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"Along the way, Marcus explores the basic elements of music and how it evolved culturally and biologically. He dives deep into the popular "ten thousand hours" theory of mastery, developed by cognitive psychologist Anders Ericsson, "the world's leading expert on expertise," and examines Ericsson's second, lesser-known prerequisite for expertise - the notion of "deliberate practice," which describes the constant sense of self-evaluation and a consistent focus on one's weaknesses rather than playing on one's strengths. In fact, the practice of targeting specific weaknesses is known as the "zone of proximal development" and offers a framework for everything from education to videogames: [The "zone of proximal development" is] the idea that learning works best when the student tackles something that is just beyond his or her current reach, neither too hard nor too easy. "

Co-creating Flipboard magazines could be a great activity for students studying current events. Your students could share the articles that they're reading and put them into one magazine for the whole class to read.

As a professional development activity co-creating Flipboard magazines could be a great way for teachers to share articles with each other.

eQuizShow is a free tool developed by a junior high school teacher in New York City, Henry Wilson. Henry designed eQuizShow to be a tool that teachers can use to create Jeopardy-style games online. Unlike similar tools you do not have to download or upload any PowerPoint files to use eQuizShow. On eQuizShow you can build and display your quiz completely online. To build your quiz just enter a title, an administrative password, and your question categories. eQuizShow will then generate a grid on which you can enter questions and answers. If you don't have time to build a quiz or you just need some inspiration, browse the eQuizShow gallery.

MentorMob is a site for creating learning playlists. Within a maximum of 10 "steps" you can lead your students through the learning process focused on any topic. Since playlists can include links to websites, to files you've created or to pop quizzes you'll have a variety of media at your disposal to support student learning. At the MentorMob site, create an account then browse the learning playlists already created by other educators. You'll find that some authors have shared their work publicly so that others can save their playlists and be able to edit them. While you're exploring the MentorMob website, be sure to also check the MentorMob blog where one of our recently created playlists is currently being featured. Creating your own learning playlist couldn't be simpler. Begin with some basic information: a title, description, category and tags. Next, you'll decide who will be able to view and edit your playlist - these can be changed later if you'd like to start by keeping your work private while it's in development. The plus sign that you find next will help you create the first step which can be a web link, a file or a pop quiz. Keep in mind that the links could lead your students to anything on the web such as videos, online polling tools, Google forms, interactive sites, or articles. Enter a title and description for each step you create as well as a representative image. Save your work and you're ready to create a new step.

An online game that helps develop math and English skills while exploring the Earth.

"Developing Independent Learners The ultimate goal of education is to produce students who can learn on their own. This is especially critical in the 21st century, a time of rapid technological change, when skills must be constantly learned and relearned. Self-directed learners are efficient at planning and following through without prompting. They know how to identify and use a wide variety of resources and tools. They take appropriate risks and learn from their mistakes. "