teaching is an emotional roller coaster, and a microcosm for life itself, full of tedium and wonder, disappointment and triumph, down days and days to celebrate. Take #11 for example-you have brains in your head and feet on your choose, you can steer yourself any direction you choose-can be both encouragement to elementary students, or high school students taking themselves-and life-too seriously."

"For better or worse, computing is pervasive, changing how and where people work, collaborate, communicate, shop, eat, travel, learn and quite simply, live. From the arts to sciences and politics, no field has been untouched. The last decade has also seen the rise of disciplines generically described as "computational X," where "X" stands for any one of a large range of fields from physics to journalism. Here's what Google autocomplete shows when you type "computational." (You can try it for yourself!) But the big question is: Does current K-12 education equip every student with the requisite skills to become innovators and problem-solvers, or even informed citizens, to succeed in this world with pervasive computing? Since the turn of this century, the "4C's of 21st century" skills-critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication-have seen growing recognition as essential ingredients of school curricula. This shift has prompted an uptake in pedagogies and frameworks such as project-based learning, inquiry learning, and deeper learning across all levels of K-12 that emphasize higher order thinking over rote learning. I argue that we need computational thinking (CT) to be another core skill-or the "5th C" of 21st century skills-that is taught to all students."

"Describing yourself as 'a social media addict' doesn't usually inspire concern from other people. In fact, it's frequently included in bio descriptions on Twitter and Instagram. Decorate your LinkedIn profile with such a claim and you may even find yourself receiving interest from media and publishing companies searching for a savvy digital native. But imagine if, one day, it's not an accolade or joke at all - but a psychiatrist's diagnosis? Social media addiction has been a much-flouted term lately; maybe it's because it's January and users are looking to be more active and spend less time online, or maybe that's because social media can have a negative impact on our mental well-being. But a growing body of research is seriously considering whether problematic and excessive social media usage could be pathological and, in turn, designated as a mental health disorder. "

"If you haven't said it yourself, someone has said it to you: "I'm just not that creative." Most of us wouldn't mind being just a little more creative. Fortunately, you can. Not only are there proven ways to increase your creativity, but also, according to research, all of us have a creative gene. In a longitudinal test of creative potential, a NASA study found that of 1,600 4- and 5-year-olds, 98 percent scored at "creative genius" level. Five years later, only 30 percent of the same group of children scored at the same level, and again, five years later, only 12 percent. When the same test was administered to adults, it was found that only two percent scored at this genius level. According to the study, our creativity is drained by our education. As we learn to excel at convergent thinking--or the ability to focus and hone our thoughts--we squash our instinct for divergent, or generative, thought. The 5-year-old in us never goes away, though. Here are four ways to rediscover your creative genius."

"One of the lesser-used ways to take advantage of the Kindle app is to use it as a read-it-later service for articles you want to catch up on later… …and read all those articles offline! Also, this is one way to keep all your books and other reading material in one central location and save yourself the clutter of bookmarks or the "save it-forget it" swamp of Pocket. Remember, you can install the Kindle app on Android, iOS, and desktops even if you don't own a physical Kindle device! Let's see how its done in iOS. The process is similar for Android too."

"If you find yourself frustrated trying to keep up with the school packets, video chats, and virtual office hours, take a deep breath and a step back. Official school activities are important, but there are plenty of everyday activities that count as learning too. These kinds of activities have their limits (kids aren't going to learn calculus from cooking dinner), but overall, you can feel good about kids furthering their learning through these at-home activities."

"Although it's difficult to change the way the (school) system operates, it is possible to adjust how you operate within the system. Introducing meditation and mindfulness techniques in the classroom not only allows you to create a calmer environment, the practice has proven to have verifiable benefits on the human brain. A 2011 Harvard study of MRI images showed a thickening in the cerebral cortex (an area responsible in part for attention and emotional integration) in meditation participants in as little as 8 weeks. So, it's more than a good habit and some quiet time in the classroom, you may be helping the brains of your students develop even more than you realize. Where do you even begin teaching meditation when you may not be familiar with the practice yourself? Although it seems like an incongruous match, this is yet another area where technology steps in to make learning convenient, and a variety of apps offer options for every age, ability, and amount of available time. Here are a few to experiment with as you get started."

"You're having one of those days when nothing seems to be going right. It seems like the world is out to get you, and now you find that you've fallen into a major emotional funk. What can you do? Resign yourself to getting crabbier and more despondent by the second -- and thus turn your bad day into a bad week? No way. Instead, watch one (or all!) of these inspiring, feel-good TED Talks - and prepare for your bad day to turn right around."

"If you're familiar with the 3D designing, it's unlikely that you are not familiar with Tinkercad. Tinkercad is a user-friendly design platform that allows even the most basic beginners to construct a 3D-printable model. See our Easy Tinkercad Tutorial for Beginners article for a step by step walk-through of how to start Tinkering. Additionally, Tinkercad offers a plethora of learning material and educational videos. Under the Learn tab on tinkercad.com to get you started on becoming a modeling expert. Already a seasoned modeler? Tinkercad is not only for beginners. Tinkercad allows you to upload your model to share designs around the world. This also means you can copy a model that has been uploaded by another user and "Tinker" it yourself. Here we present some insanely cool things that have been modeled on Tinkercad."

"Last Friday, we mentioned how Google's artificial intelligence software DeepMind has the ability to teach itself many things. It can teach itself how to walk, jump and run. Even take professional pictures. Or defeat the world's best player of the Chinese strategy game, Go. The science of teaching computers how to do things is called Deep Learning. And you can now immerse yourself in this world by taking a free, 3-month course on Deep Learning itself. Offered through Udacity, the course is taught by Vincent Vanhoucke, the technical lead in Google's Brain team."

"Many people find mathematics daunting. If true, this piece is for you. If not, this piece is still for you. What do you think of when you think about mathematics? Perhaps you think about x's and y's, intractable fractions, or nonsensical word problems. The cartoonist Gary Larson once depicted hell's library as containing only giant tomes of word problems. You know, "If a train leaves New York…" I was trained as a mathematician, and I will let you in on a trade secret: That is not what mathematics is, nor where it lives. It's true that learning mathematics often involves solving problems, but it should focus on the joy of solving puzzles, rather than memorizing rules. I invite you to see yourself as a problem solver and mathematician. And I'd like to introduce you to the man who once invited me to the study of problem solving: George Pólya."

"The week after my dad passed, I decided to come back. Bereavement time was up and I felt that getting back into my classroom would help. I was wrong. By the third day I was still feeling lost, overwhelmed, and exhausted. I ended taking the last two days of the week off. I came back, what I felt as "refreshed", the following Monday. Only still feeling lost, overwhelmed, and exhausted. As soon as I walked into the school I immediately met with the principal and told him that I couldn't continue. I needed more time away to deal with my emotions and to understand the scope of what took place. I could hear words of my dad echoing in my ear - "take care of yourself… if you don't, you'll end up sick." While my dad's health wasn't that great, and he knew it; he always made sure that everyone else took better care of themselves. Exactly like me. I make sure that others are always put before me. I could not longer do that. I needed to take care of myself before I ended up lying on the floor unable to move, like Izzy in Grey's Anatomy. Those four extra days was what I needed. I processed his death, I cried, I slept (for nearly two whole days), and I remembered the good times. I sat on the couch catching up on missed shows, Netflix, and Days of our Lives. We stress the importance of good mental health to our students, but I wasn't heeding my own words. I knew that being in the classroom too soon after his death wasn't making me a good teacher for my students."

You inhibit yourself, if you don't inhabit yourself. Take a moment to get nested in our breathtaking Monterey velvet papasan chair, you won't be the only one to feel like being immersive in a picturesque region, full of epic, lush, dramatic scenery and unforgettable flavors.

"Using an iPad is simple due to its intuitive interface, elegant touch interface, and user-friendly operating system. Below we've listed 23 different tasks a teacher should be able to perform with their iPad. We've tried to focus on the basics, along with some typical tasks a teacher may be required to complete. We've also (roughly) arranged them from less complicated to more complicated, so consider yourself an Unofficial iPad "Basic Hacker" if you can get to the bottom. For more complex iPad tasks and functions, we're doing a follow-up post. Stay tuned!"