Text messaging has become one the fastest and most popular forms of communication. Just a few years ago, cell phones were seen as the newest teenage addiction. Today, however, they can be an important classroom tool, although some schools regard them as disruptive, distracting, and have implemented policies that prohibit using them on school grounds. Most parents are okay with cell phone use, the students are more than okay with cell phone use, yet schools have adopted zero tolerance policies. The reality is that students still use cell phones in school even if they are banned. According to the PEW Internet and American Life Research Project, 58% of teens from schools that forbid cell phones, use them during class anyway.

Some teachers worry that cell phones will increase cheating, lead to sexting, decrease use of proper grammar, and be a distraction to learning. While I can't disprove these concerns, I …

Advances in web-based technology allow teachers to enrich their lesson with dynamic content that wasn’t as readily available before. Social media has also emerged as an important educational resource. Twitter is one way teachers are able to not only engage with their students, but also to communicate with one another. The following Twitter accounts belong to outstanding educators who are making enormous strides in the advancement of educational technology and social media. Jerry Blumengarten J…

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and encompasses all of the subjects that fall beneath those umbrella categories. Although STEM education affects all aspects of society, the last two decades have seen an overall decline of student interest in STEM subjects in the United States. STEM is a pivotal part of our economy, and it is important that today’s students become tomorrow’s STEM leaders. Each state has responded to the growing disintere…

From President Obama's new attempt at education reform to the release of a 14-year-old college graduate's new book, there has been a lot going on in the world of education this month. Here are a few of the top stories: Obama Proposes New Efforts in Education Reform The Obama Administration is implementing a new proposal for education reform, the RESPECT (Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching) Project. The program is an effort to help schools “keep good teachers and reward the best ones,” which President Obama spoke about in his State of the Union Address. It proposes a $5 billion competitive grant to encourage states to revitalize their regulations in hiring and rewarding teachers. Much like the Race to the Top program, states will draft their own pl…

As one of the founders of #edchat, I get a lot of questions about the what, where, when and why, so here is everything you need to know about #edchat:

The History

#edchat started out of a series of conversations between myself, Tom Whitby and Shelly Terrell. Tom is a bit of an instigator and likes to push people’s thinking about various topics in education. One day, he was asking several of these thought-provoking questions and was getting comments from all angles. He turned…

Annie Fox has been helping kids her entire life. After graduating from Cornell University and completing her Master’s in Education from the State University of New York at Cortland, she became a classroom teacher in upstate New York and, later, the San Francisco Bay Area. After a few years in the classroom, she and her husband opened the Marin Computer Center, the world’s first publicly accessible computer facility. Her passion to help children and belief that technology could aid her to that end brought Annie to write and design a series of award-winning children’s software and begin The InSite, a website dedicated to helping teens and young adults address their issues. Throughout her …