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I need to be reminded sometimes... I'm a softy ;) Oh, they forgot one of the most important aspects re classroom management. Learning and engagement. 

The title says it all and it make sense. 

Dr. Yong Zhao is an internationally known scholar, author, and speaker. His works focus on the implications of globalization and technology on education. He has designed schools that cultivate global competence, developed computer games for language learning, and founded research and develop institutions to explore innovative education models. He has published over 100 articles and 20 books, including Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization and World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Student

Looking at the New Directions for school leadership and the teaching profession discussion paper, the only evidence presented to support the assertion that Victoria's education outcomes are not improving is the report "Challenges in Australian Education: results from PISA 2009: the PISA 2009 assessment of students' reading, mathematical and scientific literacy" Specifically the New Directions paper focuses on reading literacy, where in 2009, 14,251 students were given a two-hour pen and paper comprehension test. To get an idea of what types of competencies the reading test is assessing we can look at the sample test , with questions range from comprehension about a letter in a newspaper, the ability to interpret a receipt, comprehension around a short story, an informational text, and interpreting a table. While it doesn't seem unreasonable to want our students to be able to accurately perform these kind of tasks, these tests are not a true or accurate representation of the skills and competencies our students need in today's technology driven world.

A great site for beginning teachers to access resources to create a classroom environment rich with learning. 

Maths learning games

Looking for some interactive web based maths games interactive learning activities (Some are just intereactive black line masters)? Look no further.

Another great literacy site, particularly for early years.

report on the DEECD project NFPS was involved with in 2011

Slide to Learn Conference, This blog post covers some amazing amount of apps that can be used on the ipod touch and or the iphone/ipod. Looks like it was a great conference. 

This looks very interesting. The potential is huge for students to develop apps for the Android platform. How can apple beat this one if they have locked down their apps store? The great thing about App inventor is that it looks like it has been modelled on Scratch 'Blocks' of building scripts. My Grade 5 and 6's (some whiz kids lower) would love to get their hands on this. The potential for them to develop their own apps for perhaps an Android tablet or smart phone is enormous. Rich and authentic possibilities for learning. Have DEECD made a wrong choice in going with the ipad? 

What a great idea for learning about our democracy unit civics and citizenship unit

List of websites that might be useful for learning about simple machines

What an awesome idea. Would be a great motivator for learning. 

Skill based learning, but could be useful if doing differentiated rotations in maths lesson and want to target a particular skill that the students may need to help in their understanding/solving of an extended problem. 

Really, there are so many apps available it can be hard to know where to begin and once you find something that looks useful, it's difficult to assess it properly until you've download and installed it on your iPad. iPad music apps that are free can take away the risk of choosing a dud and they can be useful when book-listing apps for students on a tight budget.

A great website recommended by Kathy. Have a look!