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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

From the Executive Summary quote; "The Horizon Report series is the product of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This volume, the Horizon Report: 2009 K-12 Edition, is the second in a new series of regional and sector-based reports, and examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education. The hope is that the report is useful to educators worldwide, and the international composition of the Advisory Board reflects the care with which a global perspective was assembled. While there are many local factors affecting the practice of education, there are also issues that transcend regional boundaries, questions we all face in K-12 education, and it was with these in mind that this report was created."

The Horizon Report is a product of the international not for profit New Media Consortium. Since 2002 they have been presenting a series of reports under the title Horizon reports generated by a dialog between an international group of educational leaders. "This volume, the Horizon Report: 2009 K-12 Edition, is the second in a new series of regional and sector-based reports, and examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education. The hope is that the report is useful to educators worldwide, and the international composition of the Advisory Board reflects the care with which a global perspective was assembled. While there are many local factors affecting the practice of education, there are also issues that transcend regional boundaries, questions we all face in K-12 education, and it was with these in mind that this report was created." A must read for all teachers.

Jobs Abroad, Work Abroad, International Jobs Online - Guess was established by the Marciano Brothers, who left the south of France just to reach their American dream. It is an American clothing brand and retailer. Aside from clothing for men and women, it also markets other fashion accessories such as jewelry, perfumes, fashion accessories, and shoes. One of their initial designs was a stonewashed, slim-fitting jean, the 3-zip Marilyn. The first Department Store that welcomes the brand by ordering a dozen pairs of jeans was Bloomingdale. The jeans were all bought in just hours. It was the start of their success.

I still remember the first day I met my mortal enemy, I was back from school and my mother gave me this piece of cloth to tie around my chest for the rest of my life. It sounded archaic to me but as 13 years old I couldn't help but obey her. Since then till last year not wearing a bra (Stop Wearing Bras) never seemed like a viable option. Being a slave to bras for 13 years was enough for a person like me and finally, I had to let them go (The torture can was filled to the brim). It was a bittersweet parting as I have exhilarated to let them go but since they were so damn expensive that my bank balance is still in mourning over the loss of such a nice and hefty collection.

Video in the Classroom was founded in 2003 by Mathew Needleman to focus on video production in the elementary grades. The site was recently relaunched to showcase the work of elementary educators from across the country and provide additional how-to information, additional links, and a complete redesign.

Video in the Classroom was founded in 2003 by Mathew Needleman to focus on video production in the elementary grades. The site was recently relaunched to showcase the work of elementary educators from across the country and provide additional how-to information, additional links, and a complete redesign.

Hey! where have you been? I hope u are not late upon reading this? I have waited patiently for one whole day without news of you; please send a reply as soon, I have been counting the time and that's what it must be. But a second day--I can see no reason for it, unless my servants have grown lazy or been captured by the enemy, nevertheless this script was no snail mail it was rather posted on my wall especially for you, I dare not put the blame on you, my beautiful angel: I am too confident of your affection--which is certainly due to me, for my love was never greater, nor my desire more urgent; that is why I repeat this refrain in all my letters...

Last week I spent three days thinking about curriculum and all that it means to teaching and learning thanks to the Australian Curriculum Studies Association's biannual conference. It was three days of deeply thoughtful conversation and learning with just the right mix of academic research and ideas for grounded practice straight out of innovative classrooms and schools. With keynotes by Alan Reid, Dan Haesler, Bob Lingard, Robert Randall and Jan Owen combined with Masterclasses from some of Australia's leading educators there was much on offer. The biggest challenge was deciding which workshop you would attend when every session offered such outstanding opportunities.

Recently I left the cold and dark of a Sydney winter and journeyed north to the warmer climate of Fiji. A jewel dropped in the warm waters of the Pacific, Fiji is a popular holiday destination for those looking for a tropical escape. This trip was very different from the norm. There would be no resorts, no five-star dining and my company was to be a group of 24 Year Nine students. It was to be a journey full of learning and insights into the challenges facing education. 

"ON my first day as principal of Cherbourg State School it was freezing and windy. I decided to wear a tie, thinking that if kids at other schools see their principal wearing a tie, then these kids deserve to see their principal dressed up nice, too. I parked my car in the designated spot and took a few breaths, sizing up the situation that I was in charge of now. There were some kids sitting around in the sun trying to get warm, while others were running around and playing cricket."

"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."

On October twenty, the Indian team achieved its best FIFA ranking (137) in over six years. The increase was propelled by India's 4-1 ending over higher hierarchal Puerto RICO Act. One among the scorers within the game was Mumbai town FC's Jackichand Singh

Not that long ago I was a writer of interesting and engaging educational programmes. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. The programmes that I wrote and shared with a team of teachers were generally well accepted and the feedback offered was always politely positive. I enjoyed writing these programmes but in recent times I have enjoyed even more stepping away from this process and in doing so empowering the team of teachers that I learn with. The programmes that this team produces far exceed the quality I could ever have hoped to produce but more importantly the students are benefiting from their experience of highly engaged and thus engaging teachers.

"Some of the social media buzz during the VITTA conference that was held over two days in August 2012 . I have woven this story using quantum strings so it mashes together ideas and shuffles about the times. It is a personal reflection and of course, the best thing was the opportunity to be there :-)"

"Thanks to the efforts of Roland and Leigh, the Teachmeet Melbourne community had a lovely gathering on February 8.  It was encouraging to see so many teachers brave the 40 deg temperatures, but not surprising given that the venue was a lovely pub with air conditioning and bar!  "

The presentations on this site were originally inspired by Tom Barrett's 'Interesting Ways' presentations. These Google Docs presentations were created by Tom, with lots of contributions from the fantastic teachers who read his blog and are part of his Twitter network. Mark Warner decided to try something similar, based upon 'Amazing Ways to Inspire Writing'. He was really pleased with the response, in terms of contributions from others, and positive comments about the idea and thought that it was worth making a site to host the presentations, rather than relying on people to remember long and complicated Google Docs addresses. Tom, Doug Belshaw and Joe Rowing have also kindly given their permission for their 'Interesting Ways' presentations to be embedded here for others to see. If you have any amazing ideas to add to the presentations on the site, or you can suggest a new topic, please get in touch, via email or Twitter.

"It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material, but a much wider range of issues including what the government simply describes as 'unwanted material' without an explanation of what that includes," Malone said in a statement. Malone said that although everyone was against child pornography, the filtering trial would not help keep it away from Australian internet users.

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

November 1, 2009 by tsheko This article in The Age resounded with me - Surely there's a better test was written by Alexandra Adornetto, Year 12 VCE student at Eltham College and, at 17, already an author of a popular children's trilogy starting with The shadow thief. This article in The Age resounded with me - Surely there's a better test was written by Alexandra Adornetto , Year 12 VCE student at Eltham College and, at 17, already an author of a popular children's trilogy starting with The shadow thief."

Yesterday was the culminating event and as the focus of the project was professional development, John Pearce offered to present the opening session looking at how the PD we undertake can be reflective of a range of learning theories. Along the way he sought to highlight some options that some of the participants might have already experienced or alternatively might consider in the future.

"My first ACEC (Australian Computers in Education Conference) was two weeks ago in Adelaide. Many colleagues and ISTE friends from Australia and beyond had shared their past experiences with this reputable event, so now I am 'back' in Oz it was time for me to find out more. "