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"Gone are the days when you can dump out a backpack or flip through a folder to see your kids' work. The answers to "What did you do today?" are locked inside a password-protected device. Often kids have the upper hand in understanding how the device works -- and those 10-inch screens make it difficult to look over kids' shoulders. That's why the Common Sense Media Education team created the 1-to-1 Essentials Program. It's a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive, and free offering that covers everything that administrators, teachers, and parents need to know to maximize the benefits of schools' technology programs. "

A introductory film for the new digital edition of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, a classic book that has played a key role in the world's understanding of the Holocaust. The app takes the original text, published 65 years ago, and adds video interviews and other background material. The Diary of a Young Girl app, made by Beyond the Story, is available on iPad via Apple's AppStore

"Do our students know that "literacy" moves beyond reading and writing? Most importantly, how do we begin to break our traditional understanding of literacy to include wider meaning and contexts? It has to start in the classroom. For many of our traditional classrooms, reading and writing are the core values that are focused on when it comes to literacy. We need to show students that "Literacy" moves beyond reading and writing and can encompass: cultural literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, digital literacy and much more."

Student-friendly terms and conditions of Instagram. Similar to many Social Media apps.

Remember the day when someone rattled off a phone number while you just hoped against hope you'd recall the string of digits as you were dialing? That was working memory toiling away. With the advent of cell phones, you may no longer use it this way very often. But working memory still plays a central role in learning and our daily lives.  If working memory is weak, it can trip up just about anyone. But it really works against a child with learning disabilities (LD). You can take steps to help a child with weak working memory, whether or not LD is a part of the picture. Start by understanding what working memory is all about. 

Collaborative Inquiry through Philosophy for Children (P4C) - Cultivating thinking, questioning and discussion..  Presenters: Paul Southwell, Nick Martin and Nicole Jaggers, Radford College Canberra Questions: What does it mean to be educated?  s it more important to know or understand?  Is it more important to be knowledgeable or a thinker?

Use the contents of this Kit when you need help understanding an information fluency method. 

The iPad offers many math apps to help students who need visual tools and manipulatives to help understand basic functional concepts to more advanced math. 

Brain based and constructivist learning is a huge area to learn about but basically it's the theory behind inquiry learning. Brain based learning put simply means using what scientists know about the brain to understand how students learn best.  Constructivist learning is the means by which we construct learning. It is based on students participating in constructing their own learning and the teacher facilitating this rather than teaching it to students as in the traditional chalk and talk model.  

We teach children to apologize when something goes wrong, but in the digital world, hurt and humiliation may mean that an apology is only the beginning of a recovery-even  when the mistake is modest. Although childhood is a time for spontaneity, educators must continually identify ways to help students understand the lack of privacy and the need for self-restraint in their digital lives.

"And lucky you, this is just the year to do it. It is Code Year, actually, according to Code Academy, which helps people learn to code. "Sign up for Code Year to start receiving a new interactive programming lesson every Monday," touts the web site, and "You'll be building apps and websites before you know it!" I tried out the first few lessons, and it strikes me as a gentle way to learn to program. The lessons are small, focused, and introduce concepts with demonstrations that are easy to understand. It is therefore likely your best chance to learn to code if you aren't in school. "

"there is most certainly an extraordinary array of options for videos which expand educators' understandings and inspire advances in 21st century learning."

Awesome vid about Visual Culture online. Not suitable for kids, but very interesting and funny. Finally I understand where Nyan Cat came from.  Watch to the end to see how to make a meme. Very amusing.

Being an enlightened individual means understanding basic scientific information about how the world works. Sure, we have teachers and parents there to fill our brains with knowledge, but the sad truth is that there are certain facts that take on a life of their own as they pass from ear to ear, eventually etching themselves into our collective brain-mass in twisted forms that are, well, just plain wrong.

"A survey of teachers who instruct American middle and high school students finds that digital technologies are impacting student writing in myriad ways and there are significant advantages from tech-based learning. Some 78% of the 2,462 advanced placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers surveyed by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project say digital tools such as the internet, social media, and cell phones "encourage student creativity and personal expression." In addition: 96% agree digital technologies "allow students to share their work with a wider and more varied audience" 79% agree that these tools "encourage greater collaboration among students" According to teachers, students' exposure to a broader audience for their work and more feedback from peers encourages greater student investment in what they write and in the writing process as a whole. At the same time, these teachers give their students modest marks when it comes to writing and highlight some areas needing attention. Asked to assess their students' performance on nine specific writing skills, teachers tended to rate their students "good" or "fair" as opposed to "excellent" or "very good." Students received the best ratings on their ability to "effectively organize and structure writing assignments" and their ability to "understand and consider multiple viewpoints on a particular topic or issue." Teachers gave students the lowest ratings when it comes to "navigating issues of fair use and copyright in composition" and "reading and digesting long or complicated texts.""

"Many of the questions and tasks we are developing in the York Science project can be described as 'diagnostic'. That is, not only do they tell you which students have some understanding of the idea you are interested in, they also give you some information about the misconceptions of those who do not use the accepted scientific explanation."

These coaches understand that their peers need a colleague who provides a safety net, the kind of support that encourages innovation. Instead of playing the role of expert too often, successful coaches call on strategies that ensure that their peers develop the capacity to improve their practice.

"This site is a companion to the PBS special Misunderstood Minds, and profiles a variety of learning problems and expert opinions. It is designed to give parents and teachers a better understanding of learning processes, insights into difficulties, and strategies for responding. "

"To make things easier, here are five of my favorite TED Talks on science. The selection rules were simple: - Was I engaged within the first few seconds?- Was I entertained, inspired and challenged?- Would my kids understand the talk? and- Together, do they tell a story?"

<> Each one-hour program features classroom case studies and informative discussions. When you participate in the workshop in a group setting, you get the added benefits of peer interaction during pre- and post-viewing activities. The Learning Science Through Inquiry workshop provides a solid starting point to explore, discuss, and critique the inquiry approach - and ultimately put it to use in your own classroom.