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"Many teachers are using Twitter as a classroom tool. But a lot of schools still view the communication tool as a "toy" students use in their free time, not a serious platform for learning. As sites like Twitter and Facebook become ever more fundamental to how the world communicates, schools will need to shift their policies to move with the times. An article written by KQED's Education department in collaboration with the Trust and Safety Team at Twitter helps educators understand how to keep themselves and their students safe on Twitter. It also pulls together great resources on digital citizenship, basic Twitter info and ideas on how to use Twitter in the classroom."

"In my last post, I began a celebration of brains and made the argument as to why teachers need to brush up on their knowledge of brains in order to reach that all-too-allusive 'tween noggin. During this, my second of three posts in this series, I'll bring up a few key terms you should know in your own neurologic education. Then, we'll follow a history-related fact as it enters the brain of an average middle schooler, weaving its way towards the blessed long-term memory. "

Over the last ten months since I launched iPadApps4School.com I have reviewed a lot of mathematics apps that are appropriate for elementary school students. These are the ten that have been the most popular over the last ten months (based on total clicks and shares through social media).

"Educators in the Jefferson County Public Schools have made it their mission to teach children to be not only skilled thinkers but also successful human beings and citizens of the world. CARE for Kids, the Louisville, Kentucky, district's program for social and emotional learning (SEL), is less than two years old but is already showing signs of success. (Watch the Edutopia.org video A Districtwide Initiative to CARE for Kids.) "

"Educational author and former teacher, Dr. Michael Schmoker shares in his book, Results Now, a study that found of 1,500 classrooms visited, 85 percent of them had engaged less than 50 percent of the students. In other words, only 15 percent of the classrooms had more than half of the class at least paying attention to the lesson. So, how do they know if a student is engaged? What do "engaged" students look like? In my many observations, here's some evidence to look for:"

"As the school doors swing open to welcome the start of another year, both teachers and students will have goals: to inspire a class, to learn new things, to get good grades. What probably won't be on that list is to make a mistake -- in fact many. But it should be. "

"Each student, every day, is on a journey of discovery, and I believe that every single teacher can make a difference in that voyage. We can teach kids that they are special, that there are certain things in the world that don't have easy answers, that there are moments in your life that will open up your heart, that they are not just one of fifty goldfish in a small pond with a limited food supply."