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The new iOS 6 has a very simple and powerful tool called Guided Access that lets you keep students focused on a single app of your choosing. It lets you disable the home button, restrict parts of the screen so they can't be touched, and even stop responding to being turned over and upside down. It's easy to implement and a great tool in the teacher's toolkit. Here's how to do it: How To Use Guided Access Go to SETTINGS then tap GENERAL Toward the bottom, tap ACCESSIBILITY and then go to the LEARNING section Now tap on GUIDED ACCESS and switch it to the ON position Want to set up a passcode? You can do that now Now go to the app you want to use. Tap the home button 3 times to launch the Guided Access options Set the options as desired and then tap the home button 3 times again.

" School librarians have been identified as the "go-to" people for digital content in a recently published report by the national education non-profit group, Project Tomorrow. The report, "The New 3 E's of Education: Enabled, Engaged and Empowered - How Today's Educators are Advancing a New Vision for Teaching and Learning (PDF)," shares the teacher, librarian and administrator findings from the group's Speak Up 2010 survey."

"Type: Persuasive/Argument Essay What's the point?: Here's a quick look at what persuasive/argument essays try to accomplish. No man is an island. Some people may have islands, but no one, strictly speaking, is an island. Anyway, the point is that we don't live in isolation. Sometimes you need to convince people to do things-to lend their island to you, for example-and for that, you'll need some seriously adept persuasive skills. That's what the persuasive essay is all about. It informs, convinces, explores, and moves a person to action. For example: "Do your homework or you don't get to go out this weekend." Some classic persuasion right there. "

Information graphics, visual representations of data known as infographics, keep the web going these days. Web users, with their diminishing attention spans, are inexorably drawn to these shiny, brightly coloured messages with small, relevant, clearly-displayed nuggets of information. They're straight to the point, usually factually interesting and often give you a wake-up call as to what those statistics really mean."

(CNN) -- It has been more than 65 years, but for 93-year-old Anthony Snetro, the image of a Japanese torpedo bomber closing in on him will never go away. Snetro still has vivid memories of the day his life flashed before his eyes.

We've heard this story before. The first thing to go in budget cuts is the visual art program or another related art. Proponents of arts education counter with the usual rhetoric on the importance of self-expression and creativity. I, myself, am a product of arts education.

"NOW on PBS Animation: Jobs in the New Economy Where are the jobs of the future going to come from? Watch this animation to find out"

"Week One: Design Thinking for Educators Go through a mini-design challenge to get familiar with the process of design thinking. By Edutopia Staff What Is Design? As educators, you are designing every single day -- whether it's finding new ways to teach content more effectively, using your classroom space differently, developing new approaches to connecting with parents, or creating new solutions for your school. Outside of the classroom, schools across the world are facing countless challenges, from integrating technology to increasing parent involvement to managing daily schedules."

"Create presentations together. Google Docs lets you create, share and collaborate on presentations with others. Go to http://docs.google.com to give it a try." Demo video

Sculptris wants you to make 3D models. Download it and have a go! I'm sure you will enjoy. 3-D modeling software for Windows

from Instructify: "We all leave behind a trail of digital footprints when we use technology, whether it is from searching with Google, adding a comment to a blog post, or logging into a social network. While most adults might be cognizant that, given the archiving abilities of the internet, our trail will never really go cold, it is doubtful that many young people realize this. Sites like MyFootprints are designed to fill that gap by giving students the tools and experience to understand that what they are doing today with technology might have ramifications for tomorrow."

"A Planning Guide for Empowering Learnersis a program evaluation, planning, implementation and advocacy tool that will ensure school library program planners go beyond the basics to provide goals, priorities, criteria, and general principles for establishing effective library programs. The guide includes a revised School Library Program Assessment Rubric, a tool that allows school librarians to assess their program on 16 different sets of criteria. You can immediately start using this valuable resource to plan for your 2010-2011 school year!"

"The Film The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute film that takes viewers on a provocative and eye-opening tour of the real costs of our consumer driven culture-from resource extraction to iPod incineration. Annie Leonard, an activist who has spent the past 10 years traveling the globe fighting environmental threats, narrates the Story of Stuff, delivering a rapid-fire, often humorous and always engaging story about "all our stuff-where it comes from and where it goes when we throw it away." Leonard examines the real costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal, and she isolates the moment in history where she says the trend of consumption mania began. The Story of Stuff examines how economic policies of the post-World War II era ushered in notions of "planned obsolescence" and "perceived obsolescence" -and how these notions are still driving much of the U.S. and global economies today. Leonard's inspiration for the film began as a personal musing over the question, "Where does all the stuff we buy come from, and where does it go when we throw it out?" She traveled the world in pursuit of the answer to this seemingly innocent question, and what she found along the way were some very guilty participants and their unfortunate victims. "

"The eruption of the volcano in Iceland may present teachers with an opportunity to combine lessons in science and current events. The list below contains five resources for learning about volcanoes in general. If you're looking for links specifically about the volcano in Iceland, Larry Ferlazzo has a good list going."

"Simplicity Can Seem Complex Memorable pictures are made using time-tested techniques, methods -- and, yes, even tricks. To help photographers of all stripes up their game, LIFE.com is launching a series of "lessons" on photography, focusing on elemental aspects of picture-taking. One of those aspects, of course, is the critical consideration of lighting. LIFE.com asked professional photographer Tyler Stalman to offer insights on effective lighting, use of shadows, shooting at night, etc. Of this stunning Andreas Feininger picture of a young Dennis Stock (a formidable photographer in his own right) holding camera in front of his face, Stalman says, "The main lesson here is that a smart, accomplished photographer can manipulate light and shadow so the viewer is not immediately aware of what's going on -- while knowing that the image itself is somehow powerful. I admit, I went for years without realizing that it was simply lighting at work in this picture, creating an amazing 'shape' within the image, rather than the subject wearing gloves, or a sort of cowl on his head. So sometimes a really simple technique -- like this tight circle of bright light on a face -- really goes a long way.""

"Look for New Environments, Mix People Up Memorable pictures are made using time-tested techniques, methods -- and, yes, even tricks. To help photographers of all stripes up their game, LIFE.com is launching a series of "lessons" on photography, focusing on elemental aspects of picture-taking. Among those: portraiture, or how to take pictures of people that really feel alive. LIFE.com asked professional photographer Tyler Stalman to offer insights on taking great portraits. Of this classic LIFE photograph by John Loengard of the Beatles in a pool in Miami, Stalman says: "Most people, when taking group shots, want to line everybody up -- even putting them in rows -- but when you have a bunch of people it's great to put them in a new or unexpected environment. Like this Loengard photo: you get all this extra depth in the picture, and there's so much going on at once. Don't be afraid to shuffle people around when you're doing a group shot.""

"Stand Up for Girls on September 22, the International Day of the Girl Two thirds of all the world's illiterate people are women. On September 22, we will stand up for girls and their right to go to school and to learn to read and write. Let us join together to launch a campaign to advocate for a transformative new era in girls' education."

"Using Google products: How to use accessibility features In this section, we go over the accessibility features of our products for 2 groups of people: Blind & low-vision users Deaf & hard of hearing users"