Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Most days I feel like a blue man making music out of some pipes and sticks! Great teachers make beautiful music without the resources. Trail blazers use a medium that others do not use... I mean how many rock bands are there? But these guys put on blue heads and use pipes and make music. I think we need to look at things a little differently sometimes. See your uniqueness and lack of resources as an opportunity, not a curse. Can you make music with a cell phone? An ipod? A piece of paper? Your voice? An old computer that someone wants to throw away? Often artistry is most recognizable when the medium is most lacking! Anyone can teach a bright student. Anyone can have a great technology program with an unlimited budget. The creative minds go past what they HAVE and see what they CAN BE. Think possibilities not limitations! The mindset is all of the difference in the world! (And take time to laugh for goodness sakes!) tag: blue man group , teaching , education , learning ,...

I love to pass along letters from teachers (when I can.) Carlene in Atlanta has a request: " I am interesting in connecting with someone with knowledge of Japanese Medieval times related to the gardens, temples, etc… If that is not possible, then I would like to address the cultural aspect of Japan . My students would be asking questions about Japanese’s food, clothing, and lifestyle. If all possible, linking everything to Japanese medieval times would be preferable. If you can point me to someone, I would really appreciate it." If you have contacts or ideas for Carlene, either post in the comments or e-mail me at coolcatteacher [at] gmail [dot] com. Perhaps you know an expert or a classroom in Japan. Thank you for always coming through! What an amazing network of teachers connecting and learning! tag: Japan , education , learning , collaboration , flatclassroom

My friend Scott Rigsby is going to be on the Wow2 show tomorrow . I went to high school with Scott (he is 1 year older) and is the first double amputee to complete an iron man in the world. (that is 2.4 miles, 12 mile bike ride, and a full marathon!) He has an inspirational story. If you have someone in your life or work with students with any type of physical disability, he is an inspiration! We're going to talk about how the teachers in his life got him through this tough time in his life. How can you be an inspirational teacher? That is what we'll talk about. This is his story on Fox Sports: Fox Sports Part 1 interview with Scott Fox Sports Part 2 Interview with Scott tag: Scott Rigsby , sports , disability , athletic , inspiration , education , schools , athletics , prosthetics , iron man

My friend Beth Kanter and I have been talking about this project for some time. Beth is an amazing resource (and award winning blogger) for nonprofit fundraising using all types of Web 2.0 tools and I highly recommend her blog. So, today, as part of her efforts to help a rural Cambodian school, I'm making an unusual request of you, the readers to reach out and do something. What is this school? We can all have our "pity parties" but this is how the students get to attend this school: "Students, picked by lottery, come daily for six weeks to learn word processing, spread sheets, and Internet use, on our one, slow connection, acquiring a useful skill for future employment. Computer education groups repeat on a rotating basis." What does a lesson look like at this school? When you complain about your student teacher ratios, look at everyone gathered around the computer in this lesson! Cambodian bloggers (such as Mam Sari profiled in Beth's blog post) are dedic...

In response to eLearn's predictions for 2008 , ( hat tip to Karl Kapp and Stephen Downes ) I had to leave a comment that I share with you. Although the "experts" cited are all amazing, it struck me that teachers continue to be "at the bottom of the food chain." Here is my prediction: I think it is very important to include classroom teachers in these discussions. I was bothered that no "experts" of that nature were included. So, here is my prediction. The grassroots movement of teachers to connect will become more pronounced in 2008 with administrators, researchers, and consultants having to take notice. Teachers will wonder why they need "facilitators" when it is more efficiently done themselves and districts will realize that teachers need time to be "teacherpreneurs" as they create and collaborate on projects with their colleagues around the world. E-Learning will become an integral part of the face to face classroom with s...

An interesting article from LifeScience highlighting studies equating technology addiction to that of being addicted to drugs. In fact, the article says: "* Another research paper, published in 2007 in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology by a psychiatrist at Tel Aviv University, recommended that Internet addiction be regarded as an extreme disorder on par with gambling, sex addiction and kleptomania." Honestly, I think that anything that becomes addictive and trumps face to face OR relationships with others can be harmful. Relationships with my own family has been strengthened by instant messenger and facebook so one has to be careful interpreting this. It is important to achieve balance, which is why I teach my own kids to "time themselves" while playing video games. Self discipline is important to learn (and teach.) Honestly, it is why we SHOULD blog myspace and facebook at school. It is addictive. Meanwhile, this story is going to make a great question...

Note to my readers: This entire post is written by and is the opinion of Louise Maine as a blogger that I have been mentoring. If you quote this article, please link to her post above and cite her (except as noted where I have added my comments.) Is Science, Math, and Technology truly for All? simulpost with Hurricaine Maine by Louise Maine Hurricane Maine Blog printed with permission (c) 2008 Louise Maine, All Rights Reserved edited by Vicki Davis I have been in a period of great doubt. It happens because teaching can be very isolating. I doubt my effectiveness, best practices, and whether they are in line with my beliefs. When I reach obstacles in trying to explain our thoughts and positions, I often look to my colleagues on the Internet for support. Recently, I become so frustrated and I guess down right defensive of my position that blogging and any other application that promotes and develops critical thinking is an excellent addition to ANY science classroom. I was ...

Since Tom Hoffman has never liked me too muc h, I dropped by his session to learn more. I want to understand his viewpoint and see if there is something I'm missing in my own learning. This session has a wiki and focused on discussing the The Coalition of Essential Schools 10 Common Principles and School 2.0. I watched the ustream (which took a while to get up) and watched Ryan Bretag's live blog (until it started playing music!) The presentation (which was really more of discussion) and the chat is archived on the wiki . ( I suggest that you fast forward to 5-10 minutes into the preso.) Have a Backchannel! Before I give you a few of my thoughts, I want to point out the importance of having a backchannel. This was a facilitated discussion, however, there were one or two people who dominated the conversation. With a backchannel, this is less likely to happen. (And I know it was blocked and asked to be unblocked, however, this is an important point to make.) There were ...

Photo from Will Richardson . I'm amazed at how Ryan Bretag is live blogging the keynote using the tool Coveritlive.com . I'm watching on ustream. Here is the transcript of the ustream chat of those of us watching. 9:39 mediasnackers : hey all :) 09:39 JackieB : @coolcatteacher - There's a max? 09:39 fsinfo : http://www.iceberg.org - IL-TCE conference in a month - are you going? 09:39 mmiller7571 : I can see it on the wiki edcontv link 09:39 mediasnackers : from wales in the UK 09:39 coolcatteacher : Yeah I'm FINALL"Y in. 09:40 fsinfo : coolcatteacher is a spotlight at IL-TCE!! Yeah 09:40 coolcatteacher : We want community, that is true. I believe we should call every students name every day. 09:40 coolcatteacher : @fsinfo - Looking forward to it. 09:40 techicebreaker : Hi DK 09:40 mediasnackers : eeeks to the clipart - haha 09:40 mmiller7571 : I can't see chat on wiki only speaker have to go back and forth to see chat 09:40 coolcatteacher : I be...

No, I am not at Educon. Snuggled in my south Georgia home, I'm reading posts from yesterday and wanted to bring out the highlights (since the people there will be too busy to do so.) Friday was basically the tour and getting to meet people at the social at the Franklin Institute with most eating dinner at the hotel at an "Asian Fusion spot" during which they had great conversations as well. However, if you look past the normal excitement of meeting people, these bloggers had great observations that I want to share (Didn't have time for more, I've got to watch the Saturday keynote live) : Sarah at Edueye View - Traveling with fellow Maine educators Alice Barr , Colleen King , toured Marcie Hull' s art classroom. (I was excited to see that Marcie uses the same text I use for my digital film class: Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts . I'm also using the American Film Institute curriculum available for free at United Streaming .) Sarah also ...

If they could hear me up there in Philadelphia at Educon , they'd hear me clapping my hands. The Educon page over on edtechtalk is beautifully primed and ready for the meetings that will take place a scant hour and a half from now. This is the conference I've always dreamed of, put on by a bunch of folks who believe in the future of education. WE CAN ALL ATTEND! So, get out that laptop, put on those headphones, hitch up your skivvies and get ready to go to educon . (Oh, and you can also go to second life and read other info on how to join in the day.) Educon2.0 Studio | EdTechTalk via kwout Chris Lehman , I applaud you. I was really upset because I could have either cut out some Christmas for the kids or gone to educon and of course the kids won out. This work over at edtechtalk has me excited! tag: educon2.0 , educon , Chris Lehman , ustream, tag: educon20

David Warlick's great spam blocker ATE my comment but I just had to respond to his post and the growing comments about his thoughts on Webkinz today in Are They Working on Their Reading? "Again, it’s critical that children learn to sing, play with other children, build with blocks, play in the sand, and read books. But I wonder how learning to read, within the context of these online experiences, might differ from how we traditionally learn. For this four-year-old, reading almost immediately becomes a tool that improves his experience. It’s a skill that he uses to work his environment and, in this case, feed his pet, buy cloths, interact with and impress other children, and teach and learn." Some comments: Gary Stager says: "I’m with you on reading, but what is really social about using your toy in conjunction with anonymous others in really primitive cheaply produced software? How is this richer than playing with dolls/animals/blocks/cars/the long-gone imaginativ...

Although the report will officially announced on Monday at Educause in San Antonio, the Horizon 2008 Report is available now for download and the Horizon Project wiki is available for viewing. We're planning some new amazing things for the April/May Horizon Project (see last year's project .) In addition to analyzing the MetaTrends of the last 5 years, this report outlines the major emerging technologies for college level education in the next 5 years including: 1 year or less Grassroots Video Collaboration Webs 2-3 years Mobile Broadband Data Mashups 4-5 years Collective Intelligence Social Operating Systems What I love best is the tagging standard -- you can add examples of your own using delicious. 2008 tagged items http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08 Grassroots Video http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+video Collaboration Webs http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+virtualcollab Mobile Broadband http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+mobile Data Mashups http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+mashups Collecti...

OK, so I have a little money -- not a lot, but a little. (Around $2000 give or take.) I need to get: A Camera - I have one with DV tape but it is terrible to get onto the computer and keeps dropping frames. I WANT one with a hard drive (they just go for longer) and am very interested in the Canon HG10 AVCHD 40GB High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom which from what I understand films in the coveted 24p cinema mode, however, my book Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts (which I HIGHLY recommend for anyone doing film in their class, says I HAVE to get a 3 chip camera and it looks like the Canon HG10 doesn't have that. The book also says I need: manual focus, white balance, audio in, image stabilization, and progressive scan. I also need to figure out what to do about a CLear UV filter that my book says I need to protect the lens. 2) Microphone - This is where I'm having a TERRIBLE time. I need a shotgun microphone ideally with a Wind Eliminator (fuz...

Kim Cofino, 21st Century Literacy Specialist at the International School Bangkok, Thailand was the interviewee in an amazing conversation about change, social networks and how she ustreams her teacher professional development. The show links are at http://del.icio.us/WOW2.0/wow2_20080122 . She is using a ning with her 5th graders and loves it! Hear what she says about the teachers and their thoughts! Several links you may want: Kim Cofino's Ustream for her Teacher PD All PD sessions for her teachers are online at ustream. to wow2_20080122 education learning PD ... saved by 6 other people ... 1 day ago Kim Cofino's Blog

I received a reminder from an alumnus of my school Westwood. I received this e-mail last week from alumnus Oliver G.and he gave me permission to share it. Dear Vicki, You probably don't know me as I'm a not so recent graduate of 1991. The reason I'm contacting you is that you can imagine my surprise as I'm reading through Friedman's book The World is Flat and find a section in there about Westwood Schools in Camilla, GA. It was quite an inspirational story, but I think it only confirms what we’ve known now for a while: the access to and dissemination of information is no longer limited by infrastructure and physical location. Small towns and small schools now have access to just about everything that their larger counterparts do. What you do with that information is up to your imagination and the limitations of the 24 hour day. It’s a great leveling force for students at any level, and I’ve seen this develop from the days of CompuServe with a dial-up connection on ...

Another great reason to blog is that I get great things for my classroom and to make me a better teacher. For my classroom it has been $80,000 worth of grants, funding, software, and services over the past year. Here is one for all bloggers from Yugma : Therefore, effective today, and running until January 31, 2008 , we’ll be donating sponsored Yugma Premium accounts to bloggers who ask. Each sponsored account will be good for 12 months ! All a blogger has to do is request an account by sending us an email at renee[at]yugma.com. You must include your email address and blog website address. (Limit one sponsored Yugma account per blog site. Blog and ASK FOR IT! tag: Yugma , blogging , free , education

I'm so proud of Reflections 2.0 for going to her principal about her blog. Her original post Hiding Behind My Blog was concerning because it shows much of the prevalent thought of educators and I wrote Why Should You have to Hide Behind Your Blog . Read her great new post: Came Clean I'm Coming Out! in which she says: "I had to struggle with what I’d do if my administrator said she WASN’T ok with me blogging publicly and in any relation to our school - how tough am I? How strong are my beliefs on this issue? Well, I decided that my beliefs about not blogging anonymously are strong enough that the issue needed to be addressed. Vicki’s constant use of the phrase “professionalism in blogging” made me realize that this WASN’T a choice - it had to be done, and soon. Especially with all the attention my angst-ridden posts were getting! So, how’d it go? As usual, my worries were completely and utterly unfounded. My principal is a visionary in education and treated me li...