February may be the shortest month, but it has so much to offer! From Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day to Black History Month, there’s plenty of interesting facts, people, and history to weave into your lessons this month. Here is our collection of themed content to help you keep students engaged in February:

Over the past few decades, there has been a great deal of interest and desire to change, and most of the time improve, public education. Some of these ideas have been innovative, and some less than so. Some have been on a large scale, while some are more at a building level. Some have had political backing (charter schools), while others have had financial backing (think The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or Summit Education founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg).

So, what does all this focus on “change” matter for a school building? Or does it not matter at all? Are the teachers or the principals in individual buildings impacted by these changes? Many experts, some more expert than others, have many opinions about what should or should not be going on in schools. But what impact does this have on schools that are trying to improve from the inside?

The metaphor usually goes something like this, and often when a teacher is frustrated with a class of students: “School is your job. You need to show up to work every day and work hard. Your grades are like your paycheck—the harder you work, the more you can earn in our classroom. Some of you aren’t working hard and need to be fired.”

With the 2019 winter trade show season in full swing, it’s time to get ready for another great year at the TCEA Convention and Exposition. Held from February 4–8, the convention will be in San Antonio, Texas this year—an exciting location change from past years in Austin.

This convention is the place for administrators, teachers, and tech specialists to network, collaborate, and discover new technologies to bring to their classrooms nationwide. With over 1,000 informative sessions and 450 companies exhibiting at the conference, TCEA offers a comprehensive look at the latest and greatest ideas and products in the EdTech industry.

Paraprofessionals are critical to a student’s success—I think any teacher, principal, or student would attest to this. A great para can make a difference in a classroom in a lot of ways, but they are often forgotten about. Even though they are important cogs in the educational wheel of a student’s life, they might not always be treated as such. They may not have the keys they need, the desk they need, or the training they need.

With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day occurring today, along with Black History Month approaching in February, now is a great time to teach your students about Dr. King. A leader in the civil rights movement, Dr. King inspired his followers with his nonviolent approach to activism. Most of us have heard his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, but there is so much more about Dr. King for you to teach your students.

As the new year begins, we’re gearing up for the 39th National Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC), which will be taking place from January 27–30. The four-day event offers educators a chance to catch up with colleagues, collaborate on new ideas, and discover the latest and greatest in K-20 education technology.

The conference will be held in warm and sunny Orlando, Florida, making for a brief mid-winter getaway for those who live up north. Between the sights of the city and the countless presentations, seminars, workshops, and expo booths FETC has to offer, here’s what to expect at the conference this year:

There are initiatives all across the country in the field of education and in industry that encourage girls to consider joining STEM-related occupations as adults. This is a great idea as a female perspective is highly valuable in these areas. The question is, how do we support young girls to make this happen?

In the previous century, computer science and computer coding was left to a few highly trained individuals. There was a level of expertise and skill needed to “speak the language” of computer science—for most people, it was a foreign language.

As we embark deeper into the technological age, we are finding that the language of computer coding is not a “foreign language” anymore. K-12 schools have worked to introduce coding earlier and earlier into the curriculum. Education organizations like www.code.org provide amazing resources for teachers to be able to cover this subject matter.

At the top of the new year, a new season of EdTech trade shows is about to begin, starting with Bett 2019 from January 23–26 in London. Bett is the first industry show of the year and will showcase 850 leading EdTech companies and over 100 startups, all focused on transforming education with technology.

The conference will bring together nearly 35,000 educators, offering many opportunities for networking and collaboration with colleagues. Between the countless options for professional development and the exciting things to do in the city, here’s what you won’t want to miss at Bett 2019: