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Must read letter over at Edweek from a mom of one child who died at Sandy Hook and one who survived... if you want to be affirmed and remember why you teach, this is the post you should share with everyone. "Your courage will support students who are left out and overlooked, like the isolated young man who killed my daughter. At some point he was a young, impressionable student, often sitting all alone at school. You will have kids facing long odds for whom your smile, your encouraging word, and your willingness to go the extra mile will provide the comfort and security they need to try again tomorrow. When you Google "hero," there should be a picture of a principal, a school lunch worker, a custodian, a reading specialist, a teacher, or a bus monitor. Real heroes don't wear capes. They work in America's schools. "When I asked my son's teacher why she returned, she responded, 'Because they are my kids.' " Being courageous requires faith. It took faith to go back to work at Sandy Hook after the shooting. Nobody had the answers or knew what would come tomorrow, but they just kept going. Every opportunity you have to create welcoming environments in our schools where parents and students feel connected counts."

Dawn Casey-Rowe hits a tough topic that is the number one complaint that teachers have. I had her on my show not too long a go and she speaks from a tough situation with lots of blocks and bans but gets it done anyway. If your complaint is blocks and bans, then take time to read this post to focus on what you CAN do. Dawn is offering a set of PD blog posts that you'll want to dig into. "This week, we're going to discuss the white elephant in the room. Tech frustration. Many teachers struggle to bring students the type of tech experience they would like because of systemic blocks and bans, or worse, feel embarrassed as students have more access to tech than teachers do. This is the issue that brought me to the tech world myself. Students continually asked the hard questions about why they couldn't utilize technology such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, and why phones were confiscated when students were using them for educational purposes. I wanted to improve my classroom experience and give my students more, but budget was a concern. Tech access is a problem in many schools. There are legitimate reasons-the desire of administrators to protect students from the darker side of the internet, fear of the unknown, lack of wireless capacity and budget difficulties which cause insufficient numbers of computers or the inability to upgrade existing tech. Some educational leaders have overcome these hurdles, but others are still working to get to that space."

Pernille Ripp's poignant post shares why more teachers don't refuse to give the tests. Unless it is done en masse, it can't really be done. That said, parents can refuse to have their children take the test without repercussions and in fact, a national opt out movement is brewing. "If I were to refuse administering these state mandated tests, I would get in trouble.  That is an absolute guarantee.  And while I have never been one to shy away from too much controversy, the kind of trouble this time would be much bigger than a write up.  I could even lose my job for failing to do my duties.  To some that may not seem like a big deal, after all, I should be standing up for my students and their rights, my own opinions, I should protect those children that I teach from the tests.  But my job is vital to my own children.  My job is our health insurance.  My job gives us just enough money so that we can pay our bills.  I wish my husband had a huge paying job, he doesn't, and so we are a very dependent two income family.  So losing my job refusing tests just isn't something I can rationally do and in a sense, I am not sure I should be the one refusing the tests anyway."

If you want to understand why STEM jobs are such a big deal, then this NPR interview really helps us understand why so many people are talking about STEM even though it makes up only 7% of the jobs. Read (and share) this NPR interview or download it for a listen as you travel. "That is, a technical education now allows you to do anything. And anything, for most workers, means having a job that's fairly focused as a STEM worker, but then moving on to management or into a regulatory roll or into a government job. So STEM has become the place where you go if you want to have a lot of alternatives 10 years down the road."

This powerful infographic shows why it is so hard to find some black boxes in the ocean but also shows the complete and utter power of an infographic. The Washington Post made this one about the downed Korean airliner and the quest to find the black box. Some don't know why it is so hard -- take a dive through this infographic and start to understand. Wow.

We say we want our kids to be problem solvers, but all too often, when faced with the challenges of a changing educational landscape, we don't offer solutions. Instead, we offer excuses as to why we shouldn't solve the problem, why it's better to just keep on keepin' on. And solving these problems is getting easier and easier,

I try not to bookmark blogs, but this is so well-written, I couldn't resist. Why is there no word for accountability in the Finish language? Why are we, in education, focusing on data and not the child?

My favorite part was of course: "For those who claim we need accountability in its current form, I encourage them to look to Finland who don't even have a word in their language for accountability, so they use responsibility - the difference being much more than simple semantics." :-D

The top 10 tips for pursuing lifelong learning focus on ways you can continue education through informal learning experiences, as opposed to attending formal class settings. Why this approach? Enrolling in formal continuing education courses and classes is difficult at times, considering life's tugs and pulls by everyday commitments. These obligations are why informal learning methods offer a viable option for continuing your education.

Great slideshow about what social media, why it's important, and why it's here to stay. Not appropriate for all audiences, but a great look at how in such a short time social media has impacted our way of life.

Article about how people look at web pages.

As you design web pages for use with your students -- do you wonder why they don't sometimes SEE what you're putting in front of them -- it is because of eye movement. It is design!!! This paper writes about the effect of website design on eye movement. Those who are desigining online curriculum need to understand this. My sister, Sarah, has been an onlien professor for Savannah College of Art and Design for a while, ,and this is something she talks about in her courses and shares with me. This is why I emphasize wiki layout and design w/ my students (like having a table of contents and white space.) If it is not attractive, it just doesn't exist, because it IS NOT READ! Educators will do well to remember that!

Why Dell.com (was) More Enterprise 2.0 Than Dell IdeaStorm

Teaches that Web 2.0 is more than just slick web-based software & sites. For O'Reilly, who coined the term, it is harnessing network effects, collective intelligence, to enrich the experience between the user and the organization.

'Why are our early term colleagues, seemingly not as quick to take up technology? Why are they not the Early Adapters?' This I believe is the crux of the issue and I would say that there are probably no easy answers for this.

Students learn strategies for resolving misconceptions they may regarding why the sky is blue.

The following is a common question heard around teacher workrooms, teacher lunchrooms, faculty meetings, and science or math conferences. "Why use web 2.0 tools when teaching science or math?" The answer is both simple and complex at the same time.

Why wordle? Ideas for using wordle in the classroom.

Workload and Bullying Main Reasons for Teachers Leaving the Profession A survey and interviews commissioned by UKEdChat.Com has revealed the main reasons why teachers are leaving the profession, and the careers they move onto once they have made th…

"What are those key phrases you hear from frustrated teachers in the staffroom during breaks? Or on those rare occasions, you get to meet up with teachers from other schools on training courses? For me it is the following: 'They give up so easily,' 'Where is their stickability?' 'Why do they fear making a mistake?' However it is phrased, you get the gist, that pupils today have no resilience, they aren't prepared to keep going in the face of challenge or set back. They can't think their way around a problem. In discussions with staff within my own school (a large primary in an area of high deprivation in the north of England) I am frequently asked how we can help these children. As part of our school's SLT I have already supported staff to make daring changes to our curriculum but we still seem to be falling short of what we state in our vision; that we want our children to become resilient learners, confident individuals, critical thinkers and lifelong learners. (Traits that I am sure many schools up and down the land wish for their pupils to develop.) Why are our pupils struggling with 'resilience'? What opportunities can we, as a school, provide our children so that they develop these skills? After reading the blurb and the introductory pages, I was, as you can imagine, excited to delve further into this book to see if it could answer some of my questions."

"Much attention has been given to the reasons why so many teachers leave the profession. Workload, lack of independence, and bullying from senior 'leaders' and other issues are cited as reasons why lots of teachers will not see their 5th year in the classroom. While some of these are difficult to mitigate for individuals, there are practical things that schools and teachers can do to help teachers with all of these pressures and create a supportive culture to stem the flow of good teachers leaving the profession."