As the latest advances in technology make their way into the classroom, teachers are often overwhelmed with decisions about which technologies are the easiest to implement, best for student learning, and most interesting to students. Among the latest technology sensations to emerge are video response tools, which are online social interfaces for…

In the wake of all that educators are navigating these days, they've proven to be not only resilient, but also innovative. They continue intentionally finding new and exciting ways to create powerful learning opportunities for all students. Reinvent the Classroom, an initiative by Digital Promise, HP, Microsoft, and Intel, supports, celebrates,…

For many people, the use of technology in education constitutes a de facto "innovation." Whether or not this belief is actually accurate, or useful, is a legitimate question for discussion. That said, there is no denying that many of the educational innovations celebrated (or at least touted) today are enabled by the use of such…

Many teachers are organizing interactive Skype sessions. By taking advantage of Skype to allow students to interact with guests outside the classroom, sometimes thousands of miles away, teachers from all over the world are creating new opportunities for students to make academic gains in a motivating way. In this article, the author discusses the…

The growth of Twitter and similar sites has influenced many institutions. Many employers, for example, currently value digital literacy and look to hire employees who are skilled in social media. Since corporations increasingly value this type of literacy, researchers such as Greenhow and Gleason (2012) argue that educators need to respond by…

Children's earliest years are times of significant development and learning, yet the professionals who provide care for young children often do not receive the economic or professional support they need and deserve. Given the unique situations of child care professionals, especially those running their own family child care businesses, we must…

Exposure to cell phones, DVD players, video games, computers, digital cameras, and iPods has made today's young people more technologically advanced than those of any previous generation. As a result, parents are now concerned that their children are spending too much time in front of the computer. In this article, the author focuses her…

Much of the research literature from the past 25 years has supported the importance of teaching grammar in the context of writing instruction (Calkins, 1980; DiStefano & Killion, 1984; Weaver, 1996,1998). Unlike other content areas, practice does not make perfect when learning grammar. While isolated drill and practice of grammatical concepts may…