Just One of the COOL KIDS!

This coming FETC 2011 is going to be EPIC! I've heard from many of my friends and seems to be the place to be in January! (OK, Florida in January--anybody see a problem?)
So, this year I'm a spotlight speaker sharing the stage with Steve Dembo in THE BIGGEST USER, SEASON TWO...so excited to have a chance to share some great tools with educators...
Hope to see you there!!

Ladies in my Life...

Every once in a while, both Laurens come into town and I NEVER get to spend enough time with either one of them.

These ladies have such big brains and hearts and I can't wait to see all they accomplish with their chosen fields.

They are such fun to play with...hope they show up again soon!

Take me out to the TIGER'S game!

Comerica park is extraordinary! Contrary to what Shannon thinks, even though I was sporting my 2006 Cardinals/Tigers World Series hat, no one gave me trouble! In fact, I found the crowd to be very knowledgeable

and friendly. They even talked about baseball players that used to play for Detroit!

I learned that Yadia Molina (catcher for the Cardinals) actually has TWO other brothers that are catchers for baseball teams. One actually plays on the Texas Rangers team and they won the game!

Detroit is in a serious slump, but I'm not! Life is always good, and especially awesome if I can get to a baseball game!

SECOND GREATEST DAY EVER!

The 1st GREATEST day of my instructional technology career was becoming a Google Certified Teacher in 2008 out in Mountain View, CA and meeting all of my wonderful colleagues who share my passion.

The 2nd GREATEST day ever was meeting up with them again at ISTE 2010 in Denver, Colorado! Molly(my lovely blonde colleague) and Colette (my gorgeous brunette colleague) and I were working the Google Booth throughout the conference. Funny that Google Earth is showing above us, because THAT is what I was sharing at the Google Theatre and helping passerbys to understand the value and instructional wealth of resources GE has to offer. What an inspiring wonderful memory ISTE 2010 has given me. I have so many new friends and old friends to cherish and reflect upon!

MY DEPD PLN and more!

The weather is wonderful, the coworkers are stellar and yes, believe it or not we're working hard! California is another great learning time!

Zipling is the most fun you can have!

This is my favorite picture of my favorite day in Hawaii with my family. We are in the middle of ziplining in Hawi and having the best time ever. I can't remember ever having this much fun with my family. What an adventure we had and I can't wait to do it again!!

President Obama LISTEN UP!!

Ok, we voted you into office because many of us believed you would make a difference! Here is your opportunity to show us you will.
WE NEED MORE EDUCATONAL TECHNOLOGY IN EVERY CLASSROOM IN EVERY SCHOOL ACROSS ALL FIFTY STATES NOW!
Please write your congressman or check out iste.org for more information.

BEST DAY EVER!!

Just finished sharing some GOOGLE GOODIES with Discovery Education and Comcast! Talk about fun! While I was sharing Google Image Swirl, Timeline, Google Squared, etc everyone was collaborating in the chat box about ways to use them...it was a Great Collaboration with a wonderful variety of teachers from across the United States and Canada! Over 76 people joined the party tonight and I hope we get the chance to meet face to face someday...but meanwhile, I'm on my computer having fun sharing all my google goodies and THAT made it the best day ever!

George said it best..............

I'm playing inside Google Labs, and this is called the Google Reader Play...and so I did...they randomly give you different pictures or videos that are fairly interesting...but this quote from George Bernard Shaw captured my heart...Yep, it IS all about creating yourself...Its something I get to do every day and I'm loving it!!!

Kim and I are Discovery Education PD trainers, roomates and friends..I love playing and working with her! Although she is based in California, thanks to twitter and assorted other web 2.0 tools, she is moments away from any conversation! Thanks for showing me how much fun the water can be...I still have a lot to learn!!

A classic example of why we should NOT average testing...and while we are on the topic of the "season" of testing...ugh..its ugly out there... and I have one question that I bet NO ONE CAN ANSWER.

Are all of these tests a valid assessment of the student (and teacher)?

EPIC HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE!

Spent a week in Hawaii working with great Teachers -- showing them the power of Discovery Education products and got some serious play time with my family too!

The best day was spent zip lining through the rain forest..a total of EIGHT zip lines and a total BLAST! I have videos of my family running off of a cliff on the last zip line. . It was such a great day!

Loved being in Hawaii, love my job (obviously) and love my family, they are great fun to be with!

Rockin at the eMINTS Conference!

Looking forward to attending the emints conference this upcoming week in Columbia, MO. Even more excited to deliver my Keynote Presentation "Tuning Up for the Next Ten Years!" Wow, eMINTS is celebrating their 10th anniversary and I couldn't be MORE proud to be part of this great organization.

My personal story in this organization was one of complete luck. As a new employee of a small school district, I was asked if I wanted to become an emints trainer. "Sure", I said, I never turn down an opportunity for educational growth! Then, my whole thinking changed, morphed, became so much more enlightened by embracing the philosophy of eMINTS. I have since then, trained two groups of stellare educators and have seen the magic of eMINTS. It has rocked my world for so many years, and will continue to rock the educational world for many years. Eight states and Australia proves that point every day!

PARTY RATS!

Yesterday was my birthday and as usual, it was the BEST DAY ever! My kids always get, ummm, unique gifts and this one is over the top!

These party rats fit on your individual fingers and you can type away on the keyboard without any other lights on...Genius!

So, now my mouse is not lonely anymore, he has PARTY RATS to hang with!

SHARK FIN PIE

Yep, up here in Milwaukee, they have a great fish restaurant with Shark Fin pie...as you can see, its H U G E --and tasty! Basically vanilla ice cream, fudge, peanut butter, oreo cookie crust, vanilla ice cream, fudge...yeah!..and even though we were "working", we STILL need to eat!

So, my Discovery colleagues and I celebrated my birthday early with some sweet ice cream pie called Shark Fin Pie..yumm!

FETC 2010

Lee and I had a great time with THE BIGGEST USER! Who is the biggest user? The Teachers of course! They got to hear about 8 innovative programs to use in their classrooms and Part II will be shared at FETC 2011 !

I also got to help my favorite fellow GCT, Rushton in two three hour sessions, but it was all google and it was all good.

I've been to several FETC conferences, but this was the best and so are the stories--I'm still laughing!

Me and Blue

Here's the update on my official portrait my artist daughter is currently drawing. I asked her why she was drawing me on a blue piece of paper and she said she knew that color was my favorite...she's right..so, I stop by every once in awhile and its just wierd seeing yourself "appear" on a piece of blue paper...

Its completely freehand and she is completely awesome! I love it!

FETC 2010 Friends

No one knew everybody, but that is a great reason to sit down at a Mediterranean Dinner (Thanks, Rushton) and get to know each other.

Three Google Certified Teach

ers, three stellar Florida Teachers and One Native Chicago Conference Presenter, also my roommate!!

I could try and tell you the stories, but I'd probably be laughing to hard to finish most of them! We had great conversations, laughs, stories and above all, Great Presentations!!

Twitter Friends are the BEST !

Kim and I were doing a gig in Milwaukee when IMCGUY asks us "what's up?" Chad happens to be a big Wisconsin Discovery dude and he got a chance to come over and talk with us face to face...and did I mention he brought LUNCH??

Oh yeah, what a guy!

Looking forward to seeing him again in Milwaukee...guess I gotta go see his school next time!

I'm so excited about THIS year!

Twenty ten is gonna be a great year and I'm going to start by declaring it here and now!

I've made some MAJOR changes in some very old habits and already I can see a difference. I have let go of some old ways of thinking and doing and its amazing how great I feel. Yes, I agree it is not easy to change your way of thinking about people, places and things, but I have developed an attitude of change and so far, so good..

I have indeed made some resolutions and I am in hopes that I will accomplish them...I'll try, that's all I can do. If I fail, I will get up, dust myself off, and try again and again and yeah, I'm determined !