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The role of the teacher is slowly but surely changing and with this come new challenges. Change becomes inevitable and processes for managing this and capitalising on the opportunities it brings becomes paramount within organisations. It is perhaps not surprising that educational institutions may evolve to become what are termed 'Learning Organisations' or 'Professional Learning Communities' within which there is a focus on the application of the principles of learning to manage change and explore new opportunities. 

"If the right-wing billionaires and apostles of corporate power have their way, public schools will become "dead zones of the imagination," reduced to anti-public spaces that wage an assault on critical thinking, civic literacy and historical memory. Since the 1980s, schools have increasingly become testing hubs that de-skill teachers and disempower students."

At the heart of all that we do as teachers lies the act of learning. Our hope is that our actions inspire our students to engage in a process that results in their acquisition of new knowledge, mastery of new skills and the development of capacities and dispositions which will prepare them for life beyond our classrooms. Increasingly our focus is on developing the skills and dispositions our students require to become life-long learners. We recognise that in a rapidly changing world, the capacity to take charge of your personal learning journey, to become self-navigating learners is essential. 

"With so many expectations, requirements and scrutiny of primary school teachers, it is easy to become formulaic in your practice. This is a shame, as the initial enthusiasm for the job gets waned, and giving young students the opportunity to shine becomes less focused on whole-child development. However, to become an outstanding teacher demands consistency, focus and dedication. Outstanding teachers are always on the lookout for new ideas, but sometimes the tried-and-tested classroom activities and techniques can offer a strong system to help your pupils shine, despite curriculum restraints imposed."

"How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math Sorry, education reformers, it's still memorization and repetition we need."

Help your students become informed citizens

For students engaging in creative personalised learning projects such as a 'Genius Hour' or 'Personal Passion project it can often be difficult for them to uncover the right project. Students have become so reliant upon their teachers to pose them problems that when they are given the option to explore one of their own design they don't know where to start. This is indeed a significant challenge as we know that our students will enter a workforce and world of learning beyond school where they must be active problem finders. How then might we provide the support they require without removing the opportunity for truly personalised exploration.  

Providing lessons for educating students on search techniques.

Google has some fantastic lessons, activities, and resources to help students become efficient and proficient researchers. 

"Help your students become better searchers " Lesson Plans & Activities: Download lesson plans to develop your students' search literacy skills. Browse lesson plans Power Searching: Improve your search skills and learn advanced tips with online lessons and activities. A Google a Day Challenges: Put your students' search skills to the test with these trivia challenges. Browse challenges Live Trainings:Join us for live search trainings or watch past trainings from search experts here at Google.

"Many educators are acutely aware that punishment and threats are counterproductive. Making children suffer in order to alter their future behavior can often elicit temporary compliance, but this strategy is unlikely to help children become ethical, compassionate decision makers. Punishment, even if referred to euphemistically as "consequences," tends to generate anger, defiance, and a desire for revenge. Moreover, it models the use of power rather than reason and ruptures the important relationship between adult and child."

"25 Ways to Become a Tech Savvy Teacher" - awesome iBook by @ClassTechTips. Available for free in the iBookstore. http://t.co/o7Dfk0xVek

The reading process involves two separate but highly interrelated areas - word identification and comprehension. It is well established that difficulties in automatic word recognition significantly affect a reader's ability to effectively comprehend what they are reading (Lyon, 1995; Torgeson, Rashotte, and Alexander, 2001). Even mild difficulties in word identification can pull attention away from the underlying meaning, reduce the speed of reading, and create the need to reread selections to grasp the meaning. Many students who struggle to learn to read are able, with appropriate instruction, to compensate for initial reading problems by becoming accurate decoders but fail to reach a level of sufficient fluency to become fast and efficient readers. Thus, the development of techniques for improving automaticity and fluency is critical. Although the research is clear that a systematic alphabetic approach to teaching beginning readers is more effective than a whole word approach (Adams, 1990; Chall, 1996; Snow, Burns and Griffin, 1009), the most effect ways to develop fluency are less well understood.

"Learning to create, manage and promote a professional learning network (PLN) will soon become, if it's not already, one of the most necessary and sought after skills for a global citizen, and as such, must become a prominent feature of any school curriculum. "

"The Must-Have Skills You Need to Become a Data Scientist"

"Teach Us Something" - Microlectures There have been several recent articles written about the idea of microlectures as an alternative to traditional, longer lecture formats. Short & energetic presentation styles such as Pecha Kucha and Ignite are becoming more popular in conferences & classrooms. A similar style of concise instruction has become common through websites such as Instructables and 5Min.com. Microlectures seems to satisfy the need for discrete units of knowledge coupled with decreasing attention spans.

shows examples of tainting images to persuade

Information sharing Google only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Google in the following limited circumstances: We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information. We provide such information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public as required or permitted by law. If Google becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, we will ensure the confidentiality of any personal information involved in such transactions and provide notice before personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Carol Black, creator of the documentary, "Schooling the World" discusses the conflicting ideas of centralized control of education and standardization against the so-called freedom to think independently--"what the Supreme Court has termed 'the sphere of intellect and spirit" (Black, 2012). Root questions: "who's educating us? to what end?" (Black, 2012).

This is a must read. Carol Black echoes here many of the ideas of Paulo Freire, John Taylor Gatto and the like.

"Like reading, writing, and arithmetic, web literacy is both content and activity. You don't just learn "about" reading: you learn to read. You don't just learn "about" arithmetic: you learn to count and calculate. You don't just learn "about" the web: you learn to make your own website. As with these other three literacies, web literacy begins simply, with basics you can build upon. For some it can lead to a profession (i.e. becoming a computer programmer) while for most it becomes part of the conceptual DNA that helps you to understand and negotiate the world you live in."

An excellent article about the importance of web and digital literacies.

"In education we are very comfortable using the term "middle leaders", rather than "middle managers", to talk about heads of department and heads of faculty. But are they really leaders? What distinguishes middle leaders from middle managers?  Middle managers - and senior managers for that matter - work to the specification of their leaders. Managers only become leaders when they inject something of themselves into their work. Managers sing the hymn sheets of others. Leaders do much more, they add verses, create harmonies and the best compose new scores. "

For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong-and how we can fix it.