Cool Cat Teacher Blog

“Don’t measure your worth by how

often you’re thanked.”

 

    Cool Cat Teacher Blog is an educational blog written and updated by Vicki Davis; a full-time teacher. Vicki regularly updates her blog with useful information on teaching, technology and leadership to encourage fellow teachers to “work intentionally and teach passionately”.

    This educational blog is simple to navigate due to the succinct layout. At the very top of the blog there are tabs which direct you to a new page on different topics of information. There is also a ‘labels’ list to the side of Vicki’s blog posts which direct you to the particular information you may be wanting to research.

    Vicki successfully manages to capture the audience’s attention well with her use of rhetorical questions, videos and pictures; it helps the readers to digest information easier and to understand the topic by questioning what they already know. Vicki typically blogs on average four posts a week with up to date information regarding aspects in and around teaching.

    This blog is worthy enough to be on my own personal blog because Cool Cat Teacher succours teachers teach with a positive impact and greater purpose with improved results, just like I hope to do one day in the future.

Vicki Davis’ old blog on blogspot.com…

 

And her new and improved blog on WordPress.

 

http://www.coolcatteacher.com/

7 Photo Story

    Introducing my seven photo story on stereotypical University Life.

    I created this short photo story by taking photographs of what I class as stereotypical university life. Then, I used an app on my iPad called iMovie to create the video. It’s a simple, easy to navigate app where you upload your chosen photos in the sequence you want. I also added background music to my video, for this I had to download my chosen song and upload it through the app. Who doesn’t love a bit of Journey, eh? J

    The photos I chose to reflect University Life are:

1.  Early Mornings (Alarm clocks)

2.  Learning (Lecture theatre)

3.  Hard Work (Books and notes)

4.  Independence and acquiring new skills (Cooking)

5.  Making life-long friends (Flatmates)

6.  Drinking (Bottles of alcohol)

7.  Late Nights (Clock)

Ted Talks: Pearl Arredondo

 

Pearl Arredondo: My story, from gangland daughter to star teacher.

 

   After watching this video, I wanted to take it back to my old school to show pupils to encourage them to achieve high and succeed!

    In this clip, Pearl Arredondo, a teacher from Los Angeles, explains how she grew up as a gangland daughter, of whom people wrote off as having authority troubles, to now being a teacher who inspires and encourages children to make the most of their lives.

    Her story of how she grew up, fighting to prove her worth and ability, is truly inspirational. Her story proves that everyone can dream big and achieve, proving to people on the way their worth. Pearl Arredondo now works as teacher in a school she opened to welcome children from difficult backgrounds, to encourage and capture their spirit, drive and determination. Her teachers “fight” to empower children to move beyond their circumstances, to become the ‘norm’.

    This particular video has given me a new view on ‘education’. It has inspired me to become a role model to children; just like Pearl. All children need the same opportunities in learning and not to be labelled just because of their backgrounds. Coming from a small town, where children regularly have incidences with authority, becoming a teacher who provides a ‘safe haven’ for children to escape and flourish is my goal.

 

Here you will find the best talks from the TED conferences. Maybe you will find one which will inspire you?

http://www.ted.com/

 

 

Tag Galaxy

    After using tag galaxy for the first time I was very intrigued. It is a simple, visual tool which is lots of fun to use.

    When you get onto the site, you simply enter a tag (anything you could possibly think of, there are tags for pretty much everything) and away you go. The next page is a visual 3D galaxy. In the centre will be the biggest planet (your tag) and around it there are smaller orbiting planets which are the words relating to the keyword. When you click on any of the planets you zoon into a globe populated by pictures which are tagged to the word.

 

    In classroom lessons this Web2 can make a boring lesson more fun and motivate the students at the same time. For example, if there was a lesson on geography, you could use the name of a country for the keyword. Everything related to that country would come up in the orbiting planets, including pictures. It is also a brilliant way for students to explore the relationships between words visually.

    I would also use this idea as a way of revising. On paper students could use the topic title as their “centre planet” and then use the keywords of that topic as their “orbiting planets”.

http://taggalaxy.de/

Wikipedia

The Pros and Cons of Using Wikipedia

 

    Wikipedia is used by many students who are in education. It can be a useful site to gather information, as long as you are wary of it.

    Wikipedia is a useful tool and simple to use. By typing in your chosen subject into the search bar you can have all the information you need. The only problem which can occur (maybe not all the time) is that this information may not be accurate. Wikipedia is a site which is open to the public. At any time and on any subject a person can edit the page and change information. Even though Wikipedia is a site that is monitored for accuracy, not all inaccurate changes can be reviewed the time in which you, yourself view them.

    The way in which I would recommend using Wikipedia, is as a base to your research. It can give you the foundations to your subject in which you can further. A useful tool Wikipedia does have is at the end of the page, on any chosen subject, there is additional site references for you to look at.

    Overall, I think Wikipedia is a simple place to find basic information, as long as you keep in mind it is not trustworthy.