Ning Book Club

First I must address the intentions of being a consistent blogger. What does that really mean, anyway? I've decided that twice a month should be good enough, that is if I still want a life away from the Internet! I recognize that twice a month is not sufficient if I want to attract mass readers. Good thing that is not my intention. I simply want to catalogue my interactions with technology. Today I want to reflect on my activity with NWP's book club Ning. I've chosen to participate in a book club discussion that started a few days ago. Here's what I notice about myself as I use this technology.

1. I am constantly aware of my possible readers. (Not so much with this blog. Based on history of this blog, I know I do not have readers, with the Ning there is a community of educated adults participating in the conversation.)
2. Because of my reader-awareness I notice how thoughtful I am about my post. Does it make sense? Does it sound smart? Does it invite readers to respond or think? How is my spelling? My grammar, my proper use of word choice... This is all going through my mind as I write. As a teacher of writing, I vote for more opportunities like this for students of writing! The question is, does my process match what others do? Is this careful thinking typical?

Long day but still blogging

I'm tired, very tired. Regardless, this is my attempt at being consistent with my posts. There are two things on my mind. First, I checked the TIC blog and was thrilled to find two new posts today. This reminds me of how it feels to check our back-yard chicken coop for eggs! 1 egg? 4 eggs? 0 eggs...you never know what you're going to get! Today was an all around good day - 5 eggs and two blog posts! What more can one chicken-raising, TIC blogger ask for?
Second, during the long five-hour drive home I had the pleasure of getting acquainted with Teachers Teaching Teachers. A weekly webcast on the EdTechTalk channel teachersteachingteachers.org For three hours I enjoyed listening to a three part conversation about the book, The Digital Writing Workshop hosted by the author,  Troy Hicks.

I love that we have folks out there creating these podcasts. I've been reading this book and now, after listening to the podcasts, I have a new understanding and appreciation for the work and my mind is packed with ideas I'd like to explore and share.
Here's Troy's ning: http://digitalwritingworkshop.ning.com/

One site's minimun guidelines to qualify as "Techy" (a tool for personal evaluation)

According to EdTech, this is what is required to be "techy"! 
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/technology/resources/TechLiteracy.html
Technology/Media/ICT Literacy
NYS Technology Literacy is defined as:

• The understanding of the concepts behind computing equipment, network connectivity, and application software;
• The skills to responsibly use appropriate technology to access, synthesize, evaluate, communicate, and create information to solve problems and improve learning in all subject areas; and
• The ability to acquire new knowledge for on-going and lifelong learning in the 21st century global workplace.

Technology literate students should be able to:

1. demonstrate understanding of concepts underlying hardware, software, networking connectivity and in use of computers and applications,
2. demonstrate understanding of ethics and safety issues in using electronic media and responsible use of technology, and,
3. use technology for communication, research and collaboration and problem-solving. With proficient technology skills, students should be able to locate, collect, synthesize, and evaluate information from a variety of digital sources, and to use telecommunications and other media to interact or collaborate with peers, experts, and other audiences.

itunes disaster, not really

While shacked up alone in yet another motel room, for yet another work trip, I spent about an hour taking advantage of the high-speed Internet to download itunes podcasts for my travel listening pleasure. After more than 20 podcasts found worthy of my i-pod finickiness were finally downloaded to itunes I carefully selected all, (ctrl A) and drug them to my i-pod within enough time it took for 4 of the over 20 podcasts were loaded onto my i-pod I mistakenly hit the delete button, selecting all to be deleted! It was a minor disaster! Knowing how important it is that I have my latest National Public Radio reports on all things educational, technological and political, I decided to return to the i-tunes store and once again start collecting the podcasts. Four hours later, I've realized that what I first considered a disaster has become an opportunity for learning! Not only did I chose a different selection of podcasts to download based on but I also followed a trail of searches through the i-tunes store leading me to the treasures of video-casts from both the 2008 and 2009 k12online conference!  http://k12onlineconference.org/. After watching a handful of different presentations, I downloaded, I searched for presenters' web sites, I followed links, I ended up on You Tube, and using my newest favorite app, Zilla Tube www.zillatube.com to convert and download some of the videos to my hard drive, anticipating how I can work them into my next tech class.
It is now pushing midnight and I have to get up in 5 hours to hit the road but for some reason, I was compelled to post on my blog. I realize my posts are few and far-between. They are wordy, and  lack consistency and, frankly, they lack a story that anyone may care to read. Maybe this awareness will drive my next techy goal choices. Maybe not.
The feelings of being overwhelmed are easier to swallow as I confront new applications and understandings of  personal technology use and how that applies to the needs of today's classroom. I wonder why that is? Is it that I'm okay with not knowing?  Have I come to terms with the fact that I will never "catch up" because catching up is relative to each individual and each circumstance?   I wonder what the qualifications are to be considered "techy". Maybe I'll Google it!