Unlearn and Relearn…

Just arrived in San Antonio, and I’m VERY excited about having the opportunity to come to NECC this year. I haven’t attended in a few years, so I’m all abuzz

Lots of great things going on that I’m looking forward to - experiencing NECC both onsite and through Second Life - networking with vendors and other techies - absorbing absolutely everything I possibly can! I plan on going home FULL of new ideas and new friends - oh, and a little bit of Mexican food, too!

More later….. stay tuned!

In browsing through some of my notes regarding various new web “finds,” I decided to explore Wordle (http://wordle.net). Wordle allows you to type or paste a text selection into its window and ask it to generate a wordle, or “word picture” so to speak. This word picture contains the text you entered, with the words repeated most frequently displayed in a larger font, thus emphasizing their importance. Once the wordle is generated, you can then manipulate the font, layout, and color in various ways to create an interesting visual representation of your text. You can then print it, save it to the gallery, or retrieve its html code to place it on a web page.

After browing the gallery to get a feel for the look of it, I decided to test it out. I wondered what Web 2.0 would look like in a wordle, so I dashed off to Wikipedia for some defining text. I chose the section on “characteristics” and pasted that into the wordle window. Here is what I got - very interesting, and I think it was a fairly good capture. Take a look!

WOW! Trying to get this site together is both exhausting and exciting (did I mention exhilarating already?) It’s coming along, though, and I hope to be up and running on a consisent (at least SOMEWHAT) basis.

I’m having so much fun!

Well, summer is here, and all of our district students are out and roaming the streets and neighborhoods, resting up for a exhilarating return to the classroom in August!

I remember those days - sweet summertime!!

In the meantime, still at my desk, I’ve been lurking and reading and reading and lurking on Twitter tweets and educator blogs galore. Interestingly, I’ve seen reference to blogging in general, and “blog”-ophobia often suffered by educators. I’ve decided I fall into this category. I’ve started a couple of blogs, but I think I”ve always felt that I had to have the perfect topic to talk about. I’m beginning to feel differently now, especially since I’ve been so actively reading and being inspired by many other bloggers. I think I realize now that often it’s the little nuggets of thought or the mention of an article or sharing of an idea, a web site, a book, a presentation or any other sensational discovery I might come across in my daily experiences… that someone else might find useful, interesting, even exciting! These are the kinds of things I’ve often found in reading the work of others. I’ve decided that I, too, have something to say!

Rather than creating buckets of email for teachers in my district, feverishly trying to decide to whom something would be relevant or curriculum-related, I’m going to post my thought-itudes in one blog, allowing anyone interested to pick and choose from my ramblings. It just might work!!

And so, here it is - the start of something not necessarily masterful, but hopefully evolutionary… at least in my own mind

I have made it a personal goal to become the best blogger I can, and to create a presence where I can let it all out, as they say… without fear!

MUCH more to come!

Hello!!

Welcome to my brand new blog. I’m excited to start thinking about different things we can talk about! I’ve worked on a number of web pages, but this is my first attempt at creating and maintaining a blog - wish me luck!