Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Thomas Arnett from the Christensen Institute Shares What the Insitute has learned from administrators and teachers about best practices for teaching during the pandemic. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e765 Sponsor:  Screencastify . This year, I introduced the free screencasting tool, Screencastify, the first week of school to all of my students so they could record screencasts.   Screencastify isn’t just a screen recorder. You can record, edit, and submit to students quickly as they can to you. The new version of Screencastify has analytics so you can know who is watching and when and more. Head over to  screencastify.com  today. Thomas Arnett - Bio as Submitted Thomas Arnett is a senior research fellow for the Clayton Christensen Institute. His work focuses on using the Theory of Disruptive Innovation to study innovative instructional models and their potential to scale student-centered learning in K–12 education. Thomas began his work in education as a m...

These are challenging times, but what if you're trying to find some normalcy amidst the challenges? Today's guest, Michelle Blanchet, co-author of the Startup Teacher Playbook talks about a method she teaches teachers to help determine the specific issues of concern so that improvements can be made and the teacher can have a sense of forward progress. Social Emotional Learning isn't just for students, this episode focuses on teachers. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e764 Today’s sponsor is NaliniKIDS , creator of  wordworkouts.org , a fantastic free SEL resource that will bring reflection and movement to your classroom. At wordworkouts.org you can select a word as the focus to help students get in the right mindset for a day of learning while making connections between academics and daily life. Wordworkouts.org is great for morning meetings, brain breaks, class transitions or advisory and is a wonderful relationship-building tool for your classroom community. Michelle Bla...

Tiffany Wycoff, the co-author of the bestselling book, Blended Learning in Action , talks about the state of blended learning today. She shares how some teachers are battling blended learning burnout but that it is necessary for learning today and how we move forward. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e763 Sponsor: Screencastify . This year, I introduced the free screencasting tool, Screencastify, the first week of school to all of my students so they could record screencasts.   Screencastify isn’t just a screen recorder. You can record, edit, and submit to students quickly as they can to you. The new version of Screencastify has analytics so you can know who is watching and when and more. Head over to screencastify.com today. Tiffany Wycoff - Bio as Submitted After spending many years in the classroom teaching and several as a school principal, Tiffany co-founded LINC and now serves as Chief Operating Officer at LINC. She is the co-author of the bestselling book, Blended Le...

Dr. Marc Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and lead developer of RULER , a systemic, evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning reflects on where students are now and how to reach them. This Social Emotional Learning (SEL) focused episode is relevant for Fall 2021 as students and teachers return to school. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e762   Today’s sponsor is NaliniKIDS , creator of wordworkouts.org , a fantastic free SEL resource that will bring reflection and movement to your classroom. At wordworkouts.org you can select a word as the focus to help students get in the right mindset for a day of learning while making connections between academics and daily life. Wordworkouts.org is great for morning meetings, brain breaks, class transitions or advisory and is a wonderful relationship-building tool for your classroom community. Dr. Marc Brackett - Bio as Submitted Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is founding director of the Yale C...

Financial literacy is a must-teach topic for students, a topic Kailen Stover has been teaching for years. In this show, she shares what every student needs to know and how to teach them. Money matters. Let's talk about how. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e761   Sponsor: Everfi sponsored this episode. If you need standards-aligned, digital resources to teach real-world topics like financial literacy, communication skills, leadership, and SEL, social-emotional learning, then EVERFI has a course for you. This past school year, EVERFI had over 72,000 active courses with 4.8 million student enrollments. These digital resources are free to K-12 schools, so every teacher has access to them, no matter your classroom setting. From sports to banking, you will find a topic with a real-world angle that your students will love. So go to get.EVERFI.com/coolcat . And when you do, sign up to get a virtual swag bag full of free goodies and check out the show notes for links.  Kailen Sto...

Some awesome changes have happened with Google Apps over summer 2021. In today's show, Eric Curts talks about Google Classroom, Google Docs, and other Google apps and what has happened that is new and cool and how these changes will help classrooms improve this school year. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e760 Sponsor: Today's podcast is sponsored by Google and their Applied Digital Skills Curriculum . All opinions my own and that of my guest. Eric Curts - Bio As Submitted Eric has been in education for 30 years, and currently serves as a Technology Integration Specialist for SPARCC in Canton, Ohio where he oversees G Suite for Education implementation, training, and support, as well as other technology integration initiatives. Eric is an authorized Google Education Trainer and Innovator, and provides training to schools, organizations, and conferences throughout Ohio and across the country. He is a co-leader of the Ohio Google Educator Group at https://bit.ly/gegohio . Er...

In today's show, we are working to develop empathy for some of our most struggling students - students who are refugees. Looking at Syrian Refugee students in Lebanon, we are spotlighting students who need our encouragement and help. This is not an easy topic, but we should all consider. Take the time to talk to students in your school who are refugees and help others develop empathy and reach out to help them. We all need someone to help us. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e759 Sponsor:  Advancement Courses is sponsoring DonorsChoose projects from August 18 – September 24. Submit your project to  https://www.advancementcourses.com/give/submityourproject/  for the chance to be funded. Remember that you can receive 20% off their online professional development courses with the code COOL20 . With this coupon, a 3 grad credit course for continuing education, salary advancement, or recertification is only $359. So, go to  advancementcourses.com/coolcat  to learn mo...

Nancy Barile has an incredible story of how she uses the show The Walking Dead to engage learners in writing skills and more. Her administration has let her recraft the curriculum around this show with pretty astounding results.   Sponsor:  Advancement Courses is sponsoring DonorsChoose projects from August 18 – September 24. Submit your project to  https://www.advancementcourses.com/give/submityourproject/  for the chance to be funded. Remember that you can receive 20% off their online professional development courses with the code COOL20. With this coupon, a 3 grad credit course for continuing education, salary advancement, or recertification is only $359. So, go to  advancementcourses.com/coolcat  to learn more and use the code COOL20. Never stop learning! Nancy Barile -  Bio as Submitted Nancy Barile has been a public high school English Language Arts teacher working with kids in Massachusetts for over twenty-seven years. In 200...

Students are coming back to school and many of them are struggling with reading. While this has always been a challenge, this year it may be even more so. In this episode, literacy expert Pam Allyn gives advice to teachers in specifically in grades 6-12 when they have students struggling to read. https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e757/   Sponsor: Today’s sponsor, Literal is an app to help students in grades 6-12 engage with reading. The books literally are broken into text message-sized chunks making reading easier, plus Literal has classroom management features for teachers. Go to https://www.literalapp.com   and use the promo code “coolcat” to get a free Educator account to try Literal in your classroom. Pam Allyn - Bio As Submitted Pam Allyn is an award-winning education innovator, author of books for families and educators, public speaker and experienced business executive in the area of educational products and sales. She is the founder of the award-winning global no...