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The ability to concentrate was the strongest predictor of success.

He advocates for a “digital sabbath” everyday, some time when kids aren’t being distracted by devices at all. He’d also like to see schools building exercises that strengthen attention, like mindfulness practices, into the curriculum.

Perhaps the most well known study on concentration is a longitudinal study conducted with over 1,000 children in New Zealand by Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi, psychology and neuroscience professors at Duke University.

“The attentional circuitry needs to have the experience of sustained episodes of concentration — reading the text, understanding and listening to what the teacher is saying — in order to build the mental models that create someone who is well educated,” Goleman said.

“This ability is more important than IQ or the socio economic status of the family you grew up in for determining career success, financial success and health,” Goleman said.

These are signs that educators may need to start paying attention to the act of attention itself. Digital natives may need help cultivating what was once an innate part of growing up.

“There’s a need now to teach kids concentration abilities as part of the school curriculum,” Goleman said. “The more children and teens are natural focusers, the better able they’ll be to use the digital tool for what they have to get done and then to use it in ways that they enjoy.”

the idea of multitasking is a myth, Goleman said. When people say they’re  “multitasking,” what they are really doing is something called “continuous partial attention,” where the brain switches back and forth quickly between tasks.

“I don’t think the enemy is digital devices,” Goleman said. “What we need to do is be sure that the current generation of children has the attentional capacities that other generations had naturally before the distractions of digital devices. It’s about using the devices smartly but having the capacity to concentrate as you need to, when you want to.”

Relevance: the information's level of importance to a particular reading purpose or explicitly stated need for that information Accuracy: the extent to which information contains factual and updated details that can be verified by consulting alternative and/or primary sources Bias/Perspective: the position or slant toward which an author shapes information Reliability: the information's level of trustworthiness based on information about the author and the publishing body

Verify and refute online information Investigate author credentials Detect bias and stance Negotiate multiple perspectives

Cross-checking claims between multiple sources (see Figure 2) can help adolescents: Recognize ideas they might otherwise ignore Weigh the usefulness (and reliability) of these ideas against what they previously believed to be true Consider that new ideas may actually be more accurate than their original thinking

To that end, I will close with a list of strategies to use or adapt to fit your students’ needs as they refine their ability to think critically while conducting online research: Is this site relevant to my needs and purpose? What is the purpose of this site? Who created the information at this site, and what is this person's level of expertise? When was the information at this site updated? Where can I go to check the accuracy of this information? Why did this person or group put this information on the Internet? Does the website present only one side of the issue, or are multiple perspectives provided? How are information and/or images at this site shaped by the author's stance? Is there anyone who might be offended or hurt by the information at this site? How can I connect these ideas to my own questions and interpretations?

Step 4: Evaluate Your Goal

Step 5: Find the Habits to Achieve Your Goal

Step 6: Assess Time Needed for Specific Habits

Step 7: Calendar Your New Habits

7a. Schedule Large Habits

7b. Aggregate Smaller Key Habits

Step 8: Set Up Visual Cues and Trigger Environments

Step 9: Enlist a Support Group

Step 10: Adapt and Reset

Count the Cost and Resolve to Change

Recommended Reading Problogger (19) by Darren Rouse and Chris Garrett The War of Art (20) by Stephen Pressfield Manage Your Day-to-Day (21) by Jocelyn Glei Platform (22) by Michael Hyatt Teach Like a Pirate (23) by Dave Burgess Fred Jones Tools for Teaching (24) by Fred Jones The Power of Habit (25) by Charles Duhigg

Diigo has tools that encourage students to collaborate with others to analyze, critique, and evaluate websites.

Diigo provides opportunities for students to apply higher level thinking skills while researching and gathering information.

Diigo provides a lists feature that allows you to share carefully selected bookmarked websites with your students.

Use Diigo to provide visual access to websites you have collected using the built-in program ‘webslides’.

Use Diigo’s advanced tools to link its power to blogs and RSS. Lists of similar websites that you have created can easily be posted onto a blog by using the ‘post to blog’ button.

Use Diigo tools to enhance professional reading and save time creating summaries of online posts.

Access your information from any computer, or even your iPhone or iPad!

To inspire questioning and wondering, Meghan Zigmond (10) put her first grade students in groups and allowed them to use a Padlet wall (11) to capture their questions as they read Douglas Florian's Comets, Stars, The Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings

She used Socrative to capture her fifth graders' questions and answers throughout the presentation, giving them an immediate channel for their thoughts.

The backchannel gave every student an opportunity to express his or her views and to listen to voices that otherwise may not have been heard.

A backchannel creates ubiquitous opportunities (18). In a blended environment, students and teachers can communicate through multiple modalities, allow their thoughts to develop over time, and engage in authentic learning.

Spend some time when you are not thinking about the classroom, and stay connected to your support group of friends and family

One of the easiest ways to burn out as a teacher is to get stuck in the same routine and practices year after year. Keep it fresh by reading new research on teaching, and by learning, talking, and collaborating with peers inside and outside of your school building

Give teachers opportunities to connect with each other about their teaching. When they don't have time or opportunities to connect, share, and plan together during the day, they start feeling isolated.

knowing what others are doing in their classrooms, and seeing how your work fits into the bigger picture is motivating, inspiring, and increases feelings of self-worth

Incorporate humor and laughter into your classroom

we know that great attention must be paid to how a meeting is designed.

Frame the purpose and desired outcomes for the meeting and review agenda.

planning reflects an awareness of how power dynamics and systemic oppression may manifest in this group and seeks to interrupt these dynamics

We want to ensure that all will voices will be heard and will have equal access to decision-making and input.

Articulate the role participants will play in the meeting

Name any decision-making points and processes that will be used Identify the structures or activities that will be used in this meeting and how they'll connect to the desired outcomes

Articulate expectations for behavior or procedures

anticipates the emotional, cognitive and energy needs of the participants

Use a variety of listening strategies including paraphrasing and active listening

Determine structures to hold members accountable (self-monitoring and reflection, use of process observer, use of a team process rubric)

Use data gathered in the moment to modify and inform facilitation

Protect time for reflection and feedback within the established time

use various strategies to help a group a recover from a breakdown

Hold team members accountable to agreements, goals, structures, and protocols

Read the group's emotional and energetic state and adjust accordingly

Hold the expectation that members will learn, think creatively, and push each others' thinking

Show up as a grounded, calm presence that believes in the capacity of team members

Give yourself 30 minutes every couple of weeks to learn a new tech tool from Tammy's Technology Tips, Edudemic, Monica Burns' ClassTechTips, Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything, Cybraryman's Teacher Tools, or Richard Byrne's Favorite Resources. Happy clicking!

"The time I spend helping my students to edit and refine their writing as they write is exponentially more valuable for them than the final comments I leave on their essays."

For even more information on this topic, visit Edutopia’s Resources for Technology Integration.