One Busy Week

Conferences SMARTBoard workshops

This week is going to be a super busy one! 

 We will be at the ROE in Charleston on Wednesday for an evening session.  Mom and I are going head-to-head for a Web 2.0 Smackdown!  Don’t worry, I will keep you posted on who wins.  If I had to predict, it would be me.  I might have a little competitive streak in me.  Just a little.

Friday we will be getting EARLY to head to Springfield for the IETC conference.  A SMARTBoard session is in order.  We have put together 10 Ways to Get SMARTer.  It was SO hard to decide what to include.  I wish the session was longer than 50 minutes so we could include more.  Including something for all levels of SMARTBoard users along with subject areas, and grade levels was a challenge, but I think we have managed to do it.

After the conference on Friday, we are heading up to Chicago to join @principalspage for the IASB convention.  While we have been attending this conference for quite a few years now, it will be the first time to present there.  We are teaming up with Dr. Richard Voltz for a Top 10 Technology session in which we will count down our favorite ways to incorporate the use of technology in our classrooms.  Dr. Voltz will be presenting his Top 10 and will explain how they apply from an adminstrator’s point of view.  We will present ours from the classroom perspective, obviously.  Can’t wait!

Updates will be posted once we have time to catch our breath.  It has been a super busy fall and I can’t believe that we have neglected the blog for as long as we have.  It is time for that neglect to come to an end.

Shannon

Presentation Squats

workshops

Yesterday Shannon and I presented at the 2009 East Central Illinois Technology Conference at Lake Land College in Mattoon, Illinois. We always enjoy this conference since this is one opportunity to see many of the new friends we have made through our workshops, as well as visit with many friends from the past to catch up on family, and to share pictures on our cell phones.

Our last session was also the final session of the day. 
The room was packed and I even gave away my chair for someone to use.
This was one of our favorite presentations requiring two computers, two sets of speakers, and two projectors. The biggest challenge of the hour:

maintaining internet access.

Shannon carries the delivery. She talks much faster than I do, and she is excellent at voice projection. (I understand these things. I had her in my 7th grade study hall once.)

My job was to show as many links as possible, and to throw in comments when she needed to take a breath.  I was down on my knees or squatting most of the time since my computer was on a low table, and the room was dark.

And then the question about…

inappropriate use of computers…and the expressed concern about students going where they shouldn’t go.

This had my attention and both Shannon and I flew to reply,
“Teachers are the best filters.” 
I have never stood up so fast in my life.
I almost flew over the table.
If I could have moved out into the audience and stood next to her “face-to-face”, I would have.
I held myself back from saying,
“Teachers need to quit grading papers when they take their students to the lab.”

We are passionate on this subject. We actually did a “Guest Post” on a famous blog.
And people left comments!

Our goal is to motivate teachers to use technology.

The schools are asking us to use technology.

The schools want us to use 21st Century tools.squats2

But the schools don’t always give us those tools.

Or allow us to use those tools.

And when they do, either because they haven’t noticed that we are using them, or because they have finally seen the value, we need to teach responsibly.
We need to monitor our students…
and we need to educate ourselves.

Today?

I’m a little sore…
Squats in heels are a little rough on the quads!

The Guest Post That Started It All

Blog

A couple of weeks ago, PrincipalsPage.com allowed us to feature a guest blog as a response to a post that he had written entitled The Tech Geeks Vs. The Suits. We couldn’t wait to add our two cents! Hence our guest post.  Now we have decided to just go ahead and take a shot at this blogging thing.  We encourage teachers and administrators to blog for a variety of reasons.  We blog with our kids.  Now it is time for us to blog as a corporation.  We hope that you will join us in our adventures through this blog.  You may even be able to read while the kids are at recess!