Jared Scherz, Ph.D, author of Harnessing the Power of Resistance:A Guide for Educators, has founded a new website titled UFeud.com. This website, comparable to YouTube, provides videos or text based messages uploaded by its users on various debatable topics, such as health care, religion, and politics...

Have you been participating in the Curriculum 21 Summer Book Club: The Passion-Driven Classroom by Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold? If not, it's not too late to join in the discussion! All of the "official" discussion questions have been posted—find the topics that inspire you and share your thoughts! 

Now is the time to post your own questions on passion-driven education. Use the IGNITION TIME: New Passions Discussion Forum to write your own questions and ideas! If there's a section of the book that you would like to talk about, now is the time.

Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) High Schools That Work Conference took place on July 20-23, 2011 in Nashville, Tennesse's Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. The theme of the conference was Creating Learning Opportunities That Make Every Student Extraordinary.

Eye On Education had a number of author sessions and signings at the conference. Click here to see our author's presentation topics.

We are proud to announce that Dr. Anna Battle, co-author of The Principal as Student Advocate : A Guide for Doing What's Best for All Students, has been awarded the 2012 Arizona High School Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). She was given the award at the Arizona School Administrator’s conference on June 13th, 2011.

Did you know that the the second edition of Todd Whitaker's bestselling book, What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most, comes out November 2011? In honor of this upcoming release, we're giving away 50 complimentary What Great Teachers Do Differently T-shirts featuring the signature butterfly!

 What motivates you to read a particular book? Sure, there are reviews in newspapers and magazines, but most of the time a simple comment from a friend is enough. When a trusted source recommends a book for you to read, the value of the suggestion increases. This is the purpose of Goodreads.com.

Here are our TOP 5 favorite educational tweets of the week, which were RT’ed and/or clicked on the most by you!—our loyal Twitter followers. These tweets were originally tweeted by @eyeoneducation and some of our other favorite Tweeters. If you're not yet on Twitter, join today!

MindShift, a technology-focused blog that covers the future of learning in all dimensions, recently covered the Future of Education's "Passion-Based Education" online panel discussion. The post, titled "Nine Tenets of Passion-Based Learning," reflects on the nine key points from the panel that address the issues around passion-based learning.

Change and growth are the big stories at Eye On Education, as I blogged last month. After having grown into adjacent office space last year (our third annexation), Eye On Education has expanded our personnel roster by adding five new positions. Within the last nine months we have added the following new positions to our staff: a new Marketing Manager, two new Editors, an Associate Director of Professional Services, and a new Administrative Assistant. Our 2011 Strategic Plan calls for one more slot to be filled within the next few months.

Learning Forward Summer Conference 2011
Indianapolis, IN - JW Marriott 
July 17- 20, 2011

Visit Eye On Education in the Knowledge Cafe!

Here are our TOP 5 favorite educational tweets of the week, which were RT’ed and/or clicked on the most by you!—our loyal Twitter followers. These tweets were originally tweeted by @eyeoneducation and some of our other favorite Tweeters. If you're not yet on Twitter, join today!

In a recent article written by Heather Wolpert-Gawron titled “Teaching Tomorrow’s Skills to Today’s Students” in Education Week's Teacher Leaders Network, Wolpert-Gawron discusses valuable student skills that can be carried into future work environments.

Wolpert-Gawron addresses key skills that are fundamental in to stakeholders in higher education and business. Recently, she conducted a survey of fellow teachers to determine the most important of these skills. The top five skills include: communication, collaboration, problem solving, questionning, and independent learning. She also offers tips on implementing teaching strategies that hone in on these skills.

A recent Op-Ed piece in The New York Times, "Smells Like School Spirit," caught my attention. Although I disagree with a lot of what David Brooks says in this (and other) columns, I am with him 100% when he states: "If you make tests all-important, you give schools an incentive to drop the subjects that don’t show up on the exams (and) you may end up with schools that emphasize test-taking, not genuine learning."

In our monthly E-News, we bring you the latest education news, resources, and classroom ideas from the Eye On Education Blog and other blogs we read. Click below for our favorite educational blog posts from the past month. If you would like to have E-News sent right to your inbox, click here to sign-up.

Did you attend ISTE's 2011 Conference?

Eye On Education had a great time in the exhibit hall and in a wide variety of sessions! Elaine Vislocky, Associate Director of Professional Services, attended the Online Learning Institute, sponsored by EDC’s EdTech Leaders Online, SREB and ISTE. Morgan Dubin, Marketing Associate, was able to see various ISTE Unplugged sessions. As a result of ISTE, Bob Sickles, President and Publisher, joined Twitter!