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Learning algebra is difficult for most students. Ask any student what they are learning in algebra and you will probably receive an answer similar to this (after - Why do I need to know this?). "Using Xs and Ys a lot, a bunch of numbers and symbols, and memorizing a lot of rules." This often comes with learning algebra without connection to anything students can relate to. When students learn basic math, they can make a lot of connections.

We need autonomous, self-motivated students in love with the process of how humanity has learnt.

Big list of flash-based activities, games, and interactives that work well for use with an interactive whiteboard in a mathematics classroom. Includes many areas of math including geometry, numeracy, fractions, probability, and more.

If you've ever tried to design a website or blog, you've probably felt the need to add images to your creation. It can be easy to see the Internet as a free-for-all, but images belong to the people who created them. Staying legal means you'll have to either create your own images or buy them from stock sites. Fortunately, there are a number of sources for free images, and we've collected them here. So read on for 100 sources where you can find free stock images: and don't worry - they're all legal!

Build an Online Debate Community for Your Classroom! Host debates and assign effective homework. Students evaluate, analyze, and synthesize topics on a deeper level through intellectual interaction with their peers.

Build an Online Debate Community for Your Classroom! Host debates and assign effective homework. Students evaluate, analyze, and synthesize topics on a deeper level through intellectual interaction with their peers. I learned of this product at either NECC 09, or the Sloan Consortium Meeting in San Francisco. I was impressed with the ideas underlying an online system that promotes the great critical thinking tools of debate. Just got a trial account. Hope to delve deeper soon. Early adopters can probably get the free 90 / 10 seat deal I was offered. This is a startup and I was impressed by the young thinkers behind this idea.

Liz Davis has been working with teachers to learn to integrate technology into their teaching for almost ten years. Here are a few of the things she has learned - in no particular order (number 10 is probably the most important).

Part of your job as a teacher is to give your students the kind of feedback that will help them learn and grow. Of course, you want to do this in a way that encourages them to continue trying, and certainly not to hurt their feelings. As you probably already know, some students are more sensitive than others, so giving constructive criticism can be a tricky thing. Here are some ways to correct a student without hurting their feelings.

Is a lack of PD a barrier? Professional development is a barrier, although I think they can teach themselves much of what teachers need to be learning to be able to modernise their classrooms. The worst thing a teacher can say is: "who's going to teach me how to do that?" Teachers are teachers and should be able to teach themselves what they need to know. If they can't then they probably shouldn't be teaching. You want a teacher who can keep up. There are networks of other educators out there that can connect you with new skills. Professional development doesn't have to be something that is done to teachers - it can be just ongoing conversations they're having with other professionals that they're learning from every day.

"It's the end of the first week of term and it has been so positive. I have tried to spend most of my day being the leader I want to be, engaging the 'spirit energy' (see Peter Drucker). I spent summer reflecting on my values and vision, and I'm fortunate to have been handed the reins for the Curriculum in my school. To realise the vision, I've employed the help of a team of subject leaders, and today I met with them for the first time. I knew this was probably our most important discussion; my opportunity to engage them in the future (see Steve Radcliffe, Future Engage Deliver), and so I spent the week prior to this discussing and reflecting with SLT to ensure I was ready."

"Whether you are an experienced teacher, just starting your training, or starting in your own classroom as an NQT for the first time, beginning the year right will make things so much easier for the rest of the year. By now you have probably meet your class(es) and have begun some lessons, but how can you keep that initial momentum going?"

"We all hide things. From our friends and even from ourselves. Because of this, the pupils showing clear signs of distress and of need of social and/or emotional support are probably only a fraction of the real need at any one time. We also all experience difficulties at times, yet the object of our distress is often fleeting, or in hindsight trivial in the grand scheme of things. However, many of the young people we teach have chronically stressful situations to deal with on a daily basis, both at home and at school. This can exhibit in the classroom as anxiety, poor concentration or disruptive behaviour."

"As I am reading probably my one hundredth CV and letter of application, all for one teaching position, I am reminded of how it is so often the smallest of things, the attention paid to the most obvious of details, that can influence the greatest decisions we make in our lives. I make no bones about how much I love my job. I love the variability, constant challenge and excitement working with children every day offers, and I am thankful that I have had colleagues and employers who have taken a chance and given me the opportunity to pursue my dream job."

"It was lunchtime but I didn't mind. Neither did my German teacher. I ran upstairs and entered her room. She was free - success! I pulled out my listening exam script: a set of learned responses to verbal questions that could come up in my GCSE exam. I'm sure she was hungry and I'm sure she wanted lunch. I didn't think about that when I was 16 years old. I probably should have."

"In our school this year, we are focusing on raising the attainment of boys in relation to their female peers. This is by no means anything new; the gender gap is an entity that has plagued school results for as long as I can remember (and probably long before that). I should say that our boys perform better than national averages, but do not perform as well as the girls. You might be sat there in the same position. You've got an interesting situation in your school, where girls are outperforming boys, it features prominently on your School Improvement Plan (SIP), and you've read all the new books on the subject etc."

Most employers do not want employees who hate their work but persist through it anyway. It is a fallacy to believe that we are teaching our kids that the heart of innovative capability (and therefore their future job prospects) is best served by doing something you hate for an extended period of time no matter the consequences.

This is a great set of flash maths resources for your whiteboard. Topics include an interactive number square, fraction bars and a set of algebra scales. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

A great new resource from the creator of 'A Maths Dictionary for Kids'. Download and print beautifully designed and wonderfully useful maths posters on a good range of topics. Your classroom walls will never be the same again. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

Some days I'm a visual learner, some days I'm kinaesthetic, other days I like to listen and soak it all up.... The styles exist - that's true; they're not mutually exclusive as one of the previous commentators said; they lead to 3-dimensional learning though - the important point is, I believe, that we need to balance the approaches we take when teaching a class. Mix it up, challenge, don't do the same old, same old. The impact of VAK approaches - the anecdotes you refer to, Steve - probably owes its success to giving learners a variety and the recognition that there is more than one way to skin a cat i.e. we don't need to teach things the way they always were taught.