Free, Online PD for Teachers The sixth annual Global Education Conference 2015 is a free week-long online event bringing together educators and innovators from around the world. This year’s conference will take place Monday, November 16 through Thursday, November 19, 2015. The entire conference is virtual and will take place online in webinar format. Sessions are held around the clock to accommodate participant time zones. The conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and projects related to connecting educators and classrooms with a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving real-world problems. Through this event, it is our hope that attendees will challenge themselves and others to become more active citizens of the world. Let us learn, question, create, and engage in meaningful, authentic opportunities within a global context! I know that you’re busy, but set a goal of watching one of these. Or bookmark some of the sessions and spend some time over Thanksgiving break (for my US friends) to learn more. My students have presented before and you’ll see many students of other teachers as well as teachers excitedly telling their story! I hope you’ll attend! -Vicki Davis  Connect with the 2015 Global Education Conference Ning FaceBook Twitter Linkedin Hashtag #globaled15 The post Global Education Conference 2015 #globaled15 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Financial Literacy: Make the Money "Real" Vicki Davis on Edutopia November 3, 2015 Financial literacy can be hard to teach. That’s because numbers on a page don’t feel real. With our society’s increasing dependence on credit cards, it’s more important than ever to help students "feel" the realness of their own money. Any effective financial literacy lesson needs to be hands on. Financial literacy can be taught, but the best ways are hands-on. This article is posted in full on my Edutopia blog. In it, I share the greatest financial literacy lesson plan I’ve seen for fifth graders from right here at my school in Camilla. Financial literacy is important! We can all integrate it into our courses.  Why Does Money Not "Feel Real" to So Many? For some reason, using credit cards causes us to buy more junk food. And studies have shown that the more transparent our spending (cash versus credit), the less we’re likely to spend. As I teach accounting, for example, I find that debits and credits alone don’t excite my students. But when I have them use debits and credits to keep track of their assets, profits, and losses while playing Monopoly, they care about accounting for every penny. As the money changes hands between them, they feel how each dollar is something very real. They may be using play money, but the tactile experience of having it move through their fingers makes the financial concepts stick. And that is what we want, isn’t it? There are several ways to make financial literacy experiences hands on: Read the rest of this post on Edutopia If this topic interests you, check out: Brian Page: The Imperative to Teach Financial Literacy Will we promote financial ignorance in high school? [ECM #30] Beth Werker: Teaching Financial Literacy with Enterprise City  The post Financial Literacy: Make the Money "Real" [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters episode 185 Students making toys for kids in Africa who have none? Kids taking a live virtual tour of the Great Barrier reef with scientists? Designing with a purpose? Australian Teacher Brian Host is all in with his seven and eight-year-old students. Students don’t want to just make connections. Students of all ages want to be making an impact. Here’s how Brian helps his students do things that matter. Essential Questions: Moving Students Beyond Making Connections to Making an Impact How do you apply problem-based learning to global connections? How are Brian’s students making an impact with a classroom in Africa while using design thinking? How can teachers do 3D design with 7 and 8-year-old students? How did Brian’s students go on an underwater diving experience through Google hangouts? Why was finding the person with the biggest heart more important than technical skills when they looked for a school-wide blogging champion? Hat tip to my friend Craig Kemp for letting me know about Brian’s awesome work. If you know an awesome educator, tweet me or shoot me an email at vicki at coolcatteacher dot com. Let’s share the awesome stories of educators everywhere! Educator Resources from this Episode Brian’s Teaching Blog Brian’s Classroom Blog Problem Based Learning Model from the Buck Institute @HostBrian The first step to connect your classroom to the world is to connect yourself first. Vicki DavisPowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This 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 Moving Students Beyond Making Connections to Making an Impact appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters Episode 186 Here’s to you overloaded, exhausted, overworked teachers. Everyone is heaping guilt trips and criticism on you. But then, it happens. You look up and your classroom is in chaos. The lesson completely falls apart. Nothing works. Confusion builds. You realize that the kids are not learning because something messed it all up. And now, you’re criticizing yourself. STOP IT! It happens to all of us teachers. So, what do you do when this happens to you? In today’s episode, we don’t hand out guilt — we don’t even hand out all the answers. Two teachers talk about dealing with the days when disaster shows up while we’re teaching. If you’re perfect, don’t listen to this show - it isn’t for you. But if you struggle, let’s talk about how we cope and come through it as a better teacher. Last time I talked with Alicia Roberts, it was THE worst day of my teaching career. That candid conversation, What I Learned from the Worst Day of my Teaching Career, has become one of the most downloaded episodes in the history of Every Classroom Matters. So, we decided to have another conversation about our struggles. Enough of Pollyanna-everything-is-fine teacher stuff — lots of times everything ISN’T fine. Let’s get real. And if it is ok with you, let’s get a little bit vulnerable and acknowledge that more of us have this problem than may care to admit it. Teacher, I admire you so much. We will get through this. You can do it.  Anyone who thinks failure is a weakness is no one worth worrying about. Alicia Roberts Have more real conversations. 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 My Lesson Plan is Not Working, Kids Are Not Learning, I Am Freaking Out! appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters episode 187 There aren’t enough scented candles and bubble bath in the world to soothe the stress of a teacher who has completely lost control in her classroom and can’t get it back. But you can get it back. While considering the horrible incident at Spring Valley, I’ve thought about it a thousand ways. There is no reason I could ever find or see to hurl a child across a room. I don’t care how disrespectful or defiant they are- there are better ways to handle a situation than what we saw in Spring Valley. YES! I’ve had a kid defiantly poke out his lip and tell me he wasn’t leaving the classroom. I’ve felt the fury as the Defiant One glared smugly at me, nostrils flaring with a knowing grin on his face. I’ve seen the other students watching the drama between the Defiant One and me. Time crawls and the scene plays out in slow motion. Your senses are sharp. You hear every rustle. You feel the eyes. The two gunslingers have faced off on the square, and only one will come out alive. Honestly! Honestly? When you sink to the level of arguing with a child, you become child-ish. There is always, I mean always a better way. But what? How do we deal with this? What do we do with the Defiant Ones? How do we get a class to be quiet when they just won’t? How do we regain our composure, control of our classroom, and our sanity? My goodness teachers, let’s remember the tools we can use. Let’s be the professionals we’re called to be. Of course, it is easy to Monday morning quarterback a situation that we had nothing to do with and weren’t there to see. But if you’ll listen to this show, Steve Miletto has the best tool you’ll need for handling your Defiant One. Essential Questions: Throwing Students Across the Room Does Not Work, This Does… What are the five elements of classroom management? How do you get a classroom to be quiet without constantly "shushing" them? How can teachers and principals de-escalate a situation that has gotten out of control? Let’s master the roaring tiger within that growls angrily when anyone threatens our domain. Let’s learn how to do this job with love, grace, and great relationships. This whole situation breaks my heart. This is not who we are. This shouldn’t happen in our schools. This cannot be the noble profession we love, cherish and inhabit. Let’s talk about this and do better. My gratitude goes out to Steve Miletto who gives us such a succinct review of the principles we all know we should. His de-escalation strategy is masterful. Educator Resources from this Episode Guest Steve Miletto is at @SRMiletto and has his show at Teaching, Learning, Leading K12 THE Classroom Management Book by Harry and Rosemary Wong Spring Valley YouTube Video of the Officer Removing a Child from Math Class 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 Throwing Students Across the Room Doesn’t Work, This Does… appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Trends and Topics on Twitter This week’s top education tweets of the week have lots of interesting nuggets for us busy teachers. But one topic is flying around: flipping kids. No, not flipping them off. Not flipping your classroom — flipping a child like you flip a house. Turning their day around. The old cliche of "turning that frown upside down" is catching on. For when you change a child’s day for the good, you’ve truly accomplished something. (We can do it to each other too.) Some hot tweets include: A cool grid to help kids reflect on their learning. Note taking tips for 21st century students. How to link Google Drive with Microsoft Office. So, as you read this week’s hot tweets — ask yourself — are you giving your best? Are you using these tweets and ideas and applying at least one of them? Level up a little bit every day. You can do this. Be noble. Be a great teacher. As for "keeping" up with everything on Twitter. No guilt. Do your best. Twitter overwhelms me too. I do my best to keep up with you all, but in all the busy-ness, this weekly roundup lets my PLN talk. On a personal note. Thank you to all of the educators out there who take time to share things with the rest of us. The informal learning on social media has a very real impact in my classroom. Educators who care, share. It is in our DNA. Have a great weekend! Fall Festival time. As for me, I have Fall Festival tonight at school where we’ll win all kinds of homemade pies and cakes. Tomorrow is a celebration that we’ve had since I was a small child — "Pie day." (Completely unrelated to the far more highbrow and auspicious "Pi day".) On "pie day" in my house, you can eat a slice of any pie or cake you win for breakfast with no guilt. (I’ll earn an extra hour on the treadmill but so be it.) My class is sponsoring the Sumo wrestling booth! Crazy stuff! Top Education Tweets of the Week, November 7, 2015 #1 - Help Kids Reflect on their Learning with This Grid Update 11/14/2015 - I was tweeted by @ASTsupportAAli after this came out that he created this chart. Well done, Amjad! I shared this from his site, but did not hanve his handle. Giving credit is important and many people do not. If you know you’re getting something from a source, always cite the source. Thanks, Amjad for letting me know. What a great way to have kids reflect on their learning.: https://t.co/RBtO6J2Sf3 pic.twitter.com/caObF6DBE9 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 7, 2015 #2 Notetaking Skills for 21st Century Students Note Taking Skills for 21st Century Students https://t.co/u5zoR1QYNx #edtech pic.twitter.com/g2aLfnVRhv — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 5, 2015 #3 How to Link Google Drive and Microsoft Office USEFUL: How to Add Google Drive to Microsoft Word https://t.co/5kXMq6zKPf #gafe #google pic.twitter.com/J7FUZp5IO4 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 5, 2015 #4 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around https://t.co/dW6lF6evQA — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 4, 2015 #5 Photos for Class Tool via Edtechpicks.org COOL NEW TOOL: Photos for Class — Find Copyright Free, Properly Cited Images for Student Use https://t.co/amsI5RoPet #edtech — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 3, 2015 #6 Top 10 Posts of October 2015 Top 10 Blog Posts of October 2015 https://t.co/iJEFXr4b9b pic.twitter.com/W8XW8AasIV — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 2, 2015 #7 10 Tops for Offering Excellent Feedback from Starr Sackstein 10 Tips for Offering Excellent Feedback https://t.co/0rpXEloR3A via @mssackstein — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 1, 2015 #8 The Top Way to Learn Math is to Learn How to Fail Productively INTERESTING: The best way to learn math is to learn how to fail productively https://t.co/fHxnKyhMaG What does #mathchat say? — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 3, 2015 #9 What Teachers Really Should Fear If you're going to fear anything, fear complacency, fear the status quo, fear doing nothing. https://t.co/YQeheocCWI pic.twitter.com/R18Ecut8B0 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 5, 2015 #10 Will Technology replace Teachers Since I wrote this post, Erin Klein tweeted me and Sylvia Duckworth and told us that George Corous actually said this. I’m fixing the graphic and uploading a new one. Hats off to Erin for her honestly and giving credit where it is due. QUOTED TWO EPIC LADIES! @KleinErin @sylviaduckworth - Will technology replace teachers? https://t.co/06BiYNdqkU pic.twitter.com/FTqzQKyJ8D — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 7, 2015 Other Hot Tweets Twitter analytics is now giving me the top things people have shared relating to this blog. Here are some noteworthy shares. Thanks to my friend, Angela Maiers, for sharing this heartwarming story of Kid President far and wide. We can all agree @iamkidpresident is amazing, but do you know his story? https://t.co/UZ6rvY3Ozz pic.twitter.com/ZNHwWZdJhn — Angela Maiers (@AngelaMaiers) November 2, 2015 The post Top Education Tweets of the Week: November 7, 2015 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

News and Trends: November 8, 2018 As I hinted in yesterday’s summary of the week’s top tweets, teachers are talking about flipping kids. An offhand comment by my friend Kevin Honeycutt seems to be growing into a larger conversation. Teachers also need inspiration as shown by the 10 inspirational videos for teachers. This week’s top blog posts also have a 2013 post with lesson plans and ideas for teaching gratitude that I’ve updated. It is fascinating to me to see three episodes of Every Classroom Matters hit the top list. Alicia Roberts and I talked about what we do when a lesson plan fails, and Steve Miletto and I discussed classroom management. We specifically focused on how to de-escalate a situation to keep it from being another horrible Spring Valley incident (where the child was literally slung from her desk.) The Kid President show is still trending, largely because of a tweet from my friend Angela Maiers. Top Blog Posts for Teachers This Week #1 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around Do you realize the impact that you have on kids? Each other? Lots of us do and are talking about this topic of flipping a kid. This blog post grew from an incredible interview Kevin Honeycutt gave for Every Classroom Matters episode 171 where he talked about flipping kids. Wow. Great thought.   #2 10 Inspirational Videos for Teachers 10 Inspirational Videos for Teachers The time change always gets me. So, on Monday morning when my mind woke me up at 4:15 am (which was just 5:15 am the week before), I realized that I was needed to go back to my inspiring YouTube playlist and get some motivation. I thought I’d share those clips and lots of you like them too.     #3 Note Taking Skills for 21st Century Students People tell kids to "take notes" but don’t help them understand how. This collection of videos, lesson plan tips, and strategies will help you guide students into understanding how to take notes.     #4 My Lesson Plan is Not Working, Kids are Not Learning, I am Freaking Out! On episode 186 of Every Classroom Matters, my friend Alicia Roberts and I talked honestly about our struggles to get back on track when a lesson plan becomes a disaster. We need to have hard conversations about excellence. But get this, excellence often arises from failure and how we deal with it. The messages on Facebook have been heartwarming. Lots of us struggle with this. #5 15 Best Google Drive Add-Ons for Education A perennial favorite. Chromebooks and Google apps are big. These add-ons are helpful. (If you teach writing, the 4 Writing Tips to Help the Writing Process post will give you specific recommendations for you.) #6 How to add Google Drive to Microsoft Word You can add Google Drive to Microsoft Word. I did it and documented how as I linked the accounts. #7 5 Ways to Teach Gratitude in Your Classroom This post was written in 2013, but I updated it when I saw how many teachers are using this as a resource for lesson plan ideas to teach gratitude. This post was sponsored by Everyartist.me which is still going strong.     #8 Throwing Students Across the Room Doesn’t Work, This Does… Like many of you, my heart was broken seeing a resource officer throw an obstinant child across a classroom trying to get her to leave. This is totally unnecessary and inexcusable. Steve Miletto has wisdom he shares on Every Classroom Matters episode 187. The day it released, this episode jumped up to the #4 slot on K12 iTunes episodes. There is a better way than yanking a kid out of a desk and Steve’s advice is golden.   #9 Kid President: Kids Inspiring Kids to Change the World The back story behind viral video sensation Kid President is heart warming. Brad Montague, the director and Kid President’s brother in law has an honest conversation about how it all started, where they are heading, and the new emphasis on awesome girls.           #10 Top 10 Posts of October 2015 Teachers get overwhelmed and don’t have time. This summary post highlighted what teachers found helpful in October. Teaching a growth  mindset, tips for helping the writing process, Pcanvaadlet, and encouragement topped the list. I’m glad to see that the process of summarizing is helpful.       How Is this List Made? Simple. Blog traffic. How many people read each post. I think the number of times each post is read or reviewed is the best number to show what teachers are reading.  The post Top Blog Posts for Teachers This Week appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Productivity that Works You can be more productive on your iPhone or smartphone. My home screen as been pretty consistent for the last few years. With this tutorial, I’ll take you through the apps I use, how they work together, and some quick tips on productivity with your iPhone. If you’re just starting out or want some productivity ideas, this post is for you. Above, I share a quick tutorial video from my iPhone. (Screenflow lets you record from your iPhone or iPad!) 19 Epic iPhone Productivity Apps Facebook Messenger Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: I get lots of business done on Facebook messenger. Active connections are one reason I do connect with people I know professionally on Facebook. I book shows, plan trips, and sometimes even plan to speak for people. According to Facebook, this is the second most popular app on the iPhone. You do need a Facebook account (and some friends) for this app to work. Get Facebook Messenger Flipboard Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: ByThis is my go-to quick news reader! See 15 Fantastic Ways to Use Flipboard and Flipboard Magazines make curation for your classes Easy. Get Flipboard   30/30 App Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: ByThe 30/30 app helps you create everyday habits. See 3 Little Tricks to Smooth Out Your Day and Plan Your Ideal Week Get 30/30 Focus@will Cost: Free Trial, Subscription prices vary How it Makes Me More Productive: This app claims to use science to design the music that puts you in "the zone" of productivity. It works for me and my son who swears by it. I do have the subscription and also use it in my classroom, although sometimes kids want music with words. Get Focus@will   Buffer App Cost: Free for Individuals, but it will only store ten buffers at a time, the Awesome plan is $10/ month for 100 and pricing goes up from there. How it Makes Me More Productive: I schedule tweets, Facebook updates, and everything through this handy tool. While I do heavy work through buffer on the web, Buffer helps me to schedule tweets so I can focus on teaching or writing or whatever I need to do during the day. Get the Buffer App Grocery IQ Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: Grocery IQ is just so easy to use. I scan barcodes when we run out of items, or dictate my list on the go. It finds coupons for me as well since I don’t have time to clip them. Get GroceryIQ Evernote Cost: Free, Plus ($24.99) or Premium ($49.99) - I have the Premium Plan. How it Makes Me More Productive: ByEvernote is my notebook for everything. As you’ll see with VJournal and Drafts, I use it to collect ideas, thoughts, and even to take pictures of my daily journal and give myself to-dos. It is a fantastic tool. See Make a Table of Contents in Evernote, Save your Kindle Notes into Evernote, and Export iBooks Notes to Evernote for some favorite hacks. Productivity Tip: As I show you in the video, I use Evernote with Task Clone, which adds tasks to OmniFocus for me. It also works with Wunderlist, Todoist, and many other task managers. Task clone links paper, Evernote, and my task manager together in an amazing workflow, so I lose NOTHING. Get Evernote Hootsuite Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: Some people schedule and post to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and more from Hootsuite with their pro version. I just use it to read Twitter, follow hashtags and keep on top of Twitter. The Twitter app becomes unusable when you start getting a lot of replies and conversations to follow. I can’t make hide nor hair of it. So, Hootsuite is my go-to tool for daily Twitter on my iPhone. See How to Set Up Streams in Hootsuite. Get Hootsuite Safari Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: It is the Internet. What more do I say. One big tip, close those extra screens as I show you in the video, they stay open and will slow you down! Comes with your iPhone, no need to download. vJournal Cost: .99 cents for Journal but they have a free version. How it Makes Me More Productive: As I show in the video when you jot quick notes, it sends those to a daily journal page in Evernote with a timestamp. I’ve been using this for years and LOVE IT. It also will send pics and locations. Talk about documentation (if you need it for something). Excellent tool! See 9 Fine Reasons to Keep a Journal (and how to help kids do it too. Get Journal for Evernote Amazon Music Cost: Comes with Amazon Prime ($99/year, Student members $49) How it Makes Me More Productive: Amazon Music comes with Prime Membership. I’m running out of space on my iPhone, but I love music. Amazon Music took Pandora’s place on my home screen about six months ago. Get Amazon Music with Prime Music iCatcher! Cost: $2.99 How it Makes Me More Productive: Internet radio rocks my world. Besides having a show, I listen to lots of podcasts. This app organizes into playlists, so I don’t have to switch between podcasts while I’m driving. It is like my personal talk radio station. See A tutorial on how to subscribe using iCatcher. Get iCatcher! Podcast Player OmniFocus Cost: $39.99 (the Mac and iPad versions also cost money. How it Makes Me More Productive: By I kept playing around with everything else, secretly longing for Omnifocus. Finally, my sister asked me if I would buy a book that made me more productive for $40. I told her I would — of course — and have done it before. I have the iPhone, iPad and Mac version of this and sync with their servers. Pricey I know but it is the best to-do app on the market. Make sure you’re serious and going to use it, but if you are serious about productivity like I am, Omnifocus can’t be beaten. Get Omnifocus2 on your iPhone Olive Tree Bible Reader Cost: Free, you will pay for different versions of the Bible How it Makes Me More Productive: I use this app on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. As a Sunday School teacher, this app is essential for me. The notes sync between my devices, so if I highlight one passage, the highlight appears on all of my devices. I love this app. Get Bible+ by Olive Tree Bloomz Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: Bloomz is my go-to for all parent/teacher communications. I share updates, snap pics, and ask for volunteers through the app. Parents can message me, and I can respond without all of the issues that come with giving out my cell phone. Love love! Get Bloomz Drafts 4 Cost: $9.99 How it Makes Me More Productive:  Drafts 4 automates workflow. If you want to type something and share it across multiple networks with one click, Drafts will do it. I use it to quickly send items to lists in Evernote as I show in the video. It does so much more! Drafts 4 is a Swiss Army knife for those who are a bit geeky about productivity. Get Drafts 4 Calendar 5 Cost: $6.99 How it Makes Me More Productive: Calendar 5 quickly lets you add tasks and syncs with your Google Calendar or iCal. It does have built in tasks, but I use it just for the awesome calendar. See Plan Your Ideal Week. Get Calendar 5 Mailbox Cost: Free How it Makes Me More Productive: The fastest, best mail app that works with Gmail and iCloud. See Mailbox: Inbox Zero and Email Productivity [An App of the Week Lesson Plan and The best Mail app for the iPad or iPhone: Mailbox. Get Mailbox Question:What are your favorite iPhone apps? Share links to your own blog posts or info on your fave apps in the comments! You can leave a comment by clicking here.   The post 19 Epic iPhone Productivity Apps & Tips appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Leaders are Readers and Readers are Leaders You want to have purpose and meaning in your life, and certainly there are lots of people who have advice. How do you tell truth from fiction? How do you know who to believe? Research by Anne Cunningham and Keith Stanovich found that habitual readers know more than habitual television watchers. But it also showed that readers are better at deciphering misinformation. As John Maxwell and my pastor, Michael Catt, often say, "Leaders are readers and readers are leaders." So, we know that reading helps us decipher misinformation. Hopefully, we all want purpose and meaning in our lives. Great books can do that. I love patrolling the reading lists of people I read, so I thought I’d share some of mine. Here are some of the best books I’ve read this year (2015)- in no particular order. (I did not include education books. I interview the authors of my favorite education books on Every Classroom Matters!) I’m giving you a brief overview of the book and why I loved it. Please share your faves in the comments! 7 Books to Help Add Meaning and Purpose to Your Life 21 Great Leaders: Learn Their Lessons, Improve Your Influence by Pat Williams Pat Williams tells a masterful story of many of the great men and women of our time. He relates to the aspects of leadership. But the part I also like is his insight into their weaknesses as well. I am reading this to my homeroom now. Excellent book! "I define leadership as the ability to achieve difficult, challenging goals through other people." @OrlandoMagicPatPowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This What are You Living For? Investing Your Life in What Matters Most by Pat Williams I finished this book last night and cried as finished the last page. The book is beautiful and so well summarizes the search for meaning in life. Whatever your faith, it will give you so much to consider. As a Christian, it fits. Think of the effect your words have on the people around you, especially young people. @orlandomagicpatPowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredibly Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff As I touted my love for Donald Miller’s books (see below), some of my friends on Facebook recommended Love Does by Bob Goff. Donald Miller talks about the extravagant, unusual life of Bob Goff. If there is someone who outlandishly loves people, it is this man, Bob. I loved this book because it helps me focus on relationships. It puts in order how I should love people. Awesome book. A friend doesn’t just say things; a friend does. @bobgoff Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Seaside by Terri Blackstock This short novella was a read on my way to a vacation. A story about a mom and her two daughters who head to the seashore one weekend speaks to me on so many levels. These three "type A" women remember and learn so much about themselves and each other. This is a fantastic read for busy mom’s, career women and those who are caught in the rat race. Quick read. Big impact. "She hoped it wasn’t too late to show them that time wasted is not always a waste of time." Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success by Shane Snow After I finished reading this book, I immediately texted my mentor, Errol St. Clair Smith, and he read it too. The book is full of actionable information about how success works. Shane Snow dispels common myths (i.e. "Serve your time and then your time will come.") and gives you advice on how to move ahead (sometimes it isn’t always in a straight line!) "The research showed that experts—people who were masters at a trade—vastly preferred negative feedback to positive. It spurred the most improvement. That was because criticism is generally more actionable than compliments." Don’t Just Stand There, Pray Something by Ron Dunn The late Ron Dunn wrote my favorite book on prayer. One of my greatest success secrets is my prayer life. I am not equipped nor able to explain how prayer works- but Ron Dunn comes as close as any book I’ve seen on explaining and helping one learn to pray. The best book I’ve read on prayer. Ron Dunn may have died in 2001, but his work lives on in this book. My Reading Life by Pat Conroy I haven’t read such a fantastic book on reading and writing since On Writing by Steven King. (yes, THAT Steven King - see my review on that book.) Pat Conroy, the author of the Great Santini and the Lords of Discipline and more, tells a masterful story of his life. Intertwined is his admiration for his boyhood teacher as well as a fresh glimpse into the author-elite world of writers in the South. I was captured by his words and entranced by his imagery. My Reading Life is one of those books to share with budding authors because Conroy’s love of books makes you fall even more in love yourself. "Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next ten years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down in contented residence in your heart." The One Thing: The Surprising Truth About Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan This book has helped me focus more than any book I’ve read in a long time. We can produce extra-ordinary results but we must focus. But how? How do we focus? How do we know what is most important? This book can give anyone great insight to the age old question, "Why am I on this earth?" What are your favorite books? The post 7 Books to Help Add Purpose and Meaning to Life appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Trends and Topics on Twitter A subtle shift is happening in language as seen in the top education tweets this week. After we’ve gone down enough techno-innovation-as-Savior trails and found them to be dead ends, it seems many in education are circling back to one simple point: the greatest innovative force in the classroom is an innovative teacher. Why? Because they can unleash innovative students. And when they do, the force is transformational, transcendent, and awe-inspiring. It is what we must do. It seems everyone is trying to sell us something to fix education but we need to buy into the fact that the fix is us. #miamidevice — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 13, 2015 Relationships are king. Teachers and students need a great one. (By the way, as I was reminded by listening to Tony Sinanis and Todd Nesloney this week at Miami Device, principals need great relationships with teachers and students too!) And then, after we have relationships, technology can be transformational. (Hat tip to George Couros.) 10 Ways to Flip a Kid - Sketchnote by @sylviaduckworth was the top shared graphic this week from this blog. Miami Device was awesome. Yes, I was at Miami Device this week and have come back both exhausted and energized. Spending time with my dear friend Angela Maiers and hearing how she not only spends time in teacher workshops but also spends time with STUDENTS helping unleash their creativity on work that matters: that, my friends, is energizing. Thanks Felix Jacomino for the invitation to join the celebration. People are the Power. So, this week’s top tweets do have some tools, but they also seem to include this renegade idea that PEOPLE are the POWER of change. We begin transforming our schools and classrooms when we transform our ATTITUDE. And we should realize "I" — the letter and me as a person — is at the center of ATT-I-TUDE. Twitter Analytics. Whether you’re on Twitter or not, I hope this week’s tweets of the week give you inspiration and education. For those of you who are asking, I’m pulling these from Twitter analytics. To get started, go to https://analytics.twitter.com/ and sign in with your account. You don’t have to run paid advertising to use it. For France. Meanwhile, my heart breaks and aches for the people of France but also for all countries hit by terrorism. Those whose purpose in life is to end the lives of others should take their proper place in the despicable ranks of Hitler’s SS and those whose joy it is to cause others to suffer. As teachers, we must remember the importance of our job. As my teacher friend Russel Tarr (creator of Classtools.net) from France reminded me on Facebook last night, "We need to remind our students that the people doing these horrific things are the same people that refugees are running away from." I have no platitudes or great words for you, dear teachers. Only to say this: We cannot help the times in which we live, only the way in which we live the times. (a riff on Tolkien’s old wizard Gandalf) Such words have never been truer. Just remember this, teacher, you may have been through 9/11 or disaster or heartbreak. You may have been through lots of things but for some of the kids in your classrooms, this is the first time FOR THEM. They want to talk. They want to seek wise advice. And while you cannot give them the answers they seek (as I am not sure anyone on this terrestrial ball can) you can embrace the humanity of the suit of flesh they wear that longs for peace and cries when people bury those they love because senseless hatred. (You may want to read the story of the Cellist of Sarajevo to them and remind them to make their music.) Kids need to know they matter. Each person on this planet matters. Each life is precious. This is not a video game. To see lives wasted like this is truly the greatest heartbreak of them all. I weep. Correction: I also want to give a shout out to @ASTsupportAAli who has let me know that he created the chart shared on last week’s top Tweet of the week. I didn’t have his handle when I found the graphic, so I’m adding it now to last week’s top Education Tweets post and this one. Education Tweets of the Week: November 14, 2015 1. Technology should help students learn! Technology should assist student learning & creation rather than to control learning… https://t.co/JR3DmiIm0x pic.twitter.com/5SdgChYFp5 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 9, 2015 2. You can Flip a Kid: Sketchnote by Sylvia Duckworth Sylvia Duckworth sketchnoted 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around, a post rapidly becoming one of the top posts of the year. Teachers are sharing how they are flipping a kid’s day on Facebook and tweeting what they are doing. Shout out to Lisa Parisi who shared on Facebook that she complimented a kids haircut and the child said, "you’re the only one all day who noticed." Be the noticer. Be the one who pays attention. Love kids. Follow Sam Walton’s 10 foot rule, say hello by name to anyone who comes within 10 feet of you during the day. If you don’t know their name, ask someone and use it next time. Master teachers master relationships. Kids are worth the effort. NEW SKETCHNOTE by @sylviaduckworth - 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around https://t.co/IukY4ElL3L pic.twitter.com/R4TI9bDDKM — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 11, 2015 3. Hat tip to Shelly Terrell for this List Shelly Sanchez Terrell is awesome. Take a look at her 30 goals book. Shelly’s a wildly helpful, must follow on Twitter. @shellterrell 10 Hashtags Every Education Leader Should Follow https://t.co/kIK3ibe24L incl #leadupchat #cpchat #satchat #suptchat #edleadership #edadmin — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 9, 2015 4. We want to be remembered. A community post over at @edutopia What Students Remember Most About Teachers https://t.co/RD6aF7fQEP — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 8, 2015 5. Many are looking to curate content for their teams. This link shows you how. A Comprehensive Guide to Content Curation https://t.co/ZTLbYAHQRt pic.twitter.com/91HjAO1LMU — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 10, 2015 6. My Sunday morning post about the prior hot blog posts of the week. Top Blog Posts for Teachers This Week https://t.co/e6xibn3lEu pic.twitter.com/RZZ2DJD9WW — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 8, 2015 7. Hour of Code is Here and it has the FORCE! Star Wars is part of the Hour of Code Hour of Code to feature Star Wars: The Force Awakens https://t.co/LtX6zbgks7 #hourofcode #stem — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 11, 2015 8. We all need motivation during November 15 Motivational Posters to Kickstart Your Creativity https://t.co/rRNDwaY0xQ pic.twitter.com/hXRGARwbzJ — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 10, 2015 9. A little rant. I guess other people struggle like I do. We encounter unhappy people but we have to refuse to let them steal our joy. I will not let the lack of joy in others evaporate mine in the heat of their fervor to be unhappy. — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 9, 2015 10. My top tweet from Miami Device. Having kids as social media interns is an AMAZING idea! WOW: @TonySinanis has kids who are "social media" interns for the class each week & work with adults to capture the class. #miamidevice — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 12, 2015 I was asked last week in the comments how I determine what is educational. Well, for example, this week, I tweeted a short video of an ambulance on the tarmac of the Atlanta airport. Quite a few people clicked and viewed that video. It showed up in the top 10 this week. I didn’t include it on this list because, in my opinion, that is not educational in nature. The impact of the tweets also includes click-throughs, something you cannot see in retweets and likes. Be wary of thinking that the most important stuff on Twitter always has lots of likes and clicks - sometimes it is just helpful and people click the link. Sharing this list is part of my experiment to bring the goodness of Twitter to all of my dear friends out there who either cannot use Twitter or at this point, do not yet want to use it. The post Top Education Tweets of the Week: November 14, 2015 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!