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"Meeting with several teachers recently calls to mind a couple of instances that serve as a useful reminder why scaffolding not only applies to teaching content, but is also imperative to employ when introducing new technology into the classroom. I want to share experiences from two teachers that I work with and demonstrate how scaffolding would apply to each situation."

One of the most powerful things I have learned is how amazing young children are in their thinking around mathematical concepts.  In Kindergarten I began developing a culture that not only had examples and artifacts of our learning, but ways for children to begin to use "math talk", which is the language I began modeling in explicit ways for children to see and began to practice in their own understanding of the concepts we are exploring. Through daily, explicit modeling through our daily number corner, math dyads and other mathematical work stations the children began to apply their understanding in meaningful ways throughout the day which has helped to build self-confidence in all of the children. What is important to understand here is that I did have to add something new onto my already full plate, but rather this was an opportunity to learn some new tools and a different way of thinking about what I was already teaching. This is one example of  where I started to see how rigor and relevance applied in my teaching and how vital it is and has become in my daily teaching practice.

"Basically, just honest to goodness, really decent human beings… Perhaps an old fashioned idea. No business degree needed for this part. Just the hard work of self reflection, personal growth and continuous striving to be accepting, caring, compassionate and trustworthy."

"In order for mobile technologies to be effective in the classroom, teachers and administrators will need to let go of the reins and let students take the lead, according to University of Michigan professor and researcher Elliot Soloway. "Kids are the experts on the technology," Soloway says. "Teachers are the experts not on the content but on the pedagogy and classroom management. The two have to live together. They have to learn together.""

5 hints of how to make twitter work for you 1) stick together and use hash tags 2)share everything 3) collaborate in real time 4) stay focused and 5) stay mobile all discussed with apps to make it happen

"What are video games doing? If you have an age-appropriate game that's not too easy or too hard, a video game is teaching a child how to cope with failure, deal with frustration, delay gratification, and often doing it in a social context, where they're learning to negotiate with their friends, working as a team, or 'OK, I beat you, you beat me, how do I handle all of these things?' "

"The Stella Prize is a new major literary award for Australian women's writing. The Stella Prize celebrates Australian women's contribution to literature. Named after one of Australia's most important female authors, Stella Maria 'Miles' Franklin (1879-1954), the prize rewards one writer with a significant monetary prize of $50,000. The Stella Prize will also raise the profile of women's writing through the Stella Prize longlists and shortlists, encourage a future generation of women writers, and bring readers to the work of Australian women. The Stella Prize will be awarded for the first time in 2013, and both fiction and non-fiction books are eligible."

Here are 10 youth innovators, from ages seven to 15, particularly worth noting and working on projects ranging from games to anti-bullying apps.

Here's a handy site that helps students publish three types of documents - a poster, a brochure or a newspaper.  Read Write Think's site is easy to use with an intuitive interface but its real power comes in the fact that students can save incomplete work!  The site lets a user save in a proprietary .RWT format on a usb stick or saved to a network space.  When your next class begins, that same file can be opened so it can be completed and shared as a .PDF

Gates & McArthur foundation looking to sponsor a version of Sim City for Educational use. 

"GlassLab is working with commercial game companies, assessment experts, and those versed in digital classrooms to build SimCityEDU, a downloadable game designed for sixth graders. Scheduled to be be released in the fall of 2013, it builds on SimCity's city management theme, but provides specific challenges to players in the subject of STEM. "The big pain point we've heard from teachers is that they cannot entertain their kids to the level that they are being entertained outside of the classroom," said Jessica Lindl, general manager of GlassLab. "They want to be able to create meaningful learning experiences and they just can't compete with the digital tools their kids are accessing all the time.""

" Kapur has identified three conditions that promote this kind of beneficial struggle. First, choose problems to work on that "challenge but do not frustrate." Second, provide learners with opportunities to explain and elaborate on what they're doing. Third, give learners the chance to compare and contrast good and bad solutions to the problems. And to those students and workers who protest this tough-love teaching style: you'll thank me later." Originally shared by JPL! Still awesome. (yes, you Jeff, and this article)

"Whether you're new to technology, just getting started with a social network, or looking for some useful tips then these courses are for you. They're part of a new idea that I've been working on with a few friends. We're calling it Modern Lessons and it's essentially a 'Khan Academy for real-world skills' where a small handful of people build free online courses designed to help you learn some important things."

I like #5 Limiting Students to What the Teacher Knows- When given a choice students are going to choose tools that they are comfortable with and that allow them to express what they know. You may not have the slightest knowledge of them or how they work. It is impossible to be proficient at every web tool, app and program available. I have poured myself into learning as many as I can. There are many where I would consider myself an expert but that in no way means that they are the best resource for every student.  Don't be afraid to let students use technology beyond your knowledge base and understanding.  Accept that you are student too. Learn.

We know that the brain has a hugely important role to play in the students' learning that goes on in our classrooms. However, surprisingly, scientists still know relatively little about the workings of the brain, and most of what we do know has been discovered only in the last 15 years. Our challenge is to ensure that what we do know about the brain is translated into classroom practice and used to maximise student learning - this is the idea at the heart of Accelerated Learning. This unit introduces some of the principles of accelerated learning and explores techniques for you to try out with your pupils.

"At Sammamish High School, our staff has dedicated our professional development to building expertise in the key elements of problem-based learning. Previous blog entries by my colleagues have given an overview of this process, as well as exploring how we include student voice and work with authentic problems. Another crucial element of successful problem-based learning is using authentic assessment throughout all stages of a unit to constantly evaluate and improve student learning. "

allows you to easily create video presentations based on documents on your computer -- and then share them. Their tagline is "presentations with emotion".... Could be good for kids commenting on their work.

Action research is a process of deep inquiry into one's practices in service of moving towards an envisioned future, aligned with values. Action research is the systematic, reflective study of one's actions, and the effects of these actions, in a workplace context. As such, it involves deep inquiry into one's professional practice. The researchers examine their work and seek opportunities for improvement.

Colin's presentation on Minecraft in Education. Great resource. Could see it working for Grade 3's unit on transportation...

Insanity Work out

this online app works just like Picnik