Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Image by FaceMePLS via Flickr “I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn’t weird at all, and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.” Paul McCartney What makes you, you? What makes normal, normal? What if "normal" just another word for boring?  I love Lisa Durff ’s cat in the hat and the funny avatars of some people. There are those who love virtual worlds and others who just love to banter on Twitter . We all bring something different to the table. My Dad has always told me about criticism that the only people who are criticized are those who are actually doing something. He’ll say to me,  “Hey, you’ve arrived. If someone thinks you’re worth taking the time time criticize then you’re doing something that someone has noticed. Don't be so upset.”  Daddy, when will I really listen? The only consistent  thing you and I have in common between this...

Free Puzzlemaker | Discovery Education The puzzlemaker from Discovery Education is free and incredibly useful. Our teachers at Westwood love it. The only trick is that if you have short words you need to add a few longer ones in so that it has enough words to make the puzzle. tags: education learning all_teachers Diffbot: Follow Anything I'm starting to get a lot of traffic from diffbot. It looks like a new sort of RSS reader but one that turns webpages of choice into a "newspaper" sort of look. This may be easy for others to read. I find this interesting. tags: education rss learning Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

You can't visit China without seeing the western influence there. Our tour guide had a Justin Bieber haircut that he had proudly made himself. Chinese who cannot speak English can sing in perfect Bieberese "Baby, Baby, Baby..." Ah, Bieber Fever is Everywhere.  Government Snow But, the government is everywhere too. In the sky, on the ground, everywhere. The government made it snow on Saturday of the Flat Classroom conference . Snow? Flat Classroom Conference 2011 - February Beijing, China As I met Julie Lindsay the lead organizer for the conference, I commented how odd it was that it snowed that day. She laughed in her lilting sort of way "Ah, the government made it snow last night, it is no big deal."  Others from Beijing verified this. "I can see the snow cannons, they fire them near my house and seed the clouds," said Julie. Others said that this is a frequent occurence in Colorado and Utah where they need snow. I'm not sure bu...

Internet safety: Share your story in the Trend Micro Internet safety video contest Share your story and earn money. What's the deal? Prizes: One $10,000USD grand prize; six $500USD category prizes (three awarded to schools per category and three awarded to individuals per category). Prizes are in US Dollars or equivalent in British Pound Sterling or Canadian Dollars at contest closing date. Deadline: Upload by 11:59:59 PM US Pacific Time on April 5, 2011 Check out what time this is where you live Content: Your video must address one of three issues Being A Good Online Citizen Using A Mobile Phone Wisely Maintaining Your Privacy Online Eligibility: All residents of Canada (excluding Quebec), the UK and the US, 13 years of age and older. tags: education contest digitalcitizenship Zendo | passionate learners A notet...

QR Code for this blog. Try it! Augment - "to enlarge or increase" Wordnetweb. Augmented Reality(AR) "describes the enrichment of the real world with the virtual. hyperlink - "a link from a hypertext file to another location or file; typically activated by clicking on a highlighted word or icon at a particular location on the screen" hardlink - a link from the physical world to resources and information in a virtual world (definition mine) Fashion: Augmented Reality App Adds EBay Layer We are moving from a world of hyperlinks to hardlinks as the web moves from the computer screen to the world around us. We've experienced the convergence of technologies with one another. Prepare as technology converges with your coffee mug, stapler, the papers on your desk, and your real life everywhere you go. Welcome to Augmented Reality. Don't be afraid, the concepts are pretty simple. Augmented Reality 101: How Do we HardLink the Physical World to the ...

Mrs. Adams' Third Grade Class I got a nice thank you note from Miranda Adams from the blogger post I wrote yesterday. I hope you'll take time to read her third grade blog. Here is her mission: "I teach third grade in a HIGH poverty county. I am the ONLY teacher I know of in my area that uses a blog to try to bridge the home-school gap but I'm at a loss for how to do it. I truly want to make a difference because I feel like I am the only person some of these kids have." What a beautiful teacher and a hero! This is a lovely blog and obviously a work of love! tags: education blogging all_teachers elementary “The kids need support, and frankly, so do I.” A teacher’s request, post-Wisconsin. « Speaker's Corner One teacher reflects on how she feels "post-Wisconsin." Many teachers are hur...

The purpose of this blog post is to share with you six reasons I started with Blogger in 2005 and am here six+ years later, a view under the hood of blogger today (and some some upcoming changes that Google annouced at SXSW ), and eleven things all of you who blog (especially Blogger) should do NOW. I know that my wordpress friends have access to lots of goodies and certainly that is a good platform, but Blogger is what I use. Let's start with the ten things bloggers should do today. If some of them don't make sense, keep reading for screenshots and details on how this feature is used. 11 Things Bloggers Should Do Today: Log in to Blogger in Draft - http://draft.blogger.com - this is the ONLY place I log in. It gives you access to the newest features including the ability to mobilize your site. (If you are on another platform, look on their blog to see if there is a way you can access beta features.) Review your settings. All of them.  (Do this again when the new...