Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Here is an excellent article on the EPGGA blog where they quote of all people -- me! She concurs with my observation about making students the teachers and the teacher becoming the facilitator. This is absolutely at the core of the teaching methods I use. I have noticed a significant difference in mastery. My grades in Computer Fundamentals jumped from a 92 average to a 98 average in one year -- same test. I've seen the same in Computer Science as I've used this method, particularly with wikis -- an 88 average last year for the class -- this year I have one class with a 92+ average and one class with a 98+ average -- same tests. This tells me that something has changed! The textbook hasn't changed. I haven't changed. My assessment hasn't changed except for the addition of wikis in lieu of papers. The teaching method changed and the grades have improved which in my opinion reflects an increased mastery of the subject. As I peruse the educational blogosphere, ...

I'm tired and exhausted from a day of grading and podcasting. Our podcast for the SAT math review is going to be very a very nice review of the algebra and math sections. I look forward to posting the two for you. Meanwhile -- I never tell blonde jokes because my sister is one -- but I couldn't resist. Tags: blonde joke , podcast , SAT , education , teacher , blog , blogs , daily , daily life , journal , life , weblog , thoughts

Ewan has a neat article about social technologies and what they mean for learning. He says: So not only do these technologies cater for a need until now unfulfilled by the on-off yes-no I-O binary of technology. They are also allowing us to socialise in a different way. Where technology has thus far helped us in a changing world, social software tools are being proactive in helping us work, rest and play the way we want to and not, for the first time, the way that the rest of society wants/expects us to behave. Suw reveals some truisms: people have less time to socialise than before; taking breaks is frowned upon; where are we getting our social input? Her answer: we’re getting our social input on short text messaging, MSN chat, on multiplayer games ( World of Warcraft ), on blogs (and on leaving comments on Flickr : I’ve added this last bit since discovering the friends you can make through a mutual passion for taking pics of Paris). Here are some points I've noticed in my class...

This is a very exciting blog that has discussed many of the things we have learned about education but in a new way . I believe that this co-creation of knowledge lends itself very well to: New-wave Socratic teaching - Posing questions and letting students answer them through exploration on the net and production of a meaningful summary such as a wikispace or podcast. Collaborative tools - Tools such as wikipages (I use wikispace ) or writely.com to produce meaningful summaries of their synthesis of knowledge that have been created together. I enjoy the Creating Passionate Users blog and name it my fave for the week! How do you get started: 1 - Set up a wikispace for your class 2 - Decide a project or chapter that would be a good topic for student exploration. 3 - Spend about 15 minutes covering the basics of wikispaces: brackets - making other pages hyperlinks to the Net hyperlinks within wikispace inserting pictures If you contact wikispace and give them the addresses of your g...

We need to teach students to "Do Right!" I have a friend, Ross Worsham who was a national championship quarterback for the 1-AA Georgia Southern Eagles under the famous Coach Erk Russell . He said that he went to camp his freshman year for his first “speech from the coach” and fully expected a long list of rules. What he got was two words written on a board “Do Right.” Coach Russell even underlined them for emphasis. Coach Russell went on to tell them that all other rules were tied up in this one and if you weren’t sure if it was right or wrong that you shouldn’t do it – it was probably wrong. This is a great lesson to teach students. Nowadays, many people have subscribed to the Kantish philosophies of relativism. We have done this to the point that we are afraid to teach kids that there is a right and wrong. You cannot have rules without understanding that there is a right and wrong. It is right to follow the rules! It is wrong to hurt another person! Do Right! I thin...

Teaching Planning Teaches Me As I blogged yesterday , in my ninth grade Computer Fundamentals we spend two weeks learning about my favorite system of planning, the Franklin Covey planning system. The students are bringing in articles that apply to our discussion of planning and goal setting. Pareto's Principle in the Classroom: Focus I love what one student brought in from Eat that Frog -- the 80/20 rule. He proceeded to tell the class that 20% of their work would affect 80% of their grade. He hit on something. This is the well known Pareto's Principle which business students and those who read motivational books learn. I have never heard it applied to a student's work. I was stunned! This student went on to say that if the student would focus on the most important aspects of their schoolwork that they could have a profound impact on their grade . The major tests. The major projects. The other should be done, he said, but the most important should receive th...

Each new year I work with my ninth grade classes on goal setting, planning, and character building. This is an opportune time because at the beginning of the ninth grade -- they think they know it all. They don't know what they don't know! At the middle of the year, they've gotten their grades and most of them have gotten the rude awakening that this is where it begins to count! They realize they want to make better grades and they are willing to change -- to listen! Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Well, that is what so much of us do. We want new results but we don't want to change. It doesn't happen! Kids want better grades but they don't get organized, they don't write down their assignments, they don't study. We must teach them those skills. I have a grandmother who I adore. She is truly a woman who has made much of her life aft...