Follow+this+link+to+Dave's+Journal

April 22 Wow one crisis after another at school.. Threat assessments, schedule changes to accomodate testing, scrambling to get kids passed on OAKS. Very time consuming. I did get my PoewerPoint done and reviewed for Thursday so I guess I ready to go!

April 13 Had a training session with Scot about the iVocalize. I had to gather some other teachers around and show them how it worked. There must be something we can do with that here at school. Also Scot gave me some tips on blocking out unwanted participants from my ning. I found the function and was able to set up a firewll of sorts I think.

April 8 Hmmm, I had to ban a participant on the ning yesterday. Spme one had placed a picture of a scantily clad, buxom young woman on the site..The hazards of this "ning' format I suppose. Doesn't seem to be a way to selectively allow people to sign up or in.

April7 Set up an appointment with Scott for Friday to lear iVoice. Need to remember to bring Lyd's computer to school since she has a microphone built in.

April 6 Well we are getting to the final project presentation and I confess to some anxiety. A power point is not a problem, but what to present? How I built the ning page and its content? I'll check with Scott

April 3 Well, I've been forgetting to check in here. Especially during Spring Break when I was up at mom's taking care of her. Ning is still getting updated as we have meetings and information to add.

March 21. I continue to add to the ning, though its still just notes etc. Nothing particularly new or exciting. Finished up the next assignment early and so I've been spending the time exploring other participants pages.

March 18 I've not journaled in several days though I continue to check the sites daily. My ning is up to date with all current meeting agendas and minutes. Several staff have visited and commented on how much they like the idea. I'm stuck trying to think of other things I'd like to do with it yet. Haven't been able to comment or post on a couple of sites that don't seem to be up and runiing so I'll keep checking on those.

March 8 I've visited everyone's sites and they look great. I feel like I need to get a bit more creative with mine. Just posting notes and minutes is a bit dull. We had a literacy night last week and I should be posting those pictures soon.

March 5. Not much to add at this point on the ning. I've been loading notes and minutes as meetings have happened. So now it is more like filling in the blanks and adding depth, rather than creating. My paper is up on the class site also.

Feb. 28 Added a bit more to the ning in the last couple of days. Some more of the council members have joined and I've added two weeks worth of agendas and meeting minutes. Its looking good if I do say so. Rather fun to do also.

Following are visits I did on Sunday afternoon, 2-22-09:
Feb 21. Well I was able to link the SITE Council ning this week but other than Scot no one seems to have looked/commented on it yet. I need to sit and review the other members pages to see what they are doing that might be of help to me. Right now the Site keeps growing as we add meeting minutes, announcements etc. I have also shared the address with the entire staff of the building and our two OSIF (advisors) suprvising our "anctions".
 * Patti's page:** Patti sent us a link/invitation to her site. I've misplaced it. I hope she adds a link in her wiki page so I can get there again. I look forward to seeing how she is using her space.
 * Natalie's Journal**: I just looked at Natalie's journal. Her project is going to be looking at the way that technology has had an impact on the process of her job. She's going to be looking at it as she goes through the process rather than as hind sight. Should be interesting.
 * Nancy's Journal:** Looks to be in the beginning stagges. She comments that the school she teaches at is low SES. Mine is 83% free and reduced so I am sure we have similar student issues.
 * Andrey's Journal:** I enjoyed reading Andrey's journal. His description of the Kindle inspired me to attach an old comic that I identify with. It's linked just below the link to this journal. thanks Andrey for the inspiration!

Feb.17 I seem to have been remiss in entering here lately. I've added to the ning and linked it in my page too. So now everyone can see it from this site. It's not exactly as I expected as people can "join" who are not actually on the SITE Council as building members. hmmm must be 2 different meanings for join 1) as in join the site and 2) as in join the Council proper.

Feb. 7. Posted my proposal, abstract, and synopsis. Time to get to work on the site itself. I was very concerned yesterday because I could not get in to edit the site. What i finally discovered is that I needed to log in twice - once to get to the page and a //second// time on the site page to gain access to editing. I thought that because I created it, I would be automatically taken to the editing process. Not so...

Feb. 5, 2009 Ok, so I got SITE Council permission to set up a ning as a way to keep the community informed about the activities of our new SITE Council. I will need to work slowly and carefully to keep this VERY professional. I'm excited about the start, but now I need to find pics of all of the members, events to post etc. ITS A START!

Feb. 3, 2009 I'm set up to talk with our district tech person about what I can do here in the district that won't be filtered by our "white list". From there I should be able to get going on a page.

Jan. 27. Sent this note off to Scot: Our High School and Middle school are both forming new SITE Councils and have been going through School Improvement plan processes as well. I am pondering the idea that a site to help us share our thoughts, actions and researches as we go through the process might be beneficial to our district and work as a course project as well. So, first Scot, your input on the idea as feasible and appropriate. Secondly, assuming the idea is acceptable, what do you recommend as a format/process/ site base...I'm unsure of the terminology here. I've looked at ning, Diigo, and google group. Suggestions? Do I need to define site content more before making this decision?

Also played with widgets. Couldn't get a music piece to work but did download a favorite piece from Teachertube.

January 20. Have been snowed under with keeping up with the correspondence on my other course. Online classes can become VERY intensive in terms of commenting on all of the other students submissions. One course last year had a week in whcih we had over 300 comments to respond to. So much for those who think online work is a snap. Just posted my first comment for this class. Its an interesting book, though I disagree with the process he uses to get to some of his conclusions.

January 9 - 12 With a bit of trepidation I began to build my wiki pages in the last three days. I confess that once I began, it was much more fun than work! My biggest success so far is that I was able to link our vacation blog to the wiki page.