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"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

If you discuss sun protection in your health program - here is some information for you. I had skin cancer removed when I wasn't even 30 yet! Skin Cancer has been an issue in my family and I hope you discuss this with kids. Here is information from my inbox. "With the UV Index on the rise, it's time to remind your students to Slip! Slop! Slap! and Wrap! In our effort to raise awareness about a health issue that is largely preventable and too often ignored-skin cancer, EPA encourages you to promote sun safety before the second annual Don't Fry Day on the Friday before Memorial Day (May 28, 2010). As millions of us prepare to enjoy the great outdoors this Memorial Day weekend, EPA and the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention are reminding Americans to practice sun-safe behaviors. We need your help; go online and pledge to incorporate sun safety into your spring and summer activities. Take the Pledge: www.epa.gov/sunwise/dfdpledge.html Participating classrooms and informal education organizations will receive a Don't Fry Day poster and a set of sun safety stickers. The stickers feature SunWise animals showing children how to Slip! Slop! Slap! and Wrap! Additionally, you will be entered into a random drawing for a SunWise Prize Pack. The prize pack includes a set of UV-sensitive beads, a real-time UV monitor, UV-sensitive nail polish and other sun safety resources. To learn more about Don't Fry Day, visit the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention's Don't Fry Day resource page, www.skincancerprevention.org, where you can find background information, skin cancer statistics and facts, and public service announcements you can put in your school's newsletter or distribute electronically to parents."

Just got this in my inbox - English teachers listen up and plan to celebrate national punctuation day. "HOW TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL PUNCTUATION DAY What can you do to participate in National Punctuation Day on September 24! 1. Go to www.NationalPunctuationDay.com and become familiar with punctuation rules and issues. 2. Organize punctuation activities at your school, library, or office. 3. Share punctuation peeves with founder Jeff Rubin at Jeff@NationalPunctuationDay.com. 4. Send photos of incorrectly punctuated signage to Jeff Rubin at Jeff@NationalPunctuationDay.com 5. Forward this news as a way to spread the importance of proper punctuation. - Entrants must send a recipe and a sample of their cookie, cake, pastry, doughnut, or bread baked in the shape of a punctuation mark to National Punctuation Day, 1517 Buckeye Court, Pinole, CA 94564. - Entrants must send two print photos ‹ one putting the item in an oven before baking and the other taking it out when it¹s done. Make sure we can see the baked goods clearly. - First-, second-, and third-place winners will receive a box of non-edible NPD goodies, and all entrants¹ photos and recipes will be published on the National Punctuation Day website (www.NationalPunctuationDay.com). - All entries must be received by September 30, 2009. This looks like a lot of fun

The Pangea Day Mission & Purpose Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film. Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that - to help people see themselves in others - through the power of film. The Pangea Day Event Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast - in seven languages - to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.

Extending the school day may not have the benefits that some claim, especially since we're just giving kids more same-old same-old instruction time. This article from the Washington Post is worth a read. "But the extended day approach being implemented in many schools as a result of the department's push to increase instructional time  falls short.  It largely ignores the deep body of research on what makes effective expanded learning.   Instead, too many schools are merely adding another hour or so of regular class time onto the school day.  Not surprisingly, two very recent studies suggest we might not accomplish much with this approach to improving schools. "

My students are working on an awareness and social action campaign with the students from Reading, Ohio (teacher: Brian Page.) They are celebrating May DAy in a new way -- asking everyone to buy jewelry made by those rescued from human slavery and to wear it on that day. May Day: May all slaves be free one day but until then we will speak on their behalf. They have a blog, a Facebook page and more. Would you consider creating awareness next Monday and celebrate with them on May1st? We're looking for some more classrooms to join their voices to our blog at hopeforslaves.com a website we set up this week.

Great article on US news about initiatives in the US that have started but of special interest is the request that students and educators tweet. The biggest issues I've had with the town hall meetings is that most of them are in the middle of the day when everyone is teaching. On Thursday at 3 pm there is a chat about rural education. It is nice that they're having these meetings but if they REALLY want teachers to participate it will be when teachers are able to focus on the conversation. You can't have teachers teaching and Tweeting. It doesn't work. If you see me tweet during the day, most of the tweets are scheduled or I'm on break or lunch break. "February has been a busy month for K-12 education. On February 1, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan kicked it off by announcing that all U.S. schools should transition to digital textbooks within the next five years. On the 9th, President Obama waived 10 states from No Child Left Behind. And last week, the president proposed a 2013 budget that includes a $1.7 funding increase for education." Although these federal policy decisions may not seem directly connected to day-to-day classroom activities, the Department of Education is using Twitter to encourage teachers, administrators, parents, and students to play a more active role.

Cool webinars and expert activities. I just love these -- go to this website and sign up! Dr. Wayne Clough, former president of Georgia Tech (my alma mater) now runs the smithsonian and they are doing some of the coolest things! Here is a list, but go to the website to join in. " Day One: Understanding the American Experience Tuesday, 13 April 2010 11:00 to 11:50 am EDT How do we change a stereotype? 12:00 to 12:50 pm EDT What can science tell us about American history? 2:00 to 2:50 pm EDT What does clothing communicate? Day Two: Valuing World Cultures Wednesday, 14 April 2010 11:00 to 11:50 am EDT Who owns music? 12:00 to 12:50 pm EDT What happens when a people meets its past? 2:00 to 2:50 pm EDT How does design solve everyday problems? Day Three: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe Wednesday, 28 April 2010 11:00 to 11:50 am EDT Are there other worlds out there? 12:00 to 12:50 pm EDT How have we imagined other worlds? 2:00 to 2:50 pm EDT How do we grasp the vastness of the universe? Day Four: Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet Thursday, 29 April 2010 11:00 to 11:50 am EDT What do modern animal bones tell us about biodiversity? 12:00 to 12:50 pm EDT How can we learn about nature's most elusive animals? 2:00 to 2:50 pm EDT How (and why) do we count living things?"

This might be a good time to talk about poverty as superstars are living on just a little. I don't know how they count this because the heating and air on their homes would exceed $1.50 a day. $1.50 a day is the global figure that defines extreme poverty. "Ben Affleck, Josh Groban, Sophia Bush and Debi Mazar are among the celebs who have committed to take the 2013 Live Below the Line challenge issue by The Global Poverty Project. They will live on $1.50 of food and drink a day (no Starbucks for him!) April 29-May 3 to raise awareness about extreme poverty."

Earth Day is April 22. Here are lesson plans for Earth Day that you can then use to tie into Arbor Day the next week. Environment, sustainability are both important topics that should be discussed in every school.

"I"m a modern day abolitionist." "It just isn't enough to have emotion." This video is a phenomenal portrayal of a boy who has taken up a cause. Loose change to loose chains is his nonprofit. Consider sharing this video with your students. Do you realize that modern day slavery exists? Come on. This is ridiculous. This holiday season, I'm asking that you give a tweet, a facebook status update a day to the cause to #endslavery. What can all the teachers do if we bring awareness to this important issue. The slaves aren't on twitter or social media -they can't speak for themselves. Speak out. Watch this video.

Every day we feature the best information design and data visualization from the internet. If you share our love for data-filled illustrations, you've come to the right place. We spend countless hours searching the web for the most interesting, visually stimulating, mind blowing infographics. We curate our findings and choose one infographic to publish every week-day. Get free infographics delivered to your inbox, once a day!

Earth Day is around the corner - April 22nd - and every year teachers and students try to come up with new and innovative activities. Recycling is a popular activity to keep the idea recycling going strong. Classrooms often come up with ideas to recycle paper, ink cartridges, plastic bottles, metal cans, and newspapers. However, there are other recycling activities that students can get involved in to support Earth Day.

February 11, the Special Interest Group for Mobile Learning #sigml will be hosting tweetchats during the day about a variety of topics. Sylvia Martinez and I will be talking about the maker movement at 5 pm that day. Sylvia is coauthor of the amazing book "Invent2Learn" -- a must read for those interested in the maker movement. There are many others including Scott Merrick, Susan Wells and more who are sharing that day.

Happy Pi Day! Here is a post for 3/14 to help you celebrate Pi day - some links to what you can use with your students. Go out and buy some pie to celebrate pi day!

Get ready to read poetry! World Poetry day is March 21. Here are a lot of lesson plans and ideas for that day including some digital e-poetry booklets that you could download as well as mp3's and videos that you can use as well as lesson plans.

An awesome PInterest Board by edutopia with resources you can use for Digital Learning Day. This is an excellent example of how you can use Pinterest Boards to share research and best practices.

This is, I think, another perfect example of what Clay Shirky would point to in his book, "Here Comes Everybody." Folks just decided to 'get together' to build a place where people could share their images of that day. It then does something that no newspaper or magazine could afford to do - it paints a vivid picture of the day through the lenses of MANY people, thus providing so many different views and perspectives of the HIstoric day.

A scrapbook of images taken during the Obama Inauguration day ceremonies. Got images of your own you'd like to share? Join and upload.

Earth day activities designed to use phone books for a variety of purposes around the home to keep them out of the land fill.