From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Teenage girls are struggling with having their faces put on nude bodies in deepfake nudes. The ​New York Times shared ​“Teen Girls Confront an Epidemic of Deepfake Nudes in Schools” on how middle and high school girls are having classmates fabricate deepfake nude pictures of them and then sharing them. The Washington Post shared “​AI Hustlers Stole Women's Faces to Put on Ads. The Law Can't Help Them​.” sharing how ordinary people are finding their likenesses taken and used to push offensive products and even used ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter In a world constantly demanding excellence and innovation, it is easy to overlook a fundamental truth: the way we treat each other has profound implications on our productivity, motivation, and overall well-being. So many educators juggle dual responsibilities of nurturing young minds and meeting their own family's needs. This balance is particularly challenging for many women in education. Creating environments where everyone is valued is vital to strengthening our schools. Dr. Tracee Perryman, author of Elevat ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter New research from EVERFI demonstrates the benefits of students taking multiple courses. Financial literacy is perhaps one of the most underrated yet essential skills that we could be teaching our students in schools. It's a skill often handed down from parents to children, significantly impacting a child's future financial success. When it comes to financial literacy, earlier education is better. If parents are financially literate and pass those skills along, their children are more likely to be financially succes ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter April is a busy month. Here are some of the tools and tips for you to explore as you prepare your lessons for this month! I talk about some great books, how I'm using the Elgato teleprompter, eclipse resources anyone can use anywhere in the world, Earth Day, financial literacy month, Arbor Day, some excellent professional development resources and a webinar I'm doing on AI in learning, resources for promoting student safety in automobiles, and, of course, some valuable test prep resources. I hope you find ideas f ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter As a teacher, it is healthy to evaluate where we are in our career. Is what I'm doing now still a good fit? Are there changes I need to make? And more.  Rob Donatelli has invented the Q.U.E.S.T. method of evaluating where.you are as a teacher and to help you determine how you should move into the future. We dive into this method in today's show to help all of us answer the ever-important question “Is teaching still a good fit for me?” Rob's book A Teacher's Q.U.E.S.T.: An Educator's Journey of Discovery and ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Artificial Intelligence is the topic of conversation for anyone who cares about learning, scholarship, and the future of our world, and rightly so. The job losses are supposed to be staggering. The World Economic Forum predicted in 2020 that AI would take away 85 million jobs; however, this powerful phenomenon would create 97 million new jobs. Understandably, academic integrity is at question as students rushed to use AI for dishonest means. And many AI companies aren't helping. However, AI is a tool designed to i ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Today, a one-size-fits-all approach to learning is rapidly becoming obsolete. However, student-teacher relationships are more important than ever. In this guide, I’ll share a spectrum of strategies that promise not to just engage but to captivate every learner. Student engagement doesn't have to be hard. It is doable. When we embrace the principles of blended instruction, self-paced learning, and mastery-based education, we can move past passive student experiences into active, engaged, self-motivated students w ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Self-paced mastery-based learning has many misconceptions and misunderstandings in how it is being implemented. Today's guest, Joe Manfre, a math teacher from Hawaii, has been using this teaching method and has seen a positive improvement in his classroom in terms of student learning and empowerment. Joe clearly shares how self-paced learning is not about replacing the teacher with videos, but using instructional videos as a baseline of knowledge that can be accesssed both inside and outside the classroom. Joe ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Felinne Hermans is a middle school teacher one day a week, and college professor four days a week. She created a natural language programming tool in Dutch and English. After she released Hedy as open source, it became popular in many places and now has been translated into 50 languages and is spreading throughout the world. Hedy is a fantastic way to teach computational thinking and programming in an easy text-based way as students create flowers, music, and their own programs with the tool. Named after Hedy La ..read more

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Students can build apps and collaboration skills at the same time. Today's episode features my friend Alefiya Master, the CEO of MAD-Learn, and the sponsor of today's show. We discuss the transformative role of app-building, collaborative learning, design thinking, and the importance of authentic learning experiences. Alefiya shares how app building can enhance STEM education and how it also teaches essential skills like teamwork, problem-solving, and passion-based learning. If you're doing collaborative project ..read more