First the good things. I finished my University of Phoenix classes – woohoo! Now, I can get certified to do what I have been doing for the past 3 years.

Chloe celebrated her first birthday. I was going to list all the items she has either eaten or destroyed in the last year, but the list was way too long. She does have a tendency for electrical cords, though.

School is going great and I have been teaching almost every day. I miss the kids so much and it’s a true treat when I can be in a teacher’s classroom interacting with the kids again.

Our ADK sorority is up and running. We had our first official meeting this afternoon. it’s going to be so much fun to interact with female teachers in a social setting. Plus, we eat well ) My friend Debra did a fabulous job for her first time in her presidents role.

The Web Wizards have been accepted to present at the South Carolina Technology conference in November. I look forward to working with Kim again. We will be presenting on Digital Photos and Web 2.0 tools. It should be a lot of fun! Kim and I work well together and tend to see things in the same way. What a joy to have a friend like that.

Okay, now the not so good. Chloe is in the hospital. We had her spayed and her stomach fixed 2 weeks ago. Great Danes have a tendency to bloat (a fatal incident where their stomachs twist) so we had both surgeries done at the same time. Jeff took her to get her 49 staples out on Monday and a few hours after he got home, she started pouring blood out of her stomach. Bad news is that her body is rejecting all the stitches. Plus, she has a staph infection, rod bacteria, a urinary tract infection, and is just plain not doing well. Bless her heart. She’s such a baby and now she has to stay at the hospital by herself. Dr. Schaller is wonderful and has been keeping us up to date several times a day. Hopefully, the doctor can clear the multiple infections and stop the bleeding and the sweetie can come home soon.

We are having terrible technical problems at the secondary schools. The poor teachers. Some days they can print and other days they can’t even see any icons on their screens. Most of them have been fabulous and VERY patient. But, I know they are getting frustrated beyond belief. I hope there is a solution soon!

We are now officially an NC Wise county. While there are many drawbacks to the program, there are some great aspects to it. It’s just not as teacher friendly as Easy Grade Pro and some folks are having problems adjusting. But, change is hard on everyone.

Since tonight is the first night in a few weeks that I have been finished with school work before 11 pm, I think I might try to get to bed early.

Hopefully, now that my classes are finished I can start blogging again.

Until next time ~ Danita

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Until next time ~ Danita

It will be like Christmas Eve on Sunday night – no one will be able to sleep. The kids will be wondering what their teacher will be like and the teachers will be wondering about their kids. Clothes will be laid out and checked and double checked for just the right outfit. Bookbags will be stuffed with new supplies. Lunches will be packed with extra goodies for that first day.

I miss this time of year and forming a family with my new students. I enjoy watching other teachers getting to know their students, but I am envious. I truly miss having a group of kids to call my own. For the next 180 days, a family will be formed. Friendships and bonds that may last a lifetime. Personalities will be developed. Lifelong skills and learning will be set.

The honeymoon will begin on Monday and I, for one, can’t wait!

Until next time ~ Danita

We had our final technology workshop of the summer on Thursday. Had a wonderful turnout! The teachers at SanLee learned how to use the new equipment that will be in their rooms. We even had a few teachers from other schools within the county. I know the non-educators (if any of them read this other than my mom and dad) don’t understand the big deal, but teachers need the summer to regroup and get rejuvenated. I sure miss my summers off.

I have a new room at SanLee. It’s going to be wonderful! I will have a location to do my workshops. I will have the same technology that the teachers will have so I can show them how to integrate the equipment into their lessons. I will have a SmartBoard, mounted projector, mounted speakers, and a document camera. WOW! It’s going to be great! I have seats for 15 teachers. The teachers can bring their laptops and we can interact as I do the workshops. How great is that?

Until next time ~ Danita

Way to go Kim! Keep up the great work!

Until next time ~ Danita

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I have learned so much this past year and met so many wonderfully delightful people.  I’ve met people from the four corners of the globe that I now call friends.  How small our world has become.

Thank you to everyone that reads my blog.  I hope this journey continues to take us through many adventures!

Until next time ~ Danita

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If you get a free minute, cruise on over and take a look & listen to the projects.  We’d LOVE for you to add your comments, too.

Mrs. Oriet’s class’ voicethread project 

Until next time ~ Danita

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The first email I received was from a company in the United Kingdom. Mediasnackers does training in the UK; not only to teachers, but also to companies. Through Twitter, they found me and now want to interview me. How cool is that? DK posted in his blog a comment that I loved. He referred to discovering new connections as digital breadcrumbs.

Digital Breadcrumbs
breadcrumbs

[SUMMARY—Follow them.]

(GBR) One of our favourite mantras we throw around in our training is: follow the digital breadcrumbs.

If you find a weblog you like click through the blogroll, if you find someone bookmarking the same site you have check out the rest of their links etc. Here’s a real life example:

MediaSnackers is on Twitter. We got an email this morning that someone new is following us. We checked out their twitter page and clicked through to their weblog to discover their role as the instructional technology facilitator for Lee County Schools, in North Carolina, USA.

After some more clicking and reading we found out some amazing examples of teachers using wikis, sending newsletters out via SlideShare plus a great post with a huge list of resources (most of which we haven’t heard of before).

Follow the digital breadcrumbs folks and you never know what pearls you will find.

The second email came from another techie who was just now beginning to work with other teachers about wikis. She found my blog and wanted to share the post on wikis with her teachers. Of course, I said yes (I mean, how flattering is that??), and directed her to my wiki so she could also share that site. We have “talked” a bit and are now sharing ideas.

On another note, one of my Twitter friends, Kim Cofino, was looking for a 4th grade class that her 4th grade class could correspond. She is in Bangkok, Thailand. I sent out a request to the other ITF’s in the county and one of them found a teacher in her school that is interested. I am so excited!

This is what makes my job the best! Gotta love it!

Until Next Time ~ Danita

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My next fire to kindle is getting the teachers to allow their students to publish their work on the wikis. Some have with fabulous results, but some teachers are a little apprehensive. It is hard to “give up control” of your classroom. I like what Jenn “Technospud” says. It’s all BS (baby steps). We do have to learn to crawl before we walk.

Last year, my first year as an ITF, we began with a few tumbles while learning to crawl. This year, I hope we stumble a bit while learning to walk. Watch out for us next year! We’re going to be running full steam!

Not too many people can actually say, “I love my job”, but I honestly do. My Mom asked me last night, if I could go back and change my life and do anything I wanted, would I still be a teacher. Without hesitation, I can truthfully answer “yes”! How blessed am I?

Until Next Time ~ Danita

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