Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Manitou Technology - Flat Classroom 200 Duane Robertson has some fantastic examples of how he gets students started on editing their wiki. I love how his second step says "become part of the family." The use of checklists and pointers helps so much in collaboration and helping people get started. tags: education news flatclass wiki_book connection Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Every Classroom Matters: What is a MOOC? Why does it Matter? So excited to announce the Every Classroom Matters online radio show (podcast) http://bit.ly/XAozCY If you go to the site on your ipad or iphone, you can click "itunes" and it will add the show to your podcast feed or you can play it. The first show I talked to Dr. Lee Graham, a cofounder of #diffimooc about MOOCs and how colleges can actually make money giving away teaching for free. What does this model look like? It was a great conversation and I"ll be sharing more about it. Please listen and let me know what you think and if you have a suggestion for a new show, follow the link. Thanks! tags: news teaching mooc all_teachers bestpractices Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

8 Studies Show iPads in the Classroom Improve Education Yes, this is the article. But you know what - if you use the ipad as a doorstop - does it make the classroom better? iPads IN the classroom don't make it better, I would argue that technology, used properly, can improve achievement. But technology used improperly is like the human voice used improperly -it can harm. Anyway, since this is making the rounds, you might want to take a look. tags: news research ipads ipadchat tumblr ipad education Are you a Thought Leader? | The Social Media Hat I love these thoughts about being a thought leader. I think also, this could be said of leaders in schools as well. "It's important that if you want to be a Thought Leader in your industry, you ta...

AJ Cronin tells the story of a cliff on the Channel Isle of Jersey where Victor Hugo , despondent, in exile, sick and persecuted by the France he so loved, climbed. Every evening he traversed this jagged cliff and, looking into the sunset, meditated in quiet. When he was done, he would stand, renewed, pick up a pebble, stone or large rock and toss it into the sea raging below. Some children who played nearby every night noticed Hugo and pushed forward a young lass who asked, "Monseir Hugo, why do you come here to throw these stones?" Victor Hugor, author of such great literature about the tragedy and love of life, smiled and said "Not stones, my child, I am throwing self-pity into the sea." (Adapted from AJ Cronin as told in Everyday Greatness by Stephen Covey , p 430). Self pity into the sea. When gazing upon the lives of the great among us, whether they be statesmen and women, authors, or humanitarians, we often see the product of their lives without a no...

Grades 4-5 Student Center Activities: Literature (CCSS) The Florida Center for Reading Research has created an incredibly useful set of downloadable activities aligned to common core standards for fourth and fifth grade students. If you're teaching reading, you'll want to refer to this and dowlnoad some of these PDF's. tags: common core csschat engchat teaching literature K4STEMLAB | Fueling students' love of learning through Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (S.T.E.M.) at Northfield Elementary School I love how STEMlab teacher Kevin Jarrett shares what students are learning in his STEMlab. The lab focuses on engineering, science, technology, and math and is such a powerful learning experience. I like this format better than just "te...

"Every now and then, go away, take a little relaxation, because when you come back to your work, your judgement will be surer. To remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgement. Go some distance away, because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen." Leonardo da Vinci Today, I challenge you to start one habit that you'll be thankful you did one week from now. One habit. The trouble with this time in the school year is that we are largely, too close to our work and I think we tend to lose our power of judgement. Think about the times when tempers flare the most and when petty disagreements happen? There are times I think, "Really, they disagreed about that?" or I back up and look at myself and say "Really, I'm upset about this?" Some people call it Margin, others call it R&R, and others call it "getting away" but I cal...

achievethecore.org / Steal These Tools Free tools for implementing common core standards in the US. tags: education news free common core K4STEMLAB | Fueling students' love of learning through Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (S.T.E.M.) at Northfield Elementary School I love how STEMlab teacher Kevin Jarrett shares what students are learning in his STEMlab. The lab focuses on engineering, science, technology, and math and is such a powerful learning experience. I like this format better than just "technology" lab because it integrates what you're trying to be not just a checklist of point and clicks that will be outdated. "This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our...

ICTs in Science Education - GIS.GPS Virtual Field Trips Geocaching and GPS are important parts of today's nature-based field trips. This is a useful website for this. Of course, now many of us are using smart phones for this capability and many of these links need to be updated to reflect this, however, I believe we're going to see some very interesting gps-enabled field trip and documentation tools for this. tags: science gps teaching Properties of Rational Numbers | CK-12 Foundation Here is an example of resources, writing, and flashcards at ck-12. This is a fascinating resource and has free downloadable resources as well. tags: education teaching math ebooks ...

Child Art Aged 4.5 Person 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Get parent permission for artwork, photographs, and use of technology. Here are some samples to get you started. Many of you have asked for permission form samples, so here is a copy of a list I have compiled a list to reference as part of my upcoming book, Collaborative Writing in the Cloud from Eye on Education . As always, ask what will help you, I'm here to serve. Remember, I'm a teacher, not a lawyer, and this is not intended to give any legal advice. As always, check any permission forms you use with your local administrators and local counsel. I do hope this list will help dispel the myth that you can't do that. There are teachers doing creative things all around the world and getting permission. Just search, you can find even more than this. I will update this list in 2 places: Permissions and AUP Samples List [Diigo] My Flattening Classrooms Evernote Notebook (has all original pdfs and d...

Virtual Participants for Flat Classroom Conference 2013 Japan - Sign up Here The Flat Classroom conference is coming up March 7-10. We have an option for receiving credit (if you're international) and also for full participation. Virtual participants are an important part of our face to face conference as we seek to create experiences that flatten the conference as we collaborate in a problem-based environment. You'll have a team and work with them to create a project that can be brought to the world based upon principles that WORK. Click on this link to learn more about how you can participate in the conference remotely FOR FREE. ;-) We want you. tags: news teaching education flatclassroomconference japan tumblr Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Virtual Participants for Flat Classroom Conference 2013 Japan - Sign up Here The Flat Classroom conference is coming up March 7-10. We have an option for receiving credit (if you're international) and also for full participation. Virtual participants are an important part of our face to face conference as we seek to create experiences that flatten the conference as we collaborate in a problem-based environment. You'll have a team and work with them to create a project that can be brought to the world based upon principles that WORK. Click on this link to learn more about how you can participate in the conference remotely FOR FREE. ;-) We want you. tags: news teaching education flatclassroomconference japan tumblr Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Sitting at the table drinking a tepid cup of coffee watching Shadow-cat attack the dragons in my son's bookbag on top of my son's drafted CHAMPs poster as my husband finishes breakfast while reading his devotional on his iPad, I snapped this picture. The flowers from Valentine's day are wilted but I don't want to take them off the table. I head to school in just a moment after reading devotionals of God's unfailing love and stories of simplicity from Thoreau this morning. My digital picture frame forwards in the background of the many memories I have with my children and family as I get a text from my sisters wishing me good morning. But still, as I ponder today, a sense of being overwhelmed comes over me like the flash flood watch my area is under until Saturday morning. My life is a flash flood. Such is the life of a teacher. In the business world, I knew I had to facilitate meetings far ahead of time and they stood on my calendar like bright lights beckon...

Totally Free Commercial Use Images ✔ The Ultimate Photo Resource Guide As students work on projects, permissions for photos is important, this website lists 50 of the top places to get free photos. tags: teaching photography digital citizenship permissions digital_responsibilities Digital Photography Lessons for High School Classes - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com Some interesting lessons for teaching photography with students in high school classes. I like to use photos on flickr as we discuss the rule of thirds, and other techniques.  tags: teaching photography technology 10 Ways To Use Avatars In Education | Digital Learnin...