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These 15 things will help you have a better day according to this article and research. If you're working on your routines, you'll want to read this article. Very interesting - I'm not sure about the research on the juice, though.

Windows 9 is coming in 2015. Many think Windows 8 was a trainwreck. I think one thing all companies should realize is that as the market matures, the older people who have been using Windows (or any other program for a long period of time) not only want to know HOW to do things the new way but WHY they should. I know many who would be happy to pay for and keep a Windows XP interface for a long time. I understand why the surface style was needed for surface devices but many would be happy with an older system using a traditional windows view.

Once you set up Skydrive on Windows 8, you'll want to active Skydrive on IFTTT.com if you're using it for automation (I've written about this very cool app before.) It has many cool things that you can do (many like you can do with dropbox.) I'm using Skydrive for some things with school.

Cool little light that can show various colors to indicate things that have happened. This was funded on kickstarter and I noticed it being added to ifttt.com as a channel. So, for example, if you have a big download and want to be notified when it is done - or if you want to be notified when a certain person (Grandma) logs into skype but you don't want to have to log in or look at the screen - this USB RGB light will light in the color you wish. There are so many cool applications for this as we move into the "internet of things."

This ipad app gives you 100 idea prompts to great your children thinking and writing. Download the app at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/things-to-think-about/id664670576?mt=8 http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English

This NPR article on the school situation in Philadelphia is heart wrenching. Poverty impacts everyone, especially children. For those who have never seen it, it is hard to understand. I remember in Mumbai, seeing kids with a tiny notebook and pencil down to the nub that had been used the whole school year - kids were erasing unimportant things (if they still had an eraser) to add more to their notebooks. Yes, there are many places that desperately need school supplies and help and Philadelphia is one of the many cities who are really struggling. Take time to read/listen and understand and set up this holiday season to help. ""Clothing, books, all of the school supplies, backpacks," Kantor says. "And you see some kids that are really suffering. Some kids don't ever have a dime. They have one pencil, they have a spiral book, and they don't have any of the supplies." Other teachers say they've had to bring in cleaning supplies - even toilet paper. But lots of nonmaterial things gnaw at Kantor: She says some parents, many of them single moms, seem overwhelmed and disengaged. Kantor says she knows they're stressed out and tries to reach out by phone, but is too often left discouraged."

"Spies with surveillance agencies in the United States and United Kingdom may have spent time undercover as orcs and blood elves, infiltrating video games like "World of Warcraft" in a hunt for terrorists "hiding in plain sight" online." I find this very believable for this reason. I had a student in Teen Second life several years a go and he came across a "meeting" of sorts that was obviously something very strange. When he tried to interact with the players they had a way to throw him out and port him other places. It was obviously some sort of strange thing happening. I have no doubt that games are just another way to have "secret" meetings for those who want to hide. That said, it would be hard to tell the difference between those gaming and those doing other things as the games themselves have people plotting and planning so I'm thinking the language used would be hard to separate the real world from the game itself, which, in some ways makes it the perfect way to hide in plain sight.

Great advice from Nicholas Provenzano about failure: "What I am not saying is that teachers should leave students on their own to figure everything out and sit back and watch them fail on exams or essays. Teachers still need to guide their students and let them explore learning, but you have to let them try new things and learn through trial and error. The error part is the thing people are starting to forget. In the rush to get through content, it's easier to give students the answers instead of letting them discover them on their own through hard work.  As you work in your class this year, try to take a step back when a student fails the first time. Assure them they can come up with the right answer on their own if they try a couple of times. Offer them strategies on how to approach problems in different ways to get new outcomes. "

Another alternative is to not use the term "MOOC" and call it a Cas". (another hat tip to Stephen Downes for this article). I'm not sure that changing the name really will change what is a movement to learn online. Yes, it needs to be verifiable and so many things need to happen, but sometimes I find it odd how higher ed flees from anything that sounds trendy. Why not just Make Moocs better. Anyway, realize that higher ed has woken up and realized something significant is happening, how they will respond is yet to be seen. Says the author: "The thing formerly known as a MOOC will now be called a CaS.   CaS:  Course at Scale."

...what ideas or beliefs our own subset of educators might also want to lose. (I got carried away and I will probably continue to add to this list.) A bunch of things I think teacher librarians should unlearn:

Where things get a bit more confusing with PLNs is when we fail to advance beyond those warm fuzzy feelings about being connected to others with more substantive knowledge and action.

"Within the decade, it will either become the norm to teach this course (high school Algebra I) in middle school or we'll have finally woken up to the fact that there's no reason to give algebra weight over statistics and IT in high school for non-math majors (and they will have all taken it in middle school anyway)." - Shelley Blake-Plock

RT @ransomtech: A good discussion starter: "21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020" http://bit.ly/dTqAxj

Information about paying people to pass ap tests.

Paying kids to pass the AP test isn't working... but those supporting it say give it time. In some ways, money is the easy answer. But money doesn't solve problems when you have a child who has low self esteem. A child who is beaten every night isn't going to want to learn more during the day for a one time incentive... they feel trapped. Although the average improved (there were more "5's") - the overall pass rate declined slightly -- but more tests were taken. I am glad that people are willing to put money into trying new things, but sometimes I think teachers are left out of the equation. If we look at brain rules, improving the family life of kids and making sure they get more sleep are two of the most beneficial things we could to improve test scores.

National PTA (the parents organization for public school parents in the US) has launched a webcast to communicate with parents. Not sure where the podcast is, but it is probably linked here. It looks like a video. (It would be great to also rip the audio off and link as a podcast too, I think parents would find it useful.) One thing this does do is legitimize the webcast for parents. You can say "Look parents, PTA is webcasting, it must not be evil." For the use of this tool, I applaud PTA. I haven't listened to the webcast yet. Hope they turn it into to a podcast as my screentime is limited, but listen to things as I wash dishes and cook dinner (a nightly happening.)

National PTA has begun a webcast for parents.

Whistleblower lawsuit from an IT director.

Some push back in IT is happening such as this case with an IT director who said he was fired for "blowing the whistle" on innappropriate IT behavior such as problems with the grade reporting software and a computer with confidential student information that was breached without reporting it to the state. These sorts of things have both sides. The point that I would take here is to listen to IT directors when they have concerns: just because you don't understand the problem doesn't mean there is a problem, and that ethics must be applied when things are dealt with in IT.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

Business people and management should read this article about the transformation of business by using workplace communities. "Workplace communities are designed to solve workplace-related challenges" -- they focus on tasks. I would find it interesting to see a business REALLY use technology to change things. Having the business in a business network (OK a NING) and let people tag their posts with the business related PROBLEMS they are having and blog, video, or photograph it-- the tag cloud would tell the business IMMEDIATELY what the problems are in the company. The problem with this model is that there are few corporate executives who REALLY want to know the problems within their organizations. They don't want to be problem solvers, just opportunity creators. However, when managers open their eyes (and I'm a former General Manager myself) and see that two things give business opportunity: problem solving and innovation. And they are directly related. True innovation solves problems. Read this article and think about how you may solve problems using the networks you may now create. If you don't want everyone to know, keep it private and only allow people in your company in.

Great post sharing 15 tutorial websites, over half of which I'd never heard of. This is a gem of a post and again tells us why we need access to things we've never heard of and how teachers and IT departments need a little more access than students to check these things out first (i.e. conditional filtration.)

STAR educators program.

If your school has united streaming and you do things to teach others about how to use this resource, you can become a STAR educator. Here is the application process and let me know, I'll be happy to help you. I have an ulterior motive on this one -- if I help recruit a STAR by December 1st, I can get a mythbusters or Deadliest catch DVD and really would love to give this to my son. Like all of you, I'm scrambling this year on Christmas to slash the budget and still do great things. (Hey, some of you might want to give my book for Christmas ;-) So, if you decide to join and want a little help, let me know. And if you do so, let me know and I can get credit and get a DVD -- my son LOVES mythbusters!! I've been a STAR educator for some time now, and it is another great networking program. They also have their summer institutes. They have a wealth of great resources and UNITED STREAMING is my teacher's FAVORITE classroom subscription that we have.

A list from Stephen Downes that I hadn't seen entitled "things You really need to learn." A great list to share and reread.