Week 3- Free Choice- Leadership Project

In my searches for clearer direction, I returned to  a familiar tool... Facebook!  As I am a huge fan,  I thought of Schoology since I had attended their free conference in October I began by visiting their FB page. I decided to begin a new search using the FB platform and was both surprised and a bit frustrated.  I found a plethora of information regarding past conferences, but took the information as a springboard, looked at the "likes" of each site and did find a bit of valuable information.

 I am curious to see how successful we as a group are in terms of acceptance to our targeted conferences, and how important it is to find the right fit to match our proposal topic.  I think that we as a group have touched upon a wide range of connected topics.  I suppose I never thought about how the presenters came together into one cohesive experience before. 

It is too bad that we as a University could not put on our own conference.  Full Sail should have a bi-annual or tri-annual presentation to showcase where the teaching minds of the next generation are looking.  

I am sure there is one out there, and as most of these tools have been for me this year, I am sure I will find it as soon as a hand in the assignment, or teach the lesson, or in this case as soon as I apply for the conference.  However, each time this happens my immediate reaction is to stomp my foot or roll my eyes at the irony, but in each case it is a tool that is added to my file or PLE in order to make the next experience that much easier or smoother!

I am sure that the perfect situation will come along or present itself.  I will be applying locally if possible as I would truly like the opportunity to actually present if accepted.  I would rather not just go through the motions for practice or experiential purposes.  I would like to find a conference in the New England area as my family is in the midst of preparing for another addition and this will make traveling difficult on several levels.  Leaving the family for any substantial amount of time is out of the question and the expense of airfare is not really an option either.

I would also like a more educational based conference as opposed to a technological focused conference.  I know this may be a focus on such a minute detail that it may not be a decision to be made, but my thinking here is that my ARP did not have the luxury of utilizing a large amount of technology within the classroom.  I was able to introduce the tools and to some degree practice the use of them, but due to technological limitations we did not get to utilize the number of tools or to the degree that I would have liked.  So I believe I would like to focus more on the depth of the educational experience.  

BP1 Google Reader

So everybody has something to say, but it is also our job to listen.  I am putting together a few RSS feeds that I find interesting and/or valuable to an educator or to anyone who is in the field so that we can continue to listen to what those have to say around us. 

Image retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com on Aug. 4, 2010.

The first Rss feed that I would like to share is the New York Times Education section.  I know, I know you are probably rolling your eyes at this point and the thinking who has the time for the Times, however, it is a great resource for all that is going on locally, nationally and globally in the field of education.  Although it in my opinion has an air of sophistication that does not always come off as inviting or user-friendly, it is certainly a large reputable source for information.  We are all hopefully compelled to stay up to date on topics that will directly influence our lives and our careers and this is definitely a good starting place.  If only for a quick perusal of the headlines, this is a great place to stay up to date with what is happening. http://www.nytimes.com/pages/education/index.html?partner=rss

Image retrieved from http://www.npr.org/ on Aug. 4, 2010. 

As I urge all of you to do, I am an avid listener of NPR.  I don’t know if it is that I talk all day and share my information about such set dictated topics, I find it so refreshing to listen to ever changing, challenging and interesting topics that NPR shares.  NPR provides me with endless topics of conversation and I truly attribute my sense of together-ness to the station.  I feel like no matter how thinly I have spread myself here I get a true sense of what is going on politically, religiously, scientifically, musically, in the sports world, in the celebrity world, and on and on and on.  As teachers, we need to be able to share more than the textbooks with our kids, and how could we possibly tap into them or encourage them to connect with the world around them if we ourselves are not doing the same.  For me the prime time news shows on TV are far too negative and nowhere near intellectual enough for me to waste my time on.  I know this is starting to sound like a commercial, but NPR has enough variety to spark my interest and enough depth to hold it. http://www.npr.org/

Image retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/ on Aug 4, 2010.

Another feed that I found is for Tech and Learning. http://www.techlearning.com/ This site provides continual up-to-date information on what is out there in terms of educational technology.  There are blogs, resources, tips, advice, etc.  It is an excellent way to keep up with what people are saying about the implications of incorporating technology in the educational world, and ways to do it effectively.

Image retrieved from
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ on Aug 4, 2010.

I also found this blog http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ .  Vicki, the blog author has been blogging since 1995 and speaks about a variety of topics.  She seems very tech savvy or tech aware and from what I can read is a forward thinking, open and educated individual.  As I was thinking about which feeds would be meaningful to not only myself but also to share I really felt that variety was key.  Nobody wants to bombard themselves with information from similar sources or about the same exact topic.  I feel that listening to my colleagues who have more experience in the field but have what appears to be at least the same amount of drive and passion if not more for their career, is not only important in terms of teaching me but also inspiring.  So, the three links above are on a more grand scale, but this one brings it all back home again.

Image retrieved from
http://www.freetech$teachers.com/ on Aug 4, 2010.

Here is another one that brings it home. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/  Richard Byrne has been blogging and supporting the learning world with suggestions, opinions, how-to’s, etc. since 2007.  I don’t know why it is important to me to share with you how long these people have been blogging, except perhaps because I feel like the whole professional and educated world has been doing it for so long, and I feel guilty that it has taken me so long to get on the bandwagon.  Anyhow, this is really a great place to hear on a very approachable and accessible level, what is working, why it’s working, how to get it, and so on.  He has archived hundreds of blogs and so when you have time, and I am sure that wont be any time soon, there are countless of pages of information worth diving into.

Well there you have it, a few feeds that I am following and that perhaps you may find interesting.  I am finding myself completely overwhelmed at the moment with the indescribable amounts of information out there, and with a few of the new tools that I am working with, I hope to be able to breath soon and begin digging through a small portion of it.