Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Hats off to Brian Crosby . Watch this 5 minute movie entitled Inclusion . How can this sort of power be denied? I am firmly convinced that because this school allowed a classmate with leukemia to attend via Skype that the lives of both the class and the student are enriched. This is proof that it is not the tools that are inherently good or evil but rather the use of the tools. A hammer can kill someone but it can also build a house. A nail can be driven through a hand but it can also hold the roof over your head. A fist can hit but a fist can also be clasped in your hand in love. We do not outlaw hammers, nails, or fists -- we teach people to use them properly. So should we do with blogs, wikis, podcasts, skype, and any other tool that becomes available for use in the human experience! (Hat tip to tonights WOW2 show and our incredible guest Wesley Fryer for letting us know about Brian's work. He was on at the very end of the incredible show (along with Miguel Guhlin ) where W...

A simulpost with the TechLearning Blog The CEO sits down at his desk, slides a few reports into his top desk drawer and straightens pictures on the wall behind his head. Today, he's volunteering at a middle school and he never has to leave his desk. Businesses bemoan the state of education and rightly so: they need a well-educated, capable, responsible work force able to solve problems and connect with the right people within their company to get things done. Well, now, virtual tools are getting rid of their excuses for not volunteering. With free Skype, a webcam, and a headset, everyone from the CEO to the intern could potentially volunteer at almost any school around the world with a common language. Advertisers flock to youtube to encourage average, everyday folks to make what Time Magazine is calling " youmercials." Well, I've seen the beginnings of "YouTeach" last week as my class interviewed nanotechnology expert, Earl Boysen. Boysen is th...