Vicki A. Davis's Blog, page 126
January 18, 2017
Free Webinar: Notetaking Skills for Top 21st Century Students
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
Note taking has changed since the days of pencil, paper, and lecture lecture lecture! Now, students have a variety of tools and sources of information. From lecture, to videos, to projects -- how should students be coached to take notes? In this free webinar, I'll help teachers learn how to help your 21st Century learners […]
The post Free Webinar: Notetaking Skills for Top 21st Century Students appeared first on...
January 17, 2017
One Simple Way to Screencast with Office Mix
A 2-Minute Technology Tip on Screencasting
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
A screencast is when you record the screen. While there are many great options out there, Office Mix is so simple, I’m using it for most screencasting.
In this example, students have written a few lines of code in Scratch. Then, they open Office Mix. They use the screen recording tool to capture their program in action. Finally, they make the video and upload it to Pow...
January 11, 2017
“Not Normal” [Video]
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
We spend way too much time trying to be normal. David Salyers, VP at Chic Fil A says,
“Normal can never be amazing.”
The truth is that normal is average. Normal is every day. It is truly not normal to be amazing.
So, from now on I want there to be nothing normal about my life or my classroom or my family or my friendships.
How about you? Who’s in for awesome?
Let’s stop being normal.
Hat tip to my f...
January 6, 2017
How Mainstreet Media Steps Up When Mainstream Media Lets Us Down
What we can learn from the media's silence about the South Georgia Storm Disaster 2017
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
Is it that we don’t have a dead baby in a ditch like we had in the Camilla tornadoes in 2000 to get people upset? Is that whyAlbany Georgia’s tragedy is ignored? Or is it just that the news media is so busy covering reality DC that they don’t have time to report on a storm that left 8,000 homes without power and my Facebook sour...
January 3, 2017
Living Life as a Teacher Is Noble Enough
Appreciating teachers and the role we play in the world
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
Wow, you know as a teacher you just can’t turn it off. I was just in Walgreens picking up pictures, and as I was walking in, a little one-year-old decided to walk out through the open door. I scooted out and followed him and took his tiny hand as his alarmed grandmother was grateful I brought him back. She said,
“He just runs away all the time. That’s all he...
January 2, 2017
Today is the Present
Living life to the fullest every day.
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
I live across the street from death. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have chosen to live across from the funeral home, but it was my grandparents’ house. Contrary to what you might think, a constant reminder of death can change your life in positive ways if you let it.
When we first moved in, some things surprised me about the pattern of funerals. For example, it seems that people die...
December 20, 2016
How to Keep Kids Safe
(and prevent problems online)
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
Welcome to episode 296 of the Every Classroom Matters podcast. In this episode, Shannon Mclintock-Miller and I discusscurrent best practices about digital citizenship and online safety for kids.
If you’ve ever taught kids who have their own smartphones, you know how quickly social media problems can escalate at school. Understandably, schools that don’t open lines of honest communicat...
4 Ways to Teach With Play
(and captivate your bored students)
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
Welcome to episode 295 of the Every Classroom Matters podcast. In this episode, Leanna Prater and I discuss how to use play in the classroom to teach. I’m also unveiling a new listening guide for you to use with this show.
If you’ve taught for very long, you’ve struggled with the “bored student.”These students might have ADHD or just aren’t engaged through typical classroom expe...
December 19, 2016
The One Present I Wish Parents Would Give My Students
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
The gifts that change your life are the ones you didn’t know you wanted in the first place. I can tell the kids who get this kind of gift. They are different. Let me tell you how.
This post is written as part of Cathy Rubin’s Global Search for Education. The question is “what one gift do you wish parents would give your students this year?” By definition, this is supposed to be a physical gift, because of course l...
December 15, 2016
Write Shorter, Simpler Standards
How Words often Kill the Best Intentions
From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter
We have too many standards. Many of you will agree, they are too long. In fact, some teachers I know spend more time aligning standards than creating lesson plans. With this in mind, we must ask, are these well-intentioned standards keeping us from focusing on the main thing? Along these lines, arecent conversation on my podcast with Dr. Douglas Reeves has me thinking. Doug...
