a whole new dianne

YES, Absolutely!

I have been using Twitter; for professional and personal reasons since the summer of 2007. I currently follow 579 people, 750 people follow me and I’ve had almost 4,000 updates (3,946 right now to be exact!). I use Twitter, mostly, to tap the collective brains of the people in my network and to also provide them resources and glimpses into my life as an Instructional Technology Specialist. When I have a question, I ask it on Twitter and get a response (or 10 or more!) within SECONDS. When I’m doing something cool with students and teachers, I post it on Twitter and often solicit questions. When I’ve found a really cool resource, I share it on Twitter for my network to benefit from.

So, what is Twitter exactly? Well, at the very basic level, Twitter users answer the question, “What are you doing?” But, as explained above, it can be much much more than that. In my opinion, Twitter IS the people you follow and the people who follow you – your Personal Learning Network. Someone who joins Twitter and only has 5 followers and only follows 5 people will NOT, in my opinion, get the most out of Twitter. You need to build your network to allow for the magic to happen. Start by following a few people (you can follow me:diannekrause , then see who they follow, and start following a few of them. Eventually people will start following you and you can then decide whether you want to follow them back or not. The glory is that you have total control who is in your network, at all times.

Of course, Twitter can also be a huge time suck if you allow it to be. No, I do not read ALL the Tweets (that’s what individual messages are called) that come through my account, but I do read the Tweets from the people in my most immediate Personal Learning Network – mostly educators and people like me from Pennsylvania. To help out in the organization of all this information and status updates, I use a 3rd party application called TweetDeck; to separate all the Tweets out into groups of my choosing. There are many such applications out there so you do not have to always navigate to Twitter.com to read your Tweets.

So, is there a place for Twitter in education? YES! Check out these resources to see how, and how you can get started with Twitter yourself. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask!

• Nine Reasons to Twitter in School
• Twitter, A How-To Guide for Teachers
• Twitter for Teachers
• What is Twitter? Wikispace
• 100 Twitter Tools to Help you Achieve your All Goals

Check out this cool presentation…

See you on Twitter, hopefully!!

Although I’ve been maintaining websites for years about my family, I haven’t had one central spot where all our family links, photos, videos and news is housed.  Now, we do!  Join me in celebrating the opening of the NEW Krause Family Website – Krause’s Korner!!

This year I’ve decided that I’m not going to spend hours on the selecting, creating, filling out, addressing, and paying for postage for the annual tradition of holiday cards. Instead, I’ve created a virtual card using a combination of Glogster.com and Animoto.com. Although it will not reach every person on my snail-mail address list, it will get to the majority of my family and friends. Those without access, such as my grandparents, can view the cards on my other relative’s computers, so I’m almost all covered. And, because the card is online, even more people than my “typical” address list can receive my holiday wishes and see photos of my family.

So, happy holidays to you, reader of my blog, from the Krause family…

WSD’s eToolBox Wiki has been nominated for the Best Educational Wiki in the 2008 Edublog Awards, aka “The Eddies”.

To brag or not to brag, that is the question.  It took me a few days to decide to post this shameless self-promotion, but you know what, why not?  I’m proud of the nomination and I work hard on the eToolBox.  I deserve it!

Please click the image to vote for the eToolBox.

Today driving home I realized – I love my job!

Today was a good day, a very productive day. Here’s a snapshot of my life on a good day.

I started out in the high school.  During my 4 hours there, I …

• helped a teacher set up an online journal through our Moodle and how to use it and how to have the students use it.
• worked with my PLN to find a resource for making poetry interactive.
• helped a teacher change a project they had done in the past so that it incorporates more technology and 21st century skills.
• taught a teacher how to use Google Docs, spreadsheets, and forms with Math students.
• showed a teacher how to make a discussion forum on Moodle and have students respond.
• answered a teacher’s questions about wikispaces that her students are currently working on.
• helped a teacher with a few aspects of Moodle she didn’t quite understand.
• talked with our union president about meeting with elementary teachers during their “planning” time instead of their “professional” time.
• had lunch with a few new people and had a civil discussion about politics – with both R & D present!

Then, I travelled to our smallest elementary school that only has grades K-3.  There, I met with each grade’s teachers during their planning time.  There, I …

• showed imbee.com to 3rd grade teachers who will be setting their students up this weekend.  We discussed parent permission and use of the site.
• gave a mini training session on iMovie ‘08 with as many features as I can cover in 15 minutes.
• showed Pixie to Kindergarten teachers and brainstormed uses of it in their classes.
• shared interactive websites with Kindergarten teachers to get their students engaged during center time.
• demonstrated web 2.0 resources such as kerpoof.com, blabberize.com, voki.com, and wikispaces to 1st grade teachers.
• helped teachers organize their files better so they are more productive.
• fielded questions about smartboard problems, student accounts, broken printers, etc.
• answered questions about the moodle, ning, etoolbox, and other district resources.

And, all day during and in-between meetings with teachers I constantly answered emails including, but not limited to, the followig topics…

• moodle accounts – both student and teachers
• mysterious emails appearing in a parent’s email box from the moodle
• google apps and domains
• meeting times for integration help
• topics for upcoming trainings
• classrooms for the future
• smartboard problems

But at the end of the day as I was walking out of the elementary school with the young students, I thought, “I love my job!”

Today is my first day of “summer break”. In celebration of that, I’m going to reflect a bit on the past school year and what I have accomplished and what we’ve taken on at Wissahickon in such a short amount of time.

September:

• The school year began with a MacBook for each teacher, and the accompanying training entitled “Meet your Mac”.
• 50 teachers in the district were awarded SmartBoards (including me) and 4 lucky souls were to serve as the first ever 1:1 classrooms in the district in a pilot program.
• We had a new Student Information System: Sapphire and Course Management System: Moodle.
• We were told that we would be getting funding from the state through the Classrooms for the Future grant.
• I was asked to be the Classrooms for the Future coach and jumped in with a whole new enthusiasm for my job.
• I began teaching for the first time with my SmartBoard and realized that my planning and teaching had to evolve to make the most of this new learning environment.
• At the end of the month, I attended CFF Boot Camp. This experience, along with the Keystone Technology Integrators Summit in the summer, absolutely changed who I am and started me on the path to my new passion in life: Educational Technology & 21st Century Learning.

October:

• By this time, I was totally engrossed and involved in teaching French in my new eClassroom and spending a lot of time restructuring my lessons, projects and assessments.
• I began my job as coach as I began receiving emails on the CFF Coach Listserv and started figuring out how I was going to do two jobs at once.
• The 12 CFF Teachers were identified and we all met for the first time at the October In-service. There, I conducted a presentation on CFF and my role as coach.
• I went to my first training as a CFF Coach on the Embedded Learning course that the CFF teachers were required to take for the grant.

November:

• I continued to work my butt off for my two jobs: French teacher & CFF Coach.
• I had regular meetings with my Principal about the computers and my future job.
• The CFF Team met up once again during in-service time. There, I used this presentation to introduce the Embedded Learning course and their requirements and expectations.
• My principal and I presented a “Wissahickon High School Technology Showcase” to the Wissahickon Board of School Directors. Part of the presentation included this video.
• I attended my first 2-day session of Apple CFF Coach training in State College, PA. I began to truly appreciate the beauty of the Mac.

December:

• I continued the juggling of 2 jobs, reworking my lessons for the SmartBoard and getting excited about being CFF coach full-time.
• I attended my second 2-day CFF Coach Training at the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit.
• I continued to expand my professional learning network through the CFF Coach Listserv, Twitter, and Keystones.
• The computers arrived and the “Mac Factory” began re-imaging and getting the carts ready.
• I got an iphone!

January:

• My last month as a French Teacher!!
• Carts and MacBooks were ready to go to teachers. We just had to wait for me to be done teaching!
• I attended Apple Coach Training #3 in Lancaster County.
• My students gave me “Going Away” parties and wished me luck on my new adventure.
• THE FUN BEGAN! Carts were delivered and the teachers jumped head-first into the fray.
• I began my new job as the Classrooms for the Future Technology Coach!

February:

• The learning began! We began our Embedded Learning Course: “Teaching in the 21st Century: The Need for Change”.
• Apple CFF Leadership Training was held at our Central Office building. The leadership teams of several neighboring school districts also came to share our experience.
• Apple CFF “Out of the Box” training was conducted for the CFF Teachers. The 2-day intensive training was just that, intense, but was informative, interesting and indeed needed.
• Apple CFF Coach Training #3 in Allentown.
• I attended PETE & C for the first time and was just blown away by the whole experience. Before the conference began I went to the CFF Coach Pre-Conference as well as the Discovery Educator’s Network Pre-Conference. My network continued to expand and enrich my own professional learning.

March:

• I established weekly meetings with all CFF Teachers to touch base, answer questions, and co-plan.
• I co-taught lessons on Comic Life, iMovie, and Garageband and worked with the teachers and classes that were using these tools for their projects.
• We continued our Embedded Learning course and learned even more about the need for change.

April:

• More coaching, more co-planning, more development of 21st century learning environments at Wissahickon High School!
• Last round of CFF Apple Coach Training in Eastern Lebanon County. It was a great group and trainer to work with and a great network of people to keep in touch with.
• I applied for and was accepted as a Facilitator & Presenter at the Keystone Technology Integrator’s Summit to be held in July at Bucknell University. This is quite an honor!!

May:

• As the year was winding down, teachers were planning and implementing “end of the year” projects, including the first ever “Kite Runner Film Festival” for which students had to create their own movies related to the novel.
• The Wissahickon Art Show’s first ever “Cyber Lounge” and Website.
• I co-taught edublogs.org for the “Like Water for Chocolate Dictionary” project

June:

• I was hired for my new job: Instructional Technology Specialist!
• I met with the Staff Developers and the Curriculum department to outline our professional development plan for next year which includes the eToolBox.
• I spear-headed the Wissahickon High School Technology Showcase wikispace project in which many teachers contributed and posted their lessons, projects, and students’ work.
• I video-interviewed students who have had the opportunity to use the MacBooks all year in History class. They have some very intriguing reflections as to why their learning is different and how the computers could affect their school.
• I video-interviewed the CFF teachers who commented on how having a Classroom for the Future had a positive impact on both the students and themselves.
• I worked closely with our Director of Technology on many things pertaining to my new job: new website, Moodle, eClassroom training, 1:1 training, eToolBox, summer plans for work, etc. etc

Now, the fun really begins! Although summer is upon me and I don’t need to be at work by 7:30am each day, I have plenty to keep me busy this summer. But, that is for my next blog post…

In our final round of Apple sponsored Classrooms for the Future coach training, I had the fortunate opportunity to work with my friend and colleague in the Ed Tech world Aly Tapp. After a short discussion about what makes a genius, we were asked by our trainer to conceive a metaphor and illustrate it with images, video, words, whatever. We were allowed to use whatever medium we wished and were given about an hour to pull it all together. Below is our metaphor: “Teaching without Technology”

Check out the slideshow below to see my son Benjamin’s first foray into the wonderful world of organized sports…

Check out the slideshow of our vacation this year! We had a great time!

To see the whole set on Flickr just click HERE.

For several months now I have been newly ‘involved’ with the world of educational technology. Every since the KTI summit this summer I have been adding people to my network and reading their blogs as frequently as possible. I have been twittering like a mad-woman and even get into a Skype chat every once and while. I have 92 followers on twitter and according to the scroll here on my blog, I’ve had 562 visitors from 28 countries stop by. But, in the back of mind sits these questions – What do I really have to say? and Why would people want to read it?

So I think about why I read other people’s blogs. It really is a strange phenomenon, reading about people’s lives and thoughts. It’s like when I was young and I broke into my older sister’s diary with a hairpin. I’m a very curious person and I used to LOVE reading what she would write to understand her point of view of her life and of course to learn about her secrets. (Sorry Dawn if you read this!) It’s strange but also wonderful how reading blogs gives you a similar window into the author’s life. But, unlike my sister, bloggers know they are writing for an audience. They are very selective in what they choose to write and how they choose to open the window into their lives. Even still I’m intrigued, and I continue to read.

So that leads me back to my questions. I have yet to discover how much of my own window I want to open. I am struggling with how to go about using this blog and how much of my life I want to put out there. Do I keep it work-related only? Do I mix in personal information? Do I create another blog entirely for one or the other? It is all still a mystery to me, but I hope to find out along the way. Comments are always appreciated!

And my readers, do they feel the same way I do, are they just as curious about me as I am about them? I hope so!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33557146@N00/377712203/