This conference day in Dubai was one of the best. Mr. Andreas Schleicher spoke with us about how teachers are not treated equally among other professions. Teachers make less money that other professions and are not respected, but they are just as important as doctors. Imagine this, if teachers stopped teaching then the world would be plain dumb. The same goes for doctors; if they stop caring then people will start dying. Teachers around the world feel as though they are not important and do not make a difference. The truth is that teachers do matter, the reason we have so many great people in the world is because someone taught them to be like that. Andreas Schleicher’s Speech: State of Education in the World Today I’m continuing to run reports from my students who attended the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai. #GESF is also where the global Teacher Prize was awarded. It was a fantastic event, and I hope you’ll continue to encourage my students with your questions and comments as they share their perspectives on the conference and the state of education today. — Vicki Davis Interviewing Educators: If You Could Fix One Problem in Schools I then went to talk with two exciting people Mrs. Julie Mercer and Ms. Jiaojiao Li. These are two amazing people in the field of education. Mrs. Julie Mercer is Deloitte’s Global Industry Lead for Education. She is passionate about her work and likes to help drive innovation in education. Ms. Jiaojiao Li is another prestigious woman. She leads the New Vision for the Education project at the World Economic Forum to shape the future curriculum for the greater good. I asked both of these women one question. If you could fix one problem in schools today what would it be? Mrs. Mercer answered, "I would wish for all schools to be local and efficient" Ms. Li answered, "I cannot choose only one, because many problems need to be fixed as well". I understand both sides. Mrs. Mercer was thinking in terms of a temporary solution, and she let us ask the question and she answered, but Ms. Li was thinking deeply and asked questions back while answering. If asked this question, I would do the same exact thing Mrs. Mercer did. I can tend to be rash in my thinking; I do things on the spot. In my opinion, this is the type of learning we do not want to teach. We want to teach kids to ask questions and think deeply before they answer. In college, this is how most professors want us to act. Unless we get a boring teacher, and he or she lectures us the whole time which will teach us nothing. Where is the Money? Financing Education Then, I went to a panel, and Junior Plenary session called "Where is the money? Financing education". Two major highlights of this session are how to fill funding gaps and corruption. To fill a funding gap, you can either take the money from somewhere else in the budget or get money from someone else. Corruption was another major concept in the session. Corruption is human natural when people sin it’s never good. Corruption can be a major setback to education if it happens. At Corruption was another major concept in the session. Corruption is human natural when people sin it’s never good. Corruption can be a major setback to education if it happens. At end the day, I went to the Global Teacher Prize Award Ceremony. This ceremony was a prestigious ceremony, because they named one teacher best in the world and gave her one million dollars. The ceremony was great and the winner, Nancie Atwell, deserved that award for her dedication and hard work as a teacher. This first day was truly a great learning experience. For those of you who teach blogging, you can take a look at my book Reinventing Writing, but let me point out a couple of important things Jason has done in this post. The use of hyperlinks is important. Also, embedding video if it is available. Finally, using more paragraphs and having whitespace is something you have in blogs more than in papers. The post Top Teachers, Financing Education, and Improving Education: a #gesf Student Reflection appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Education technology startups are hot. Sweeping changes are moving through education as technology has become more affordable and scalable. Now is the time. This week, Intel announced their Intel Education Accelerator Program. If you’re interested, you need to apply (Intel.com/EduAccelerator) before May 22 at 12pm PST. Intel Education and Intel Capital have launched this program to give guidance, resources, and potentially a $100,000 investment from Intel Capital. This program will include mentoring, speakers, and access to key worldwide resources from August to the first week of December at which time the selected participants will demonstrate their developments. As I read their announcement, I’m thinking of a "Shark Tank"-like experience except with lots of mentoring before the product is proposed. As further evidence of the timeliness of this opportunity, the US Department of Education released their Guide for Ed-Tech Development of which I was one of the "crowdsourced" leaders in the field who was consulted and quoted. Got an #edtech idea or startup? See Intel’s Education Accelerator program Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Without a doubt, some great new start ups are in the minds and perhaps even planned out by the readers of this blog. As I’ve  met so many of you who read this blog, you want to improve education and do the right thing to improve the world for students. We sit upon a hinge of history (as Thomas Cahill writes in his book series) and technology is a pivot point. We need insightful entrepreneurs with a passion for students and world-class learning to take their companies and ideas to the next level. If you have an idea, you should visit Intel.com/EduAccelerator and begin your application process. If you’re accepted, keep me posted! What an amazing opportunity! Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post Intel Education Accelerator Program for #edtech Startups Is a Great Opportunity appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Jim Ryan, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, talks with Vicki at The Global Education & Skills Forum in this episode of Every Classroom Matters. Jim shares his opinion on how teachers of teachers should be presenting coursework in college. He also talks about the hypocrisy of many professional development and college courses that teach teachers. All college professors and those responsible for teacher professional development will want to listen to this show. Listen to Dean Jim Ryan Add @DeanJimRyan to your PLN @DeanJimRyan Listen to Dean Jim Ryan James E. Ryan is one of the nation’s leading scholars of education law and policy as well as the dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Dean Ryan is also an award-winning teacher who served on the University of Virginia faculty since 1998. He strongly feels teachers of teachers should model methods for teachers. He advocates the use of projects, maker education, and the same type of methods professors want teacher candidates to use in the classrooms of the nation. Jim Ryan also holds ideas about professional development. He feels teachers want to learn PD from other teachers and the quality must be higher raised. He feels even Harvard should be doing more in professional development courses offered at the institution. Dean Ryan urges teachers should never stop learning. Listen to Dean Jim Ryan Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers. Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post What Should We Teach the Teachers Who Will Teach Tomorrow? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

April and May are tough times of the year for me. Every year. Right now, I teach straight from 8:11 until 2:11. Then, at 2:11, my room is usually full of kids working on projects for other teachers — needing password resets and help. Then, at 3:03, I sit down to try to grade and plan lessons but I’m so tired, I just wonder what to do. I’ve written about How to Step Back from Burnout, but this is more than that. Right now, I’m approaching 100,000 Twitter followers, and that is awesome. But in some ways, it is intimidating to me. I don’t feel special. I know I don’t have all the answers. All of you have caused a tad of crisis in my tweeting (which I will get over). Being paid attention to sounds like a very odd problem but really, it is a reflection on responsibility. I want to do right by those of you who trust me and right now, I don’t feel at my best. I’m struggling to stay in the classroom. I want to encourage and be helpful to teachers. No doubt, that is my calling. And yet, I have this agreement with myself that when I’m too down and have nothing good to say, that I will be very very careful about writing. I am a professional, and there are right and wrong ways to handle problems. There are those who  air their issues on the Net and wait for thousands of vigilant friends to come to their defense. Come on! Grow up. That isn’t how we handle things, in my opinion. There are times but not every time. There are lonely battles I fight by myself. Exercise is a big part of my coping mechanism. I take time every day to do it. It helps deal with the stress and makes me feel better. Even a walk around the building can clear my mind and yours. The truth is that I’m having an epically hard time right now. Each morning I get up and work hard to exercise and eat well — anything that I know will boost my mood and help me teach for six hours straight. I stay late grading and have adjusted my schedule to spend time helping students after school. I often wonder how I’m going to make it through the next five weeks. I work hard to keep hold of my thought life and not let it spiral into despair. So much of my energy is being tied up in "making it" that it becomes quite overwhelming to try to inspire others. I feel insufficient. I feel like you need someone who does everything perfectly, has a perfectly clean room and has all the answers. Yet, one thing I have also discovered: if I see a person who says they are a perfect teacher, they are a liar. Because perfect teachers don’t exist. There are no perfect humans. We all mess up. A pull towards excellence as the school year ends can help you make it. Let’s encourage each other. There are many days when I think that the best answer is just to quit.  And yet, I know that it is not my time to leave… yet. When I leave the classroom, I will not quit - I will decide to leave and know that I have another classroom of another kind to tackle. Quit implies giving up. Sometimes there is a time to move on after you finish well. I think that perhaps it is my time to feel the depths of the struggle that most normal teachers feel. It is my time to push through and find answers for myself that can help others. I had vented a tiny piece of a struggle I had last Thursday, and someone else tweeted back at me, "somehow knowing you had a rough day too, makes mine not so bad." I always ask myself: "What direction am I moving?" I may only take a small step but if it is in the right direction, I’ll take that as a win. So, maybe this post is just to encourage those of you out there who are real teachers. Some may struggle with the fact that I am not, despite some who argue to the otherwise, a modern day Pollyanna.  I am a realistic optimist. I know the reality of how hard it is going to be to go for another five weeks teaching 6 hours a day straight. I am also optimistic that, as always, I will find a way to soar (even if I feel like I’ve fallen in a mud puddle right now.) Maybe this post is to help you know that many of us struggle to make it one day to the next. In fact, I’m down to one-minute-at-a-time right now. Maybe this post is to help you know that you’re not alone. So many of us struggle. It is not a lack of love for the kids. It is just the reality of all of the bazillions of things that we deal with as a teacher that no one could put in a book. Kids who get sick at the worst times and parents who think they prove their love to their children by how loud they yell at their teacher. People who yell at you without even getting their facts straight. Too many responsibilities and too little time and a struggle to achieve a balance that never quite gets there. I’m not resentful against this profession I love; this profession is what it is. No one can change this for me. I either accept it, or I don’t. I am a teacher. I am glad to be a teacher. I am glad that it makes a difference in the lives of children. But this profession, like few others, wears on the soul of the person who dons the mantle. It is worthwhile, but it is hard work. If you’re with me, and you get every word I’m writing then let me tell you this. I love you and your sacrifice. If I could reach through this computer and give you a hug, I would. If I could sit across from you and buy you a cup of coffee and tell you that you’ll make it, I would. But I can’t do that.  I can only write these words: Teacher! You are important. Your job is noble and incredible. And you will make it. One foot in front of the other. Do your best, and that is enough. Keep going. Wait and make the big decisions about life when you’re a little more rested and I will too. We can do this. KEEP GOING! Teacher! Your job is noble and important. And you will make it!Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This The post If I’m Such a Great Teacher, Why Do I Want to Quit? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Paper by 53, a favorite sketchnoting app of many, gets major updates like cloud backup and Activity Center where you can share and find sketchnotes of others. This is very cool for sketchnoting fans and those who just like information. While I struggle with sketchnoting, I have this app and will be playing with it more this summer. Via Paper by Fifty Three Gets Updates on App Advice Sketchnoting is awesome! 3 Resources To Get You Started with Sketchnotes Sylvia Duckworth’s incredible presentation Sketchnoting for Beginners. Kathy Shrock’s Sketchnoting guide Smashing Magazine’s Article on Sketchnoting   The post Sketchnoting Fans: Paper 53 Built a Sketchnote Community appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

What are the qualities of an effective teacher? This was one of the main questions that one of the panels at the 2015 Global Education and Skills Forum tried to answer. Over and over again, all the panelists seemed to list the same characteristics that they believed an effective teacher possessed: knowledge of the subject, motivation, emotional intelligence and empathy, stamina, and passion. This session was recorded at the Global Education and Skills Forum. Student Elizabeth Glass writes her views on this session which she attended at the forum in Dubai. — Vicki Davis, Teacher Studies show nothing is as critical to a child’s education outcome than their teacher. However, in many societies the role of the teacher has been strongly critiqued. This plenary explores how we might rethink education systems so that they champion the teacher in society. Moderator: James E. Ryan, Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA H.E. Vedran Mornar, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia H.E. Esteban Bullrich, Minister for Education, Buenos Aires, Argentina Geoffrey Canada, President, Harlem Children’s Zone, USA John Bangs, Senior Consultant Education International and Honorary Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, UK Jacqueline Jumbe-Kahura, Bofa Primary School, Kilifi, Kenya Find out more at: https://educationandskillsforum.org/ Knowledge of the Subject: First off, this quality is an absolute necessity to being an effective teacher. It does not matter how motivated, passionate, or creative you are if you cannot teach your students what they are there to learn. How can you expect them to learn if you don’t even know what they are supposed to be learning? Motivation: To be an effective teacher one has to be motivated, motivated to learn and to help others learn. That motivation for learning and self-improvement is what separates the truly great teachers from the rest. They are always trying new ways of teaching and engaging their students and they never tire of being students themselves. Effective teachers are always learning different ways of doing things and take the time to learn from other effective teachers. Emotional Intelligence and Empathy: Understanding your students is an integral part in being an effective teacher. Being able to connect with students on an emotional level and help them through the problems that come with growing up is what effective teachers do. For many kids, teachers are the ones they turn to for support when they can’t find it anywhere else. This emotional intelligence and empathy can go a long way in not only helping those students be able to learn but in changing their lives as well. Stamina: As most teachers will agree, it takes a lot of energy to teach and keep students engaged. It also takes a lot of stamina, because you never know what will happen next. Every day as a teacher is an adventure, and you have to be able to handle it in stride and keep on going. Passion: To me, this is the most important characteristic of an effective teacher. Passion in teachers is what inspires students to want to do their best and to dream big dreams. Passionate teachers are not those who chose to teach because they could not do anything else. Passionate teachers are those that find true happiness in their profession and in the everyday aspect of helping kids discover who they are and who they want to be. Teachers are some of the few people who have the power to change the world because the future of the world is sitting in their classrooms. Those teachers who have knowledge, motivation, emotional intelligence and empathy, stamina, and passion are able to make an impact in the lives of their students. They inspire them to dream their wildest dreams while giving them the tools to achieve them and those are the ones who have the greatest impact.   The post Qualities of an Effective Teacher #gesf appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

There is a short, three letter hop from leading to misleading. Having a position of leadership is a paramount calling in life. You have a lot of responsibilities. It is hard to be a leader. The truth is, as flawed humans, most of us who lead in anything have a very short step to being a misleader. Teachers are also leaders of their classrooms. Here are ten ways leaders become misleaders:  First published May 16, 2012. Updated: April 20, 2015 1. You become a misleader when you let popular opinion steal your purpose. Having a purpose will bring you joy. Eric Liddel, the famous runner depicted in Chariots of Fire, said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel God’s pleasure." Purpose gives meaning to your work. "Study after study shows that people who have created meaning in their lives are happier and more satisfied with their lives." (Steger, Oishi & Kashdan 2008) quoted in The 5 Skills that Will Increase Your Happiness.  An educator who loses purpose quickly loses hope. Sometimes popular initiatives run counter to the purpose of why we teach. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it is RIGHT.  Just because someone is a respected authority does not mean you check your brain at the door. Weak leaders hide in the herd even if the herd is heading for a cliff. Afraid to stand alone, they are forgetting the purpose of keeping those in their charge safe and on track. Good leaders break from the herd when it is running the wrong way. Protecting the love of learning is not a line item in the budget. Children can be counted, but they aren’t numbers. Learning can be observed — sort of — but it is as hard to measure as how much I love my husband. Anything that obscures the purpose of our profession should be watched vigilantly like an enemy at the gate. I’m not saying things like data-driven analysis can’t help us — it can help us know our students and personalize learning. But the moment you see numbers and not students, you’ve lost sight of your purpose. Lose your purpose, lose your joy. When I think of this struggle for keeping the purpose of education versus popular opinion, I think of an interview with visionary superintendent Pam Moran  on Every Classroom Matters. Pam said, "A number of years a go we started a path that we needed to do much more than No Child Left Behind, we saw it sucking the life out of classrooms. The more we saw schools get pulled into the "test prep curriculum" that what we saw was both kids and teachers consumed with and worried with and constantly focusing on how to take a four choice, one answer right test. Very soon we said after the implementation of NCLB, we said that isn’t what we want for our students or teachers. We know we’ll have to test but the reality is that we want something more… we looked to see how a school system could implement a balanced assessment system that centered around what we thought was important." Don’t think that Pam is making excuses for poor test scores. Her district (which also has many Title I schools) has a 93% graduation rate and is in the top 3% of all districts in the US and Canada for their AP Test scores. She did not let popular opinion or even mandates keep her from her PURPOSE of doing what is best for students.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the anti-Nazi dissident, said, "If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction." Pam and her district leaders got off the train but still made it to a destination of better learning. Martin Luther King, Jr said, "Our lives begin to end when we begin to be silent about the things that matter." Be brave enough to stand against yourself when you’re wrong. Be courageous enough to jump off the train. Have enough hustle to go out and assemble a new train. Always question popular opinion when it goes against the purpose of helping students. 2. You become a misleader when you become mislead by flattery or too deeply wounded by insults. Pride will kill you faster than a poison blowgun dart in a rainforest. When people start praising you, it is better to turn a deaf ear than listen too much. We may crave recognition, but good leaders would rather be useful. Flattery believed becomes a person deceived. All too often, leaders would rather "be ruined by praise than saved by criticism" (as Norman Vincent Peale says). I’ve found that lousy leaders make poor decisions and then throw out a cast net for validation. They surround themselves with people who agree with them, not people who will offer an opinion and give wise counsel. Samuel Goldwyn, the famed movie producer, said, "I don’t want yes-men around me. I want everyone to tell the truth, even if it costs them their jobs." If you don’t have problems, start worrying about your leadership. Colin Powell, a US general, says "Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership." There are many ways to solve problems. Complaining isn’t one of them. John Maxwell says in How Successful People Think, "The truth will set you free - but first it will make you angry." Criticism stings. But all criticism is not equal. In Michael Hyatt’s "The Real Difference Between the Wise and the Foolish," Michael outlines the three types of critics. Some critics are trolls. They love drama. A recent study on Internet trolls found "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun … and the Internet is their playground!" Hurting people hurt people. Some love the drama. So, you have to learn to recognize the trolls and learn to avoid them. If you have to deal with a troll, keep your ears open and your heart behind a bulletproof vest. The second type of person Hyatt discusses are the critics. These people have no agenda and usually have a valid point. Finally, your friends who criticize should be listened to deeply. They love you and want you to do well. As American politician Adlai Stevenson said, "Flattery is all right as long as you don’t inhale." The American author Mason Cooley said, "Flattery and insults raise the same question: What do you want?" Flattery and insults are all about the person giving them — not you. These people don’t want what is best for you. In the end, problems and criticism are part of life, and the effective leader responds and adjusts to both. 3. You become a misleader when you think you can make everyone feel good about change or when you leave them out of the change making process. There is an excellent chapter in 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done about change. It says if you know you’re going to jump into a river, it is worse to hang on the rope swing than it is just to jump. No matter how inevitable the river of change is, some people are going to hang onto that rope until pushed or pulled off of it. If you wait until everyone feels good about the change, you’ll wait too long. There are lots of smart, legendary people who didn’t like change. The Greek Poet Callimachus said books were "a great evil." Plato didn’t like writing either. His character, King Thamus says that a dependence on written words will "weaken men’s characters and create forgetfulness in their souls." (The Organized Mind p 14) They had always educated orally. Indeed, they had  significant experiences sitting on rocks and memorizing what they heard. But as baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth said, "Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games." But so often the problem is not about change. Ken Blanchard says in Leading at a Higher Level "People often resent change when they have no involvement in how it should be implemented. So, contrary to popular belief, people don’t resist change - they resist being controlled." (216) Todd Whitaker’s 1993 research on the best principals (mentioned in What Great Principals Do Differently: Eighteen Things That Matter Most) says that the best principals "Routinely consult informal teacher leaders for input before making a decision." Most schools have V8 engines running like a V4. If I’m on a mountain in my SUV and I have a big challenging hill to climb, I want all of the pistons in my engine firing! Why wouldn’t I hit the button and engage the full power of my engine? Principals who lead without teacher input aren’t firing with all their cylinders, in more ways than one. Organization change requires a change from everyone in your organization. Leave them out and lose momentum. Expect to make them all happy and lose your mind. Toxic meeting syndrome can cause meetings to be little more than face to face announcement sessions. Highly functioning teams collaborate; they don’t just congregate. 4. You become a misleader when you mistake meetings for action. American journalist Dave Barry said, "If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and will never achive its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’ Economist Thomas Sowell went as far to say "People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything." Highly functioning teams collaborate; they don’t just congregate. Too many organizations are dying because of toxic meeting syndrome.  A syndrome is a characteristic of habits that typically occur together. Organizations with toxic meeting syndrome have dysfunctional meeting habits that poison the organization’s productivity. Symptoms of toxic meeting syndrome include: meeting because you always meet at that time not because you have anything to do, using meetings for low-collaborative tasks like announcements, as a substitute dysfunctional communications, letting participants hijack the meeting for unproductive conversations that demoralize others, an agenda set by the behavior of the lowest-performing employees instead of helping everyone move to higher performance, and even worse- verbal abuse. Why does a meeting need to take an hour? It is because people aren’t aren’t reading their emails or doing their jobs? Some leaders use meetings as an announcement time. Announcements can be handed out on paper. Deal with problems. Collaborate. Hypocritical leaders want classrooms to be exciting but let staff meetings be boredom central. You can use the words productive and meeting in the same sentence. Leaders study how to run effective meetings. They know when to hold them. They know how to engage collaboration and get input. They know how to neutralize time-wasting morale-killing Grumbledores. (OK, I’ll let you in on a private joke. Dumbledore is the master of Hogwart’s school in Harry Potter. He is in charge of everything. In my mind, Grumbledore is my name for the lead whiner. Somehow they think they can straighten out the school by propelling it forward with their whining. Whining is a diminishing activity. It never builds up. Ever. I admit I remind myself when these one or two people corner me that they are Grumbledore, and I should listen at my own risk lest I become one too.) 5. You become a misleader when you pretend. Imagine a beautifully wrapped present under your Christmas tree. What if you opened it and nothing is there but air? I’ve been to rah-rah sessions that were nothing but air - no content. (Sound like testing pep rallies?) Don’t pretend something is what it isn’t. Rah Rah Rah - I’m cutting your pay - this is a good thing. Rah, Rah.I say Bah. Be real. The psychologists who wrote Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change found, "People become far less willing to believe what you have to say the moment they realize your goal is to convince them of something." (59) What are you selling? Why? It is not your job to defend everything that happens because some things stink, and everyone knows it.  A pig in a dress isn’t a princess. SPut a positive spin on everything and people will think you’re phony. Not everything is positive. When talking about hard decisions, my pastor, Michael Catt, said, "If you prune, people are going to resist you. If you don’t prune, they won’t respect you." If you have to do it. Do it. Some people need firing. Some budgets need cutting. Sometimes your best employees or students are going to be mad at you. Sometimes people won’t or can’t understand. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, says, "I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate." One of the biggest mistakes I made when I was a General Manager for a cell phone company was being too open about some of the pressures I was under to make the numbers. When I told my employees too much about that pressure, I put them in a position they weren’t able to handle emotionally. Great leaders are buffers. They are like sea walls, breaking the waves and preventing erosion of morale. They don’t mislead and pretend things are great when they are not. They make hard decisions that just are what they are. They also buffer against the big stuff that will prevent their employees or students from focusing on the main thing that is their task to do. Don’t pretend everything is perfect. It isn’t. Here’s the deal. You’ve got to be honest on one hand and a buffer on the other (and have the wisdom to know the difference). 6. You become a misleader when you handle private issues publicly or play favorites. The teacher who openly "calls out" a child without "naming names" is a coward. Everyone knows. The principal who publicly "calls out" a teacher or group of teachers without "calling names" is a coward too. Cowards are afraid of dealing with issues in the right way: privately and directly. They use their position of authority to deliver a backhanded slap that erodes the respect of all who hear. If you don’t have the guts to deal with a problem face to face then to resort to just "calling out" in public will only make you look even more impotent. If only one person is the offender, deal with that one and let the rest in the room not feel false guilt for something they haven’t done. A woman dealing with an aging parent may need to be treated differently for a time than someone not in that situation. When you make blanket statements in public, you put everyone on alert to see if you’re going to treat everyone the same. It is always best to handle it in private because it isn’t your employees’ job to determine what is fair - it is yours. For example, if you only "call out" the unacceptable behavior of some but put up with it from your "favorites" it reeks of favoritism. Every situation is different, so it is best to handle everything privately — except favoritism issues. Interestingly, I’ve found that people who are impassioned about keeping everything "fair" are the most unfair people I know. They mistake treating everyone the same with fairness. But consider this quote from famed basketball coach John Wooden, "treating everyone the same is the surest way to show favoritism." In the article Favoritism is a Huge Problem, Bob Whipple makes the point that there is a difference between having favorites and playing favorites. Some people have strengths that others do not have. When you ignore this concern of favoritism, you risk problems. Whipple recommends: "Be aware of the issue of favoritism and use the word when a decision might be perceived as practicing it. Say, ‘I’m asking George to do this budget revision again. Since I have done this in the past, I do not want to be perceived as playing favorites. George has the accounting background to do this work. If others of you would like to work with the budget, let me know and I will help you get some training so you can do it in the future." I love this answer because you can help others see what you need to do that task, and you open up discussions. But also be willing to test your bias. I had two students come to me recently and tell me that they thought I was playing favorites with a student. I was shocked and crushed. I totally didn’t see it that way. But after I reflected, I realized what I had done and how that was perceived. I’m grateful that they thought enough of me to tell me. Managers need to be told too. Just be careful that you don’t ask your "favorite." You can be fair without treating everyone the same or playing favorites. Being open about why tasks are assigned to people and to listening to others tell you if you play favorites will help you. When you address behavior issues privately, you give yourself more flexibility in management. 7. You become a misleader when you have no self-discipline. You lead by example. If you can’t get to work on time or stay there when times are tough, you don’t belong in leadership. If you want a comfortable life, don’t sign up to be a leader. Have the self-discipline to show up for work and do your job. James Dashner says in The Maze Runner "You get lazy, you get sad. Start givin’ up. Plain and simple." In this book, the children trapped in the maze had to run and move forward to survive. You do too. Forward progress is progress. Basketball great Julius Irving said, "Being a profession is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them." Passionate professionals still have to do work. Teaching is hard. Leading is hard. Sometimes driving yourself to work when every fiber of your being wants to hit the couch is the most difficult thing of all.   "Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest." Simon Sinek 8. You become a misleader when you use your platform for a personal agenda. These people shout "you’re just a stepping stone, not my home." Full of promise, it is hard to follow them because they are on their way up and out. They’ll do just enough to be able to claim something grand, and they are off to greener pastures, over the hill or on the Hill. We have hard problems to solve and need some consistent leaders who will stay the course in tough jobs for a period. Simon Sinek says in Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’’t "The true price of leadershp is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self interest." Great leaders serve others. Take the time to connect with those you lead. 9. You become a misleader when you care more about words than actions. Words are important. They can hurt. But I’d rather use the wrong word in a sentence that describes what I should do than to do the wrong thing. Good leaders look at meaning and "cut to the chase." Weak leaders consider themselves Semantic Saviors - who have shown up in the nick of time to keep us from using the wrong word that might send us on a path of death and destruction. Words are important (and I’m not counting profanity and gross offenses here) but actions are often more important. In the Forbes  article 12 Signs of Cowardly Leadership, author Jeff Schmitt says "How people live is far more important than what they say. That’s especially true of leaders. When there’s a breach between rhetoric and reality, you’ll find a drained and demoralized organization riddled with distrust, dissension, and doubt." What gets you more upset: a misspoken word or a misdeed? Take care to back up words with action. Words alone are impotent. 10. You become a misleader if you need popularity to lead. Booker T. Washington, one of my edu-heroes, said, "Most leaders spend time trying to get others to think highly of them, when instead, they should try to get their people to think more highly of themselves." Help others see their strengths. Realize that no matter what you do, some things aren’t going to be popular. Human judgment is harsh, and it is meted out to those in authority with an extra measure. Someone is not going to like you. Get over it. Try to be at peace with everyone if it is in your power, but if it is not, be as kind as you can, and move on. In one of my favorite television dramas, Blue Bloods, New York Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (played by Tom Selleck), says, "I’ve got skin thicker than a catcher’s mitt." Popularity is a fickle thing and rarely belongs to revolutionaries until after the war is won. There are times in our lives that doing the right thing means doing the unpopular thing. Thank goodness Winston Churchill didn’t need everyone’s approval to lead. His country needed someone to speak against the widespread pessimism of his countrymen. They needed someone to yank them up out of the ashes and encourage them to fight for existence. We need that in education today. If you’re going to serve in schools as a teacher or administrator for longer than a week, you need to have a thick skin. Pleasing everyone is a recipe to please no one. You’ll have no one’s respect, not even your own. Sometimes you must stand against popular pessimism and lead others into a brighter future. The end of the school year is a hard time of year to be a leader in education. Whether you are in the classroom or the boardroom, everyone is tired, and it is easy for tempers to flare. Just like my other post 10 Ways to be a Terrible Teacher, it is so easy to criticize and many of these things we may all be guilty of doing. There are certainly more on the list, and I challenge you to consider and share in the comments. I have to note that these 10 are a compilation of things I’ve observed over a long period. You’ve told me your stories, and I get them over email. I have good leaders at my school as proven our results in the classroom and on the athletic field. Also, remember that sometimes the dysfunction starts way above the leader’s head. If you’re in an organization (like a board of directors or school board) that works with leaders to LET THEM LEAD but hold them accountable. A board that micromanages is creating an unhealthy organization stymied by the whims of a diverse group of people who may or may not be an expert in the type of organization they are intended to advise. Boards should set policy and leave day to day operations to those in charge. If you’re fortunate enough to have a great leader at the helm or in the classroom, appreciate them and treat them well, leadership seems to be a scarce resource these days. Be a great leader. Serve. Have vision. Lead on. Photo credit: Bigstock The post 10 Terrible Traits of Lousy Leaders appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

8 Top Tips for Highly Effective Professional Development Vicki Davis on Edutopia April 15, 2015 Highly effective classrooms can result from highly effective professional development. Recent research (Butler et al., 2004) has shown that effective professional development includes creating classroom content, modeling techniques for teachers to use in their classrooms, and feedback on lessons (Harris, Graham, and Adkins, 2015). It’s not enough to teach the right things to your teachers — you have to teach your teachers in the right way. Here are some top tips for delivering highly effective PD to your teachers. 1. Use What You Are Teaching If a method of teaching works, that method should be used for teaching the teachers in your PD sessions. For example, if you’re teaching cooperative learning but you’re lecturing about it, that’s undermining the message. Teachers notice what you do, so model what you’re teaching by teaching with it. If you don’t have enough time to use the methods that work, then you’ve just given an out to the teachers who will say that they don’t have enough time to do it either. Read the rest of this article on Edutopia Edutopia is a fantastic resource. I appreciate the opportunity to write for them. Make your PD awesome! The post 8 Top Tips for Highly Effective Professional Development [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Global Teacher Prize finalists Nancie Atwell, Stephen Ritz, Jacque Kahura, and Naomi Volain sat down with Vicki at The Global Education & Skills Forum to talk about their passions in education. Nancie Atwell is the winner of this prestigious prize. Listen now to find out what inspires them to offer world-class education to their students. Listen now to Part 1 special from Dubai Add @NancieAtwell and @greenBXmachine to your PLN @NancieAtwell Center for Teaching and Learning @greenBXmachine Green Bronx Machine Listen now to Nancie Atwell, Stephen Ritz, Jacque Kahura, & Naomi Volain Global Teacher Prize Nominees - Show #132 - What Makes a World-Class Teacher? Nancie Atwell, Stephen Ritz, Jacque Kahura, and Naomi Volain each were nominated for the Global Teacher Prize. They each prepared a video for the competition which you can view here:Nancie Nancie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usy3ixT0QpA Stephen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEn_Rp2Tcp4 Jacque https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoA0ko8unaU Naomi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhw89YdJWJ0 During The Global Education & Skills Forum, they sat down with Vicki to talk about their passions in education, engaging students, and world-class education. Listen now to find out what drives these world-class educators. Listen now to four world-class teachers nominated for the Global Teacher Price World-Class Educators talk with @coolcatteacher in this special episode of Every Classroom Matters from DubaiPowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers. Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? Click "Play" on the BAM Radio site or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post What Makes a World-Class Teacher? #gesf appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

An edWeb Webinar from the Amazing Resources Community will feature Vicki Davis presenting on April 23, 2015 at 4:00pm EST. This free webinar will include: Tips for making technology use routine and transparent Ensuring technology is accessible for the task at hand Strategies for using technology to support curricular goals Strategies for using technology to help your students effectively reach their goals Click here for more information and to pre-register for the live session. Join the live session at the scheduled time at: www.instantpresenter.com/edwebnet10. Join the Amazing Resources for Educators community to participate in online discussions with peers, for invitations to upcoming webinars, to view past webinar recordings, to take a quiz and receive a CE certificate for a past webinar, and for access to more resources. This webinar is sponsored by Quill.com and co-hosted by Big Deal Media. Seamless integration is when students are not only using technology daily,but have access to a variety of tools that match the task at handPowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This The post Differentiating Instruction with Technology: A Framework for Success appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

20 Top Pinterest Tips Vicki Davis on Edutopia February 23, 2015 Are you Pinteresting? Well, lots of educators are. The PEW Research Center has found that 28 percent of online users are using Pinterest(compared to only 23 percent using Twitter). Women dominate Pinterest with 42 percent of women online using the site. With over 80 percent of teachers being women (PDF, 1.5MB), it makes sense that teachers are all over Pinterest sharing ideas for lesson plans, centers, and resources. Pinterest is different from other sites. When you pin something, people will be looking at and repinning it years later. Pinterest may be the secret powerhouse of educational sharing. Here are 20 power tips that you can use in many areas of schools and your classroom. Tip 1: Follow Boards or People Pinterest has a useful feature that lets you just follow just one board. Here’s an example. If I look at super-teacher Laura Candler’s Pinterest, I can click at the top right and follow everything she pins, or I can click "Follow" under her boards that interest me the most. So a math teacher… Continue reading the rest of this article on Edutopia. Pinterest has so many uses for educators. After reading the post I wrote for Edutopia, which is comprehensive, you may also want to check out Simple Pinterest for Beginners and 346 Uses of Pinterest in Education. The post 20 Top Pinterest Tips [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

I’ll admit something, I dread April and May. With every fiber of my being. Can I admit this to you? Will you judge me? Why can’t we all just skip the last two months of the year? It is easy to see why so many people jump at the chance to leave the classroom when they can. It is sooooooo hard to stay here. It isn’t your students that drive you to despair; it is the other stuff - or "schtuff" as my husband calls it. Printing the certificates and updating the databases and doing everything else. So, here I am the last day of Spring Break writing this as we’re driving home in the rain, and I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go to school tomorrow. I want to see my students - yes. I do; I want to share stories, and I even want to teach them the things that I’ve planned. I’m looking forward to that. I just can’t fathom how I’ll do it all plus cook dinner at night and keep the clothes washed, etc. etc. etc. (I can hear Yul Brenner saying that in the "King and I" — it is the "etcetera etcetera etcetera" that kills most teachers.) So, I’m whining now. I think I’ll probably delete at least half of what I wrote in these previous sentences (I did) except that I want you other teachers to know where I am. I know this — YOU’RE RIGHT HERE WITH ME. You know the stress of the last few months. You feel it. Your teeth are clenched and many of you are wondering how you’re going to survive. So, here we go, I’m going to share with you what gets me through this time. Unclench your teeth, relax and let’s do it! (Now that I’ve gotten over my desire to quit.) Are you ready? You can stay motivated at school by moving forward each day. Many struggles and tasks we have at school are only solved by moving forward and doing our best as time passes. You can do this. 1- Solve By Moving Forward "Solvitur ambulando" - is Latin. It means "it is solved by walking" The problem of April and May is not solved by sitting and stressing about it. It is solved by walking. One foot in front of the other. One task in front of the other. I will solve this by walking ahead. Each day, I’ll make a list for the next and make appointments to do major tasks and put them on my calendar. I will solve this problem by walking. Can you? 2 - Listen To Awesome Music Music is a natural mood booster. Keep some headphones in your room. As for me, when I have time without students, I tune out the ambient noise and enter my own "Cone of Silence." I have a playlist called "Hope" that I play on the hard days. 3 - Be Strategic About Mornings How do you start the day with the most peace and purpose? For me, I pray and read my Bible no matter what. Not because this makes me a good person, it makes me a purposeful person. One day I realized that the very best days of my life started this way, and then I asked myself why I wouldn’t want to have the "Best Day" every day. After my morning wake up routine, I grab a cappuccino and start writing. Writing gives me joy. What morning routine helps you live your Best Days ever? Do it, especially during April/ May/ June. An excellent book, The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM), is the best one I’ve seen about focusing your mornings on success. I follow the SAVERS principal but call it PAVERS (Prayer, Affirmations, Vision, Exercise, Reading, Scribing). I substitute prayer for silence, but we each have our own method. 4 - Top Off Your Tanks. This is vitally important. Have you ever noticed that if you keep waiting to fill up your car with gas, you end up driving around town on empty. It causes even more stress and you don’t know if you’re going to make it. Something small just became very very big. During April/ May, I take steps to top off my tanks. Every chance I think about it and I need gas in the car, I top it off. (Usually every Saturday morning.) But this also applies to everything else in my life. If I’m feeling really tired, I top off my sleep tanks and guilt-free go to bed early. If I sense that I’m getting anxious or upset, I immediately take steps to deal with the issue, if I can, or to journal it. Top off Your Tanks -whichever kind runs empty. 5 - Keep a Joy Journal. If you write five things a day in a journal - that is all it takes to be happier than if you’d won the lottery. (See 9 Fine Reasons to Keep a Journal.) Not kidding. It is crazy, but true. These months when I know I’m going to be calling 9 - waa - waa much more than I should (calling the waaaaaambulance is never any fun) — I have to keep my joy front and center. 6 - Let the Rough End Drag Granny Martin always said "sometimes you gotta let the rough end drag." In these last few weeks of school, my husband makes me promise not to feel guilty about dinner, etc. I have to put my perfectionist tendencies to the side and stop expecting myself to cook huge meals each night and be OK with a sandwich. It is OK. 7 - Forgive and Move On This is the biggest. You have to realize and understand that EVERYONE I mean EVERYONE is in the same boat with you. If you sink their boat, you sink yours too. You’ve got to row together. Hurting people, hurt people. Fighting in a row boat is always a dumb move. 8 - Work Towards Your Task. There’s a Chinese Saying "Man who waits for roast duck to fly in mouth will wait long time." You’ve got work to do then DO IT. Idle chatter is a procrastination technique (as my pastor has so aptly said). I’ve found that my attitude tends to go in the opposite direction of how much I talk. (For you non-math folks — the less I talk and more I do, the better I feel — the more I talk and less I do, the worse I feel.) 9 - Enjoy the Moments This May is also important because my daughter and son will come home from college for a bit before school is out. If I can’t enjoy the moments with her and let my stress ruin it, then I’ll miss out on so much. We’ll find small things to celebrate and find little ways to celebrate them. A good smelling candle, a cup of coffee together after school, an unexpected trip to the mall — I can’t let the tasks keep me from the most important thing of all — being a human BEING and not just a HUMAN DOING. 10 - End well I’ve written often about ending well and finishing the race. I teach until the last day (see Finding Your Beautiful Moment the Last Week of School). There are hundreds of eyes watching you. Sure, there are some teachers who will check out early. They’ll watch videos the last few days, but these kids have videos they can watch all summer. They won’t have you. Teach until the last bell rings. Hold focus groups with your students to get feedback and to improve yourself over the summer. Plan memorable moments full of meaning to help them remember what they’ve done. Be epic. These are the best of times and the worst of times. There will be laughter and you’ll likely be up at least a few times crying into your pillow at 2 am. This is my 13th year of this and it is this way every year. But every year while I dread it more, I get better at handling it. Solvitur ambulando. We can do this The post 10 Ways to Stay Motivated at School appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Some of you are living on the edge of financial ruin. Not because you’re not a good money manager - you are. Not because you’re bad with people - you’re good with them too. No, some of you are living on the edge of financial ruin because you are not backing up your computer. Only 7% of people back up their data daily and 23% back up at least once a month. While you can recover most hard drives with a Ben Franklin and a good tech support person, you’ll be out and down for some time waiting for that to happen. I’m going to share several ways you can back up your files and how I do it. Most of you insure your home and personal property but choose to play Russian roulette with your dissertations, financial records, and personal photographs. 1 - Purchase An Online Backup Service: Carbonite Carbonite (carbonite.com) is an online backup service. If you have high speed Internet and want it to just run in the background, this is a good service to use. I used it for a year, but did notice it slowed me down slightly when it was running, particularly after I took a lot of photos off of my iphone or other activity that triggered the backup to start running. 2 - Use An External Hard Drive And Crash Plan Many of you in the country without high speed Internet will want this option. Purchase an external hard drive (the biggest you can find 500GB - 1TB) and then set up Crash Plan (crashplan.com). While Crash Plan can back up online, it will also handle your offline backup to your external hard drive or another computer. This program makes backup easy. 3 - For The Privacy Sensitive: Spider Oak If you like option 2 but really want a super-private service, Spider Oak (spideroak.com) has high reviews in this area. While I haven’t personally used this one, it comes highly recommended. It looks to be a tad harder to set up than Crash Plan, if you’re super concerned about your data being private, it is a great option. 4 - Use Dropbox Instead of My Documents Dropbox (dropbox.com) is not an "official" backup service, I installed it and use it instead of My Documents So, for me, once I had my Documents synced, I didn’t need anything else. Last summer as I was finishing the final draft of Reinventing Writing, my desktop computer died and I kept working on my laptop as it went in the shop. No downtime. The advantage of this method is that your files follow you everywhere. I use Dropbox daily. Don’t live on the edge of financial ruin. If you depend on your computer (like many of us) take steps to back up your computer and rest easy at night. The post 4 Ways to Backup Your Files and Stop Playing Russian Roulette With Your Data appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

She sounded like a banshee with a stubbed toe. The wail from the cubicle across from mine, as I sat down to try to write this blog post on a layover in Minneapolis, is worse than any caterwauling I’ve ever heard before. I can’t tell if she’s speaking in tongues or lost hers. Right now is not a time for the battery in my noise cancelling headphones to go out but it did! Eeech! I am usually pretty good at NOT staring or glaring. But several times, the shrieks alternated with the off key something and the guttural noises caused me to jump in my seat and look at her. And then it hit me… there are times we need noise cancelling headphones at school. We shouldn’t wear them literally all the time, I think. But, there are things we can do to silence the noise when it threatens our ability to bring our best to our students. There are those who whine, complain, and bellyache so badly that you can’t get your work done. In fact, I started really writing this blog post AFTER she left. Even my Focus@will app couldn’t quite drown out the noise like she was killing cats! (Although I admit, I do NOT know what that sounds like.) But you know what — I find that the more I hear complaints and "woe is me" kinda stuff - it almost does kill this cat — the Cool Cat Teacher, that is. When I don’t post on my blog for a while: either I’m on a family vacation or… you guessed it… I’m fighting a battle with my attitude. The worst wars with my own attitude are usually started by friendly fire. But there is no such thing. Bad attitudes spread like a virus. Schools need people who can cancel out the noise. There are two or three places I know I can go to have a down day. There are certain people that if I let them corner me in the hall, I will take a tumble. There are those who just cannot find solutions, only a multitude of problems. So, here are seven ways to cancel the noise of negativity: You can change the subject. Kindly try to redirect the subject to something you know the other person likes. You can be upfront about your new hope. You can be direct, "____, I’m working very hard on having an excellent attitude but if we talk about this right now, it is going to be hard to do that. If it is OK with you, could we change the subject so I can stay positive?" You can schedule a meeting with those who can do something about it. Sometimes a real issue needs to be handled. Crucial Conversations is a dynamite book that can help you learn how to have productive conversations about hard topics. You can tell the truth AND preserve your relationships with people if you know how because there are people who do it every day. I’m committed to being a leader at my school. I have to be able to be part of crucial conversations. I am committed to being someone that others can speak to and feel safe. I admit that I’ve failed miserably in the past. Admitting failure is the first step on a journey of self-improvement. Another option with this one is to help the person do something about it. If it is in your power, give them a job to do that will have a measurable result. This technique is often one that will either quiet the complainer or help you make progress. Listen. There are people who are rarely negative and need a listen. We all fall and struggle. Sometimes we need someone to listen without trying to give answers. And then, after you listen, try to forget and move on unless you need to do. You can walk away. Yes, you can. You do have lots of work to do, so you can say what that is and move on. You can avoid the "hot spots". I can tell when people are congregating and belly aching. When I see it happen as I’m walking in the teacher’s lounge, I keep walking out the door and just take a quick walk to the other building and back. You must reprogram yourself. As a Christian, we call it "renewing our mind." Read success stories about people who overcame problems. Write a joy journal. Move ahead and decide to have an excellent attitude. Sometimes we all need noise cancelling headphones. Sometimes they are physical headphones but it is usually our ability to hit problems head on with solutions and the avoiding of those who have decided to have a stinky attitude that helps the most. I’ll never forget that noise coming from the cubicle next to me in Minnesota. I think I’ll replay it in my mind every time I hear unconstructive complaining — they are both just as annoying. Question: Think of those people or places where negativity clouds the space like fog on a warm spring day. What can you do to cancel out the noise? Make a commitment to yourself to take action this week. The post Stay Positive: 7 Ways to Cancel the Noise of Negativity appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

An Interview with Every Classroom Matters Guest, Rae Pica Rae Pica is joining a cacophony of voices calling the US national standards for kindergarteners as "developmentally inappropriate" and "unrealistic." In her new book, What If Everybody Understood Child Development?: Straight Talk About Bettering Education and Children’s Lives, Rae shares a composite of opinions and research that gives voice to the children being pushed to learn. In this fear-based DO IT NOW mentality being pushed on parents and educators, it is a voice of reason and authenticity you’ll hear. Listen to ECM Episode #142 In episode #142 of Every Classroom Matters, I sit down with Rae Pica to hear her thoughts on early childhood standards and what is happening in early childhood education today. You can follow her on @BodyMindChild on Twitter. With more than 90 math and reading standards including the REQUIREMENT that all children read at the end of kindergarten, these standards may not only be unrealistic but harmful to children. There is no #stuchat twitter chat for kindergarteners to voice their concerns about what is happening to them. The megaphone for children must be the adults who listen and pay rapt attention to their condition. Many of us have a unique perspective of working with children over a period of time. We know if things are leveling up or sinking. It is our job to speak out when we see injustice.  I believe someone reading this post is uniquely positioned to be the voice for children - in fact, you may already be. Are you bravely speaking up and speaking out? Is this your calling? Then, dear friend, this is your wake-up call. The post EPISODE 142: What If Everybody Understood Child Development? [PODCAST] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Understand the Future of the Classroom, sponsored by Intel On May 20, we will get a glimpse into the future. Many education leaders complain about the difficulty of long-term planning when we don’t have a clue what the future will look like in the classroom. Now we can have some insight. "Technology alone will not make our kids smarter." says  futurist, Brian David Johnson. OK, so what will? I’m totally intrigued to learn what will be said in this free webinar from Intel where Brian David Johnson will explore what culture, living, and learning will look like in 2025. What will power the future of learning? How will we advance schools in the future? What decisions do we need to make today? As part of the live online audience, you’ll also get to pose questions. 3 Steps to Attend Mark your calendars for May 20, 2015 at 2pm PDT (Pacific Daylight Time). Go to the Event Website to reserve your spot in this free webinar. On the day of the event, follow the link in your email. (I recommend entering webinar rooms 15 minutes before they start.) Who is Brian David Johnson? It’s Brian David Johnson’s job to study and predict future trends for governments, militaries, trade organizations, and corporations. When he’s not researching, his articles appear in Scientific American, Forbes, and Popular Science, and he makes the occasional appearance on PBS and the Discovery Channel. As Intel’s resident futurist, you can follow him on Twitter at @Intelfuturist. To vet this article, I read through several magazine articles he’s written, and found a lot of fascinating opinions. Who Should Attend? I predict it is going to be a must listen for IT Directors, savvy technology users, and anyone who is curious about the trends in the future of education. Brian David Johnson, Intel’s futurist, will be talking about the classroom of 2025. It will be a fascinating webinar for those planning and making decisions in schools. Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post FREE WEBINAR: Living and Learning in 2025 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

The Every Classroom Matters Show: Tony Vincent, Expert on Teaching with Mobile Devices Tony Vincent started using mobile devices in the classroom back in the days of Palm Pilots. Since then, he’s become an expert on everything mobile. In episode 143 of Every Classroom Matters, Tony teaches us how to use the iPad even when you only have one. He shares about infopics and how you can use them for a student reporter project. Tony also explains his new app, StickAround, which lets you create cool informational puzzles in teaching and learning. Listen to ECM Episode 143 with Tony Vincent If you are teaching with mobile devices or don’t have enough technology to go around, this episode will be very helpful to you. Here are some must-grab resources that Tony shared: iPad as teacher’s pet infographic version 2.0 The StickAround App The PicCollage App (Tony’s Favorite app) Tony’s YouTube channel (See his infopics tutorial included below.) Teachers with insufficient technology access who want students to blog should try his "daily planet" student reporter idea that he shares on the show! You can follow Tony on Twitter @tonyvincent and read his blog. If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here. The post EPISODE 143: 10 Practical, Entertaining Ways to Teach with Mobile Devices [PODCAST] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

The Every Classroom Matters Show: Matthew Farber, Expert on Gaming in the Classroom Matthew Farber does a masterful job of explaining game mechanics, Bartle’s player types, and how to use gaming in the classroom. In Episode #144 of Every Classroom Matters, Matt also talks about game design as it relates to the classroom and how he uses questions to level up his classroom design. Listen to ECM #144 with Matthew Farber He also relates the "magic circle" of play with the zone of proximal development. Matthew is helping create a common design grammar between game design and what is happening with education. He teaches his middle school students about Game Mechanics and Bartle’s player types as part of a game literacy he builds in his classroom. Note from Vicki: If any of you follow educational gaming and know anything about "real" game design, you’ll know that many in education are blindly trying to figure it out without applying research and terminology from the rapidly maturing game-design industry. You can’t slap points and badges on it and say you’re gamifying! Matthew Farber’s new book Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies), is a must-read for those working with games in the classroom. Matt includes both research and practical classroom ideas in each chapter. (I love it when classroom teachers write as they teach, the result is a fresh book that really WORKS in the classroom. That is what Matt has done with his book.) It is fascinating to hear Matt talk about a conversation he had with Richard Bartle about the misapplication of Bartle’s player types in game design. I especially enjoyed Matt sharing how he taught his sixth grade students social studies lessons about the Columbian exchange. It helps me picture how to use games by using game stations. Some must-have takeaways that Matt mentioned in this episode: The Pandemic Board Game Sim City Bartle’s Player Types Matt’s book Gamify Your Classroom Matt points out that game designers keep asking questions and iterating. He challenges us to do it in our own classroom. You can follow @MatthewFarber on Twitter and his blog on Edutopia.   The post EPISODE 144: The Elements of a Great Educational Game [PODCAST] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Dr. Tom Grissom on The Every Classroom Matters Show Whether it is digital notetaking or notetaking, many of us agree that most students are not effectively using this technique to remember, retain, and process new information. Dr. Tom Grissom is a pioneer in the effective use of digital notes, pushing us to redefine what notes can be. Listen to Show #145 Subscribe on iTunes Tom’s big point about notetaking is that if we follow the SAMR model, we must redefine what notetaking can be. Here are just a few points he shares in the show. Using electronic tools, you can redefine digital notes by: Writing Recording Audio Collaboratively Writing with Others Snipping Copies of the Screen Recording Video Recording Movements on the Screen (Screencasting) Students Can Share and See Each Other’s Notes Teachers Can Share Their Notes Teachers Can See Notes as a Formative Assessment Tool Tom and I also have a discussion about the vital difference between taking notes by hand and typing the notes (which leads to transcription.) Not surprisingly, transcription doesn’t require much processing and not as much value seems to be happening in the mind of the student as in taking the notes by hand. Using One Note Classroom, Tom is a pioneer in the use of digital notes to teach, learn, and enrich our lives. Here are 4 big takeaways from the show: See Dr. Grissom’s notes from the show (In his One Note notebook) Visit His Website and Podcast One Note Classroom  One Note for Teachers Tutorials The purpose of Every Classroom Matters is to bring practical teaching ideas and strategies from every type of classroom to inspire excellence in yours. You can subscribe to the show on iTunes or listen to it on BAM Radio. (I have a list of past episodes as well.) If you find the show useful, ratings and reviews on iTunes help others find the show. The post Episode 145: 5 Essential Digital Notetaking Methods appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Sir John Hargrave on the Every Classroom Matters Show Sir John Hargrave has taken the research on the mind and related it to current self-help practices to help us learn what works. In today’s episode, we learn about essential thought patterns we should understand to be successful educators.  Metacognition is an essential skill of the most successful students. I also share how I overcame my own negative thought loops caused by four years of bullying. Listen to Episode #146 Online Listen on iTunes Some of the fascinating takeaways from this show are: Concentration as a missing skill in the classroom How to Overcome Negative Thought Loops that Keep Us From Being Our Best The Important Metacognitive Skills We Should Teach Students Steve Job’s "Reality Distortion Field" Technique Sir John Hargrave’s book Mindhacking is FREE (at least through Fall 2015) at http://www.mindhacki.ng/ "We believe everything our mind tells us and get stuck in these thought loops." @sirjohnhargravePowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Metacognition and a growth mindset are essential areas for every educator to understand. Listen to the show and dig into the research of mind hacking and metacognition.   The post Episode 146: Mind Hacking: Missing Skills We’re Not Teaching Students appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Sail Through the Stress of the Storm If I look through a window pane and see teaching as weather, teaching would be the thunderstorm. And as we sail our classroom ship on this maelstrom of hormones, stress, conflicting priorities, and distractions, it takes rock-solid habits of mind and life to be the kind of self-assured captain who can weather the storm. "I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread." JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Health professionals believe that 80-90% of all disease is stress related. Gallup’s 2014 State of American Schools reports half of teachers claim they have significant daily stress. (The highest of all careers polled.) This month’s Global Search on Education question is "What are the quick ways to combat teacher’s stress in a classroom? " You’ll see all of the answers collected here. Here are some time-tested research-proven ways to be that Teacher-Captain with nerves of steel. Stress Busting Secret #1: [MENTAL] Kill Worry By Accepting the Worst and Working to Improve It "Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear." Corrie ten Boom Many teachers house an internal storm between their ears. Worry rips through peace and electrocutes purpose. The best technique for dealing with anxiety comes from Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Carnegie interviewed Willis H. Carrier the engineer and founder of the Carrier Corporation, the company many of us use for our air conditioning system. Early in his career, Carrier had made a mistake and installed a massive air handling system that didn’t work. After nights of not sleeping, Carrier adopted three steps that changed his life. Analyze the situation fearlessly and honestly and figure out the worst that can happen as a result. Accept the worst outcome Calmly devote time and energy to improve upon the worst which has already been accepted mentally. When I’m worried, I grab pen and paper and start by listing the worst thing that can happen. I go ahead and accept the worst, and then, I start improving it. As it says in Luke 12:22, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Secret #2: [MENTAL] Interrupt Negative Thought Loops and Replace Them With Positive Ones Your thoughts can swirl into a tornado — taking you to places of purpose or pathetic places of self-induced agony. Your thoughts create a mental momentum that spills over into your physical world. On a recent episode of Every Classroom Matters, Sir John Hargrave, author of Mindhacking, talked about "thought loops." Thought loops are those repeated loops of things we say to ourselves. Part of self-awareness and metacognition is the ability to pull back and observe your thoughts from a distance. For example, early in my career I was struggling with classroom management. I found myself thinking "I can’t manage my classroom." The more I said this, the more helpless I became. I quickly switched this stinkin’ thinkin’ to "I will learn how to better manage my classroom and become a better teacher." I did. Gandhi said, "I will not let anyone walk through my mind with his dirty feet." Sometimes our thoughts come from things people have said to us. We can master our thoughts and redirect our abilities. Secret #3: [MENTAL] Keep a Joy Journal The captain’s log of ancient yore tell stories of events but also serve as part-confidante and self-reflection for those lonely sea captains. Teacher-Captains are lonely too. You can see remarkable benefits from logging your thoughts. Research has shown that keeping a joy journal will improve your "long term well being" more than winning a million dollars in the lottery. Looking for joy is like looking for a color. If I ask you to look for the color blue - you see it everywhere. Now, I ask you to look for red - there it is. Most of us are naturally tuned to notice certain things. Some people always see the negative, like old Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh: Lovely day, isn’t it? Eeyore: Wish I could say yes, but I can’t. You can start saying yes when you notice the blessings in the storm. The kind word, the fun time you had playing with the dog, the romantic dinner you had last night, the surprise phone call from an old friend. We all have moments of joy if we start noticing them instead of feeling blue. Secret #4: [PHYSICAL] Make Sleep a Priority A tired teacher is a powderkeg looking for a match. When I enter the most stressful times of the year, I set an evening alarm in my bedroom to remind me it is time to go to bed. Sleep loss makes it harder to think, harms your health and worsens your mood. Women who sleep less than seven hours a night are more likely to be obese. Norbert Schwarz says, "Making $60,000 more in annual income has less of an effect on your daily happiness than getting one extra hour of sleep a night." Brooks and Lack found that a ten-minute nap was ideal, but that even a five-minute snooze was better than nothing. Secret #5: [PHYSICAL] Drink Enough Water What a tragedy to die of thirst in a sea of salt! Yet, even in a country where water is not scarce such as the US, 75% of Americans suffer from chronic dehydration. (I would imagine many other countries are astounding as well.) We thirst for self-discipline. We suffer not from lack of water, but an inability to take time to drink it. The effects of dehydration are real and especially detrimental to teachers who must stay positive and think clearly. Dehydration is shown to impact your mood and cognitive processes negatively. I apply the "mud puddle principle" and put a glass by each sink in my home. I also drink a whole glass of water at the beginning of break and lunch. Drinking water must become part of your habits, so you do it automatically. Secret #6: [PHYSICAL] Exercise (preferably outside) Sitting is the new cigarette. Every 90 minutes you need to MOVE. We’re not stuck on a ship, after all, we can walk around the building or visit a friend across campus. Some of us can even walk to work. You can have a positive mood-enhancing impact after just five minutes of exercise. If you want even more of a boost, exercising outdoors will increase your positive mood further. Secret #7: [SPIRITUAL] Make Time for Faith "If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm." Mahatma Gandhi There is a strong correlation between religion and positive mental health. For many of us, research-proven ways of handling stress including meditation, deep breathing, aromatherapy, listening to music, visualization and prayer as part of our faith practice. Mother Teresa worked in the harshest of situations with the poor in Calcutta. If there has ever been a person sailing a ship on the red blood of despair, death, and poverty, it is this precious woman. She said, "The simplicity of our life of contemplation makes us see the face of God in everything, everyone, and everywhere, all the time." Secret #8: [RELATIONAL] Develop deep relationships Every captain needs a comrade. Take the time to have deep relationships with others. As humans, we need intimacy. When you’re with these people, don’t always talk about your stressful career, however. While journaling your problems is shown to reduce stress, just talking about them with another person is not. And cynical gossip has an intensely negative impact on your life. Build healthy relationships of mutual respect and common interests. Secret #9: [RELATIONAL] Make Physical Affection Part of Your Day "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." Leo Buscaglia, Author Kissing, hugging, sex, and even massages are proven ways to reduce stress. Even a simple, appropriate hug or pat on the back can help. Secret #10: [TECHNOLOGY] Unplug, Recharge, and Focus A distracted captain can run his ship aground. A distracted person is a danger to himself and those he cares for most. The constant interruptions of your  phone and notifications can make us feel like a human doing and not a human being. Three essential technology practices will help all of us live richer less stressful lives. UNPLUG: Stop Using Technology One Hour Before Bedtime First, we need at least an hour before bed when we are not looking at or around our brightly lit devices. Technology devices wake us up an interrupt our circadian rhythms, making it difficult to sleep. RECHARGE: No Phones in the Bedroom Second, we need to charge our phones outside of the bedroom. Even in airplane mode and do not disturb, some of our apps can interrupt us and wake us up. FOCUS: Have Do Not Disturb Time Finally, we need uninterrupted moments I call this DND (Do Not Disturb) time. For example, I use an app on my iPad to read my Bible in church. However, I put the iPad in airplane mode and "Do Not Disturb" so that nothing else will interrupt me. For the most part, it works. Any time you’re at an event and want to focus on the event, set your phone to DND, particularly if using your phone as the camera. This way, you won’t be interrupted with an "urgent" email when you go to snap a picture of a never-to-be-repeated moment.  You will also be more productive at work. Teachers who mess around with computer instead of focusing on students, make a mess of great teaching opportunities. In Conclusion: Sailing Our Ship It would be nice to calm the storm and sail quiet seas all the time. But some of the most hated weather by sailors is dead calm. You have nothing to propel you forward — no wind. When you teach, you have to accept the weather we navigate. What you do not have to accept is that you have to stress out about it and have no quality of life. For, when I read Walt Whitman’s words, I always think of a teacher. Oh Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, Here’s to you, teacher. May you weather the storm and laugh in the rain. This profession may be stressful but is is never boring. Our destination is purposeful. We captain a great ship on an epic quest to educate the minds of men and women. We sail towards tomorrow. The post 10 Stress-Busting Secrets of Great Teachers appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

From the Cool Cat Teacher YouTube Channel Looking for new ideas for using technology in the classroom? Trying to figure out what’s next? Well, recently I had to record a video just in case the weather wasn’t so great in Pittsburg, Kansas for my virtual keynote. I thought that some of you might be looking for a little summer PD and would take the 45 minutes or so to learn something new. I also share my simple 2-step strategy of innovation. If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here. If you want the links to be clickable from the presentation, you can use the 50+ Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom Slides from Slideshare below. If you can’t see this slideshow in your RSS reader or email, then click here. I think that the most critical take-away is the strategy of innovation that works for anyone. Let’s also dispel the myth about age and innovation in education by talking about one of my heroes! You can use technology in the classroom. Take time for some personal PD today by watching this or the countless tutorials you can find on YouTube and throughout the web. Level up a little every day! QUESTION:What are some new technologies that excite you? Please share! You can leave a comment by clicking here. The post 50+ Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Pushing the Limits of Education Technology- Greg Kulowiec App smashing is when you use two or more apps on a device to do something which one could not do alone. App Smashing inventor, Greg Kulowiec shares many examples on today’s show. Listen on iTunes Listen online If you have iPads or other devices in your classroom and you limit students to only one app, you and your students may be missing out. There’s an excitement that comes from pushing limits and inventing. Perhaps no better easier means of invention exists than that of app smashing. The process of figuring out ways to combine new tools is as valuable as the final product. @gregkulowiecPowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This While researching this phenomenon, I traced the origin of the term back to Greg Kulowiec’s 2013 blog post. Don’t be afraid, though. App smashing can be as simple as snapping a picture, editing the pic in an app, and saving to your camera roll so you can edit in another app. If you’ve already done this — you’re already an app smasher. Todays’ show is chock full of exciting ideas for you to try. You can make a cheap green screen. You can have a year long video project. You can share film. These are just a few things we discuss! App smashing is so easy that any beginner can do it. Resources from Today’s Show AppSmashing original post Feb 18, 2013 http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/2013/02/app-smashing-part-i.html The Green Screen post Nov 2, 2013 http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/2013/11/green-screen-appsmashing.html Collaborative Mashup Video X Ipads: http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/2014/02/collaborative-mashup-video-x-ipads.html BookCreator - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-creator-for-ipad-create/id442378070?mt=8 Air Drop -> https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203106  Google Drive -> https://www.google.com/drive/  Cloud Conduit -> http://www.conduit.com/ iMovie ->  http://www.apple.com/mac/imovie/ Mix Light -> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mix-by-camera360-design-your/id913947918?mt=8 Elektor -> https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/elektor-electronic-toolbox/id339158729?mt=8 Telegami Video Capture https://tellagami.com/ Question: What is one way that you smash apps together? You can leave a comment by clicking here. The post ECM 147: App Smashing Definition and Examples appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Live a Better Life It seems that there is a pivotal way that the uber-productive should travel: through time. What about holding still in one place and letting time travel through you? What about letting your body stay still and letting your mind wander? A marvelous verse in the Bible says "Be still and know that I am God." Be still. Who can do it? It is harder than you might think. I once learned a strategy for falling asleep - focus on your breath. When I take the early flight, I never sleep. Getting up at 3am so worries me - the perpetual hard sleeper - that I often find myself cat napping (pun intended). The other night as I focused on the movement of my breath to attempt sleep, I realized what a gift a breath is. Then, I thought of a what Pico Iyer says in his TED Talk on Stillness, I was in a taxi driving through Times Square, and I suddenly realized that I was racing around so much I could never catch up with my life. Sometimes we need to be still and let time travel through us. #stillsummerPowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This But how do you know it is time to be still? Listen to Yourself Talk Exceptional people tune into self-talk. You are the only one who hears the voice in your head. You are the only one who can interrupt your internal dialog and say, "This isn’t the way I need to be, so I’m going to do something about it." When I reviewed my journal entries for this past school year, I realized my self-talk points to my personal need for time travel instead of geographic travel. There are many of you  who are pushed beyond the regular wear and tear of a hard year. It is no accident that you’re reading this post at this moment. There are no coincidences. The Fellowship of the Ring 8 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Plan Your Summer Calendar Reflect on the past. In the last few summers, do you remember an extended period where you didn’t have anything to work-related to do or anywhere work-related to go? Anticipate your ability to last. Do you find yourself wondering how you can sustain this level of work intensity for much longer? (We talk about the sustainability of this planet, when we ignore the sustainability of our own pace.) Your desire to quit. Have you thought about quitting as a way out of the workload because of the pressure? (As opposed to because you are planning an intentional career move.) Listen to your words. Are frustrated words and behaviors creeping into your emails and interpersonal reactions? Do you find yourself much more abrasive than you know how to be? (My friends and I call this a need for "crab rehab.") Your ability to "turn it off." When you are with your family, do you find yourself unable to relax or stop talking about work? Do they say that they "miss you" even when your body is physically present with them? Your desire to continue. Do you keep asking yourself questions like: "How can I go back to school in the fall?" "How am I going to make it?" or "I am so exhausted, I just don’t know how I can do this anymore." Your role in the world. Do you feel more like a human doing than a human being? How you feel about what others expect. Do you feel like everybody just wants something from you? How many "yes" answers do you have? I answered "yes" for every single one of these during my reflection. So, I realized it was time to plan a summer sabbatical. More on that in my next post. Question: Reflect upon stillness as opposed to laziness. Consider the place of stillness in your life. Do you know how to be still? You can leave a comment by clicking here. The post 8 Questions to Ask Yourself BEFORE You Plan Your Summer Calendar appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.