Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

This post shows why Kathy Sierra is so unbelievably good at what she does. She takes the 5 things meme and transforms it as a way to find out more about her readers and finding what they are passionate about. How did it make my day? (Well, I asked her to write and she cites me in her post! She has done this several times and wow, what a present!) Here are her questions and my answers. I'm even going to keep to her sentence limits. (Imagine that!) How would you answer these? 0) What's your name and website URL? (optional, of course) You're here, you know them! ;-) 1) What's the most fun work you've ever done, and why? (two sentences max) Teaching, blogging, wiki-ing and learning from others online. Any time I learn something new. 2) A. Name one thing you did in the past that you no longer do but wish you did? (one sentence max) I miss managing people and a budget. B. Name one thing you've always wanted to do but keep putting it off? (one sentence...

I know there is debate about what type of people should be included in Wikipedia. Imagine my suprise when I looked my name up in Wikipedia on a whim and found a budding teen who will be competing in the Teen USA competition 2007 listed on the page. I went on the talk page and expressed my concern that I don't think that pageant winners would qualify for wikipedia status. Or do they? The creator of this page is a user named pageantupdater whose purpose is to: " ...add to the collection of pages relating to the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA national and state pageants - and the titleholders. If you know anything about a past or present Miss USA delegate please create an article for them! The quickest way to the links is to go to the state pageant page ( Category:Miss USA state pageants ) and click on their name from there." Under the five pillars of wikipedia , I do not think this fits the purpose of wikipedia. In their first pillar, they state: "Wikipedia is an e...

Stephen Downes has a great synopsis about "The List" that I blogged about last week. Christian Long demands that his link be removed ... Darren Kuropatwa asks, Why would Jimmy do this? , John Pederson creates wiki out of the list and says, "fix it." Stephanie Sandifer raises the question of transparency and blogging ethics. Dean Shareski quotes some Seinfeld . Miguel Guhlin ponders the nature of publicity and thinks about truth, trust and transparency . ... So what, may I ask, is Jimmy Atkinson 's misdeed? Nothing, really - no ads, no commercialism, no payment-based linking....Meanwhile, Bryan Alexander remains neutral and points to some who react more positively: Cool Cat Teacher , Jon Yang , Alan Levine , NYC Educator . Stephen Downes, Top 100 List Still Fishy Here is my comment about this nonevent that I think has become an event. I posted it on Stephen's Blog but wanted to share my thoughts here. Anything that brings attention to the edublogosph...

Using Flickr to Teach Math! Darren Kuropatwa is at it again. This time, he has created a fascinating flickr assignment for his class. View his rubric and how he posted the first version of his rubric and allowed student feedback . This is an excellent good teaching (I read this in Marzano's Classroom Management that works.) They were looking for Mathematics in places that people do not normally see it. They had to create "hotspots" (clickable squares) on their photo to show the mathematical concept identified. I think that this is an EXCELLENT way to make math seem real and relevant and really helps get students thinking. See the projects See the whole class' projects . http://flickr.com/photos/tags/pc40sf06/ Look at the student's pink sweater where she saw trigonometry . (Make sure you put the mouse over to see the information.) Or the pizza that teaches trig . How you could start your own IF you can access Flickr. It would be neat to have students BEGIN ...

By far, the best educational podcast that I listen to weekly is the John Merrow Education Podcast . This week he interviews the leading researcher on NCLB who can give you the positives and negatives of the act. If you want to talk in a meaningful way about NCLB and its impact - you can see that although NCLB seems to be helping the worst of the worst it may be pulling the higher level kids down. You need to listen to this podcast ! "NCLB is a noble way to raise the floor for children." They also discuss how it has turned many schools into "test prep" centers rather than places for learning. As teachers and educators, we have the immeasurable opportunity to listen to such amazing interviews as they come out. Please listen. Tags: John Merrow , NCLB , no Child Left Behind , Vicki A Davis

George Seimens is organizing an online Connectivism conference in February. Register online now for updates. (It's free.) Currently confirmed speakers are: Stephen Downes — http://www.downes.ca Will Richardson — http://www.weblogg-ed.com Terry Anderson — http://me2u.athabascau.ca/terrya/weblog/ George Siemens — http://www.elearnspace.org/blog Bill Kerr — http://learningevolves.wikispaces.com/ I say the more quality online conferences with meaningful ways to interact, the better. But with one as high profile as this, they need some diversity in their line up both gender, race, country, and background. But, since they are still lining up some presenters, I'll reserve judgment till the final list is published. Tags: Stephen Downes , Will Richardson , Terry Anderson , George Siemens , Bill Kerr , Connectivism Conference , Vicki A Davis , Coolcatteacher

OK, here's my really goofy, Christmas Card to all of you, my readers, out there. You can follow the link to youtube and post a video response. I'll be watching them and may even put some of your Christmas greetings here for other educators to hear. I have photos that have been contributed from my classroom (Camilla, GA), from Oregon, Germany, Maine, and Bangladesh. It is exciting to see the faces of these kids. (And make sure you listen to the end to the hilarious ending concocted by one of my tenth graders!) Enjoy and forgive me for my imperfect singing, I had 5 minutes at break on the last day of school to record it so I had only one take! My student said it was OK so, here it is! Have a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year. Take time with the family! I wish I could talk to each one of your personally and wish you happy holidays -- but hey, I am! Happy Holidays! Tags: web2wonderland , web2 , Vicki A Davis , youtube , coolcatteacher

simulpost with TechLearning (There is some great blogging going on over there, I highly suggest you subscribe.) "The next best thing to be wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are." CS Lewis I believe the great men and women of history would look upon us with envy as we now have the greatest opportunity in human history to immerse ourselves in a circle of the wise. Using RSS and a free bloglines or netvibes account, you can now surround yourself with the leaders in your field and even become one yourself. So, how do you select your circle of the wise? How do you keep from being overwhelmed? How do you fit it into your already overfull day? How do I fit it in my day? There is an old joke: "How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time." I read bloglines d...

The Online Education Database has perused through the Technorati Rankings to produce their categorized list of the top 100 educational blogs (in no specific order). I am happy to be included on the list, however, I believe I should be included under the Teaching category. I write for teachers as a classroom teacher. I also disagree with some of the other categories. It is nice to see the list, however, if the person authoring does not really follow the blogs, they may want to be careful categorizing blogs based on the recent posts. However, I guess it is ok to see how others view the blog. I'm also suprised that a blog like Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog isn't included on the list. (I'm a big fan!) It looks like he may not be pinging technorati which could cause problems. This brings me back to a point: If you're going to blog, you need to register your blog with Technorati and ping it. (See 10 habits of bloggers that win !) For right or for wrong, Technorati ...

Tomorrow my sister comes home from Disney and although she will return until early January, she needs me to help her pick out a Mac laptop tomorrow night! She is a graphic designer and an amazing person who, although she has several learning disabilities overcame the C's she was making in early high school and the "stupid" label of unknowing teachers and fellow students to graduate with highest honors from the Savannah College of Art and Design with both an undergraduate and a graduate degree. She is amazing and I admire her so much. She is returning home where she will teach part time for Savannah College of Art and Design as an adjunct online professor and will freelance. She does everything from Photoshop to Flash to Dreamweaver and more. She'll need to use her computer wirelessly as well as hooked to a high speed cable modem in our mostly PC based hometown. Help me! I don't even know where to start. You can weigh in by posting your comment here! (Others...

I have been "tagged" by my friend Karyn Romeis in England and Doug Belshaw to share five things that you may not know about me. That's pretty easy as I'm a somewhat eclectic mix of energy, interest, passion, and fascination about almost everything, but here goes. Warning: If you don't want to know who I am, don't read any further. I get very personal about my beliefs and what makes me me. I usually blog about teaching and professional development topics, but this is a personal post. You've been warned. 1 - I am a farm girl. "You can take the girl out of the country but never get the country out of the girl." I grew up the oldest of 3 daughters to a very successful farmer. My dad is the former president of the American Soybean Association which is one of the largest farmer's organizations in the world. (There is a lot of video of him in the flat classroom project .) Accordingly, he has traveled the world and although he spent time div...

As my five year old napped, I took a moment to check my e-mail to find that the flat classroom wiki has received the 2006 edublog award for Best Wiki ! I appreciate your votes and nomination and all that my co-wiki organizer in Bangladesh, Julie Lindsey has done. My Favorite Ride at Disney speaks of hope When I rode my favorite "slow ride" at Disney yesterday, Peter Pan , I literally relished the music and feeling. The entire ride is set to the song is entitled "You can Fly." Once you embark, you follow Peter Pan leading his new friends from their tiny nursery to fly over the rooftops of London where the cars look like tiny phosphorescent ants on the noodle-sized streets below. Then, Peter leads them through adventure, danger, and finally to a place where the good guy gets the girl and the bad guy stands spread eagle holding open the jaws of the crocodile while yelling "Smee, help me!" It is the stuff a little (or big) girl's dreams are made of...

We have a really cool, cool guest tonight on WOW2 -- LESLIE FISHER (of www.lesliefisher.com ) She will certainly be a fun chat and she is a gadget guru -- so come prepared to get some great ideas for last minute "tech" stocking stuffers!! Jennifer Wagner says: "I have known of Leslie Fisher now for about 7 years -- she used to a seminar leader with Classroom Connect Conferences and I can tell you that if you didn't get to her class early, you either sat on the floor or didn't get to attend. She is a popular and FUN speaker." We hope to see you tonight at 9 pm EST. If you wish to participate in the Skypecast, come a bit early to the edtechchat room to get the link to skype. ( http://edtechtalk.com/chat ) We will NOT be hosting a live chat NEXT week. However, you are welcome to come to listen to the stream or download the podcast from our website. See you again in 2007, Tuesday Night, January 2nd. Tags: Leslie Fisher , WOW2 , womenofweb2 , Jennifer Wagne...

I'm so excited to be able to add the new badge to the left for the edublog nominations. It is truly an honor to be nominated. You have until Saturday night at 12 GMT to vote. There are many great people who have been nominated, so go vote for your favorite. It is the votes of many who know that will give these awards legitimacy. Sunday there is a large awards ceremony planned and you can attend. Cool Cat Teacher - http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com - Read about the finalists and vote here. Flat Classroom Wiki - http://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com Read about the finalists and vote here. The parent of one of my students today said as school was getting out, "I'm go glad to see the students so exited about something at school. It is truly a great project." I shot a 30 minute video at our reward "field trip" to the local coffee shop. When I get it uploaded, you will be impressed at what these students have learned. I am proud of them and again ...

David Warlick asks if this is bad or good , basically that companies are asking you to do advertisements for their product (that you know nothing about) and post them to youtube. He also discusses how many people are using the Internet to "become somebody else." Here is what Dave has to say: This really strikes a nerve with me because if it works soon everybody will be putting themselves in ads saying things for money that they don’t believe. But that’s what ads are after all. Does this bother you? Is this what ads are for? Do all of our students know that this is what ads are for? What if we asked students to create TV, radio, or print ads for a product, and then ask the class (or other classes on line) to rate the ads based on their likelihood that they would buy the product. Might they then have a better understand of what ads are for? I've been considering this for a while and would like to share with you my response: I think that if a person truly believes i...

I'm not much of a person for "gadget-lust," however I am holding on to my old cell phone to get one of these iTalk iPod/phone hybrids. (This is just a "concept" video that is not officially endorsed by Apple.) With all this talk about laptops, we cannot forget the power of something like this in the hands of our students. (It's portable and guess what, it "boots up" in seconds.) With an iTalk phone imagine this. Students can: Take photos to post to their blog. Record podcasts. Record teacher lectures and listen to them later. Record their thoughts before starting a writing project. Listen to podcasts they've subscribed to over iTunes. Download public domain books to listen to. Watch videos from their classmates about educational topics. E-mail reminders from their teacher. Access test calendars. Text reminders of the work for the day. Some of you would say, "Awww, that's supposed to be a fun gadget and you're using it fo...

Just finished an amazing edtechtalk with David Warlick and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach -- just amazing! It will be posted on the Wow2 podcast in the next several days. Then, I did it. I locked down the main topic pages on the Flat Classroom Wiki -- They've all done an amazing job -- but remember, these are real students and there is a full range of performance here. Here are the topics. I highly suggest that you look at topic 9 and 10 but all of them are great! I plan on posting about each of these topics in the future. Each pair of students analyzed the trends and one created a video on the impact in education and the other, the impact on industry. Our judges will be looking at these over the next several weeks, so I don't want to bias their thoughts. (But I've given you a quick preview with the video to the left.) Connecting the World Online How the World Wide Web has Changed the World How Work Flow Software can Enhance Productivity and Communications Combined with 8 du...

I've not had a lot of time to blog a lot about what is happening in flat classroom but I took a moment today to record my thoughts on how this project is going. This is also being sent through my podcast -- you can now subscribe through iTunes by searching for Cool Cat Teacher. I told the perfectionists that I'd spend as much time as they needed me to help them "perfect" their movies and wikis. But as with all projects, there is the full range of performance from A to C levels in the results. This is as one would expect. I've gotten permission to take the students on Thursday to the local coffee shop as a reward and we will watch the finished videos on the big screen there. We will record our conversations and I plan to share them with you. I'll keep you posted! Tags: flatclassroomproject2006 , flatclassroomproject , coolcatteacher , Vicki A Davis

Final post in three part series. This one covers how to upload video to Google video , how to add your descriptions, and how to embed it in your wiki. Flat Classroom Update I worked this morning until a little after 6 pm with my students. I feel like I'm taking final exams! They are learning and very proud of what they are doing. This is what teaching is all about. We have 5 of the 9 videos finished and several others close. WOW2 EdTech Talk with David Warlick and Sheryl Nussbaum Beach Remember the edtechtalk tomorrow at 9 pm EST with David Warlick and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. Just go to edtechtalk.com and get into the chat room. Also, you may listen via a skypecast (Go to skypecasts.skype.com and search for Women of Web 2 -- you don't need to be a woman to listen!) or on Channel 1 at Worldbridges . We have a couple of big items on the agenda, including their response to the recent Time Magazine article entitled How to Bring our Children Out of the 20th Century . T...

Julie and I have been creating movies to teach our students about the various skills needed for our flat classroom project . (Which ends Tuesday.) These are quick videos so everything isn't perfect, but I discovered how to "rip" and use video from Google video in Windows Movie Maker files and created a tutorial for my students. I thought you'd like a copy. The Citing Video Conundrum Also, I've got a video about how to cite video. If you take the time to watch, you will see that there are many issues with citing video, one of which is that MLA has yet to determine how exactly to cite the wealth of electronic resources out there. If you know how to cite video, please help me. If you are a citing expert, I hope you'll see what I'm teaching and correct my errors because there is not a lot of good information about citing video used from Google video or Youtube. Please help me, if you are a excited about citing! (If you'd like to make your own video to...

My eighth grade class is going to be making a video out of a recording I am making of "Web 2 Wonderland." (A song that I've written.) We want your classroom to be included. Just upload your photo to www.flickr.com and when you are asked to tag it -- make sure that you tag it with web2wonderland (along with any other tags.) (Look at the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/web2wonderland/ ) This is a great way to teach tagging to your students and to share with the world what classrooms are doing with Web 2. We already have Craig in Greece showing how he is using cell phones to blog and Kinderkids podcasting about bears . We want to include your class! Make sure that you give a caption to identify your school and what Web 2 you are doing! Please spread the word. This is a great chance to show off how flickr works and teach the principle of tagging. It is also a great way to do some simple collaboration. I think this could be a very powerful tool to show edu...

Mr. Schneider from Seymore High School contacted me this week to let me know his students were making a "flat classroom video." They posted it to youtube and it is going to be very exciting for my students to view today during their Saturday work day! I've been up since 6 a.m. creating video to help the students with their Google video work. I'll share that after I post it up today. Julie's been working all day Saturday (while I was sleeping Friday night) with her students. We still have some students who have difficulty connecting (via Skype) but overall most groups are working together very nicely. The students are very excited about their edublog award nominations. It is really exciting and truly most of the amazing work on the wiki is theirs. After posting closes Tuesday, I'll give you the links to their projects. Tags: flatclassroomproject2006 , Julie Lindsey , flatclassroomproject06 , Seymore High School , Vicki A Davis , Coolcatteacher

My first entrance into blogging was reading all of the entries in last year's edublog awards . I was so amazed at these writers who knew so much and were doing such a service to education. (My official "blog birthday" is December 9 -- tomorrow!) I logged on at 6:30 a.m. this morning to check in with Julie Lindsey about our flat classroom work and found an e-mail from her letting me know that our flat classroom wiki had been nominated for best wiki . ( Voting ballots are located here .) Thank you for my Blog-Birthday present And then she let me know that my teacher blog, this Cool Cat Teacher blog has been nominated for the best Teacher Blog . ( Voting ballots ) (See all edublog nominations here.) It is now up to you to vote, and truly, every nominee is very deserving! You, my readers, have truly given me the best blog-birthday present I could ever receive! Because these nominations must come from fellow edubloggers over a somewhat labor-intensive e-mail nominations...