This tweet really made me think about the choices I made when I "followed the rules" about grades.  It is a wonderful illustration that grades do not tell us everything we need to know about a student.

I was reading today's messages on the NSTA Chemistry listserv, and I discovered what seems to be a wonderful resource for any classroom. I've only had a chance to take a quick look af the site, but I wanted to share it with you right away.

Newsela offers news articles that are written for multiple levels of reading ability. Choose the Lexile that is best for your student(s). Grade levels are also indicated. The articles are categorized under the headings of science, arts, health, kids, law, money, and war & peace. Some articles offer Common-Core aligned quizzes, and the site states there are teacher tools to help assign the readings and to track Common Core mastery.  They are developing other major features, such as annotation, constructed response, and data reporting.

You can read a few articles as a guest, but I got a popup asking me to register.  My choices were teacher, student, or parent. I chose teacher. The site is currently in beta, so it is free.  It has an extensive FAQ page.

The 2013 New Jersey Science Convention was held last week.  I volunteered at the registration area, so I had the pleasure of chatting with friends who I worked with over the years.  I had lunch with three of them who had just attended a session they were very excited about.  By the end of lunch, they had given everyone at the table a mini-version of the session about a FREE tool teachers can start using with their students immediately.  Their enthusiasm was contagious and understandably so.  The tool is SOCRATIVE, a student response system, sort of like the old clicker systems, but much better.  The teacher creates the questions, selecting from several formats, in advance or on the go, and releases them one-by-one during a lesson.  The students input their answers on smartphones, tablets, or laptops, and the teacher can see all of the responses immediately.  There is even a game format available for teams, and the teacher can also print reports of all the responses.  I wish I was in the classroom this year, because I know I would be using this tech tool a lot.  Visit http://www.socrative.com/ to find out more.  Don't miss the Support Materials blog.

Cognitive psychologist, Scott Barry Kaufman, presents some new research explaining how creativity is really implemented in the brain.  Read The Real Science of Creativity on the Scientific American site.

Paul Anderson, a science teacher in Bozeman, MT, is well know for his excellent videos.  His newest series on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is a must-watch for all teachers of science.  Start with his short Introduction.

Over 1000 adults in the continental USA took this test.  How did they do?  How well can you do?  Visit the Smithsonian site to find out.