1. I’m still missing my friend Jen Wagner. Thankfully I was able to talk to her for a bit yesterday before David Jakes and Dean Shareski’s session yesterday morning. You too Diana, but you are off hammocking in the jungle somewhere.
2. ISTE’s done a better job  this year I think of keeping rooms from overflowing into the hallways. It has reminded me of going to Disney World and using the FAST Pass system for the rides. In the sessions I went to last night I averaged getting there almost 45 minutes early just to make sure I had a seat.
3. I made it through yesterday having successfully accomplished my daily goal of learning ‘one thing’. Thanks to David Jakes for making sure that happened. He showed Flickrstorm to help in finding Creative Commons images. 
4. Blogger’s Cafe. Wow….just like last year. Conversations, un-conference type learning and connecting with other like minded individuals. Finally getting to meet f2f many of the people that I follow in blogs and twitter is amazing. 

1. I miss Jenn Wagner. Yea I know we spoke last night on skype, but I still wish you were here!
2. I am not as young as I used to be, it’s getting harder and harder to wake up in the morning after staying out to wee hours of the morning with my DEN friends.
3. The DEN continues to amaze me with the experiences and opportunities they give to their DEN educators to network with each other. They are adept at putting us in the position to come away with great ideas, not from them, but from other educators from around the country.
4. Mogulus: wow…..I’m not happy I’ve been disconnected for four months. Wonderful idea for my ever dwindling ability to have PD for my teachers.
5. Did I mention I’m getting older and tougher to wake up in the AM?

Time for the REAL day to start. Going to break open my 2nd NECC with a session with Vicki Davis on wikis. Looking forward to it.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Then along comes my daughter. Yesterday she says to my wife and I that she is ready to get her hair cut, but instead of just throwing the hair away, she wanted to donate it. We had talked about it a few years ago, donating her hair, but she was still a little bit young, and I wanted the final decision to be hers, when she was ready. It seemed yesterday was the day that she wanted to do this.

  We didn’t think of taking a before shot, so we had to recreate it as best as well could. Here’s an after shot as well. It’s times like these as a parent that makes it so easy to say that having a child  was the right thing to do. And for all the naysayers, like my parents, I know she will be a teenager soon, so I will just have to cherish these moments for as long as I can :).

For those of you that have the ability donate, Locks of Love is the name of the organization that we are donating to. Thanks for letting me dote a little. Sometimes it’s just that necessary!

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Part of me is excited about getting a new teacher on campus who’s sought me out and asking if we had this and had that on our campus. I have made a concerted effort to make sure that she has everything that she needs to help make her students succeed in her class. I’ve already set her up with our last SMART board that wasn’t being utilized, a document camera and am in the process of setting up 3 more laptops for her to create some learning/literacy centers. It’s been a ray of sunshine to help me get out of my doldrums.

The other thing that came just at the right time is a blog post from Kim Cofino titled “Making the Shift Happen.” Alot of what she blogs about in this article I’ve been saying for the last few months. One of the phrases I used in my interview with the Women of Web 2.0 back in January was “Paradigm Shift”. I saw a question yesterday on Twitter to describe what 21st Century Skills were being developed in our schools. In theory, the paradigm should have shifted almost a decade ago, leading into the new century. Unfortunately, and sadly, many schools are still ‘trying’ to make the shift. As I described it in a followup tweet, “My school is in a quagmire of 19th Century learning practices.” I don’t really want to rehash everything that Kim writes about, I do urge you to go out and read it. It’s definitely an article that most schools/districts could sink their teeth into and utilize.

On a lighter note. I do want to finish with a SHOCKING development in the life of Tom Turner. I sent out the tweet for those that follow me on twitter this is old news. But I Tom Turner am now the proud owner of a MacBook laptop computer. I Tom Turner who swore up and down as early as 2 years ago that I would NEVER own a Mac now owns one. With the probability of owning another 2 within the next year and a half. Here’s some images of my new beauty next to a dinosaur in one of the pics. I’m ever so pleased about my purchase! Until later!

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Technorati Tags: mac edtech education technology

Having just opened a brand new school, with well over $500,000 worth of technology throughout the campus, with all honesty, my students and teachers are not wanting for much. The one thing they are complaining about NOT having is an overhead projector (***CRINGE***). I took the liberty of talking the principal into order Avermedia’s Document Cameras for the classrooms. Not ideal, but remember my good friend Jen Wagner’s mantra, “Baby Steps”.

The underlying issue that remains, as Dean also points out, is “Lack of training, challenges around support.” Is this not the same argument against 1:1 computing initiatives? Teachers consistently point out that they have no guidance as to how to utilize a classroom full of computers for an entire period. As these machines age, what type of replacement plan is in place? What type of warranty is set up for when machines break down during the life of the computer? All valid questions. One term that I hear alot from people within the ed tech community is that we are in our own little ‘echo chamber’. I sometimes forget that I work with very much NEVER or newer adapters. Some do it willingly, some get it, some don’t.

So what’s the solution? Not withstanding teacher buy-in of integration concepts, but a total overhaul of what administration thinks education is all about. I’ve spoken ad nauseum of this, as I’m sure many others have. I think a focus needs to shift from not only concentrating on the teachers, but delving deeper into administration understanding what tools are out there, and their educational values. I’d like to see the days of hearing “there’s no time for that type of stuff in our classrooms” and “you should be concentrating on real reading and writing concepts and principles” behind us. Until this happens, we’re destined to be trudging through the mud that is 20th Century Education that we’re still mired in.

And by the way Dean…Love the animoto! The few students that I’ve used it with so far have been very excited about it’s ease of use. A very nice way to introduce storytelling.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Technorati Tags: shareski XO education edtech

Thursday was spent in panel discussions with one of the vendors off of the exhibit hall floor. It was a new experience for me, I’d never participated in a forum like that before. I felt no remorse about being away from the convention center area for 3 total hours. As I was looking through the conference schedule, the one thing that I noticed the most was the amount of sessions that were a rehash of older ideas, or basic how’to sessions that I really don’t need to go to. So for me, it was a win-win situation.

Friday was a different story. I attended several sessions that I was very pleased about . Digital Booktalks described a different way of doing digital storytelling to get students interested in reading. It involved making book trailers about the books that have been read in class. It forces students to read the book to be able to make the movie. The thing that really didn’t surprise me was when Dr. Perry shared that he saw students who ‘ratted’ out to other students about not really reading the book after watching their trailer. That became the impetus for a conversation to support their argument as to why they thought the other students did not read their book. Students driving their own discussions and education. Is that not what we are here to do.

The other ‘new’ thing to me that I tried on Friday was using/utilizing ustream.tv. As with everything, I’m late getting on the bus with great tools out there to help me learn and to share with my teachers. Steve Dembo and Hall Davidson were gracious enough to let me ustream their presentations. As I’m sitting there streaming out Steve’s, Marie Coleman is streaming Hall’s presentation at the same time from the other end of the convention center. The number of looks I got while sitting there with earbuds in my ear and listening to Steve’s presentation and Hall’s presentation at the same time was priceless. As with all of Steve’s presentations, I usually find one thing that I never knew, or one tool that I can use. This time it’s Jumpcut. I’m going to mess around with it some more before commenting. But first look, it’s pretty nice.

As I close down, I’m sitting here listening to the live panel discussion for Sunday morning at Educon2.0 in Philadelphia. I wonder if there is a place for Huge conferences in a box like FETC and the other state conferences for me? I’m sitting in my garage for the second day in a row running a garage sale and listening and learning and conversing. But more on that later too. I encourage all that have not watched and listened to some of these presentations to check the archive of the presentations on ustream.tv. Well worth it. One of the best quotes I’ve seen so far is from @ijesspederson during one of the sessions. We were talking about Twitter in the channel. Her quote sums it best: “ijesspederson : you are in charge of your own quality control on twitter”. Just food for thought.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Technorati Tags: FETC edtech education technology Educon ustream jumpcut

I was in the chat room. I had intended to ‘try’ and keep up with it. When I saw how FAST it actually went, that thought went away pretty quickly. So first things first, I’m going to try and answer some of the questions posed in the chat that I don’t think were covered in the show, so here goes:

• 21:01:52 sendkathy Anyone here going to FECT next month? Kathy…I will be at FETC all three days. I will probably be wearing my Discovery Educator Network shirts (yellow and light blue)
• 21:18:58 SSedro in Singapore Oh Tom, all four tech coordinators in my district feel exactly the same way. We all want to be working with kids and teachers, not fixing things and pushing paper. Ok, though not really a question, a comment worth copy/pasting here. The more and more that I try to get in the classrooms with teachers, the more and more I get sucked into tech. support and what I like to call ‘hand holding’. Frustration at this point happens when I try to empower my teachers to solve issues on their own, yet I find myself failing at this task. I think of it this way, how can we expect our students to seek and discover solutions to problems on their own, if we are unwilling to do so on our own. It’s a double edged sword.
• 21:20:44 WOScholar We went wifi campus wide for PK - 5. Expect to have 6-8 done within the next month. THen we will have a cloud over our district campuses. I was paid a visit by a colleague from another school. They are having a new campus built, as theirs dates back to the 1920’s. The design will be exactly similar to my building. I advised him about activating all the ports available in the classrooms as the wireless is very flaky at times, and not to be trusted. It seems that the district has seen the error in their ways and are not even installing but a few wireless access points in the new buildings. It is IDEAL to have the wireless available, but not to run the entire network over it. Reliability and efficiency IMO goes way down.
• 21:22:36 CathyN @tom do the kids have email accts? Not at this time they do not. Our district is rolling out to the schools slowly use of gaggle.net email for our students. At this time High School accounts have been created. We’ve been told that at the elementary level, they did not purchase all the bells and whistles that gaggle.net has. I will be slowly adding this in, as I said in the show, I’m working one at a time with teachers rather than as a whole getting everyone on board.
  
• 21:24:10 sendkathy I like Tom’s approach, core people Again, I try to appeal to the basic nature of meeting people’s intrinsic needs. To newer adapters, what we might call a tool, to them it is still a toy. It’s like walking into a TV production studio for the first time and just hooting and hollering and having a good time. It’s the same concept. Once they get over the ‘newness’ of it, the true test begins of molding the use of technology into their everyday lessons. My district uses a similar approach to completing levels of technology proficiency. For each of the 3 levels completed, there is an incentive attached to it (1 gb flash drive, scanner, laptop or LCD projector). Again, intrinsic needs are being met, and new technology is being exposed.
• 21:26:01 jepcke Wikis are my ‘easy’ website builder of choice I have to say that I agree. With regards to working with the younger children than I’ve been used to, the wiki has been a blessing in disguise. They’ve picked it up quick, and without many errors. (http://mrflynn.pbwiki.com is what we’re doing in 4th Grade class at the moment).
• 21:28:46 WOScholar What does Tom find the easiest thing to integrate with primary teachers? A variety of things have been quite simple at integrating with primary teachers. My school right now is HEAVY into using ‘Thinking Maps’ within the daily context of learning. Inspiration has been great at utilizing the thinking map concepts along with images and audio files. I will be holding a short 30 minute session this Friday for my teachers on integrating Inspiration with Discovery streaming. So should be a greater use of both tools come next week, or at least I hope so.
• 21:30:44 megormi Tom in a perfect world, what tech support do you feel every building should have? I’m not really sure I answered this question the way you were asking it Meg. I’ve heard of some districts that share one tech person between several campuses. When I took my position about this time last year, the previous tech guy was just a ‘tech guy’ with no educational experience. As I said during the show, I try to resolve almost all calls within 2 hours. Some days that does not happen, then I have to prioritize which ticket comes first. The other thing that I think is a MUST, is that schools need to hire people in my position with some sort of educational background that will TRULY understand the needs of the teachers, rather than just ‘talk down on them’ like so many horror stories that are out there.
• 21:35:45 Art Gelwicks OR…tech administration who will listen to the needs of the teaching staff and find ways to help rather than just fix the tech. Art, I would go a step further and say just Administration in general. Administration in my estimation is stuck in the dark ages, and not willing to invest the time and energy. So I have to tend to agree with your assessment.
• 21:36:21 Durff can we exchange this guy for our IT person like yesterday? That’s not the first time I’ve heard this statement. Not really a question, but had to post this comment from the chatlog.
• 21:36:33 lizbdavis Has Tom been reading my blog - I’ve been thinking the same things about teaching teachers to fish. Finding constructivist ways to do PD. Unfortunately I’ve not been reading very many blogs at all. I will have to remember to click the link in Twitter to get your blog added to my RSS. Also, skype me (tom.turner19) would LOVE to chat with you regarding some other ideas.
• 21:36:49 jeffmason @Tom one person for tech support, one person for educational support Jeff, in the ideal world for me this would be the case. The district in which my wife works (one county over) they have their technology integration specialists and Tech Support personnel blocked off into 2 different positions. Really what it amounts to is funding. I’m caught between a rock and a hardplace in my district, where I’m classified as a teacher, so I have to do ‘duties’ that take me away from what my job description is supposed to cover.
• 21:37:43 Art Gelwicks I’ve worked with some educators with good intentions but not a clue about technology. “Teach ‘em to Fish”…the only way their good intentions will turn into positive results.
• 21:40:51 CathyN @tom why do u love edublogs–ive had beefs How much do I love thee edublogs, let me count thy ways??? Actually a great question Cathy. First, edublogs is not blocked by my district, so if I’m in need of checking something, or beginning a post while at school I have that ability. I’ve been pleased with the level of support that I’ve received from James when I’ve had issues. To the point where he’s emailed me directly to help solve the issues. I’m a loyalist at heart, and until I no longer receive a level of service that I cannot be happy with, I stick with it. I don’t change the theme of my blog that often, so the # of themes available is not that big of an issue to me. Also, the plugins that are available all work wonderful for me. However, I cannot argue against when someone has had problems in the past. With anything tech, each person will have a differing opinion, and they will find what works for them and stick with it.
• 21:40:48 Sue Waters (Australia) Agreed blackboard is not bloging I know that, you know that, but my district doesn’t. However, with anything, I have to abide by the rules laid out in front of me. Change will come, albeit too slow for me.
• 21:43:57 jeffmason @Tom I’m from Pensacola FL. Look into the Florida Master Digital Educator program http://etc.usf.edu/mde/ I’ve applied. I’ve sent my application in for the third year in a row now. Here’s hoping the third time is the charm.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and wonder HOW in the world you guys listen and keep up with the chat at the same time. Amazing !! Please feel free to post any questions that didn’t get asked during the show here and I will create a new post answering your questions. Again, I have to send out a HUGE thanks to the 4 Women of Web 2.0 (Cheryl, Vicki, Sharon and Jen: in no particular order of course) I’ve truly enjoyed the experience and hope to do it again sometime.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Technorati Tags: WOW2.0 edtech technology education techsupport IT TomTurner

Received word from Darlene Wolfe here in the Orange County, FL area of an event that might be beneficial to some of you. If you are interested please read further on below the images.

Educators, guidance counselors and administrators may register on line at http://www.fdmec.org/registration/event_012208.htm . More information for this free program is at the registration site ( http://www.fdmec.org and select register for January 22nd event). Since we do have a cut off point due to the size of the meeting area, participants will receive an email confirmation for them to print and show as both parking pass and free entrance to the Science Center.

The program begins with optional tours of Otronicon and the Orlando Science Center . Otronicon explores gaming, simulation and digital media in education and entertainment. A networking hour with snacks follows. Then, we have presentations from educators involved in the changes, industry professionals who will share what they look for in employees, and an update on the Digital Media Banner Center to be housed at Seminole Community College and on the coming programs, and changes in secondary and PSAV digital media curriculum.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Technorati Tags: FETC edtech gaming education technology

I also saw myself going to FETC, NECC, Discovery’s Summer Leadership Seminar (on a cruise ship no less) and TechLearning Orlando (where I got to finally see David Jakes and David Warlick speak in person, and to see my good friend and colleague Kay Teehan present on digital storytelling, again!) Along the way I’ve made MANY new friends and contacts within the realm of educational technology. I can’t say one has been most helpful, or intriguing, or dynamic or special, because everyone I’ve come in contact with has been great.

Just before the new year rang on, I also saw myself begin to play World of Warcraft again. For all you WoW’ers out there, I’m Mithryss (Mithrass was already taken darnit!), a Blood Elf Priest, on the Zul’jinn Server. If you have never played WoW then you are probably not understanding any of the stuff I just mentioned, that’s okay! If you are a player, do let me know. I know that Evan Scherr is playing, as well as John Pederson.

The other big WOW is pretty humbling really. I don’t often get to listen to the show live, but it IS on my podcast feed and listen to it whilest I’m out walking, and I am speaking of the Women of Web 2.0 show. Back in late June, I ventured as I said to NECC 2007 in Atlanta, GA. I arrived a day early hoping to be able to go to edubloggercon, but that didn’t work out. Travel plans made that not happen. But ISTE decided to put up a little ole place called ‘The Blogger’s Cafe’. I figured, I’m a blogger, I can sit in there too. I can type up my session reflections for my blog, maybe talk to a person or two. I’d met Jen Wagner earlier that day at the DEN precon event held over at Stone Mountain. It was a case of mutual, “I’ve been wanting to meet up with yous” so that there was not a clear cut winner. Out of our conversations that day, and in the Blogger’s Cafe, she asks if I would be interested in coming onto the WOW 2.0 show. I said sure, not knowing what I’d be getting myself in for. Well, the date we talked about is closing in on us FAST. I will be their guest speaker this Tuesday. I’m very much looking forward to it.

And I’m going to close with this. I can finally say that my gaming life has met up with my professional life.Since 1999 when I joined “The Syndicate” (online gamings PREMIER GUILD), we’ve use IRC as our main communication tool. Tonight, the edublogosphere has finally hit the old school and continued some great conversations from Twitter, rolling right into IRC. Please email me @ thomas.turner@polk-fl.net if you wish a copy of it.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.

Technorati Tags: WorldofWarcraft WOW2.0 WomenofWeb2.0 Twitter edublogosphere IRC

So what do I find when I go to the wiki to start editing some new writing prompts for the students? Half of the class adding their portions to the story. These are students who every Thursday are being told they NEED to write a 5 paragraph essay as an FCAT practice. They do it begrudgingly, with from what I’m told, a heck of a lot of bellyaching. This resistance on their part justifies the premise that students who are given the task to ‘write for an audience’ will write, and write more often.

This being our first foray into this type of project the writing is raw. Heck, we’ve not even started the pre-writing learning centers and blogging. Time will tell how this turns out. Both the classroom teacher and myself have high hopes.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.