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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

One teacher describes her journey after her school decided to use Google Drive to host student portfolios. They began to piece together the steps necessary for this to be successful for all stakeholders: students, teachers, and parents/guardians. Including parents and guardians in the loop seemed more like an emerging trend. This is how they created and shared student portfolios using Google Drive. Student and teacher permissions are set to allow both viewing and editing of content in the folders, while parents and guardians are given viewing permissions. Also, parents and guardians DO NOT need to create a Google account simply to view contents of their child's portfolio folder.

"Parent teacher conferences at Wildwood Elementary are actually a time when the teachers do very little talking. Instead, the students run the conferences, informing their parents about how they're doing, what their goals are going forward, and what kind of learners they are."

Post by US teacher (@tedrosececi) "Here are 10 ideas I have gathered this summer to kick parent communication up to the next level so that never again will they have to ask, "What'd you do at school today?" and hear the annoying, "nothing." Instead, parents will have already experienced the wonderful things that have been happening in their child's world and dinner table discussions will turn into celebrations and extensions of the learning happening at school."

"A Community of Practice for teachers using edmodo. Work in Progress" This Wikispace from teachers in NSW covers About Best Practices edmodo and school safety edmodo for Student Voice Independent Schools NSW DEC Topics Parents Resource List School Directory School Policy School Subdomains Selling edmodo Teacher Stories Teacher Topics The edmodo FAQ Use Edmodo - Primary School Using Edmodo - General Using Edmodo - High School Using Edmodo - Special Needs

The netbooks have been popular with teachers and parents alike; hundreds of parents have bought the devices voluntarily so their children could take them home. "The netbooks have exceeded our expectations," adds fourth-grade teacher Eric Greenfield. "To see kids sharing information, working collaboratively, and sharing ideas has been very exciting." HT Ben Jones Esq

By Kelsey Allen. "Gone are the days of children sneaking comics past diligent parents and teachers watching out for sub-par literature. The comics of today not only have plenty to offer, they are gaining well-deserved recognition and awards. Take advantage of the natural affinity children have for comics and use them as a powerful teaching tool in your classroom. The post contains links to tips, tools, and resources.

In late November I wrote a blog post outlining five resources for free spelling games. That blog post was among the top twenty most read posts of 2008 therefore I am sharing some more online spelling games for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. 1. Spelling Wizard from Scholastic.com lets students, parents, and teachers create their own word search and word scramble games to play online. Each game can have up to ten words. To use Spelling Wizard simply enter ten words into the list field then select word search or word scramble. Spelling Wizard is probably best suited for students in Kindergarten through second grade. Scholastic also offers a free tool for creating online spelling flashcards. 2. Read Write Think has an online activity for young (K-2) students based on four childrens' books. Read Write Think's Word Wizard asks students to select one of four books that they have read or have had read to them. After selecting a book the Word Wizard creates a simple online spelling exercise based on the words in the book chosen by the child. 3. Spell Bee was developed at Brandeis University with funding from the National Science Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Spell Bee allows students to play spelling games in a head-to-head format. Spell Bee allows teachers to create accounts for students so that teachers can track student progress. 4. MSNBC has an interactive spelling bee based on the words from the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. There are three games to play and the words get progressively more difficult the longer you play. The words are read to students who then type the word into the spelling box. Just like in a real spelling bee, students can get the definition and or hear it used in a sentence. The difficulty of the words in the game make it best suited for middle school and high school students. 5. Spelling Bee The Game is an online spelling bee similar in style to the MSNBC game mentioned above. Aft

"There is no single way to effectively organize a classroom. The big idea behind organization is systematic accessibility. When there is a clear system that allows the parts of that system to be accessible to those who need it, that's organization. Organization is a subjective idea, what works for one teacher may not work for another. The variety of apps here allow teachers to store files, manage class rosters, share student work, and consolidate everything into a single, synced calendar for all parents."

Today's world is full of exciting technology to help families' daily lives and provide opportunities for children's future. But how do you find out what's suitable, safe or educational? At Quib.ly parents can ask questions about the technology their children are using, reply to others with answers, and get great advice from like minded parents and our knowledgeable experts."

This really common sense commentary on using web filters should be read by all parents and teachers alike.

"This is a space for students, parents, teachers and visitors to share their thoughts, videos, photographs, and learning about World Water Day - March 22, 2011. We welcome contributions from our local and international visitors, so please leave a sticky stating your (first name) and country of origin."

Great project for World Water Day, 22nd March 2011.

LearntobeHealthy.org is an online health science education center designed to help parents, teachers and educators communicate important health concepts to students though educational resources such as games, activities, and lesson plans.

The Professional Learning Board community has free and low-cost resources for parents & teachers: professional development, instructional strategies, classroom management, online teaching and learning tools, virtual classrooms, continuing ed, and schools.

Science Buddies is a website for science teachers. It offers lots of ideas and tips for science projects. They are well set out and it even offers a topic selection wizard to help students narrow down a topic if they are unsure of what to choose. From them: It " empowers K-12 students, parents, and teachers to quickly and easily find free project ideas and help in all areas of science from physics to food science and music to microbiology. Whether your goal is to find a fun science activity for your kids or win the international science fair, Science Buddies puts comprehensive, scientist-authored tools, tips, and techniques at your fingertips."

"For decades, schools have attempted to build and maintain this crucial bridge to lasting learning. Research shows that the stronger the connection between home and school, the greater the academic achievement can be for students. There are some new tools listed here that all educators can leverage to easily maximize parent-teacher-student communication"

"THE future of Victoria's troubled online education network is in doubt, with many schools refusing to use it amid complaints it is clunky and outdated and the security wall does not provide a real-life cyber environment."

Post links to the entire downloadable infographic developed by the PTA. Positive, useful advice.