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This is a course for Spring Branch ISD which uses a blog as the framework. I also love how 9 hours of professional development is being given for the educators in this course. We need more embedded PD that gives teachers an opportunity to embed their learning in their daily activity. Embedded PD is the key to transformational learning. While there is a time and place for getting away, we have traditionally only used that "away" method when we also need to use the "learn right here" method of delivery as well. Take a look at what Karen is doing here as you evaluate your pd delivery methods.

DEN Educator Carolyn Stanley shares how she's using Splashtop to stream Discovery Streaming to her ipad and the other uses that she's finding. This is something that teachers using ipads need to know about and test in their classrooms.

I uploaded my "Freshman Project" to the @Tesconnect website. This is a very large network of teachers that I'm using now as it links with English speaking classrooms outside the US. This is the assignment that begins the year long project in my class as students design their own project. This is based upon the senior project I first saw this summer in Evansville, Indiana. Yes, you need to join TES to download the resource. I am promoting this site as part of some work I'm doing for them (as I disclosed two weeks a go) but it is a great site and I like the work they are doing very much! So join in, share, and download.

Great article on US news about initiatives in the US that have started but of special interest is the request that students and educators tweet. The biggest issues I've had with the town hall meetings is that most of them are in the middle of the day when everyone is teaching. On Thursday at 3 pm there is a chat about rural education. It is nice that they're having these meetings but if they REALLY want teachers to participate it will be when teachers are able to focus on the conversation. You can't have teachers teaching and Tweeting. It doesn't work. If you see me tweet during the day, most of the tweets are scheduled or I'm on break or lunch break. "February has been a busy month for K-12 education. On February 1, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan kicked it off by announcing that all U.S. schools should transition to digital textbooks within the next five years. On the 9th, President Obama waived 10 states from No Child Left Behind. And last week, the president proposed a 2013 budget that includes a $1.7 funding increase for education." Although these federal policy decisions may not seem directly connected to day-to-day classroom activities, the Department of Education is using Twitter to encourage teachers, administrators, parents, and students to play a more active role.

What are the commonly used words in English? See 86,000+ of the most used English words ranked in usage order with this great site. Use it to build vocabulary and find interesting words for writing. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English

I love this activity finder at TES iBoard. They have more than 700 free activities that you can use with your Interactive white board for ages 4-11. You can search by topic. If you have an interactive whiteboard, you should use this site. A subscription lets you easily share the activities with your pupils and they can access them anywhere without a log on. That is very useful.

I got this notice from Moby Max. There are a proliferation of websites that let you check and have kids working in online spaces like this. Remember that these can be helpful, but you should and must have students programming and inventing with computers. These can be very helpful but are only one use of the computer. Below is what they sent me about the service. Please let me know if you're using this (educators only, please). "MobyMax has just released the easiest way to get your students motivated and start the year off right-a free 119 prize school contest. Within the first ten minutes of releasing the free 119 prize contest on Monday with no announcement, 22 schools signed up! Not only are the contest and 119 prizes free, but MobyMax curriculum is free as well. (You may remember that teachers can upgrade to the Pro version for just $79 per year, but the prizes, contest, and curriculum are completely free whether you upgrade or not!) We are also proud to announce our students' results from the last school year. The results from over 600,000 students showed that those who used MobyMax for 40 hours averaged more than a 1.4 grade level increase in math and a 1.5 grade level increase in language. Students answered over 1 million problems in MobyMax's new reading module released this summer."

Your use of the Internet security vulnerability profiling services on this site constitutes your FORMAL PERMISSION for us to conduct these tests and requests our transmission of Internet packets to your computer. ShieldsUP!! benignly probes the target computer at your location. Since these probings must travel from our server to your computer, you should be certain to have administrative right-of-way to conduct probative protocol tests through any and all equipment located between your computer and the Internet

Your use of the Internet security vulnerability profiling services on this site constitutes your FORMAL PERMISSION for us to conduct these tests and requests our transmission of Internet packets to your computer. ShieldsUP!! benignly probes the target computer at your location. Since these probings must travel from our server to your computer, you should be certain to have administrative right-of-way to conduct probative protocol tests through any and all equipment located between your computer and the Internet

"While I did enjoy David Burgess' Teach Like a Pirate, and the hangout that she shared with us, I'll admit… it made me kind of sad.  Not because of the content itself!  But because of the hard memories it brought up.  I used to teach creatively and encourage innovation in my classroom like that.  When I graduated college, I was chock full of ideas and adored hands-on learning.  But my communication skills was parents was very weak and my administrator was a frustrated man who decided his best way of control was micromanaging.  It's a bit of a long story, but the end result is I was knocked down to stop being creative; to just follow the curriculum and to push worksheets. " Wow. As I read this teacher from Dr. Lee Graham's class (they are in gamifi-ed with my students) I'm so touched by how the teacher helps us feel what is happening to TOO MANY TEACHERS. Too many teachers are being pushed down to teach the wrong way. Worksheet wonders and we wonder why no one loves to learn. This is sad and must change. I hope you'll comment.

Check out this free writing adviser that students can use to get instant feedback on their writing. Students can type in the tool itself or upload a document. Awesome formative tool. Students are allowed to focus on their purpose and audience, essay structure, and use of written language (sentence economy, variety, power, and clarity). You will see your students learning to ask questions experienced writers ask automatically. As a result, you'll see your students express themselves with greater precision and power. Best of all it is free. You will need an account set up to use this amazing tool, and then you can also enroll your students.

Children (and most adults) love looking at themselves on a webcam and this flash based site lets you add over 70 filters and effects. Use the snapshot button to grab an image. There are lots of ways to use this tool in class. Use the mirror functions in maths for symmetry and compile a music video by adding a screencast tool. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Photos+%26+Images

Another exciting tool to use for the Hour of Code - there is a free module anyone can use, but if you purchase the class option you can track and you can use real names and other options for programming. You might want to try it and see what your students think.

The Scratch tutorial with video can be used with students. This is using scratch on the web -- so NOTHING TO INSTALL.This is a great option for many of you to use for the Hour of Code.

This is very true. Online tutorials can only get us so far. This is why I'm learning Scratch and brushing up on Java. I may even have to learn Python before I'm done. We need Computer Science but who will teach it? If we only rely on videos, it would be like asking kids to teach themselves math using Khan Academy without a teacher who knew how to work the problems. "The vast majority of my students do very well on their first hour or two of coding using structured lessons, but when they start to write code for a new problem, or hit the first set of bugs, they get frustrated and need help. Sometimes, all they need is a hint, a pointer to a similar problem, or my assurance that they can solve it. In some cases, they need someone to just re-explain it a little differently."

If you use Evernote, you should download and use Skitch. This is a must use tool for teachers.

I've been playing around with Flare on my blog. 5 of the 10 top sites in social media use Flare. Here is the instruction for how to activate and use it. Oddly I got some malware alerts from Malwarebytes so although I'm using it, I'm contacting the developer to try to understand why.

A simple multiplication practise site where learners can choose from 6 difficulty levels and answer all the questions as quickly as they can. Players answer the questions using changing buttons, which means no typing is needed, making it idea to use on interactive whiteboards. Because it is designed using html the site also works on most tablets and smart phones. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

This site contains guidance material aimed primarily at students, teachers or doctors who wish to use a patient recording or patient data for learning and teaching. It will also be of interest and use to other clinical and healthcare workers as well as to university staff where patient recordings are made available for learning and teaching.

This is a great iPad app which lets you make amazing games with the minimum of coding experience. Use the pre-made characters and props or make your own using your camera or gallery images. Control the behaviour of each item to make some intricate games with a flick of your finger. Your designs are only limited by your imagination. Share your games with others at the click of a button. Download the app at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/GamePress/id637370800?mt=8 http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

This looks like a very cool English game that uses all kinds of shows to teach. Thinking that ESL teachers will want to test this one out. Mau Butler send me this message about this new site: Hello Vicki, I've been an ESL teacher for 20 years, in several countries, and a reader of your coolcatteacher blog for a while. Congratulations. You do excellent work. :) For the past 3 years, I've been building a very innovative approach to teaching and learning English, which is now ready to use. Considering your work, I thought you'd be interested in trying it out. It's called Tripppin and I strongly recommend you see it for yourself on www.tripppin.com but this is us in a nutshell: "Tripppin is an English practice platform, which blends offline and online learning experiences into a game, a music channel, cooking shows, animation, entertaining videos shot around the world, and excellent support for English teachers everywhere." Hope you can have a look :) Thank you.