Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Diigo and Ripples | Black Diamond tags: connectingpeople , education , hz08 , hzmeta , virtualcollab This teacher is contributing and participating in projects and his enthusiasm is spilling over into class discussions (imagine that) -- Steve has helped us proofread our horizon templates and create a page for internet safety for the students that they will be adding to. It is this type of professional educator that makes projects like Horizon so worthwhile and meaningful -- we have a lot of virtual volunteers out there! TeacherTube - When I Grow Up... - revised - tags: bestpractices , connectingpeople , edu_trends , education , hz08 , hzmeta , virtualcollab This is a video talking about what the future will be like. This is a good video for ideas about how to construct the video as well as the trends that are shaping our world today. It is important for the students of horizon to view and understand although many of us who've been watching this type of video for a while may think ...

ABC News: Could MySpace Be Your Kid's Social Key? Annotated tags: coolcatteacher , digitalcitizenship , edu_trends , education This is an interesting article that presents some interesting commentary on students today. It is very brief but makes some excellent points. Quotes from the Article: Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State University-Dominguez Hills, has long studied "the Net generation," the first to have grown up with the Internet, not to mention cellphones. In Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation (Palgrave Macmillan), he helps parents understand social networks. His advice: Talk to your kids, learn the technology and don't panic. USA TODAY's Janet Kornblum spoke with the author. They're very self-motivated. This world encourages us to multitask. I think it encourages kids to be much less patient. More terse. This generation spends time at home — connected. Kids have to be social. It's all part of the preteen and t...

I am very impressed with how Chris Pirillo does this video. (I love the video and the chat at the bottom.) I know of several people who really like the Drupal and find it interesting. Of course, for me, for now, Ning is perfect and I don't have to do the upgrades behind the scenes, but I can see a great case for Drupal where you have embedded tech support. This video is literally brilliant! (I've always enjoyed Chris, ever since I saw him laugh uncontrollably on live TechTV . It is so funny.) I guess the tough thing is that we all want the newest features. And I want to remind schools that connecting within your school is vital (See my Five Phases of Flattening Your Classroom ) BUT you MUST also connect online with other classrooms. I also like the term he said, "I don't want a social network but a socially relevant network..." tag: Chris Pirillo , drupal , open source

I'm testing the feature that lets me post annotations and links from diigo to here. I know that many of you are getting sick of hearing of this little tool and if you're a beginner, perhaps you should wait, however, for me, I'm finding it useful. Forgive me as I learn to work through the kinks here. It may be bumpy at first, but this gives me a more robust way to share links -- many of you have e-mailed me that you like my link goodness best! This way it can become part of my blog... I'm still not sure I want it here, and yet there are STILL people who go to the site directly and don't understand RSS. FeedFlare™ Catalog tags: blogging , twitter These are the cool feedflares that you can add in addition to those already used in Feedflare -- for bloggers using Feedburner to RSS things. There is a new one called twit this. Streamline It Part I: Diigo or Bust : Metanoia tags: diigo , edu_newapp , techintegrator Ryan Bretag says, "Okay, here it is. I’m dumping ...

This was literally my first post on Tech Learning back in November of 2006 and I forgot to cross post it over here. I find myself referring back to it a lot as content filtration policies come under review and I wanted to share it here. I believe it is still relevant today. Content Filtration: A little dirt for your health? Modern science has invented numerous methods of removing allergens from our lives. We have air purifiers, hand sanitizers, and anti-dust mite methodologies. What should have happened is a decrease in allergies, but what has happened is a dramatic increase . When asked about how to help kids with allergies, researchers have made the bold statement , " Let them eat dirt! " As I read these articles, I was struck with the parallel to the content filtration debate that rages in education today. Who can re...

a simulpost with TechLearning The Five Phases of Flattening a Classroom Right now, Julie and I are both doing several things to help duplicate ourselves and help others understand what it takes to conduct a Flat Classroom project or Horizon Project. I've outlined what I believe are the five phases I take my classes through to prepare them for independent, self-directed levels of collaboration. I suspect these ruminations will evolve. Phase One: The INTRA-connected Classroom First, one must have a classroom that is connected electronically to itself. This includes: A walled blog (I use Ning .) Intra-class Instant messaging and Skyping I teach this using a backchannel in some of our class discussions. By observing a live backchannel chat, I teach appropriate behavior and what it means to be a professional student. I also have them video and audio skype each other. Intra-class collaboration using a public wiki First, someone they sit next to. Next, someone who sits on the ot...

via Stephen Downes and Miguel Guhlin Those of us using wikis find the latest slide to be added to Don Tapscott's Anthony Williams' arsenal of no surprise. Anthony says: "The model is courtesy of Chris Rasmussen at US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. I presented this slide during a talk I gave at Nokia today and someone pointed out that the happy faces on the left probably ought to be frowning — he had a good point." This incredible chart says it all about the importance of wiki collaboration. This should also be a message to bloated bureaucracies looking to squeeze that last bit of efficiency out of already overworked staff. However, learning to wiki isn't just about vocational "goodness," but rather about an essential skill moving forward. Just as we teach word processing, wikis and blogs have to be standard inclusion. I'd just hate to see wikis and blogs be taught as poorly as some teachers teach word processing. Maybe someone will l...

One of my extremely excited and talented assistant project managers for Horizon Project has set up an appointment to instant message the project manager in Doha, Qatar today. They had an appointment for 8 am and 12:30 noon! (Uhm -- we got out at noon for spring break!). As they made their intros and said hello, first she exclaimed to the class: "Hey, guys -- they go to school on Sunday through Thursday." Another one of my students didn't "get" what she was saying and said, "Let them just TRY to make ME go to school on Sunday." "No, you don't understand, she said, their weekend is Friday and Saturday." Now this is interesting because I had told my students this... in fact, I have told them multiple times, however, it was this exchange that got their attention. It was this exchange that TAUGHT them! Then, as I peeked over her shoulder (as I always do when my students are instant messaging), I saw this conversation. (I got permission to t...

I'm experimenting with posting directly from diigo -- I've annotated and highlighted from the original post from my friend Shmuly Tennenhaus. My friend Smuly is a youtube expert -- he's been on many nightly news programs and in newspapers (see the New York Times article on him.) I'm still turning over the thoughts from his blog post that he shared.. he has made a few good points that I had to go back to teacherTube to see. We have to use teachertube on horizon because it is the only video sharing service that is unblocked in all of our schools. We are cross posting to youtube for those schools that allow youtube access. SchoolFinder Blog » YouTube Versus TeacherTube Annotated My notes: He has been cited multiple times for his videos and has been on more news tv shows than i can count. He does know video! - post by coolcatteacher Many schools do block it for bandwidth reasons. - post by coolcatteacher Some highlights from the article: "Video-sharing ...

I received this e-mail today. I've edited out who it is from and the author's name who is requesting it for privacy reasons... I have several research topics that I've uncovered for this request but NEED to know what you have. (Don't have time to post the links.) Please share your insights, projects, and RESEARCH! Thanks! " Vicki - Do you have evaluation studies showing the impact of Flat Classroom project or Horizon on academic achievement (or other social benefits - like higher school attendance, fewer behavior problems, etc.)??? ***AUTHOR**** is looking for evidence [if] the new model of pedagogy (interactive, student-focused, uses inquiry methods, customized for individual learners) like your programs use are “working.” In addition to evidence from your programs, if you could direct us to any other evidence from programs similar to yours that you know of – that would be great. We’re working against tight book deadlines now (yay, the end is near), so any...

Sunday after going to church and eating lunch with my family, I got to relax by the pond, watch the millows meander and the dragonflies hum as I fished for catfish. I enjoyed being "out" of it. We went home and watched the The Pride of the Yankees , about baseball great Lou Gehrig (which is worth seeing just to see the Real Babe Ruth play himself) and had a very interesting discussion about how quickly a person arises into "fame" and then can be snuffed out due to health reasons or retirement. It was a fascinating discussion with the kids and my husband about going from being "It" to being "Out." (Gehrig died in his thirties from the disease named after him.) My children observed that that seems to be the problem with Britney Spears here in the states. They think that she will, "Do whatever it takes to stay on the front page... not able to deal with the fact that she's no longer ' it. '" I also see this in the blogos...

Sometimes I just like to share the things that are happening in my classroom. They may seem old hat to me (and my students) but understanding HOW these things work is tough for some people just learning what is happening. 1) Computer Science (10th) This is the class that is participating in the Horizon Project. We're continuing the four week "handshake" period before the start of the project on April 15th. Why a handshake? We've found that the most difficult part of the project is helping the students meet or "handshake." This is also difficult because we have to help all of the teachers get up to speed AND there are a lot of holidays that happen around this time -- which vary all over the world. So, during the handshake, we: Join all the members to the wiki and Ning. The teachers go through the Getting Started Checklist We hold weekly teachers meetings in Elluminate and record it for those who cannot attend. The teachers have a private google group th...

Did We Just Witness a Twitter Marriage Proposal? via kwout We are increasingly linked together by electronics in ways we can only just barely begin to comprehend. And as I jumped into twitter for a moment this morning... I saw this tweet from @xoost -- and followed it to Mashable , which said: " Max Kiesler has proposed to Emily Chang over Twitter (took him fifteen years, sheesh). And she said yes! " Is this legit? Is it real? It could be! And if it is not, I can guarantee this... it will be! And remember, although we use electronics to communicate, there is still a need for face to face interaction... don't think we'll be making babies via twitter any time soon! tag: twitter , trends , news , Max Keisler , Emily Chang

Now this is a fascinating idea! I cannot pass along EVERYTHING I get, however, this is a really great one that I've got to share. There will be a 24-hour multilingual conference about using Second Life to Teach. It will be held entirely within Edunation at Second life -- the times are: Starts: 10am PST (18.00 GMT) 23 May 2008 Ends: 10am PST (18.00 GMT) 24 May 2008 This is what I like about this. What is the best way to teach language? Immersion. But not every child can afford a trip to Spain or Italy or China or wherever. With 3D immersive experiences, I believe (researchers please listen) that we could see richer, more meaningful ways to increase language learning. I believe that languages represent an INCREDIBLE opportunity for 3D immersive worlds. So, pioneering language teachers, get a friend to take you into Second Life (DO NOT GO IN ALONE!) and learn how to navigate. And sign up and head on over to this conference. Here is their slideshare: | View | Upload your own Th...