McAllen, Texas creates award-winning library from abandoned Walmart

Here is the rest of the story: http://gawker.com/5923608/texas-town-converts-abandoned-walmart-into-award+winning-public-library

Get help everyday with student's questions!

• Do you have too much information to cover?
• Have you ever wished for someone to help you -especially when the class needs to go on and you have students who ask questions about what was already covered or those who need a little extra tutoring/explaination?
• Are you tired of answering the same questions over and over again?

                                                                                                                overwhelmed by andres.thor

If you answered yes to any of these then you will want to record those certain lessons for your students to view anytime they have a question.

The How - Easily record your lesson/instruction with: screencast-o-matic or on a promethean smartboard or . . ., and then make available the instruction so the students always have access to it via iPod or the class Edmodo, etc!! 
-See your Mr.T for details!

A good blog for culture that is intellectual, wise, & fun!

Check out Brain Pickings

Six great ideas that helped us change our views!

Do computers think?  Can a cat be both alive and dead?
A great collection of 60 second videos on 6 of several of the greatest ideas that changed the way we see the world.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL73A886F2DD959FF1

The Top 10 Reasons to Blog in the Classroom

Top 10 Reasons to Blog in the Classroom

First click the link above to watch the video and then write down any ideas you may have of possible uses for your classroom blog.

Does Khan Academy offer just another rote lesson?!

The truth about the quality of Khan Academy's lessons/videos from this Washington Post article.  The lesson for me in my 5 years of combing the internet for lessons and resources for middle school students is there has yet to be any site that does all the work or is a silver bullet for 'student ignorance'.  - Especially one that just explains - ex=out and plain= to lay flat => which results in flat one dimensional learning.  However, this site can be helpful as a resource for students to go to when they need more explanation on a concept or  specific skill.
Read the article here.