Straight, no chaser (Thelonious Monk)

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I disagree.

I like new.

Here's some new:

1 Fresh tech for social studies
For the first semester I am teaching social studies (to fill in my timetable). It's been a while - my last social studies class was in my first year of teaching (19 mumble mumble mumble - huh? Okay okay -1983). This may come in handy!

2 25 ideas!
There are so many teaching ideas out there to try. That is SO cool. I have barely scratched the surface with these puppies (puppies...get it). Here are 25 in a bunch (or whatever the collective noun is for puppies).

3 Imagination is more important
Always good to be reminded of this. Who wants to be stale and boring and NOT have students use their imagination? Not this old dog - that's fer damn sure!

4 Inventive games to teach empathy and social skills
Wow - more amazing stuff from mind/shift. This time you get a whole load of stuff to help with growing empathy. Altruism ROCKS my friends!

5 Five competencies
Finally and appropriately - here are five key competencies that we need to foster in the 21st century. can you guess what they are before you look?

How did you do?

Many roads have I travelled (Madonna)

1 The power of habit
This kind of article is like a film promo - all the best bits are condensed into a short read on the power of habits. I'm a fan, having been taught the habit regime by a master.

2 Failure
I'm a big fan of failure. Period. I feel bad for people who haven't tasted enough failure or who have been protected from failure. Not cool.

3 Social learning
It's becoming more and more important for me to understand what motivates the social learning of those I teach. I get older but my students stay the same age and they are not living in the world that I know from my increasingly distant youth. These types of articles help.

4 Powerpoint
I like powerpoint as a tool. More than prezi or powtoons. I bookmarked this article to help me use powerpoint for good and not evil.

5 What if...?
These are six great 'what if?' questions.