Chris Van Allsburg's The Widow's Broom is the focus for this literacy activity on unpacking a story's ending.

The Tower of Books Challenge is based on two core ideas: to widen students' reading choices and to provide a fresh and motivating way to keep track of what they read.

The Internet is a swelling ocean of information. Navigating through the steady flow of that information ocean can be hazardous. This is certainly true of a student who is not information fluent. The driving question is what are some smart online research strategies? Luckily this falls within the realm of the Essential Fluencies, namely Information Fluency. This involves the 5As process: Asking the right questions Acquiring the knowledge Analyzing the content for relevancy and credibility Applying the knowledge to our use Assessing the effectiveness of our message

Part b in the series. Looks at the four indicators that can blend the PBL experience.. 1. Analog tools 2. Deeper Learning Opportunities 3. Provide Student Ownership of Learning 4. Digital Tools beyond the device

This post features some useful digital citizenship resources that cover these important categories: Digital Footprints/People Searching | Citing Sources | Cyberbullying | Detecting Plagiarism | Personal Responsibility | Global and Cultural Awareness

Welcome to this first post in a series that promotes PBL and 21st Century LEarning through the examination of Seven Building Blocks. In this first post, I would like to build the idea of why Authenticity is so important in any deeper learning experience.

It's never too early to learn about human rights. Check out our list of inspiring books for children and young adults to take you and your family into spring. For early childhood, primary and secondary ages.

One reason PBL might be hard for some teachers to start is that there's just so much stuff out there about it. Who has time to wade through it all? To solve this problem, I went out in search of the clearest, most authoritative information on PBL and put together a collection of materials that will help you get your feet wet, plus links to more resources for when you're ready to dig deeper.

The impact of quick and short reading via the interent and how it affects how our brains function.

Even after kids can read on their own, they benefit from being read to. Here are 10 good things that come of it.

Making inferences and predictions are highly related comprehension strategies. In fact, most books for teaching comprehension lump them together. This article focuses on separating inference and and prediction for young readers and provides example texts.

What do you look for when selecting print texts for your high school students to teach them about visual literacy? Appropriate themes, complexity of ideas, rich and beautiful illustrations, evidence of depth and layers of meaning, a variety of text type. This post present 6 titles that meet each of those requirements with the added bonus of all being by Australian authors and illustrators. Teachers notes and essays are provided for each title

Kindergarten through 2nd grade are crucial years, because they are the foundation for academic language and content knowledge that will influence students' future literacy in all subject areas. We teachers must engage students in rich, content-based curriculum that inspires, challenges, and provides them with tools to become lifelong learners. To do so, we must challenge some long-standing beliefs about literacy instruction in the early grades.

A fascinating post on the long history of the bookmark.

Social impact games are a genre that seek to effect positive changes in society through play. Often, players are put in roles (known as "player agency") and must make decisions that have impactful consequences. These games are not necessarily designed for teaching; rather, the goal is to enable players to have empathy about social issues.

Flipped learning in the STEM classroom can be fascinating and fun. As you may know, YouTube-a flipped learning marvel in its own right-features many custom user channels designed specifically to cater to the needs of STEM teachers and learners. Below are 15 of the coolest and most popular STEM YouTube channels you'll find. Have fun exploring, learning, and flipping out over STEM.

Teaching Channel link to a range of videos for ideas and inspiration in teaching STEM that include a lesson objective and some focus questions.

There are very few iPads apps which specifically target critical thinking skills. Those listed here provide an interesting mix of literature, gaming, conflict resolution, etc.

As STEM becomes more embedded in the educational consciousness, it's not surprising that more and more blogs on the subject are cropping up all over the Web. Teachers and students will always need tools, resources, and advice on the subjects that interest them. The STEM blogs we're seeing today have all that and more just a click away. The following 6 STEM blogs are some of the best out there. As your STEM journeys continue both in and out of the classroom, you'll find the information and resources they provide indispensable.

Unpack the Digital Technologies Curriculum one step at a time. Find great lesson ideas linked to the curriculum, explore strategies and advice from Australian primary and secondary schools and more. Organised to support students, teachers, school leaders and families.