Cool Cat Teacher Blog: My top 10 eduposts of 2005-2006

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My top 10 eduposts of 2005-2006

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Post your Top Ten Posts

Attention edubloggers "on vacation" this summer, I would like to ask you to post your top ten posts from the last school year!

I have been amazed at how many hits are coming from college classrooms and educators this summer. (See my post on statcounter on how to track yours.) Some of them have bemoaned the fact that I do not have enough "how to's" on my website or classroom experiences Well, that's just it, the how to's are buried back in May and before. It is June and I'm not in class right now. I hope that professors teaching such classes will instruct students on how to search and go back in the archives to find "classroom" experiences.

Tag your Top Ten: mytop10eduposts

Consequently, I was thinking it would be a good, reflective practices for edubloggers to post a "top ten" David Letterman style post every so often to highlight the posts that they think are the "most important reads" during their past school year. Please tag your post "mytop10eduposts" (my top 10 eduposts without the spaces!) I am a new reader on many great blogs and I'd love to hear what you think are your best.

So here are mine and why. (In true David Letterman Reverse order!)

Cool Cat's Top Ten Edublog Posts of the School Year 2005-2006

10 Ten Habits of Bloggers that Win - 3/3/2006 - This one has stayed on my top 10 read blog posts since I wrote it. Everything there still applies. Great article for a newbie!

9 What is a mashup? Google led Socratic Teaching -3/7/2006 This has become my model for using wikis and Google to teach in the classroom and has remained on my top 10 most read blog posts since I wrote it.

8 How to Set up a Classroom blog using Class Blogmeister - 2/23/06 David Warlick mentioned this in his daily e-mail to class blogmeister users and many people subscribed to my site after it.

7 Fountain of Youth Series - Vial 1 -Variety, Vial 2 - Be Observant, Vial 3 - Be Human, Vial 4 - Be content and positive, Vial 5 - Pursue Excellence but Remain Fluid, Vial 6 - Lower the Bucket - February 2006, The focus here was how to stay young! This was fun to write and my first attempt at a series of articles. My readership really jumped after these.

6 How Wikis, Podcasts, and Laptops Help students with Learning Disabilities. 1/25/2006 - This is near and dear to my heart as my sister and son both are diagnosed with learning disabilities. Laptops are both in their prescriptions. Perhaps I love this one because it is so personal.

5 Don't let the Flux of Technology make your curriculum irrelevant - 6/30/2006 - This has been a widely read and linked posting. I feel most inspired after reading great books. Books are the lifeblood of an ongoing education. Blogs are a good tool for taking the pulse of an ongoing education.

4 The Overlooked Lethal Weapon of Teaching - The importance of enthusiasm and body language from a teacher. I love this one because a teacher in Mexico City did a great hack on the story and posted a wonderful picture he took of a colleague's classroom with all of the students asleep and some actually drooling on the desk. It was definitely my best laugh of the year. (I wish I could find that photo!)

3 Why blaze lonely and unpopular trails that will become the highways of tomorrow? 1/31/2006 - How does leprosy have to do with education? I felt this post the most as I wrote it. I still reread it at least once a month. Again, a great book inspired this one.

2 - Are you a bobblehead or bumblebee? 3/22/2006 - I was inspired with this as I looked at the bumblebees in my yard in the spring and as my child played with a bobblehead. It classifies people as they relate to technology as either one or the other. I got a lot of interesting comments on this one!

1 - Wiki Wiki Teaching - The Art of Using Wiki Pages to Teach - 12/9/2005 - This was my first post and still one of my most cited posts. It is how I entered the edublogosphere and when I first realized the power of the blogging. I was hooked on day one.

Honorable Mention
Some others that I look back on even now but that just couldn't make the top 10.

What happens when you give a kid a chance? 3/14/2006 - Jason McElwain, the autistic high school student who stunned the world by ringing 6 three point shots in the last home game of the season. He left all of us scratching our heads and made the world rethink its take on autism. I link to the home video that made him famous and made people cry around the world! If you haven't seen it, you should!

The Big Black Door to Freedom -3/11/06 Would you take the unknown black door or the firing squad?

My Students Compare and Contrast Wikis and Blogs - 6/25/2006 - I posted this on the last day of school and it is just the kind of learning that I have had in my classroom this year! Incredible!

DOPA: From Book Burning to Blog Burning, why it needs another look! 5/15/2006 - My honest opinion about DOPA!

Interesting Facts Around the Blogosphere 5/1/2006 - When English is no longer the primary language of the blogosphere!

Research Findings on Web 2.0: When you dissect the Frog, you kill the Frog - 4/8/2006 Thoughts on the balance between good educational research and anecdotal evidence from teachers.

Enjoy these while I am on sabbatical

Well, out of six months and over 170 posts, there is what I feel are my best. You may have others, let me know and I'll rethink it. Meanwhile, I have another reason for posting these, I am planning on being out of pocket for over a week. Do not expect many postings if at all. We all have to take a break sometimes! Besides, where I'm going doesn't have wi-fi or telephone service for that matter. (Ah, what a blessing.)

I will say I have learned to forward G-mail to my mobile phone. That is pretty cool!

Remember this!

While I am gone, remember to think in revolutionary ways about how to do a better job teaching this fall. Take a break so you can renew your passion. Exercise, eat well, and take care of yourself. Enjoy some bubblebath or chair-therapy and do not feel guilty about it. My greatest productivity is often when I am rested.

A person who is given out has nothing to give. Take some time to give a little back to yourself. Go outside, wiggle your toes in the dirt, smell the flowers, and put your face to the sun with your eyes closed... this is life and you get do to it once. You only get one chance at this day so make it a good day!

I love blogging and I love the beautiful, wonderful people who comment and make my day so full of joy! Thank you for reading Cool Cat teacher and I will talk to you next week!