Vicki A. Davis's Blog, page 145
November 4, 2015
Global Education Conference 2015 #globaled15
Free, Online PD for Teachers
The sixth annual Global Education Conference 2015 is a free week-long online event bringing together educators and innovators from around the world. This year’s conference will take place Monday, November 16 through Thursday, November 19, 2015.
The entire conference is virtual and will take place online in webinar format. Sessions are held around the clock to accommodate participant time zones.
The conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and projects related...
10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around
Teaching and Reaching Every Child
InA Story of a Young Life Turned Around by Great Teachers, Kevin Honeycutt shared, “I believe you can flip a kid on any given day in one hour.” I’ve been thinking. Can you?
Well, when something horrific happens: death in the family or other trauma — maybe not. But on most days with most kids, I think this is true. I had an upset child just yesterday. We had a private talk as she was coming into the classroom(straggling behind everyone else). And yes, she was...
November 3, 2015
How I Motivated My Autistic Students to Publish 63 Books
Every Classroom Matters #184
Can self-publishing change everything? For some autistic kids, it did. Parents started showing up at IEP meetings. Everyone started talking. And it wasn’t all that hard!
Essential Questions in “How I Motivated My Autistic Students to Publish 63 Books” How do you edit and publish books with kids of all ability levels? What tools do you use? How does the workflow? How do I secure parent permission? What are the benefits of self-publishing with kids? Jon Smith’s...November 2, 2015
10 Inspirational Videos for Teachers
Teachers are important! You can do this!
We’re not here to teach, we’re here to change lives. We’re here to change minds. We’re here to shout encouragement. But we can’t do those things if we quit. We can’t do those things if we give up and wait for retirement. We can’t do these things with our feet up on our desk or doing time in the teacher’s lounge. We have to do these things in the thankless, lonely, hard working trenches of the classroom. We don’t have anyone cheering us on or even seein...
November 1, 2015
Top 10 Blog Posts of October 2015
What's Hot with Teachers?
Teachers want to help students improve. But many teachers struggle this time of year. We want to stay positive, but sometimes we wonder if we make a difference. We want simple tools that are easy to use. This month’s top blog posts here on the Cool Cat Teacher blog are a reflection of all of you beautiful, wonderful teachers out there.Thank you so much to all of you who read my blog and share these posts with others.
May you be encouraged when you browse this site....
October 31, 2015
Top 10 Education Tweets of October
Trends and Topics on Twitter
October is a busy month for teachers. It is also a hard month. We’re all looking for inspiration. These resources are being shared by teachers on Twitter. But you don’t have to join Twitter to click the links and read the hot topics.
The top sketchnote of the month is from Sylvia Duckworth. (Sylvia is a repeat leader on this list.) If you want to analyze your tweets, see how I did it at the bottom of the post. While I hope you’ll join Twitter, some of you won’t. T...
October 29, 2015
How to Add Google Drive to Microsoft Word
You can use Google AND Microsoft Together
You can add Google Drive to Microsoft Office now. It can save you time, particularly if you’re saving files in Office formats inside Google Drive. I’ve tested the setup. Here’s a screencast to get started. Set up is quick, three steps in about two minutes.There are a few issues to know before you start using it, though.
How to Add Google Drive to Microsoft Word (and Microsoft Office)The video aboveincludes these steps.
STEP 1: Close Microsoft Office....
October 28, 2015
Improving Your Teaching Through Student Feedback
Every Classroom Matters episode 183
How can we improve our lessons? When do we know what works and what doesn’t? In today’s show, Dean Shareski talks candidly about student feedback and the role of self-reflection in teaching. Improve the craft of teaching by incorporating his suggestions in your classroom routines. Become intentional and level up a little every day.
Important Takeaways How student reflections can help teachers improve. A scary thing Dean found his college students weren’t...October 27, 2015
How to Get Kids Excited About Science: Carmelo the Science Fellow
Every Classroom Matters episode 182
How do you fill your students with wonder? How do you help kids love animals? How do you engage students in science? Carmelo the Science Fellow (who is also a principal) shares his fun-tastic ideas for science and getting kids excited in this episode.
Important Takeaways The unbelievable thing he puts IN his walls. How he got students excited about science his first day of teaching. Now that he’s a principal, what happened when he put his desk in the wel...Brainstorming: The 7 Dwarves’ Secret
Design Thinking and Productivity that Matters
Walt Disney had 50 names for the seven dwarves. Why do so many of us think we need just one or two tries to have great ideas?Walt Disney understood that to become great, you ideate. Brainstorming was one key of his genius.
Among such odd names as “Graveful” and “Awful” and “Biggo-Eggo” – we find “Grumpy,” “Happy,” and “Bashful.”Walt Disney didn’t stop with the first sevennames he came up with. Disneyhad seven times seven plus 1.
Ideation is the “f...
