Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

There are so many causes, but my friend Kevin asked for a little help here. I'm the midst of a monstrous deadline and unfortunately haven't been blogging as much (don't worry - I'll be back in full force soon!) Hello friends,My son has taken on a cause for his senior project that I admire and want to help him build support for. He's connect with an impoverished school in Nepal and is trying to raise money to bring them something they've never had, computers. His goal is small, only two computers and the internet and it's all possible for $2000. He and his partner Jake have designed a website and are trying to leverage social networks to bring awareness to the school and to open up new possibilities for the school beyond computers. They think that once the school gets online, they can leverage blogs and Skype to start connecting to other schools and students all over the world. I am hoping that you all can "like" their facebook page...

I'd like the world to set a goal for 2009 - there are so many that we could set.  But to me, ending the genocide in Darfur should top the list: See what students say: Kotter from Flat Classroom w/ contribution from students from MICDS in St. Louis -- the Interview where they discussed the UN involvement is incredible. Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Project See information from MICDS on Web 2.0 and the Sudan Project about how they are using Web 2.0 to educate people about the genocide in Darfur through Web 2.0 Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Project Kaycie from Flat Classroom Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Project Speak out!

My friend Beth Kanter and I have been talking about this project for some time. Beth is an amazing resource (and award winning blogger) for nonprofit fundraising using all types of Web 2.0 tools and I highly recommend her blog. So, today, as part of her efforts to help a rural Cambodian school, I'm making an unusual request of you, the readers to reach out and do something. What is this school? We can all have our "pity parties" but this is how the students get to attend this school: "Students, picked by lottery, come daily for six weeks to learn word processing, spread sheets, and Internet use, on our one, slow connection, acquiring a useful skill for future employment. Computer education groups repeat on a rotating basis." What does a lesson look like at this school? When you complain about your student teacher ratios, look at everyone gathered around the computer in this lesson! Cambodian bloggers (such as Mam Sari profiled in Beth's blog post) are dedic...

Here in Camilla, we are always fearful when we have weather like this. Warm air in winter. Gusts that smell like seawater. Swirling black clouds. We had three tornadoes devastate our city on February 14, 2000 and 14 people were killed. My husband and I led the volunteer command center to help rebuild and didn't sleep for two weeks. It felt like we were in a war. Everyone was marred. Especially the children. Now, we live through it again and our friends closeby in Americus, Georgia have been hit. We are listening to the news and the hospital, ambulance center, and emergency operations area in downtown Americus have been hit. Many people cannot be found. There is gridlock in Americus with people looking for others. It is still raining. There is still a warning. We have a long night. People are wandering to the hospital and finding it is not there. My former pastor had his house destroyed when he lived here in Camilla. After he rebuilt, he moved.... to Americus. We wa...