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Great Expectations If you ran a marathon last week, your friends would expect you to take some downtime. Some time to rest and recover. It is expected you would need some rest. If you just trekked across the desert for a month and struggled for lack of water and lack of food but you made it... people would also expect you to take time to rest and recover. It is expected you would need some rest. If you just came through a horrible bout of sickness and you were up for days unable to sleep. People would expect you to go off the grid for a while. To rest. To recover. Why is it when teachers get out of school that everyone (even the teachers themselves) expect that they should immediately be able to conquer the world? Don't we realize that we have just run a marathon?    A 10 month marathon including lack of sleep, in many cases missed lunches, and being pulled a million directions. Don't we realize that we have just trekked across a desert in some ways as we worked hard...

edubloggercon - EduBloggerCon 2011 I'm going to edubloggercon at ISTE2011 and am excited! Care to join us? Anyone is welcome. This page has all the information. tags: education socialmedia iste11 iste edu_news DimensionU - Educational Video Game Technology for the 21st Century Student For parents who want fun things for their students to do over the summer that will help students learn more and move forward in math and literacy skills - this is a website to check out. "Students enter the tournament by going to www.DimensionU.com/SummerChallenge. Once registered (parental permission is required) they will compete in math- and literacy-based games for a chance to win gift cards and summer-related prizes like inline skates, inflatable pools, beach volleyball sets, or tents. Five lucky players will b...

I know that since the Facebook Friending 101 for Schools I did here that my friend Sue Waters has since come out with a handy guide for Facebook over on Edublogger about the Why and How of Using Facebook for Educators . And Facebook has created their own Facebook For Educators guide. In this guide, Facebook notably DOES NOT talk about "friending students" per se. But does suggest using Facebook groups and pages. Privacy Option Issues The PROBLEM I have is point number three in Sue's edublogger article: " Despite what you may hear , there are strong privacy options that you can set up so only those that you want can access your information" The primary problem as I maintained in Facebook Friending 101 is NOT you. Although there are educators who post innappropriate things on their walls all of the time, MOST of you IF you are using it with your students are not. These privacy options ARE NOT ENOUGH for the scenarios I've presented. The Loopholes ar...

It was one of the most moving events of the conference. Perhaps in my life. Or it could have been. My great seat didn't matter. As soon as the talented South African storyteller entered the stage, it was all over. The cell phone mob rushed the stage. Jostling to raise their arms above each other and film the moment - ruining it for the other 1000+ people in the tent. Someone got some decent film, maybe.. On a low Rez camera that they may have shown someone who could barely appreciate it with shoddy garbled sound from being too close to the speakers. Or maybe someone live streamed letting others see it (and likely breaking every copyright rule while at it.) Doubtful with the poor cell service in South Africa. You know I believe cell phones have their uses but if you sense a rant coming on, that is because it is. People at an event should take priority over virtual participants We paid the money. We took the trip. We waited in line for tickets to the conference. When you rush the st...

Wired. Unwired. Breathtaking. Reborn. Family. Nurturing. Yes, these are all my photos. :-) Hat tip for this idea to - Ready or Not Blog - Posted using BlogPress from Vicki's iPad

Home | digitalliteracy.gov Useful website to help with digital literacy.(via Larry Ferlazzo which was sent by thingsforteachers through tumblr to me - boy it is getting hard to cite sources.) From phishing to how to set up skype. It also has a link to help you find educator tools. tags: education learning all_teachers bestpractices digitalcitizenship professionaldevelopment Randy Turner: Joplin Tornado Ends School Year for Most Inspirational Teacher This is a powerful post full of thoughts on teaching, inspiration, and tragedy. The most inspirational teacher at the middle school never knew it and quit. She didn't get the last day when she would hear an essay about how she was the most inspirational teacher at the school. She didn't get the last day because her house and the school audi...

Sitting in my room listening to the silent spinning of the DVD as the graduation / senior movie renders for (hopefully) the last time. I can hear the hum of my small refrigerator in my room. Funny, I put that fridge in during the second week of school and I've never noticed that hum. I guess it is because this room is always full. Always noisy. Always bustling. And I'm always half stressed. "Give me a cliff. I'm jumping." is something I often say when I'm getting to THAT point. That point seems to come a lot during the last month of school. I haven't been doing laundry because when I do, my broken washer leaks all over the kitchen floor and I'm stuck mopping too! Thank goodness Camilla is Flat. ;-) No cliffs. 2010-2011 Westwood Schools Photo Album My Babies As full time teacher of technology, IT Director, and IT Integrator, I try to keep this place running and work hard to be efficient. PowerSchool is my baby and I write the SQL report...

Google Cloud Connect - Google Docs Help Google Cloud Connect is available in over 30 languages for PC's running Windows 7, Vista and XP. (Not available for Mac yet.) It integrators using Google Apps for domains should work on this over the summer. tags: education learning google googleapps all_teachers techintegrator 12 Reasons to Blog with Your Students The reasons you should blog with your students. tags: education blogging blog web2.0 Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Meporter has launched. Meporter is available online and has free apps (Android coming soon) that let you take pictures and write reports on the news and "cut out the middleman" with the mainstream media being considered the middleman in this case. Sign up is pretty simple. You don't have to use the app and can submit online directly. It does say you can "earn" by posting. It would be interesting to see if some of those who are unemployed over the summer may see this as an opportunity. It will take time to see if the community has a way to self correct and rate reporters, but this is very intriguing. When I was a reporter for a newspaper they spent quite a bit of time teaching me about a journalists code of ethics. As I signed up, I didn't see anything like that. (I.e. Disclosures, getting both sides of the story, etc.) Concerns aside-- Citizen journalism may just have a new face: ME (and you.) Posted using BlogPress from Vicki's iPad

I was sent a dozen roses this week by a wonderful, amazing student who found his talent for writing in this year's Digiteen project. I'm more convinced than ever that blogging and doing it with other students from around the world is essential to helping students connect with themselves and a larger world. You ask me to give you the reasons. In honor of the dozen roses on my desk, here's just twelve. Sent by a student unleashed by blogging. Blogging is a different form of writing than the essay. There are so many nuances to blogging. You can write in first person, second person or third person. In fact, when I go through an article and take out the "I's" and put in third person my engagement levels go DOWN with the post. Blogging encourages student voice. First person writing lets the students share who they are. Blogging creates a stronger connection with the teacher. I'm a better teacher when I know my students better. When they blo...

Tumblr is a blogging platform that is sort of a cross between Twitter , Facebook and full-scale blogging. While some might use Tumblr as a full blogging platform, from reading a free e-book I picked up on Kindle about the topic (the book isn't free any more btw.) The growth of Tumblr is surprising. "Facebook and Twitter have dominated social media in recent years, but a study released by Quantcast Media Analysis has revealed that Tumblr is growing at an outstanding rate, now bringing in more than 250 million views per day spread across almost 19 million blogs. Perhaps even more interesting is that 51% of those views come from males as opposed to females. Read more: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/could-tumblr-rise-above-facebook-and/#ixzz1NGSq3iAL "  When I mentioned working with Tumblr, I got back several tweets like this one from Leslie Healey Why  Tumblr? How is it different from blogging? Those of you who read this blog know that I always h...

Flash mobs are becoming a big part of the viral hit scene on Youtube. Just take the University of Kansas Jayhawks mens basketball game flashmob this week - over a quarter of a million hits since posted on the KU Athletic Youtube Channel . Over the next few years it will be interesting to see as this trend grows. Will it cause problems? yes. Will it cause controversy? Yes, there will be times it will be innappropriate, done poorly or smack of commercialism masquerading as grassroots (brown roots I guess. ;-) Will it be fun? Sure. What will it be? Who knows -more "random acts of culture" like from the Opera Company of Philadelphia's Hallalujah Chorus in a department store at Christmas or another in a food court in November or Flashmobs dancing to MC Hammer in Clothing store. Yes, more of that too. But as more organizations like Improv Everywhere formalize performance art and companies realize the marketing potential of a viral video ( Old Spice Guy ) it is ...

Jo McLeay shared a touching letter in her comments on a post I wrote this past week  about 5 Stories to Inspire Teachers to Never Let Anyone Steal Your Joy where I commented about a "secret student" who is stealing things off my desk in my room this year. So many veteran teachers have reached out on the blog, Twitter and via email to say, YES! You have tough times as a teacher. Jo is one of those veteran teachers and a personal encouragement to me on this blog from day one. I think this look inside the mind of a difficult student will give you hope. May we all be so fortunate as to get a letter one day like this. A Letter From a Difficult Student Hi Vicki, I know that what you have said is true; a few weeks ago I got this message from an ex student - "I know it's been ages and everything, but I was thinking before how horrible and annoying I was in high school and in your class, it was completely immature and selfish of me to of acted that way. I know t...

Gesture Based Future - Net Gen Ed Project The video on this blog post is a funny take on gesture based gmail. For those familiar with Google's April fools day joke, you'll get a kick out of this. tags: education netgened google School Laptop Use - Digi Teen Love this discussion on the Digiteen project about 1:1 laptop programs. tags: education laptop Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

"For a few brief days the orchards are white with blossoms. They soon turn to fruit, or else float away, useless and wasted, upon the gentle breeze. So will it be with present feelings. They must be deepened into decision, or be entirely dissapated by delay." Theodore Cuyler It is Saturday. I just ate my lunch at school halfway through grading the end of term websites, blog posts, and NetGenEd video projects . Yes. I am at school. There is only one chance to finish well. When I run, I've learned to sprint the last lap and all-out run the last 100 meters. It is proven to make you faster and stronger. It also feels great to know that I gave EVERYTHING I had to that one run. I can go home, relax, enjoy myself and know that I left it all and gave it all in a pure, beautiful moment of physical activity. This is Your Beautiful Moment This is your moment, my friends. In the northern hemisphere we are finishing school. "The deepest principle of human nature is the ...