Before I introduce you to the newbie for 2010 I would like to take some time to explain how I came about choosing the NECC 2010 Newbie.

I spent a great deal of time looking at the various people in my PLN. There are certain qualities that I look for in a newbie. The absolute most important thing is that they possess a passion for learning. They must also have the desire to share what they are learning. They need to be visionary leaders in their field. In other words, I want someone who has big ideas because those are the people who are not afraid to affect change. My PLN is full of people who meet these criteria, but there is one person who I have been watching since December. This teacher is incredibly dedicated to his profession. He is a social studies teacher who is working hard to seemlessly integrate technology into his classroom. From the conversations I have had with him on Twitter, he is facing some of the same struggles that so many of us are. I think so many of us will be able to relate to him.

The person I am about to name has absolutely no idea this that this is even happening. While he is not obligated to accept my offer to be the next newbie it is my hope that he will! There is one condition that will be attached to this project this year which is not unreasonable. I am requiring that the newbie blog every week or two about what they are doing in their classroom.

So without any further delay please join me in congratulating Jason Schrage (@oswego98) who I have selected to be the Newbie for 2010.

I am not going to start the fund raising for this project until much later in the year. I have not even thought that far ahead! If Mr. Schrage accepts this offer I want to give our PLN time to get to know him. If it is not too much trouble please follow him and send him some words of encouragement.

Thanks to my PLN for all of your help with the 2009 Newbie project. I am literally sitting 20 feet from Richard Byrne who is in a discussion with Lee Lefever from Common Craft. I hope you can welcome Jason into your PLN. He is a rising super star!

Let me provide a little background so this post makes sense. The first thing you need to know about me is that I am a Twitter addict. The second thing you need to know is that I have a passion for my PLN. My network has taught me 1000 times more that I will ever learn at any formal training. Back in April I decided to see if I could organize my PLN to help show the power of Twitter. Basically, I wanted to see if my PLN could raise $1500 to send an educator to NECC. I asked Richard Byrne, the author of FreeTech4Teachers, to be the newbie and he gladly agreed! With the generous support of people from our PLN and from VoiceThread we were able to meet the goal in two weeks.

I am sitting with Richard Byrne in the Bloggers’ Cafe as I write this. I am more convinced than ever that Richard was the perfect choice to be the first newbie. He shares so much with so many people and his audience is still growing. If you are attending NECC be sure to track him down and tell him hello.

I was interviewed about the newbie project a few weeks ago about the project. One of the questions I was asked was would I do it again. Of course I will! In fact, I have already chosen the next newbie. I will announce who it is in my next post, but I will say this person is an incredibly dedicated teacher who has a passion for learning.

Stay tuned for more details!

My flight takes off in exactly three hours. I am incredibly excited to meet dozens of wonderful people that I have had the great pleasure of getting to know over the last year. I am planning on writing numerous short posts over the next week. I have decided that the theme I would like to write about is opportunity. If there is one thing I have learned over the last year it is that in order to grow we have to take advantage of opportunites when they come along. Don’t be afraid to take chances; life is too short to live with regrets!

If you are attending NECC please look for me and say hello. If you are attending virtually the same thing goes for you. It seems like this year NECC is catering to the “virtual” crowd which is great! Either way I hope you enjoy the conference.

The other day I was editing a page in my PB Wiki and I wanted to wrap text around an image. I played with it for a few minutes before I gave up and asked for help from my PLN. Now, I could have probably gone to the PB Works site or I could have Googled my question, but why? I sent my request for help out on Twitter and within a matter of minutes three fellow educators (@jgates513, @cheryltice, and @kyteacher) came to my rescue.

I started thinking about all of the things I have learned on Twitter over the last year and I sent out the following Tweet:

Someone should start a wiki where we go each day to list 1 thing we learned from our pln. Don’t look at me. I’m just saying it’d be cool.1:44 PM Jun 21st from UberTwitter

A few minutes later @kyteacher and @a_dowling volunteered to set up a wiki for this purpose. (Thanks so much Angela and Angie!) The function of this wiki is two-fold. First, it will give all educators a place to reflect on one or more things that they have learned throughout the day. It is yet another place to share what we are learning from our PLN. The second function of this wiki is to serve as a place where we can showcase examples of learning.

I hope that you will contribute something to this wiki on a regular basis. It is for all of us to use and share. If enough people start contributing and sharing this wiki, it has the potential to become a very powerful tool. To get there all of us must contribute just a little bit. Remember that the power of the PLN comes from us working together.

Status Learning Wiki

Last week I wrote a post on how to get a newbie started off right in Twitter. Then I started thinking about all of the educators who have already fallen through the cracks. The ones who gave Twitter a try, but were really never given a proper demonstration on the ins and outs of Twitter. What about the ones who were left to figure it out on their own and felt so overwhelmed that they gave up?

Here is my challenge to you. Find someone who has tried Twitter, but who dropped out. Send them a message to let them know you want to help them rediscover Twitter. Help them make sure their profile and bio is complete. Invest some time teaching them how to use Twitter. This is something we wrongly assume people will figure out on their own.  Teach them how to do things like send “@” messages, DM’s, and add links and images. Help them bookmark different sites so they can reference them down the road.

Perhaps the most important thing is helping them find people to follow who are the right fit for their PLN. It might look like they are following a lot of people, but what really matters is the quality of information that is coming across. Help them find 30-40 good people to follow. Show them how to find people in different directories such as Twitter4Teachers and WeFollow. The next thing you need to do is help them make some meaningful updates. After a week or so reintroduce them to the Twitterverse! Add them to a Follow Friday list to help them grow their PLN. Once they see that a couple of dozen people care about what they have to say it might just hook them on Twitter permenantely!