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"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

"Social media may have started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become a powerful tool for education and business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list."

A variety of uses for social media, linked to real examples by educators in the classroom.

A reflection on some powerful learning in the classroom. Some of the highlights, with examples of student work, and some amazing student feedback are described. It was a great way to develop learning skills and address research standards. It also exemplified personalized learning by some high motivated students.

Jacqui Sharp blogs about her ".... experiences I have using mimios & IWBs in Education. My posts will have examples of activities, helpful hints and instances of how teachers are using this hardware and software in classrooms."

What impact is digital interactive technology having on education? And what will the classroom of the future look like? These are just some of the questions that were raised at the 2010 Australian Council for Computer Education conference.

"Project-Based Learning (PBL) naturally lends itself to differentiated instruction. By design, it is student-centered, student-driven and gives space for teachers to meet the needs of students in a variety of ways. PBL can allow for effective differentiation in assessment as well as daily management and instruction. PBL experts will tell you this, but I often hear teachers ask for real examples, specifics to help them contextualize what it "looks like" in the classroom. In fact, the inspiration for this blog came specifically from requests on Twitter! We all need to try out specific ideas and strategies to get our brains working in a different context. Here are some specific differentiation strategies to use during a PBL project. "

Professor MacFarlane discusses many issues which ring true to me. In particular: - lack of vision for what education could be like with new technology (around 4 min mark) - the web2.0 and technology revolution is great for the 15% of people who have a good life anyway because of their suituation and culture (5:30) - others don't benefit from the access to the technology - they need help (6:00) - no change in classroom over last 20 years with computers and in danger of no change in next 20 years (7:30) - instruction vs. construction (8:30) - expect learning to change with introduction of technology (10:30) - but hasn't really done so - student self-directed learning is separate from school work i.e. at home and not related to school (14:30) - much of what kids do on computers at home is trivial (16:00) - the ones that do have good experiences are the same 15% (16:30) - kids that are missing out have a computer at home probably but no access to the community that enables them to have these experiences (17:10) - doing something by themselves does not really benefit them - it is being part of a community that had benefit for learning - what are we dong for these people? (19:10) - talking about missing pedagogical model for how to teach (22:00) - teachers are expected to use technology to provide innovative learning but no model against which to do so, some don't use it at all, some use it inappropriately - there maybe some individual examples but not overall (23:00) - schools bad at connecting with their communities in a learning sense (26:00) - talks about chinese online writing community and how they comment, collaborate (34:00) - community (47:30) - communitites aren't formed when people are brought together in schools etc. - need to have a common problem or interest (48:30) - Plant's definition? - in education the problem is because assessment is done individually (49:00) - so forming groups and sharing ideas is not attractive for students - worried about not getti

Brilliant examples of ICT in a junior classroom.

"Educators, worldwide, have enjoyed the use of this social bookmarking site. Diigo is a great web-based tool for teachers to utilize, to motivate, and to engage students of all ages in the learning process. We invite you to explore the various features of Diigo. Become educated and informed on the powerful use of Diigo for student learning. Learn how this research tool can enhance classroom instruction and promote higher levels of student collaboration. As you navigate through our site you will see examples of valuable lessons and resources, all displayed for your use."

An excellent example of a project developed by teachers after attending the Flat Classroom workshop at NECC 2008 Ozlinks is a collaborative project between Mrs Knight's Year 7 class at St Joseph's College Mildura, Victoria, Australia students and Mrs Peter's Year 7 class in Chehalem Valley Middle School, Newburg, Oregon, USA Coordinated by Mrs Elliott - Mildura, Victoria, Australia

Maureen Tumenas is assembling an ever expanding collection of movies of er class and others working especially with science. These are great examples of how video can be used on a number of levels. The videos are a great reminder for the students in Maureen's class, they enable parents to be involved in what is happening in the classroom, they can be used as a stimulus for other students and teachers can review them as a means of professional learning.

Google Forms offers a range of useful tools. The author of this post has created example forms for each of the different topics,. You can follow the links in each of the ten sections

"Ever wondered how Alfred Hitchcock would have used YouTube? Many of his techniques work well with video, for example, the sharp editing, cutaways, sudden sounds and pacing. These nine ways will jazz up your videos and turn the most ordinary scenes into more compelling videos."

Good resource that explains with some examples, how to jazz up your videos.

These useful tools give students the right tools to narrate, animate, and dictate. The post will explains them to teachers by giving some examples of how to incorporate art and design lesson plans into their existing courses.

Many ideas for anyone who wants to know more about Project-based learning. They include ideas about how to get started through to the finished product. There are many links to resources and example as well as further research/reading.

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Google Doc templates for science and math teaching.  Aimed at secondary school, there may be examples that can be reworked for other levels.

An infograpic, by Mia MacMeekin, that explains the whats and hows of personalized learning in three easy steps: 1. A short, succinct definition of what personalized learning is. 2. The different ways to go about creating a personalized learning experience. 3. Some interesting examples of personalized learning are featured.

"Super Quiz is an excellent Google Sheets add-on that allows teachers to add some amazing functionalities to the quizzes they create through Google Forms. One example: when you create a quiz, you only need to complete it once with an answer key and all future submissions will be automatically graded according to the answers you provided. Another important feature of Super Quiz is that it enables you to get a break down of class understanding and a list of incorrect students' answers  for each question in case you want to stage an intervention."

Ning for engaging American students in learning about the reform during the 1800s through a facebook style network with key characters from this era.