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The case for cell phones in school.  Students texted parents for answers to questions...   see what happens.

Another free place to give tests and exams online. Let computers do what they do best. What I do is IF I have a few multiple choice, etc. I may do them online BUT I also do other ways of assessment with my test. I just don't think the bubbles can get it all. That said, if you have to do it, you shouldn't have to grade it unless it is open answer or essay and this is a free tool to help you.

What I've encountered most in dealing with colleagues is the fear and the notion that this is just another five to ten year fad in education. It is important first to help others understand CCSS are not a quick-fix or an answer. In some ways, CCSS take us back to what good teaching looks. Ultimately, aside from the budgetary concerns with implementation, perhaps the other greatest struggle here will be the state-level assessment of the CCSS. In order for states to get it right, there needs to adequate time devoted to determining adequate assessment, not drill-and-kill. Broad, interconnected, higher-order thinking cannot be bubbled-in. Period.

As William Chamberlain and I dm's on Twitter, I asked if he was "flipped" and he penned this answer on his blog. It is insightful in that many teachers incorporate elements of delivering instruction via blog or feed without having kids with net access at home.

You can use your Google account to link the printers on your PC with your Google account using Google Cloud print. This incredibly useful feature can let you go to work on Monday and when you fire up your computer, it will printout the things you want to have printed. (If it works) this is a very cool feature. I'm enabling this today.

As far as my work as a teacher and teacher trainer is concerned, I believe in challenging students and having high expectations of everyone in the classroom. This is coupled with appropriate support and guidance, which is then differentiated to meet pupils' and students' needs. To support my learners I provide relevant and specific praise and feedback, engaging and interesting tasks and activities, sound guidelines and instructions, solid question and answer sessions and clear, practical examples or modelling.

2) Alfie Kohn "In fact, there isn't even a positive correlation between, on the one hand, having younger children do some homework (vs. none), or more (vs. less), and, on the other hand, any measure of achievement. If we're making 12-year-olds, much less five-year-olds, do homework, it's either because we're misinformed about what the evidence says or because we think kids ought to have to do homework despite what the evidence says." Homework: An Unnecessary Evil? ... Findings from New Research 3) Tyler Cowen believed education can create potentially valuable workers by helping them improve their value by using smart machines and that these two are stronger complements than ever. Students may not be able to calculate like computers but we can teach students to be better readers of character and emotion and to be the best interpreters of the masses of information provided by the behavioral sciences and big data. Not all students need to do programming but they need to easily make the most of technology. He sees educators as motivators and online managers rather than as a professor. From Average is Over, 2013 by Tyler Cower Could a majority on workers hurt by Geekability add to A. Greenspan's fear of unrest?

"What are those key phrases you hear from frustrated teachers in the staffroom during breaks? Or on those rare occasions, you get to meet up with teachers from other schools on training courses? For me it is the following: 'They give up so easily,' 'Where is their stickability?' 'Why do they fear making a mistake?' However it is phrased, you get the gist, that pupils today have no resilience, they aren't prepared to keep going in the face of challenge or set back. They can't think their way around a problem. In discussions with staff within my own school (a large primary in an area of high deprivation in the north of England) I am frequently asked how we can help these children. As part of our school's SLT I have already supported staff to make daring changes to our curriculum but we still seem to be falling short of what we state in our vision; that we want our children to become resilient learners, confident individuals, critical thinkers and lifelong learners. (Traits that I am sure many schools up and down the land wish for their pupils to develop.) Why are our pupils struggling with 'resilience'? What opportunities can we, as a school, provide our children so that they develop these skills? After reading the blurb and the introductory pages, I was, as you can imagine, excited to delve further into this book to see if it could answer some of my questions."

"A great quiz site where teachers create questions and input the answers and then the players choose from 20+ games. Create class lists and view analytics of performance."

"A simple online group buzzer, where pupils can connect using any web-enabled device to 'raise a virtual hand' to answer quick-fire quiz questions. Connect as many pupils as you wish, see who presses first, while the others are locked out."

"Fun Google Maps powered game where players drop a pin in a location to answer a question."

"As you will see below you can do very little without gaining express permission, yet if you are clear about how you will use the data and strictly adhere to this, in addition to evidencing this permission, you can do so much."

"This is a superb site from the BBC with interesting questions to inspire awe and wonder. There are videos and other media which attempt to answer questions on history, science and much more."

"I am of an age where if, as a child, you said you were bored the answer was likely to be, "Only boring people are bored," and be left to find something to do. There was always something to do, go outside and throw a tennis ball against a wall, go out on your bike, do some colouring, play with the Lego, do a jigsaw OR if you really got bored do your homework or tidy your bedroom! Nowadays it seems that the majority of children do not often seem to say that they are bored. They don't often have to find their own entertainment, use their imagination or even have several hours at a time that are not pre-filled with activities. Parents (normally) want to do their best for their children. Charlie wants to do football - that's 5:30 on Wednesday, Sammie wants to do ballet - that's 4:00 on Thursday, extra maths, Judo, trampolining, swimming, cubs… the list goes on, frequently only limited by the time to fit the activities for 2/3/4 children into a week."

"How many times do you hear a pupil fishing for the answer to the question you have just asked? How many hands go up to say, "Sir, I am Stuck!" and "Sir I can't do this!", or similar."

"An editable planning template with question prompts. Use to ensure your planning includes everything and replace the default with your answers to the questions to make a quick lesson plan."

"A computer game themed resource to help pupils to practise using more or less symbols. Laminate to make the paper strip reusable. Use the included answer card to allow self and peer assessment."

"I often sit on a Thursday evening about 2000hrs and watch the ukedchat hashtag. This week it was about physical education. Although this is not one of my strong subjects in teaching (or even in real life) I was interested in the first question which asked how physical education could be related to literacy and/or mathematics. Just like a GSCE multiple choice essay question I chose to answer how it could be related to mathematics. You can see the full tweet chat conversation here - but I thought I would expand my response in this week's waffle."

"Create polls and quizzes for your pupils to answer using their devices. Invite pupils to contribute to quiz questions and collect detailed data for assessment and feedback."

Math Apprentice answers the question that is on the minds of most math students: When are we ever going to use math in the real world? This rich, multimedia site provides students an opportunity to try various professions that use math. Students can be scientists, engineers, computer animators, video game programmers, and more. Math Apprentice provides areas of free exploration as well as specific problems to solve.