It has been more than 3 months...

Forgive me blog, for it has been more than three months since my last post. I have no real excuse, other than I have been preparing, teaching, presenting, being a mom, wife, and community volunteer. So I need to get back on the "horse" and start blogging again. The only way I know how is to write this silly entry and then get started all over again.

Any input on what my penance should be???

Two Steps Back

A few weeks ago I made a presentation to the staff at the high school that I work at. The topic of the presentation was Web 2.0 Tools. It was a short, and casual presentation with the main focus on what things are out there right now. It was a prelude to offering some hour long, one-subject workshops. While we had some really great reactions from some of the teachers I was so disappointed when I found out about what the reaction was in what we call our Faculty Council. The Faculty Council is a a group that meets once per month with the Principal to discuss important issues in the school. They are a group that can create change.

At the Faculy Council meeting following my presentation the topic of technology came up and the reaction was very depressing to me. A few people in the group started discussing how I had wasted their time during a faculty meeting on tools that were worthless to them and that they had no time or desire to use them. That part wasn't very surprising, but what was surprising was that the Principal, the person who asked me to make the presentation, did not address the issue. Instead she listened and nodded her head while they made excuse after excuse of why they shouldn't be held accountable for knowing and using current technology in their classrooms.

I had felt so great about my presentation. It was fun and light and very informative (not just according to me). So I will say again, I can work night and day to educate the staff here about great ways to incorporate technology tools in their curriculum, but until I have like minded administrators, nothing will change. Sniff, sniff.

InspireData...truly inspirational!

Yesterday, here in NH the state held the Presidential Primary Election. We saw incredible crowds at the polls and broke all kinds of records for voter turnout. All of this is was very exciting. As a way to get the students at my school excited about the election process a social studies teacher and I decided to hold a mock election for the students (grades 9-12). Meanwhile, I was registered to attend a workshop on how to use InspireData (data collection and graphing software by the makers of Kidpiration and Inspiration), during the workshop we were thinking of ideas of how to use this software with our existing curriculum and BINGO a solution to the counting of paper ballots occured to me (well the instructor really gave me the idea).

One of the great features of InspireData is that you can hold an online survey and then import the data directly into a document. Once you have imported all of the data you can then analyze the data by creating several types of graphs. The cool thing about the graphs is that all you have to do change the X and Y criteria for the graph, and the data will change right before your eyes. You actually see all of the data moving from one spot on the graph to another according to the criteria you choose. It is great!

So, overall it was a huge success. We were able to hold a mock election quite easily, analyze the data in several different ways and report our findings quickly and without too much fuss. We did have a few surveys that were not filled out correctly, but I think I can figure out how to fix that problem...so we can do it again in November!

To Blog or Not to Blog...

Once per quarter I create a Technology Newsletter for the staff at the high school where I teach. As I was putting it together today I was thinking...is this something I should turn into a blog? It seems like a perfect way to get teachers talking about technology and how they use it in their classrooms, but my concern is that no one will participate. How can I get teachers blogging? How do I inspire them to read and talk about technology and how they use it? How can I make a difference?

It is funny. If this were my students I would just do it (I already have them blogging). Why is it so hard to put it out there with my peers?

Inspiration

Last week I attended and presented at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference. My partner in crime...Pam Harland, added this to our presentation Wikis that Work and I'll tell you it got me ready for EVERYTHING!

I'm So Excited

It has been over a month since my last entry. Man this blogging stuff can get away from you fast! The past month has flown by!

I am presenting at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference in Nashua, NH tomorrow and have found myself so inspired! It is fun to think about what I do and how I can share that with other teachers, then when I think about what I will be learning from all of the teachers I meet and talk to...I'm totally blown away, excited!

Hopefully I will be gaining some regular blog readers tomorrow and that will lead to me blogging more regularly...that really is the trick...regular posts. I just need to keep at it.

Here's to being inspired and to inspiring!

Blogging

One of the things that I have done over the past couple of weeks is to get my students blogging. Most of them have had little or no experience at all in the blogging world so I have started slow with them and kept it simple. In my computer essentials (basic computers) and keyboarding classes I have changed my weekly written assignment to a post each week. Students have just started to realize how important it is to read all the other comments to the blog and implement them into their response. I have been really pleased with how the posts have been going. I hope to add a bit more blogging next semester. My hope is to get students to read a blog about something they are interested in and start contributing to it. Does anyone have experience with that? I'd be interested in hearing other people's experience.

Here are the links to the two classroom blogs that my kids are contributing to:

Computer Essentials
Keyboarding