Pressing Send

Wow, I did it.  I pressed send.  It's not as bad as it could be.  I mean, I once pressed send on an email to my boss that was pretty straightforward about my thoughts.  That was my "one."  I didn't get fired and we moved past it.

I love the stories of "..and then I pushed send..."  Everyone has one.  It's like asking people about pushing 'reply to all' instead of 'reply.'  Yep, I've done that too.  Although the outcome on that was pretty good.

I remember vividly being new to the school where I work and having my VERY new boss come to my office, bang on my door, and, in a pleading tone that I was to come to know well say, "Can I get an email back?!!  I shouldn't have pushed send!"  Well...depending upon a lot of things you can get an email back and THAT was the day that I learned how to do it on Outlook. 

As I said, my situation not politically messy.  It just really messed up my inbox.  All I wanted to do was send out an email to our staff of 30 people.  Because I need them to actually READ my email I attached a 'read receipt' to it.  Simple yes?  Controversial, no?  Except that I had sent the email originally to my aforementioned boss and another administrator to review.  It was titled: Trial Balloon. 

Of course, when there were no changes to be made I chose the expeditious path of forwarding the sent email.  I went through it, checked again for errors, made sure that I deleted all signs of it having been sent and reviewed by others....oh yeah, except for the 'FW: Trial Balloon'.

Well, I don't like emails to go out in such a fashion.  I should have left it, but NOOOOOO.  So, having noticed once I received about 3 read receipts how the email was titled (seriously, it looked stupid, really stupid) I decided to retrieve the unread emails and resend with another message. 

HOLY COW.  Now I have 'read receipts' from all 30 for the original message (5 read and 25 unread), 30 messages telling me whether or not the message was retrieved, and now, a few telling me that some people have read my new message.  Ironically, it sends the replacement message to the people who have already received and opened the original.

The beauty?  The same people who read the original have read the new message.  No one else...[sigh]

The Cloud

Frankly, I'm a history teacher.  Some might argue that I'm actually an English teacher and those who are really nit-picking will choose to call me and ESL teacher.  Yep.  OK.  But I actually liked teaching history.  It was interesting.  Which is odd beause, despite the fact that my U.S. history teacher was a very nice man (and my homeroom teacher) I thought that history class was boring.  U.S. History was probably better than World Studies.  Boy, that guy was NOT good.  I still have no idea what we did in either class.  I remember reading the book and answerie cng questions...but on to my topic.

Where I'm from a cloud is a white fluffy thing OR an angry thunderhead.  So now, we have "the cloud."  I like sunshine, but now, I head out to embrace the google cloud.  Why google?  Well, it's free.   Well, it's easy.  Seriously.  I will probably attenpt certification.  I'll let you know how that goes.  How hard can it be (unless they're crap test writers--c'mon we all know bad test writers...)
Why go to the cloud?  Well, since I'm not really sure why I want to do it myself, I'll just say, "money."  Money is often a good reason to choose a technology.  Really.  Especially if there have already been people who've tried out the technology and like it.  I'm sure that there are other ways to do what I want to do (get the students' docs, etc off of our servers) but this is the cheapest, least labor intensive, and, as previously noted, known working quantity.

I am already thinking of how the cloud can truly expand our curriculum.  How can we take our teaching to the next level.  I know how to do it.  Now, how do I force my vision in a way that others' think that it's their idea...

BTW: I passed the first Google Certification Exam.  I was a little disappointed at the large number of questions on a non-free part of the Apps that not everyone in Google Education uses.  Oh Well.  It's their test.

It Really is my Real Life

I was looking forward to today, March 29, 2011.  It was to be my back to normal, relax at work (as much as one can), get back into a regular groove kind of day.  The last few weeks have been tough.  I spent 3 days at a conference, spoke at said conference (well-received by one man, Charlie, who is the nicest guy), prepped for the conference prior to going, got my school ready to do without me for 3 days, helped get ready for our big fund-raiser that happened while I was out, spent 3 days away from my 3-year-old for the first time, returned to prep for a retreat 2 days later that I would give presentation at and provide delicious cookies (the cookies are actually my favorite part of retreat.)  I followed up this professional nonsense with an awesome visit from my sister, her husband, and two small boys all staying in my 1300 square foot house with me, my daughter, and my 2 cats.  Lucky husband was in D.C.

The above list are all things that I very much wanted to do.  It was really just unfortunate that timing was off.  But, for the most part all went well up to and including the visit from my sister.  We dragged those kids (did I mention small children?) around San Francisco.  For future reference, small children do not think visiting prisons is "fun" or "family friendly"--well, honey-badger don't care...

So, my return to normal.  I went to work yesterday, Monday, even though family was still in town because I felt that I owed it to my boss to come in as I had missed some time recently for the conference and we have an upgrade project in the workds that NEEDED to be kicked off.  HAD to do it.  They were nice and let me go home early.  Again, I was so looking forward to today. 

My first sign that it wouldn't be a return to normal was that I was asked to sub two classes.  I didn't think anyting of it.  Happy to do it.  No problem.  I love subbing for art.  Our art teacher always shows the best movies, all very relevant, which is great, as well as entertaining.  I always learn something.  I got home and BOOM: The first bomb.  My normally semi-whiney child was super-whiney and my sister, while doing her best was probably seriously annoyed.  At least I would have been in her position.  I kissed my child--she was burning up!  YIPES!  Not a fever again?!  How many different antibiotics are there for toddlers?  I medicated and we got through the day and I hoped for her to be bright and chipper by today.

So, now I have committed to actually being on-site and must find some way to have said sick child taken care of.  My husband was willing but the pain that came with that wasn't something either of us wanted (he is also in the middle of a big project.)  So I began with my college-aged sitter.  She usually has time on Tuesdays.  It's looking possible that this will work out.

Then I checked my email.  Of course I had forgotten about agreeing to sub for the last 10 minutes of another teacher's class.  OK, so now I've over-committed to being on-site, and I have the project work, and I still have no committed care for the sick child who won't sleep.  And another email lets me know that one of the computers for the office staff died.  Just died.  No reason.  It's dead.  Can I fix it tomorrow morning.  Sure, right after pigs fly...

Of course, my timing doesn't work for the sitter.  Now I begin my plan of taking small, sick child with me.  I leave messages warning people that sick child will be with and that I will at some point have to take her to the dr.  After the last 3 pneumonia scares really can't take chances, can we?

This morning, my back to normal day, luck is on my side.  I manage to snag a dr appointment that fits my schedule (unheard of) AND my daycare provider finds someone to help me out in the afternoon.  Small child is highly entertained while I fix the dead computer, she's great at the Dr. (strep so not air communicated per medical personnel), and she watches Dora while I kick off the paperwork for our project.  Small child is actually excited to go and stay with Maria--she has her soon to be open daycare ready to go so there are lots of princess dresses and toys and she has them all to herself.  Fever is coming down.

Currently I am sitting in a dark classroom enjoying a film about a graffiti artist, Basquiat.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115632

Now I realize.  This is my life back to normal.  Everyday, in all ways, it is frustrating, funny, and even enjoyable.  And this is my real life....

Well, It's Almost Over.

It's amazing to me that I can actually do a lot in very little time.  I am, essentially, lazy.  I would prefer to be independently wealthy, but, since I'm not, I prefer my job.  My job is often feast or famine.  Lately, I've been feasting.  A lot to do.  Much that I took on without thinking through the consequences.

So, last week I attended the CUE (Computer Using Educators) conference in Palm Springs.  It was Google, Google, Google, IPad, IPod, Google a bit more.  Luckily, I'm in the market for Google.  Despite what one nice software salesman told me, I am moving my students to the cloud....the Google cloud.  The FREE Google Cloud.  Let's hope it works out.  I saw any number of sessions on Google, using Google, making Google work for you...blah blah blah.  Most were helpful.

First, Google Apps are pretty straightforward.  The heart is Google Docs.  Can you use Microsoft Office?  Great--Google Docs is for you.  Not all of the "stuff" (and I will miss my stuff) but the basics are there and that's what my students need.

The feasting continues this week.  I am going on retreat with my school.  I love sleeping with a bunch of people whose private habits I never really wanted to know.  It makes me nervous. Queasy.  Like when I was pregnant, only I don't get a prize at the end.

I am going to lead a discussion on one-to-one computers in the classroom (nope, don't have it yet) and Google Apps.  Now that I've got my forms working, all should be well....sigh

So Here I Sit....

My father was a lineman.  Not as in "played for the Green Bay Packers" but as in climbing telephone poles fixing lines.  I  think that it's funny that a lot of my job, that no one would hire someone out of college to do, is just like what my dad did.

So, my T1 has been amazingly erratic lately.  Yep.  Imagine having major slow-downs at a high school.  Gee, what could those kids be doing....or for that matter what could the teachers be doing?!!!!  It turned out that they were doing a lot of youtube, netflix, and other fun stuff.  Except it seemed that most of it was for class.  Truly this is really a good thing--except that we just doubled our bandwidth within the year...do we really need so much more?

Last week I turned to my T1 provider to help me.  And spent a few minutes discussing my problem with a nice young man.  He noted that there were no problems on their end but he'd be happy to help me troubleshoot.  I didn't have the time so said that I'd call back. 

The next call I made was a few days later.  And I got a very nice man with a very heavy accent.  Now, I don't mind accents, I taught and studied foreign languages for many years--it's a way of life.  But I was tired and feeling impatient.  I almost hung up on him.  Luckily, I choose not to.  That very nice man, the one that I was potentially willing to dismiss, looked at my account and said, "well, no wonder you have no bandwidth,  one of your circuits is down so you actually are working with 1/2 the bandwidth that you need..."  What was that OTHER guy looking at?!!!!

Within 2 hours we were fixed.  Our bandwidth restored. 

We have had a few glitches since then, but we do believe, based on research that they are internal and we're working them out.  This episode did remind me that we shouldn't hang up on help because it doesn't come in the form that we expect or want.  And it also reminded me that especially when tired, patience is part of my job and, while it might take some time and I may have to repeat myself on occassion or ask for repetition, the end result is usually good.

Now let's hope I can keep the kids from skype and steam...

Maybe a New Point?

So I spent my morning, well yes, helping people and in a meeting, but I also attended a great webinar:  "9 Companies Doing Social Media Right and What You Need to Know" with Mari Smith and Michael Stelzner.  I have begun to attend a number of these webinars on a variety of topics.  Since the real hot-topic is using social media to advantage many of them revolve around this.

First, many of these webinars are targeted to small businesses but I really think that schools are missing out.  there are a lot of lessons to be learned.  I spent 1 hour and came away with 2 really great ideas.  One included working with testimonials and beyond.  We're a school, testimonials are important to us.  The other had to do with apps available for Facebook and websites. 

For a minimal time investment in a free webinar I got two great ideas.  Worth it! 

So, why aren't more educators using free business webinars for ideas?

What's the point?

So, now I'm committed.  I have a point to make and have a lot to say and, having backed myself into a corner am clearly going to go on record.

This is going to be short. To the point.

I think it's important for teachers to incorporate technology into their curriculum.  The technology should not be the focus but merely the delivery system.  Clearly, in the last 20 years we have seen a plethora of research indicating that technology can help us reach a mutlitude of multifaceted learners. 

There are many pitfalls in technology driven classrooms.  There can be a lot of success too.

Hopefully this blog will bring to discussion both pitfalls and success.