Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Start spreading the News to leave some PD time open during the K12 online conference October 20-24 and 27-31! If you want to download the flyer you can get it in PDF format. Julie and I met 3 years a go at the K12 online conference and shortly thereafter the first Flat Classroom Project was born.  Little did we know we'd be keynoting a strand so soon. But the best thing about the K12 online conference is you -- us.  All of "us" -- the loosely defined, ever changing edublogosphere full of plurkers, lurkers, and prolific conversationalists.  So, you've been hanging around the fringes wondering if all of this "stuff" is for you and your classroom.  I challenge you --  read / listen to ONE session -- participate in ONE conversation. Just dip you toe in and see what you think!  Share what you're doing!  Learn from others! This is not about any ONE person telling US how to do things the best way.  This is about US telling US how to do things...

Few things make me as proud as this event at our school, where we host a state Special Olympics Bocce Ball tournament.  The story is in the pictures. You'll also see us using my new IPEVO free.v2 Skype phone to communicate.  Nothing like using Skype out to sms and call using our school wireless. (Saved me quite a bit of airtime!)

a simulpost with Tech Learning There are definitely people who are not using Google Adsense correctly and I believe it is impacting children. Imagine my suprise about 2 weeks a go when I went to Peggy Sheehy 's Suffern Middle School blog at 1 am to find ads all over the page for Hot Tech Chicks and NO content until scrolling WAY down - ads were everywhere. After sending it to Peggy and Kevin Jarrett , they had been hacked but it looks like the ads may have been just late at night - not really sure.   Since then, edublogs has done quite a few upgrades, but I'm not sure they notified people that a breach had occurred. Hint:   If they tell you to update your password, they mean it! Then, I go into my email today and a Audrey Hill , who is corresponding with Julie and I about her vision for a middle school flat classroom project write that "I'm flying by the seat of my pants"  so, what ad did I get, "Erect Hard!" Seems that "seat of the ...

Another installment in the email correspondence between Tom Harrison, 7th grade teacher in Delaware and me.  In Email Letter 1 , we talked about wikis, Letter 2 was a follow up on wikis and blogs, and in this letter we talk about wiki text, diigo and bookmark sharing, and staying motivated when other teachers seem not to care about what we're doing. Thank you, Tom, for your transparency and willingness to let us share our conversations openly.  In this letter, Tom is in blue and I am in black -- following are the two emails we shared yesterday. Vicki, Feel free to continue sharing.  I have a reputation as being transparent and saying what I think.  Sometimes that gets me in trouble, but how I feel and what I think is just the way I perceive things and that's that.  Around here I go by the "handle" of Biogeek (tells you something about me, doesn't it), but Tom Cat is really cute (never thought I would say that to ANYTHING related to me!).  Feel free...

Welcome to SeeDhaka Julie Lindsay's student Atif created this as a grade 10 project and has just been offered money for it! He is now out of school! This is really amazing! Oh, the places you'll go when you flatten your classroom. Congratulations Julie on such a great story! tags: education , flatclassroom

Tom Harrison has sent me another email.  (See our first email conversation about wikis .)  We laughed about nicknames -- I thought it was ironic that his name is tom and I'm "cool cat."  (i.e. TomCat - he is called "biogeek" where is from - sounds like he named his blog already!) Something about the way he asks questions and shares what he is doing gets me to writing, and so I'm sharing the next in our series of "letters."  To me, Tom represents all that is good in a veteran teacher who is beginning to learn to use these tools.  he's open, thorough, works on it on the weekends, and asks questions of others.  He teaches and he's teachable and ultimately he makes the best decision for his classes based upon what he knows. I hope top will start blogging soon... oh actually, I realize, he already has.  See our letters below - my remarks are in blue: " Vicki, Thanks for the follow-up.  I have been working hard and you have helped tr...

Joy Unearthed We know not if we shall hold our sweetheart in our arms another moment, We will not know where the time went. To capture a smile is to experience heaven on earth. To share a laugh is a bit of ecstacy unearthed. Amidst the dirt and soil of the day we shall find glimpses of hope and joy and we must bring to mind these moments do not last, dusk comes arrow fast.  So, I shall stay and play amidst the dirt of the day. Not waiting for the gleaming pristine stone but to seek diamonds amidst rocks unknown. Pocketing memories of hope and tears. These are the years! May I never say I spent so much time digging in the day that I did not stop to see the little joys right in front of me. Life is short, dirt is cheap but the smiles, laughter, and joys are the treasures that we keep priceless, sweet gifts of the earth. Vicki Davis As I contemplate today, I listen to Fragile recorded by Sting on 9/11. This is my own artistic tribute to this thing ca...