Monitor and Adjust

When I was working on my teaching certification through the Alternate Route Program, a phrase that came up throughout the year was "monitor and adjust".  Tammy Jenkins and Phyllis Bivins-Hudson reassured a media center full of first year teachers each week.  They reminded us regularly that we should always be assessing our own situation in the classroom and making changes to make things work because sometimes, even the best laid plans are bound not to work.

If you were able to see all the entries I've begun but were not perfect enough for me to post (reference back to original entry), you would be shocked (but not really if you knew me), or maybe not because I suspect many of us are the same way.  I romanticize that I could be the Carrie Bradshaw of tech blog-dom, but let's face it, I'm so not. So today, I choose to "monitor and adjust".

Anyway, I've had lots of time while on vacation to consider my inner (okay, outer) perfectionist tendencies (again reference back to original post) and the goals and intentions of my tech blog. If I had all the free time in the world, I would write grandiose descriptions, step-by-step instructions, complete with pictures (for all the visual learners out there).  But even given the perfect, and I mean perfect, conditions (all the free time in the world, and living, albeit temporarily, in paradise), I still CANNOT complete a blog entry like the "perfect" one I imagine in my head.

I CAN twit what I'm doing in 140 characters or less.  I CAN refer to myself in the third person and let you know what's on my mind. And man, am I good at saving cool stuff on delicious!

Writing over the summer could mean this post goes straight to the virtual circular file to never be read with millions of other blogs, but I will actually be completing my first entry in months.  Oh well, c'est la vie! Just make sure your battery is fully charged and your signal strength is EXCELLENT, there's some very cool stuff that you've got to check out!  Enjoy!

Academic Earth

Okay, this site is not exactly geared towards elementary students, but HOLY COW it is incredible! Academic Earth is the host of over 1500 video lectures from universities like MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The site is free, but you must register. Top scholars share their knowledge on subjects ranging from Astronomy to Economics, Biology to Philosophy, and Entrepreneurship. Amazing!

http://academicearth.org/

Help! I can't open this file at school!!!

Have you ever completed work at home, emailed it to yourself to find that you are unable to open it? How about when a student or parent emails a project, and you cannot view it at all? Chances are, the version that was created off-site is from a newer version of Microsoft Office. Downloading the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack will solve the problem. The converter will allow you to open, edit and save Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 files.

Just click the download button, save the converter to your desktop, then double-click to launch the installer. That's it!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

Shift Happens

My husband, Steve, recently facilitated an online staff college entitled "Shift Happens". While I was not successful in completing the course (he did not give me credit), I was very impacted by the message conveyed in the video we were asked to view, "Shift Happens".

I've watched the video more than once, and it's really motivated me to think about things that I can do to reflect the exponential changes in technology. I was even firing off ideas to Steve in the middle of the tasting menu at Gramercy Tavern. Can you say excited?

Getting Over It

Here is my first blog entry. Hooray! I have thought about this blog at great length. I've been thinking about it, at least since the beginning of the school year.

A little about my writing style...I love to purchase journals, but have a block about potentially long term, open-ended writing, and as a result, have many beautiful, untouched journals. I think the open-endedness scares me, and I like things to be perfect before letting anyone else see it. I've learned recently, courtesy of Reggie Rudolph, that it is my Concrete Sequential learning style. I must say in my defense though, I did purchase a five year journal at the start of last summer. That's right, five years! The format of the journal is perfect for me. For each calendar day, there are five blank entries, one for each of the five years. The blank entries are only six or seven lines each, which is perfect for me... I am able to see an end in sight. I am proud to report that I have journaled everyday since June 1, 2008.

Anyway, I'm sure that many a blog begin and end just like this. An introduction stating that the author is not good at writing, the author is very excited at the prospect of maintaining his/her writing, and maybe some crazy ideas of the topics that might be covered in this brand new blog.

I stated in the intro that I would use this blog as a source for all things techy at Cedar Hill. There is so much that I've sent via email or have somewhere in my personal drive that I've decided it's time to keep it in a central place, and maybe even share. :) (Not good at that either, it's my CS). I'd also like to chronicle the triumphs and defeats of the integrated projects we work on with the kids.

In closing, I'm getting over it... and so can you!

p.s.- The "liking things perfect before anyone sees it" affliction is very much in full force. Since my initial posted, I've already revised and edited several times!