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"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. "

"David Wilcox, of Musings on the Middle Years of Education, and I have worked together to create an infographic about the teen brain. It is based on a blog post he wrote over a year ago (Click here for that post) to tackle the issue of Why Teens Forget. Through lots of research, checking facts, and rechecking facts, we have found that teens forgetfulness may be due to major changes in their brain. These changes can last into the college years. While there is research that demonstrates the increased forgetfulness of "teens," we also found that research suggests this time period is an awesome explosion of learning and discovery that takes them into adulthood."

"Thanks to Brent Catlett, this afternoon I learned that you can now insert images into your Google Forms. Brent posted some screenshots of the process. After trying it out myself, I created a short video of the process. The video is embedded below."

"Here are this week's most popular posts: 1. Life On Minimum Wage - A Hands-on Economics Lesson 2. Video - How to Insert Images Into Google Forms 3. Use Clips of Seinfeld to Teach Economics 4. The Ten Blogs I Read First 5. Play Games or Create Your Own Through YoYo Games 6. Depression Quest - An Interactive Story About Depression 7. What My Dog Can Teach Us About Managing 1:1 Classrooms"

"The infographics listed below are created by anethicalisland. Before you send me an email asking for how to print these graphics, please check the post I have shared a few days ago entitled " 2 Ways to Print out Posters and infographics "."

"I thought this one was important to share again as we start a new school year and with Common Core (with content area literacy) looming, I thought it'd be a good resource. I have added more novels to the list since the original post (thanks to some helpful friends and more reading). "

"Yesterday I read Pernille Ripp's post, "Administrators, Please Inspire Us At Back to School." I started thinking about videos I've seen that have inspired me. I realized that the very best ones? They all have something in common. They are kids. What if this year, our schools, our teaching, and our learning became about kids once again? Kids we ALL have in our classrooms, hallways, and schools. Kids who have, right inside them, a chance to make a difference, to change the world. Kids who are already wanting to change the world and kids who are waiting for us to bring that out in them. Kids who need someone to believe in them, or kids who believe in us. I watch each one of these videos and see the things "school" and "learning" should be about. Passion. Believing. Dreaming. "

"I got an email from one of my readers here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning asking me about some good tools for classroom management. I have already posted a list of some web tools teachers can use for this purpose but today I wanted to feature "the urgent" ones. By classroom management I mean anything that has to do with the unfolding of classroom instruction from behaviour controlling to lesson planning. Here are the top 5 you can use this school year. "

"If you are reading this post, the odds are that you are already somewhat of a "connected educator." Of course, if you are "connected" then you know that there are some responsibilities that come along with that designation. One of the primary tasks of a connected educator is to help others learn about the tremendous rewards inherent in online social learning."

"I've posted many resources providing parent engagement for teachers, and thought I'd bring them all together in a "The Best…." list. The resources listed here provide practical advice to teachers. You can see all my parent engagement-related "The Best" lists here."

"I am revisiting this topic of enhancing students creativity using iPad apps for the second time this year. Almost 10 months ago I featured here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning a selection of some great apps that can be used in class to boost students creative thinking; and today and after having reviewed hundred of new educational apps since that post, I decided to compile an updated version of that list and include some newly featured apps in the category of creativity. Of course by creativity I mean giving students the chance to take their learning to the next step, one in which they are active producers and participators in knowledge building. Creativity is all about creation and iPad is an ideal device to support this creative thinking. Check out the apps I have handpicked for you today and share with us if you have other suggestions :"

"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."