Hitting rock bottom

I think I finally hit rock bottom, and I don't like it here.<br /><br />1. I tried to pull on a pair of size 16 jeans this morning. I couldn't even get them up over my hips. I had to wear one of the two pairs of size 18's that I bought last week.<br /><br />2. I don't know how much I weigh. The last time I weighed, last week I think, I was 217. Those size 16 jeans were tight, but at least I could get them on and buttoned.<br /><br />3. I feel like hell. I get winded walking from my car to my office building and it's a very short walk.<br /><br />4. Walking up one flight of stairs almost makes me pass out. Three flights almost kills me. How did I managed to climb 69 flights of stairs for the Big Climb last year and I did it in 19 minutes? How could I have let myself go like this?<br /><br />5. I don't recognize myself in the mirror. In fact, I avoid mirrors if I can.<br /><br />6. My body aches. I don't like the rolls of fat hanging off my body. I'm very uncomfortable in this body. I don't feel like myself.<br /><br />7. I haven't been to the gym in over a week. I feel stiff and out of sorts.<br /><br />I could go on and on with this list. I could write a book about my misery over being fat.<br /><br />So why don't I do something about it? I know that's what you're thinking. I know it's what I'm thinking almost every minute of the day. I'm obsessed with the question, why can't I fix myself?<br /><br />I'm perfect all day, then every night I'm so tired, so frustrated with myself, so unhappy about what I've done to myself, that suddenly I don't care about any of it. I'm in a vicious cycle of self-destruction.<br /><br />Tonight I really feel like I've hit bottom. I don't think I can feel much worse than I do right now. Oh, I suppose another 100 pounds might make feel worse, but I'm not sure I would get there because I'm pretty sure the weight I am right now is going to kill me first.<br /><br />All that being said, I think it's time I made a change. I came home and put all the cookies and praline pecans I bought last night (and ate about half) down the garbage disposal. I wanted the food out of the house, and I wanted to show myself that this food is garbage. This is what makes me feel so awful.<br /><br />I had a banana for a snack when I came home, with a big glass of water. Dinner is broiled tilapia and roasted Brussels sprouts. Then it's bed, then it's the gym tomorrow morning. I'm even going to set the alarm for 5am. Wish me luck because I'm going to need it to make it through Day 1 and into Day 2. <br /><br /><br />

Hitting rock bottom

I think I finally hit rock bottom, and I don't like it here.1. I tried to pull on a pair of size 16 jeans this morning. I couldn't even get them up over my hips. I had to wear one of the two pairs of size 18's that I bought last week.2. I don't know …

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Planning Does Not Equal Failure

Tomorrow I have a plan in place.  I've literally written down almost my entire day's worth of meals (with the exception of 5 PointsPlus that I don't know what I'll do with just yet). <br /><br />I <i>know </i>this works for me.  <br /><br />I cannot keep failing.  I simply cannot afford it, or I'll find myself right back in 260s hell in no time.  Failing sucks.  I don't want to be in the 230s.. I want to move beyond this nonsense and get my momentum back.  <br /><br />Sure, the sugar challenge is going well, my exercise is en pointe, but eating still sucks.  I know why.  It's because I <i>never </i>have a true day-to-day plan. <br /><br />Well, tomorrow I have one and I'm going to execute it beautifully and finish the day successfully!  I'm going to do this!

Planning Does Not Equal Failure

Tomorrow I have a plan in place.  I've literally written down almost my entire day's worth of meals (with the exception of 5 PointsPlus that I don't know what I'll do with just yet). I know this works for me.  I cannot keep failing.  I simply cannot …

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Collaborative Writing in the Cloud: A collection of resources for writing teachers

<br /> <div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /> I've begun work on the website companion to Collaborative Writing in the Cloud: An essential guidebook aligned with Common Core standards that will be published this winter. (The draft is due now.) I'm referencing some of these pages in the book and am asking for your help if you're involved in teaching writing, collaborative writing, or helping teachers. Right now, I've drafted the pages on Twitter hashtags, chats, and lists for writing teachers and also networks where teachers can join. You're invited! The next page I'll create will be open collaborative writing projects. Feel free to request to join the wiki but make sure that you list in the comments who you are and why you want to join so I'll approve you and then feel free to join in. Who knows, something you add may be the very thing I missed and it may make it into the draft. Feel free to join in and help me get the right resources. Also, I"ve posted two recent presentations: Common Core in the Cloud and the ISTE 2012 presentation about Common Core and Collaborative Writing that I did with Dr. Leigh Zeitz, Jennifer Roberts, Suzie Nestico, and Julie Lindsay (with Ben Curran moderating.) Follow the link to join in and share.<br/><br />via Diigo http://writinginthecloud.wikispaces.com<br /> </div><br />

blogger collaborativewriting commoncore EDUCATION inthenews Collaborative Writing in the Cloud: A collection of resources for writing teachers

I've begun work on the website companion to Collaborative Writing in the Cloud: An essential guidebook aligned with Common Core standards that will be published this winter. (The draft is due now.) I'm referencing some of these pa…

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National Writing Project: National Community open to anyone #engchat

<br /> <div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /> The National Writing Project (NWP) has a community open to anyone who is interested in writing. If you teach writing, you should consider joining this community. They also have a "Twibe" (for sharing tweets) that you can use to disseminate tweets on the topic of writing. They've always been on the forefront of writing and research. Great organization and some great conversations about common core as well.<br/><br />via Diigo http://connect.nwp.org/national<br /> </div><br />

blogger ccchat collaborativewriting commoncore EDUCATION engchat National Writing Project: National Community open to anyone #engchat

The National Writing Project (NWP) has a community open to anyone who is interested in writing. If you teach writing, you should consider joining this community. They also have a "Twibe" (for sharing tweets) that you can use to di…

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Join Microsoft PIL, Johannesburg, for a webinar series on assessing 21st Century skills starting Wednesday evening 18th July from 6 - 6:30 pm

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6U8v7_oTuNvF2IyeK0otnYjuQPl5wZmDg5Q8fKkOeYj2j45qt9MWMYwQMivV0lF3HoqhMFbZ9Hzg24ya6LDLz1TfTZxRdC4Ltg1ZiSkbPgwxjQ5Q-ZQDK0wQktJ-mfPL7zEHBhhops94/s1600/PIL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6U8v7_oTuNvF2IyeK0otnYjuQPl5wZmDg5Q8fKkOeYj2j45qt9MWMYwQMivV0lF3HoqhMFbZ9Hzg24ya6LDLz1TfTZxRdC4Ltg1ZiSkbPgwxjQ5Q-ZQDK0wQktJ-mfPL7zEHBhhops94/s320/PIL.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">On Wednesday evening 18th July (and for another four Wednesdays after that) Microsoft Partners in Learning, Johannesburg is running a LEAP21 series of webinars on assessing 21st century skills, from 6 - 6:30 pm using their Lync webinar software. The one on Wednesday 18th is the first in a series on the five dimensions of 21st Century learning. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Join ALL the online meetings at this web address <a href="https://join.microsoft.com/meet/v-angels/Q6Z25RJQ">https://join.microsoft.com/meet/v-angels/Q6Z25RJQ.</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />This webinar series will focus on innovative teaching and learning approaches and how the LEAP21 material supports this. It will be of special interest to teachers who wish to enter innovative projects for the Partners in Learning Forum in 2013. The webinar on the 18th was about ASSESSING COLLABORATION collaboration. The webinar on the 25th July at 6:30pm will be about assessing KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING. </span></div><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is LEAP21</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />LEAP21 is based on the way ITL Research studies and measures innovative teaching practices. LEAP21 asks teachers and school leaders to analyse and 'score' learning activities to see how deeply they integrate 21st century skills, collaborate in designing new learning activities that provide deeper 21st century skills development, examine the impact of these learning activities on students' work, and use ICT as part of the process.<br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">What teachers are saying about this</span></b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Teachers who go through this process say it gives them a clear and practical way to integrate 21st century skills in their own teaching. LEAP21 requires that educators be active and engaged knowledge-builders, adopting and using the very skills they are seeking to instill in their students: collaboration, knowledge-building, self-regulation and assessment (or learning to learn) and use of technology for learning. Through the programme, teachers become learners of their own teaching practices by studying the impact of their teaching on students LEAP21 guidelines help teacherss identify and understand the opportunities that learning activities give students to build 21st century skills. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Microsoft will be hosting workshops and webinars on LEAP21, focusing on the five dimensions of 21st Century learning.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The LEAP21 discussion Forum on the Partners in Learning Network <a href="http://www.pil-network.com/Discussion/ccc93868-82a8-4c32-98a3-a8afb555a34b%20" target="_blank">http://www.pil-network.com/Discussion/ccc93868-82a8-4c32-98a3-a8afb555a34b </a>will allow all participants of LEAP21 training to connect and discuss the topic, as well as access the documents needed for the webinar.</span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Downloads for tomorrow's webinar (25th July)</span></b><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The following downloads will be useful for the webinars</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1) <a href="https://www.box.com/s/344d89224d8d4c77f3a3" target="_blank">Lesson examples</a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2) <a href="https://www.box.com/s/d346316edcb3159d2412" target="_blank">How to join a Lync conference call</a></span></div>

Microsoft Join Microsoft PIL, Johannesburg, for a webinar series on assessing 21st Century skills starting Wednesday evening 18th July from 6 - 6:30 pm

On Wednesday evening 18th July (and for another four Wednesdays after that) Microsoft Partners in Learning, Johannesburg is running a LEAP21 series of webinars on assessing 21st century skills, from 6 - 6:30 pm using their Lync webinar software. The …

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Common Core Standards: Lessons, Ideas, and Discussions #ccchat

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/images/blogs/69/6a00e54faaf86b883301543215af83970c-320wi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/images/blogs/69/6a00e54faaf86b883301543215af83970c-320wi" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scholastic has<a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom_solutions/2011/05/common-core-state-standards" target="_blank"> an excellent article</a> on the shifts by Common Core.<br />Read their article for information. This photo is from that article on Scholastic.</td></tr></tbody></table>I've been collecting common core resources as I research and write for my upcoming book, <a href="http://www.eyeoneducation.com/Collaborative-Writing-Project" target="_blank">Collaborative Writing in the Cloud</a>, from eye on education. The hashtag for this topic on Twitter is #<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23ccchat" target="_blank">ccchat </a>.<br /><ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.sharemylesson.com/high-school-us-history-teaching-resources/">500+ High School (Grades 9-12) U.S. History #sschat #ccchat resources via @sharemylesson</a></div><div class="diigo-description">High school US history topics separated by topic and grade level. There are some interesting simulations included in this list of resources.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/history">history</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ushistory">ushistory</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/sschat">sschat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/buffer">buffer</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.sharemylesson.com/high-school-world-history-teaching-resources/">1.3K+ High School (Grades 9-12) World History Activities #sschat #ccchat</a></div><div class="diigo-description">Social studies lessons for high school relating to world history and aligned with common core standards.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/sschat">sschat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://21cglobal.blogspot.com/2011/10/flat-world-and-our-place-in-it.html">A Flat World and Our Place In It | 21C Global</a></div><div class="diigo-description">Suzie Nestico (Flat Classroom certified teacher and project manager) aligns her Flat Clasroom and NetGenEd projects with Common Core standards.) Here's how she aligned with common core writing standards. I like how she fully discloses to students what she's doing and why as well as providing links and instructions to the students.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ccchat">ccchat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclassroom">flatclassroom</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclassroomproject">flatclassroomproject</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/bestpractices">bestpractices</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://zeitz.wikispaces.com/EIT+Wikibook">Dr. Z - EIT Wikibook</a></div><div class="diigo-description">Dr. Leigh Zeitz shared at ISTE 2012 about his use of Distributed learning Communities to facilitate collaborative creation. Here, he talks about his Emerging Instructional Technology wikibook that his students build. This is an excellent framework for writing, collaborating, and working with technology and was presented as an example of writing standard W.x.6 (the x is the grade level).</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/technology">technology</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/robertsonwriting/home">Roberts On Writing</a></div><div class="diigo-description">My friend Jennifer Roberts is a digital lead teacher in San Diego. She copresented with us at ISTE on Common Core in the Cloud and rocked it. Here's the website she built about Writing Response groups and what she does in the classroom. She's very knowledgeable and I love what she's doing with her students.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/engchat">engchat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program</a></div><div class="diigo-description">national Novel Writing month is in November but this website is so much more. I heard Jennifer Roberts share this with our Panel on Writing with Common Core at ISTE 2012 and this website is a phenomenal way to meet the 3rd standard W.X.3 about Writing narratives. Students collaboratively work together. You can do this any time but November is the big emphasis. I think every school should participate in Nanowrimo -- just love it.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/engchat">engchat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://email.eyeoneducation.com/public/webform/render_form/g6y2lzuov8o4b4uh1k6xqmy2u68ql/db582c1ea476ab674aff7b00112e2f0b/addcontact">Collaborative Writing in the Cloud</a></div><div class="diigo-description">I'm going to be sharing a lot about collaborative writing and Common Core writing standards. For US educators to start teaching collaborative writing that we're going to have to align and help them understand how it will meet the standards they are using. While this will relate to anyone who wants to use cloud tools, those implementing common core standards will be very interested. This is the form to complete if you're interested in getting a copy of the book.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/iste12">iste12</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/iste">iste</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.sharemylesson.com/article.aspx?storyCode=50000148">Common Core State Standards - SML</a></div><div class="diigo-description">Common Core information center. Some good resources on Common Core and what is happening with them.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://community.sharemylesson.com/forums/t/14.aspx">Information about Common Core State Standards - Questions about Common Core - Share My Lesson</a></div><div class="diigo-description">Common core forums have been created in the share my lesson website - cosponsored by the aft and tes, this is going to be an interesting place where teachers converse.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/newapp">newapp</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2012/04/you-yes-you-what-do-you-think-about.html">Drape's Takes: You! Yes, you! What do you think about the Common Core? Here's what I think...</a></div><div class="diigo-description">I read this post from Darren Draper and his response to Utah's discussion of common core standards. Read his thoughts. Here's my response on my current thinking on Common Core right now - I thought I'd put it here. "I think that in terms of the "big picture" of having a common interface - having a common core set of standards makes sense. The states have proven that they can create a convoluted hodge podge of stuff that they really can't keep updated. That being said,I think the question that is coming to me at this point is: who updates common core when mistakes are there and also, does common core PRESCRIBE what to think in some areas like history and science. The math, writing, and reading standards are the first because they make sense and are far less controversial, but even those have been accused of taking kids down to the lowest common denominator and not pushing higher order thinking. OK, so those standards need improvement -- who does it and HOW? WHO is responsible for addressing these issues. I think also, the thought of having science and history for example prescribed to us makes me nervous. I look to my friend Suzie Nestico to help me understand these standards as she knows far more than I do. I find that many standards are now written with an implicit worldview attached and that is what bothers me. I think that it is important to read many different aspects of history and there are aspects of it that are left out in many "versions" of history. Which "version" will we adopt as a country. The very fact it would be so is somewhat troubling to me. I had some history profs in college - if they had their world view imposed upon the rest of us - we'd be far worse off than we are now. So, I think the biggest issues I have are not that we NEED common standards - because we do. Many countries have them. It is who is the governing body? Who is making it up? How will standards be edited? The truth is that the people who control the standards will control much of the thought of the next generation and it is that sort of thing that makes most American's nervous. We've long had independent and diverse states and while common core has its advantages - this one issue of WHO behind the WHAT of the standards has many people (including me) wanting to know more. "</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edreform">edreform</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/learning">learning</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.achieve.org/oer-rubrics">OER Rubrics and Evaluation Tool | Achieve.org</a></div><div class="diigo-description">This tool helps you evaluate Open education tools to see how they align to Common Core  state standards. By using this rubric, you can demonstrate how resources that are free can be integrated into your curriculum. There are 7 of the 8 already created. IF you want to save money while you align standards you must share this with your curriculum directors and administrators. Use this as an opportunity to increase quality AND save money (that is a win for everyone.)</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/oer">oer</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edreform">edreform</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/savemoney">savemoney</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/curriculum">curriculum</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/teacher-one-maddening-day-working-with-the-common-core/2012/03/15/gIQA8J4WUS_blog.html">Teacher: One (maddening) day working with the Common Core - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post</a></div><div class="diigo-description">The Washington Post has a quite distressing bug common remarks about Common Core exemplars. Is going too much by the common core doing to take us down to a lower common denominator than we are at already? I'm not sure but this type of article is very concerning. "Each teacher read individually through the exemplar lesson on Lincoln’s speech. When we began discussing it, we all expressed the same conclusion: Most of it was too scripted. It spelled out what types of questions to ask, what types of questions not to ask, and essentially narrowed any discussion to obvious facts and ideas from the speech.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edreform">edreform</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/higherorderthinking">higherorderthinking</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/scripts">scripts</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/Top-Online-School-James-Madison-High-School-3384716.php">Top Online School, James Madison High School, Implements Common Core Standards - Times Union</a></div><div class="diigo-description">This from PR Web James Madison High School, a leading online high school, has proven to be an early adopter among the more than 130,000 primary and secondary schools across the United States. The accredited online high school is one of the first schools to implement The Common Core State Standards."</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.ascd.org/public-policy/common-core-standards.aspx">Status of State Adoption of Common Core Standards - ASCD</a></div><div class="diigo-description">Current adoption of common core standards on the ASCD website shows that Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia, Texas, and Alaska are remaining as stand alone standards. Arizona and New Mexico seem to have adopted them without issuing an official announcement. I know they are with controversy, but perhaps we should move towards modifying common standards versus going back to a state by state model. Certainly history and science are full of controversy.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/curriculum">curriculum</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://elalp.cbalwiki.ets.org/">CBAL ELA Competency Model and Provisional Learning Progressions - home</a></div><div class="diigo-description">This is interesting. ETS has launched a website about: "Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world's leading measurement and research organization, has launched a new website to stimulate discussion, debate, and promote empirical research to help teachers and students meet the goals of the English language arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards." but this is most definitely a wiki (looks like wikispaces.) I find it fascinating that a company would use a wiki because so many have resisted this. I wonder who can join and who can edit. Interesting. It says you can join. It will be interesting to see what they are doing with this. Perhaps some of you common core experts should join.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/engchat">engchat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/composition">composition</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://lordofsurvival.pbworks.com/w/page/19029837/FrontPage">lordofsurvival / FrontPage</a></div><div class="diigo-description">This wiki used at MICDS (a great school in St. Louis where I've been before) is a Lord of the Flies survival game using a wiki. This is a great idea for a lesson plan with collaborative writing as well as understanding the book content.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://pinterest.com/lianec/common-core-resources">Common Core Resources</a></div><div class="diigo-description">For those who have told me that there is no use for pinterest in schools, here is a common core pinterest curated by Liane Courtney. Most web 2 tools can be useful, it lies in the willingness of users to make them so.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a><br /><br /></div></li><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://dailycensored.com/2011/11/03/nobel-prize-economist-refutes-david-colemans-crackpot-literacy-theory">Nobel Prize Economist Refutes David Coleman’s Crackpot Literacy Theory | Dailycensored.com</a></div><div class="diigo-description">I've been getting dm's asking me to mention the controversies around David Colement and the common core curriculum standards. The concept that "informational text" is the only thing of value is being questioned. I think that the need for common core is there, but perhaps the standards themselves are at question.  I would challenge educators who disagree with the current common core standards to suggest alternatives. If you look at the major innovations in technology - it happened when a few interfaces were standardized. We do need common standards, I guess the question is if it should be common core or if common score should evolve. </div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/commoncore">commoncore</a></div></li></ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher">here</a>.</div><div class="zemanta-related" style="margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;"><h4 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h4><ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin-left: 0; padding: 0;"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://vickidavis.me/post/25794593945/collaborative-writing-in-the-cloud-engchat" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/96219564_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://vickidavis.me/post/25794593945/collaborative-writing-in-the-cloud-engchat" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">Collaborative Writing in the Cloud #engchat</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;"><hr style="margin: 0;" /></div></li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://www.engagingeducators.com/blog/2012/06/22/iste-2012-preview-collaborative-writing-and-the-common-core/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_02_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://www.engagingeducators.com/blog/2012/06/22/iste-2012-preview-collaborative-writing-and-the-common-core/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">ISTE 2012 Preview: Collaborative Writing and the Common Core</a><div style="clear: both; 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Common Core Standards: Lessons, Ideas, and Discussions #ccchat

Scholastic has an excellent article on the shifts by Common Core.Read their article for information. This photo is from that article on Scholastic.I've been collecting common core resources as I research and write for my upcoming book, Collaborative …

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Library Director – Palmer (MA) Public Library

<strong>Library Director – </strong><span style="color: #48286d;"><strong>Palmer (MA) Public Library</strong></span>. Creative, energetic leader with strong public service orientation needed to direct all phases of operations in a busy vibrant library, recently expanded to 30,000 square feet on 3 floors; experienced staff of 10 FT and 1 PT personnel; serving a town of 12,000 people centrally located in the scenic Quaboag Valley; annual circulation of 161,757 (FY11); member of CWMARS network using Evergreen open source software. Knowledge of administrative practices, budget management, and library technology, plus ability to work well with public officials and community organizations required. Must have MLS degree from an ALA accredited program, plus 5 years minimum experience in a leadership position. Salary range: $58,000-$65,000. Review of applications will begin in July 2012. Send cover letter, resume, and names of three professional references to: <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:presidentppl@palmer.lib.ma.us" href="mailto:presidentppl@palmer.lib.ma.us">presidentppl@palmer.lib.ma.us</a>. Palmer (MA) Public Library web site: <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.palmer.lib.ma.us" href="http://www.palmer.lib.ma.us/" target="_blank">www.palmer.lib.ma.us</a>.

Library Director – Palmer (MA) Public Library

Library Director – Palmer (MA) Public Library. Creative, energetic leader with strong public service orientation needed to direct all phases of operations in a busy vibrant library, recently expanded to 30,000 square feet on 3 floors; experienced …

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IdeaConnection: Open Innovation success story: Open Innovation: Goldcorp Challenge

<br /> <div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /> "The Goldcorp Challenge was launched in March 2000 and 400 megabytes worth of data about the 55,000 acre site was placed on the company’s website. Everything that the company new about the Red Lake mine was a mouse click away. Word spread fast around the Internet and within a few weeks submissions came in from all over the world as more than 1,000 virtual prospectors chewed over the data." There were 100 sites identified, 50% of them unknown to the company based upon this data. Goldcorp became one of the most profitable in the industry. This is an example of open data and collaboration. This type of challenge is being used increasingly as people "crowdsource" as they outsource their problem solving and R&D through the use of challenges. Challenges are also a way for the great, but unnoticed and unrecognized, to rise to the top. What if we opened up data that we collect on students for problem solving?<br/><br />via Diigo http://www.ideaconnection.com/open-innovation-success/Open-Innovation-Goldcorp-Challenge-00031.html<br /> </div><br />

blogger Collaboration EDUCATION evernote opendata tumblr IdeaConnection: Open Innovation success story: Open Innovation: Goldcorp Challenge

"The Goldcorp Challenge was launched in March 2000 and 400 megabytes worth of data about the 55,000 acre site was placed on the company’s website. Everything that the company new about the Red Lake mine was a mouse click away. Wor…

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A report back on African Education Week 2012

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Submitted by Janet Thomson, Executive Director of SchoolNetSA</i></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On 2-4 July 2012 I attended Education Week which is one of the the largest education conferences and exhibitions in Africa. It was held at the Sandton Centre in Johannesburg. This post serves to highlight some of the presentations given during Education Week 2012. </span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1MlK7oCcDJ07mzkqrDWmdtbklDmHGdy1DQSvlC2U62sPo9vXYEpBHjogrs03cD9HuNTeRvbiy77ifVepMtad8UUSqLWTTK9ymwm9R-xIoYZbx9yOOi6VHyL7nARHe_cDVS4cz83qIxw/s1600/edweek.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1MlK7oCcDJ07mzkqrDWmdtbklDmHGdy1DQSvlC2U62sPo9vXYEpBHjogrs03cD9HuNTeRvbiy77ifVepMtad8UUSqLWTTK9ymwm9R-xIoYZbx9yOOi6VHyL7nARHe_cDVS4cz83qIxw/s400/edweek.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1) How to use and build online communities <i> </i></b></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><i>by Janet Thomson, Executive Director of SchoolnetSA</i> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">The organisers of the African Education Week conference requested SchoolNet to make a presentation at the conference on building and using online communities. Currently SchoolNet is building its SchoolNet Membership community using the <a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/">SchoolNetsa members’ blog</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SchoolNetSA">Facebook page</a>, Twitter <a href="mailto:*@schoolnetsa">@schoolnetsa</a> and a host of other online digital media. Furthermore for the past 12 years SchoolNet has been sustaining communities of teachers while they study online courses in ICT integration across the curriculum both in South Africa and in other countries. I presented on this topic at the conference. Here is a link to the presentation. My presentation is embedded below – the notes under each slide provide the narrative (but this will only be viewable if you download the presentation from Slideshare as a PowerPoint). </span></div><div id="__ss_13660838" style="width: 425px;"><b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0px 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Schoolnetsa11/how-to-use-and-build-online-communities-by-janet-thomson" title="How to use and build online communities by Janet Thomson">How to use and build online communities by Janet Thomson</a></b><object height="355" id="__sse13660838" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=jthomson4julyschoolnetsa-120716170950-phpapp01&stripped_title=how-to-use-and-build-online-communities-by-janet-thomson&userName=Schoolnetsa11" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="__sse13660838" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=jthomson4julyschoolnetsa-120716170950-phpapp01&stripped_title=how-to-use-and-build-online-communities-by-janet-thomson&userName=Schoolnetsa11" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> <br /><div style="padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Schoolnetsa11">Schoolnet SA </a>.</div></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Other highlights of the ICT thread of the conference included the following: </span></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">2) Enhancing creativity and nurturing innovative thinking skills by the use of interactive mobile technology and Cloud Computing </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></b><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">by Gisle Johnsen, CEO, Grieg Music Education & Assistant Professor, University of Bergen, Norway</i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gisle had been concerned that teachers tend to educate for yesterday instead of creating a society for tomorrow. He felt that creativity was the key to ensuring that civil society remains productive and that we should not just encourage learners to view art in museums or listen to music but to rather be the creators of their own music. Using a library of music for learners to select from that spanned all music genres and through the ages was mind-blowingly creative. The format of the programme is via an animation of a child wandering along a time line of history selecting what she would like to remix from each era or genre to make her own music. Gisle explained that children do not care about chopping up a piece of Beethoven or pasting the drums of Charlie Potts of the Rolling Stones into their highly diverse creations which could include a whole symphony orchestra. We hope to be given access to this online tool at no cost and will endeavour to share this with our SchoolNet member schools. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">3) Do you know the top 10 tools that are free to use?</span><i> </i></b><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">by</span><b> </b>Sarietjie Musgrave, Head, ICT Innovation in School of Education, Bloemfontein</i><br /><i> </i> <br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sarietjie selected a few really valuable tools rather than wading through a top 10 list. She explored their use in being supportive to effective teaching, e.g. One Note, Qwiki, and a polling tool.The audience was transfixed by Sarietjie. It was as though they had never thought of using technology at all, let alone these whizz bang fantastic tools. Sarietjie took extra time at the end of the session and spilled over into lunchtime but nobody left – and after her talk she was inundated with questions about the use of the tools and where they could be accessed. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">4) Practical hands on training session, bring your gadgets & gismos along…Revolutionising classroom practices with Facebook, Twitter and all the other Goobleedees</span></b><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">    by</i><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></b><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Maggie Verster, Senior Consultant, The Commonwealth of Learning, South Africa</i><br /><i> </i> <br /><i></i> <br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maggie presented as usual with great gusto and enthusiasm but for some reason the majority of the audience did not get out their phones and join in. There were some tweets up on the back chat but the delegates to this conference did not seem to be nearly as adventurous as Maggie would have hoped. Nevertheless her presentation was excellent as usual. She used a poll <a href="http://twtpoll.com/2dwqo7">http://twtpoll.com/2dwqo7</a> to ask the question who is going to save our education system – the teachers, the parents, or the Education Department – the audience had to vote and the results refreshed automatically. Maggie extolled the virtues of powerful polling among students or even adult groups of learners. She also extolled the virtues of using the SchoolNet website and blog and webinars – in fact she did this so well during the conference that a few people told me they thought she worked for SchoolNet. </span></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">5) Practical mobile learning session: Using tools your learners have </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>by Adele<b><u> </u></b>Botha, Scientist, Next Generation Networks and Mobile research group, CSIR Meraka Institute, South Africa</i></span><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Adele provided an up to date overview of how and why learners are connected to the world of information through the device in their pockets. She sketched out the scenarios in South Africa and the need to embrace and harness the mobile revolution currently happening in the world of learners. She warned that reactive policies such as banning cell phones were not going to work and in fact only serve to further alienate learners from learning. Adele’s presentation contained some hilarious cartoons about evolution and about the use of technology in this day and age and she highlighted some interesting facts e.g. Today’s grade 12 learners had never not had the internet. She was concerned about technology being viewed only as disruptive and authorities taking the view that with cell phone use there is nobody on playground duty. She gave a super example of a teacher with a low end phone with no sim card and how she divided the class into groups who each made video one after the other critiquing and improving it each time – the topic was ‘A dictator’ – so a whole project was created around dictatorship using the video feature of a low end phone with no connectivity and 60 students! They were certainly learning 21^st century skills. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">6) CoZa Cares Foundation and the sustainable ICT school environment</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">  by Fiona Wallace, Director, CoZa Cares Foundation, South Africa</i></span><br /><i> </i> <br /><i></i> <br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maggie Verster kept a back chat going throughout this presentation. Fiona spoke about current research into the educational ICT field being conducted by Bridge and funded by Uniforum. She promised that the findings would be shared and would probably be available by the end of Augus.Fiona also mentioned that Coza Cares is working on a portal for teachers to share resources. She also made reference to the Bread bin open source information service. Fiona suggested that connectivity was not necessarily the most important issue in education but that the benefits can be huge – e.g. it can bring the world library into a school. She was excited about the latest developments concerning broadband Internet over satellite – using a company called LiquidTelecom who are currently researching connectivity options for schools. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>7) Teaching and learning to reflect the digital lifestyle of our youth</b></span></div><b></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>by Michelle Lissoos, Managing Director, Think Ahead Solutions, iSchools Africa, South Africa</i></span> <br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Michelle started her presentation with a reference to the fact that the first date that Michael J Fox travels to in the first Back to the Future film was last week – June 2012. The message here was - so the future is now. What was even more interesting for me was that when I mentioned the film to my daughter she already knew about the date being last week but she reminded me that the film maker’s image of the future involved having a fax machine in every room. I am old enough to remember how exciting the invention of the fax machine was so this brought it home to me that no matter what technology we might be wowed with at the moment there is no telling whether it will be around in another 20, 10 or even 5 years. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Michelle referred to the 2013 Horizon Report which documents trends in technology use for school education. It identifies and describes the emerging technologies which are likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe and makes predictions about their lifespan. It was interesting that SchoolNet SA’s Microsoft Xbox initiative was mentioned in this 2012 report as being significant in its impact on literacy for second language learners in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back to Michelle - she explained how the iPad had revolutionised access to educational content and had already launched 47 000 <i><u>educational</u></i> apps. She pointed out the even greater advantages of an IPad if connected to a projector - and even greater with connectivity. A video of learners using Garage Band was shown which resonated well with Gisle’s presentation from Norway. There was also evidence that the iPad was reaching non-verbal children and motivating them to speak. Sarietjie also gave this example that she had witnessed with her own tablet when visiting a school with an autistic child who had not spoken before touching that screen. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Those are just a few of the presentations that I enjoyed listening to in the ICT thread of the Conference. Education week 2012 proved, once again, to be a valuable and enjoyable experience. </span></div></div>

conferences A report back on African Education Week 2012

Submitted by Janet Thomson, Executive Director of SchoolNetSAOn 2-4 July 2012 I attended Education Week which is one of the the largest education conferences and exhibitions in Africa. It was held at the Sandton Centre in Johannesburg. This post serv…

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the crowd is turning

I have a very demanding audience. And they are getting antsy.<br /><br />They are 4 and 1.<br /><br />We started out the summer with a bang doing a million fun things; zoo, pool, playdates, museums, camps, trips. But we've started to loose our fizzle.<br /><br />We went from dancing in the streets.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_oXhz2wCJDbXnS5RvDx0FJALUlS0fTC4MfRZJE2ojCD7zRobst7JEo8BfEFkzQmKpBXPV41j1RPHL7F9VFlJMhXapiRtUKXvd4QCpJ9Rt0hOrHesTpaboW9EsSsZpY8_0uNXuvK4_mFu/s1600/AmeliaStreet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_oXhz2wCJDbXnS5RvDx0FJALUlS0fTC4MfRZJE2ojCD7zRobst7JEo8BfEFkzQmKpBXPV41j1RPHL7F9VFlJMhXapiRtUKXvd4QCpJ9Rt0hOrHesTpaboW9EsSsZpY8_0uNXuvK4_mFu/s400/AmeliaStreet.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;">To doing this.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkyowKWTO3OLaSJhT7Tk5YXJs5jH945hQpKcorfR-ptAcGHylHWtH9DeGXnSVsqP8vFT5Y9jp_CFwzamPiA-u2Pi9frtDZAt0crzjgHaky2WRJQgHY5IZegkypTJCfPzwqN8TQ_H8Nexh/s1600/EveandZoey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkyowKWTO3OLaSJhT7Tk5YXJs5jH945hQpKcorfR-ptAcGHylHWtH9DeGXnSVsqP8vFT5Y9jp_CFwzamPiA-u2Pi9frtDZAt0crzjgHaky2WRJQgHY5IZegkypTJCfPzwqN8TQ_H8Nexh/s400/EveandZoey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;">They are starting to turn on me.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUI5ztK1-jarcVOTqooLgNu4nIVtsjTv1tgv6lIW-AreCBE34SSky10pKPr0vwP_d3TMvKETBkVi_SGV46yrPnTHsyzup2PGGAyn9Xqbf0SWvq9dUAzjA-t2Z3eMDeO7c_wI5n4u_HU1H/s1600/Unhappygirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUI5ztK1-jarcVOTqooLgNu4nIVtsjTv1tgv6lIW-AreCBE34SSky10pKPr0vwP_d3TMvKETBkVi_SGV46yrPnTHsyzup2PGGAyn9Xqbf0SWvq9dUAzjA-t2Z3eMDeO7c_wI5n4u_HU1H/s400/Unhappygirls.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">So this week I'm pulling out every Pinterest trick to get back to this.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLB-TliyvuLhr3PG0b666js4bfANV7McxhByqaQcaZV9ki8aAuUtHZFFuZMrPE4rZMIyIkIcVk5XzXFRwvOfUe2XmLQQ99A54RQV9ED4pQLbmzgPSVr85KV6P49Bb3l66VD6XQTb0H2qe3/s1600/HappyGirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLB-TliyvuLhr3PG0b666js4bfANV7McxhByqaQcaZV9ki8aAuUtHZFFuZMrPE4rZMIyIkIcVk5XzXFRwvOfUe2XmLQQ99A54RQV9ED4pQLbmzgPSVr85KV6P49Bb3l66VD6XQTb0H2qe3/s400/HappyGirls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>How do you deal with the summer slump? How many trips to Target and Michael's can you make in a week? Have you heard of any summer camps for moms? I would be happy to be sent away for a week.

the crowd is turning

I have a very demanding audience. And they are getting antsy.They are 4 and 1.We started out the summer with a bang doing a million fun things; zoo, pool, playdates, museums, camps, trips. But we've started to loose our fizzle.We went from dancing in…

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Uncomfortably Numb

<i>Written on June 16, 2011. I saved this post for when this book goes live so the whole thing would be real to you. These are my thoughts typed at 2 am on the last night of the last deadline of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0132610353/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0132610353&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwbrighc-20">Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpwwwbrighc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0132610353" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. Now, I'm working on<a href="http://www.eyeoneducation.com/Collaborative-Writing-Project" target="_blank"> Collaborative Writing in the Cloud</a> and am rereading because I'm reliving the same thing.</i><br /><i><br /></i><br />I'm sitting here about to watch today turn into tomorrow for the fifth day this week as the final manuscript for the <a href="http://www.flatclassroombook.com/">Flat Classroom Book</a> is combined in Adobe Acrobat Pro.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUw60fVdsdpnkpncQ3mP2djqdI_-3GtSX3Kx6MX7Ok5n3GjDG9PaN87UUU2JD8f5diongUJOwQxci6mL5BRhrUuI06UUivYH0veLrTZss3qqMzUV8lUruKqb2CfePHMdJZ3akG8V4Kk_zu/s288/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUw60fVdsdpnkpncQ3mP2djqdI_-3GtSX3Kx6MX7Ok5n3GjDG9PaN87UUU2JD8f5diongUJOwQxci6mL5BRhrUuI06UUivYH0veLrTZss3qqMzUV8lUruKqb2CfePHMdJZ3akG8V4Kk_zu/s288/3.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo snapped after weeks of<br />no sleep as I prepared to<br />overnight Flattening Classrooms,<br />Engaging Minds to Pearson.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I'm too tired to reflect right now. I've always romanticized authors. Alone in some cabin nestled amidst the Rocky Mountains all alone with a typewriter working away at some book that's going to change the world and inspire the millions. With a dog sitting on his feet and a fire crackling in the fireplace, he swigs a perpetually full cup of eternally warm coffee as the words flow. Everything comes so fast it is ready for the publisher and he's starting the next book in his mind before this one is printed.<br /><br />Alone. Wow.<br /><br />That is about the only thing in this picture that is accurate. <b><span style="font-size: large;">Alone.</span></b><br /><br />I'm too tired to really explain it. That probably explains a lot.<br /><br />The best explanation is from Jeremiah:<br /><blockquote>"<span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;"> his word is in my heart like a fire,<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19732346" name="2"></a> a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in;<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19732346" name="3"></a> indeed, I cannot."</span></blockquote><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;">Some people tire of writing. For those of us who love to write, that would be kind of like getting tired of breathing. We have to get those words out. When they flow we know and we're afraid to stop.</span><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;"><br /></span><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;">We don't sleep. We don't eat. We don't do anything but sit and write and proofread and fix and write and crash the computer and when we can't take it any more we crash for a moment just to pop wide awake two hours later knowing we have to start over.</span><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;"><br /></span><br /><h3><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;">Epic Movies<br /></span></h3><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;">The great movies of history and obscure tv shows have kept me company. Gone with the Wind, about 30 episodes of Numb3rs (it doesn't distract me, I've seen them all twice anyway), the Christian classic <a href="http://www.faithlikepotatoes.com/Faith_like_Potatoes/Faith_like_Potatoes.html" target="_blank">Faith Like Potatoes</a>, and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082158/" target="_blank">Chariots of Fire</a> (three times at least once a day.)</span><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;"><br /></span><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;">I like Chariots of Fire because each runner is driven. So driven that all they focus on is that one thing. Their families get mad at them. They are misunderstood. People tell them to stop. Lots of people don't even like them, but they go anyway. </span><br /><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;">There are some quotes that really speak to me. This fire I have in my bones. I won't presume to call it a gift, really, more of a calling. A purpose:<br /></span><br /><span class="versetext" id="jer20-9" style="display: inline;"><br /></span><br /><blockquote>I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure. <br />— <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/802465.Eric_Liddell">Eric Liddell</a> Chariots of Fire</blockquote><br />Gosh, sometimes I wish I was really noble. But then, when I realize that if I follow God's calling on my life; His purpose, that I am noble. You are too. He made me to write. I've been doing it since Mom gave me my first journal when I was 8. Why have I always written? I don't know. It was rarely fiction, though. It was observations on life, poetry, non fiction. Wrangling words to unleash some new fine shade of meaning like an artist trying to make a new color no one had ever seen before. Somehow when I write I feel His pleasure.<br /><blockquote><br /><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002027/">Harold M. Abrahams</a></b>: If I can't win, I won't run! <br /><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000481/">Sybil Gordon</a></b>: If you don't run, you can't win.</blockquote><br />It is a struggle. Wanting to do your best is not the same as being the best. But it is kind of like grades - you should do your best and if you are first then glory be - if you're not, say oh me and do better next time. But you have to realize that once you've given all you've got that is enough. It has to be.<br /><br />When I've given all I can give then I'll know I've lived all I could live. I pray when I die that I'll not have one more word left to drip from my calloused fingers but that every word God called me to write will have been poured out of my tired body.<br /><blockquote><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002027/">Harold M. Abrahams</a></b>: I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But WILL I?  </blockquote>This is the one that breaks my heart. Abrahams and Liddell are such a contrast in characters! Such different people! Abrahams runs to win (and because he has a chip on his shoulder) and Liddell runs because he feels called. If you've read my blog you know that I was very much shaped by my middle school years.<br /><br /><h3>Thoughts in the Night</h3>For a while I actually believed I was worthless and no one would ever like me. That insecurity comes back to haunt me.<br /><br />When I'm sitting with all of you at the edublogger cafe at ISTE and I see one of you and feel like you are actually happy to see me, it feels surreal sometimes. I felt the same thing at Georgia Tech. Every once in a while I think some guy in the corner is going to speak up and tell everyone to let me know that it was all a big joke and that no one really liked me anyway.<br /><br />I had way too many people who used me in middle and high school. They'd use me to help them with their grades or to do something and once it was over, they'd cast me aside and I'd realize that I was used yet again.<br /><br />That is why I'm so distrustful of people sometimes. I like real people who care about other real people. The kind who look you in the eye. I get so many emails now. People wanting to guest blog. People pretending like they read my blog when I know it is just a form letter - pr firms sending me their press release like they are some long lost friend. People who just want to use me for this blog or Twitter or whatever.<br /><br />That's why my "old friends" have such an advantage. The "big time" presenters who were nice to me when I wasn't cool and the cat was something I fed every morning before I went to school. Those are the people I trust.<br /><br />Some "famous" edtech gurus wouldn't talk to me until I had 10,000 people reading this blog. Sure, I'm cordial, but you're not going to see me sitting cosy because that would be using them and that stinks.<br /><br />People like <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alfredth/" target="_blank">Alfred Thompson</a>, <a href="http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?page_id=2" target="_blank">David Warlick</a>, and <a href="http://www.downes.ca/" target="_blank">Stephen Downes</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.mguhlin.org/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Miguel Guhlin">Miguel Guhlin</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Wes Fryer">Wes Fryer</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://cheryloakes50.blogspot.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Cheryl Oakes">Cheryl Oakes</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://wearejustlearning.ca/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Sharon Peters">Sharon Peters</a> who like newbies and are kind, these are people I appreciate and have my loyalty. But I also make a lot of new friends like <a href="http://murcha.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Anne Mirstchin</a>, <a href="http://www.angelamaiers.com/" target="_blank">Angela Maiers</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewko888" target="_blank">Andrew Ko</a>, <a href="http://teachersignite.opusworks.com/page.asp?wrk=1&bhcp=1" target="_blank">Anne Ostholthoff</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/rksalerno/" target="_blank">Kirby Salerno</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/110296413253774728146" target="_blank">Pooky Hesmonhaulgh</a>, <a href="http://blog.web20classroom.org/" target="_blank">Stephen Anderson</a>, and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/#/cybraryman1" target="_blank">Jerry Blumengarten</a> who are just kind, helpful, hard working people. <i>(And so many more, I'm not naming - please don't be upset if I left you out, it was a matter of time and top of mind.)</i><br /><br />Then there are some people who love newbies but are reverse snobs and if you get a certain number of followers they drop you. That hurts. They think you think you're too big for your britches, and quite honestly, I know I went through a phase where I was too big for my britches: literally and figuratively.  But my friends loved me anyway and knew that I'd come back to center and that I'd realize that in the grand scheme of things I'm no big deal. The big deal is if I can use the blessings of your friendships and following to help others and bless the world. That would be a big deal. Unforgiveness for the inevitable screw up hurts but I have to forgive anyway. Their bitterness will only hurt them.<br /><br />Then there are those who are your friend till you screw up. Unfortunately, we all screw up. Or, I should say fortunately, because then you find out who your true friends are.<br /><h3><span style="font-weight: normal;">Numb and Pondering Something Dumb</span></h3>Well now, I'm numb. I'm exhausted. I don't know what this book or I will become but I do know that it will go to print. Once I sat at my computer looking at all the files wondering what would happen if I just selected all the files and pressed delete and moved on with my life. In many ways we are afraid to put ourselves out there.<br /><br />We know that we will have misspelled some words and said something not quite right for that one person who doesn't publish anything and has made a career of semantic debate with little meaning.<br /><br />I'm numb. Uncomfortably numb. In many ways, I hope this book will make people uncomfortable and let them be no longer numb to the great wide world out there.<br /><br />Now the veil has been drawn back of what authoring is really about. A tiring, lonely, messy, exhausting business. And yet, it is the calling of my life and I will write rigorously until my fingers freeze in rigor. It is what I was made to do. I love it. Thank you to all of you who have made it possible by following this blog and telling others. <br /><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=c6b1f31b-50f1-4327-9a89-4356ba29d0a3" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>

Uncomfortably Numb

Written on June 16, 2011. I saved this post for when this book goes live so the whole thing would be real to you. These are my thoughts typed at 2 am on the last night of the last deadline of Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds. Now, I'm working on…

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