President Obama’s signature education grant program Race to the Top has brought significant changes to the US education system. Race to the Top centers on four major reforms: adopting rigorous standards, building actionable data systems to measure student growth, developing and retaining effective educators, and turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

Tis the season! You might have a faculty white elephant gift exchange coming up or you just want to do something nice for your time out buddy. Whatever the case, here are some little gadget gifts that any teacher would love.

The Internet has many valuable uses in the classroom. One that has been underexplored is the opportunity to bring subject matter experts in as guest speakers. Put it this way: a speaker would much rather spend half an hour talking to a class online than hours travelling to that class.

What to do when a student, out of genuine interest, brings up a controversial topic you would have rather avoided? Controversy simply means people have varying opinions, which is healthy and is how progress is made in society. Harnessing it can help teach students valuable interpersonal and conative skills.