Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

The 50 most significant moments of Internet history - Crave at CNET.co.uk Received this great article from Kathy Schrock about the 50 most significant moments in Internet history. Fascinating article from CNET. tags: education , learning , computers , innovation , technology

Woogi World - Teaching kids Internet safety, life values, and fun! Amanda Stone and the teachers in Hoover City use this to teach internet safety. They have to pass certain courses. The teachers set up the student accounts and the teachers manage their own classroom -- controlling their buddy lists and everything. The teachers connect w/ their students on the weekends and off times w/ their kids. Great entry to a virtual world!!! It bans them if they do innappropriate things -- so their goal for 5th grade is to get zero bans for the year. The teacher can control it. Each student have their own woogie -- eg. Davisteacher would be me -- my students would be davis1 davis2, etc. Pretty cool. tags: education , learning , innovation , digitalcitizenship , technology Engage08 » Wiki Pizzaz Cool wiki page - Amanda Stone from Hoover City schools in Alabama along with the help of Carla Marchant, tech coach in Hoover City, Alabama made this amazing wiki page with so many things that can be ...

Today, Finn McKenty a strategist for Kaleidescope , a product design company, and Greener Grass , gave me a quick view of some concepts for future classroom design. I felt my whole world turn over. I've been telling my students that one day we'll laugh about how we had computers on our desks b/c they will become integrated into everything - walls, desks, and we just won't need the PC anymore, but I didn't really UNDERSTAND what I was saying. Now, maybe, I do. Take a look at this board. Just a whiteboard???? NO!!!! Now, look at this picture: What you see are individual, microsoft surface enabled BOARDS in the upright position and individual, Microsoft Surface enabled DESKS in the background. Boards are desks, desks are boards.  Upright, they separate the room and allow for group and individual projects.  Laying flat, they are desks for more traditional environments.  And, they roll. Some schools have janitors that put dots on the fl...

Engage08 » Advanced Wikis Working on wiki preso for Saturday -- advanced wikis for elementary teachers. This will be a work in progress until Saturday. tags: education , wiki Engage08 » home This is going to be a very exciting event for Hoover City, Alabama Elementary School teachers this Saturday. They will be ustreaming the event live. Check the wiki for the schedule, but my first preso, "Excellence Driven Education" will be on at 8 am CDT until 8:45 am CDT (that is central US time.) Focus will be on differentiating with technology as you teach. This applies to all teaching scenarios. tags: education , learning , christian

Firefox ate my blog post. OK, I had a lovely post on digital citizenship, but Firefox downloaded a new version and decided to reboot in the midst - so guess it will have to wait for another day. Been noticing a little instability in Firefox 3, but then again firefox is so far superior to anything else I've used, that it is just my favorite browser.  I love how my banking services still make me log into their systems with IE, although firefox seems to be more safe than IE. Guess I'll post later.  Goodnight.

Technorati: State of the Blogosphere 2008 - Day 2: The What And Why of Blogging State of the blogosphere is a great read for those who want to understand it. I agree with a lot of these things. They are going to be releasing future portions of this report - we're only on day 2. tags: blogosphere , blogging , education , technorati , edublogger A Difference: How Flickr Threw a Switch In My Head I love this post by Darren Kuropatwa who talks about the transformation many, including himself, experience from just taking a photograph a day of their own person and surroundings. I find this fascinating and the links are great. This is a very rich post and insight into the types of things that cause change. To me, reflecting on my blog is sort of an internal snapshot of my thinking at the moment and has been fundamental to my own transformation. Sometimes when we observe ourselves from a distance, we are able to make changes right up under our nose. tags: education , flickr , photogra...

I get quite  a few books to review, but this one had me captured as soon as I opened it.  Reimagining Education by Jerry Goebel is obviously written by a man who loves kids who can be tough to love.  Although, he does work with a faith based program, so many things he writes about are just plain common sense. Although his suggestions aren't written from a classroom teachers standpoint, many of the suggestions are things I do in my own classroom.  Some of my favorite quotes sure to spark debate: "children begin to confuse love with performance-based approval. 'I will love you if you do what I want.' That is not love. That is manipulation.  Love is offering a person unconditional dignity . Manipulation is offering performance-based approval. " (p 24) On the issues raging in science and religion: "The true duality faced faced by today's youth and adults is not between science and religion, but between scientists who overstep their discipline and r...

Brightstorm coming soon Beta gives you free access to a lot of course material for Brightstorm for at least the next few weeks. If you're having trouble and would like some help, sign up. Only two weeks left. tags: education , beta , edu_newapp

The Dead Sea takes in water but there is no outlet to the sea.  Thus, it is salty, bitter, and generally just... dead. People who are a dead sea are always taking, using up things and become bitter. Dead Sea people never give anything to another person and never share. There is no, "here let me show you," but only "let me take from you." Dead Sea people suck the life out of others.  They sit in classes, and professional development and never give back anything but bitterness. Don't be a Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is benign but still harmful -- I could see an ancient famished traveler running to the beautiful blue shores thirsting for a drink with a horrible mouth full of salty, bitter nastiness.  No fish to cook, no water to drink.  Just a deceptive body of water masquerading as an oasis that provides no sustenance for life. What are you?  A Live or Dead? Are YOU getting Bitter or Getting Better?

Edu-Nerd Welcome another new blogger to the edublogosphere! tags: education , edublogger How to Create a Google Account and Set Up Google Feed Reader | Dipping into the Blogpond Information on how to set up a google Feed Reader. Pretty step by step tutorial. tags: education , rss Edublogs.tv Edublogs video site. Will be interested to see if this is a faster load than teacher tube. tags: education , video , edu_newapp A Journey of the Heart: The Call to Teaching. A set of essays on the nature and nobility of teaching. You can download the text of this on this site. tags: education , teaching , research , researcher_thoughtleader , all_teachers The Sudan Project Part of the MICDS course from St. Louis -- excited about what they will be doing on this. Elizabeth Helfant is helping lead the project. Social entrepreneurship is so important. tags: education , darfur , edu_trends

Recently, I talked with a close friend who is a teacher in a local public school.  She discussed budget cuts and all of the things happening that have made the classroom a bit stressful, and then she threw out something I've heard before: "The toughest things about cutting back is that some administrative positions are just unnecessary and have been made for people who can do nothing else.  Here we are cutting a hundred dollars here and there and these one or two people represent at least 60,000 a piece and offer no direct benefit to the classroom." To me, times are lean and mean.  The classroom should be like a well maintained car and administration should be like the pit crew.   They should give the classroom the tools they need, encouragement, a mission, and quick "pit stops" to improve and keep them going. What is happening instead is that some of the pit crew are opening up the trunk and piling in lead weights.  Others are siphoning off gas as teacher ti...

College of Engineering at Georgia Tech "Engineering and Computing Career Conference (ECC) is a two day conference for high school girls to explore engineering majors offered at Georgia Tech. The 2008 ECC will be held on October 23 & 24 at Georgia Tech's Bill Moore Student Success Center." This is a great event to pass along to your female students who excel in math and science. To be held at my alma mater. tags: education , math_teacher , science_teacher , conference , student_conference , science , math

I've switched over my lesson planning and life to Google Calendar, so now I have a public calendar for those of you who might want to stop by and say hello when I'm in your area.  It is indeed an honor and a privilege to be asked to share and I'm very excited about the upcoming events for this year, including next weekend in the area where my Mother is from.  Mom's from Trussville, but I'll be over in Hoover City Schools where Amanda Stone has put together a gangbuster Saturday called Engage08 .  Looks like I'll be able to ustream the keynote at 8 am CDT. Spending more time with webinars and skyping into college classrooms as can be fit in- these are great because I can share and then go back to playing umpire! conference education learning teaching Vicki Davis coolcatteacher cool cat teacher

Digi Teen This is our digital citizenship project for the ninth grade, the Ning will become active over the next few weeks. We are excited tags: education , digitalcitizenship , technology_integrator Internet TV: So Close I Can Almost Touch It - Columns by PC Magazine Internet Television is closer than you think - what will this mean for schools? tags: education Learning with an audience « Effective Digital Classrooms Dean Groom interviews his ninght grade students about how social networks affected their learning. This is a reflection of their project and a great listen if you want to hear what STUDENTS say. We need more reflective student voices like this. tags: education , web2

We've been using our Diigo classroom (will be coming out of Beta) and testing it. So, this is what I need some Diigo users out there to do for me.  (HELP ME TEST IT!) Here are the recent links from my 9th grade computer fundamentals course: <a href="http://groups.diigo.com/groups/whs_cf" >Group Computer Fundamentals - WHS Bookmarks</a> If you have diigo and a diigo toolbar, go to one of the links, and then open up your diigo sidebar (click the small page w/ green plus on the left side of the toolbar) and see if you can see who annotated and made the comment (you are supposed to).  Then, see if you can contact my student or how much information you can see on them.  I just want to know and test this before we use w/ flat classroom. I'm also wondering if there is a way for you to figure out how to get to my computer fundamentals class homepage?  Not going to share the link, just wondering if you can figure it out or if it is possible. This is still...

Virtual Ability Island This is a write up from Jacek Antonelli, an artist and Scripter in Second Life, who attended Louise Later's session in Second Life on accesibilities in Second Life. They reviewed two scripts that will help people with limited or no vision enjoy second life without visual feedback! This is so exciting! They need volunteers to help them develop the scripts - everyone working on this project is either blind or has a disability. Now, this is something to get behind. Great job Jacek! tags: secondlife , web3d , education , edu_trends ConverStations: Wallflowers: An Important Part of the Conversation - Still I really enjoyed reading Mike Sansone's blog post about Wallflowers and how they are part of the conversation. He has a great way of putting this. I think it is a good read for those trying to understand blogging and social media. tags: education , edublogger Creative Web Tools For and By Kids / FrontPage A project for ages 8-12 year old has sprung up a...

OK, this is a little geeky, but the result is very very nice if you're going to run a project over multiple years. This is the third Flat Classroom project and the second Digiteen .  Well, what do we do with all the links out there and making sure that everything is linked together?  We've recently "messed around with it" and came up with a nice little innovation.  Net cost per project if you buy domains in bulk (and get a discount) $16.45.  I bought the domains www.flatclassroomproject.com and www.digiteen.net.  Then, I bought URL forwarding -- yes, we could have done this other ways, but with all of the services we are using, this is the best way. This is what the URL's look like right now: OK, so what does this do? Well, now: www.flatclassroomproject.com takes you to the new project - the link never changes. ning.flatclassroomproject.com takes us to the current Ning (if we ever decide to change it. wiki.flatclassroomproject.com takes us to t...

A quarter million teachers to get free wikis | Gaming and Culture - CNET News Case Study: When it pays to take care of educators. I like the people at wikispaces and am proud of what they've accomplished. I also appreciate all of the others who have given away ad free sites, but certainly being the first to do it has made a difference and earned the loyalty of many like me who know that ad free is the only way to be in education. I like this article, not just because it touts wikispaces (which I love, as you know) BUT, it sends a message to other companies that taking care of educators makes a huge difference. Congratulations, Adam and friends. tags: education , wiki

People with special needs and learning differences are near and dear to my heart, so this is one that has to be passed along. Whether or not Second Life is the platform of our future, if you're attending conferences like NECC and listening to academicians, 3D virtual worlds USED WELL can reach kids who we're struggling to reach everywhere. Today, this is what is happening: Louise Later (SL), who is legally blind, will be with us to discuss how Second Life is used by the visually impaired. She will demonstrate two scripted objects currently under development designed specifically for the visually impaired: a mobility cane and a guide dog, and she will also talk about how EVA (an screen readin g tool) benefits visually impaired users, and her work with Virtual Ability , a Colorado-based startup developing products to assist people with different type of disabilities to utilize Second Life. For more about accessibility in Second Life, click here: http://wiki.secondlife.com...

Another conversation between Tom Harrison , from Delaware, and I as he embarks on using wikis in the classroom.  You can follow all of the "letters" in this conversation by going to the Tag for " Tom Harrison " on this blog. " Vicki, Thanks again for the prompt and remarkedly thorough response to my questions.  Had I taken the time (or thought of it!) I could have looked into the "members" section under "Manage Space" and seen that I am set up as administrator and the rest of my students are just members.  One worry resolved.  I also found a Wikispace warranty (permission slip) somewhere on the web that I have modified and printed out.  Tough punishment for first offenders will send a message. Hey, I'd love the link for the permission slip to share with others.  And yes, whether you can use  a wiki long term is determined on the FIRST day.  Mom always said, you can never be tougher than you are on the first day of class, and the sa...

We're so excited to share this announcement - we had so many schools apply and have done our best to get a good fit for the project AND find ways for every teacher who applied to be involved in some way. Unfortunately, we've had a few challenges reaching everyone who applied as some firewalls won't let us through. If you are one of those teachers who applied and you have not heard from us -- PLEASE check your spam folder -- we've been trying to reach you. Here is our official announcement. The Flat Classroom Project 2008 For Immediate Release - September 15, 2008 Doha, Qatar and Camilla, GA USA The organizers of the Flat Classroom project are excited to announce the selection of the 17 participating classrooms for the 2008 project.  These schools represent more than 275 students, from eight countries, and will run from October 1 - December 4, 2008. The Flat Classroom Project is a global Hands-on project for senior high school students which was founded by Juli...

Another installment the ongoing conversations between Tom Harrison, 7th grade teacher in Delaware, and me. In Email Letter 1 , we talked about wikis, Letter 2 was a follow up on wikis and blogs, in Letter 3 we talk about wiki text, diigo and bookmark sharing, and staying motivated when other teachers seem not to care about what we're doing and in this letter we talk about privacy letters, wiki wars, and plaigarism. I am in blue on this email: "Vicki, I was talking to my student teacher today about our wikis and how I hope they will be used in this upcoming unit.  In our discussions several things came up that I have some questions about. 1.  I created the wikispace for each class.  Each student in each class has a username and password to that class wikispace.  If I post a list of assignments on that space, how do I prevent that page from being edited by a student?  I know I can lock a page, but it seems that all that is necessary is to select the page...

Telstra launches social network for kids - Internet - iTnews Australia In Australia, a new social network for children ages 6-12 accessible only to students and teachers at Australian primary schools is launched. Called SuperClubsPLUS -- what a GREAT idea. Now, this is something other countries should be doing -- flattening at least the schools under their jurisdiction. Hope they have their disciplinary and reporting issues worked out b/c any where two students are gathered, online or off, there are always issues. Still don't understand why they are calling it a SOCIAL NETWORK. It is an educational network -- unless they are going to let it be social. tags: education , educational_networking , digitalcitizenship , techintegrator Mindless Drivel Or Education The Way It Should Be - Seedlings Excellent post from Ernie Easter about how some in his state view the "cutting edge" of technology. It is insightful and powerful, but surely something many are seeing. I joined t...

Google Chrome is the new web browser released by Google.  Web browser pretty much sums it up at this point because Firefox users will not find any add ons.  Adobe Flash and Apple Quicktime ARE supported.  You can see my private wiki for my 7th grade homeroom class in the browser screen to the left. But don't count Google out on this one, they've done a LOT of things to make web browsing better.  And if they add some plug ins on top, it is going to be pretty sweet. I found myself right clicking to bookmark something to Diigo (and thus send it to my blog.)  Nope! Then, I had a cool screenshot and wanted to use my Fireshot Screenshot program. Not that Either. But there are some things that the Firefox and IE developers SHOULD integrate into their browsers because they make so much sense! 1) One Box Fits All This makes so much sense.  The box at the top is a search box or a place to type in the URL or pull information out of your history.  R...

Bizarre (and Hilarious) English Metaphors and Similes I may have shared these before but I needed a laugh as I've been grading for eons for progress reports on Monday. Have a laugh and share yours too! tags: fundaymonday , humor

Q&A: Union president: Teachers key to improving education | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register I find the comments on this post to be so confirming of the thought that teachers aren't respected as they used to be. I still believe teaching is the most noble calling on earth. If you're from Iowa, I think you should comment, but remember, when you do, do so with kindness and respect that speaks well of your profession. tags: education Games, quizzes, hangman, math games, same game, roman numeral games — FactMonster.com Found this cool site, Fact Monster, to use with my son for flash cards. I've made flash cards but they like the online video game versions better. I just type in his answers for him and we make a game out of it. tags: education , edu_newapp Remember The Milk - Blog How to add your remember the milk tasks to netvibes. I use the igoogle widget, but the netvibes widget is very powerful also -- you'll get more out of this handy tool if you add...