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I read Joel Comm's book Twitter Power and it has been one of my longtime favorites on the topic. Here he talks brutally about the negatives of social media. I admit the topic caught my attention. I"ve just found that if I'm brutal about who I follow and make sure they're real educators, I'm usually pretty happy with my stream. I unfollow junk as soon as it is evident it is junk. Ultimately we all must guard who we follow or we might just find ourselves following the garbage truck.

Awesome content idea generator to help you craft blog post titles that will attract attention.

College newspapers are met with the same challenges as mainstream media - decilining advertising and increasing online traffic are forcing attention online. Paper is out, social media is in. Organizations that don't get this shift are going to be in deep problems. Is your school newspaper making the sift.

If you'd really like to get into the Luminosity program, here is the application form to get into it. Here's info from the press release. This is a cool app that is supposed to improve many parts of cognition. I have it on my list to try and it is very interesting to me. Here's the link and some info: "Preliminary results from the Spring 2012 semester found that students who trained with Lumosity improved more on a battery of online cognitive assessments than students who did not train. Additionally, effects were dose-dependent; engaging in more Lumosity training led to greater improvements on the assessments. Insights from the 2012-13 LEAP academic year on the effects of cognitive training on students' real-world academic outcomes are forthcoming. Educators are increasingly interested in enhancing their students' cognitive and behavioral factors. More than 75 percent of all teachers who applied for the Fall 2013 LEAP semester believe training with Lumosity will promote: cognitive enhancement, increased ability to pay attention, improved self-confidence, and improved general attitude toward learning."

This is an absolutely incredible blog post regarding the influx of stimulus money for 21st century classrooms and how it will (or won't) impact student learning without attention paid to instructional practices.

Why do teenagers so often seem like a different species? Journalist Patricia Hersch gives a troubling answer in her fascinating, up-close-and-personal look at what it means to be a teen in today's American high schools. Rather than interviewing "high-risk" teens (those already swept up in a cycle of drug use, gang violence, or unintended pregnancy, for example), Hersch focuses her attention on "regular kids"--adolescents who are average achievers on academic and social levels. In light of this, A Tribe Apart is all the more startling to read: Hersch's investigative approach makes it impossible for parents to shrug off their responsibilities by saying "That's not my kid." This is your kid.

Great reading about the trends to watch.

This is a great read -- I particularly think that Constant Partial Attention (CPA) is something that we should be aware of in our classrooms. Excellent article. Also I find it interesting how he shares that some kids who have gotten constant positive reinforcement in schools are going to have a tough time w/ competition. Competition is part of life.

OK, Pluto is now a "plutoid" as are many other asteroids that are the size of pluto -- pay attention science teachers -- plutoid should now be in your book. (It is in Wikipedia -- but again, your book is outdated.)

Pluto is now a class of very large asteroid called a "plutoid."

This is the best example of how professional development works.

I love this post. This is how Web 2.0 spreads. I want to quote from the author: "Then I showed him wikispaces and the lightbulb went off. In a voice full of what I can only describe as awe, he said, and I'm paraphrasing him, "This could change the way we teach." (Cue the heavenly music). While I was showing him each tool, we discussed how he could integrate it into his teaching practices. I know I probably overwhelmed him, but he's excited and energetic. He left with a brand new Google account and having created his classroom wiki. That and he's vowed to share what he's learned with his fellow teachers. Here's hoping this goes viral - if at least a little." I love it. It is the one on one time and the lights go off. This is how it works best. we need to have more one on one time planned in order to promote change. People want the attention -- no one likes to feel like an underappreciated cog in an overworked machine.

Online social networking is now so deeply embedded in the lifestyles of tweens and teens that it rivals television for their attention, according to a new study from Grunwald Associates LLC conducted in cooperation with the National School Boards Association. Nine- to 17-year-olds report spending almost as much time using social networking services and Web sites as they spend watching television. Among teens, that amounts to about 9 hours a week on social networking activities, compared to about 10 hours a week watching TV. Students are hardly passive couch potatoes online. Beyond basic communications, many students engage in highly creative activities on social networking sites - and a sizeable proportion of them are adventurous nonconformists who set the pace for their peers.

If you think that cell phones can't improve math scores -- check again - read this report about a pilot where algebra problems were sent to smartphones. (So much for "leaving your homework at school.) "During the 2007-2008 school year, Wireless Reach began funding Project K-Nect, a pilot project in rural North Carolina where high school students received supplemental algebra problem sets on smartphones (the phones were provided by the project). The outcomes are promising -- classes using the smartphones have consistently achieved significantly higher proficiency rates on their end of course exams. So what's so different about delivering problem sets on a cell phone instead of a textbook? The first obvious answer is that the cell phone version is multi-media. The Project K-Nect problem sets begin with a Flash video visually demonstrating the problem -- you could theorize that this context prepares the student to understand the subsequent text-based problem better. You could also theorize that watching a Flash animation is more engaging (or just plain fun) and so more likely to keep students' attention."

service iframe your video on top of a webpage - eg: to comment a webpage\n\nBenefits of Sending Branded Video E-mails:\nProfessional Looking: once you've subscribed and saved the Eyejot This! Bookmarklet onto your toolbar, shooting and sending a branded video email is easy. In fact, the whole process takes less than a few minutes (depending on the length of your message of course).Easier to Create than Written E-mail: In most cases, recorded a video email is easier than typing out a full on email. Why? Because on video, you're conversational and spoken word comes out more naturally. It's a great way to get face-to-face with clients (at least virtually) and works well with both existing clients and clients that you're trying to court.Great Way to Capture Attention and Have Site Visitors Spend More Time On-Site: my favorite part about Eyejot is the ability to share a webpage with someone while branding it with your email message. It's a great way of sharing relevant information with a personalized touch. Sharing a particular blog post, listing or teaching someone how to navigate/use the IDX on your blogsite increases the chances of someone spending more time on your site.

Attention: 4th and 5th Grade Teachers Starting February 1, 2010, join @ewitt43 as he invites you and your class on a reading adventure with classes from around the country. They will be discussing and reading the story "The Invention of Hugo Cabret." It is an amazing story that takes the students on an adventure of over 500 pages of words and illustrations. He does this as a read aloud and the students will be answering the questions on the blog on their own so they can communicate with other students of similar age.

Let your audience decide Get to know your audience by letting them decide which questions, suggestions or ideas interest them most. Everyone's voice is heard The voting box at the top of page focuses attention on submissions recently added and on the rise, making it simple and easy to participate.

When Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) administrators recently turned their attention to social studies education, they concluded that a better means of engaging and holding students' interest was needed. Textbooks alone weren't enough to keep today's digital generation, raised in a dynamic visual environment, focused on learning. Thanks to the administrators' commitment to improvement, IPS educators and students are now accessing streaming video, images and other digital media in the classroom.

In these video clips from actual classrooms around the country, Doug Lemov, founder of the charter-school network Uncommon Schools, analyzes techniques that effective teachers use to get students to pay attention and follow instructions.

Apart from that, writing comments forces us to pay more attention to what we are reading and develop our own ideas further. Sometimes when  I decide to write a short  comment, I end up writing long and complex comments dealing with lots of issues, and I just don't know how I got there...To sum up, quality comments help us to become better bloggers and strengthen community links.