2009 is my hope for 2010

Of course this time is a great time to be reflective and figure out if 2009 was a good year or the one that I will slip away quietly. There were many events that I found about 2009 to be personally rewarded.


Feeling closer to my network: This was the latest addition, but one I felt should top the list. I am truly blessed to have a wonderful network of people that I can learn from everyday.


Article about Grants: The unexpected surprise of someone outside of my school and PLN finding out about my plans to bring new technology to the school. The best part was that students were the focus of the reporter and photographer. They were the whole reason for all of that work.


Finishing Grad School: The other day I realized that I earned three degrees in one decade. I can't say that I found all of the answers in formal education, but it did give me a great foundation to be a reflective educator.


Becoming the Tech Liaison: This has been a great lesson in leadership and learning about the needs of my school.


ISTE 2010 Acceptance Email: This was an amazing surprise since I never expected to have my first proposal accepted. What was even better was that PLN bud Ken Shelton brought up the idea of working on a proposal during a rough tech moment at my school and helped me through the whole process. The icing on the cake is having an amazing panel to converse with during ISTE '10.


The Last NECC Conference: It was local this time which made it a different experience than San Antonio. I had the best of both worlds by spending more time with those I rarely get to see in my district and from across the country.


The Last MICCA Conference: At the time I didn't know this would be the last one due to the name change to MSET. It was a perfect ending because it was my best experience at MICCA. Of course it was the people that made it a cloud nine experience. I am so grateful to have a local sect of my PLN that give me the courage to push my own limits.


Powering Up with Technology: While I can't say this has been highlight in my presenting experience, there were some definite highlights! Spending a day with my favorite techies, supporting a new presenter, and seeing Aaron Smith, the Art Guy, win a netbook only to rid it of Windows XP was worth it.


DEN Leadership Council: This is still a work in progress, but a great lesson on being a member of a group.




The best part about all of these events is that they make me excited for 2010. I like the idea of a fresh start and new adventures. While I spent days trying to find an inspiring ending to this post and 2009, I think I will borrow the words from my High School/Facebook friend Scott:

My resolution for 2010 is to let no day this year go wasted. I hope all the people close to me find a little bit of happiness in every day of the year and on some days a lot.

I <3 Grants!

Like most educators during this part of year there is a combination of the desire for the year to come to an end and reflection. This year I had to add an element to my end-of-the-year routine and that was finishing grant requirements. Even this post is me avoiding the four more lessons that I have to finish for my grant that got me a set of clickers. I was proud that I sent in my invoices and wrote my article for my MICCA grant that funded video cameras for my 8th graders to tryout the AFI curriculum. I am extremely grateful that the Best Buy grant has no additional required elements. 

While I realize that grants are a lot of work, I also realized that I love grants! Of course free money is a plus when a new era of spending freezes and budget cuts, but that is not the main reason why I love grants so much. Everytime I applied for a  new grant this year it caused to me evaluate the needs of my classroom and the school. The grant writing process forced me to develop innovative projects that would stand out in piles of other application. Most of all winning the grant has forced me to work on the project. I'll admit that I am one of those that come up with a million ideas, but only really work on a few. I learned so much by having to do my ideas and to make them work.

Well I couldn't stop with the end of the school year. Right now I am waiting out the last two days of voting on the We Are Teachers Summer Learning Microgrant. This has been a totally different experience because I had to enlist help from my PLN, students, colleagues, and anyone I could think of to get enough votes to stay in the top 10. The compeitive side of me wants to win just because, but more importantly I look forward to doing this project. I still have hope for my staff entering the 21st century and I keeping trying new things to bring them on board. If you get a chance check out the site please do so. Even if you vote for another project, you are supporting a great idea by a lot of great teachers.

My Blogiversary!

I figured this was an event worth celebrating. One main reason is that I stuck to blogging for an entire year even though some busy months had one entry. So much has happened technology-wise to me in the past year that I can't hardly believe. I thought I would run through the highlights:

1. I went from not knowing what Web 2.0 was to giving presentations on it.

2. I became a presenter: scary and amazing at the same time.

3. I became social with Twitter, Plurk, Ning, and Facebook. Great for me, but not so good for my schedule. I really don't know where I would be without my PLN!

4. I became a Google Certified Teacher. The title is great, but I love the connections to great educators and I learn to love Google tools.

5. I became a  grant winner times three: Turning Technologies, MICCA, and Best Buy. It can be a lot of work, but the payoff is so worth it.

There are some exciting things on the horizon, along with new challenges. I look forward to it all and another year of blogging. Lastly, thanks goes out to anyone who has read or added comments to my blog. 

Becoming a 7th grader again

In my school, I teach technology integration to 6th,7th, and 8th graders. I lovingly call my seventh graders, "the pod students." See in sixth grade the kids are sweet, eager to learn, and down right scared about the middle school experience. Eighth graders are more mellow, some taller than me, and are looked up to as the cool kids of the building. Then there are the seventh graders with their constant mood swings, their intellect, and their stupidity. Follow one and you may see laughing, crying, fighting, and laughing again within an hour. Most of the time they don't know why they make the decisions they do and they lack long-term focus. Of course this is my own observations and has little to do with solid research.

So, you may wonder what is the point of all of this?

I feel like I am leading the life of a seventh grader these day when it comes to my career. There are these incredible lows where nothing seems to be going right and then the incredible highs where everything seems to be falling into place. The highs of last week were great with winning the Best Buy grant and getting all of my proposals accepted for the MICCA conference. I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be when my principal gave me kudos about the grant at the faculty meeting. At one point I was looking onward to another job, but am the happiest when I am teaching in my room. For awhile I decided not to push technology anymore in my school and now I am working on two projects. It seems like utter chaos right now which probably means I am growing up a little bit.

I don't know where this is headed, but my hope is that I will morph into a cool tech leader.