Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Kathy Sierra speaks out in an interview with a local TV station. It is a good one to listen to if you're trying to understand what has happened. tag: Kathy Sierra , stopcyberbullying

I recorded a podcast at 6 a.m. this morning (my tiredness really shows in my voice.) It is the day of prom and we have a half day today. I wanted to share my thoughts. After recording this morning, I found to my dismay that the chipmunk effect had struck my own blog. So, I followed the instructions to fix it. Unfortunately my introduction is now talking super slow! Aurgh! I'm sharing this with you. I wanted to tell the story of the pike (a fish) and the elephant and how it relates to cyberbullying. It is a 28 minute podcast. powered by ODEO tag: stopcyberbullying , Kathy Sierra

a simulpost with TechLearning i am alone yet surrounded by millions separated from them by a bit and yet from me they take a byte how could it be that they take anything from me? :-S yet they deride and now i hide they taunt me, "IM anonymous, no one knows any of us." >:E does anyone care a bit? :'-( my parents don't know and don't see how someone so far could steal from me and destroy my tranquility :-O give me someone to tell someone who understands and will not yell >:-O that i must abandon the way i talk to the world each day. :-X i don't really like who i am and "they" don't either. is there anyone out there who cares a little bit? :-( Prominent blogger Kathy Sierra revealed this week (warning, her post contains explicit language) the death threats and cyberbullying she has experienced and calls on the blogging community to stand up for a code of ethics that rejects such behavior. Andy Carvin echoed and asked that we proclaim today...

Kudos to Scott McLeod's space badges for cyberbullying. I'm going to add one. This one is my favorite. Just saw a video that my friend Lisa posted over at the Cyberbullying group. I think you should show this video to students and teachers! And, we'd like to have you and every educator you know join the Stop Cyberbullying group ! There are several reasons this is a VERY good thing: It lets us mobilize on an important issue. I would like us to make this a central repository for all cyberbullying information. The usefulness is that we as educators can review the material and the best stuff will rise to the top (as we mark things as favorites or give it stars when we like it.) It lets us learn about how useful these tools are. It is a myspace-like environment but we are using it for good. WE can learn about the technology as we experience it. How can we "govern and guide" without an understanding? I encourage everyone to participate. (A tip: you can send s...

We need to be discussing the issues of Cyberbullying. PLEASE join and ask everyone you to know to as well! It is over at http://stopcyberbullying.ning.com/ . It will be great in my post tomorrow at Tech Learning to be able to share that we have a lot of educators over there that have joined the network to discuss this! Let's get hundreds of educators to join in and discuss! What to do if it is blocked: If it is blocked, ask your tech administrator to JUST unblock stopcyberbullying.ning.com -- and leave all of the other ning sites blocked. (It was blocked on my firewall.) You could copy this into your e-mail. Technology Administrator: Dear ___ I am beginning to work with a group of international educators to stop cyberbullying in schools. We are discussing what we can do to help this issue in ways that are legally responsible and sensitive to the needs of students. Andy Carvin, the PBS education blogger, has created a website to allow us to discuss and share best practices so ...

I have always enjoyed reading Andrew Pass' discussion starters. He has a particularly good discussion starter about the Innertoob post I made yesterday . (If you teach current events, Andrew's blog is a MUST subscribe, in my opinion!) Take a look at Andrew's question #4: Vicki Davis slightly changed Wes Fryer's podcast by adding in new annotations. Who's the creator of the podcast that Vicki placed on Innertoob, Vicki or Wes? Does it matter? Is there a certain point at which the product ceases to be Wes's and becomes Vicki's? These are the issues we must ponder and discuss! tag: education , teaching , opinion , ethics , Andrew Pass , innertoob

Wes Fryer released a phenomenal cyberbullying presentation via podcast last month accompanied by an incredible wiki that you should review concerning cyberbullying. I am sharing it here via Innertoob with annotations from me (markers that show you where things are in the talk that I've commented on.) f you want to comment or add to the annotations, please do, just sign up for an Innertoob account. (If you want to know more about it, we had Carter Harkins of the Innertoob.com service on WOW2 last night! Listen to the show .) A note about innertoob I'm a little uncomfortable with the fact that Innertoob seems to rip the entire podcast from the original location without a link back to the original, so I think that one should only do this (even if it is licensed under Creative commons) with permission even though it does make the podcast more findable. (I sent an e-mail to Wes letting him know and I'll share with you what he thinks. If he thinks it needs to come down, e...

This is a letter written to techno-guru and inspiration Kathy Sierra who has several times stooped from the heights of Technorati greatness to link to my blog and encourage me in my learning. She as been experiencing a barrage of death threats and incidents and the blogging community is angry! I am livid! Here is my open letter to her. Kathy, The educational community (and many others ) is behind you. What has happened to you is reprehensible, and in my opinion, illegal. Andy Carvin is calling for an anti-cyberbullying day on this Friday, March 30th and I'm with him. My post over on Tech Learning will be dedicated to you and on this topic of cyberbullying. I'm sorry for what has happened and I will be praying for you to be strong and continue to be vocal. You already have a platform, now you have a cause that can impact the world: Internet freedom and safety. For truly it is not freedom when one limits the freedom of another. We are free to own a gun, but not to sh...

I just have to share this. Tenku Adnan, the tourism minister for Malaysia was recently quoted as stating the following: "Bloggers are liars. They use all sort of ways to cheat others. From what I know, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women. “Bloggers like to spread rumours, they don’t like national unity. Today our country has achievements because we are tolerant and compromising. Otherwise we will have civil war. “Malays will kill Chinese, Chinese will kill Malays, Indians will kill everybody else.” He asked people not to believe bloggers and gamble away Malaysia’s future because 50 years of Merdeka (Independence) takes a lot to achieve it." He was responding to Indonesian journalist, Nila Tanzil who had posted some unfavorable things about the Malaysian government. I am especially moved by an anonymous commenter on Nila's blog: Dear Nila, it's a brave new world, we walk with you ! Blogging is a force Blogging has become a force in the world and many ...

Simon's (from educating the dragon ) video response over at Teacher Tube to my question "Why should we teach technology to students?" (from my Technology Fear factor video) gives me chills. Thoughts on Teacher Tube Teacher tube is really starting to get a lot of your contributions. No limit Here is the nice thing about it -- youtube has a 10 minute limit so I have 5-6 videos I couldn't upload there but had to use Google Video. One place From an ease of use perspective for collecting my own digital artifacts, the teacher tube allows all lengths and I really want to go to one place. (Of course the drawback is that it is not available and searchable for everyone like on youtube or google video.) Not Blocked (yet) Also, it seems like teacher tube is not blocked at many schools! The Technology Fear Factor video has had 3064 views at Teacher Tube and 210 views on youtube! We may need to use teacher tube just for these reasons. (On a note: From listening to other blog...

I love listening to podcasts! The world is available for us to listen to for free! One of my favorites is the Zig Ziglar Inspire podcast . Although many people in the business world love him, I listen because he talks about such important things about having a good attitude, working with people, having a good marriage, and faith. This weeks show is " Relationships that Break Down Barriers ." At the beginning he talks about the relationships that have influenced him most and that if he had limited himself to only associating and learning from those just like himself, that the five most influential people in his life would never have reached him! It is a great listen and reminds me of the importance of reaching out and learning from a wide variety of people! It is very inspiring! What are your favorite podcasts? tag: Zig Ziglar , inspiration , podcasts , relationships

I got this off teacher tube . I think it is a great example of folks having a sense of humor. Meanwhile -- some other videos are cropping up that make you think. And my laughter turned to tears! If you're teaching about the Holocaust, have the students watch the video below, then, after studying the Holocaust, have them create a video response! Give students a reason! They love to interact with their peers and this gives them a great method of virtual interaction. Sadly, this video says only a little over 50% of our school aged students know what the holocaust is! I would love for such videos to include citations at the end, particularly if we're going to use them in the classroom. It is important to be able to cite your source! Will Teacher Tube Take Off? I don't know. It is a very needed resource and will only do as well as those who rate and evaluate it. I like the idea. I also like the idea, however, of being connected to the world at large (a la youtube.) Can a...

OK, here is what I'm learning with the surveys that have been completed so far: 1) I'm going to give more contrast to the body of my blog. (Thanks Christy Tucker for your link the comments to the Juicy Studio Color Contrast Analyzer . Cool tool! 2) I am going to redesign the header, I think. (But that will be next week.) 3) Many of you are saying you like shorter posts. I'm considering the merits of researching a topic and breaking them into smaller posts and doing a series. The drawback with this method is that a person who wishes to respond to the entire topic has to link to all three or the latter one. Still thinking on this one. 4) Tell me what you think! So, Click here to take survey and let me know what you think (sorry, I only have the version that allows 100 responses.)

I took a couple of hours today and FINALLY redid my blog. (If you experience problems with my feed, PLEASE let me know. ) Give me feedback It is important to me to do a good job. I survey my students (It makes me a better teacher!) each year to see what they liked and didn't like. I want to know what helped them learn. Now, I'm asking you! What do you like? What do you wish I'd tell you more about? So, I'm asking you to take a small six question survey to help me improve my blogging. Click here to take survey In particular, I'm debating on the graphic in my title bar (at the top) that came with this template. Is it too risque for me? Do I need to redesign it? Please give me your feedback. I am going to share my answers over spring break so that you bloggers can learn from this feedback as well. Meanwhile, I look forward to your feedback and hope you'll take the survey! How I did it! I customized a blogger template at one of the free blogger sites and ...

I dedicate this to my mentor and the inspiration who got me started, David Warlick . He's been talking about the power of video in telling the story of technology in education! I am now preparing for my first conference, the Tech Forum in Chicago and with the help of some of my students, I have created a video that expresses how I feel about the state of technology education. I base many of my opinions upon what I read from the Computer Science Teachers of America (CSTA) so I consider it fact, not opinion. It applies to many other countries around the world. If you have a youtube account, I invite you post a video response on youtube to this question: Why do we need to use technology in schools? OH, and thanks to Danita Russell for tipping me about Teacher Tube, I've uploaded the video there as well. Perhaps it should be unblocked for many of you. tag: education , teaching , Vicki A Davis , coolcatteacher , youtube , , technology standards , wikis , learning

I made the decision to install Office 2007 knowing that the textbooks aren't available yet. We've been comparing and contrasting Excel XP and Excel 2007 and creating our own textbook for about two weeks now with excellent results! But now we have one week until spring break and I want some excitement! These are great moments that can either drone on or can be used as exciting, stimulating times of learning and I teach computer fundamentals, so I have the world at my fingertips. So, meet my Amazing spring Break Project! This project teaches how to insert comments and hyperlinks into excel and gives me a cumulative assessment of the things already taught: templates, formulas, charting, making posters in Excel. I'm very excited about this project and just wanted to share it with you here! (Remember, feel free to use this, but you cannot sell it!) My Spring Break - Excel Project Your project will have three sheets. It will be turned in by e-mailing it as an attac...

This quote from Scott over at Dangerously Irrelevant . It was a pass along from an administrator: The school district is legally obligated to protect our students from the outside. It is not legally obligated to prepare them for the outside. It's like the picture to the right -- if we didn't teach how to drive around a curve in driver's ed. If we didn't teach brakes in drivers' ed, how many kids would hit this wall? What?!? Scott says it well: "This statement elevates CYA thinking over social justice concerns about technology access/usage and workforce preparation for disadvantaged students. This statement is reactive, not proactive, at a time when we desperately need forward-thinking school leaders." Scott's post is dangerously RELEVANT and the comments are incredible! Preparing our young for their release into "the wild" This is what I say to that administrator: If I was preparing to release an animal into the wild, I would sl...

I love history but that love really developed after I got out of high school. In high school, I had to memorize WAY too much and it sucked all of the joy out of history for me. Rote memorization and the rise of Hitler? My thoughts of rigid discipline of rote memorization pull me hauntingly towards a series of novels I've been reading lately. This particular set of novels are historical fiction and begin in Germany just during the beginning of Hitler's rise and the first one has just concluded as Austria fell without a word. This first novel has haunted me. Because Hitler's rise to power was largely escalated by an "appeasement" policy where most nations and people took the attitude of "I don't care what happens to the helpless in Germany, as long as war doesn't come to my doorstep." Don't get me wrong, many great men and women ( Dietrich Bonhoffer comes to mind) did stand up against the wrong of the Reich and paid for it with their lives...

I'm very excited about the conversation that Cheryl , Jen , and I (Sharon is out tonight) will be having with Miguel Guhlin , Doug Johnson (librarian extraordinaire, Blue Skunk Blog ) and Dr. Scott McCloud ( Dangerously Irrelevant ). We've titled the show "Administration 2.0 Supershow" and here are some of the topics that we plan to tackle: Show 21 -- Administrative Web 2.0 Supershow! What administrative practices enable effective technology usage by students and teachers? What barriers do administrators create that impede effective technology usage by students and teachers? What are the consequences when few formal school leaders (e.g., principals, superintendents) understand digital technologies? What are university educational leadership programs doing to prepare new technology-savvy school leaders? What can tech departments do to help improve tech skills and understandings by administrators? What kinds of awards and commendations could be given ...

Eric Hoefler has done an OUTSTANDING job with his Research 2.0 wiki . (I would add one additional resource on safety, www.look-both-ways.com by safety expert Linda Criddle.) Thanks, Eric, for giving me these resources below! Great Legal Info for Bloggers & Schools The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Legal Guide for Bloggers, says "Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom." Alas, international readers, this guide is meant for an American audience, however, I believe that EFF's should be started in every country to produce similar guides. This is a great community service! Check out their Bloggers Intellectual Property FAQ and their FAQ about Student Blogging . Don't think that disallowing blogging makes ...

a simulpost with TechLearning The 2007 Horizon report is a must read! If you're tired of blazing the trail, this month the folks at Educause and New Media Consortium released the Horizon 2007 report that may astound even you! The report outlines the six most influential forces for the future of higher learning: 1) User created content The report: "Small tools and easy access have opened the doors for almost anyone to become an author, a creator, or a filmmaker. These bits of content represent a new form of contribution and an increasing trend toward authorship that is happening at almost all levels of experience." (New Media Consortium 6). My thoughts: The audience is vital but also the authorship that this new audience provides us! The new first impression As a child, I was taught how to look a person in the eye when I shook his hand to make a good first impression. Now, people make first impression over IM, blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos (oh the videos!) -- you na...