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Spotlight on Practical Everyday Teaching Problems From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter As a teacher, there are times many of us will substitute for our peers. Substitutes are fantastic professionals who do a tremendous service for schools. If you have some great substitute teachers, treat them well. But there are things you can do to help good substitute teachers be even better. Listen to this show on: BAM Radio Network | iTunes   Some teachers just leave short notes. Remarkably, one of the best things I’ve done in a long time is to create my own substitute teacher manual . In addition to giving me peace of mind, it also helps my substitute do a better job of meeting the needs of students in my classroom. Furthermore, a great substitute teacher manual also helps kids make progress by helping the substitute see the big picture and more. Get the Bloomz App Let’s talk about how. In today’s show I talk with Simon Youd, a teacher who ...

Are You a Teacher Kids Can Tell? From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter When bad things happen – do kids have someone they trust? Are you that someone? It breaks my heart when today’s brave teenager Sarah Beeghley speaks out about her bouts with bullying. Now a high school senior, Sarah talks about the heartbreaking journey she experienced. For this reason, I’m asking that you listen and discuss — she’s using her pain to help improve the world. Listen to this show on BAM Radio Network | iTunes   I hope that we’ll all understand what it is like to be bullied so we can better help those who struggle. Sure, there are two sides to the story. But I lived this for five years. I know what it is like to be made fun of the moment you walk on campus. I cannot imagine the terror and heartache I would have lived if my taunters could have gotten to me at home or in my private time. It took me time away from school just to get up the strength to go...

Digital Citizenship Spotlight From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Most students use smartphones with unfiltered access to the Internet. Even worse, many students have no filter when they consider what they should share. Schools and parents need to get smart about how they talk to kids about smartphones. Listen to this show on: BAM Radio Network | iTunes   In today’s show, we talk with digital citizenship pioneer, Dr. Mike Ribble, about a cutting-edge issue: student smartphone use. How should we talk about them with kids? How do we open lines of communication? Let’s focus on smartphones and get educated about what we should do to help keep kids safe from the world and from their own childish irresponsibility. Today’s Sponsor: Bloomz Bloomz is your one-stop solution for parent-teacher communications. More than just connecting with their cell phones, you can send long or short messages. You can share pictures and links. You ca...

Research Spotlight From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Misbehavior happens in the classroom. From time to time, it happens to every teacher or principal. You can get angry, or you can make progress. With this in mind, Dr. Reggie Melrose explains a reason for some of the most difficult behavior. According to the National Center for Health Statistics , emotional dysregulation occurs in around 5% of students in the United States. Furthermore, 8% of kids with emotional dysregulation are from lower income or disadvantaged homes. Emotional dysregulation impacts not only the child and you as the teacher. If you don’t know how to respond, it can negatively affect your entire classroom. We must remember that when we interact with students, our entire class watches. Listen to this show on: BAM Radio Network | iTunes Dr. Reggie points out that many times we teachers just focus only on changing student behavior. Understandably, we just try to re...

Research Spotlight with Dr. Matthew Kraft From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter When a teacher first starts teaching, we know that their learning improves dramatically. Learning to be a good teacher will happen in just about any school during those first few years. But, over time there are schools where teachers keep learning. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen in most schools. In this episode, we will study some important research that shows us the type of schools where teachers continue to learn how to be a better teacher. This is a very important show for curriculum directors, professional developers, and especially principals. Listen to this show on: BAM Radio Network | iTunes   However, don’t think that teachers have no control. When we teachers begin to think differently and connect with other teachers who have a can-do attitude, we can change things. Remember, teachers, you can decide to learn. Just by banding together and su...

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Blended Learning is a method of learning where online classrooms blend with the face to face classroom. During this month's free webinar I'll be taking you inside my blended learning classroom with a practical view on what works.  Register nowFREE Blended Learning Best Practices Webinar Wednesday, November 30, 20164:30 pm - 5:30 pm EST​ / […] The post FREE WEBINAR: Best Practices for a Top-Notch Blended Learning Classroom appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow! From http://ift.tt/2fve6dm via Vicki Davis at coolcatteacher.com . Please also check out my show for busy teachers, Every Classroom Matters and my Free teaching tutorials on YouTube .

Tips and Tricks I've Learned from Experience From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Online and face-to-face spaces blend to create a today’s classroom. Most schools have physical buildings. For purposes of this article, we’ll call these “the bricks.” Also, schools also have online spaces where students work and collaborate. We’ll call these, “the clicks.” When bricks and clicks combine into a powerful learning experience for students, we have an effective blended classroom. This blog post is sponsored by PowerSchool Learning . All thoughts and opinions are my own. We’ll also be hosting a free webinar where I give you a behind-the-scenes look at how I set up my Learning Management System on November 30 at 4:30 EST. Register here. In the final analysis, don’t think that blending doesn’t apply to your classroom. As an illustration, this summer at ISTE, I facilitated  a panel of blended learning experts . As they presented,...

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Scary things happen. Kids can be traumatized by news media, for example. (I’ve interviewed  Dr. Steven Berkowitz who proved just this point. ) However, when students are most upset is when that scary world out there invades the real world “in here.” When students fear that their future is threatened, they will start losing sleep and getting very upset. As educators, we need to understand some ways we can respond. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers that will work in every situation. Today’s post is in response to this month’s question from the Cathy Rubin’s Global Search for Education “How do you as a teacher support students who have confusing things going on in their world? I’ve decided to write this like a conversation I have with my students. Maybe it will help some of you. I remember when the Paris bombings happened my students were getting ready to go on a trip to Washington DC. T...