eBooks are around us. Do you know how to find them? What apps should you use? Do you know how to publish one? This epic eBook guide will help you understand how to download ebooks, use ebookstores, and how to find free and inexpensive ebooks and how to self publish. (If you’re not sure why you should be interested in ebooks, read  11 reasons eBooks can improve your life.) What Do I Get To Read Ebooks? First, you need a reading device or app. An ebook reader is a device designed specifically for reading ebooks. If you want a book on your PC, tablet or smartphone, download one or all of the 5 most useful ebook reading apps (I have all 5): Fantastic 5 eBook Reading Apps iBooks for iTunes (works on Mac or iOS Devices) Kindle apps or a Kindle reading device for Amazon (available on any kind of device) Nook app  or a Nook device for Barnes and Nobles (available on any kind of device) Google Play Books for Google (available for Droid or iOS) Kobo App - a popular app for independent authors and many popular authors who are self publishing How Do I Pick An Ebookstore? Once you have a reader, you’ll need to get the books. eBookstores are one way to get ebooks. Just like with real bookstores, people prefer different ones based on convenience, price, and book availability. I have iBooks but use Kindle more because I have a Kindle Paperwhite. (I get interrupted less often.) In January, Google Play Books gave away some best selling spy novels, so I downloaded and used "Play Books" because it saved me $15 a book. If you read but want to save money, you could have all five apps installed to be ready to get a deal on a cool book you’re dying to read. How Do I Buy A Book? You’lll need an account and then you purchase and send to a registered device or app. On Droids you can buy directly from Google Play, on iPads you can buy iBooks directly from the App Store and on Kindle reading devices (not apps) you can buy directly from Amazon. But everything on Apple Devices is different. Because Apple requires that companies give them a percentage of anything sold "in app," Amazon and others disabled in-app book purchasing. Instead, you go directly to a bookstore’s website to buy and send straight to your eReading app on your iPad or iPhone. (There’s a great video on this page explaining how to purchase Kindle books on your ipad.) What about free ebooks? 5 Places to Go At Your Favorite eBookstore Oddly enough, you do have to have an account to download the "free" books in any of the bookstores. For iBooks, go to  the free section of the iBooks store inside the App store. (I can’t give you a link, you’ll have to go there.) Here are links to the top "selling" free ebooks on the other major stores: Amazon: http://j.mp/kindle_free Barnes and Nobles: http://j.mp/nook_free Google Play http://j.mp/googleplay_free Nook Daily Finds http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/ebook-nook-daily-find-bargain-deal/379003102 Kobo Daily Deal: http://store.kobobooks.com/#daily-deal Who needs to know how to download ebooks? Make sure your college or high school student is set up to do this. If you have a smartphone, tablet or PC, you might as well set this up so you can use it if you need it. Especially for the classics they’ll need to read in literature, you can get most of those for free. Quick Tip for Getting Almost Anything on Your Kindle There is also a trick that works for most ebook readers. For example, as I’m working on my third book (which I will self publish), I export it from Scrivener to .mobi format for Kindle and then I plug my Kindle paperwhite into my computer. I just drag the .mobi file onto my Kindle into the folder for my books. It is there and ready for me to read and edit. You can do this with your student books as well. Most devices can be plugged in with a cable and they look just like a jump drive. This works with files you download too and is a quick time saver if you’re struggling. Finding Free and Inexpensive eBooks Let’s explore some free ebooks now. To prepare to download free ebooks from websites, you need to know the format that you need to get the ebook onto your ebook reader. A common format is .PDF which stands for "Portable Document Format" made by Adobe. Kindle is in .mobi format while lots of other apps use .epub. Most websites are good about telling you which format they have. Make sure you download for "Kindle" or "Nook" or "iBook." Get it while you can Here’s the one big trick on free ebooks. If you think you might want it, download it RIGHT THEN because many free ebook deals are for a limited time only. I have a collection on my Kindle called "On Deck" where I put books I might want to read. You don’t have to worry about filling up your ebook reader, because you can always delete them and leave them in your digital library online to download any time you can. 10 Places to Find, Download and read Free or Inexpensive eBooks Let’s look at some places to help you find, download, and read free and inexpensive ebooks. Project Gutenberg is an excellence source for free classic ebooks. 1. Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org For classic books, project Gutenberg has more than 40,000 free ebooks. This is the first place to look for classics for that lit class. ereader IQ gives you a handy guide to finding eBook price drops, new books, and genre following. 2. eReaderIQ www.ereaderiq.com Meet your new personal research assistant and bargain hunter. This website tracks prices, freebies, and price drops but will also watch your favorite authors and books you want to read for you. If you love books and certain authors and are on a budget, this is a must use site. Go to it, click log in and get started. Free Booksy helps you find free ebooks, no matter the platform. The more platforms you follow, the more likely you’ll find a deal. Although Amazon has price matching, there are some other ebookstores out there who run specials. 3. Free Booksy freebooksy.com Featuring Kindle, iBooks, Nook and Kobo, this site shares free ebooks wherever they are. BookBub sends me daily emails with tips on free and inexpensive books in the genre’s I love. I heard about this from Joanna Penn who uses it too. 4. Book Bub www.bookbub.com This website is recommended by my favorite self publishing guru Joanna Penn and is a neat place to find new books. You can get limited time free ebooks. When you join, you tell BookBub what kinds of books you like to read and you can say what platforms you like to read. I LOVE BOOK BUB! Bookish starts off by having you type in a book  you already love or have recently read to match your interests. 5. Bookish www.bookish.com This is another website with personal recommendations and shelf tracking. Hundred zeros (no e in zeros) is an ebook guide that will help you find inexpensive ebooks for the Kindle. 6. Hundred Zeros hundredzeros.com Lists lots of free ebooks (for Kindle) by genre. (Note, there is no "e" in this zeroes please see info on this usage.) Goodreads is a social network for booklovers. Now owned by Amazon, your book ratings go to both Amazon and Goodreads. There are some great ways to connect with authors on this. Sometimes there are free book giveaways on this site. 7. Goodreads www.goodreads.com/ You can’t ignore Goodreads, especially because Amazon bought them and now at the end of every Kindle book, it prompts you to put your star recommendations in. Goodreads is a social network for those who love books.  (Here’s my author page. If you’ve written books, author pages give you a cool way to interact with readers. I love Goodreads for helping me see what my friends are reading.) What should I read next is a simple suggestion website that you do not have to subscribe to. This is great if you’re just looking and don’t want to sign up for another site. 8. What Should I Read Next? www.whatshouldireadnext.com This is a great tool because you don’t have to create an account. Type in the name of an author or book you love and it will recommend one for you. This service doesn’t care the price of the book, though, just if it is a good fit for you, so use this if you don’t mind paying for a good book. Which book has a fascinating glider scale that lets you pick settings for the kind of book you’re in the mood for and then you get suggestions. (I don’t recommend this for students - look at the homepage and you’ll see why.) 9. Which Book www.openingthebook.com/whichbook/ In this service, you say your mood and it gives you recommendation. I don’t recommend this one for kids at all, but it is sort of like a netflix or pandora for books — you have to say what you feel like and it will recommend books based on that. Again, this lists books of all prices. The Calibre tool is the Swiss Army Knife for ebook reading as it helps you convert books you get on the Internet to almost any sort of device. 10. Calibre calibre-ebook.com For more tech savvy readers - this is an ebook SWISS ARMY KNIFE!  Calibre is an app that converts ebook formats. For example, if you want to get a deal on a book at Google Books and read it on your Kindle, you’ll be buying in epub format. To convert to Kindle’s .mobi format, use Calibre. It lets you buy books just about anywhere and send them just about anywhere (and you can save a lot of money doing this, especially with the deals in the Google Bookstore lately on very popular authors.) eBooks and Your Local Library Remember that you can check out books at many libraries using the Overdrive app. They have a certain number of digital copies, so sometimes you have to wait, but this is my favorite way to grab an audiobook for when I am driving in the car. 7 Essential Resources For eBook Creators There are several resources that I highly recommend if you want to publish ebooks yourself or with your students. I recommend reading the best guides available. Every single book and resource here I’ve read or listened to personally and they have helped me as I’m preparing to publish my third book. 1.  5 Free Easy Ways to  Publish eBooks by AJ Juliani (a guest post on this blog) In this guest post, AJ Juliani writes a handy ebook publishing guide for teachers including Liber.io, Draft, iBooks Author, LeanPub and (believe it or not) PowerPoint/ Keynote. (AJ also authored an awesome free ebook "Teach Above the Test" on his blog that you should download.) 2. APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch Hat tip to my friend Sylvia Martinez who says this was her and Gary Stager’s guidebook for self publishing Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. I am reading this book now and it is incredibly useful. 3. Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success) by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant I LOVE THIS BOOK. It has helped me so much. While it is written by some somewhat irrelevant, quirky authors - they are modern day workhorses who write lots of things that interest them from stories about Fat Vampires to Alien worlds. But don’t let your lack of interest in their genre dissuade you or their somewhat profanity laden podcast Self Publishing Podcast dissuade you, this is a fantastic must read for wannabe authors. 4. How To Market A Book by Joanna Penn Joanna Penn is a fiction author under the name of JF Penn but she also has an amazing, practical book and podcast. I’m her newest and most ardent fan. I’m so glad that Sean and Johnny mentioned her in their book (listed above.) It has opened my eyes to how I’ll market my first book and all of the tools that I can use in that effort (Hopefully this October.) 5. The Creative Penn Podcast by Joanna Penn This podcast a MUST LISTEN TO. In fact, anyone who teaches writing would love her interviews with some of today’s best authors. (English teachers will love her interview with AJ Hartley who has adapted Shakespeare in amazing ways with modern literature including a popular adaptation of Macbeth.)  She’s so endearing and has one of those podcasts that I’m going back through to find older episodes. I also found the next book recommendation on her podcast. 6. Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day by Todd Henry What is the most valuable real estate in the world? The cemetery: because that is where all the books that were never written and the businesses that were never started are buried. This book gives you a gift: clarity. Clarity and focus. If you want to figure out what creative project to work on next - read this book! (Listen to Joanna Penn’s interview with Todd about managing your creative rhythm. Wow.) 7. Scrivener Manual This free manual is an incredible resource for the best tool for writing books I’ve ever found, Scrivener. (You can download a free trial and try it out but go through the manual and videos.) Read More About the 9 Ways Writing Has Changed in the 21st Century If eBooks and making eBooks interest you, I have a whole chapter in my book Reinventing Writing (you can watch my video presentation on it here.)  Reinventing Writing will be out in late May and you can preorder it now or contact me if you’d like me to write a guest post for your organization or blog. If you have a podcast or group, reach out. Find out how to buy Reinventing Writing This epic ebook guide started as a compilation of two articles written for some local newspapers.  If you want to read the rest of the articles I’ve shared in this series, just go to coolcatteacher.com/enterprise. I wrote this as a current resource for my book Reinventing Writing that I can keep updated with links. The post The Epic Ebook Guide appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Bob Burg @BobBurg has some fascinating advice for how to turn adversaries into allies with his new book Adversaries into Allies: Win People Over Without Manipulation or Coercion. As teachers, we never know when we’re going to have a tough situation walk through our door or barge into our inbox, so his advice is very helpful and timely for all of us - especially during high-stress times of the school year. (Like testing or the end of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere.) Who will want to listen to this show Everyone who might have someone get angry with them. That’s all of you. We all need this relational advice and Bob gives some good ones. I particularly like with Bob talks about how you view adversaries — are they really your adversary? Some of his thoughts are reminiscent of Dale Carnegie, but with a slightly different take. Listen to the show Listen to Bob Burg Add Bob Burg to your PLN Bob Burg Blog: http://www.burg.com/blog/ Twitter: @BobBurg You’ll want to pick up Adversaries into Allies. Bob has a thought provoking blog and I was quite intrigued at his recent post about Why So Many People Sabotage Their Happiness. We see this in kids (and teachers) who just seem to wreck the very thing that can bring them joy. We all must challenge ourselves to improve our interpersonal relations with parents, administrators, colleagues and students. The post How Can You Turn Adversaries Into Allies? with Bob Burg appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

I’m rushing around right now after Spring Break and teaching 6 classes. Yep, I said 6. It is a struggle to keep things together, but I thought you might want to take a glance at 7 things that may interest you including national Poetry month, some Google Forms, and an interesting discussion on the privacy you can expect on open Wifi. Today’s inspirational thought is that I hope you’ll be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud. As teachers, we impact so many students every day. We should be the kind of people that students WANT to be around. Would you want to be around yourself? How do you handle life and your profession in general? We can all change and improve. Our subject may be hard but our face doesn’t have to be. We can be the kind, loving, encouraging people that our students need us to be. You don’t have to be a hugger or emotional to be someone who loves kids. They know it if you do. Have a great day! Your friend, Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher 7 Resources and Sites to Improve Your Practice Today 16 Resources for National Poetry Month | Edutopia 16 resources for national poetry month tags: education news poetry inspiration edutopia Welcome to NanoSpace! Science Teachers will love the Nanospace Molecularium from Renssalauer Polytech. Very cool too. (via Richard Byrne.) tags: education news science science_teacher Skitch | Evernote If you use Evernote, you should download and use Skitch. This is a must use tool for teachers. tags: education productivity evernote tools Free Technology for Teachers: A Handful of Helpful Google Forms Tutorials for Teachers Helpful Google forms Tutorials for teachers if you’re wanting to learn how to do this. Great info from Richard Byrne. tags: education tutorials google bestpractices Google tells Supreme Court it’s legal to packet sniff open Wi-Fi networks | Ars Technica Fascinating. But how does this impact any open school networks here? I’m wondering if this will impact schools as well? I have an open network for guests where they have to accept our terms of service, but then, we have a student network. This is one to watch, but if we provide an open network and don’t disclose that people can (and probably will) steal your data. I don’t see how Google can argue this, though — there is the assumption of privacy and security of your own data and you have to give permission for Facebook, Google etc. to get your data - you don’t give permission for a random stranger to see it no matter where you are. This is a stretch and a problem if it goes through. tags: education google edtech ooomf Blog | Tips and other good things. Some great thoughts about how cognitive dissonance and our internal dialog in our head makes it hard for us to get started at new tasks. tags: education news physchology all_teachers Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here. The post Daily Education and Technology News for Schools appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Canva is a tool to create infographics, social media graphics, and more. If you need to gain traffic, you need a graphic. Canva is to graphic design what the Keurig coffee maker is to drinking coffee. It is free, but they make money by having stock images you can buy for $1 a piece if you want them. Everything I did was free. Here are some ways I’ve used Canva in the last 24 hours along with a tutorial video at the bottom on how to use it. 1. Promote what is happening in your classroom or area of work Create memories or share what students are doing RIGHT NOW in powerful ways. I’ve done this with the featured image on this blog post above. 2. Report on Progress and Build Your Image I’ve been asked to promote our new building project in the elementary school and quickly made this image in Canva to share with our school community. This graphic is of the building at the elementary school. Remember that graphics are more widely shared and seen on Facebook, Twitter, and Beyond and they’ll be shared more if you include a graphic in your update. Canva lets you do that. People like this and it gets shared beyond your immediate page. I just checked and this image shared yesterday afternoon has been seen by 444 people. That is more than we have students in our school. Great PR. 3. Promote an Event Our Grandparent’s Auction is Coming Up Saturday. I have a series of graphics that we’re sharing to promote this event. NOTE TO READER: The Grandparent’s Auction raises money for building projects at the school. Here we’re pointing out our current project and reminding everyone of the times. This was sent out through Facebook and our blog. NOTE TO READER: Harness the power of powerful moments and let the principle of transference work in y our favor. Here we have our basketball coach of our girls varsity basketball team raising her arms in victory when we won state this year. Plus kids. We love them. Another reminder of our auction 4. Point out websites or tools you’re using. This is another piece I used to promote some student work. Links seem to get lost in status updates. I think this is a better way to do it. NOTE TO READER: Websites we’re using in Class - made with Canva. Oops, I see that I messed up on the text — I’ll fix before sharing with parents. I want parents to know about the websites and the locations of our collaborations this month. 5 - Promote Positive Messages Again, sharing graphics and quotes about what you believe is a fantastic way to promote your school or your own beliefs and thoughts as a teacher. Every like or share is someone spreading your message further. Plus, it is great to have more positive in the world to counter the negatives that come across our feeds every day! Readers Note: Promote positive messages relating to your school or organization. 6- Update Graphics for Your Website A new banner New "Featured In" Graphic Update the graphics for your website. I have been struggling with Photoshop and my header graphics, so I played around last night and came up with a header (now on this blog) that is pretty close to what I’ll end up using. I also worked on the "featured in" graphic and again, am pretty close. I’ve got some alignment issues and a tweak on the "Featured in" Word.  It won’t let you do transparent png’s so you’ll still need PhotoShop for knockouts. (If you don’t know what a knockout is, don’t knock yourself out, it isn’t that important for you.;-) 7 - Redo Your "Identity Graphics" for Social Media This is where many of us need help. While there are makers for Facebook covers, etc. you have to go into each one and create. You can have the same graphics in canva and making a new image is a snap as you pull them together. The only thing you need to know how to do, as I share in the tutorial video below, is to customize the color to match your website or blog. How To Video for Canva using Facebook Identity Graphics 8 - Have students share their eportfolios and create graphics of all kinds I was tweeting about Canva and teacher Deborah Morgan shared her thoughts on Canva. @coolcatteacher @canva Love me some Canva…as do my students. — Deborah Morgan (@deborahbmorgan) April 10, 2014 9 - Graphics for serious bloggers If you’re a serious blogger, this app is for you too. As Deborah and I tweeted back and forth, uber-blogger Guy Kawasaki (author of APE - a great book for Self Publishers) and he shared this with me and Deborah. @coolcatteacher @deborahbmorgan @canva I missed Canva for a while too then @PegFitzpatrick showed me the light… — Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki) April 10, 2014 Why Canva Belongs in Your Classroom and Personal Toolkit If you’re like me and you tinker with a lot of apps, it is rare that I find one that keeps drawing me back in all day long. There was such a backlog of things I’d been fighting with that I needed to do — publicity for the school, new header for my blog, new Facebook graphics, it is such a relief to finally be able to do it. I also like that I don’t need so many apps to be able to do basic work for my blog - I can use just one. I agree with you, Deborah — Love me some Canva too! The post 7 Ways to Use Canva to Create Compelling Graphics appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

I love this conversation with A.J. Juliani @ajjuliani (Tech Coordinator) with his teachers Rosie Esposito @djesposito and Steve Mogg @stevenjmogg and  from Wissahickon High School, Pennsylvania. It is consistently a top school and their pattern of innovation shows why. Who will want to listen to this show? If you want to understand how to promote innovative practices and helping teachers level up, you’ll want to listen. I love listening to Rosie and Steve share insights into their thought process of innovation. Innovation is a mindset not a destination and the more we can hear real teachers talk about how they innovate, the more we can adopt that mindset ourselves. Listen to Every Classroom Matters "Achieving Sustainable Classroom Innovation" Listen to "Achieving Sustainable Classroom Innovation" Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Internet Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network dedicated to excellent education. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe.   The post Achieving Sustainable Classroom Innovation with @ajjuliani @djesposito and @stevenjmogg appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Richard Wells @ipadwells gives a masterful explanation of the SAMR model of technology integration. He is from New Zealand but his charts on the SAMR model have spread worldwide. All technology integration is NOT the same. Having tablets in a classroom doesn’t make the classroom any better than if Einstein sat in the corner. It is not the presence of a person or thing that makes the classroom better but the interaction with it that does. That is what the SAMR model helps us understand: how technology is actually being used to teach. ### What is the SAMR Model? Standing for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition, this model demonstrates and helps those supporting technology implementation understand the different ways technology can be implemented in the classroom. No, technology integration practices are not all the same. I would argue that technology is MORE disruptive if a teacher is only using it for Substitution and Augmentation. If your teachers are saying the devices are a distraction and not worth having, it is likely, that they haven’t changed their pedagogy and practice. They’re just substituting the technology for what they are already doing and not using the technology to do what they couldn’t do before. Understand the SAMR model to help coach change. Richard is adept in this show and while every ECM show is special, this one has to go up there as one of the best of the best. It is one of those you’ll want to email to people. ### Who should listen to this show? Everyone. Period. Teachers, technology integrators, principals. School Board Members for sure. If you want to have a 21st century school or classroom it is vital that you listen to this show. I’ve listened to it 3 times already and have shared it with my administration - his explanation is that profound and yet simple.. Listen to Richard Wells explain SAMR" You’ll want to visit Richard’s blog and follow him on Twitter and I hope you’ll share this conversation with others to help them understand that ALL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IS NOT THE SAME! The post 4 Step SAMR Model of Technology Integration Explained by Richard Wells appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Yesterday after school I earned my dumpster diver 101 merit badge as a senior and I went through the school’s trash looking for an unmarked photo cd that had been accidentally tossed. (They may doubt my sanity but they can’t doubt my love.) After it was found I drove home quickly to take a hot bath. (I was reminded of a word I haven’t used in ages but we used often in the 1980′s "grody" - not even sure if that is a word.) All the while,  I started thinking about the crazy days that these are. How to make it to the end of the school year It is the end of school for us — April and May are nuts. These are days apt to be described by the first paragraph of "A Tale of Two Cities." Right now I have 3 planning periods a week. (Not kidding.) Plus Special Olympics Bocce Ball. PLUS NHS Blood Drive. PLUS Senior Slide show. PLUS Graduation movie. PLUS Bidding out pulling cable for the new building. PLUS the Technology plan and budget for next year. PLUS tech support. PLUS my book launch for Reinventing Writing to coordinate. PLUS graduating my second child and getting her off to college. MINUS sanity. I say this because tens of thousands of you live this every day. This is your life. You totally get this. To bad no one else does. Don’t expect them to either. People are going to start casually saying "Aren’t you glad things are winding down." ### The school year doesn’t wind down! It crashes.  The School Year Doesn’t "Wind Down"! And you know they are among the clueless. There is nothing "winding down" about the end of the school year. It is more like a complete and total crash. You accelerate until you run into a brick wall and you hope your seatbelt lets you get out of the thing intact so you can limp off to your summer. The first week or so of my summer is spent sipping coffee - staring into space and reading books where stuff gets blown up. I’m worthless because I’m spent. Every shred of everything I had to give is given. ~ You’re Going to Make This But as one teacher to another - you’re going to make this. If you’re a new teacher and you’ve never experienced this side of the "end of school" - the jolting, nerve wracking, exhausting, ridiculous side of "ending" school - then it is OK. You’ll make it. It is one of the toughest most taxing things you’ll experience. ~ The Fallacy of Summer "Vacation" Then, everyone in the world is "jealous" of teachers but they don’t understand that we are hurting, exhausted, and often wounded by this time. We don’t fault new Moms for staying at home for 6 or 8 weeks after having a child. They’re not "getting time off." We aren’t either. When the summer starts, we’ve just come through something - to me - as taxing and exhausting as childbirth. I may not feel as close to death as I did when I had my 10 pound baby girl (who is now 6’1″ and graduating) but in terms of wondering if you can do one more thing - it is the same thing. ### Hold On, Hang On, Yell For Joy In the Wind So, just know that you’re going to find yourself doing all kinds of things over the next 6-8 weeks. You may even find yourself in the dumpster - or even worse, the proverbial dumps. But hold on, you’re going to make it. Yell in the wind as it whips your hair. Enjoy it for what it is. Be noble. Work hard. Keep your commitment to excellence. It is never OK to go on autopilot. These kids can watch movies all summer - don’t give into the temptation to be sorry - you’ve still got things to do. Teach until the last day. Find your beautiful moment every week. You rock teacher and often your nobility is observed and measured these last weeks when many slack off and head on summer break early. Finish well. Do incredible things. Be epic. Never settle. We get one chance at this life and everything we do in the classroom is important. Have fun but have fun with purpose. Be intentional about everything. Make memories. These are hard times but they are sweet times. ~ When we try to sit down, we must pull each other towards excellence as the school year ends. Pulling You Forward So, as I emerged from playing in the trash yesterday it was with a laugh and a high five and the joy at knowing that I showed love by my willingness to play in the trash. And that, my friends, is why you and I are here. For the lessons we teach in our classrooms are important, but the lessons we teach with our lives are never forgotten. And this is just another one of those lessons. The hope that if I share this little piece of myself and my own struggle, that it will encourage you.  We can do this, my dear friends. I’m so happy to be a teacher even though it is hard. ~ The magic never happens inside your comfort zone. The end of the school year is the time we must push past the comfort zone and rutt and be "awesomer" than we’ve ever been. So, how to make it to the end of the school year? Pull each other forward, friends. We’re going to need each other in the coming days. For we can’t expect the world out there to know what this is like, but we should expect support, encouragement and a magnetic pull of excellence from our PLN and colleagues to finish this year in awesome ways. And remember this one essential point — the magic always happens outside your comfort zone. So of all things you can do, don’t get comfortable. Get better and better and end in amazing ways.  You can either be memorable or you’re forgettable. The same applies to what you teach. Live it. Be it. Be noble. We’re in an important profession. Teach on till the last day. Let’s rock! ### Picture Credits: End of School  Year Baby: http://www.pinterest.com/happyteacher/end-of-the-school-year/ Keep Calm Poster: http://www.keepcalmandposters.com/poster/keep-calm-because-school-is-almost-over Where the Magic Happens Venn http://www.thecitrusreport.com/2011/headlines/the-vennesday-diagram-where-the-magic-happens/ The post How to Make It to the End of the School Year appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Today I’ll meet my students at the school at 8:15 am to set up the Bocce Ball courts. By 10 am, the courts will be full of Special Olympians rolling Bocce Balls and yelling in triumph at their accomplishments. The orange-clad referees will work to serve, encourage, measure, and officiate the games. It is a Saturday and 60 something of the kids in my school will roll out of bed, don their shirts and smiles and come to the school even though they don’t have to.Not one of these kids is being MADE to be here. While the National Honor Society is sponsoring it, any student grades 8-12 can come and volunteer and over half the school comes out every year to do just that. Some Things Aren’t Just Special, They’re IMPORTANT We’ve been going now for 11 years. It started off as an effort to host the state Bocce Ball Special Olympics games and indeed we did that for 4 years straight - running 12 hours and doing our best. But when the state games moved to a more central location - in Macon - we kept a tournament going because of how important it is for this event to happen.You see, when students interact with each other in this way - it is a win win for all. It is a win win for the Special Olympians who get encouragement and fair officiating as well as the laughter and fun that comes from being in the presence of teenagers. One thing is for sure, we’ll all laugh (and cry tears of joy) all day today.But my students get a great gift. They get to serve, encourage, and love those with special needs. It is to the point that many of them have been doing this long enough that they remember names and see each other far more than just at this once a year event. They become friends.  ### Be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud. Helping kids be that rainbow blesses them with meaning, joy, and more. Help them serve. The Greatest Joys and the Most Wealth You can teach a child all the knowledge in a thousand books, but if they don’t know how to love and serve others - they’ll miss out on the greatest joys this life has to offer. Today everyone involved will become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. NO, no one will put anything in our wallets — but our hearts will be showered with richness in every way. Joy. Love. Happiness - pure unadulterated happiness. ~ The Tide of Compassion Some of these kids will start off today a tad fearful. You can always see them at the beginning, hanging back just a bit and watching. But when they see their friends cheerleading, hugging, interacting and laughing with the participants - that love just spreads like a wave breaking down the beach. The tide of love and compassion comes crashing in and after just an hour or so, those kids who started the day are all in. By the end of the day you’ll see them, eyes shining working until the last court is put up hanging around sort of wishing it was still happening. They don’t want to leave. ~ Each person is amazing. Help children shun the world’s view that your worth is determined by how smart you are or how fast you can run or how much money you have. The Purpose in Personhood Then they’ll know one of the great secrets of life. When you spend yourself in a worthy cause - your heart becomes full of great riches that you cannot comprehend. As a Christian, there are many verses I can share with these kids about why we do this — but the biggest thing is that each and every one of us realizes we’re not the center of the universe. We see our fellow human beings full of purpose and shun the world’s view that your worth is determined by how smart you are or how fast you can run or how much money you have. They can see clearly that each person is a person of worth, merit, and importance. They’ll see a spirit of true sportsmanship and why we play sports at all and that you don’t have to win the Super Bowl to be a winner in life. ### How Amazing Adults Are Made OK, I’ve got to go get dressed and meet these winners. For the kids who come to this earn my respect and admiration. Other kids at our school are great kids — but these are the ones who really get an education. These are the kids who will change the world because even as teenagers - during a time of natural inborn selfishness - they set their alarm on a Saturday to get up and do something worthwhile. And that, my friend, is how amazing adults are made. The post How Amazing Adults Are Made appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Jerry Blumengarten @cybraryman1 talks with Vicki Davis about using technology in the classrooms.  He asserts he would connect students with any technological tool he could, and finds embedding technology in learning is important to today’s teachers.  He talks about the Genius Hour, the flipped classroom, and the maker movement. Despite being a retired educator, Jerry never stops learning. He recommends these hashtags: #Sschat Wednesday s  8pm CST #Parentteacherchat  #Edtechchat Mondays 5pm PST/9pm EST And Twitter tools Tweetdeck Twubs He recommends teachers try out the learning resources on his site -> Cybrary Man’s Educational Web Sites. He emphasizes that  students should see us learning - that is crucial for teaching and coaching. Every Classroom Matters Show #54:  Jerry Blumengarten "A Discussion with the Connected Educators’ Cybrarian" Listen to Jerry Blumengarten Note from Vicki Davis: Hat tip to my dear friend Lisa Durff who is joining me as the production coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. While the people at BAM RAdio do an amazing job producing this Internet Radio show, I want to give you better show notes and a more timely post on my blog when shows go live. Lisa Durff worked with me on Flat Classroom and is a dear friend and connector.  I’m grateful she is willing to jump in and help as she continues to finish up her doctorate at Walden University in their Ed Tech Program. Lisa drafted this post and is also helping me book and coordinate guests.  The post Jerry Blumengarten: The Connected Educator’s Cybrarian appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

David Menasche , author of  The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons, didn’t sit at home when he was diagnosed with brain cancer.  When he was no longer able to teach due to the cancer and blindness, he travelled around the country to see his students and he truly got to see the impact he had made in their lives. The book is the story of his 101 day adventure visiting his former students.  He relates how The Priority List was his student’s favorite lesson in which they prioritized 26 abstract words like love, power, and spirituality.  He taught English in southern Florida, but his students recalled the conversations, the life lessons, and his insights more than the content of the class. The Guardian released an article in March noting that Steve Carrell is producing the movie based upon this book. When I read David’s book back in January, I knew it was important for him to speak his story to the audience of Every Classroom Matters. So often, we as teachers forget both that we matter and also that sometimes the most important lessons aren’t those from a book. Listen to David Menasche on Every Classroom Matters Book Review of the Priority List by David Menasche This wasn’t an easy read for me but the story was raw and authentic. Teachers have tough situations to deal with every day and David had more than his fair share. Certainly some of the issues in this book will be controversial to many. But working with students is messy. Helping them become adults is hard. Being a teacher who helps kids find their way without imposing our own will and belief systems upon them is important. Students have choices and we must help them make their own way. David does that. By the time I did this interview, I was exhausted and overwhelmed just because David deals with edgy stuff including death - the specter of which most people choose to ignore. You’ll find yourself asking questions and making choices in your classroom that will make you a better person and your students better people as well. While I’m not saying I always agree with his advice to kids - few of you would agree with all of mine either, I do agree that teachers make a lasting difference. I also think more literature teachers should use this priority list approach and worked on the show to get more about this teaching method so you could use it. Thank you to David for his bravery and coming on the show. Add David Menasche to your PLN David’s FaceBook Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly podcast by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network dedicated to excellent education. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help to figure out how to listen to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. I have a tutorial to help you.. The post David Menasche and The Priority List appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.