Christmas break is one of the few times (besides July) that I and some others of my friends TOTALLY disconnect. Just wanted to check in though and let you know what I'm really enjoying out of my Christmas Gadgets.
Fitness Gadgets
I had a great run today with my Nike+ipod sensor (around $20) in my shoelace adapter (around $10) so I don't have to use the Nike+ipod shoes by Nike. (Love my Saucony's anyway.) It was wonderful because I could leave the track and run around the baseball field and all kinds of places - I had a very good time, which I think is largely because I could focus on the joy of running instead of counting my laps. (my short term memory issue has me counting on my fingers - I know those who watch me run must think I have some sort of hand deformity!) The cold-weather UnderArmor shirt and gloves kept me oh so warm in the frigid 49 degree weather in Camilla Today.
Also there is a new book by Brian TracyFocal Point: A Proven system to Simplify Your Life and Double Your Productivity. OK, so if it sounds too good to be true - Brian Tracy is one of those self made formerly homeless high school drop out, turn around kind of guy that so many of us love to read. He always motivates me! And the kindle -- well, I just love it. More on that later.
Although I love and adore my itouch - a problem I had with Google Calendar and Timebridge this December (when a change to my Google Calendar password caused EVERYTHING to be thrown out of sync literally and I missed TWO important meetings!) has me remembering why I swore I'd always have a paper backup. Although many roll their eyes, the actually process of WRITING things down forces me to plan and I just have to do this for myself because I'm so visual and have three kids, husband, and many global collaborations to keep rolling.
We're a 1:1 iTouch Family
Just finished setting up the itouch for my eight year old -- we are now a 1:1 itouch Family and I couldn't be happier - this tool is simply the best gadget/ pda/ life improver I've ever used (and trust me, I've been into technology since I was 7 with my first PDA address thing from radio shack when I was 12.) It makes me cast a longing eye towards the future of this iSlate, Apple Tablet thing that many say will be game changer. (Well the iTouch has been for me, but time will tell - I usually let others spend the money as I don't have it to waste.)
One day schools are going to wish they encouraged this gadget for a multitude of reasons -- most of which is that when kids use them they are BEHIND your firewall and your filter -- if they are using their cellphones they can see anything on their phone -- even watch porn in the bathroom. iTouches are great for many reasons, but especially because they do give you some control though they may strain your network.
Take Advantage of the Time and Don't Whine
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that much of our time has been spent putting in new flooring ourselves. My husband had to take furlough days (and subsequent paycut like many of you out there) and so we decided to make use of it. The floor we priced 3 years a go is literally 1/3rd of the cost it was then and with the time of putting it in ourselves, we're saving even more than that - plus it is gorgeous. (My husband built houses before he sent himself to college - making him a very self-made man in more ways than one.)
So, it is kind of a matter of either whining about the tough luck and paycut or making the best use of our time and money to improve things before my speaking schedule goes crazy in January.
Looking at Location Based Gaming
Been also pondering the tools that I've been using this year and considering the location based/ gps things I need to add to the curriculum. Think I might want to play with Scvngr.com which seems to have people who follow this sort of thing abuzz.
Pondering Projects
Also pondering the projects of this last year and contemplating making them scalable while handing off even more of the day to day admin in some way. We've been fighting to keep everything with Flat Classroom free by partnering with vendors, etc. but we're reaching a point that to grow and make it duplicable we're going to have to make some decisions. We feel profoundly that we want to continue in the day to day creation and connecting work of linking classrooms, etc. but the day to day administration, etc. is quite a bit for us to handle. For someone like me, who likes to be inventing and creating, it is draining in many ways as evidenced by the fact I haven't been able to blog as much. With several book deals under negotiation, there also has to be time to make time for the writing and editing that needs to continue to bring those projects to fruition.
I keep coming back to how Garr Reynolds published Presentation Zen and have self publication as a very real option for me - particularly with my first book wihch is half laid out in camera ready form. We'll see, these are things on my plate and I guess in the spirit of the season, I'm just sort of sharing with those of you who take time to read my blog here.
There are a lot of things to do and I've got so much grading to finish up next week - whew!
The spirit of the Season
Amidst all of this... I do hope that all of you are enjoying this season. For me as a Christian, this is a very real, important holiday during which I celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But as I shared on Twitter on Christmas Eve - I do so love all of you, no matter your faith or background or belief, after all, that is a core part of being a Christian - the inherent worth of each of you here.
Meanwhile, I wish I could tweet from this Amazon Kindle which I've now got synching with an app for my computer and itouch which is just so unbelievably cool, I cannot stand it. I just love the fact that I can annotate my books and extract the text file -- even can put my Audible books on my kindle in case I get tired or my itouch is being crochety (which is like, never, but hey, the battery MIGHT run low... it could, I guess.)
Family Movie Memory Disks are a Favorite Gift
Hope you've taken time with your family and had lots of fun. My family loved the new movie I cranked out for this year's memories with my favorite movie software Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 - the most expensive software on my home computer and worth every single dime -- the automovie feature is great. (Pinnacle Studio Ultimate V14 is now down below $100 so I may cough up the money to upgrade) I also cranked out a hilarious Charlie Chaplin style black and white from scenes I filmed at the pool in the mountains to "Freebird" (OK, I know, even the thought of such a mix gives me a lopsided grin.)
The Gift of Disconnection
But I think perhaps the best gift to myself this Christmas has been the gift of disconnection. In today's overly connected world, we must have and keep our identity strong with personal connections with those in our family.
Sometimes I think we're altogether becoming too much like Pavlov's dog salivating for the next comment or retweet. Partial reinforcement is so powerful and those designing the apps, games, and networks that so surround us are getting very good at getting us hooked. We have to have the self control and mental acuity to realize that sometimes we need a good old disconnection from our online world so that we can live a richer, more fulfilling life overall.
New Year Expectations
Looking forward to seeing many of you in the new year -- with four NECC workshops planned hard and fast for June and trips to Michigan, the Midwest, Arkansas, and a couple of virtual link ups with Superintendants and IT Directors from around the US - there will be plenty of time to share the really cool things we've been doing in my classroom and these projects that I just haven't had time to blog here.
Enjoy your evening, rest some in your holidays - refocus, read, and as always -- learn something, even if it is only about yourself and your family!
When you only give a piece of your mind to something that is important... I mean very important... it is just like giving none of yourself to it.
In fact, only piece of your mind can be very dangerous to everyone when you're doing some things.
Take this past Saturday... a rainy day. I'm on my way to take my son to a ballgame at the school, just five minutes from my house. I'm stopped at the red light and getting ready to cross US 19 at probably the busiest intersection in Camilla. My light turns green and (thank goodness) I just happen to slowly begin my way across the intersection. Fortunately for my son and I, when I reached the middle of the road (across the first three lanes of northbound traffic) I happened to see out of the corner of my eye, a woman and her fluffy white poodle in a van barreling southbound through the red light. I was incredulous but slammed on breaks and yelled for my son to brace himself as we slid into her through the rain-sodden streets.
She never even hit the breaks nor saw me at all - since I hit the brakes, instead of her t-boning me and hitting my son's passenger door, I hit just behind her door. It was the difference in a horrible accident and an accident where everyone walks away -- just a split second. The only witness wasn't paying attention because he was on his cell phone with his wife and said he wasn't sure about the light - if it was green or red and didn't notice till the silver van came spinning towards him. The woman driving the van said she didn't notice if the light was green or red and wasn't sure. (Her poodle may have had something to do with it.)
Well, I'll tell you something, at this time... this one split second.. I'm thankful to my good Lord above that my whole mind was on the road and the rain and the traffic and the oncoming traffic. I'm also thankful to my good Lord for the value of that split second. That split second where I could have been hurried and rushed and been so eager to get to the game that it would have cost my son and us dearly.
Although now with all this going on and for car to be at the body shop is really a strain - I'm glad my car is at the body shop and my son's body is here at my house alive and breathing and well.
I don't have a lot of time to share because I've got to go cook until about 1 am this morning for family coming into town on Friday, but I do want to share this.
When you're behind the wheel of a car - that is not the time to only have a piece of your mind or a piece of your eye or a piece of anything on the road ahead - it is the time to have your whole mind on driving. YOUR WHOLE MIND. It is not the time to give a piece of your mind to the driver in front of you who is driving slowly - what good does your anger do? As I tell my students - -if you argue with someone and you both get hurt - even if you are right - what good have you done?
I'd rather lose an argument and save a life!
This is the season for giving but not the season for giving traffic tickets or dents or wrecks or God forbid, trips to the hospital. The sad fact is, that as my student points out in the movie he just submitted for the Flat Classroom project two weeks a go - that Driving while texting (and the larger picture - Driving While Distracted) is claiming more lives than drunk driving. It is time to wake up and get these things out of our hands... so whether you are driving while poodling or driving while texting or driving while distracting -- it is time for the while to come out unless it is driving while paying attention.
We've all got to stop giving pieces of ourselves to driving unless we all want to end up in pieces and start focusing on what is important. Driving is a great thing that has made us more mobile and advanced human society - but when we need cameras to document accidents because most of the humans at the intersection are doing something else, that is just plain sad.
We are so excited about this Thursday and the Finals of the Eracism Project! Our presentation for k12 online will also be going online this week as well, so you can "look under the hood," so to speak!
Student finalists will be debating “Differences Make us Stronger” in the impromptu style debate moderated by Bernajean Porter (http://www.digitales.us) with the final vote on the winner taken from the judges and student participants in the project who will be in the virtual world. This final debate is the culmination of an 8 week debate project that began with sixteen teams from 12 classrooms in 7 countries and is now down to two debate teams from Shorecrest Preparatory School in Florida and Westwood Schools in Georgia.
The organizers of the project recently shared a presentation as part of the K12Online Conference about how the project was founded, the methodologies and tools used to make the debates “feel” as synchronous as possible, even when in the asynchronous environment of VoiceThread.
Julie has a presentation coming next week for K12 online about the Flat Classroom Student Summits and what we've seen, but this is your chance to participate live with this year's student summits and talk to the kids about what they are learning. This is such a powerful experience for us as teachers and those who follow Julie or me on Twitter - we always tweet out invitations, but these are official and scheduled for you! We hope you'll join our students to hear how they have learned about the technological trends that are shaping our world and the powerful multimedia that they have constructed to tell their stories as well as experiences creating wikis with one another in authentic research!
As part of the Flat Classroom™ Project 2009-3 we are holding online Student Summits in our Elluminate virtual classroom and invite participants in the K12 Online Conference to join us. These sessions will be 45-60 minutes long and participants will have the opportunity to interact with individual student presentations as they discuss their involvement and achievements in the recent project. Participants will also be able to see how a virtual meeting that includes students and educators around the world can be successfully run as a synchronous and virtual event. The focus is on the students, digital citizenship and online learning skills as well as cultural interaction and sharing of knowledge about the topics in the Flat Classroom Project.
Join our Flat Classroom™ Projects Group on this Ning: http://k12online.ning.com/group/flatclassroomprojects
Come and join us at any or all of the following Flat Classroom Student Summit times: Monday December 14: Beijing (BISS) International School Summit #1 11am GMT, 7pm China, Timeanddate conversion Wednesday December 16: Beijing (BISS) International School Summit #2 12:30pm China, 4:30am GMT Timeanddate conversion Tuesday December 15: Westwood Schools Summit #1 10:30am EST, 15:30pm GMT Timeanddate conversion Wednesday December 16: Westwood Schools #2 1:30pm EST, 18:30 GMT Timeanddate conversion
Want to issue a special invitation for this event. It is so exciting that K12 online encouraged live, simultaneous events along with the presentations that were submitted. The presentation (a compilation of various thoughts on Digital Citizenship from the Digiteens) went live yesterday. You can view the full presentation on the k12 online blog and the video presentation is posted below.
Here is the invitation to see these amazing students present, also cross posted over at the K12 online conference:
As part of the k12 online conference 2009 and as a conclusion to the Digiteen Project #3 of 2009, students from Westwood Schools will be presenting their top socially connected sites for kids aged 8-12 (and some that they DO NOT recommend.) As part of Digiteen 2009, these students felt that many sites that are marketed to kids aged 8-12 are not appropriate nor safe and set out to review and test the best. They have been blogging and have a twitter account (@socialsafety) and will be presenting live in Elluminate on Wednesday, December 16, 2010 from 12:15 pm-12:45 pm and answer your questions about their testing experiences.
At the conclusion of the student presentation, from 12:45pm – 1:15 pm leading social internet safety expert, Anne Collier will reflect and talk with students about their findings. Backchannel questions will be included in the conversation.
Come and join us at any or all of the following: Super Social Safety: Sites for Kids Aged 8-12 Wednesday December 16: Super Social Safety Presentation12:15 pm EST , Time and Date Conversion
I hope you'll join us and join the students and Anne for something that I think will be very special. Take a look at their blog! http://supersocialsafety.blogspot.com
The k12 online conference is a wonderful event and many people have worked so hard to bring this free conference to you! It is the conference that keeps on giving!
As I work, I'm reviewing some of the Flat Classroom 2009 videos and as usual am awestruck at the creativity of these students (and how hard they have to work to get these done.) Feel free to join our Ning if you're an educator and leave comments! The judging is happening now and the winners will be announced at our awards show on Friday at 8:30 am EST -- we will share the link on our flat classroom twitter account and through our various networks.
This video has captivated me, particularly the dinner table scene with the whole family!
Remember, these students are collaborating globally to create meaningful multimedia on authentic research topics -- can your ninth and tenth graders do this?
Just sent this message to the Edurunners, which gives you a glimpse of how Daily Mile works and how we are connecting and using this to motivate ourselves towards fitness.
Hi everyone! We have 35 members of edurunners! That is so cool. Here are some suggestions to get the most from the group:
1) Connect -
See this as a way to find other educators or retired educators who work out, go through the membership list and add some as friends and then set your mind to encouraging them.
2) Care
After you've friended, encourage people in the group (and beyond) - it makes me feel good to get motivations and reminders when I'm not working out like I should and to see that all of us (event 12 mile Franklin D - the leaderboard leader of our group this week) might not feel so good.
3) Converse
Questions are being asked on our discussion board - PLEASE answer and help (like one this week about treadmills) - if you know a lot - share -- if you don't know a lot -ask and encourage. But do it! Just go to community and groups and head to edurunners.
4) Coach
If you know something help others - cybraryman1 on Twitter (who I think joined the group) is encouraging me everywhere.
5) Log it, baby, log it
You can log any kind of physical exercise except picking up a fork to lift to your mouth! While everyone else is getting fat over the holidays we are living on the fat of life that comes from having the endorphins of exercise helping us see the colors clearer, thinking more bountifully, and having an up beat mental attitude! Share and log it!
Finally, since I'm almost done with my little "preachy" note (which as much to me as it is to you) -- let's share the group and learn to use the power of social networking to improve our individual lives.
We as educators will be paid in an inheritance in the future -- it will be one of gratitude or looking down upon us thinking we missed it. We teach an obese generation and we, of all people, MUST BE SEEN to be working to be fit, shed the extra pounds that keep our minds and bodies harnessed to the limits which aren't really there.
I'm forty and started running and now can run five miles (or surely more) without stopping. Running is my salve and my drug - my addiction and my enjoyment - it helps me keep myself together.
I can't believe I'm even saying this! I will say that this group has become a great encouragement to me as we friend one another and plan to share this little email on my blog before I head to the grocery store!
OK, edurunners (or eduwalkers or eduworkouters) or whatever kind of edu-fitness person you are -- start connecting!
You all are amazing. Oh, and by the way:
Franklin D has 12 miles this week
Ted B has 10 and Alicia and Sheri are tied for third at 8 miles with Aaron having 6.
I'm having a tough week with only four miles, but then again, I do have today and tomorrow so watchout leaderboard!
Get out there and move it today!
I don't use half of the features of Daily Mile, but if you map routes, etc. this lets you map routes even if you don't have Nike+ipod, etc. I'm going to work on this, but it is a great tool!
So, if you are doing anything with fitness, consider this an invitation to join us! As you may know, I used the couch to 5K app starting the last week of July when I couldn't even run to the mailbox! Now I can run five miles without stopping and have as a goal to break a 10 minute mile and run a sub-30 minute 5K (will it ever be?) I feel SOOO much better and though I blog a little less, I'd a lot rather post three posts a week here and live another 20 years than post 7 days a week and die in 5 years! ;-)
What Couch to 5K does is that it tells you when to run and when to walk and at the end of 9 weeks, you can run a 5K! It is crazy but IT WORKS. Just search for it in the itunes store, and I use the one that is the brown icon. I'm asking for a Nike+Ipod for Christmas to get the sensor that can map even more detail.
There is a huge mind body connection, I mean our mind is part of our body. I find that I think more clearly and experience things so much better since running and in fact, somehow it has overflown into many areas of my life.
So, join us. Be a part of a network of encouragement, not only for our classrooms, but for the wellness of our bodies. After all, our students ARE WATCHING!
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lickety split.
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is now down below $100 so I may cough up the money to upgrade) I also cranked out a hilarious Charlie Chaplin style black and white from scenes I filmed at the pool in the mountains to "Freebird" (OK, I know, even the thought of such a mix gives me a lopsided grin.)![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=72717280-d568-450c-8cec-67f2b5a1f0c4)
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