Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

There are some amazing tools I use to help me manage my ridiculous work load. I'd like to share my favorites. 1) Remember the Milk   This oddly named list service is a powerhouse.  Not only can I add items to my list via texting from my cell phone ( using twitter ) and via my voice ( using Jott ), but the ability to create tag clouds and sort by location (it puts my list items on a Google map) lets me manage my list in useful ways that help me Get Things Done.  I've got my family set up with accounts and we share our lists and can add things to each other's list.  It is a great service. Ways to Make Remember the Milk More Useful:  Use the iGoogle Gadget - The remember the milk gadget for igoogle is more useful than the service itself.  I have multiple lists, so on one tab in igoogle for work, I show my "It support" and "work" list, and another tab I show my "personal" and "cool cat teacher" list.  Also, the tool to add items ...

I've been on "vacation" for the last four days but with a sick daughter, messy house, and a beebee gun to the back windowshield of my vehicle -- I've been feeling more like a human "doing" than a human "being." I came across KWHobbes' great article about " Functioning in a state of overload ." He's a father of 7 so I feel that he can identify with my all too constant state of rush rush. I believe a lot of teachers will identify with his thoughts: "Safe to say I was overwhelmed and beginning to wonder if all the hype was worth the added stress. And, if I was having trouble, can you image what other educators who weren’t using technology would feel like if this were thrust upon them, even a bit at a time. With the number different things that are coming at educators from all sides, an overload of information is not what they need. So how does one manage in this time of information overload and do more than just skimming and s...

I'm a little nervous, this is my first post on the new blogger. Let me know if there are any glitches! My tenth graders select a "major" You may wonder what I'm talking about, but as I planned this 8 weeks with my amazing computer science class, I've been pondering the section of Thomas Friedman's book where he talks about the "strands" at Georgia Tech. This essentially allows students to select a dual area of interest-- computing and aestheics or computing and art. Then, students are qualified to work in a variety of areas and essentially find their passion. So, I have my projects that I usually conduct in computer science this time of year, only this time we'll take a different angle. I've asked my students to select an area of interest. This is to be an industry that they are already excited about -- hunting, special effects, hospitality -- these are some of the areas that the students have selected as their "majors." Their ...