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When it comes to keeping your family safe from harm, you want to do everything in your power. Dealing with electricity can be a dangerous thing if you don't do it correctly. Teaching your family how to properly approach electrical problems can make a world of difference in their safety. Here are our top 10 electrical safety tips to help keep your family safe from harm. 1.) Avoid Overloading An Electrical Outlet And Power Strips Being in the technology age, it can sometimes be difficult to charge all of our mobile items. From your phone to your iPod, to your computer, you need to have a clear outlet space to do so. Many think the best solution is to simply add more temporary outlets to their existing hardwired outlets. This can be done with power strips and multi-outlet plugins. While these may seem convenient at first, they actually can cause major electrical problems. Overloading outlets can cause burnt plugs, and in more severe cases, full-on house fires. You should avoid using multi-outlet plugins as much as possible to reduce your family's risk of danger. 2.) Don't Yank On Electrical Cords It may seem tempting from time to time to pull on a power cord to get it out of the wall. Just because it saves you that short trip back down the hallway to unplug the sweeper, it's actually costing you more in the long run because of the wear it takes. Realize that by yanking power cords, you can damage the cord, the plug, and the actual wall outlet. In the event that your wall outlet has become loose due to being yanked on, we suggest calling a qualified electrician to fix the issue. 3.) Avoid Keeping Power Cords Near Water If you've ever noticed that the outlets in your kitchen and bathroom are shaped differently than the rest, you've seen a GFCI outlet. These are specially made to help decrease the likelihood of electrical shock in the event that water seeps into the outlet. You can do yourself a favor and protect you and your family from electrical shock b

Teaching is by nature a high energy profession that demands a lot and while their is much to celebrate there is arena danger of burnout. Taking some time to relax and de-stress is important as is noticing the signs that you are reaching your limit. For all teachers understanding that a break and a change of schedule benefits not just you but your students too can be the catalyst for granting yourself permission for a genuine break.

The maker movement and with it maker-centered learning brings new possibilities and challenges into the classroom. It has spawned makerspaces and students are busy designing and making products. The danger with all this frenzied making is that it is very easy to miss the point, to focus on the product and not the journey.  

The dangers of making learning so safe and so easy it lacks any real sense of challenge. When we do this we deny our learners the opportunities they need to learn from mistakes and grow their minds. 

It is almost precisely eighteen years since Donald Rumsfeld uttered his now well-regarded commentary on the danger of "unknown unknowns". At the time his remarks brought more confusion than clarity and reinforced for many a belief that politicians use words to conceal the truth. Somehow though, Donald's words from 2002 seem to fit the world of today, and the challenges confronting educators all too well.

Possibly the most dangerous place to spend too much time is inside your comfort zone. Only when we take a risk and step away from the safety of the familiar and the ways we have always done things do we expose ourselves to new ideas and become open to the possibility of learning and discovery. The trouble is having the confidence to take that first step, to embrace discomfort and become open to the risks that come with trying something new.

In a time where much of the debate around education is linked to performance on national and international assessments such as PISA, TIMMS, PIRLS and in Australia, NAPLAN combined with calls for market-driven reforms there is a danger that a climate of competition between schools and systems will grow.

Amazing large Smart Table use by Aussie musuem. Of for this in a clasroom!