Learning As You Go

Wouldn't it have been nice to have a class in college on how to be a presenter. Now I did have a public speaking course at River Forest, but that doesn't neccessarily guarantee the ability to provide one-time, effective professiona development (or parent development which was this weekends case).

Anyway....the point being was that this coming Sunday, as well as last, our Next Generation Ministry will be hosting parent "Hot Topic" sessions. I have the blesses opportunity of being the presenter for both of those (UStream of the first session). Feel free to critique my performance. I find myself being a bit scatter brained when it comes to presenting so much material. Basically it boiled down to present more information than I had time. Was caught between wanting to share with parents how the Web is still developing and how that impacts families and then the more practical, "Hey, this is what an average 3rd grader should be doing with the computer or online." When I do the presentation this week, I think I'll focus more on the latter.

Here is the wiki link to my notes  They are pretty "sparce" right now, but will have everything

full updated before Sunday. Feel free to add anything that you'd like! Will definitely add more of the spiritual components this week.

Being a presenter isn't easy. I used to envy professional ed tech conference speakers (I know they do more than that :-), but it's hard work! 

Isola! [with SD14], "Heavy Work." Isola! [with SD14]'s Photostream. 20 May 2007. 23 Sep 2008 

<http://farm1.static.flickr.com/232/505907598_d490af92da.jpg?>.

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I Love This Stuff....

Can I just say that I appreciate more and more the Internet and all the awesome possibilities it provides!  For example, I twittered earlier this week about teachers using Shutterfly for classroom photos and issues pertaining to privacy. Later that day, some one from Shutterfly had replied to my tweet.

 

That was awesome! The folks at Shutterfly have someone watching Twitter for comments about their product. Talk about effective marketing and strategic thinking. I'm not teaching my students to think like that yet, do you? I've got some work to do.

Also learned  today about a new tool called Glogster. At least it was new to me!

Cindy Lane twittered about using Glogster in a grad course, so I thought I'd give it a shout. Maybe a presenter for the upcoming K12 Online Conference will create poster as a promo using Glogster (Quick reminder that the conference starts October 13 with a pre-conference keynote. Be there or be square)?

Thought I'd play around a little bit. This is a poster for my sectional at the MO District Professional Church Workers Conference this November (If you'd like to contribute to the presentation, feel free). What do you think? 

You've Gotta Love This Stuff!

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Missing some pieces.....

I've made the mistake of trying to prepare too many presentations at one time....yet another sign that I'm not ready to leave full time teaching and become an Ed Tech Consultant :-)

I am missing some pieces for my Missouri District Professional Church Workers Conference in November. My sectional is about defining a professional learning network (PLN) and all the stuff that goes with that.  The only problem is, I've dabbled in a TON of tools, but don't feel a specific expertise on any of them. That's not to say that I don't learn a lot on a daily basis, but there have got to be some better ways of doing things. There are pieces about Twitter that I'm sure would make my life easier! My Diigo account is going by the wayside untouched for a lack of understanding, and I am no where near ready to adventure into Plurk or any of the other microblogging sites (besides Twitter of course).  So this is an open invitation to any experts who would be willing to spare a half hour to walk me through their favorite PLN tools  or hold my hand through the more advanced features of the tools below.

Below are some sites I feel pretty comfortable with, but would like to know more about:

• Ning--I have a decent handle on Social Networking, although if you are an admin, I'd love some pointers! Technology in Lutheran Schools Ning--just in case any one's interested
• Delicious--Feel comfortable with social bookmarking, don't have people jumping out of the wood work to share links with me, but I try to help others out when I can. By the way, feel free to tag me in on any bookmarks.
• Twitter--I've been using Twitter more and more. Just would like to see if I'm missing something?

I'd love to have someone sit down (or SKYPE in) with me and go through apps like Diigo, PageFlakes, or anything I haven't mentioned. 

If no one comments back or had time....I completely understand! I just want to fill the wholes in my knowledge before I stand up in front of a group of educators and explain why they should take a risk to collaborate online. I can only say it has been one of the most rewarding thing I've ever done!

If you interested in how my sectional prep is going, feel free to check out the wiki.

Image by:
Woody Thrower, "Puzzle pieces." Woody Thrower's photo stream. 06, Sept 2008. FLICKR. 15 Sep 2008 .

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