I had such an increase in traffic over the last few days that I decided to cruise my stats and found some neat features in WordPress in the process.

I had to dig around to find the stats because it had been a while since I’d bothered to look. I logged in to my blog and then on the ribbon at the very top, I clicked on “My Account” and selected “Global Dashboard.” Then I clicked on “Blog Stats” and voilà! (Of course, a glance at “My Dashboard” shows me that I can also access my “Blog Stats” from there too. LOL)

Blog stats showed me a number of interesting things:

1. A nice little flash line graph that shows my traffic flow over a period of days, weeks, or months. It’s nice to see spikes!
2. Referrers–”People clicked links from these pages to get to your blog.”
3. Search Engine Terms–”These are terms people used to find your blog.”
4. Blog Stats–Summary of total views, my busiest day, views today, and totals of posts, comments, categories, tags, and how much spam my blog has been protected from.
5. Top Posts & Pages–”These posts on your blog got the most traffic.”
6. Clicks–”Your visitors clicked these links on your blog.”
7. Incoming Links–Shows what other web pages have directly linked to my blog.

This is handy information for evaluating your own blog. Sometimes I wonder whether leaving certain pages up on my blog is worthwhile, well, now I can see that directly by looking at my top posts and pages or by looking at the clicks. It’s also interesting to see how people go about getting to my blog, what search terms they enter, etc. Such a neat feature!

I mentioned the fact that I could see what search engine terms people use to find my blog to a friend and he said, “There goes privacy!” I had to laugh because I understand the concern. I know he visited my blog today but I still don’t know exactly how HE got there. His stats are shuffled in along with others who viewed my blog today. Even though I can see how people get to my blog, I still don’t know their identity. The fact is that readers are still anonymous unless they choose to leave a comment and put their name in.

Tags: blog, stats, WordPress

Ok, I’ve seen Flock mentioned here and there in my Google Reader so I decided to give it a try. I am blown away! Flock brings some of the best Web 2.0 tools to your fingertips in one browser. Download, install, and then log in to the Web 2.0 apps which are friends with Flock, click on the “Remember Account” button and BINGO! With one click I’m in my Gmail account, another click I have my blog editor open so I can post something new, one more click and I’m posting to my del.icio.us account. What kept me from hopping over to Flock all this time????

Flock is based on Mozilla’s Firefox and has its own add-ons but some Firefox add-ons are also compatible. I was thrilled to find out that Fireshot works as well as my favorite little status bar calculator.

The browser integrates with Twitter, WordPress, Blogger, Gmail, and del.icio.us just to name a few apps. Digg and Facebook are also popular offerings. Since I’ve been delving into Diigo, I added its toolbar and away we go.

The “My World” tab reminds me of iGoogle. It has widgets and helps you organize your feeds, keep up with your friends’ activity, and post media etc. to your blog. I have to play with this one some more.  (Update:  I did play with it some more after posting last night and it isn’t nearly as versatile as iGoogle but still a neat feature.)

I see so many possibilities here and I’ve only played with it a little tonight. Can you tell I’m already in love?

Update:  Ok, some things that I would love to see added to Flock:

1. Integrate My Space and Diigo into the Flock toolbar.  Can’t we all just get along?
2. Make the “My World” page like iGoogle.  That would be too cool.
3. More add-ons specifically for Flock.  We are warned on the extensions page that while some Firefox add-ons will work with Flock, they may slow the browser down.  So it would be nice to have add-ons that are definitely compatible.

Ok, those are just a few thoughts but I really love Flock as it is. 

Tags: Flock, Web2.0, browser

Ok, the cat is out of the bag.  I am leaving.  So for once, I will blog about something pretty personal:  where I’ve been and why I’m leaving. This post is actually prompted by an email inquiry I received today from someone who had seen the job posting and wanted to know what I do exactly.  One of the last lines of the email asked why I was leaving.  It was a good question and gave me pause to reflect.

Before I actually give my reasons for leaving, I will describe what my role has been as an instructional technology facilitator at MCMS.  (To read what the job description is according to the IMPACT model, click here.)  I have tried to follow the IMPACT model as closely as possible but recognize that there was a lot of room for improvement.  I had hoped to be in this job for many years.  I saw so many possibilities.  I still do.

Where I’ve Been:

• I was a French teacher at ECHS for 10 and a half years.  During those 10 and a half years I fell in love with technology and troubleshooting.  I watched the Internet change our whole world and I found that I loved teaching others how to use technology.  When I received a phone call 3 years ago this coming July to interview for a technology facilitator position, I jumped at the opportunity because this was my dream job.  When I was accepted, I was elated.
• My first year was a whirlwind.  I had so much to learn, not necessarily about how to integrate technology into the classroom but how to troubleshoot and manage all these computers at our school.  Without a technology assistant, technology facilitators have to do quite a bit of troubleshooting.  This school had been without a technology facilitator for three years so they were starved for someone in my position to point them in the right direction.  I loved my job.  I tried to focus my attention on training the staff so I did a technology camp for teachers that first summer.
• I was much more comfortable during my second year.  I was ready to really lay some groundwork with the staff on technology integration.  I was introduced to the world of Web 2.0 and have been hooked ever since.  I created my own personal learning network which has helped me learn so much using iGoogle and Google Reader.  Some of favorite Web 2.0 tools are iGoogle, Google Reader, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Skype, Second Life, del.icio.us (although Diigo is quickly eclipsing my love of del.icio.us), Picasa, and Flickr.  I use many others but these have been invaluable to me.  I wanted to focus my attention from the teachers just a little to equipping students so I taught a technology camp for students during that summer.
• This third year has been a little different.  I have been in the classrooms much more, co-teaching with teachers.  I was also selected to help be a core trainer for NCWise which our county was converting to this year.  I think a lot more teachers are using technology this year than they have in my previous two years here and I am glad to say that they are putting more and more of that technology in the students’ hands.  I finish this third year happy to say the hardware is in place (3 wireless labs, two desktop labs, data projectors in almost every classroom, 2 interactive slates per team, 2 wireless presenter mice per team, 1 document camera per team, 3 digital video cameras for the school, and two student response systems for the school).  Ok, we’re not completely at my dream classroom but we’re on our way.  I don’t pretend to take credit for all the good changes I’ve seen in our school these 3 years.  We have many shining technology teaching stars, a tech savvy media coordinator, a supportive tech support team, and a fireball principal who understands the important role that technology plays in the future of education.  I was fortunate to get to ride this wave with such great folks.  I know this school will go far after I leave.

Why I’m Leaving:

• My mother became very ill and was admitted to the hospital on February 14.  Unfortunately she is still in rehabilitative care but is making progress.  I plan on spending my summer and fall before leaving for the Netherlands taking care of her and helping my family.  Leaving this job will make me more available to my family.
• I visited friends in Amsterdam, Netherlands over Christmas break and my thoughts began drifting to my old dream of living in Europe.  An apartment became available not too far from the city center and I just can’t let this opportunity slip away without grabbing the bull by the horns.  So, I’m going for my dream of living in Europe.  Of course, that means I am now looking for a job in Amsterdam.  Does anyone know if they need technology facilitatators/coordinators there? 

So the plan is to move to the Netherlands once my mom is back on her feet.  I will be keeping this blog however and it is my sincere hope that I can continue to work in technology education even if I am in a different country.

Needless to say, I will miss my colleagues and friends that I have had here in Carteret County.  It’s not easy to say good bye to 13 and a half years of one’s life but these have been good years, learning years.  I’m sure I will have much more to reflect on in the next few months so stay posted!

I am blown away.  Danny Maas has been posting comment after comment on my blog and now I want to give him props on TILT! 

I went through some of his screencasts today and I have learned a few things.  Most importantly, I have been inspired and I’m sure my teachers will be too.  What a great blog with so many how-tos, ideas, and resources.  Thank you for sharing with us all, Danny!

http://tilttv.blogspot.com/

(To view the slide show on Slideshare so you can see it full screen [the words are hard to read at such a small size and the Slideshare icon was not working for me in Firefox], click here.)

I like to subscribe to blogs that are outside the education world, especially if they present ideas that are fresh. This slideshow comes from David Armano at the Logic + Emotion blog. I not only enjoy his outlook but the graphics are a breath of fresh air as well.

After viewing the slideshow, I have to wonder why schools haven’t hopped on the Web 2.0 wave with their websites like the business world is beginning to do. While David’s slideshow targets the business community, his insights can certainly be applied to this generation of students as well.

I look at our own school’s website and it is pretty static. I introduced a school blog but it is separate from the school’s site. I really have a vision of our school’s website doing so much more. In my vision, I will refer to students, parents, and teachers (basically the entire community who would use the site as “stakeholders.” My vision:

• It is a blog so stakeholders can comment on anything and everything on the site.
• It has useful widgets that the stakeholders can choose and customize like an iGoogle page.
• It has surveys and survey results right on the page.
• Content is driven not only by the school but also by its stakeholders.
• Students and teachers could have their own pages like Facebook or Myspace. (Of course, they would have to be some safety measures built in there too.)

Ok, maybe that’s not so revolutionary but I think it’s a start. We need to adapt to the changing world we’re in. I too often hear that students don’t really use our school’s website and I just have to think that perhaps it’s because it is so static. The information is mostly unidirectional: SCHOOL ===> STAKEHOLDERS. I would rather it be multi directional. I’m going to be thinking about this…

Can we fathom the reality of the Katrina disaster? » Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Scrolling through my Google Reader today, I was captivated by this post by Wesley Fryer.  He tells of an encounter he had with a Katrina survivor and the harrowing events she experienced.

What struck me the most were these comments:

Listening to this woman tell her story, I was further convicted of the importance of recording and archiving the stories and experiences of others in our communities and in our homes. It was impossible to listen to her tale and not be moved. Too often in school, I think we focus too much on facts and dates, and fail to connect personally with a context. Listening to the lived experiences of others who have survived harrowing circumstances can be an impactful learning opportunity.

A search this evening on YouTube for “hurricane katrina” yields over 9000 videos, and I will readily admit I have NOT taken the time to watch many of these. Of the videos I have seen, however, none communicate the desperation and all-out battle for survival which the woman on our train shared in her story Sunday night. I have an abiding sense that much of “the story” of the Katrina disaster remains untold and undocumented, at least for those of us who would be students of this recent history.

So here are some ideas I have right off the bat that could be put to use (especially in those days after EOGs when teachers struggle to keep students engaged).

• Have students find someone to interview in their community, someone with a story to tell and interview the person
• Have students document the interview by taking photos of the person telling the story, shooting digital video, or record the audio digitally
• Take not only the words the person says but these digital captures and mash them up in a project that tells the story visually and aurally

For these types of projects to have the most impact, they need to be shared and not just in the form of a presentation in the classroom but online through teacher blogs or the school blogs.  Ok, ideas for mashing:

• Create a PowerPoint and insert video or audio clips of the interviewee; save them as web pages, upload to the web; link to blogs
• Create a PhotoStory using still images and audio files; upload finished projects and link to blogs
• Create podcasts of the interviews (there are many tools out there for this) and link to blogs
• Create a VoiceThread project with the movie footage or still shots; share the links of the finished projects on blogs
• Publish digital video to Google video and create a PowerPoint slideshow to accompany it with thoughts or comments; publish in Zentation where the video and the slideshow are presented side by side; link to blogs

There are probably a million ways to do this but these are some thoughts that struck me right off the bat.

I was asked yesterday by a math teacher for help.  It was a sincere plea because we do expect all teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum.  The pressure is on now because the end of the year is coming up and accountability will be in place to measure what integration has taken place over the course of the year.  That said, I won’t rant and rave about teachers being resistant to using technology in their classroom.  I heard the sincerity in this teacher’s voice.  He was genuinely in a quandry as to how to integrate technology in the classroom.  He was also puzzled by how on earth he was supposed to find time to learn how to use it much less integrate it into his curriculum.  Truly, his plate was full.

Having been a classroom teacher, I understand where he is coming from.  I personally think classroom teachers have one of the toughest jobs on earth.  They are pulled in many directions, held to high standards, play many roles to students, and meet for hours.  Time is always at a premium:  time to plan, time to teach, time to meet, time to grade papers, time to stay current with your field, and time to learn new things.

We decided to set a date so I could help him.  I am writing this post to ask for math inspiration.  What are best practices for math teachers to integrate technology into their lessons?  What are some great ways to use interactive tablets, document cameras, digital cameras, etc. so that lessons are enhanced and students are engaged?  I welcome any and all ideas here.

Knowledge and learning require both transmission and construction » Moving at the Speed of Creativity

I ran across this post by Wesley Fryer in my return to the Web 2.0 pool. This paragraph in particular struck me pretty hard as I think about how to introduce more Web 2.0 technologies to my teachers.

The day of blended learning has dawned. Knowledge and learning requires BOTH the transmission of content and the construction of local schema focused on that content. Our methods for accessing robust multimedia content are going to keep exploding for the foreseeable future. HOW we access the content IS important, but a more difficult (and pedagogically challenging) question is, “What are you going to ask (or invite) learners to DO with that content?” What are learners going to create? How are they going to collaborate in that creative process? How are you going to document that process of creation and learning? How are learners going to represent their understanding of both content and skills related to the topic of study, in ways they cannot FAKE or a classmate (or parent) can’t do for them?

I know I talk about projects a lot with the staff development I present. Sometimes I feel a resistance there because teachers are pressed to cover their curriculum and projects take time away from that. But do they? Is the teacher-lecture-textbook-reading-completing -worksheets model THE most effective means for students to learn the curriculum being covered? Anyone who has been in education for the last 10 years knows the answer to that question is a resounding NO.

Students have changed. They are digital natives. They live in a world where they can record themselves and their friends with their cell phones and post those videos on YouTube. They no longer have to have email accounts because they keep in touch through MySpace or Facebook or any number of social networking sites. They post their deepest thoughts to a faceless audience through blogs. This generation learns and produces socially.

In the same post by Fryer, you’ll find the following chart:

I think this chart is a great brainstorming platform to leap from when it comes to discussing Web 2.0 tools in the classroom and justifying their use.

None of this should be completely foreign to those who have seen the learning pyramid.

From what I can see, when students are working in the interactive/asynchronous area of Fryer’s chart, they are working in all areas of the learning pyramid not just the top tier like the would be with the non-interactive/synchronous block. If students are going to retain more information by working on the bottom tiers of the learning pyramid, doesn’t it make sense to use what is familiar to them (Web 2.0 technologies) to engage them and cover the curriculum at the same time? Won’t we cover our curriculum this way and, more importantly, help students retain the curriculum we cover?

Ok, I’ve taken a break from blog reading/posting and even using my Google home page combined with Google gadgets like Google Reader etc. I’ve just been too busy to engage in the Web 2.0 world for a while.

So recently, as my scheduled has relaxed a little, I have cannonballed back into the deep water and I am fired up once more! It’s been so easy to focus solely on NCWise or the day-to-day grind of troubleshooting and meetings. I am ashamed to see that my blog posts have waned considerably.

What I realized over the last days is that by not actively participating in Web 2.0, I have missed out on what is currently happening in the world of technology education. My professional knowledgeometer has dipped down to empty and I have been running on fumes. This in turn has an impact on the staff of teachers I am supposed to inspire and, more importantly, the student body who desperately needs teachers to engage them in meaningful ways.

So, with renewed fervor, I stand on the edge of the Web 2.0 pool and survey the waters. There is a lot of work to do.

I recently attended a department meeting of social studies teachers. One comment that has haunted me: “No matter what activity I do, the kids just don’t care. I don’t know how to make social studies interesting to them anymore.” During the meeting I heard teachers spinning their wheels with old technologies/teaching methods that don’t interest students. There was a distinct staleness in the conversation. It struck me that like many teachers, they are isolated in their classrooms and are starving for fresh new ideas. I want so desperately now to connect our teachers with professional blogs and resources where they can learn more about what others in their fields are doing with technology and the read/write web. Just like I have benefited from a renewed dip into the Web 2.0 pool, I know teachers would as well and, in turn, hopefully share these benefits with the students.

I created a post on the topic of iPods in the classroom on our school’s blog to see what sort of unique ideas we could get on how iPods could be used to facilitate learning in the classroom.  While most of the student comments focused on wanting to bring their own iPods to class so they could listen to music, we did receive some interesting comments on different uses for iPods.  My article focused more on the new iTouch iPods because of their wireless Internet capabilities.  I have been thinking how neat it would be to have a class set of these so teachers could check them out and use them as an alternative to laptops for Internet research.  Of course, podcasting is always a possibility as well. 

Is any school out there using iTouch iPods in this way?  I would be thrilled to hear some ideas on the topic.  Since I don’t own one personally, it would also be nice to hear what users actually have to say about them.