A Weekly Roundup of What's Being Talked About in my PLN This week, an inspirational blog post inspired by a cellist who played on through the bombing of Sarajevo tops the list of blogs this week. Minecraft and Kid President have educators talking. On Twitter, success, teaching practices, and trying new things are topping the list. (You can add Google Drive to Microsoft Office.) You write this post! Your tweets, retweets, reshares and likes show what you care about. Let’s see what you’re saying to all of us this week. How are the top 10 tweets and posts selected? I used the statistics of traffic on my blog for the blog posts. I used Buffer  analytics to give us the top tweets. Tweet popularity calculates by retweets, favorites, AND clickthroughs.  A clickthrough happens when someone clicks a tweet. Clickthroughs are something you can’t see looking at someone’s tweets. They can only come from analytics from the person who tweets the tweet. (And knows how to set it up or view it.) I hope you find something helpful. Top 10 Blog Posts This Week Why teachers need to keep going even when it’s hard topped this week’s list of top blogs. Why Teachers Need to Keep Going Even When It’s Hard - Inspired by Vedran Smailovic, the Cellist of Sarajevo, a post encouraging teachers to keep making their music even when they’re discouraged. Why Minecraft in Schools is the Modern Marvel: 5 Epic Ideas - An Interview on Every Classroom Matters with Lucas Gillispie, the teacher who runs one of the largest implementations of Minecraft in schools in the world. Kid President: Kids Inspiring Kids to Change the World - an Interview with Brad Montague, director and creator of Kid President Social Media in Schools - a piece written for Cathy Rubin from the Global Search for Education top 12 Teacher Blogs answering her question of the month "What is the role of social media in classrooms?" How to Make Google Chrome Faster, Better and Prettier a tutorial series on the ins and outs of getting the most out of Google Chrome 15 Best Google Drive Add-Ons for Education an older perennial favorite. I’ll be updating this one soon with one tweak. What to Do When Someone Hates You one of the most popular posts I’ve ever written. Hate is something many of us struggle to overcome. These are truths I learned when grappling with a hate situation of my own. Lots of people read this one after searching for a solution to their problem on Google. 4 Writing Tips for Students 4 Writing Tips to Help the Writing Process - I’m getting thank-you emails about this post more than any other. As you help kids with college essays and high school essays, this post has the tools and tips to help you teach kids. It includes tutorials and links to sites that help you. Note Taking Skills for 21st Century Students - Note taking has changed. Here are some tips and videos that I share with students and teachers so that when you take notes, you’ll remember. Top 10 Tweets of the Week 12 Mini Habits of Insanely Successful People http://t.co/ZGcc8XB8Yj pic.twitter.com/3zfq8X4how — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 17, 2015   5 Highly effective teaching practices http://t.co/hmliADnLmI — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 19, 2015   WOHOO! This Plug-In Puts Google Drive Inside Microsoft Office https://t.co/aKh9Pl1mju #edtech pic.twitter.com/2VJ3eyh41Z — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 21, 2015   15 Things Every Teacher Should Try This Year by @Austin_Gagnier8 and @sylviaduckworth https://t.co/v5bRDabnP7 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 20, 2015   NEW POST: Social Media in Schools http://t.co/ycgI4jOYJ9 pic.twitter.com/okZkdb0o5C — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 19, 2015   AWESOME: Download 15 Free Programming Books for Coders of All Levels http://t.co/wXrqI2oWA2 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 17, 2015   WSJ Reports: Survey Finds Teens Prefer Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat for #socialmedia http://t.co/5ArWmetDTH pic.twitter.com/3FDRsg3zjX — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 18, 2015   Why Parent Involvement Matters So Much: The Research http://t.co/HvXKS34dmO pic.twitter.com/63GMUcVRHS — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 17, 2015   NEW SHOW! Kid President: Kids Inspiring Kids to Change the World https://t.co/kTsUhd6YV3 #edchat pic.twitter.com/khAmSZsrej — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 22, 2015   10 Ways to Build Team Classroom https://t.co/41m3YkH0t7 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 20, 2015   The post Top 10 Tweets & Blogs This Week appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Design Thinking and Productivity that Matters Walt Disney had 50 names for the seven dwarves. Why do so many of us think we need just one or two tries to have great ideas?Walt Disney understood that to become great, you ideate. Brainstorming was one key of his genius. Among such odd names as "Graveful" and "Awful" and "Biggo-Eggo" - we find  "Grumpy," "Happy," and "Bashful." Walt Disney didn’t stop with the first seven names he came up with. Disney had seven times seven plus 1. Ideation is the "formation of ideas." Geniuses have always ideated. Learn how to brainstorm if you want to be more creative. Leonardo da Vinci’s Brainstorm In 1489, the same year he drew the Vitruvian Man, Leonardo Da Vinci made a list of all of the things he wanted to investigate about the human body. His list included such things as: What nerve is the cause of the movement of the eye? "What is sneezing?" and Why an infant of eight months does not live? He made lists of questions and pursued the answers. Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat; it makes the imagination alive! Romeo the Red-Nosed Reindeer? When Robert May was tasked to write a "cheery book to give store customers" for Montgomery Ward, he brainstormed a list of ten names for his reindeer. Could you imagine "Rollo the Red-Nosed Reindeer?" How about Reginald? Romeo? No, it became Rudolph. But first Robert May came up with ideas. He ideated as he created. Why Are We So Afraid of Idea Creation? There are three reasons I think we don’t brainstorm more: We don’t ideate because we don’t understand the benefits. We don’t take the time to brainstorm. We don’t want to look dumb. Let’s tackle these problems one by one. 1. Ideation is Important. Before creation comes ideation. Most people aren’t ideating, they’re just regurgitating. Sure, lots of schools are using design thinking. But they are other people’s designs! Other people’s thinking. Before creation comes ideation. When leading students in genius hour for the first time, it is a struggle to help them find their genius. They don’t know what to create because they’ve never been asked. They don’t know what to think about because they’ve never been given time to think. Decisions made without ideation aren’t decisions, they are just cookie cutter ideas with a slightly different dough and a slightly different cutter but aren’t truly an original recipe. They are sloppy knock-offs of another idea that DIDN’T WORK. Ideate and ruminate and then MAKE A DECISION.  2. Ideation Takes Time Ideation is a process. We often call this brainstorming. Here are two easy ways to brainstorm. Brainstorming Method A: Require 50 ideas. I wonder why so many people think they should be able to come up with the perfect idea in the second or third try? If Walt Disney brainstormed 50 dwarves, can’t we? I require 50 scribbled ideas for every brainstorm. The first ten will be trite, boring, and safe. When students run out of safe ideas, they get creative. And when they run out creative ideas, they become geniuses. When creating ideas becomes the goal, we get rid of inhibitions and come up with ideas. When we try to come up with a "good idea", we stay safe. Safe is boring. Safe is unoriginal. Safe is never genius because safe has already been done before. Brainstorming Method B: Freewriting. Mark Levy’s book  Accidental Genius gives insight into what happens when you have people free write about a topic for an amount of time: Anyway, while they’re writing, be it for five minutes, thirty minutes, or something in between, I walk throughout the audience to check on how they’re doing. I offer encouragement and crack jokes. I never read what they’re writing. Nonetheless, I can tell the exact moment when the writing for them starts to click. As I walk by, I jab my finger down on the page and say, "Here’s where you started saying something important" and "Here’s where your thinking came alive." Almost always, the participants agree. They wonder how I could know. My trick has a simple explanation: When they begin, participants tend to write in a cramped script that fits on the line neatly. Once they loosen up, once they tire, once their internal editor starts to recede and they viscerally connect with the material, their handwriting relaxes. It happens all of a sudden, and it’s easy to spot, even if they’re facing me and all I can see is their pads upside down. Their letters grow large and loopy, and they take up several lines. Their words grow fainter, because they stopped pressing on the paper so hard. It’s an unclenching of hand and brain. It’s the point where they stopped worrying about being correct and polite and began using the part of their mind that’s original and raw. It takes time as Mark Levy says so beautifully for your brain to "unclench." It isn’t easy, but when you see it happen you do it again and again. (There’s a reason this post started out over 2,000 words. It is now 1200 and I deleted the first original 800 of them!) Teach students and teams how to ideate. Teach them methods of brainstorming. Help them unclench their brain and create ideas. 3. To Get to Great, You Must Be Willing to Risk Dumb Why was Walt Disney completely unafraid to have a name like "Biggo-Eggo" as a potential name for a dwarf? Walt Disney was perhaps a genius, because he was unafraid of ideas - even crazy ones. There’s one small step from crazy to genius. Few people remember the mockery Steve Jobs endured the day he unveiled the "iPad."  Most people thought it was a dumb name. But we don’t want to be the one people call silly. We stay mediocre, so we don’t get criticized instead of being the genius who stands alone. If you fear to be wrong, you’ll never be right. If you’re afraid of looking dumb, you’ll never be a genius. If you won’t come up with ideas, you’ll never find novel solutions. Make your team or classroom a safe place to come up with any kind of idea. Teach groups not to pass judgment too quickly. Help your group understand that "dumb" often precedes genius.  Ideate and Become Great Let me ask you this: What idea would you pursue if you had no risk of criticism? If you weren’t worried about anyone thinking you were wrong — how would you improve student learning by 400%? What would you do tomorrow if you had no restrictions to get kids truly excited about learning? reading? math? Throw off the everyday clothing of the mild-mannered reporter and don your Superman cape, for goodness sakes. Tackle these questions with brainstorms. Freewrite. Ideate. Create ideas — lots of them. Share ideas — lots of them. Talk about ideas — lots of them. Yes, there’s a time to make a decision. But if you decide before you brainstorm, you’ve decided too soon. You’ve killed the conversation. You’ve buried genius. So, don’t be Dopey! Refuse to let Grumpy or those who are Sneezy at new ideas keep you from coming up with them. It isn’t time to be Bashful or Sleepy. Listen to the Doc and come up with some great ideas! Lots of them! You’ll be Happy you did! How do you teach brainstorming? Got tricks or ideas? Share them in the comments below or on your own blog. Let’s ideate together! Will you share your ideas?  The post Brainstorming: The 7 Dwarves’ Secret appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters episode 182 How do you fill your students with wonder? How do you help kids love animals? How do you engage students in science? Carmelo the Science Fellow (who is also a principal) shares his fun-tastic ideas for science and getting kids excited in this episode. Important Takeaways The unbelievable thing he puts IN his walls. How he got students excited about science his first day of teaching. Now that he’s a principal, what happened when he put his desk in the welcome area. Carmelo the Science Fellow has cool science ideas but also exciting ideas for teaching. I found myself inspired with his can-do attitude and any means necessary methods of teaching. But his work is also grounded in the science research that we quoted in the show (referenced below). We can no longer PowerPoint kids into boredom in the science classroom. We can do better. Here’s how. Educator Resources from this Show BOOK: Crazy for Science with Carmelo the Science Fellow VIDEO: Carmelo’s Teaching Methods Research: Making Science Classes Engaging National Science Teachers Association (NSTA): Position Statement on Hands on Learning Join the Every Classroom Matters Awesome Educators Network on Facebook You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or elsewhere, get the RSS feed, or listen via the media player above.  The post How to Get Kids Excited About Science: Carmelo the Science Fellow appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters episode 183 How can we improve our lessons? When do we know what works and what doesn’t? In today’s show, Dean Shareski talks candidly about student feedback and the role of self-reflection in teaching. Improve the craft of teaching by incorporating his suggestions in your classroom routines. Become intentional and level up a little every day. Important Takeaways How student reflections can help teachers improve. A scary thing Dean found his college students weren’t comfortable doing. The two-word question that made Dean a better teacher. The problem with rubrics. Vicki’s "a-ha" moment about student feedback from Dean’s inspiration. Dean Shareski’s honest talk about grades, assessment, and student feedback apply to every level of teaching. Self-reflection is an important part of teaching. Dean helps us understand how we can reflect and how our students can help. Today’s Sponsor Lesley University has an impressive line-up of online programs specifically designed for busy teachers. If you’re interested in strengthening your professional training, your resume or your career options, you’ll want to take a look at what Lesley has to offer. Lesley’s programs include: creative learning environments, experienced faculty, small classes, and the kind of supportive online community that we all value and want.  Educator Resources and Links from the Show Ideas and Thoughts Blog we discussed on the show @shareski Take a moment to check out Lesley’s programs for teachers by going to Online.Lesley.edu/BamRadio.  Check Out Lesley University’s Online Programs Great quotes from the show you can share… We can always use student feedback. If we think we’ve arrived, we have a long way to go. Those teachers who don’t think they need student feedback often need it the most. Improve your teaching with student feedback. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or elsewhere, get the RSS feed, or listen via the media player above. Join the Every Classroom Matters Awesome Educators Network on Facebook The post Improving Your Teaching Through Student Feedback appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

You can use Google AND Microsoft Together You can add Google Drive to Microsoft Office now. It can save you time, particularly if you’re saving files in Office formats inside Google Drive. I’ve tested the setup. Here’s a screencast to get started. Set up is quick, three steps in about two minutes. There are a few issues to know before you start using it, though. How to Add Google Drive to Microsoft Word (and Microsoft Office) The video above includes these steps. STEP 1: Close Microsoft Office. (It cannot be running to do this.) STEP 2:  Download the Google Drive Plugin For Office Click here to download the Google Drive Plugin for Office. This plugin is only available for Microsoft Windows Computers. (Sorry Mac.) STEP 3: Open Microsoft Office It will have you enter your credentials for Google. A Quick Tutorial on Connecting Google Drive to Microsoft Office and Using It How to Open, Save, and Use Files Between Microsoft Word and Google Drive Here’s where it gets a bit tricky, so I’m splitting this up for you into four ways you can use the files together. TIP: Here, we’re pretty much using Google Drive and Google Docs interchangeably, but there is a difference. Google Docs is the word processor for Google. So, Microsoft Word works with Google Docs. Microsoft Excel works with Google Sheets. Microsoft PowerPoint works with Google Slides. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are all part of Google Drive just like Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint are part of Microsoft Office. A. Opening Files from Google Drive In Microsoft Word, you click "open files." Then, when you click "Open from Google Drive," you’ll see your Google Drive. Google Drive files will look like a small blue square. Microsoft Word files will have the blue W. If you open a Google Doc file, it will open on the Web in Google Drive. B. Opening a Google Doc file into Google Drive When it opens the file, just go to File -> Download As -> Microsoft Word (.docx). Then, you’ll just open into Microsoft Word (If you’re using Google Chrome, just click the file at the bottom.) When you open the file, you’ll want to click "enable editing" so you can work with the file. C. The Google Drive Ribbon in Microsoft Word After installing the plugin, in the 2013/2016 versions of Microsoft Office, Google Drive now has a ribbon. The new Google Drive ribbon in Office after the plugin is installed.   In the video, I go over each of the buttons. Save to Drive lets you save into Google Drive. It will be saved as a Word file. The sharing settings for the folder you save it into will apply to any new documents you save, so pay attention to where you’re saving your files! You can Open from the ribbon. Share. You can change sharing settings from the ribbon. (If you’re a school, it will pull up all the emails of others using Google Apps for education.) Save As. You can save it as another name. Rename. Just rename the file. Move. Move the file to somewhere else in your Google Drive. Settings. This powerful tool will help some of you. You can tell the ribbon only to show Microsoft Word files or to show Word and Google Doc files. This way, if you just want to use Microsoft Word files, you can set it up this way. (It may prevent confusion for some beginners at your school.) TIP. Remember that if you’re saving in Google Drive, the file is NOT on your computer. It is in Google Drive. So, if you don’t have Internet access, you can’t open the file. D. Google Drive and Microsoft Word Files When you open the Microsoft Word files in Google Drive, remember that you just have two options: View Only and Edit as Google Docs. View Only. You can only view the file, you cannot edit it. Edit as Google Docs. This button makes a COPY of your file. You’re now editing this as a Google Doc file. WORKFLOW TIPS Add something on the end of your files until you get the hang of the two programs working together. Practice moving files around. You might want to add a folder for your Word files to separate them from your Google Drive files. Be careful about sharing. When you share to a folder, it shares it with everyone who has access to that folder. Make sure beginners understand this. What are your tips? Please share your tips and tutorials with the rest of us since this is very new. Leave a comment or ask your question below. How are you using Google Drive and Microsoft Word together?    The post How to Add Google Drive to Microsoft Word appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Trends and Topics on Twitter October is a busy month for teachers. It is also a hard month. We’re all looking for inspiration. These resources are being shared by teachers on Twitter. But you don’t have to join Twitter to click the links and read the hot topics. The top sketchnote of the month is from Sylvia Duckworth. (Sylvia is a repeat leader on this list.) If you want to analyze your tweets, see how I did it at the bottom of the post. While I hope you’ll join Twitter, some of you won’t. That is OK. It is your decision. You’re not going to get any guilt from me. The biggest question I think all of us teachers must ask is, "Am I leveling up a little bit every day?" Learning should be the only thing that is not optional for teachers. This list inspires me to be better, but then again, all of you who are on Twitter made this list. Every time you retweet or reshare or click, it is like a vote. And, as always, you voted well. Some great resources made this month’s list of top tweets. Top Education Tweets - October 2015 1- The Story Behind Kid President Brad Montague, Kid President’s brother in law and producer, talks about the viral hit and how teachers are using it in the classroom. This show and blog post took the #1 and #7 spot. Just listing it once. NEW SHOW! Kid President: Kids Inspiring Kids to Change the World https://t.co/kTsUhd6YV3 #edchat pic.twitter.com/khAmSZsrej — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 22, 2015 2- How to Teach a Growth Mindset in the Classroom The tweet about how I teach a growth mindset in my classroom had the #2 and #3 and #5 spot! Sylvia Duckworth’s sketchnote helps us understand what we should and should not say in the classroom. NEW POST: How I teach a growth mindset in my classroom http://t.co/hjQZsC6P7r pic.twitter.com/5TYpA3x6I7 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 6, 2015 3- Understanding Twitter Lingo Don’t assume everyone knows the language of Twitter. We must all welcome beginners by sharing the abbreviations we use. The Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo via @mashable http://t.co/Oeij7ujMdu pic.twitter.com/3bSa6us5aX — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 4, 2015 4 - Teachers Matter Every Day Teachers matter. We’ve got an excruciatingly hard life. We must shout from the rooftops the importance of teachers. We must encourage teachers. Many of us are a breath away from saying "I quit." Please take time to encourage teachers. This a great one to print for the teacher’s lounge. Teaching matters. The hardest thing abt teaching is it matters every day. @toddwhitaker https://t.co/Yb4ZWzh09q pic.twitter.com/j68bL4f7Dw — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 29, 2015 5 - Blog Post from Todd Nesloney from Parents to Teachers The first one on the list makes me sniff. "As a parent, I wish you knew how much it means to me when you WANT to know about my child; about what makes him tick, about what makes him excited, about what makes him sad." This blog post is a must read, my precious teacher friends. Share this one! As a Parent, I Wish You Knew…. #iWishParent http://t.co/WdOP1buxMq via @TechNinjaTodd — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 11, 2015 6- Quote from Dean Shareski from Every Classroom Matters Episode #183 on Student Feedback We’re seeing a cry for joy in classrooms. Great teachers are coming back to the core of who we are: we must have great relationships with our students in order to teach them. As teachers, we must do the right thing even if the right thing is not asked of us. And that is to put our students first. Dean Shareski is just plain inspiring in this piece. "We sometimes forget about joy and relationships with students." https://t.co/KAPPuMZbJM pic.twitter.com/vz4UmQWVFI — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 29, 2015 7 - Diigo Social Bookmarking Tutorial Diigo has a new outlining tool. My students are using outlining to plan out speeches and papers before they start writing. I’ve included objectives and to-do’s for each video. Some teachers are using them — feel free to take them. NEW POST: Diigo Social Bookmarking Tutorial #edtech https://t.co/ZfinCtII7w pic.twitter.com/3By0ABid0y — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 24, 2015 8 - Dr. William Jaynes talks about his study of more than 300,000 students and how parents can have a positive impact on their kids. The unbelievable story he tells about a boy getting hit by a bat stunned and upset me. I think this show has resonated with many. Administrators tell me they are sharing this one with parents. The research shows results you might not expect. Why Parent Involvement Matters So Much: The Research http://t.co/HvXKS34dmO pic.twitter.com/63GMUcVRHS — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 17, 2015 9 - We Don’t Let Students Learn from Mistakes - article on Edweek Wow. You’ll really think about this one. This piece shares why so many teachers are failing to teach a growth mindset. I’ve been standing back, waiting for kids to answer, and letting kids struggle a little more because of this well-written piece by Peter DeWitt. Students Learn From Error But We Don't Allow It https://t.co/TooZBFJlPC — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 29, 2015 10 - Padlet How-To Guide I penned this when Richard Byrne came and taught teachers at my school. Padlet is easy for teachers to use. This step-by-step guide will get you started. MOST POPULAR POST OF THE WEEK: How to Use Padlet in the Classroom: A Fantastic Teaching Tool http://t.co/xTYGbY2UVb — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) October 17, 2015 Do you want to look at your Twitter stats? Reflect and learn by reviewing your own Twitter statistics. Click on your profile name and go to "Analytics." Here’s a screenshot to help you find it. I seem to recall that when I activated Twitter analytics that there were a few things I had to do. If you try to use them and have trouble, will you let us all know so we won’t have anyone frustrated? We have to help each other. Here is how I accessed my Twitter analytics for October. One other note, I intentionally call this top education tweets. While all of my top tweets this month were education related, there are times something innocuous might hit the list. The Cool Cat Teacher blog is focused on education, so I am only including education-related tweets. NOTE: As I’ve shared before, this is for tweets I’ve sent. I don’t have a way to analyze everyone’s tweets on the web. Analytics also includes how many people CLICK on the link. It is hard to analyze the best tweets just on reshares and retweets. The post Top 10 Education Tweets of October appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

What's Hot with Teachers? Teachers want to help students improve. But many teachers struggle this time of year. We want to stay positive, but sometimes we wonder if we make a difference. We want simple tools that are easy to use. This month’s top blog posts here on the Cool Cat Teacher blog are a reflection of all of you beautiful, wonderful teachers out there. Thank you so much to all of you who read my blog and share these posts with others. May you be encouraged when you browse this site. May you know that your job is incredibly important. May you find helpful things that make your classroom better. Most of all, may you take pause and build a relationship with your students upon which you can build learning, teacher. As always, you give me far more than I could ever give in return.  If there’s anything that will help you improve your teaching, email me at vicki at coolcatteacher dot com. I’m here to help. Top 10 Posts on the Cool Cat Teacher Blog - October 2015 Edition Just click the title of the post and it will take you to the original blog post. The titles aren’t underlined but they are hyperlinks. # 1 - Teaching the Growth Mindsets with 10 Growth Mindset Statements Teaching Growth Mindset with these 10 Statements by Sylvia Duckworth Held together by an amazing graphic drawn by Sylvia Duckworth, this post includes resources and tips for teaching a growth mindset in your classroom. # 2 - 4 Writing Tips to Help the Writing Process 4 Writing Tips to Help the Writing Process Editing tools such as Grammarly, Pro Writing Aid, and the Hemingway app are part of this blog post. I recorded some tutorials to help you use these tools with your students. This writing blog post put more excited "thank you’s" in my email inbox this month than any other blog post. (And to those of you who take the time to say "thank you" — you make my day each and every time.) #3 - Why Teachers Need to Keep Going Even When It’s Hard Why teachers need to keep going even when it’s hard Inspired by Vedran Smailovic, the cellist of Sarajevo, this is an update to a blog post I wrote some time ago. It resonated with teachers who are struggling. "Keep Going" is the blog post some of you said moved you to tears. It is one of my personal all-time favorites just because I can’t believe Smailovic’s bravery in the face of horrible circumstances. Keep playing your music. Your students need to hear the joy you bring. #4 -  How to Use Padlet: A Fantastic Tool for Teaching Padlet is a useful tool. As I watched Richard Byrne teach a workshop to the teachers at my school, I took notes and compiled all that we learned into a simple step-by-step post. #5 - 15 things Every Teacher Should Try this Year by Sylvia Duckworth 15 Things Every Teacher Should Try This Year This incredible list of challenges by Sylvia Duckworth is being used in a variety of ways to inspire change. I give some suggestions on this post, but many of you are printing this out and putting it in your teacher’s lounge. #6 - Top 10 Education Tweets of the School Year So Far - Fall 2015 Many educators are on Twitter but even more are not. This post shared everything for the first eight weeks of the school year. Summary posts like this help those educators who cannot or don’t join Twitter share in the goodness. #7 - 15 Best Google Drive add-ons for Education This blog post is a favorite of many educators. The popularity of Chromebooks and Google Chrome have teachers curious about how to do more with Google Docs. #8 - What do Do When Someone Hates You Spread more love than hate It is sad that so many people struggle with hatred. It saddens me that so many people find this blog post through Google by typing in "what do I do when someone hates me."  This blog post just gains steam. I do hope it is helpful to those who struggle. I wish I could say I wrote this post out of ignorance, but sadly, like many of you, I’ve also been touched by the deep hurt of hatred. It is my prayer that I won’t the one who hates others. But boy, this is hard. Hate hurts. #9 - Notetaking Skills for 21st Century Students We want students to "take notes" but we never say how to take notes. This blog includes resources, tips and videos to help you teach strong note taking skills to students or learn them yourself. #10 - How to make Google Chrome Better, Faster, and Prettier 30 Ways to Make Google Chrome Faster, Better, and Prettier Google Chrome is the most popular web browser today. But it is so easy to add extensions and slow it down. There are tricks and hacks to keep Chrome speedy and to make you more productive. This blog post links to the playlist but also splits the videos into short little clips. Take some time to learn how to use the tools you use every day. I hope that you’ll forgive my learning. I’m writing about sketch notes. (A sketch note post was close to the top 10.) I’m also working on my sketchnoting skills. So, I have a sketch note at the top of this blog post. If I can do it, you can too. I used Paper by 53 for this. I’m no Sylvia Duckworth, but I’m me and I’m learning. Take time to level up a little bit every day. Become a more excellent educator every day. We can do this, but we have to be willing to be brave and try new things. The post Top 10 Blog Posts of October 2015 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Teachers are important! You can do this! We’re not here to teach, we’re here to change lives. We’re here to change minds. We’re here to shout encouragement. But we can’t do those things if we quit. We can’t do those things if we give up and wait for retirement. We can’t do these things with our feet up on our desk or doing time in the teacher’s lounge. We have to do these things in the thankless, lonely, hard working trenches of the classroom. We don’t have anyone cheering us on or even seeing the epic accomplishments we make. But in the end, we change lives. It is what we do. We change lives. Noble teacher, get out there and do it today. The kids need you to believe in yourself. The kids need you to believe in them. You need to understand that you make a difference. Maybe in some of these clips, you’ll find your hope again. And if so, pass it on. 10 Inspirational Videos for Teachers Lord of the Rings: The Good in this World is Worth Fighting For The great stories, the ones that really matter full of darkness and danger they were and you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy… The people in those stories had lots of chances to turn back only they didn’t… They kept going. They were holding onto something… That there’s some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for. Teachers get tired. We get sick of fighting the fight. Make no mistake about it, teaching feels like a battle. Not because we’re fighting students or each other but because of the intensity, focus, and persistence required just to make it through one day of this work. But, dear friends it is worth fighting. These kids are worth it. Keep going.  2 - Where does the power come from? Chariots of Fire I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure." When I am writing books, every single time, I want to quit. I want to give up. Writing and doing everything else is so hard. But, I just put on Chariots of Fire. This scene comes on, and I often drop to my knees in tears. I can put the word write in there. It is my DNA; it is who I am. Who are you? What are you made to do? Are you doing it? 3 - I don’t want you giving up when you get to a certain point - Facing the Giants "Don’t stop… you’ve got more in you than that. Keep moving. You’ve got more in you than that. Your very best. Keep going. Don’t quit. Your very best. Don’t quit till you’ve got nothing left…. He’s heavy; I don’t have any more strength. You are the most influential player on this team. If you walk around defeated, so will they. Don’t tell me you can’t give me more than I’ve been seeing." When I’m carrying a burden with a child or struggling with a problem, I feel myself doing the death crawl. I remind myself that in that classroom, I am an influential player in that class of kids. If I walk into that classroom with my head hung or not giving my best, neither will my students. My life is a death crawl, dear friends, and so is yours. Let’s give our best  4 - For the Love of a Child- Every Child is a Gift-  Dick and Rick Hoyt "The doctor’s said put him away, he’s going to be nothing, put him in an institution… we said no. We knew Rick was smart, we could tell by looking in his eyes. So we wanted to get a computer built so Rick could communicate with us." "Dad, when I’m running, I feel like my disability disappears." says Rick. "You can do anything you want to do as long as you make up your mind you can do it." Every child is beautiful. Every child is a treasure. Oh, that we will love them and unlock their genius! Oh that we will do all we have in our power and even more to unleash their greatness upon the world. This father reminds me of the lengths that great women and men go every day to help children fly. Many of you are like Dick Hoyt every day. You sit beside a child and help him communicate. You see the victory of a young lady interacting with her family the first time. Rick Hoyt’s communication with his family via computer reminds me of how Jennifer Cronk and Lanie’s mom helped give her voice again or John Lozano’s work to let a young man tell his story of autism. People who give the voiceless voice, they are my heroes. 5 - Mr. Blaine, the Gym Teacher, helping Mattie   "Here comes Mrs. Blaine the Gym teacher" written on the screen makes me cry every time. Gosh, you gym teachers and all of you out there who help kids do it just one more time. Do you know how important you are? While indeed the ending when everyone comes to encourage Mattie is fantastic, I see the lone gym teacher walking with him and supporting him because that is you and that is me. There are so many times after school when a child is struggling, and we’re the one person say, "you can do it." There are times on the playing field when a child wants to quit and your "you can do it" is the only thing that keeps them going. Do you see the power in our encouragement? Do you see the effort that it took Mattie to run that? The other kids ran and may have finished first, but the effort required by this young man was an Olympic effort. It was Herculean. It was impossibly hard. And this my friends, is nobility. Encouraging a child to be great even when we’re the only one beside them. Everyone sees the impressive finish but what most people don’t see is that there was first a teacher or parent walking alongside humbly saying, "you can do it, keep going." Whew! Not sure I have any more tears to keep going.  6 - Dancing Guy and Leadership Lessons "It takes guts to be a first follower. It takes guts. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader… then there’s a second follower. Have the guts when you find someone to do something amazing to be the first follower and join in." I needed something to make us smile after those tear jerkers. This lesson is an awesome one on the making a movement. If you want to do anything on social media, this is a must-watch video. But also, you have leaders and first followers and movements in your classroom. Teachers must nurture a movement in their classrooms. I also love the importance this short clip makes on the first followers. On cultivating leadership through following. This hidden gem is a little talked about leadership skill that many neglect. Many great movements die for lack of a first or second follower. What a fantastic movie to discuss with your leadership team.  7 - The Difference a Commitment to Fitness Makes   OK, so it MIGHT be an advertisement for the guy who helps him, but I don’t care. The transformation in this man is amazing. It cannot be disputed. Yoga changed his life in a very short time, and you can’t even recognize him at the end. When I fall off my fitness train and get out of the habit, I watch this video and get back on. You are a product of your habits each and every day. If he can do it, you can too and so can I. We must be committed to fitness and exercise. Kids are watching us, and when we choose to let ourselves go without a fight, we’re teaching the wrong thing.  8 - You Gotta Dream, You Gotta Protect It -Pursuit of Happiness- Will Smith "You want something, go get it. Period." Watch this clip and see how fast a dream can die. A few words can do significant damage. Watch this movie clip. Remember the importance of your words and how hard it is to undo your careless sentences. Words can hurt kids. Words change lives. Words alter the course of history. Don’t let your words be careless. Help kids pursue THEIR dreams. These are THEIR dreams, not yours.  9 - Don’t You Care What People Think? Rocky’s speech to his son "Watching you, every day was like a privilege. But somewhere along the line you changed, you stopped being you. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame. Let me tell you something that you already know. The world is a mean and nasty place. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. And I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you’re hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winnin’ is done… " "Until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t gonna have a life." Life hurts. Some people get bitter. Some people blame others. Some people blame their parents. This speech from Rocky to his struggling young adult son is one that needs listening to over and over. Life hits so hard. Don’t have a pity party about it. Fight back. Keep going. The great battles of this world are hard; that is why they are called battles. Great victories must first be won in our mind before we can win them in the physical world. Listen to this whole speech. Some of you need it. You don’t need to be reminded how hard life is — you know — but you do need to remember that you’re not the only one hit by life. It happens to us all. But what happens next is up to you, and that is original and different. Get up. Get moving. Keep going. Your work is important. You’re needed.  10 - Do you Work on your Dreams? I need you to invest in your mind. This video is an amazing compilation of quotes, many I had never heard before. I came across it as I was embedding the videos above. I love it because it isn’t praising athletic pursuits - it is praising the investment in yourself by improving your MIND! It has the same epic feel of the best football highlight reel but about the search for a dream and that dreams happen when you invest in your mind. What a great one to end on for us teachers out there.   If our profession of teaching needs anything, it needs hope. We must re-grasp the nobility of who we are and what we do and grab it in both fists and stand on the mountain and yell — "I am a teacher and my work echoes from the mountains of eternity." For that is who you are, and this is what you do. Re-find your nobility today. Re-find your purpose. Be incredible. You can do this. The post 10 Inspirational Videos for Teachers appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters #184 Can self-publishing change everything? For some autistic kids, it did. Parents started showing up at IEP meetings. Everyone started talking. And it wasn’t all that hard! Essential Questions in "How I Motivated My Autistic Students to Publish 63 Books" How do you edit and publish books with kids of all ability levels? What tools do you use? How does the workflow? How do I secure parent permission? What are the benefits of self-publishing with kids? Jon Smith’s students have published 63 books! (probably more by now)  Jon makes book publishing approachable and doable. We can do this!   Educator Resources from This Episode Math Our Way iBook  @theipodteacher - Twitter handle for Jon Smith, the teacher in this episode. iBooks Author Book Creator 5 Free Easy Ways to Publish eBooks by AJ Juliani   The post How I Motivated My Autistic Students to Publish 63 Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Teaching and Reaching Every Child In A Story of a Young Life Turned Around by Great Teachers, Kevin Honeycutt shared, "I believe you can flip a kid on any given day in one hour." I’ve been thinking. Can you? Well, when something horrific happens: death in the family or other trauma — maybe not. But on most days with most kids, I think this is true. I had an upset child just yesterday. We had a private talk as she was coming into the classroom (straggling behind everyone else). And yes, she was flipped. My words and our interaction FLIPPED HER and changed her day. When I saw that happen, I realized that it is true. We can flip kids (and perhaps each other) if we pay attention and notice. Here are some ways you can flip a kid. Please share yours in the comments. Let’s get this kid flipping conversation going! 10 Ways to Flip a Kid in Your Classroom and Turn Their Day Around I’ve been pondering, "how do you flip a kid, like you flip a house?" Reflecting over fourteen years, here’s how I’ve seen it done. 1. Rebelieve in a child. Kevin Honeycutt talks about rebelieving on the show. Give the child another chance. Decide you’re going to rebelieve in them and show it with your actions. It can be hard, but it is necessary. (Sometimes we need to re-believe in colleagues too.) 2. Stand there and care as they enter the classroom Stand at the door, look them in the eye and call them by name as the day begins. If you look at their eyes, you can tell if they’ve slept. You can see stress. You can figure out all kinds of things. Call them by name. Ask them how their weekend was or if they’re doing ok. 3. Notice kids who need extra attention and give it. When you notice kids who are having a bad day (as they enter your room), ask them how they are. Connect with them on a personal level. Talk to them. 4. Be genuinely interested in your students. Know what the student likes, ask them about their hobby or interest. If you can know about these ahead of time (see the 2 activities below), then you’re ready. Here are two classroom activities to uncover their interests: Classroom activity 1. Adapted from Dave Burgess. Step 1: Set the Stage. I call my Computer Lab the "Wonder Lab." I talk to students about how this classroom is filled with wonder. But the most wonder-FULL thing is them. They are full of wonder. Talents they haven’t discovered yet. Strengths they don’t even know are there. So, I have play dough under these pirate bandanas (hat tip Teach Like a Pirate - oh yeah) and ask the students to uncover them. Step 2: Model their Wonder. I ask them to model something out of the play dough that is one of their wonderful things. I play "What a Wonderful World" and they make their wonderful item. They take pictures and upload them to our private site. (They are also learning how to take pictures and upload them.) Step 3: Share their Wonder-fullness with Parents. I take pictures with their face in the picture. They explain why this is something wonderfull about them. I share these pics with parents on Bloomz, giving them a quick reason to go ahead and join our parent-teacher communication system. Plus, the first pic parents see is of their child smiling in my classroom. Classroom activity 2. Great teachers unleash learning that feeds off student curiosity. Students write down "three things I wonder about in technology" on an index card. Now, as the teacher, I customize the classroom based upon their curiosities. It makes for a more engaging classroom. 5. Be positive. If someone wrote down everything you say in a class period, would it be positive, negative, or neutral. Positive people promote growth and change. Learn how to give compliments. "High five." "Fist pump." "Knuckle punch." "Oh yeah!" Try one of the growth mindset statements I’ve shared. Awesome teachers celebrate wins. When I’m 100, I pray to have lots of laugh lines and no frowny ones. How about you? Are you positive? 6. Talk privately with kids who act out. When the student seems to be having a difficult time often, they’ll act out. Talk privately and ask how they are doing and if something is wrong. Don’t give kids who are acting out an audience. After taking a child aside, I often like to say, "This is not like you. Today is not who you are. What is happening that is causing you to act this way?" I learned this early on in my teaching career. A normally docile student suddenly lashed out at me and said something awful. At first, I thought I should send her to the principal. Instead, I took her outside my door and said five words, "What on earth was that?" She burst into tears. Her parents had told her they were getting a divorce. She hadn’t told anyone. Her profanity-laden outburst was a cry for help. There’s no excuse for profanity, but sometimes, you have to be the adult and know that they are still  young. Sometimes they just want your attention. If you respond poorly to acting out, you can permanently destroy a relationship with a child. You can also lose the respect of the entire class. Remove the class or remove the student. Either way — get rid of the audience and handle this privately. Because when you have a confrontation with a student in front of the class isn’t isn’t just you and them but a powerful third party called peers who will make them act differently than if it were just a one on one chat. When you finish having the discussion, always make sure you address the inappropriate behavior. I typically say something like: "Now, if you look me in the eye and I know that we have an understanding that isn’t going to happen again, we can both move on." We talk about the behavior. Every single time, the child has apologized, we’ve made peace, and we have come out stronger. Every single time it has flipped their day (and often mine.) Teaching isn’t easy, it is worth it. Acting like the adult in hard situations always makes you feel like a pro when you’re a teacher. 7. Pull up a chair. To interact with a child on an even level, pull up a chair. They are sitting, you’re sitting. Sometimes a conversation or a little extra attention lets them know how important they are. I teach quite a few introverts who don’t like extra attention, so while projects are going on, I’ll roll around and spend time with everyone. I never stop first at the introverted child’s desk who I know needs time. Some students who are tremendously introverted will blush if I start with them. So, as kids work on their projects, I’ll roll my chair and spend time with each student. We’ll talk about what they’re doing. If a child is tired, ask if they feel ok. Sometimes a quick question will open up a conversation. 8. Compliment them to their parents or someone important to them. Genuine compliments are my favorite type of thing to communicate to parents. As Joe Sanfellipo and Amy Fadeji said in 10 Awesome Ways to Build Parent Partnerships, the first contact with a parent should be positive. Then, after that we need positives to keep flowing. You can do that several ways: Pictures of kids succeeding in the classroom (I post them just to the class in Bloomz as I don’t like these pics to be on the public web.) Genuine compliments of something a child is mastering quickly or excelling at doing. (I text them to parents via Bloomz.) A funny story of their child’s personality that also shows my appreciation of their individuality. Notes on report cards or progress reports about each child’s strengths. Think about it.  When a child goes home, and someone says, "Mrs. Vicki says you are good at doing ___" or "Mr. Smith says you did a great job at ___ today."  Your name has just been said in a positive way. That, my dear teacher friends, is a good thing.  9. Use Grace in your Discipline. Monday morning I was furious. I have a special chair that Kip bought for me that I sit in at my desk. It is expensive because I was having knee problems and I needed one with the right ergonomics for me. (See 5 Great Ways to Make Your Classroom a Healthier, Happier Place.) So, I have one big rule — no one sits in my chair. Ever. The kids all know it. Several weeks ago, my own son and another boy broke the rule. My husband had to come in and fix the chair. I reminded my classes just last week. Someone let three boys into the Wonder Lab last Friday. They sat in my chair. When I came in Monday, it was messed up. I was furious. I found out who they were, and I admit, I was angry. I communicated but I did not discipline them. I, literally, sat on it for a day. Instead, I went back to each of them on Tuesday and said this, "I am sorry I was so angry yesterday. Mr. Kip had to come in last night and fix the chair. I know when you sit in the chair, you don’t feel like you’re messing it up, but it does. So, I have a rule that no one sits in my chair. My husband bought me that chair two years a go for my birthday so I wouldn’t come home with my back and knees hurting. Now, whether you agree with it or not, do you understand the rule that no one sits in my chair?" Each boy said yes. "Now, I was pondering what to do on this because you broke a rule in my class. My question is: Do you understand the rule or do I have to put you in break detention so you remember it?" "Mrs. Vicki, I promise that I will not break the rule, and I understand it." each boy said to a T. "Well, here’s what I’m doing, then. I believe your word and that you’ll do as you say. If you don’t keep your word, you won’t just have one day, you’ll have three, but I don’t think it will come to that. Let’s move on with this understanding." We end with reinforcing the rule. Reinforcing that they are going to be men of their word and that I believe in them. I believe none of the three will break that rule again. You can call me naive but in 14 years of teaching, this discipline with grace always works. I’ve never had to go back and put them in detention for the three days. Kids who are spoken to with respect like adults often act like functional adults. Also, note that I handled it privately and discussed it when I wasn’t furious. You will be respected when you behave respectably. In the end, handling disciplinary issues with tact and wisdom improves things. It also flips their day when you are one adult who believes in them and lets them work situations out like adults. Certainly there are times I might send a child to detention but I can count them on one hand for the past two years. 10. Do Something Extra. Kids notice when you go over and above. Here are just a few ways to be a little extra noticing: Follow up. If you see a child early in the day, and they are having a hard time - try to find them in the hall or after school and check on them. Do Things Related to What They Love. If a child says they love something, and you have it in your power to give them that thing or something related, do it. (For example, I had a student who loved a certain old SNL character. I used the clip and mentioned their name in a lesson plan. I’m celebrating that child!) Talk About What They Love. I have a student who loves skeet shooting. No one else does this sport, but she loves it. Every time I see her, I ask her about the sport and what she’s doing next. Another student loves her horse. I ask about the horse! New siblings. Favorite sports. Big accomplishments. Let them tell the story they love to tell just one more time. Laugh with them. Make time for laughter. A funny story from yesterday. Yesterday in class I had some old dry cookies I was about to pitch. Some of my kids said - oh, could I have one. I said, "sure, they’re dry — you can eat it over the trash can." Well, they put it in their mouth, and they were so dry that they’d have little crumbs fly into the air like steam out of your mouth on a cold day. So, two of them looked at each other, and one said to the other ‘let’s have a cookie-off’. The understood (somehow) and said, "let’s do this." So, they squared off like the old-timey cowboys having a gunfight over my trashcan. Each looked at the other and put the whole cookie in their mouth. I laughed when I realized what they were doing. It was kind of like the cinnamon challenge - dry dry dry - but it was hilarious. Now, some of you will fuss at me for having sugar (gasp) in my classroom. But we laughed our fool heads off for the 2 minutes at the beginning of class, and they sat down to work for the next 50.  You can’t make this stuff up, and you can’t make laughter happen except not to be so stiff and rigid that no one cracks a smile in your classroom except when you trip on a pencil and almost fall. Plan Memorable Things. We to anticipate fun. Events. Activities. Trips. I want to be the one who has these things, but you can even have them with no notice. If the kids come in dragging, I’ll pull out my costume kit (see Drama in the Classroom: 2 Examples with Bellringers), and we’ll act out scenes. Memories and laughter can always turn the day around. Stop Everything when a Crisis Happens. I had a child in a wreck a little over a month ago. The kids had just found out and came into my room with blank faces. I didn’t know what happened, but I know my students enough to know something was up. I always ask where every student is and when I came to her chair — they told me. I stopped class and changed the lesson plan on the spot - We made get well cards on their computer for her. They needed to channel their skills into something constructive that would help them deal with their emotions. Believe it or not, this flipped the attitude of the whole class. While they were still upset, they smiled as they laughed about things that they could write to make her laugh. It changed the whole relationship for me with that class because they know I hurt when they hurt. I love them. Be a Human Being Not Just a Human Doing. I could teach like Einstein and preach like Martin Luther King Jr. but it would mean nothing without love. Love stops what it is doing when there is crisis. Love looks people in the eye. Love believes in people. Love knows that relationships trump everything. Love — LOVES PEOPLE. And in the end, flipping a kid is the same as flipping any person — showing love. How have you flipped a kid? Please tell your story. This is an important topic.  The post 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!