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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

As some say that all students should be required to "speak up" in class, I say "let them type." If you run a backchannel, that should count as classroom contribution. I've found that quieter students will float an idea in the classroom and are willing to express it verbally if the teacher notices and speaks about the topic. Sometimes students want a low-threat way to suggest and interject, and I've personally found the backchannel to be a powerful way to do this.

When you're afraid of speaking, there are things that happen. I enjoy reading about the science behind stage fright.

To me it really brought home how artificial speeches about canned subjects in front of a class are little to no preparation about talking to people naturally in a real-world setting. It's like the students are only good at "pretend speaking"

Just went thru public speaking in our school... this rings painfully true!

"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.

this is mostly happy reporter-speak, but there are a few words by herman boone from remember the titans.

Chris Harbeck and Darren Kuropatwa are mathematics teachers in Canada; Chris at Sargent Park School, a junior high school in Winnipeg and Darren at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate only a few blocks from Sargent Park. In April 2008 they brought a few of their students to Manitoba for the Pan-Canadian Interactive Literacy Forum to speak about their learning experiences in their respective math classes using Web 2.0 tools. Listen to Chris and Darren and their students speak.

Incredible list of presentation and speaking resources! Via Twitter by Liz Davis!

Been watching this group blog of students and want to share it with you. At over 1000 readers strong, this is an educational blog to watch -- students are speaking out. Who is listening? Of course, teachers IN the classroom had better be listening. I hear my students thoughts in person and on our class blog, but how many teachers truly ask and how many listen? Even more so, how many administrators or curriculum directors listen and are involved. Good teachers listen to students and know when to say yes and when to say no. However, it is great that now students can speak out!

A student website that starts on Monday launched by Artus. Cool

Listen to Bill Gates speaking at Science Leadership Academy yesterday, April 29.

"你知道这是什么意思吗？No? Languages can both be barriers and be bridges. They can block access to learning and more, but knowing a little of 'the lingo' can open previously impenetrable doors. This doesn't have to be a language from overseas, but a certain way of speaking which includes speakers or potenticially excludes non-speakers from a group. Teaching, with it's SPaGs, NPQHs and RQTs can make us want to LOL or even go AWOL!"

"Sometimes, it is just necessary to stand in front a group of children and speak to them. It's not the strongest tool in a teacher's box of tricks, but speaking to groups of pupils is hinged with one notable problem - keeping their attention - especially if you are trying to get key points across to help their learning.  However, these ideas - adapted from spring.org.uk, can easily be amended for classroom situations, and are worth exploration in ensuring attention is kept by the majority of pupils"

"You are more likely to remember something if you read it out loud, a study from the University of Waterloo has found. A recent Waterloo study found that speaking text aloud helps to get words into long-term memory. Dubbed the "production effect," the study determined that it is the dual action of speaking and hearing oneself that has the most beneficial impact on memory."

Speaking activity for B2 ESL learners

A listening and speaking activity for B2 ESL learners based on an advertisement of Schweppes starring John Cleese.

Listening and speaking activities based on the famous BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. For B2 ESL learners.

put a subject in the middle circle e.g. movies, jobs, current projects, holidays - whatever is topical at the time - elicit this from your students if you like. Divide them up into groups and then encourage your students to ask each other questions.

Top 10 blogs about presentations and speaking. Great resource!

This is a world where massive amounts of data and applied mathematics replace every other tool that might be brought to bear. Out with every theory of human behavior, from linguistics to sociology. Forget taxonomy, ontology, and psychology. Who knows why people do what they do? The point is they do it, and we can track and measure it with unprecedented fidelity. With enough data, the numbers speak for themselves.