My Twitter Timeline Inographic

I visited Paige Graiser's twitter stream after Nancy Blair tweeted that Paige was in New Orleans teaching teachers about Twitter. I found Paige's blog and was intrigued by this post. When I visited the site that creates the infographic and entered my Twitter handle here is what is created

Built by Cartridge Save, providers of Epson Stylus Photo ink

Calling All ISTE11 Newbies

My friend, Beth Still, has been working with the ISTE organizers to make the convention experience less intimidating for first timers. Thanks in part to her efforts, this year for the first time there will be a Newbie Lounge. Beth is working to get veteran ISTE attendees from her personal learning network (PLN) to be there to help welcome the newbies.

There were almost 13,000 attendees at ISTE in Denver last year. That's more people than were in some of the towns I lived in as a kid. A number like that can be a staggering statistic to someone who is attending for the first time. So when you are feeling overwhelmed head to the Newbie Lounge for a breather.

I am one of the veteran ISTE goers who answered Beth's call. She and I tweeted back and forth and finally I came up with a plan. I am hosting a BYOB (bring your own breakfast) Monday morning, June 27 at 8:00 in the Newbie Lounge. I have already been contacted (mostly through Twitter) by over two dozen newbies who plan to attend. I sure hope if you will add this event to your conference planner.

In her usual helpful style, Beth created a video showing how to use Google Maps to locate donut shops close to the PACC (Pennsylvania Convention Center). Are you going to join us?

Enjoying #4thchat and #elemchat

I have been helping to moderate #4thchat on Twitter since it debutted on Monday, March 21, 2011 with the topic Brain Breaks. If you don't understand how ed chats on Twitter work, check out this post where I explain it in more detail.

I would like to thank Jeanne McQueen (aka @jmplus2 ) for inviting me to help moderate #4thchats. The other moderators are Nancy Carroll (aka @ncarroll24) and Justin Stortz (aka @newfirewithin). Justin also created our #4thchat logo. I love working with this team and am glad that I have gotten to know them better through our interaction on Twitter.

Check out the archives of the #4thchats on our wiki. And remember to join us on Mondays at 7:00 Central (8:00 Eastern)

Another chat I am loving is #elemchat which is now taking place on Twitter on Saturdays at 5 Central (6 Eastern). This one is moderated by seven great educators. This chat was born on July 8, 2010. Check out their Archives and Summaries.

These two chats account for two hours of my time during each week. To some people who don't "get" Twitter that might seem like a waste of time. I can tell you that I love the learning, sharing, and interactions that occur during these chats. I anxiously await for them to start and hate when the hour is over. If you have never attended a chat try one of these out or check out this list by our good friend Cybraryman1.

Do you love #4thchat or #elemchat as much as I do? Is there another educational chat that you love? Please leave a comment explaining why you do.

Joining the Big Time

I have spent the first week off putting together my first presentation that I am being paid to do. WooHoo!! I am excited but also very nervous. This is what I have been working toward for the last two years. Thanks to Ken Shelton for suggesting me as a replacement when a scheduling conflict didn't allow him to do this presentation. He sent me a direct message on Twitter asking if I would be interested. I immediately answered back that I was, but didn't think Region 8 would find me an acceptable replacement for him. When I was very surprised to receive an email from Margaret Henderson inviting my to present at the Region 8 Summer Institute.

It is Sunday night and I have put together a Google site that contains my presentation. I try to be as paperless as possible so everything from the agenda, to the presentation, to the handouts, and the evaluation are all a part of the site. I have tweeted to a few close friends to look it over and give me feedback. So far, so good. They think I have done well getting organized and think I have a great presentation. Their feedback makes me feel better but I'm still nervous!

I will leave Tuesday afternoon to drive to Monroe. The event in taking place on the campus of Louisiana University at Monroe on Wednesday form 9:30-3:00. I checked with Margaret to see if any sites I wanted to use were blocked. She assured me that everything from YouTube to Skype will work for me.

I have tried to make my workshop a nice mix of lecture, time for discovery, collaborative group work, and participatory. We are even going to have a Smackdown at the end of the day. Wish me luck.

Time Keeps on Slipping into the Future

I am amazed that I spend so much time at my computer but don't seem able to find the time to update this blog on a regular basis. Maybe part of the reason is I spend quite a bit of time moderating my students' posts and the over 1,900 comments they received thanks to using the hashtag #comments4kids on Twitter.



I finished school for the 2010-2011 on Thursday, May 26. I walked out of school very happy that my classroom was finally packed up for the summer and knowing I would not have to return on Friday to finish.

I left New Orleans Friday afternoon and headed to Baton Rouge with one of my best friends to attend the Bayou Country SuperFest. The BCS was being held at the LSU stadium over the Memorial Day weekend. It was a great way to relax and unwind after a super busy school year. I slept late each day since we weren't going to the stadium until about 6:00 pm each day. We heard Trace Adkins, Sugarland, and Tim McGraw on Saturday and Billy Currington, The Zac Brown Band, and Kenny Chesney on Sunday. We left Baton Rouge on Monday and had lunch (needed a Swamp Burger) before getting back to our homes. It was a fantastic weekend - thank you so much, Janet.

May 1, 2011 - The Death of Osama bin Laden

I am alone and in tears in a hotel room in Houston. I am confused by my feelings.

As I was responding to emails. I heard a story on Fox News that caught my attention. I stopped what I was doing and started watching the news report. I learned the President was about to address the nation. Then I heard that Osama bin Laden was dead. My first reaction was a fist pump and a loudly yell "YES!" Since it is late and I am hours from my home in New Orleans, I wanted to reach out to others and share the news.

Created by Dean Mantz on Wordle.net

I opened TweetDeck on my computer and started following the stream of tweets. Most were expressing a satisfaction that he was dead. But there were others who were critical of the outpouring of joy over the death of a man. Other shared links to breaking news reports, and still others shared pictures or videos of crowds celebrating the news that bin Laden was dead. Each new tweet had my emotions in a whirl. Should I be joyous? Should I be outraged by the celebrating by others?

I clearly remember September 11, 2001. Back then I got ready to go to work in a quiet house - no radio, no TV, and of course Twitter didn't exist yet. I liked my solitude in the mornings as I prepared for work. When I arrived at school on that brilliantly beautiful morning, another teacher asked me if I had heard the news about a plane hitting the World Trade Center in New York. I had been in New York the week before attending the U.S. Open and had gone to the World Trade Center twice while I was there.

I ran to my classroom and turned on the TV and started up a computer. I was trying to wrap my head around what was happening when I watched as the second plane flew into the other tower. I had to make a decision because my 4th graders were starting to arrive. I turned off the TV, and muted the sound on the computer and positioned it so my students couldn't see it. I was trying to decide if I should talk to them about what was happening or not. Well, that decision would not be mine to make. Our principal came rushing into my room and announced that the superintendent of our district had just announced we were not to talk about it or share any of the images of what was happening with our students. We were to protect them from the horrible events that were unfolding.

During the day the teachers took turns getting updates in the teacher's lounge and trying to comprehend this horrific event. Parents started arriving to check their children out early. The children were confused and a little bit frightened. I told them that an event had occurred in New York that their parents would tell them about when they got home. I left school early that day and spent the rest of it glued to the TV watching as the events of the day were replayed on all the channels. I cried and cried. I remember being scared as I wondered what would happen in the coming days. I wondered how our world would change.

We had the next day off from school mainly because our superintendent was worried. Our district has children from 88 countries including many from Iran and Iraq, so she wanted us to have another day to deal with our feelings in private before returning to school. The next days and weeks were kind of surreal. Everyone went through the routine, but we all had a numb feeling. Slowly things returned to normal. But I knew I would never forget.

So tonight I am struggling with all of the feelings that resurfaced from 9/11. I have vascillated between being joyous and being concerned that I am joyous. I am both grateful that a terrible man no longer exists, but confused because I am celebrating a death.

I read this post by Tom Whitby. I guess his last sentence sums up my feelings.

God Bless the USA.

What is a Twitter #chat?

One of my new favorite activities on Twitter are joining in on some of the smaller Twitter chats that take place each week. I am good friends with Steven Anderson and Mary Beth Hertz, two of the founders of the granddaddy of all educational chats, #edchat. I was lucky enough to spend a few days with them and other members of my PLN in Estes Park before ISTE last summer. They showed me first hand how a chat happens on Twitter. (Correction: #edchat was founded by Shelly Terrell, Tom Whitby, and Steve. Mary Beth, who actively participates, was not a founder of #edchat . Thank you CybraryMan1 for helping me get the facts straight.)

First of all the organizers must decide on a hashtag. A hashtag is the # sign that is used in front of some letters (#edchat). Then they decide on what day of the week and hour of the day they what the chat to occur (#edchat occurs on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm EST in the US). By the way chats are usually scheduled to last an hour, but you don't have to arrive on time or stay the entire time.

The organizers will usually set up a poll listing four or five topics for the upcoming chat. They tweet out the poll information and interested people on Twitter can cast a vote for the topic of their choice. When the poll closes the winning topic is the one that the #edchat (or other chats) will focus on that week. Everyone who wants to be a part of the chat must put that hashtag somewhere in their update. There are usually several moderators for each chat who help keep everyone on track by stating the topic at the beginning of the hour, asking guiding questions during the chat, and generally keeping the conversation flowing.



Okay, now what? Well if you use a Twitter client like TweetDeck or TweetGrid you can set up a column which will search the Twitter stream for the hashtag you are following and put all those tweets in the column for you. It makes it easier to follow the discussion. Well, that's what Steve and MaryBeth told me and I tried it, but I was definitely overwhelmed. There can be tweets coming in from over 1,000 people during #edchat and I find it difficult to keep up.



That is why I like the smaller educational chats that are popping up. Two of my favorites are #elemchat and #4thchat. #elemchat occurs on Saturdays at 5:00 EST for elementary educators or interested parties, and #4thchat occurs on Mondays at 8:00 EST for primarily 4th grade teachers, but all are welcome. Again the moderators usually put out a poll to determine the topic for the upcoming week. I am one of the moderators for #4thchat along with Jeanne McQueen (the founder of #4thchat), Nancy Carroll, and Justin Stortz. Jeanne launched #4thchat on March 21, 2011 with the topic Brain Breaks. Archives of the chats can be found on the 4thchat wiki.