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What we’ve decided is that we will no longer use the web filter as a classroom management tool.  Blocking one distraction doesn’t solve the problem of students off task – it just encourages them to find another site to distract them.  Students off task is not a technology problem – it’s a behavior problem. 

This opens up possibilities for students and staff using websites for instructional purposes that in the past were blocked due to broad category blocks.  It requires that staff and students manage their technology use rather than relying on a third party solution that can never do the job of replacing teachers monitoring students.

The results of the Government's National Human Rights Consultation show that Australians have overwhelmingly called for a Human Rights Act. It's crucial that we seize this moment and ensure the Government act on the recommendations. Add your name to our petition, calling on the Government to enact a Human Rights Act that secures the rights of all Australians. The greater the weight of community support behind an Act the harder the Government will find it to back away from the call. Sign the petition below:

The Wilbarger Deep Pressure and Proprioceptive Technique (DPPT) & Oral Tactile Technique (OTT)

many parents are a bit skeptical

The chest and stomach area are always avoided

That's right! Voxopop talkgroups let you discuss your interests and passions with people from all over the world, using your real voice. It's a whole new way to talk online. Find talkgroups to join, or start your own and spread the word. Great for families & friends, interest groups, website owners, bloggers, podcasters and teachers. Start talking, it's FREE!

Imagine hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple to find. WatchKnow--as in, "You watch, you know"--is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal.

once someone made a negative comment about a person who wasn’t there, the conversation would get meaner unless someone immediately defended the target.

gossip in the workplace also tended to be overwhelmingly negative, but the insults were more subtle and the conversations less predictable, says Tim Hallett, a sociologist at Indiana University.

Office gossip can be a form of reputational warfare

These courses offer you a chance to learn about everything from electrical engineering to the basics of computer science.

They've used it to keep track of information they find on the web, to share information with our class group, and

because of their proficiency with it that when an idea came to me today 5 minutes before the start of class of a new purpose for which I could have my students use Diigo

trained by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association to work in the schools

Parents. Everywhere.

families need support before student performance will improve. 

Meanwhile, rates of anxiety and depression have also risen in tandem with self-esteem. Why is this? “Narcissists are happy when they’re younger, because they’re the center of the universe,” Twenge explains. “Their parents act like their servants, shuttling them to any activity they choose and catering to their every desire. Parents are constantly telling their children how special and talented they are. This gives them an inflated view of their specialness compared to other human beings. Instead of feeling good about themselves, they feel better than everyone else.” In early adulthood, this becomes a big problem. “People who feel like they’re unusually special end up alienating those around them,” Twenge says. “They don’t know how to work on teams as well or deal with limits. They get into the workplace and expect to be stimulated all the time, because their worlds were so structured with activities. They don’t like being told by a boss that their work might need improvement, and they feel insecure if they don’t get a constant stream of praise. They grew up in a culture where everyone gets a trophy just for participating, which is ludicrous and makes no sense when you apply it to actual sports games or work performance. Who would watch an NBA game with no winners or losers? Should everyone get paid the same amount, or get promoted, when some people have superior performance? They grew up in a bubble, so they get out into the real world and they start to feel lost and helpless. Kids who always have problems solved for them believe that they don’t know how to solve problems. And they’re right—they don’t.”

I asked Wendy Mogel if this gentler approach really creates kids who are less self-involved, less “Me Generation.” No, she said. Just the opposite: parents who protect their kids from accurate feedback teach them that they deserve special treatment. “A principal at an elementary school told me that a parent asked a teacher not to use red pens for corrections,” she said, “because the parent felt it was upsetting to kids when they see so much red on the page. This is the kind of self-absorption we’re seeing, in the name of our children’s self-esteem.”

research shows that much better predictors of life fulfillment and success are perseverance, resiliency, and reality-testing

Don’t show, don’t tell? Cognitive scientists find that when teaching young children, there is a trade-off between direct instruction and independent exploration. Emily Finn, MIT News Office

It turns out that there is a “double-edged sword” to pedagogy: Explicit instruction makes children less likely to engage in spontaneous exploration and discovery.

The danger is leading children to believe that they’ve learned all there is to know, thereby discouraging independent discovery.

You don’t have to imagine very hard. Dinosaurs didn’t die out when an asteroid hit the Earth 66 million years ago. In fact, wherever you live, you can probably step outside and look up into the trees and skies to find them: birds are dinosaurs and they are all around you.