I get along well with my students. I am pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that I have a sense of humor that rivals any teenager (ask anyone who knows me).  One of my greatest strengths is building relationships with my students. I think if you ask my students to describe me they would say I am open-minded, tolerant, and approachable, but every once in a while a student comes along that is difficult to bond with. Last year a student came to my school and no matter what I did he would not talk to me. I didn’t take it personally because he did not talk to his other teachers, either. However, he had not issues communicating with his peers.

When I saw his name on my roster again for this year I figured things would be the same. Sure enough the first day came and went and he was quiet, but there were not too many opportunities to interact. On the second day of class I had my students create an Animoto video that featured images that represent things they like. During class this student quietly raised his hand and asked for help. I thought to myself, “Yes! Progress!!! He is at least talking to me!” I pulled up a chair and I began walking him through some of the steps. As I was looking at his slides I noticed he included an image of the Three Stooges. I saw an opening here and I went for it. I told him about my favorite episode where they are eating in a restaurant and each time they go to take a bite they hear a dog yip or growl. He immediately knew the one I was talking about then told me about his favorite episode. In the matter of five minutes the wall that was hindering our communication was gone. It took students nearly 2 hours to complete all the steps of this project, but it was so worth it. Sometimes learning something so simple about our students can bridge a huge gap. I know some teachers jump into content on the first day and they never take the time to get to know their students. I am so happy I took the time to have my students do this project.

I start my sixth year of teaching tomorrow. I can still remember being scared to death the night before my first few years of teaching. I would have everything scripted out to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I would not get more than a few hours of sleep because I would be so worried I would forget something like my name or how to speak when I got up in front of my class. I told someone earlier today that I am anxious, but not a “nervous anxious.” I am confident enough in who I am as a teacher that if something doesn’t go perfectly tomorrow (or this week or this year) then I will adjust.

Tomorrow is a sort of team teaching day when we will have students log into the network and make sure all of their accounts work. I just want tomorrow to go by quickly do I can spend time on Tuesday really getting to know my students. I am lucky enough to teach in a school where STUDENTS COME FIRST. Relationships are everything, especially when you teach at an alternative school to kids who have much more important things to do like go to work so they can help support their families. I NEVER teach content on the first day. My former principal told me if I am getting to content on the first day then I am doing something wrong. I owe it to my students to get to know them and to let them know who I am before the teaching and learning process begins. My classroom has a very relaxed atmosphere, but there is still a tremendous amount of respect that flows both ways. I have no discipline issues because I have relationships with my students. We trust each other and they know I have their back.

I cannot wait to begin Year Six. I love my summers, but I am so happy that I can speak these words again…..I get to teach tomorrow!

Course Example

Style Guide

Course Creation Rubric

Learner Support and Resources /Student Tutorials/Student Resources

Teacher Tutorial Guide/Teacher Tutorials

About five years ago I tried to sign into the school network and I had forgotten my password. Instead of setting to our common default which is “123456″ he changed it to “moodle.” At the time I thought it was a nonsense word he made up on the spot. He explained it was a program that he was just starting to tinker with on the spare server. I have learned a ton about Moodle and course design since that day back in 2005. The vast majority of what I have learned about I have learned on my own. My journey with Moodle started when I began using it as a virtual file cabinet. Slowly, as my confidence grew, I created very basic courses that did nothing more than provide me with a place to store links that I wanted to share with my f2f students.

However, my teaching assignment changed forever when my coworkers and I were asked to design classes that we would teach completely online. In June of 2008 the three of us were basically told which basic classes to create and we were turned loose after less than one day of Moodle training. We spent part of that first day discussing how we should make sure our courses had a similar look and feel. It wasn’t too long before all four of us were off doing pretty much our own thing. We had had different themes and none of our outside blocks were even the least bit similar. Our main concern was getting our classes put together so they were ready for students in the fall.

It was not too long before we realized we were not headed down the right road. Our content was descent, but students had issues navigating because the classes were not as student-friendly as they could have been. We decided we needed to bring in some experts to help us sort out our issues. In February of 2009 we brought in Michael Wacker and Ben Wilkoff to work with us on both Moodle and Google. After they got us going in the right direction we got busy on creating a “brand” for our classes. As an organization we feel that it is very important for our classes to have a consistent look and feel. With the help of Jason Buck we created a fantastic theme that is unique to our school.  The staff at my school also worked to create a style guide to insure that courses have the consistent fonts, layout, and that blocks that all teachers use are in the same position. All of these documents are linked at the top of this post. The team worked tirelessly from February through May to make sure everything was perfect.

My hope is that others will be able to benefit from all of our hard work. If you find any of this useful please leave a comment to let us know.

This is one of those posts that you will either identify with right away or you won’t get it at all. If you have been around a while and follow a wide variety of people then this might resonate with you. If you are relatively new to Twitter then you may not even be aware of some of these issues.

I have been shocked over the last couple of months concerning some of the things I have seen on Twitter. I have watched my colleagues engage in discussions that are overtly sexual in nature. (I am not talking about jokes, but conversations where types of sex and anatomy are discussed.) I have watched as colleagues use language that offends me (and I am NOT easily offended.)and is probably a total turn off to those who are new to Twitter. I have witnessed people belittle others for not using what they consider the correct terminology in their tweets. All of this has left me wondering what has changed over the last few months. Others have written about bad behavior on Twitter recently so I know it isn’t just me being overly sensitive.

Is it possible that we are just too comfortable with each other? We are in constant contact with each other day in and day out and I think that perhaps we feel like we don’t need to be as reserved in our interactions. So many of us have met multiple times face-to-face that we are friends in the traditional sense.  I also think when we get caught up in conversations it makes it easy to forget that others are watching. (DM’s people…..DM’s! Just make sure if you are sending a DM that will get you in trouble that it is actually a DM and not an @. I think most of us have made that mistake and it is NOT a good feeling.)

What do you think? Am I off the mark or could our level of comfort be contributing to some of the friction? Do we need to come up with some sort of Twitter Code of Ethics? Not sure if we could even write something like that since we cannot even agree on simple things like what to call our PLN. Heck, some say PLN’s don’t even exist. (I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation for this one. Please feel free to enlighten me if you can.)

Ok…stepping down from my soapbox and going to watch a movie. My head is starting to hurt.

I wanted to do a little experiment so I sent out a tweet asking for people to tell me in one or two words what the object in the picture was. I figured I would get a variety of replies, but what I got was very interesting. The thing in the picture was referred to as a couch, sofa, loveseat, davenport, Ikea Ektop, beige couch, and chesterfield. My favorite reply was from someone who called it an uncomfortable nap. (Agreed!)

So why did I ask such an insanely ridiculous question? I wanted to prove a point. Most of us call this either a sofa, couch, or loveseat, but what if you were one of the people who called it something else? Would  you be wrong? Are the people who refer to this object by a more common name more correct? An even more important question is does it really matter?

Seventeen people replied when I asked them to name the object in the picture. Let’s pretend for a moment that instead I had asked for people to define reform.  If seventeen people provided eight different answers when I asked for the name of a simple piece of furniture how many different definitions would you expect to see? My guess would be no fewer than seventeen. Defining an abstract concept such as reform is much more difficult because how we define it is guided by our life experiences.

A Google search for the definition yielded the following results. I have eliminated the ones not related to this post.

• make changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices
• bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one
• a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses
• improve by alteration or correction of errors or defects and put into a better condition
• a campaign aimed to correct abuses or malpractices
• change for the better
• self-improvement in behavior or morals by abandoning some vice

Which of these definitions do you think of when you think of educational reform? All of them? None of them? What does educational reform really mean and what does it look like? I can barely answer that for myself, much less anyone else. I know it means changing what is done in our classrooms. But what does that mean? I know it means doing things better. But what does that mean? I know it means working towards making myself better equipped to teach my students who are 21st century learners. BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

I think a very simplistic definition of educational reform is “improving our current educational system.” But how do we do this? What is our vision? Do we have a common vision or is this such a complex question that each person will have their own individual answer? While we each have our own idea of what educational reform looks like, it is critical that we have a common vision before we can move forward. I think this is true for individual schools, districts, states, and ultimately a national vision for school reform. In order to move forward we must work together to achieve educational reform.

In order to hammer out a common vision of what educational reform looks like we have to talk about it. Conversations that center around this are a good thing to have, right? Not so fast. Twitter seems to be the most popular place for conversations surrounding educational reform to occur. There are several groups that voluntarily come together on a regular basis to discuss different issues in education. Edchat is one of the most popular. It seems like there are different variations of Edchat now that focus on specific content areas. There are also different unconferences that have sprung up around the country where people get together to talk about issues in education. Some of these conferences happen in face-to-face venues  like Edcamp Philly while some are virtual like the Reform Symposium that just happened last weekend.

All of these conversations help move us towards a better and possibly more common vision for what educational reform means. For many it helps paint a picture of what we are working towards. I have no doubt that some of the ideas that come from these conversations are not all good, but at least the conversation is happening. Let’s go back to the sofa (couch, loveseat, whatever) for a minute. If the seventeen people who replied to my tweet started having regular conversations about the “sofa” and they consistently used the word “sofa” then eventually the other terms would not be used at all. As new people join the conversation they will start referring to the piece of furniture as the sofa, too. I believe the same holds true for coming to an agreement about educational reform. The more we discuss it them more common our vision becomes.

Some people have been in the business of educational reform for as long as I have been alive, while others are just barely beginning to realize that they want to be part of the movement that brings change to our educational system. Unfortunately, there are a few people who seem to have a bee in their bonnet when it comes to us talking about school reform out in the open. They are very critical of the topics that are discussed and the various forums that are used to discuss these ideas. For reasons that I do not understand, they feel compelled to insult the people who are trying to make change happen. Instead of sharing their valuable expertise they take pride in making fun of the efforts of others. Instead of taking the time to share their ideas and insight, they waste time taking jabs at those who are truly dedicated to making sure educational reform happens.

By working against each others efforts, I believe that we have indeed, become our own worst enemy.

The International Society for Technology in Education represents over 100,000 educators from around the world. Their goal is to advance the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. In addition to hosting a top-notch educational technology conference they have published National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers, and administrators.

As a classroom teacher I make every attempt to incorporate the NETS for Students in as many ways as possible. As a teacher I believe it is the responsibility of my district to provide training for all teachers so they can be proficient in the NETS for Teachers. Finally, I believe it is the responsibility of administrators to make sure they receive the training they need in order to be able to meet the standards set forth in the NETS for Administrators. To do anything else is simply unacceptable.

The first standard for administrators deals with being a Visionary Leader. Administrators are expected to inspire shared vision of purposeful change that maximizes digital resources. Along with this vision there must be a plan that integrates technology throughout the school. This means more than putting interactive white boards in each room or a laptop in the hands of each student. It requires training which requires time.

The second standard calls for educational administrators to “create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students.” This is a huge task because it requires the administrator to fully understand not only what a learner-centered environment looks like, but they also must grasp how to integrate technology into the curriculum in an effective manner. It is no longer acceptable for administrators to claim they are not computer literate. Being proficient at checking email and surfing the internet is no longer acceptable. The bar has been raised and administrators owe it to their teachers and students to reach new heights.

Time is also the required to meet the third standard for administrators which is Excellence in Professional Practice. It is absolutely necessary for administrators to lead by example. We need to celebrate the administrators who are leading the call of change.  Administrators such as  Chris Lehmann, Patrick Larkin, George Couros, John Carver, and Eric Sheninger are all modeling effective communication and collaboration using digital tools and and they are placing an emphasis on promoting and environment of professional learning and innovation. Their schools are different because they are visionary leaders who embrace a technology-infused curriculum because they know that is the best way to prepare their students for today. Students who are attending classes in schools that have not yet moved into the 21st century are still being prepared for a future in the 20th century. In my book this is tantamount to educational malpractice.

The fourth standard, Systemic Improvement,  requires administrators to work closely with their IT department to come up with a plan to maintain the technology infrastructure. It also calls for the administrator to achieve learning goals through the “appropriate use of technology and media-rich resources.” I point to these two benchmarks because in way to many schools it is left to the IT department to determine which tools and websites will be available to students and staff. In my estimation this is one of the biggest sources of friction when it comes to the use of technology in schools. Administrators must be the ones to make the decision about these things, not the IT department.

The fifth and final standard is Digital Citizenship. As the leader of a school or district, administrators are expected to model safe, legal, and ethical ways to use digital age tools for communication and collaboration. I have heard so many times that administrators are told by legal counsel to not create a digital identity because of all of the problems it could cause. If school personnel are using social media in a responsible and transparent manner then there will not be any issues.

After reviewing the NETS for Administrators, how do you measure up? Chances are unless you are at the top of your game you have a lot of catching up to do and that is OK. If you read my post to this point then it is obvious you care about change and that is the first step. As a classroom teacher I cannot tell you exactly what you need to do next, but there are plenty of brilliant administrators out there who can help you get going in the right direction. We are lucky to live in a time when help and advice is always just a click away.

In the mean time here are some suggestions that I can provide for what you can do to start catching up with the NETS:

• Provide adequate training for your teachers to help them use and implement the technology that they already have. SIT in the training sessions with them and use some of the tools yourself. Start a blog. Join Twitter and send tweets on behalf of your school. Allow your staff access to social media sites and encourage them to visit them during the day so they can learn from some of the most amazing educators from around the world. However, if it is discovered that staff has abused their time on social networking sites deal with that person individually. Do not block it for the rest of us who are there to learn.
• Talk to your tech-savvy teachers about how they integrate technology into their lessons. See if they would be willing to provide training to teachers who are not so tech-savvy.
• Don’t pit your teachers against your tech department when it comes to filtering web content. If a site is harmful to students, violates CIPA, or has absolutely no educational value then it should be blocked. Everything else should be wide open. Administrators, teachers and students need full access to the Internet in order to meet the technology standards. Be a proactive administrator and promote the idea the teachers should be the ones making the decisions about what is and is not appropriate content for their classrooms.
• Create a digital footprint that you can show as a model for your staff and students. If you are unsure of how to do this then contact any one of the administrators I named in my post. Or contact me and I will help you out. I am @bethstill on Twitter.
• Make sure the people you have training your teachers fully comprehend why each web tool they are teaching is valuable. Training needs to go well beyond “Here’s the tool. Play with it.”  Most teachers need to see examples to understand how something can be incorporated into what they are already teaching.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. It has been my pleasure to participate in Leadership Day 2010.

I have never thought of myself as a leader.  The first few years I taught I was pretty happy with the state of things because I was blissfully unaware that there was a better way to do things.  When I started to realize things could be different I went about change the wrong way.  I would openly criticize what I perceived as problems.  After getting in hot water more times than I care to count I decided to channel my energy into more positive ventures.  This is how the ISTE Newbie project came to be.  I have sort of made it my mission to help “newbies’” who are just getting into the world of Twitter and networking.  I figured it is the least I can do since I sort of know a thing or two about creating a personal learning network.

One cannot be in education today without being aware that there are major flaws with the system.  When I started this blog and decided to call it Nebraska Change Agent I did so because I wanted to make changes.  I wanted to be one of the “one in ten” that Howie DiBlasi so passionately described when I met him over two years ago.  The general consensus seems to be that change is not going to happen in schools unless it comes from the top.  I want to be out front making sure I can help lead the charge. That is why I made the decision today to pursue my Master’s in Educational Administration.

This decision was fueled by my directors request for me to work with my colleagues to put together some presentation proposals for an upcoming Educational Administrator conference.  My biggest fear speaking to a room full of administrators is the fact that they might perceive me as “just a teacher” and they will not value what I have to say.  I know there are plenty of administrators who value what teachers have to say, but many do not.  I want a place at the table and I want my voice to be heard.I want to be a force of change in education.

I will wrap up my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction next summer.  A year from now I will start down my path to becoming an administrator.  This may not make sense, but I feel like this path has selected me more than I have selected it.  Others have strongly encouraged me to do this, but I really had not ever even considered it until recently.  My husband has wanted me to do this for a long time and one of my best friends is always telling me I will go on to do great things.  If it wasn’t for the encouragement from these two very special and wonderful people I would not be sitting here typing this post. Thank you for believing me.

Maybe I will find that I am not cut out to be an administrator, but maybe I will find out it is exactly what I was meant to do.

I am so psyched about a project that I am working on. Not only is it an exciting and worthwhile project, but I have partnered with my husband, Kris,  to make it a reality. We have been married for over 16 years, but we have never worked on any type of project before that is ours.

We are going to set up a self sustaining nonprofit that will provide new laptops to students who otherwise would not be able to afford them. (We have a target audience in mind that we want to start with, but are waiting to announce who it is until we meet with a few more people.) The idea is to get descent, brand new laptops at a deeply discounted price.  We will purchase the initial computers that we need with grant money and private donations. We will raise funds from local businesses and individuals that will help reduce the cost of the computers even more. The local funds will be divided into credits that students can earn by volunteering at different places around our community. There will be a limit on the number of credits students can earn because the idea is to have them invest both their time and money to earn their computer. We hope that by providing them with volunteer opportunities it will help strengthen their ties to our community. The students’ payments will go to purchase computers for the next wave of students so that we will never have to seek grant money after the first round of computers is purchased.

We are working on finding an attorney that will help get us up and running. We hope to start this for next school year. We have so much work ahead of us, but I think it will be very worthwhile to help students and their families get their first computer.

If you are interested in helping out please send me an email at nebraskavirtualteacher@gmail.com

The number one complaint I heard about sessions during ISTE is that there were too many sessions which focused on the tools, but not nearly enough that discussed how to actually implement the tools into the classroom. There is a large segment of educators who are familiar with web tools and have even tested them out with their students, but they are ready to move to the next level which is figuring out how to use these tools effectively to improve communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity in their classrooms.

I created a wiki that I named Web Tools in Action. As a community of educators we need to build it together. If all of us take a few minutes to add something or ask some of our colleagues to share their projects, we are going to have one heck of a great crowd-sourced resource at our fingertips. The idea is to add links to projects that exist all over the web and write up a short description of them so others can see what it means when we say things like we use blogs and wikis in our classroom. Many of us have our students do things like take digital picture of create podcasts, but where do teachers begin who want to do this? While this wiki is supposed to be about how to implement web tools we cannot help but talk about individual tools and that is OK! But we all know tools come and go so if you discuss a specific tool you might want to add several other similar tools in case one of them goes away. (Most recent example I can think of is ScreenToaster and for different reasons, Ning.)

If you know of any examples to share that are not yours please contact the teacher to see if they would mind if you shared them. I am looking to fill this wiki with examples from all grade and subject levels. So what are you waiting for! Let’s fill this thing up. And don’t be shy about being the first to edit a page. There are no specific rules or format when editing. Click here to see an example that I included. As you can see it does not take much time!

Click here to get to the Google form. See the completed form here.

By now you have probably seen Chris Lehmann’s short, but thrilling speech at Ignite Philly. If you have not watched it yet then you probably should take a five minute break and be prepared to be amazed.

ISTE’s decision to crowdsource one of the keynotes generated a lot of controversy. It also showed there are many people out there who have expertise to share and it is darn near impossible to select just one of them. I brought a rather obvious point when I asked at the time why just select one? Why not have ten or so presenters who all have a valuable message to share? It was too late at that point for ISTE to add an “Ignite Philly” session to the schedule, but I am proposing this idea far enough in advance that if there is enough support for this idea then we just might be able to pull it off.

If you are in favor of asking ISTE to include an Ignite Philly session at ISTE11 then please include your name on the Google form. Please include comments and suggestions you have for how to select the presenters. Should they put together a proposal just like others or does ISTE issue invitations to people they select? Maybe they try crowdsourcing again, but only allow each member to have a limited number of votes.

I decided to take a slightly different approach to my ISTE reflection. I have included a couple dozen pictures that represent my most memorable moments from Colorado. I have always said that I blog for myself. This post is definitely more for me than anyone else, but I want to share it with all of you. I hope you enjoy walking down memory lane with me.

My ISTE trip started out by traveling all of the way from Scottsbluff, Nebraska to Denver to pick up Jason Schrage, Steven Anderson, and Cory Plough so we could meet up with the rest of our group in Estes Park. I had literally just pulled out of the airport and completely lost track of how fast I was driving. I got a speeding ticket. I swear it was not my fault. You try riding in a car with these guys and see if you can concentrate! (ok—it was my fault—I was the driver, but still!)

This was the view from the deck of our cabin in Estes Park. There was a group of us who started kicking around the idea of staying in Estes Park at the end of NECC09. It took a couple of months of searching to find the right place, but this was perfect for the group that stayed in the two cabins. Had a wonderful three days in Estes with Cory Plough, Brenda Smith, Jason Schrage, Steven Anderson, Paula Naugle, Michelle Baldwin, Mary Beth Hertz, Richard Byrne, Scott Floyd, Paul R. Wood, Mrs. Paul R. Wood, Mike Gras, and Randy Rodgers. We had such a great time hanging out at the cabin, shopping in Estes Park, and exploring Rocky Mountain National Park.

This is Richard Byrne on Trail Ridge Road.One of my biggest regrets from NECC09 was not reserving any time to get to know Richard better. EVERYONE wanted some of his time. This time I stole him from the group for just a little while. We were able to take a couple hours to drive through the park and catch up.

This is me with my mentor, Cory Plough. This was the first time I was able to see Cory f2f since NECC08 in San Antonio. The last time I saw him my PLN consisted of about 20 people. Boy how things change! I felt very fortunate to be able to spend time with so many people in my PLN in such a beautiful place.

One of my favorite moments happened just after breakfast on Thursday morning. I was standing in the dining room and turned around to see Jason and Richard standing next to each other and it hit me……Richard Byrne and Jason Schrage are standing next to each other and it is because of something I did. Most people will look at this picture and not see the significance, but it is one of the most powerful moments I experienced during the entire week.  Eighteen months ago I barely knew either one of these guys, but because each of them were Newbies I have a very strong connection to both of them. Being able to spend time with them at the same time was very special.

Funny story here. Jason wanted to go to downtown Estes to find some gifts to take home for his wife and two boys. He drug me around from store to store looking for the perfect gift and we eventually ended up in a little gift shop that sold local products. One of the products they had out to sample was this salsa called Dave’s Insanity. Of course, being the good friend I am I dared him to try it. The young lady working in the store got in on the action to and told him something like only real men could handle it. Well Jason doesn’t back down to a challenge so he picked up a chip and scooped up a couple tablespoons of this incredible toxic salsa. At first he said it was a little warm then within about a minute it hit him. He turned red and beads of sweat started forming on his brow. He was trying to not let it show but he was DYING! I wasn’t much help because I was laughing too hard. Sorry Jason—I had to include this story. It was so funny.

There are a couple of reasons I included this image. First of all it struck me as funny that we are in one of the most beautiful places in the country and we still cannot unplug. Even when we are in the same physical location as over a dozen of our tweeps we still feel the need to be connected to our network. We had some great conversations around this table and shared lots of laughs. It was by far one of the things I will remember most about my trip. There is nothing like spending time with people from my PLN that I consider friends.

I had a conversation with Paula Naugle in the Bloggers’ Cafe at the conclusion of NECC09 in Washington DC. I told her it would be so cool to get the two “Newbies” together so they could go fishing. By early September I had most of the details worked out. The trip to Estes became a panel planning session/fly fishing trip. This picture of Richard and Jason is what the pre-ISTE trip was all about. It was fun to watch them work with Steven and Mary Beth on the river. BTW—the BBQ in this picture is from a place in Estes Park called Smokin’ Daves. It was soooooo good!

One of the coolest (literally) parts of Rocky Mountain National Park is the huge field of snow on the way up to Trail Ridge Road. I pulled over and Jason decided to go for a run which was pretty impressive considering we were at over 11, 500 feet above sea level. As he was busy being Jason (nature freak) and exploring the unique flora at this altitude I was caught up in the idea that it was nearly July and I was walking on ice. It was at this point on the drive I turned the keys over to Jason. The rest of the drive up Trail Ridge is insanely scary….at least for me. So I handed the keys over to Jason who immediately noticed we were running on fumes. He made the decision to immediately turn around and head back to town. I remember thinking that I was so stupid for not keeping the tank full. I don’t think either one of us took a breath until we pulled into the gas station. We did not make it to the top, but we did make it above the tree line.

On Sunday I took Jason on a mountain bike trip in Colorado Springs to thank him for helping me make the ISTE Newbie videos. (Actually he deserved a lot more than that for putting up with me all year!) The ride to the top of Cheyenne Mountain was half the fun. We rode in this huge Suburban-like vehicle (but bigger) on a severely washboarded road. The driver had to gun it on each hill to have enough momentum to keep going which caused the van to fishtail. I looked over at Jason a few times and his knuckles were white from gripping the seat so tightly. He jaw was clenched and he looked as if he was going to puke! Of course me saying things like “Wow—it is a LONG way to the bottom!” and “At least if we die it will be in a beautiful place” didn’t help any. The ride itself was 20 miles of some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. During the first few miles we must have stopped a dozen times to explore. (Let me clarify—-Jason explored. I took pictures.) Just a little way into the ride Jason found a geocache. Jason is into geocaching, but this was my first experience and it was all completely by accident. The other memorable part of this trip happened near the end. I didn’t see a tree root on the part and my front tire got caught in it. The bike stopped and I kept going. I ended up with minor cuts,  major bruises, and a lot of soreness for about a week. Overall it was one of the most memorable things I have ever done.

About 6 weeks before ISTE a few of us were talking about finding a good pizza place in Denver. Well, one thing led to another and before I knew it I had organized a pizza party for 30 people at the house we were staying at on historic Pearl Street. This event will forever be known as the Pearl Street Pizza Party. It ended up being the cool place to be on Saturday night. (Ok–maybe not, but I would like to think so!) One of the people I was so anxious to meet was Kyle Pace. Kyle has been such an important part of my network for so long. I remember how excited he was when he found out he was going to be able to attend ISTE. He brought Shannon Miller with him. I had only been following Shannon for a few weeks, but when I met her it was like we were old friends. Both Kyle and Shannon are so much fun and I enjoyed every second I got to spend with them.

This is the view from my room on the 34th floor of the Hyatt. I had planned on staying at the house on Pearl Street, but about 6 weeks before the conference I found out that a reservation was made for me in this gorgeous hotel. I am not one to turn down a room with a view! I even splurged one day and enjoyed breakfast in my room. The view at night was breathtaking and I spent some time each night before I went to bed just looking out over the city.

This is a picture of Paula Naugle (left) and Brenda Smith (right). Paula has been part of my PLN for a long time and I got to meet her in Washington DC last year. I have worked with Brenda for a couple of years. I have tried to get her to grow her PLN for a long time. Watching her interact with her PLN f2f was great. I don’t think she will have any trouble feeling more connected on Twitter when we go back to school this fall. I never struggled with feeling that connection to people because I got on Twitter in San Antonio at NECC08. I was adding people as I met them so I already felt connected to them. Most people aren’t that lucky.

Ahhhhh….the Van Meter tweetup at the Hard Rock cafe. This was a GREAT evening with some great friends. I got to spend some time with Amanda Dykes and Michelle Baldwin. I also got to visit with Katie Morrow, Mike Amante, Nick Provenzano. (I think this is the night Nick created a special Foursquare venue. This was by far the most fun I had all week.  The bar was packed and everywhere I looked I saw people I wanted to catch up with. It felt like a class reunion! (Mike Amante—If you are reading this….I am still waiting to hear that story!)

You know how you just meet someone and you just like them? Randy Rodgers is that type of person. My first contact was with Randy when he tried to join the wiki I set up for the group going to Estes Park. Since I had no idea who he was I did not grant him access. (He never mentioned he was with Paul R. Wood or Scott Floyd!) I got to know Randy in Estes Park on the evening that we played Name that 80’s tune. He was an absolute riot!  Thanks for a million laughs. This picture was taken at the Google Block Party on Monday night. It was a blast, but I lost the ISTE Newbie poster there.  I was sure someone would return it since my address was on it, but it is still missing. HP was gracious enough to print another one for free.

The Bloggers’ Cafe is always my favorite part of ISTE. This year I did not spend as much time there as I have in the past, but it was still a great place to meet and catch up with people.

This is a picture of our panel that we did on how to build and grow a PLN. Pictured from left to right are Steven Anderson, Cory Plough, Richard Byrne, Jason Schrage, Beth Still, and Brenda Smith. This was my first panel and I got really nervous and rushed right though my information. I had such a great time assembling this panel last fall then working on ideas throughout the year. What a great group to be part of!

This was taken right after our session. Cory had to leave right away, but it was so good getting to spend time with my mentor. If it had not been for Cory’s willingness to take me under his wing back in 2008 then there is no way I would have ever come this far. He taught me about blogging and Twitter. He patiently walked me through wikis and Google Docs, too. If everyone had a “Cory” then more teachers would stick with it. Thank you Cory for your patience and friendship. You’re the best!

If you were in the Bloggers’ Cafe as the conference was wrapping up then you already know the story behind this picture. Last year I did a photo shoot for ISTE. The big joke was that maybe I would be the “face” of ISTE this year. Well I am not sure that I was the face of ISTE, but my picture was plastered all over the place. I was in the planner, on membership cards, and on two sides of a light box in ISTE Central. I also had my own column in the Daily Leader and they ran a story on the ISTE Newbie project which featured a picture of Jason and I from the photo shoot we did the day before. When I went to ISTE Central to see if I could have the posters I did not realize how heavy they were. I asked Jason to carry one of them for me. He decided it was his duty to inform EVERYONE who I was. He held the poster above my head as we made our way back to the Bloggers’ Cafe yelling “Hey everyone! This is Beth Still—the face of ISTE!” It was hilarious. I was laughing so hard it hurt. It was a great memory to end ISTE10.

If you made it to the end of this post then I want to say thank you for taking this journey with me. I am looking forward to making more memories with all of you in the future.

Even though it seems like most people are familiar with the Newbie Project there are still lots of questions surrounding it. Hopefully this post will answer those questions and give you some insight into the inner workings of the project.

When I started the Newbie project in April of 2009 it was on a whim. It was two conversations in particular that helped shape the project. After NECC08 my mentor, Cory Plough, suggested that we bring someone new with us when we attended a conference or send them in our place. Around that same time I was already planning my trip to NECC09 in Washington DC. I had a discussion with Jason Schrage about how it seemed like so many people were not going to be able to attend the conference that year due to shrinking budgets. Then I started to formulate an idea. What if enough people in my PLN made a small donation to help cover the cost to send one of our own to the conference? In return, the “Newbie” would share what they learned during the conference. I decided that Richard Byrne was the person who I wanted to send to Washington DC.  I selected Jason to be the Newbie for ISTE10.

While the Newbie project is my idea, it’s really a project that belongs to all of us and I wanted to make my PLN a bigger part of the process. I considered a number of options for how to select the Newbie for 2011, but many of them would have been incredible time consuming. In the end,  I put together a committee whose purpose was to provide names of potential newbies and give me both positive and negative feedback on each person. This committee, which is comprised of six of my most trusted colleagues, includes Richard Byrne, Jason Schrage, Brenda Smith, Cory Plough, Josh Allen, and Michelle Baldwin. Over the last two weeks they have provided me with valuable  insight and assisted me with this incredibly difficult decision. Ultimately, the selection of the Newbie falls on my shoulders.

Each year the focus of the project changes just a little. The first year I set out to prove the power of Twitter and our PLN. Last year the goal was to demonstrate that even a teacher who does not have a lot of spare time outside of school could still find ways to implement technology in the classroom. This year I want to put an emphasis on getting younger people involved in leadership. I think George is just the person to help me do that.

It seems like the time I invest in the Newbie project is completely up to the Newbie. Richard was the Newbie for such a short period of time that I barely had time to get to know him before NECC09. Jason was a completely different story. He was a Newbie for an entire year so we were able to work on so many project together. I also acted as his mentor which required a huge investment of time for both of us. I am pretty sure that George does not need a mentor, but I will work with his as much or as little as he wants.

I hope that I can continue to count on your support for this project. We have had two very successful years and I would really like to make it three in a row.

I cannot believe that nearly 18 months has gone by since I started the ISTE Newbie project. This project has been rewarding on so many levels for me. Not only have I gotten to help two really amazing educators attend a great conference, I have made two very good friends during the process. I have enjoyed watching both Richard Byrne and Jason Schrage interact, share, and learn with their PLN. They are such an important part of so many PLN’s and I would like to think that some of this is a result of the Newbie project.

There was no question I wanted to do the Newbie project again, but the issue was how to select the next Newbie. Instead of looking at just my PLN I asked six of my most trusted colleagues to help with ideas and give me feedback during this process. I told them this year I wanted to either look and someone international or an administrator. We managed to find both qualities in one very special person. The ISTE11 Newbie is George Couros from Stony Plains, Alberta.

George has been in education for 11 years, two of which were as an assistant principal and the last one as a principal. He’s been with the same division for 5 years. George and his division have a common philosophy of shared leadership and focusing on building strong relationships with students and the school community. George has worked with all grades from K-12 as a teacher, tech coordinator, and principal.  Currently he is  a K-12 principal of three different sites; Forest Green School, Connections for Learning, and Brightbank.

I am so excited that George has agreed to be the Newbie for ISTE11. Please give him a shoutout!

The name of the school where I teach is VALTS, but it would be more appropriate if it were named Nirvana. At any given time I have about 40 students and I teach four sections of the same class. Since we are on a quarter system I teach four different classes a year. Our quarters are 8-10 weeks long. Our classes are 2 hour blocks so I see my students twice a week. If you have been doing the math then you have probably figured out that I only see my students 16-20 times during a quarter and that is provided we don’t have any interruptions. One of the deeply held beliefs of my school is that we do not assign homework so all work (including reading) that students do is done in class. After all is said and done my students are actually in their seats for about 35 hours. In reality, they spend more like 30 hours in their seats each quarter. It is indeed a dream situation for most students.

As teachers we have a pretty good deal, too. We have free reign to teach pretty much any topics we desire as long as they fall within the Nebraska standards for our subject area. As a social studies teachers this leaves an entire world of possibilities. I have created each course I have taught over the last five years and I have repeated very little. The one area that I have not explored is geography. For the last two years I have been building a course in my head, but it has not gone any further. I want to teach the basics that go with any physical geography course, but I want students to create something as well. I keep leaning toward having each student create a profile of a national park. They might do this by creating a Facebook page or maybe they would have their own page on our class wiki. I am still wrestling with the details. I would also like to incorporate Google Earth into the mix. I’d love to see them create a tour of their park and record it.

I’m putting these ideas out there for all of you to chime in on. If this was your course what would you do? Remember, I do not have a book. I have combed the net and I cannot find a basic geography text. Ideas and links would be greatly appreciated. Keep in mind that I have classes of 8-10 students. I am not afraid to try anything as long as it has a legitimate educational purpose. My school has a very liberal filtering policy so we can access everything we would need. (See—told you I work in Nirvana.

I cannot believe an entire year has gone by since I announced that the ISTE Newbie project would enter its second year.

Jason and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the individuals who donated this year. I am not sharing names of individuals since I did not get permission to do so, but there were around 50 or so individual donors. The original intent of this project was for it to be PLN based. Without donations from our PLN this project would never have been possible. Thank  you so much for all of your support, both financial and otherwise.

Schoolwires was our corporate sponsor this year. This was possible due to the efforts of Jeff Windsor. Jeff works for Schoolwires and approached them about possibly sponsoring the project. Even in tough economic times they were willing to donate a large amount of money to the project. Jason could not have attended without your support.

Jason belongs to the Western Southern Tier Council for the Social Studies in New York. They made a generous donation as well when they found out one of their own was going to be the ISTE10 Newbie. Thank you for your support.

Finally, we would like to thank ISTE for their continued support. Both Jason and I have been interviewed about the Newbie project and ISTE has done a lot to help us spread the word about this project. It is on the radar and I believe it will continue to receive lots of attention in the coming months.

Thank you again for making this conference a possibility for Jason. On more than one occassion I looked at him and could tell he was truly enjoying the experience. I believe he gained so much from the time he spent in Denver. It is my hope he takes what he learned and uses it to help implement some of the things he would like to see in his district.

On a related note, immediately following the end of the conference I was busy planning for the ISTE11 Newbie Project. I have assembled a team of educators from around the country to help me with the ISTE11 Newbie selection process. I hope to make an exciting announcement very soon.