"Think your school is innovative with tech? Answer these 6 questions and prepare to reassess" Clear thinking about moving forward in Ed Tech.

This article looks at three structures that support learning for the student that moves quickly through material. Although specific to blended learning there are ideas that can be transferred to other individual learning situations.

"One way to signal to the brain that information is important is to talk about it. Ask a young student to play "teacher" based on the information they have studied. Self-testing and writing down information on flashcards also reinforces learning."

Advice and reflection for a smooth and positive classroom start up.

EDTECH Twitter suggestions from ESchool News

"Some of the most engaging professional development and professional learning occurs on Twitter." A interesting assortment of ideas to follow... Su

"Within the decade, it will either become the norm to teach this course (high school Algebra I) in middle school or we'll have finally woken up to the fact that there's no reason to give algebraweight over statistics and IT in high school for non-math majors (and they will have all taken it in middle school anyway)."

"Learn how to leverage Twitter's 140-character microblogging platform into your global Personal Learning Network (PLN)" This article (and its links) is a reminder of PLN benefits and a good place to start...

An option for reminding students about homework or sending messages while maintaining a level of privacy.

Gapminder is an online resource for comparing statistics.  It allows for you to compare human based statistics in a graphical nature and then allows you to animate it through time to see how dynamic statistics really are over a period of 200 years.  This is an amazing tool and could be used in a variety of courses.

Written by John Boyko (LCS faculty)

Podcast about flipped classroom (middle school in TO)

Love blogging teachers? Meet some inspiring, articulate educators whose blogs ooze unique ideas about high school teaching.

January 26th Notes

Decision making chart is very helpful for considering the importance and objectives of bring your own device programs in educational settings.

CMaps is a free concept mapping software that is the product of cognitive research and the focus of ongoing research.

A new Harvard study of teachers found that a novel approach to incentives could dramatically improve student performance.

Brain-Pickings List of 7 Must Read Books on Education. Asimov to Gardner.

A good reminder of how important having and modelling a respectful relationship is to build trusting and a positive working environment with students.