Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

a simulpost with TechLearning After an amazing trip to CNN this week, I have been thinking about how we tell stories as educators and how we teach students to tell stories. So, I'm going to give you a little quiz. 1. Which tells the story the most clearly? "This past spring we lost 11,000 pecan trees in a terrible tornado that ripped right through the grove." -or- 2. Which tells the story more clearly? A little girl was playing a game and a face jumped out at her. -or- A little girl was playing this game and was very scared. (Warning: If you have a heart condition, don't play this game.) 3. Which tells the story more clearly? Parodies of Harry Potter Films are cropping up all over the Internet. -or- 4. Which tells the story more clearly? St. Charles avenue was ready for the parade. -or- This panorama (click on the photo). 5. Which tells the story more clearly? The United States is excitedly showing school spirit this fall. -or- This slideshow. 6. Which tell...

There is a cool new way to add audio to your slideshare . This slidecast shows you how. 1 - Create a slideshow (remember if you have the new version of office, save it as the older version of PowerPoint.) 2- Upload to slideshare.net 3- Upload your mp3 file anywhere you have the license to -- it can be archive.org , podomatic.com , or even your ning . 4- Go in and click edit slide show. 5_ You can then link to the mp3file and then synchronize the show (as they show in the video.) So cool. Yes, there are multiple steps, but after it is done, this is a great artifact to embed on a wiki or even your school website to demonstrate the work of students. It would be EXCELLENT to have students or teachers submit their work via slideshare as their end of year portfolio. WOW! tag: slideshare , slidecasting , teaching , education , podcasting , podcast , cool , tools , portfolio

NO excuse not to present at NECC . NECC has several ways you can present this year in San Antonio -- see the following: Session —one hour long unless otherwise specified; meeting room has a formal presentation station and a seated audience. There are 13 one-hour session time slots during the three-day conference with multiple sessions occurring concurrently. Lecture —one or more presenters, each of whom address the audience independently. Content should be of high interest and widely applicable to the broader NECC audience. Content should educate, inspire, challenge, and/or provide specific implementation ideas. The focus should be on evaluation and synthesis rather than the history/details of a specific project or initiative. Panel —main presenter serves as moderator for his/her co-presenter panelists. Content should lend itself to a variety of perspectives with the moderator focused on creating a cohesive presentation. Model Lesson (in a Model Classroom)—requires 2 ...

In the Invent this project , my students are . My students are inventing. All of them are posted on our private ning (sorry that you cannot see that.) But, I thought I'd share with you a few of their "inventions" which are just so cool. iCoach -- an interactive way to work with your iPod. You coach presets routines for you and you listen to the routine as you do it. You can add digital recordings after each set to give feedback to the coach "too hard" "too easy" "need to go up a little more next time" that the coach can listen to later and adjust the next routine. Coach customizes the routine on a website, it is downloaded through a secured podcast in ITunes to your iPod. Your feedback goes back as a secured podcast back. (Not sure what a secured podcast would look like but he invented it.) DigiDock Turns your cell phone into your webcam, makes skype calls (instead of cell) while on your computer), synchs everything, shares everything -...

I went very quiet for a while during the last two months, and now I am at liberty to say why. When Atomic Learning first approached me about doing a Web 2.0 workshop for them, I had to think about it. I've been doing some free videos that have been well received and I thought, "well, I need to do it and just give it away for free." And at the time, I thought about doing some of these for Julie's and my proposed K12 online workshop ... but then k12 online rejected the workshop and I realized something... without a deadline and purpose to make me take the time... I really wasn't going to take the time do to a workshop, so I said yes. Web 2.0 Workshop So, this weekend Atomic Learning releases the Web 2.0 workshop that I've poured my heart and soul into. It is a workshop targeted to beginners who are teachers, administrators (and some for businesses) and it covers all Web 2.0 terminology and RSS basics. I feel that Atomic meshes well with my own philosophy and ...

Right now I am blogging from the eleventh floor in the Omni Hotel in Atlanta where two students and I will soon be settling down for a little rest and perhaps a few giggles after a great day. Tomorrow, we are going on a VIP tour of CNN where we will learn first hand how they are integrating citizen journalism , podcasting, and social media into their work to break, make, and share the news around the world. My students have been researching the reporters we will be meeting tomorrow and presented to the class last week using Google presentations . Of the most interest to me was iReport , the citizen journalism arm of CNN that allows anyone to submit the news with the potential that it may be run on CNN. I find it fascinating that our society has come to this. You or I, cell phone or camera in hand, can witness something and have our video on the evening news. It is a matter of place and connection. Lies, Mistakes, and Bad Days can ruin our life now This is a place in which things wh...

Talk about a mess! The blog post from a couple of days a go made my feed size exceed feedburner s 512K limit and my feed went completely down! Try as I may, the only way to fix this was to go back and remove the lengthy transcript from the post. So, now my feedburner count is down to ZERO -- (talk about giving a blogger a complex) - but the count restarts every day and should be back to "normal" in a couple of days. I'm sorry if this caused any problems in your readers! I'm still here! I don't have time for this today -- I started with no readers and really it is about the conversations and how it helps my own classroom. Meanwhile, I'll look at my zero readers and count it as a dose of humility that I and all bloggers need who would overinflate the importance of it all. Have a great weekend!

I was pulled into Dean Shareski's phenomenal post PLC's Something's Missing. Dean says: "...they even reference rigorous standards and I think I heard the term 21st century learning (whatever that really is), I’m still fearful that the zeal to improve scores and test results leads to the perpetuation of school as we knew it and still know it. The strategies of PLC’s and assessment, if not combined with a real understanding of what kids ought to be doing in school leave use just doing a better job of the schools of the 1950’s." A rut is a rut Taken from my comments to Dean I see the analogy from my life on the farm. When it was muddy and the road was in a state of flux, we would all drive in the same spot and we'd make ruts. Then, when the hot sun came, the ruts were there and driving out of them is almost as difficult as driving in them. The only way to get rid of ruts like this is for the tremendously huge road scrapers to come in and totally redo the roa...

Creative commons will be put to test as will our interconnected world. A Dallas Family is suing Virgin Mobile's Australian ad campaign for inappropriately using a picture of their daughter snapped at a church car wash. The picture of 16-year-old Chang flashing a peace sign was taken at an April church car wash by Alison's youth counselor, who posted it that day on his Flickr page, according to Alison's brother, Damon. In the ad, Virgin Mobile printed one of its campaign slogans, "Dump your pen friend," over Alison's picture. The ad also says "Free text virgin to virgin" at the bottom. The experience damaged Alison's reputation and exposed her to ridicule from her peers and scrutiny from people who can now Google her, the family charged in the lawsuit. This is a case study we will be using in my classes to talk about creative commons , ethics, and proper copyright. And if you f ollow the discussion over on Flickr abo...

So many of us are collaborating with many time zones, that handy tools to help us set a meeting are so very useful. I cannot remember the name of a site that "someone" mentioned recently -- so I looked around and found Doodle. You go in and enter the days and time slots that you can do the meeting -- pick 4-5 days and several time slots -- then, e-mail it to others, including yourself. Then, they can fill out a poll and state which times they can attend. You are e-mailed when others fill out the poll. (Don't forget to fill it out yourself.) Then, you are able to see when you can have the meeting. IT is a very simple interface and you don't "sign up" literally -- it doesn't support time zone conversions, however, it is a pretty simple little tool. There is another out there right now that I think is flashier and I've seen it but I cannot remember it. PLEASE PLEASE let me know! Do you want to come to a meeting-- Fill out the Doodle! To see how it w...

In some ways, I feel like we're in the midst of the Berlin Wall coming down except this is the virtual wall that has divided us since time began. Many of us have been working with the Google presentations software -- during the 20 minutes I was in today -- at least 10 different people dropped in -- just to look at the presentation many of us have been working on. Claudia Ceraso has come up with a fascinating way to link a presentation page with Google Notebook and now we're editing that. We've also added a slide to our presentation of the things we'd like to see added. Meanwhile, although the chat archive feature was working when this web app was unleashed -- it is now no longer working! (Could Google run out of space or did us naughty edubloggers tear it down!?) The chats in the presentations are no longer archivable and are disappearing. At first we thought it was in the settings but we think that it is down. Glitches or no glitches -- here is the fact... Jenn...

I am passing along this e-mail. I thought those of you who teach writing might want a chance for your class to WIN FREE MOVIE TICKETS! Cool. H i Vicki , I came across your Cool Cat Teacher blog and thought you and your readers/colleagues may be interested in a new classroom - edition online Writing Challenge from Answers.com . C lass es can enter the Creative Writing Challenge as a collaborative effort and learn new vocabulary words while sharpening writing skills. The winning class will receive free movie tickets. Click here for full submission details. Entries are due by October 1, 2007 . Looking forward! Let me know if you have any questions . Thanks, Shara So much going on today! Gotta run! tag: teaching , writing , contest

Sometimes I come across efforts and innovation and I just have to say, "YES!" they get it! So, I'm giving another Cool Cat Teacher Award to the librarians that are learning and cooperating over at the Disruptive Innovators Wiki . (Feel free to grab this graphic if you're from that wiki if you want it and link to this article!) Their statement on their homepage should be shouted out to the rooftops: "Characterized by creating, collaborating, connecting, and conversations, Web 2.0 has the potential to transform learning in today's classroom and school libraries. Teacher-librarians must build an understanding of the information sources and knowledge management that is demanded and desired by twenty-first century learners. These tools can be used not only by our students, but as educators to enrich and share our professional knowledge. " (emphasis mine) Who are the disruptive innovators? Here is their self introduction . "The vicarious star-studded gl...

Julie and I have been working diligently on reworking the Flat Classroom Project on our template wiki. With the help of Wikispaces (Adam Frey), we've archived last year's project and are working to rebuild the main wiki . (It is a work in process this week, so forgive our dust.) Project Announcement As a follow up to the award winning Flat Classroom project (see 2006 project ), educators Julie Lindsay ( Qatar Academy , Qatar), Vicki Davis ( Westwood Schools , Camilla, GA USA), Barbara Stefanics ( Vienna International School , Vienna, Austria), and John Turner, Presbyterian Ladies College , Melbourne, Australia) are announcing the official pre-planning of the Flat Classroom Project 2007 which will begin in October and conclude on November 30th, 2006. This year's project will incorporate a study of the ten flatteners as outlined in Thomas Friedman 's book The World is Flat , (and earned the project inclusion in version 3.0 of his book. (pages 501-503) ) This yea...

I think that the del.icio.us is one of the great unharnessed resources and that every educator should use this service. Ryan Bretag has challenged many to share the last five bookmarks they have made. I would take it one step further. Those of you who subscribe to my RSS feed know that you get to see my bookmarks. This is how I do it: 1) I signed up for a free Feedburner account. 2) After enabling the feed and previewing it. Click on Optimize and then LinkSplicer. This service will take: del.icio.us , furl , bloglines clips , Digg , ma.gnolia.com , and several other services. (And remember, you can still mark any bookmark as private and only accessible to you!) Note: And if you do this, I also encourage adding feedflare which has some really cool new features. You can then specify the frequency. Now, this will mean directing your visitors to another feed. So, when I set this up (several months a go) here is how I did it. 1) I removed the other feed from the top left of my blog...

My post about the need for more literacy instruction has created a virtual firestorm of response . Why is digital citizenship an issue? A November 2006 Pew study found that: Eighty seven per cent (87%) of online users have at one time used the internet to carry out research on a scientific topic or concept and 40 million adults use the internet as their primary source of news and information about science. Not the library , but the Internet. Let's look at our students. In the most recent PEW study available (August 2005), it was determined that: "Eighty seven per cent (87%) of all youth between the ages of 12 and 17 use the internet. " These numbers show us that the effective literacy skills but particularly digital literacy holds the very future of society in its grip. The ability to form one's opinion and validate sources is the key. If students take the "first thing they come to" to determine their opinion, then we are sorely at the mercy of Googl...

I don't get out much! I love my classroom and family and when I first got in the business world, I was traveling the country on a weekly basis working with cell phone markets. I've seen a lot and really love my home... the life of those who travel and do conferences is not really for me. However, there are a few things that are currently on my calendar, and if you read this blog and are going to be there, I hope you'll come by and say hello. October 11 - Augusta, Maine Maine Educators Technology Conference - Wiki Workshop beginning at 2:30 pm. October 12 - Maine Educators Conference 9:30 - 10:30 - Seven Steps to a Flat Classroom 1:20 - 2:20 - Blogging for a Better Classroom November 15 - " The Wide World of Wikis " - Atlanta, GA GAETC 1/2 day workshop Unleash the powerful cooperative learning environment of wikis in your classroom. Learn how to use, assess, and coordinate a wiki project. Learn how to integrate a wiki with your blog and the strategies ...

Terry Freedman is compiling a list of Web 2.0 projects. If you have a project or are going to initiate one and already have a URL, take two minutes and please fill out this survey . (If your curious, take a look at the background on this survey and its use over at Terry's blog.) tag: Terry Freedman , survey , education , teaching , Web 2.0

I've received dozens of invites in the last week to join Quechup. It is really a problem when companies harvest your e-mail and send out messages without asking your permission. There should be ethics here and it is a growing problem. It took an e-mail from Lucy Gray to point out the great post by Wesley Fryer on this spam scam . Warn your friends (but not over e-mail please unless you inadvertently sent an invitation.) And remember, we need to increasingly protect ourselves and our information from those who do not have the ethics to do that as a company. They may profit in the short term but they are just nailing up their coffin in the long run. tag: Quechup , scam , spam , ethics , digitalcitizenship , Lucy Gray , Wesley Fryer

Tonight on Wow2, we're taking a different approach and discussing global connections in classrooms. If you're connecting globally, please stop by the Wow2 wiki and share what you're doing -- we're going to select some (or all ) of them to read tonight. Please share! tag: teaching , education , learning , global collaboration , collaboration

When my son brought out his report on 9/11 facts, I was again reminded of how important it is to teach digital literacy. You see, when he typed 9/11 facts -- he found a conspiracy theory website (s) and came out of it thinking someone had bombed the building. Yes, he is in seventh grade, and Yes, I've talked so much with him about verifying sources, however, kids so often think if it is "on" Google that it is right. In fact, Google doesn't verify for veracity but kids often think so. Just another practical reason for teaching digital citizenship. We have practical real things that need to be done in classrooms around the world. And while many debate the theories and thoughts about what is happening, as a teacher and mother I know that our global society has fundamentally changed. There are real trails to be blazed here by those who understand those changes and can leave the hype and acronyms behind to civilize this new digital society with citizens who have discern...

In addition to setting up a backchannel this year, I have a goal to make sure that every class I teach has a global connection project. With Business Week predicting that 38% of us will be on a first name basis with someone in India in 10 years -- I believe that teaching students effective Techno-personal skills is more important than ever. Connecting is not just a cutsie project any more, it is an imperative. Why are Technopersonal skills different than Interpersonal? Techno-personal is different than traditional interpersonal skills because technology is the wedge. Sarcasm, regional vernacular, and humor have to be used carefully with a global audience in mind. These things are not innately learned. Why would most of us who teach blogging START students off in a walled garden? So, the messes can be private! (Teach the kids while they are young, or they will get fired for the "innocent" mistake when they are older.) How will we connect? This is my plan (thus far) f...