Ok, have you ever opened your RSS aggregator to find 100+ new posts to the blogs you are subscribed? I read the blogs a couple times a week and its only been since Thursday! Some times there is a pull between having a life and reading the blogs I subscribe. The pressure to read what David Warlick, Will Richardson, Steve Dembo and many others have to say! LOL Not really, but it is a little daunting when you see how many “things” happened in a few days to prompt so many new blogs at one time…
July 29th, 2007
Recently, I have been doing a lot of exploring on the go2web20.net. The site contains a complete (by whose standards, I don’t know) listing of web 2.0 sites of all kinds. Atlas is a web page that you can create google maps with personalized locations and embed the map in to your web page. Everyscape, coming this fall, is a web page where you can roam the streets of major cities. Think of the virtual fieldtrips you could create!
I can’t even begin to talk about all of the different types of web pages… not all appropriate for students, but everything from family social networks, to world news, cartoon creating, to financial assistance. Little no none of them created for the educational world but with the world we live in … we can create educational uses for them. Check it out!
July 20th, 2007
I just returned from a wonderful weekend in the Northeast GA mountains. While there I was able to challenge myself by hiking in the Tallulah Gorge. It was only three miles but it was the first hike I have ever been on that there was no marked trail and the final portion of the hike was a quarter mile mountain hike that was at an 80 degree incline. TOUGH! You learn a lot about yourself when you are hanging on the side of a mountain.
What I ended up thinking about was my impact on technology integration in education. Ok, maybe not when I was hanging there but later when I was reflecting about things. I am in a great job where I get to work with teachers and help them learn new ways to integrate technology in to the content. How great is that? But even though I train them what do I do on my own to continue my growth? To model what I teach? Until recently not a lot.
After being invigorated by NECC 07, I realized I must practice what I preach. I was able to take part in so many wonderful professional experiences at NECC like being a part of the Conference Connection Podcasts for the Discovery Education Network, talking to a major executive, Bill Goodwin, from Discovery Communications, and just experiencing the bloggers cafe conversations. Sure I have this blog, or others started in the past, but how often do I write? How often do I reflect on what is happening in my profession? Its time to model my practices. Some of the ways I have started to do so are:
1. I have subscribed to numerous blogs on Google Reader. I needed an aggregator. I have used bloglines or others but Google Reader is the only one I have found that is not blocked from my district.
2. I started commenting on blogs… no longer just a lurker… I am a part of the conversation.
3. I am starting the conversation in my district about change and welcoming the world of blogs in the classroom.
Today, I am taking that step to be an example to those who I train. No longer will I accept just teaching teachers.. I want to impact teachers.
July 16th, 2007
