"Virtual Camp" with ratings of apps, games, and websites that let kids have fun while reviewing and building skills. http://goo.gl/IGH6g

Inspire students with story of 7th grader who created 6 apps that have been downloaded 2 million times, earning $8,000. http://goo.gl/RcmXr

Write more, grade less. Is grading your students' writing time-consuming and having a negative impact? A better way... http://goo.gl/Juhkv

Benjamin Franklin Effect to help manage class: We grow to like people for whom we do nice things & hate people we harm. http://goo.gl/WGzSh

Impressively extensive collection of before, during, and after assessment tools and strategies. PDF with links: http://goo.gl/zzMvZ

Cool cartoons by Tim Hunkin that will inspire kids to experiment with food, light, clothes, and other household stuff. http://goo.gl/a80u

What action would make a profound impact on your life if you did it every day? Put this on your "Seinfeld calendar"... http://goo.gl/aWMY

Our educational system has never been better, several important measures show, but still media touts "failing" schools: http://goo.gl/0f3me

NYT blog "Room for Debate" rounds up succinct opinions on issues from 4-6 contributors. Useful for persuasive writing: http://goo.gl/EBQCb

Joe Martin says GA Legislature undermines schools, harms children, saps vitality of economy via bogus "austerity cuts." http://goo.gl/qPUZU

New findings in brain science show that reading great literature enlarges and improves us at the cellular level. http://goo.gl/mXGJE

Scientists say using Twitter & Facebook could harm moral values, as they don't allow time for compassion or admiration. http://goo.gl/vrv97

When you need an image for a project, from where do you get it? Google search? Get legal images via Creative Commons: http://goo.gl/18rK2

10 tips to engage underperforming students via teachers at Cochrane Middle, a drastically improved "turnaround" school. http://goo.gl/3RWXa

If students weren't forced, would they want to attend your class? What qualities would cause kids to choose to attend? http://goo.gl/0V5aL

TED has launched an education channel that uses animation to bring concepts to life in short videos. http://goo.gl/cHXHT

Is the act of teaching primarily an art or a science?

Coming from an artistic background (undergrad degree from SCAD), I have been firmly in the “art” camp on this topic in the past, though the more time I spend in school, the more I appreciate the “science” perspective. Teaching is an art much as doctoring is an art in the sense that every new teaching experience with a particular student or group must be addressed as a unique situation that has never happened before. Science can give us clues as to what is more likely to work in the new situation, but we cannot be certain. Two things in particular make teaching an art: (1) understanding the evolving, situational reality of the classroom and (2) figuring out and implementing the best course of action to take in each experience. Webster's dictionary gives several definitions of art that can be used to support the idea of teaching as an art: (1) “the activity of using imagination and skill to create beautiful things”, (2) “a field or category of artistic activity”, (3) “a trade or craft and the methods employed in it”. I take these definitions to imply that teaching as an art involves both imagination and skill to reach the desired outcome, usually student learning (a process, not a product), and that teachers hone their craft over time. To these concepts I would suggest we add intuition, as most of the work involved in the maintenance of the proper social-emotional classroom climate for learning is done on-the-fly and moment-to-moment as an extreme form of multi-tasking. Webster's dictionary defines science as (1) “the study and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena”, (2) “a systematic activity requiring study and method”, and (3) “knowledge, especially that acquired through experience”. Most teaching is systematic and requires intensive study before entering the profession and throughout an educator’s career. The accumulation of information and enhancement of teaching practices based on feedback suggests a science of teaching. However, the most effective teachers are an expert in both teaching methods (art) and subject matter (science). To become a maser educator is to integrate both elements of teaching through the application of feedback gained through action research occurring within the context of the situational nature of the classroom. Educators who reach this point in their profession appreciate the interrelated and synergistic combination of artistic and scientific elements in teaching. In short, I believe it is the application of the science that constitutes the art.

Bio Cube challenges students to summarize key ideas and limit info to what fits on 6 sides of a cube. ReadWriteThink. http://goo.gl/oB7CI

Three rules for well-crafted feedback that motivates kids: keep it real, fight self-doubt, avoid praising ability. http://goo.gl/NvTT9

To create relationships with troubled students, help them understand you are human and have challenges of your own. http://goo.gl/0IZba

YouTube has worked with teachers to curate over 300 playlists categorized by subject and grade level. http://t.co/1jlf5Wq6

Teach kids to be grateful for obstacles and disappointments - these give us resources to draw upon to grow and improve. http://goo.gl/sZImS

Website provides "real world" Algebra challenges via scenarios in fashion design, video game design, and music production. http://goo.gl/aU1T4

GA charter schools were less successful than traditional schools in meeting last year's federal progress targets. goo.gl/mTFJw

Stand up for better meetings! Research found standing meetings 30% shorter with about the same quality of decisions. http://goo.gl/IdNmm

Teaching is creative and complex, not simple and algorithmic, so tying teacher pay to student performance won't help. http://goo.gl/H9xc9

New twist on word clouds for social studies: artist exhibits State of the Union addresses as Snellen eye exam charts. http://goo.gl/xbH37

Substitute "classroom" for business and "students" for employees - an awesome summary of how to engage learners. http://goo.gl/ExQHN

SuperTeacherTools website has free technology tools for games and classroom management. Flash based but easy to use. goo.gl/ibLQc.

Montessori students thrive via hands-on, flexible, collaborative learning. Where is Montessori voice in school reform? http://goo.gl/U4gBW

Use game elements to break an experience into smaller chunks with feedback to spark creativity and build perseverance. http://goo.gl/FjSie

Providing timely positive feedback to students builds trust and helps move them forward in their learning more quickly. http://goo.gl/XwwR7

Google getting too muddied? DuckDuckGo is a search engine that filters junk, adds topic summaries, & emphasizes privacy. http://goo.gl/LgEL

Teachers, please consider posting "Responsibilities" to empower and elevate rather than "Rules" focusing on obedience. http://goo.gl/DTR6W

Large study found no evidence teaching parts-of-speech, phrases, clauses, etc. helped kids improve quality of writing: http://goo.gl/oaIGz

Braveheart

William Wallace was an awesome leader who forever etched his legacy into the character of a nation. If you need proof of this fact, consider that in 1861, 556 years after Wallace’s death, over 100,000 people gathered to honor him at the presentation ceremony for a national monument honoring his memory. Try testing other leaders you admire against that measure.

I would guess a select few command that level of adoration, respect, and admiration centuries after their passing. Many people would argue that leaders like William Wallace are born, not made since some people are just naturally charismatic and others seem predisposed to annoy. But I believe the people we refer to as charismatic owe this status as much to hard work and their ability to communicate as to any other quality. Communicating a genuine care and consistent commitment to others in an enthusiastic manner is the key. Join this skill with the ability to truly listen, to seek to understand the needs and wants of others, and you are on your way to becoming the next William Wallace. Honestly, these traits are not just the product of genetics; they can be acquired and enhanced with practice.

William Wallace took it to the next level, however. He was intelligent enough to prepare thoroughly so that he put himself in position to make good strategic decisions. He lead by example, at the front lines, and never asked his men to do something he wasn’t willing to do himself. But most of all, he articulated a clear vision of purpose that his followers could relate to: he was a dynamic catalyst of freedom for his people. William Wallace was not an official leader during his life, but his actions as de facto leader stand as a testament that if our intentions are pure and we work hard to communicate, listen, genuinely care about others, be thoroughly prepared, gain knowledge about our field, lead by example, and have a clear purpose, we too can impact the world for centuries.

Website helps you create arcade style review games for students. Has tools like name picker & plagiarism detector. http://goo.gl/euym

Writing by hand activates a larger portion of the brain’s thinking, language, and “working memory” regions than typing. http://goo.gl/ZyFWA

Freakonomics podcast connects the thrill of customizing Pandora Radio to NYC experiments with mixed-modality learning. http://goo.gl/i0DIo

Smart, challenging hobbies can improve your work. It helps to count the pleasure you derive from the effort as income. http://goo.gl/UXAR5

Evernote (http://goo.gl/lujXf) now integrated with image annotation app Skitch. Draw on, add text to, or crop images.http://goo.gl/rBd9L

How to balance open-ended and teacher-guided inquiry cycles from science to get kids to notice and explore punctuation. http://goo.gl/trakR

Middle grades persuasive writing tip: use rhythmic anaphora and common terms so least knowledgeable person can relate.http://goo.gl/DOokY

Student readers, like builders, need a foundation and a blueprint to be successful. Here are 12 ways to scaffold texts. http://goo.gl/S9RmL

A kaleidoscopic mind is agile, flexible, self-aware, & tuned to connections that rigid minds miss. How is this taught? http://goo.gl/I0n7K

If creativity is as important as literacy (http://goo.gl/1sxSn), how do we teach divergent thinking & self-reflection? http://goo.gl/MDJ97

Top experts partner with coaches (http://goo.gl/c8Mr2) to move from conscious competence to unconscious competence. http://goo.gl/iM2iv

Lesson plan for 6-8: students explore riddle poems, determine techniques, write as class, individually. ReadWriteThink. http://goo.gl/df7xm

An annotated list of 10 meaningful, mostly old-skool rap songs appropriate for classrooms or carpools. Rakim to Lupe. http://goo.gl/a6tzx

Creative activity where students draw, script, and record audio linked by QR codes. Hope to adapt for Literacy Night.http://goo.gl/w39oW

Professional music made completely with iPad! Short video shows which apps were used, how they were recorded. Wow! http://goo.gl/DjFf2

Using Edmodo with teachers in January to create a microblogging network for our First Days of School book study group. http://goo.gl/Vf6e3

Dewey: the opportunities of intellectual culture have been multiplied so book work lacks the force it used to possess.http://goo.gl/TCjhN

Stress is the only means by which we can expand capacity. Our real enemy is the absence of intermittent renewal. http://goo.gl/OIiwX

The ability to read uncluttered web pages is going mainstream via AdBlock, RSS Readers, Flipboard, Instapaper, etc. http://goo.gl/bb9MN

SlideShark - sync PowerPoints to iPad, preserving animations, fonts, graphics and colors. Has worked well for me. Free. http://goo.gl/HdvKF

School Improvement Network has released mobile apps that allow viewing of PD 360 videos on mobile devices. iTunes link: http://goo.gl/2WzKQ

Formative assessment is not a tool or event, but a variety of strategies for acting on the data to improve learning.http://goo.gl/CdEtA

Real world math activity dealing with the NBA standoff from the "Math in the News" folks. Focuses on operating income. http://goo.gl/U9fKP

Great list: 100 iPad Apps Perfect For Middle School. Some choices were obvious, but many I had not yet discovered. http://goo.gl/ZhaHC

Building this into an educator workshop... Why Angry Birds is successful: a cognitive teardown of the experience... http://goo.gl/MIZ5V

Howdy! I use this site to link to resources and articles that interest me as an educator. Feel free to share and comment. Thanks!