As teachers, it’s necessary to be able to teach and remain engaging. It puts a greater level of responsibility on creating lesson plans that truly work.

Innovative: The modern teacher must be willing to innovate and try new things, both teaching skills and educational apps, ICT tools and electronic devices. The modern teacher must be an “early adopter”.

Tech Enthusiast: The modern teacher must not only be innovative but also be willing to explore new technologies. Whether it is iPads, apps or personal learning environments, modern teachers should  be in constant search of new ICT solutions to implement in their classrooms.

Social: One of the traditional teaching skills was to be open to questions. The modern teacher should lead the conversation to social networks to explore possibilities outside of the class itself.

Friendly schools that enhance staff, students and families’s understandings and skills are more likely to enhance students’s social development.

Provide information that will help the teacher get to know your child as an individual. Include relevant information such as allergies, behavior issues (tendency to be distracted, for instance), learning issues, or changes in family life. Ask the teacher about expectations regarding homework and what to do if there are problems with homework.

Find out the best way to contact the teacher. Ask for times when it is convenient to talk. Don’t expect them to be able to talk if you happen to be at the school and run into them.

In e-mail communication, be brief, stick to the point, and don’t use animation, pictures or graphics. Stick to school-related information in e-mail. Be positive and curious. Open with phrases such as “Can we talk about…?” Use “I” statements such as “I’m confused about…” so you don’t put the teacher on the defensive. Be a partner in your child’s learning. Assist with homework, help your child learn time management skills, talk about school matters at home. It may be difficult to hear what teachers have to say if they deliver bad news about your child. Try to focus on solutions and work with the teacher to come up with a healthy plan to help your child learn.

These are diverse and seemingly distinct fields, but they intersect in many of the most significant research quests of our time. It was the opportunity for myriad collaborations—particularly between labs in areas that are already in CUNY’s spheres of strength—that guided the center’s planners. Led by Vice Chancellor for Research Gillian Small, what they have conceived is the DNA of a distinctive research culture—creative, collaborative, convergent—to take on scientific challenges ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to the future of the global water supply. The CUNY Advanced Science Research Center brings the nation’s leading urban public university to a landmark moment in its multibillion-dollar commitment to innovative science. The ASRC focuses on CUNY initiatives in five dynamic fields of applied science: Nanoscience, Photonics, Structural Biology, Neuroscience, and Environmental Sciences. Through its innovative architectural design, the center reflects a uniquely collaborative culture, where scientists work across disciplines to take on some of global science’s most vital and tantalizing challenges.

The continuing segregation of American schools — and the accompanying achievement gap between white, middle-class students and poorer minority children — has become an urgent matter of debate among educators and at all levels of government. Last week, President Obama lent his weight to the issue when he included in his budget a $120 million grant program for school integration aimed at de-concentrating poverty.

Principals at these schools say they know that middle-class families often bring with them higher test scores, making the schools look better on paper. But several added that chasing test scores was not what had drawn them into education.

Administrators at the seven pilot schools say they are all motivated by their belief that classrooms that are racially and economically diverse are good for students, according to recent research, maybe even making them brighter.

Emily Cowan, a freelance artist and social worker, said she was willing to even sacrifice her own kindergartner’s slot next year to “preserve that diversity,” though it would mean sending her son to a different school next year.

“FOR WATCHES TO BECOME MORE POPULAR AND MORE MAINSTREAM, THEY HAVE TO DELIVER A NUMBER OF CAPABILITIES TO BE RELEVANT,” SAID ANDY GRIFFITHS, HEAD OF SAMSUNG’S U.K. AND IRELAND DIVISION. “OUR EXPECTED TIMELINE IS OUT TO 2020.”

The hurdles are formidable. At IFA, Intel demonstrated wireless charging plates that can be fixed under desks or tables to charge devices, but said the system won’t be available until the end of next year at the earliest. “We are having to invent this from scratch,” Kirk Skaugen, Senior Vice President of Intel’s Client Computing Group, said in a presentation announcing the initiative. Meanwhile, new watch makers are crowding the market. Gartner Inc. estimates that about 40 million of the devices will be sold this year. While tech companies will sell 40 times as many mobile phones as watches this year, smartwatch sales will see an eight-fold increase, Gartner says.

Called Protect & Swerve, the website and companion app were created by six Bronx high school students who recently presented their work to business and community leaders, including the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, at an economic summit in Midtown Manhattan.

The students received applause, then a question: How much money would they need to further develop the app? “Tell your people to call our people,” Shemar DaCosta, 15, replied. “And I’m just putting this out there: We’re all free for internships.”

The students’ success highlights a growing movement in the Bronx to equip young people with the knowledge and the skills to write code, the language of computers, so that they can become creators rather than simply consumers of apps, video games, websites and other programs. There have been coding lessons in schools, so-called weekend hackathons for students to code together for as long as 24 consecutive hours and training institutes for teachers across the borough as educators, leaders and others aim to help students navigate an increasingly digital world and better prepare for jobs in the future.

Coding has already become a way of life for students at the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering, which opened in 2013. “It’s the students who know how to program that can have an impact on their world,” Mr. Grossman, who supports the city’s efforts to bring computer science to all schools, said.

In many parts of the world, community radio acts as a vehicle for the community and voluntary sector, civil society, agencies, NGOs and citizens to work in partnership to further community development aims, in addition to broadcasting. There is legally defined community radio (as a distinct broadcasting sector) in many countries, such as France, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and Ireland. Much of the legislation has included phrases such as “social benefit”, “social objectives” and “social gain” as part of the definition. Community radio has developed differently in different countries, and the term has somewhat different meanings in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

But, first things first, you will need a story.  Remember, most of what filmmakers do is to become a storyteller.  And if this is your first attempt at creating a short film, consider a comedy or spoof on a topic that isn’t too serious.

With the discriminating taste that has been acquired by most film viewing audiences, even on Youtube, it’s wise to leave the more sobering ideas to those that can spend millions of dollars telling their story.

Now that you have a basic outline for your story using the cast available to you, create a bit of a character for each role.  What is the personality of each character?  Do they have a specific way of speaking?  There are many ways to create individual characters for each role which helps when writing the final draft of the script.  But don’t get jammed here.  You might have friends that are really good actors and you have no idea.  Ask around, see who is up for the excitement involved in making even a short film.  Then work around what you have when writing the final draft of your script.  Don’t forget that although you might only have a few characters in your story, that there will be background actors required, set dressers and production assistants to help organize things during the day of filming.

“The fact is much of the pain in this year’s budget is due to a broken pension system that forces CPS to choose between making pension payments and investing in our classrooms,” interim Chief Executive Officer Jesse Ruiz told reporters.

A complete fiscal 2016 budget, which will include a $61 million property tax increase and must be in place by the end of August, will be released later this summer. The school system tapped borrowed money to make a $634 million, state-mandated fiscal 2015 payment to the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund by a June 30 deadline. It also announced $200 million in spending cuts last month that include the elimination of 1,400 jobs. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the district, called on the state legislature to either create a uniform pension system for all Illinois teachers or pay a bigger chunk of the city’s teacher pensions. The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund said it received just $62.1 million in fiscal 2015 state appropriations, compared with $3.5 billion for the statewide Teachers Retirement System. District officials said the upcoming budget would incorporate a $106 million cut in state funding. Still, per-pupil funding will remain at current amounts of $4,390 to $5,444, depending on the grade level.