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She would thrive after being asked: “What do you want to learn?” “What do you want to read?” “What matters to you?” And then taking her answers and the curricular outcomes and designing a learning plan that incorporated all of this, plus embedded technology.

So often in education we focus on the wrong things. Test scores. Marks. Awards.

We need to start with why

Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement.

Basically, feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal.

Effective coaches also know that in complex performance situations, actionable feedback about what went right is as important as feedback about what didn't work.

Share Wi-Fi access. I wrote this up a while back, but it's pretty great: Wifi Joiner lets you create and post a QR code that embeds access info for your wireless network. This is great for home networks, coffee shops, and plenty of other places. For the moment, though, it's Android-only.

Get reminders as you leave the house. If you use an online task manager like Google Tasks or Remember The Milk, it's easy to create a tag called "Leaving the House," "Leaving Work," etc., then create a QR code directing to that page. Post it at the door, or anywhere else you'll be sure to see it when leaving, then scan it for reminders of things you need to do before leaving. At the very least, you won't forget your phone anymore! Have you come up with some awesome uses for QR codes? Let us know.

the solution to the education reform that teachers are looking for, could quite possibly be ... Project-Based Learning.

 If students are engaged in PBL, they can begin creating an ePortfolio in order to demonstrate their learning and understanding of standards, rather than testing for them.

When teachers integrate Project-Based Teaching, they are providing the opportunity for differentiated learning, rather than differentiated instruction.  "Differentiated learning shifts the responsibility for the learning to the learner (where it belongs)"

An Internet-enabled device for every teacher and student in the country. Universal broadband access for homes and schools. Those, along with an embrace of cloud computing, openly-licensed educational materials and open source technologies are part of the new education technology recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education.

An Internet-enabled device for every teacher and student in the country. Universal broadband access for homes and schools. Those, along with an embrace of cloud computing, openly-licensed educational materials and open source technologies are part of the new education technology recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education.

The 124-page document lays out an ambitious agenda for transforming teaching and learning through technology. Much of the plan emphasizes "21st century learning," and competencies that, according to the Department of Education, include critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and multimedia communication.

QUESTIONING HOMEWORK The growing movement against homework in the U.S. challenges the notion that the amount of homework a student is asked to do at home is an indication of rigor, and homework opponents argue that the increasing amount of “busy work” is unnecessarily taking up students’ out-of-school-time. They argue that downtime, free play, and family time are just as important to a child’s social and emotional development as what happens in school. Some research has shown that too much homework has “little to no impact” on student test scores. Other research on how brains work challenges the common method of asking students to practice one discreet skill at home. Overall, there’s a push to reevaluate the kinds of work students are being asked to do at home and to ask whether it adds value to their learning. If the work is repetitive or tangential, it may add no real value, and teachers across the country are starting to institute no-homework policies. Even principals are starting to revolt and schools are instituting “no homework” nights or substituting “goals” for homework.

In 1970, the U.S. had the highest rates of high school graduation in the world, now it has one of the lowest.

now around 75 percent, which puts America 23rd out of 28 countries surveyed.

They are mentors, coaches, motivators, and lifelong sources of inspiration to their students.

1) A Great Teacher Will Always Be There- If you are not in your classroom, you are not teaching. Yes, teachers must take days off occasionally, but do not make it a habit. If you are feeling a little sick, unless it is serious, show up! A sick regular teacher is ten times better for his or her students than a healthy sub is. Regular attendance is a must. Be proud to have a perfect attendance record.

Anticipation guides ask students to express an opinion about ideas before they encounter them in a text or unit of study.  Completing anticipation guides prepares students to recognize and connect to these themes as they surface in their learning.  Reviewing anticipation guides at the end of a lesson or unit is one way to help students reflect on how learning new material may have influenced their opinions, perhaps by reinforcing previously held beliefs or by causing ideas to shift. 

Character ChartsGraphic organizers, like the sample below, can be used to help students organize information about major and minor characters in a text.  Completed character charts are useful tools for writing essays and studying for tests. They are often used to record information about literacy characters, but can also be adapted to record information about historical figures.

Document Analysis TemplatesAnalyzing historical documents requires students to identify the purpose, message and audience of a text. Document Analysis Forms are graphic organizers that guide students through a process of identifying important background information about a document (e.g. author/creator, date created, place, format, etc.) and using this data to determine the bias or perspective of a text.