EduBlog Insights

As usual, NECC had a fantastic opening keynote speaker. I love the different personalities they pick, and they always make you think. It was really interesting tonight. Malcolm Gladwell gave a thought-provoking talk on how little things can make a big difference. His talk about how ideas and trends start and spread kept making me think about parallels with weblogging. He told the story of the fellow who affected change in radio broadcasting. He put together a makeshift broadcast of the fight of the century, which in turn became the tipping  point for radio. He discussed how it wasn’t econonic power, political power, or dollar power that effected transformation. It was social power. Certain personalities who have a larger circle of friends who respect and trust them can be true change agents, as they do have social power.  It makes sense and it’s something we should really think about in education. We can help make change agents out of our students. We can be change agents. Weblogs can really help here if we can use them in a way that helps students and teachers see the worth and power of developing relationships that foster growth in our reading, writing and thinking. Weblogs could really be a gateway here. (Or should I say tipping point???)

Ahh, the night is late but my brain is really wired. We have to be good stewards for our students. I’m going to keep mulling over all of this, but better get some sleep so I can help share the possibilities of weblogs in our classrooms in our workshop in the morning.

I attended another good workshop today. Steve Adler led a very worthwhile session. This one was all about Adobe Acrobat 6.0. If you have not checked out their free lessons, coursee guides and projects visit here and view or download all the free resources. My brain is on overload, and it’s just getting started. That’s alright! The really fun part is coming up!

It’s going to be  a kick tomorrow at the weblog workshop with Tim and the other guys. The participants who have responded seem eager to learn more and several have already created weblogs. Follow along on the weblog workshop blog and the other NECC blog. I’m gathering up my blogging shirt and getting ready to blog, blog, blog!

NECC is alive and kicking! If you didn’t sign up for some of the workshops. you’re missing some good sessions. Today I went to “Practical Magic: Using Adobe PhotoShop Elements in the Classroom.” It was great! Chris Peters and Ryan Visser from Clemson University did an outstanding job. Now maybe I can produce some magical graphics down the road, maybe even a banner for this blog! What fun! I love the learning and the mixing with fellow educators. We really have some good folks gathering here. Of course, on the bus ride over I was busy talking blogging. I think we have a lot here who will get turned on to blogging in short order! Yep, there going to be blogging on the Bayou!

Since my pictures are not working correctly on Manila right now I have been unable to post some pictures from the NECC conference.  Click here to view a few. 
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It’s great to have a little down time to browse through the posts made by the Georgia educators at NECC.  Michael outines one of his sessions…..

Today started off with attending one of the best sessions of the conference for me.  It was an 8:30 - 9:30am session in which the speaker presented an interactive math software that can be used for grades K-10.  He gave each attendee a free evaluation version of the software on CD and we are allowed to have it copied and passed out to any other interested teachers.  I enjoyed it because I felt that it was something practical that I could use in the classroom immediately.  I have a copy of the CD if anyone is interested in looking at it.  The presenter also has tons of lesson plans on line to support the math lessons on the CD.  It was a great sesssion!

Melanie had many good experiences and is excited about sharing her learning experiences at home and school…..

I can’t believe that our time is almost up.  This is certainly an experience of a lifetime.  I can’t wait to share my information, pictures, and experiences with my family and with my students.

Ellice sees possibilities…..

At 11:00 today, I saw an interesting session about some courses that are available online for professional development. We have trouble finding content courses for graduate students, so I was interested in the math oriented courses as possibilities for some VSU graduate students.

Christine reflects on time well spent……

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this meeting was discussing what we can learn about technology use across the six university groups participating in this grant. I am especially interested in how technology is being used to facilitate field experiences for preservice teachers. It was time well spent talking with our colleagues.

Betty shares about a side trip to Victoria, British Columbia where she learned even more about technology…..

I visited Victoria, British Columbia for a side trip while here for the conference. A group of us flew via sea plane to the city. That was my first experience on such transportation means. The flight was easy going and the landing was as if we were on a soft mattress.  The weather was actually better than here in Seattle. It was warn and sunny. As luck would have it, we were there for Canada Day, and visited an International Folkfest. While there a visit to the Royal BC Museum allowed me to see an example of  how modern technology can be integrated to teach lessons about the past. While in everyday living we can see examples of technology use to make lives easier and better, the BC Museum used a form of  audio technology that also has classroom applications. The museum has individual  infrared audio equipment so that the user can simply position him/herself near a targeted exhibit, and will receive a narration about that exhibit.  I can see posibilities for individualized instruction in the classroom. This is expecially important to me in working with Special Needs students. Today I saw something similar in the Exhibition Hall that was to be used with hand helds. Maybe it is the same thing. I will have to investigate. Any ideas?

Lucille had some kind comments for us…..

Kelly, Lisa, Anne, and Tim make a great team.  I have enjoyed being a part of the program. I have been actively engaged in listening, learning, and having fun since Sunday, June 29 2003.

Those are just a few of the comments.  Be sure to take a look at NECC 2003 Notes for more….

This is my last night in Seattle- that’s sounds a little sad but it has been a great conference and I plan to return one day to this fine city - I like it a lot!

I feel good about what has been accomplished with the Georgia delegation.  We plan to continue keeping up with them and hopefully more grants like this one can be written.

When I went to the Intel session this morning, i had a number of session participants come up to me afterwards asking about weblogs.  Lots of them had been to Tim and Will’s session on literature and blogging.  The interest is high! You can feel it in the air!

Gotta an early plane to catch to Atlanta in the morning… lots to reflect on next week…..  Everyone have a great fourth!

Strong Voice for Youth

Strategies to Empower Student Learning

and my favorite for the day……

“Literature Circles & Blogging about Books”

Tim Lauer, Will Richardson, Katherine Schlick-Noe, and Marion Holland gave an absolutely dynamite presentation to a VERY large crowd.

Sorry, no time for more now as the GA NECC team need my computer so they can blog!!!!!!!!

I find Seattle to be a fascinating city.  Everywhere you go there are crowds of people, all with busy agendas going here and there.  I even found a Barnes & Noble right around the corner from the convention center.  Seattle’s a friendly place and I hope to get back here when I have lots more time!  Speaking of time, I haven’t even had time to catch my breath.  I have been blogging, but second-hand all day yesterday helping these great Georgia educators. Yesterday we had a station set up at the convention center and all the grant participants came there and began the process of blogging all they are learning.  It’s fun to read what they write and take a different perspective of all that’s going on.

So, I’m up early trying to catch up cause I promised Pam I would keep in touch with all of you who did not get to come to NECC this year.  I truly wish that Joe, Pam, Pat, Sarah, Terry and everyone else were here.  That would have been fantastic but you all have been in our thoughts and your ears should have burned last night because we were saying good things about all of you and what you are doing.  The EduBloggers meeting at the Rennaissance  capped the day. I can hardly express how it feels to meet people face-to-face whom you have been collaborating with all year.  Meeting Will and Tim  was great.  I also met a lot of the people who work with Tim  and got to know him yet again in another way. Also, I met Susie Boss from Intel.  She’s the one who wrote the stories about blogging on Intel’s Innovation Odyssey.  Ohhhhh, to have her writing skills!  I enjoyed every minute talking with her and meeting more of the Intel crew. They are a dynamic group and doing so many good things to focus on education and educators.  Talking to Thor from Clarity Innovations was really uplifting.  His company’s mission and vision gives me hope for the future.. It amazes me how the community continues to grow.  Last night was a mixture of people and it was great to talk and learn from all of them. Tim asked Will, Tim, and myself to talk about what we had done this year. The audience was most interested and asked great questions.  I think perhaps the toughest thing to explain was just what exactly is a weblog.  Defining it is so hard but I’ve decided that’s really a good thing.  It is a bag full of possiblilities and you can make it be whatever you want it to be.  It will not be pigeon-holed.  I don’t think you can really appreciate that until you get knee-deep in it.  Tim really put together a great evening.  Just listening to his teachers talk about him lets me see what a change agent he is for education..  Thanks Tim for a great get-together!  Of course, meeting Will was most special.  It’s a strange feeling meeting someone whom you feel you already know and the best part is liking him as much off-line as on-line.  What fun! 

I am going to include the sessions I have gotten to as stories that you can read if you choose.  They will be just my typed notes as I was listening to the presenter. I try to write as much as I can but do tend to use my own shorthand and punctuation gets put to the side.  I hope they make sense but just email me if you have questions.

Open Source
ESL
Higher Order Thinking Skills

  I’m finding it hard to squeeze in the time to do all I want to do . but my main focus is on the Georgia team we brought up here.  Be sure to read their posts at GeorgiaNECC2003Notes.

And EdWeblogs:NECC 2003

I’m writing this Tuesday AM.  I had hoped to get this out early but I was back helping the Georgia NECC team - what a hard-working, fantastic group we have here!  I’ll try to post more later…..

Well here I am blogging at the Convention Center in Seattle.  I really was “Sleepless in Seattle” last night.  However, I am back up and running now and ready to enjoy this conference!

A small crew of us from the Georgia NECC delegation arrived here in Seattle  yesterday.  So far the weather has been absolutely gorgeous…..warm and sunny.  Lisa and I have been driving all over this fine city as we work out all the details of managing such a large group ….. pick-ups, times for meetings, where to eat, where to register, where to find out about all the nice things you can do in Seattle, etc.  Yesterday we ate at Cutters.  Tim steered us to the right place.  Great view, delicious food, and very good company!

I have to say that Lisa is most impressive as she drives around Seattle.  She drives this 12 passenger van like a pro!  We’ve nicknamed her the Navigator or maybe the Explorer.  Already some good stories to tell but more on that later.

The rest of the group will arrive today.  I am here at the Convention Center now finalizing some details.  Lisa goes to pick up Kelly and the rest of the crew so they will all be arriving shortly.

The crowd is starting to grow here as people arrive.   It’s exciting! I am really looking forward to the next few days!