Today was the official kick-off of the Upstate Technology Conference in Greenville, SC. Chris Craft was the keynote speaker for the conference. I was so excited for Chris to get the keynote. Chris has been a friend for a few years and I have seen him grow in to an amazing presenter.
The keynote entitled, Superpowers for Everyday Heros was a exciting journey in to the life and classroom of Chris Craft. He shared many stories of how to get students engaged in his class. In class 326, he incorporates technology in all aspects of learning from settling the class with his gcast of what is happening in the class and the daily riddle to the opportunity for students to create video to show others how to speak spanish, specifically Jeff Corwin. Chris also shared his newest venture is SpanTube, a YouTube for teaching foreign languages. This was an idea that spawned from a class discussion with his sixth grade students.
Chris creatively incorporated his computer’s alter ego, Maria, and video of students to help him through the presentation. It was evident that the man standing on the stage was full of life and passion for kids. We need more Chris Crafts in education.
I enjoyed the Twitter dialogue throughout the day. Besure to search Twitter #UTC2009 and #UTC2009craft to catch up on the conversation. It was great to see the social side of technology so alive in a South Carolina conference. It shows a change is a comin’ to educators in the state. People are starting to connect across the state and world.
The coolest part of the day is I was able to meet up with about 20 tweeps from South Carolina at the Wild WIngs Cafe. The opportunity to sit and talk over a meal allowed for so much sharing and learning. As the conversations flowed across the table it was as if the Twitter feed was speaking outloud. Changes in topics, movement to listen more carefully to what was being said, and laughter. It was great to meet so many of the Twitter folks in person and I hope these relationships continue to develop a collaborative tight network in the state. We need to unite and move forward with technology integration! 
Well, I am excited to see what tomorrow holds… Can you believe it TWO blog posts in TWO days?!? WhaHoo! Being around people who are as excited about technology education as I am inspires me to share. I wish every day were like today.
June 24th, 2009
Today marked the day that Ashton Kutcher reached 1 million followers on Twitter and Oprah sent her first tweet. What does this all mean? To me, not much. Other than I am afraid Twitter will break more often. I am happy that people are finally catching on to Twitter but Twitter has been a special place for me over the last 18 months. I sent my first tweet October 16, 2007. When I did I wasn’t sure what I was doing or what it all meant. I didn’t realize that maybe I was being a digital pioneer in education. But what it turned in to is this wonderful community of people who help me, support me, and challenge me to continue exploring how technology can impact education.
I noticed recently, (before the Ashton and Oprah bandwagon) there was a change happening in Twitter. It was subtle but it was happening. When I first joined most people used comic avatars or images that symbolized themselves instead of an actual picture of themselves. As our education Twitter community has grown a personal touch has come to Twitter as well. Now when I log in to TweetDeck I see more people than avatars. This has been really great. Of the people on my network I probably have only met 20% of them face to face. So now with this transition to real images for avatars helps me connect a little more with the people on my screen.
So to my Twitterverse, I just want to thank you for helping me become a better advocate for technology in the classroom.
April 17th, 2009
Over the last week I have been able to spend a lot of time learning from those people in my social network because I have been laid out with a back problem. Surfing the internet helped hours of time pass. One of the things I was intrigued with is how my network has grown in the last year. Not only grown but expanded outside of education. When I first started growing my network, it was only educators but now I think I have a little of everyone in it. I use tools like Twitter and Facebook to organize and communicate with my network.
Facebook has a great app called Friend Wheel. The app allows you to connect all of your friends in Facebook. When I refreshed my Friend Wheel it reminded me of a Keynote session at UTC last summer. Ewan McInstosh talked how teachers/educators are very comfortable talking with one another but not with others. Seeing my new wheel shows that I am finally taking that leap outside the education world.
You don’t have to be able to read the names. Just look at the connections. Are you connected? What are things that you do to build your network and connect with others?
April 17th, 2009
