Like everything, educational technology has its positives and its negatives. Technology is advancing at an ever-increasing rate, instead of focusing solely on technology, we need to be sure we have a clear understanding of the purpose of education. In my mind, education serves two purposes - to teach wisdom and virtue. I am confident if we can instill those two things in our students, then they can learn the necessary skills to navigate the twenty-first century.

Students, like many adults are addicted to their cellphones. and I would be interested to hear how others handle the issue of cell phones in school.

Tinker Plots is an excellent alternative to excell for students to chart, manipulate and analyze data.

Excellent advice. Too often, time is wasted, jumping from one initiative to another. A lot of pain and suffering could be avoided if one develops a vision and sticks to it. I can't count the number of resources my board has bought in an attempt to close the reading gap. I can't help but wonder where we would be if the money were spent investing in teachers and providing relevant training and not resources collecting dust.

Like tom and matt, I was shocked to see so many types of anxieties. Matt, you make a good point about the term being thrown around. To often we label kids or their behaviours which can do more harm than good. Sometimes it is just students trying to figure it out or to be politically incorrect, "boys being boys."

I had a chuckle when I came across this article. It would be very hard to live in the north if you had a fear of flying. My daughter had her first flight when she was 2.5 days old.

I think everyone overlooks what they eat and how it can impact them. My wife noticed a huge difference when she cut out processed foods from her diet. This last week has been the longest of the year as students are living off their Halloween candy. On a good day, most of them don't eat a healthy balanced diet. Last year we spent over $80,000 on healthy food and snacks for our students. Right now, we only provide breakfast and afternoon snacks but would love to offer a lunch program. I am convinced we could eliminate many of our behaviour problems if we were able to provide two to three healthy meals a day for our students. It is not uncommon to see students have pop, chips, and candy for lunch and dinner.

Does anyone have experience with selective mutism? We have a student that was recently diagnosed with selective mutism, but she is 15. The best guess it stems from early childhood trauma and has never been treated. It breaks your heart, seeing a student suffer from it and know there is very little you can do.

One of the main reasons some of our teachers send students to the office is their refusal to do work. I get it; it is hard as a teacher not to take it personally or feel the student is intentionally disrespectful. I need to do a better job of educating our teachers of trauma and anxiety in our students. Sometimes it is not because of anxiety, but the students don't know what they are supposed to do, and it is easier to refuse to do work than admit they don't know what to do. That is why teaching is an art. It is one thing to understand a complex concept youself, and it is a whole other ball game to explain it in a way that someone else can understand or apply it.