The Return

Over the past year, I've allowed just about everything to interfere with my blogging. I'd like to see that trend end.

The start to this year has been a wild one--filled with more than just a little stress. It's November now and 'things' are beginning to settle in a bit. I find that now, more than ever I want to begin blogging again. So much is happening with my classes--how I'm implementing new technologies, finding different ways to deliver instruction--I want to share those experiences with others.

For example--one of the courses I am teaching this year is Business Law. If I'm not careful, it could become a very dry subject. Well, the students are studying about classifications of property right now. To help 'liven up' the topic, I created a mini-project for them. I chose to have them use Glogster to create their posters. Here's an example of how one student made this project just POP!

Here's another example that I liked as well (view this post)

On With the Show...

The last three weeks have been a tornado of activity. When I saw the date of my last post I could hardly believe that almost a month has gone by since I blogged.

I hadn't planned on Ike...I hadn't planned on my father being ill. It's weird how life can hit you so hard, so fast, and so furious. Just when you think you've hit a groove...BAM!...life throws you a curve.

I have felt SO guilty about not posting...with everything going so crazy around me these past few weeks, I kept telling myself that I would get caught up with my blog, with reading others blogs and newsfeeds 'tomorrow.' The problem is...if I'm not careful, tomorrow will never come.

Yes, 'things' have been absolutely nuts. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if or when 'normal' will return...but, I do know this: life is too short to feel guilty about this (not blogging). I'm back and I'm ready to carve out the time I want to make my blog rich, meaningful, and worthy.

It's good to be back...

Steppin' Out

This first week of school has been very exciting--and VERY busy! I've barely had enough time to breeze through some of my favorite blogs (via my Google Reader), much less create a blog post of my own (how does CoolCatTeacher do it?).

I decided before school started this year that I wanted to incorporate blogs and wikis into my curriculum. And...well...all of my students now have a blog. They will be utilizing their blogs during the course of the year to reflect on what they are learning in class, to research and blog on specific topics related to business/marketing, and to comment on their own topics of interest (and each other's blogs).

I was really unsure of just how things would go, but aside from a few forgotten passwords and typos that prevented login, things went pretty smooth. In fact, most of the students have already made two entries into their blogs! I will be spending the next couple of days entering a blogroll into our class wiki (I'm not ready for 100+ students to try and get into the wiki just yet). Until then, I wanted to share a couple of posts that I thought were really good.

Each year I spend some time having my students introduce themselves to the class. It's a great way for students to get to know each other and an opportunity for me to learn their names. This year, I gave the students a specific assignment regarding their introduction (a lesson from Campus Chaos--can't find a website for them). They were to choose a color, a car, and a destination that describes their personality, then blog about it. Using their blog post as a reference, I had them introduce themselves to the class. There were a number of really good posts, but two really captured my attention.

From Desiree R's "One Step at a Time" Blog:

My name is Desiree Robinson aka (also known as) Dezzy by family members. I choose the color PURPLE. I would love a black Infinity going to the beach in Florida because I am very outgoing, and I love to have fun. And just like the beach I am open minded. The characteristics of the beach when some days its full of big waves, like me I can be full of energy. But the beach water can also be calm with small waves, and like me I can be calm and full of thought.

From Catie W's "Catie's Blogg!":

My name is Catie and I choose an isotope green bug headed to Hershey Park, Pennsylvania because I'm sweet and cheerful, love the outdoors and love to have fun!

Awesome, huh? I can hardly wait for next week--and the next--and the next...

We're Back!!!

Yesterday was my first 'official' day back...although, I came back to work this past Monday to get started setting up my lab. It takes a while to arrange all the desks and re-connect all the computers after the custodial staff finishes waxing the floors.

Only this year I was greeted with a crashed server...what fun...the curriculum we use to teach Computer Applications (in Texas we call it BCIS), is server based (no textbook, yeah!). It's wonderful curriculum...I would recommend it to anyone teaching CompApps. I called TPTB right away...they came and picked up the server, but I still don't have it back and I am supposed to conduct teacher training on all the software updates...ummm...today? We'll see what happens!

I've been so busy with setting up my room and dealing with the server issue that I haven't had much time to read through my favorite blogs to discover new nuggets of wisdom--or blog for that matter. So, I came into my classroom very early this morning to update my Google Reader and read through some of my favorites...and post an entry...

Although I enjoyed several posts, one really hit me...I found it on Andrew Meyers' blog...it's about VED Analysis. As a newbie to Web2.0 and its potential to transform my classroom and my teaching, I've found myself a bit overwhelmed by all the (incredible) information out there. Thanks to Mr. Meyers I realized this morning that what's important is to decide what is Vital, Essential, and Desirable for teaching success.

I'm looking forward to all this year will bring!

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

The other day I posted about how I approach the first few days of school to set a successful tone for the year. Well, after I posted that I begin contemplating--I've 'met' a number of incredibly successful educators this summer online. I've tagged their blogs/posts on Del.icio.us, added a number of these blogs to my blogroll, and read much of their information on various topics.

What I hadn't done, was read/study how they approach their first days...so...I started searching. Here are some links to some great posts from some great educators and some of their best practices for starting the year out right...

Vicki Davis - Tips for Starting the School Year Right
Todd Seal - Change in Your Classroom
Cal Teacher - Settle Down
Dan Meyer - How I Work

This is just a smattering...check out Teacher Lingo for connections to other educator blogs.

Thing #14 Technorati and Tags

I began using Technorati while completing the Discovery Exercise for Thing #9. However, I did not begin adding blogs and tags until now.

I like Technorati. I have all of my favorite blogs on my Google Reader, but am in the process of adding them to my Technorati site. I like the fact that Technorati connects bloggers to bloggers. It's a great way to create community. I have begun connecting with others who share similar interests with me. Although I can find other teachers via tags (tags are awesome!), I would like to see Technorati add an Education folder to it's Blog Directory. I think it would make it a little easier to find other teachers and their blogs.

I added some Technorati widgets to my site. The button at the top, right side of my page allows people to add my blog to their Technorati favorites. The horizontal ticker widget at the bottom of my page displays a real-time feed of what users are searching for on Technorati, right now.

I spent a fair amount of time on this Thing. I wanted to be certain that I understood fully how Technorati works. I plan on having my students create blogs this year rather than keeping a paper/pen journal. I will be able to add my students' blogs to my Technorati site. That will make it really easy for me to check/grade their 'journals' as they reflect on their lessons in my class.

Thing #12 - Creating Community Through Comments

Ummm...I've been commenting since I started my 23Things. I've been utilizing forums for some time now, so I am familiar with posting etiquette. With that said, I really enjoyed reading the commenting post from CoolCatTeacher. She's gives some great advice there (although I'm having problems remembering the html code to create hyperlinks in comments). I really appreciated her information regarding "Darth Commenter." I, too have been a victim of DC a time or two...it's not fun, but you can't take it personally.

Of the blogs I have found/studied so far, the CoolCatTeacher blog is the best (JMHO). I will most definitly utilize the information on her blog to assist me in my classroom (lots of great information there!)

In addition, as I find other terrific blogs on which I post, I will add them to my blogroll for you all to visit as well!!

Thing #9 - Useful Blogs/Newsfeeds

It's official--I'm addicted to RSS!! I've been searching, subscribing, and reading more in the past 24 hours than I did for the past two weeks! It's great!

Focus...Focus...
1. I used several methods to find feeds...probably the easiest was to just search from my Google Reader. I also went to the sites that I already had bookmarked in my browser and added subscriptions from there.

2 and 3. I liked the interface on Technorati better than Syndicat8 or Topix. But that's just personal preference...none were difficult to navigate. I joined Technorati and 'claimed' my blog there. I really like the layout and navigation there.

4. I found several useful blogs...two of my finds came from the CoolCatTeacher blog. I really enjoyed surfing through Victoria Davis' site. I believe that I will learn much from her...she's is now a part of my circle of the wise.

5. Of course, I also used Google to just google stuff by keyword... :-)