When I was asked to follow 21st century educators I had no idea who would be good candidates other than Andy. I had already been introduced to his work through another Physical Education professor. So I looked up some big names in the online community that were known to be very influential. I was immediately interested in the Cool Cat Teacher blog run by Vicky Davis. She is widely recognized across North America as a leader in technological education, incorporating the use of current day technology effectively in the classroom and has won numerous awards, such as a BAMMY award for “Best Talk Show Host in Education” for the 2014 year .
I’ve always believed that the use of technology has often been shoehorned into the classroom and that it is a detriment to the educational experience. How often are smart boards used ineffectively or ipads used as a substitute for a computer with the sole purpose of playing some educational games? Vicky prides herself on teaching technological and media literacy, staying current and teaching her kids to do the same. Although I may be critical of the use of technology in classes, I would have to say that a part of it is that I myself struggle with many of the new waves of technology and the “rules” that aren’t overtly explained when navigating the internet or while using social media. Call it fear of the unknown if you will. But Vicky posts lessons such as Copyright 101, a presentation in which she explains the basics of copyright and licensing, something that I know I wasn’t overtly thinking about, but is always present when posting or using someone else’s material on the web. Thanks to Vicky I also know that this content I am creating could possibly be copyrighted by Brock University, as schools are similar to businesses. Any work created while in school on school grounds counts as if I were under hire by them! So simple rules like those are important and relevant to students in this day in age so they may navigate the web safely and avoid stealing or losing their content unknowingly. She also has other posts that I was surprised to see , but recognized their importance immediately, such as 10 Things Everyone Should Know About Passwords and Email Productivity. One of my favourite games that she suggests classes play to increase cultural and geographical awareness is Mystery Skype. The goal of the game is to have two classrooms guess each others location by asking each other questions. This takes place through a Skype call, and therefore if timezones are taken into effect, can happen most anywhere across North America as well as some places in Europe. I would definitely incorporate her methodology in my classroom, as well as sort through and pick from some of her ideas.
Looking through her lessons on internet safety reminds me that I want to, as well as need to, teach students of the dangers of the internet. Because most students have grown up with the internet freely available, it is possible they have not examined the internet as a potential threat to their person. They have to worry about cyber bullying and predators, which is now gaining educational awareness and following in schools. But what about the dangers of posting on the internet? Once it is on the internet, it can never come off. Decisions they make as a student in grade 5 could haunt them for the rest of their life. There are also hackers and scams that try to take advantage of students. I once received an e-mail from “my bank” that had said my password needed to be changed. Were it not a few subtle differences on the bottom of the page I would have believed it to be real, but it was just a scam. Yet I had friends who filled out the forms and submitted them only to realize they had been duped. They had to quickly call the bank when I had informed them of their mistake to change their information. Vicky’s website explores many of these dangers but also promotes tasteful and purposeful technology use into her classroom, some of which I will definitely be using.
The Cool Cat Teacher also hosts a number of webinars (online seminars) for personal development, social media and technology tips, and posts on suggested apps in order to keep educators in front of the ever changing technological world. I have already downloaded a one of her suggested Google Chrome extensions for future use. To have such a great teacher friendly and educationally relevant website with such a comprehensive scope makes the Cool Cat Teacher a necessary addition to the repertoire of websites any teacher should visit.
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