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With summer in the southern hemisphere, long days combined with school holidays for school teachers create the perfect opportunity to relax with a good book. Here are five great reads that might spark some curiosity and keep the brain working over the break.

A common challenge for students and teachers is how to develop a great idea for a piece of writing. Too often students struggle with the process of finding inspiration for their writing. They have a vague idea for the story they hope to tell, but all too quickly it transforms into a list of events with little or no detail. The goal here is to provide our students with a process to use during the planning process. The hope is that by identifying the type of thinking required during the early phases of ideation and to focus their attention on details, that the stories our students subsequently compose will be more enjoyable to read. Hopefully, this process helps.

Perhaps the disruption of a global pandemic will prompt a rethinking of how education might be framed to best serve the needs of those who rely on it most? Perhaps now is the time to rethink the curriculum?

Blog about the power of choice in the classroom and the differentiation strategy of choice boards

If you are interested in building a classroom culture where thinking is noticed, named and celebrated, there are three books which make essential reading. They provide clear evidence for why teachers should focus their efforts on encouraging and normalising thinking and offer research-backed strategies to support this. The books are the result of ongoing research by Harvard's Project Zero and their lead author Ron Ritchhart.

Recently I have been contemplating how we might define inquiry. Like many terms in education, it is often used in multiple contexts and has a range of meanings attached to it. Coming to agreement on what inquiry is, requires negotiating seemingly divergent understandings. If we are to avoid oversimplifications and dichotomous thinking, we need to explore these multiple perspectives and find a balance point.

This is delightful. Share the love widely.

Another great Zoom with the International Schools Service about ELA and Social Studies for both elementary and secondary levels!

iCivics is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy. iCivics is the vision of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is concerned that students are not getting the information and tools they need for civic participation, and that civics teachers need better materials and support.

iCivics prepares young Americans to become knowledgeable, engaged 21st century citizens by creating free and innovative educational materials.

This page makes it easy to find information and resources that are relevant to particular concepts, approaches and strategies. Each Collection is curated to serve a particular need and shares a set of resources pooled from The Learner's Way. In time this set of Collection will grow. In addition to articles from The Learner's Way you will be able to find resources designed to help you get started with the key concepts presented. The aim is to produce a set of resources which are readily accessible and of immediate benefit to classroom teachers and school leaders.

The PZ Sydney Network has achieved many of its goals in the past five years. Most importantly the network has been able to provide high-quality professional development to many educators through free events large and small and both face-to-face and online. The PZ Sydney Network has been able to expand its reach and in recognition of this is transforming to become the PZ Australia Network.

Sample for course syllabi

Times tables are important. Use this free resource from SUMS online to practise and test your times tables skills.

A great, really well designed and free maths games website which is really fun to play. My class love it. A little time is needed to setup the logins, but well worth the effort. Also has a spelling game section. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

This is the most fundamental and most simple type of course design. I recommend you start here.

Great teaching tool for research and website evaluation (digital literacy).