I would like to introduce all of you to my Personal Learning Network, or PLN. It’s based on the same concept as our district’s Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), but PLNs have a few advantages:

• While our PLCs meet once, or maybe twice, a month, a PLN is available almost all the time.
• Our PLCs, as they exist now, are limited to those members who can be physically present. PLNs have no geographic boundaries.
• The topics and goals of our PLCs are often determined for us, while the topics I study and discuss through my PLN are ones of my choosing.
• Everyone in my PLN wants to be there.

Essentially, a PLN is what we hope our PLCs will become one day.

Where do I go to find my PLN? My RSS feed where I have listed the most current posts of all the Edubloggers I admire is where I go most often. But you can also find them through social networks like Ning.com or through virtual worlds like Second Life. And increasingly, I’m using Twitter.com to stay tuned in.

If any of you clicked on the links in the previous paragraph while still locked within the walls of our district’s network security system, you now understand while in the first bullet I noted that my PLN was “available ALMOST all the time”. It is very ironic that where I most need access to my PLN — at work — I am generally denied access to it.

That being said, I love what I do. So, when do I access my PLN? Usually in the evenings, at home, after my little one has gone to bed. And here’s the craziest part — I ENJOY it. And the resources I learn about are invaluable to me.

So, I’d like to invite you to join my Twitter PLN. Go to Twitter.com and create an account for yourself. Then, do a search for “tekkieteacher”. I invite you to follow me. I know it sounds a bit like stalking, but it really isn’t. Then, check out who I follow, and follow some of them, too. Check out the links to their other web presences – usually their blogs. Before you know it, you’ll have a PLN of your own! A lot of the chatter is just that, chatter. But every so many lines will come a wonderful tidbit of wisdom that you wouldn’t otherwise know about. The collective knowledge of a PLN can be truly astonishing.

As with all social networking tools, use them with caution. I don’t recommend allowing strangers to become your online “friend” or to follow you on Twitter. And be careful about sharing any type of personal information.

For some additional ideas on how to use Twitter as an educational tool, check out this article.

To celebrate Friday, I searched the web for some funny education-related stories. Here they are for you enjoyment. Have a great weekend!

A child came home from his first day at school. His mother asks, “Well, what did you learn today?” The child replies, “Not enough. They want me to come back tomorrow.”

Stressing the importance of a good vocabulary, the teacher told her students, “Use a word ten times, and it will be yours for life”. From somewhere in the back of the room, came a male voice chanting, “Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda.”

Early one morning, a mother went in to wake up her son. “Wake up. It’s time to go to school!”

• Son: “But why, Mom? I don’t want to go.”
• Mother: “Give me two reasons why you don’t want to go.”
• Son: “Well, the kids hate me for one, and the teachers hate me, too!”
• Mother: “Oh, that’s no reason not to go to school. Come on now and get ready.”
• Son: “Give me two reasons why I should go to school.”
• Mother: “Well, for one, you’re 52 years old. And for another, you’re the Principal!”

Two college seniors had an exam coming up. However, instead of studying, they decided to party. So, when they went to take the test, they told the professor that they had had a flat tire the night before and asked if they could have a bit more time to study. The professor told them that they could have another day to study. That evening, both of the boys crammed all night until they were sure that they knew just about everything. Arriving to class the next morning, each boy was told to go to separate classrooms to take the exam. Each shrugged and went to two different parts of the building. As each sat down, they read the first question. “For 5 points, explain the contents of an atom.” At this point, they both thought that this was going to be a piece of cake, and answered the question with ease. Then, the test continued…

“For 95 points, tell me which tire it was.”

This week’s featured website is chocked full of tons (and I do mean tons) of Web 2.0 resources for education.

Web 2.0 Guru

Don’t be overwhelmed by what you see–to start, skim through the list and check out just a few that you think sound interesting. All the resouces listed there are free!

As an added bonus, the website is a wiki, so it gives you a chance to see what a wiki looks like and how it can be used.

It still blows my mind that the writing over at Students 2.0 is done by students. They have some pretty hard hitting and at times controversial things to say, but they do say it very well. Check out Innovate or Die.

Need to sign up for a computer lab, the Library conference room, or another similar resource? The Resource Scheduler makes it easy!

1. Go to our school’s website
2. Go to For Staff/Resource Scheduler
3. Click the calendar
4. Log in using the username and password that was provided you (If you’ve forgotten what it is, please email your friendly ITRT)
5. From the drop-down list, choose the type of resource you wish to reserve
6. You will be directed to a grid that displays the resources. From the calendar on the left, select the date you want to schedule the resource for
7. Click the cell that for the time and resource you want to schedule and complete the form

This wonderful piece was dropped off on my desk while I was out last week by Holly J.!

Computer Error Haiku

Yesterday it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

I always look forward to the “Double-Click” article in the VEA magazine I get every month. It’s on the very last page of the magazine and usually has some interesting information or tips regarding technology in education. October’s article is titled Some Tech Resolutions for the New School Year.

I was happy to see that one of the suggested resolutions for teachers regarding technology was to “Set up a portal for your classroom”. Why was I happy to see it? Because we already have a web portal, and I love it when I can mark off a resolution as done! It has a funny name, PortaPortal, but it is jammed full with helpful links for parents, students, and teachers that you will definitely want to check out. Cathy L.’s classes were in the IT Lab just yesterday using it to help with their PhotoStory projects. On our home page, the link to our web portal is called “Online Educational Resources” and can be found under “For Students & Parents”.

Additionally, there might be times when you want to set up your own portal for a specific assignment, subject, or a particular class. It is very easy to do, and it’s free! There are many bookmarking tools out there to meet your needs. If you are interested in setting up your own web portal, contact your ITRT.

Our weekly technology training starts this Thursday when we will be learning all about SchoolFusion’s AfterClass tools.

To give you a taste of what will be presented, here’s a really nice mini-byte that should make entering your homework assignments at the end of the day much easier than it used to be! (Please note: The AfterClass tools are only available to teachers who have created their AfterClass profile)

1. Log in to Hylton’s website (aka SchoolFusion)
2. Click the AfterClass Tools link
3. Click Add Homework Assignment

Whereas previously you had to navigate to your class webpage(s) to add assignments, the AfterClass tools give you this shortcut and many others!

AfterClass training will be Thursday, September 18, in the IT Lab from 2:15 until 3:15!

Many of you may have already read about or viewed Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture”, but his is a story worth repeating and sharing with those of you who have not had the opportunity to experience it.

Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was asked to give a lecture as part of their “last lecture of the year” series. At the time, Professor Pausch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had only months left to live. It truly was going to be his last lecture. He seized the opportunity not to dwell on misfortune, but rather to celebrate life.

The Last Lecture

I’m not sure that this video is really suitable for a “Feel Good Friday” post, but if we strive to live our lives just a little bit like he suggests, we might all be a little bit happier. Even though this is the abbreviated version of his lecture, it’s a long one (10 minutes), so here are some of his main points:

• Anything is possible
• When someone pushes you to be better, it’s because they care.  If you are doing a bad job and no one says anything, that’s when you should be worried because it means they’ve given up on you
• The brick walls we encounter are not there to stop us from achieving our dreams. They are there to prove to us just how badly we want our dreams to come true
• Have a sense of fun and wonder — that should never go away no matter how old you are
• People are more important than things
• Be a Tigger, not an Eeyore
• Work and play well with others
• Show gratitude
• Don’t complain, just work harder
• If you live your life the right way, the dreams will come to you

Professor Pausch passed away July 25, 2008.

I know a lot of you are already introducing our new students to SchoolFusion, and that is AWESOME! Our freshmen will be receiving training on it through their library orientation, but for many of them that is still weeks out. To help you all out, here is a video tutorial that gives a brief, five minute, overview on how to log in and use the system.

schoolfusion-2008

Thanks to our very own Cathy L. for sending this along for Feel Good Friday!

BLUtube is powered by PoliceOne.com

I know I’ve posted this before, but I think it’s worth seeing, again. It’s nice to be reminded after a long first week of school about just how great an impact teachers can have.

My Favorite Teacher

Welcome to the first Website Wednesday of the 2008-2009 school year!

PBS Teachers is a wonderful resource from our friends over at PBS for just about every subject we teach. You might also want to check out the accompanying blog, Learning.now by Andy Carvin.