Just a few of my favorite Thanksgiving “quotes”to help get you in the spirit of the day 
The pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts … nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.
–H. W. Westermayer
Be thankful every day when you get up that you have something to do that day which must be done whether you like it or not. Having to work and being compelled to do your best will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.
- Basil Carpenter
and my favorite…
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.
–WT Purkiser
To the entire DEN community- You are all shining examples of how to use your blessings!
From the NJ DEN LC Family to You & Yours- Have A Wonderful Thanksgiving!!
The NJECC Annual Conference on March 18, 2008 at Montclair State University will feature Marc Prensky as the keynote speaker. For further information on this conference, The Natives are Restless: Growing Up in a Web 2.0 World, check out the NJECC Conference site.
Have you hit your “hundred hours” yet?
Us Garden Staters are familiar with the NJ State DOE’s structure for professional development (PD), commonly known as “100 Hours”. Basically, all instructional staff in NJ must fullfill 100 hours of professional development in 5 years, or about 20 hours/year.
NJ is in the midst of a paradigm shift in regards to PD. Starting in January, educators will start to fullfill our PD requirements by participating in Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs. My initial thought: “IT’S ABOUT GOSH-DARN TIME!!!” My second thought: “Everyone in my district should become a DEN member!”
It’s a huge relief to see the state finally recognizing, in a formal way, the BENEFITS of COLLABORATIVE LEARNING- Something the DEN illustrates EVERY DAY!
Our district held an in-service a few days ago to introduce the concept of PLCs to our staff. First, we played a trivia game to highlight the need for ALL of us to look to others for help & inspiration (We “pitted” our teachers against our administrators! IT was a blast!) Here’s the ppt I shared after the game as an intro to PLCs.
Please share ideas on what your district is doing to facilitate collaborative professional development.
Does your school/district belong to the NJ Educational Computing Cooperative (NJECC)? If not, you should definately look into it. They are a great collaborative resource for the infusion of technology in education (What the DEN’s all about)! Each month, they have a “business” meeting, which also highlights a particular aspect of technolgy and education. October & November focused on Web 2.0 technology & Discovery Education was asked to lend its expertise. Scott Altschuler gave a great rundown of OnePlace & I shared a few worthwhile web tools that I use on a consistant basis.
If you have any questions about how to use these tools, ideas on how you use them, or any other tools that you just can’t live without, please SHARE your comments!!!
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