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!

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!

News and Trends: Sunday, November 15, 2015 Why Teachers Need to Keep Going Even When It’s Hard This story of Vedran Smailovic is resonating with the heartbreaking weekend in France. Some teachers are letting me know they are sharing this story. His heroic music amidst the bombing of Sarajevo reminds us that as we deal with horrible things in our world, we each make music that makes a difference. Also a shout out to Aussie teacher, Jennifer (don’t have her last name), who helped me tweak and make this blog post more accurate. I appreciate Jennifer taking the time to help me make this blog post even better. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/why-teachers-need-to-keep-going-even-when-its-hard/  2. 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around Sylvia Duckworth made a sketch note sent this blog post traveling through teacher inboxes and tweets. It again reminds me that a great graphic helps noble messages spread further. Thanks, Sylvia. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/10-ways-to-flip-a-kid-and-turn-their-day-around/  10 Ways to Flip a Kid - Sketchnote by @sylviaduckworth was the top shared graphic this week from this blog. 3. Notetaking Skills for 21st Century Students An essential guidebook in helping kids learn how to take notes that they REMEMBER! Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/note-taking-skills-21st-century-students/  4. 5 Ways to Encourage Gratitude in Your Classroom Teachers are planning how to see thankfulness. I updated this post and reshared it to make it more current. I’m thankful so many of you are preparing lesson plans this week to help kids have gratitude. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/5-ways-to-encourage-gratitude/  5. 15 Best Google Drive Add-Ons for Education Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/best-google-drive-add-ons/  6. Top Education Tweets of the Week - November 14, 2015 Educators like these summaries of what is most helpful on Twitter the prior week. Just posted yesterday, showing up on the top list for the week is pretty amazing. We all must remember, not every educator can get on Twitter (for various reasons). But we can take Twitter to educators through summaries using Twitter analytics. The top tweets are calculated on clicks, retweets, and favorites so remember, if you are on Twitter, your vote counts. I also poured out my heart about some things educators are sharing about the tears we are crying for France and all terror victims this weekend. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/top-education-tweets-of-the-week-november-14-2015/  7. 6 Reading Comprehension Problems and What to Do about Them by MJ Linane This blog post was authored by educator MJ Linane and edited by me as a sponsored post. I work hard to show you practical classroom information as I share the best tools that work. If it is a sponsor of my show or a blog post, you can count on them being awesome. (I’ve got several new sponsors I’m excited to share with you this week!) Actively Learn, the sponsor of this particular post has a free demo anyone can use. The infographic is worth sharing with all reading teachers. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/6-reading-comprehension-problems/  reading comprehension problems infographic to share 8. What to Do When Someone Hates You It astounds me that this is on the list so many weeks. My heart breaks every time I see how many people are searching for an answer for dealing with personal hatred. (The other heartbreaking chart topper is #11 If I’m Such a Great Teacher, Why Do I Want to Quit?) Oh dear friends, I so understand the pain — not your personal pain, but my own as I struggle with hatred and struggle to keep going each day even when my heart breaks. You are loved, teacher. You are important. Encourage each other. We need each other to make it. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/what-to-do-when-someone-hates-you/  9. 19 Epic iPhone Apps and Tips In this blog post, I include a quick 7-minute video showing all of the apps that are on my iPhone home screen and how I use them. I include several major productivity hacks that I’ve used through the years. It may seem old, but when we share our productivity tips, it helps others. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/19-epic-iphone-productivity-apps-tips/  10. 6 Ways to Motivate Teachers: Be the Hope Helping teachers motivate themselves is a challenge. This post shares some things I’ve learned by watching great leaders and have seen work at my school. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/motivate-teachers/  Thank you, dear teachers, for just being you. Thank you to all of my new (and old) friends at Miami Device. Encouragement is a two way street. When a person stops me in person or sends an email and tells me that a blog post helped them, it means the world to me. I’m shaped by everything that you do.   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!

Every Classroom Matters Episode 188 Self publishing seems hard. But as UK-based educator David Hopkins shares on today’s episode, if you can use Microsoft Word, you can do it. David has self published three books. He explains simply how teachers and authors can self publish books in print and ebook format. Essential Questions: How Teachers Can Self-Publish Books What do teachers do first when they want to self publish? How can teachers use Microsoft Word to self publish? What is the difference between formatting ebooks and print books? What tools and sites did David use when he self-published? How can non-US educators publish with Amazon? If you want to know how this can be used in the classroom, listen to episode 184. Educator Resources from this Episode A big shout-out to David who wrote up this episode on his blog. David shares the links to resources that will help you get started self publishing your own books. APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur - How to Publish a Book Planning and creating your eBook Writing an eBook: Lessons learned on how, where, and why The Really Useful #EdTechBook - David’s most recent book QR Codes in Education - David’s second book What is a Learning Technologist? - David’s first book Createspace Other Platforms where Teachers Can Self Publish Books Thanks Lisa Durff for compiling this list of other self publishing resources. Lulu XLibris Infinity Publishing iUniverse If you like this topic, check out my book Reinventing Writing. 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 Teachers Can Self Publish Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters Episode 189 I’m sick and tired of excuses. Everyone makes them but the biggest, most obnoxious dumbest excuse we’ve adopted is "we have to prepare kids for THE TEST." Sure the test has become a reality. But with so many people seeing the schools KILL THE LOVE OF LEARNING so we can help kids memorize rote facts for a TEST — why isn’t more happening to CHANGE THINGS? Schools know we can do better but why do schools still do the same old things that didn’t work last time? Parents see it too! Two thirds of US parents agreeing that there’s too much emphasis on testing. It is time to shift. Essential Questions: Uncommon Learning: Creating Schools that Work for Kids What DOESN’T work in education? How can we let go of control and still prepare kids for life? How we should evaluate our schools? What is it going to take to help schools focus on learning and not testing? How do you help teachers who refuse to learn new things or are so burnt out and tired they don’t want to join informal learning? When society looks back on us in a hundred years will we be seen as a people who did what is right even though it is hard? Or will we be seen as a people who make excuses to do the wrong thing because we’re tired? May it not be! Change is hard but it is for our kids. It is worth it! Keep them the center! Focus on learning! We can all level up learning!  Educator Resources from this Episode Eric Sheninger’s new book: Uncommon Learning: Creating Schools that Work for Kids @E_Sheninger If something is important to us, we find a way. If not, then we’ll always find an excuse. Eric Sheninger "Schools work better for adults than they work for kids. We need to work harder to make schools work for kids." Eric Sheninger When society looks back on us in 100 years…Will we be seen as people who do what is right even though it is hard?Or will we be seen as people who make excuses to do the wrong thing because we’re tired? Vicki Davis 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 we can stop TEACHING TO THE TEST and start empowering learning (for a change) appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Play Good Games, Get Great Results Game based learning in the classroom should not be worksheets with points. It should be engaging and exciting. Here are eight ways to level up game based learning. Because, face it, many educational "games" fall short. Chocolate on broccoli. That is what many educators call these games that fall short of what great gaming can be. Dr. Lee Graham, a creator of the literature Minecraft experience Givercraft, says, Some games are computerized worksheets. That is what game designers mean by ‘chocolate on broccoli.’

Every Classroom Matters Episode 190 Language teachers have the daunting task of helping students memorize so many words! How can it be fun? How can you help students learn them faster? Jason Levine uses hip hop in his language education classes. Surprisingly, he teaches teachers (even those, like me, with no rhythm) to use hip hop in their language education classes too. Essential Questions: Hip Hop Language Education: Using Rap to Teach, Really? Why do hip hop and language education work together? Can you use hip hop if you’re a language teacher who can’t rap at all? How can any teacher facilitate hip hop activities with language? How can teachers make the repetitive practice of language EXCITING? What are the 3 R’s of Language Learning? We have yet another example of using things students love to hook them into learning. Hip hop is the most listened to form of music in the world, according to the research Jason cites on the show. English is the most learned second language in the world. Combining hip hop and language education is a masterful use of both of these. So, you’re not comfortable with this — you CAN use someone else’s videos. Jason raps on the show and I think that perhaps I could even do it (although I wouldn’t sound as cool.) Have an open mind, language teachers, to move away from flash cards and towards music.  Educator Resources from this Episode @fluencymc Jason’s website with videos Jason talks about his hip hop language education method on the show and the 3 R’s to help students relax and actually learn the language. Let’s talk about hip hop language education. You can do it, even if you’re a teacher with no rhythm. 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 Hip Hop Language Education: Using Rap to Teach, Really? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Trends and Tweets that Have People Talking Emotions and relating to other humans is reflected in a subtle way on this week’s top education tweets. Teachers are telling kids and each other that they matter. Teachers are talking about making their own music in their classroom. Thanksgiving-themed lesson plans are being shared while many educators gear up for Hour of Code in December (may the force and Minecraft be with you). Meanwhile, I’m upgrading my Makerspace and ditching my old projector and Interactive White Board. I’ve got my 10 year blog-a-versary coming up the first week of December. Wow! So, this week, I’m thankful for you. This Thanksgiving week ten years a go, I was reading and re-reading David Warlick‘s book on blogging. You all teach me so much. Do kids know they are special? Do they know they matter? Do you know your impact as a teacher if you stop to tell them that they do? Please take time this season to celebrate the strengths in the kids you teach. You matter, teacher. You make a difference. Please get out there and share that message with the kids you teach. Speak it. Tell it. Write it. Show it! Top 10 Education Tweets of the Week: week ending November 21, 2015 1. You Matter is spreading Yes #choose2matter and #youmatter are such important words for kids! @AngelaMaiers https://t.co/8r5MxHJrTJ — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 19, 2015 2. Top Blog Posts for Teachers Top Blog Posts for Teachers This Week https://t.co/SD7DDodhAJ pic.twitter.com/yzl3xUvR0S — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 15, 2015 3. Sylvia Duckworth Adds a Sketchnote to "Why to Keep Going Even When It’s Hard" The awful happenings in France had many people sharing and clicking on this post. In an effort to encourage more people, Sylvia Duckworth sketchnoted the quotes that spoke to her. Please make your music, teachers! Sketchnote by @sylviaduckworth for Why Teachers Need to Keep Going Even When It's Hard https://t.co/BjwkbUlwZD pic.twitter.com/bWKYAhjWd5 — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 18, 2015 4. Hour of Code includes Minecraft-inspired programming! Minecraft and Star Wars themed programming is part of Hour of Code this year. YES! Kids can program MINECRAFT for hour of code- Minecraft meets Hour of Code https://t.co/N9LolbAvMy #stem — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 16, 2015 5. 5 Ways to Teach Gratitude in Your Classroom was Updated this week This popular post needed an update. You can teach gratitude. 5 Ways to Teach Gratitude in your Classroom https://t.co/rAnn1Y8JFo — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 15, 2015 6. Nancy White talks openly about students as curators In this show, Nancy White discusses something intriguing: the use of an "army of retired educators" to comment on student work. I’m curious how we could use such a method more often. She also talks about a project that didn’t work as well. The difference? Audience. When you’re blogging or doing work online, the first 10 days are vitally important as students should engage with audience. Nancy’s open reflection has reinforced what many of us have seen. NEW! Project-Based Learning: Teaching Students to Be Great Curators https://t.co/wmimUv8qVY with @NancyW #edchat — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 20, 2015 7. My Makerspace gets and Upgrade with an inFocus JTouch! Cool! My husband is an engineer and put this together for me! We are drawing on it, working on it, an doing incredible work together! I got questions and people clicked to look closer! Installing my Infocus touch screen Jboard soooooo pumped #makerspace in my classroom just got more awesome! pic.twitter.com/DD3f6gfCjE — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 16, 2015 8. So many of us are jealous of this amazing classroom! Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy, found this incredible classroom. Lots of us are wishing and hoping for classrooms that look and feel more like this one. AWESOME find @cultofpedagogy ! Classroom Eye Candy: A Flexible-Seating Paradise https://t.co/1HIX6lFqG5 pic.twitter.com/F4O6CfaODH — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 20, 2015 9. Many of us are thankful to be on Thanksgiving break! Friday afternoon, lots of us were breathing a sigh of relief. While some US teachers still have two more days next week. Very glad to be on thanksgiving break. No words, just thankfulness. Tiring week. How about you? — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 20, 2015 10. Top Education Tweets of the Week for Last Week Tweeting and non-tweeting educators are telling me they’re enjoying the top tweets based on Twitter analytics. As I often say in these updates, "clickthroughs" matter. Some of these have hundreds of people cicking on them. You can’t necessarily tell by retweets what engages educators! I challenge you to take the time to set up your Twitter analytics and look at the last month, three months or even year. If you don’t know how to embed tweets or anything else, ask in the comments and I’ll get some instructions up here. NEW! Top Education Tweets of the Week https://t.co/oFcSiLHypQ — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) November 15, 2015 Happy Thanksgiving! I’m so thankful that you take the time to share and learn online. I appreciate those of you who take time to read my blog. As I help feed 50 something people this week, I’ll be thinking of so many of you taking time with your families this week. Savor the moment, put down your cell phone, and enjoy the laughter and smiles. There will always be a new gadget but each family member is unique and precious. Be thankful for what matters. People matter most. The post Top 10 Education Tweets of the Week: November 21, 2015 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Every Classroom Matters Episode 192 Writable surfaces. Movable spaces. Micro environments. Never heard these terms? Our classroom design helps us create learning experiences for students.  David Jakes explains modern classroom design. Essential Questions: 3 Learning Experiences You Should Give to Every Student How can classroom design improve learning? What are cutting edge trends in classroom design? Are there simple, inexpensive ways to improve the classroom? Look at your classroom. Examine your routines. Can students shift positions quickly? Classroom design and efficiency go hand in hand.  Check out David Jakes @djakes and his Learning Experiences Design Playbook on today’s show. 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 3 Learning Experiences You Should Give to Every Student appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

News and Trends: Sunday, November 22, 2015 This was a busy week at my school. Kids weren’t too excited to be there but we got so much done anyway. Friday was capped off with sharing with each student something that makes them special. The response was amazing from parents but it was about the students. Every student needs to know they matter. But you can only tell each student how they are unique if you KNOW THEM. You must have a relationship. That is what teaching is about anyway! Relationship first, then learning can happen. 1. 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn His Day Around Inspired by a comment Kevin Honeycutt made on my show and enhanced with Sylvia Duckworth’s sketchnote, what a great discussion for so many schools to be having! This was #2 on last week’s list. Permalink: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/10-ways-to-flip-a-kid-and-turn-their-day-around/  2. 8 Ways to Level Up Game Based Learning in the Classroom Worksheets with points doesn’t work. But authentic games do. Full of real classroom examples and great books to read, this blog post is hot.