Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

Okay so I’m still reeling from our session at NECC (so titled in the above blog title.) You can visit our wiki handout here. It is very surreal to even now reflect and realize that I have done 2 presentations (both panel style) with Joyce Valenza. My other panelists, Carolyn Foote, Diane Cordell, Judy O’Connell, and Anita Beaman, all could have held down the session alone too. I am astonished at the content I alone learned in our session, and all was pulled together with only a little interaction before hand. We each sort of divvied up the topics, and went our own way with them, not sharing a whole lot until right before the conference. I think this is why I was able to enjoy listening after my contribution.

Time was ticking

Speaking of that, we began with Joyce going first. I was stunned at the number of slides she used, considering we had all decided before hand to just use pictures, and leave the text for our voices. Not a single bullet or visible powerpoint template to be seen, which seemed to go over really well. I had nine slides, Joyce had twenty-seven last time I counted. OUCH. I was following her, and we had decided before beginning that we each had seven minutes to talk. Seven minutes times seven people (Kim Cofino had a part that was pre-taped using Voice Thread) would mean forty-nine minutes, leaving ten minutes for discussion and questions/answers in a perfect world. I worked hard to make sure my part was seven minutes, and so having nine slides should have made that easy. I saw as we all loaded our slides on the wiki in the days leading up to our session that some had a large set of slides. I wasn’t worried though b/c Joyce had said seven minutes, and she had a large number, so I just figured if she could cover hers in seven minutes, we all could create that many and be successful.

Sometimes it’s a perfect world…

Well it wasn’t a perfect world, b/c even with a timer, some of the group went over their allotted seven minutes. I was just after Joyce (what huge shoes to fill) and so felt at ease thinking I would probably be done with mine well before my time was up. Low and behold the timer gave a warning of one minute and I still had 2 slides to go! I wrapped it up in just exactly seven minutes, whew! Our time did not allow though for Kim’s video, but it is available for any who still haven’t seen it. Awesome work too.

I became a sponge

After my part, I just sat back and absorbed like crazy b/c shockingly enough each panelist was FANTASTIC. I am proud to report that I learned so much from the other panelists. It is worth your time and effort to go back and watch/listen to the session, which is on the wiki in an archived u-stream (THANKS Derrall G.)

One of my OMG Moments

One surprise I had in our session was when just after we began I saw David Loertscher–yes, THE David Loertscher–come in the back of room. Since we had a full back channell (from the Ustream chat–53 was the highest number I saw–and then the “cover-it-live” live blog that Carolyne Foote was trying to maintain, I decided to let it be known that he had joined us. I tweeted, added it in the Ustream Chat, and added it in Carolyn’s live blog. Shocking to me, about a third of the room turned around to get a glimpse of David Loertscher. WOW. That is truly a powerful feeling–1) he chose our session (and that he was AT NECC), and 2) other people in our room were apparently live in the various chats and visibly turned to look for him. (He even has a blog–though its not as up to date as I like. Still, I’m impressed.)

Now What?

This has made me realize that we in SC should also do a session like this for SCEdTech, SCASL, SCASA, SC Middle School Conference, and any number of other conferences held around our state. So, I’m looking for recruits. Who’s in? Chris? MaryAnn? Julia? Bob? Fran? Come on!! I also think its time for me (and all the other panelists as well) to step up to the bigger conferences on our own. It’s Independence Day, right?

Want to see some other streamed sessions from NECC? Visit here.

Image Attribution:

Image: ‘David Loertscher‘
http://davidloertscher.wordpress.com/

Image: ‘Flat time‘
www.flickr.com/photos/45451323@N00/108818423

Image: ‘Panel‘
http://necclibrarians08.wikispaces.com/

Image: ‘Sponges‘
www.flickr.com/photos/96878569@N00/826064663

I am working on my slides for the panel discussion. I’m sure i will tweak them again and again before the big day. But here is round one of the editing process. They may take on a whole different look before then, but who knows?

My contribution focuses on professional development–us getting it and giving it–using 2.0 tools. Anyone have any suggestions? I’ll gladly take them!

| View | Upload your own

Draft 2

| View | Upload your own

BUMMER! I’m having difficulty with the embed feature, and so while I work t resolve it, you can see my work in progress here. UPDATE: Fixed! thanks to Sue Waters.

Today I did a session at our annual principal’s conference on social networking. Since the vast majority of tools like MySpace, Facebook, and even professional networks like Classroom 2.0 are blocked, I took the stance that we as educators must educate ourselves and our parents, especially in light of how issues stemming directly from student online interaction seems to find its way into our classrooms, guidance offices, right up to the administrators desks. I’ve presented at the conference several years, but usually in the morning. I was taken aback by the “ghost-town” feeling I had for my 2PM afternoon session. I had roughly fifteen participants. One lady assured me that my topic was popular and relevant, but after lunch folks attending this conference seem to find to “other” things to do. Factor in that it is the next to last day, and well, the lure of the beach was calling too. But honestly, when I attend conferences, I go to 90% of the offerings, and many times you can find me near the front row if I can get to a session early enough. Does this make me an uber-geek? Even in my session today, only one participant sat near the front. This was a new experience for me.

Don’t Preach to the Choir

My attendees seemed generally complimentary, and even one of the conference directors greeted me warmly by name when I arrived. But today I was a wee bit disappointed. Our SC State Department of Education library liaison (Martha Alewine) encourages us to get out and speak at different conferences besides our own. She suggests if we are to gain respect in the field, we must stop “preaching to the choir” (presenting to ourselves at our own conference) and branch out and spread our message about information literacy, ICT, and standards-based collaboratively taught engaged learning by presenting at other conferences. What better way to market what you as the teacher librarian have to offer the school and its curriculum? We must help the teacher population see that we can address standards and impact student achievement.

Spread our Message, Support our Colleagues

I generally try to present at our state edtech conference (SCEdTech), the middle school conference (if I remember to do the proposal), and this one. There are not very many “techy” sessions at this conference, as my friend Dennis Richards has noted before, and from his post here, this goes all the way up to the national level. I really like SCASA’s SLI, as I strongly feel administrators are the ones who MOST misunderstand what should be happening in a library, particularly a 21st Century Library. They are also in a position to “from the top down” help us become more of a collaborating and contributing partner for student learning. In years past, I’ve had wonderful reception and positive feedback from my sessions. My session today was later than I’d ever had before, 2PM. I never expected such a low turnout. It was quite frankly a little disheartening.

I Solemnly Promise…

I promise to all future presenters who draw an afternoon or late presentation I will strive to attend if I’m at the conference. Been there, done that. I know what if feels like now to present to an empty room. I’d have liked to have been out on the beach today too. I especially thank the ones who came.

Attribution:

June 18, 2008 I am scheduled to give a half day a.m. workshop on Web 2.0 tools and I’ve been given some freedom and flexibility on what I do and how I do it.  I am planning to show a few short videos, get a Twitter hello w/ advice, and Skype in a few folks.  I have personally contacted a few already, but have decided to use my blog (and Twitter) to solicit more volunteers.  I just want some people to allow a skype (w/video or not–the choice is yours) to talk to my audience about how you personally use any 2.0 tools for professional development or projects with students.

I am not talking an hour commitment or anything like that, just a short, sweet “hello” and “here’s an idea or example I’d like to share.” Actually I’ll limit volunteers to no more than 10 or 20 minutes at the most.

Please contact me if you are willing. I am on the east coast, so eastern time rules. I’ll help with the time conversion if you need it. This would be so AWESOME, and what better way to talk about and/or showcase 2.0 tools than to utilize them in my session?

Did I mention my target audience is teacher-librarians–AKA school library media specialists?  These are your potential head collaborators at your schools, and I want to equip them with some knock-your-socks-off project based learning ideas they can take back to their schools.

Okay, if you can’t be available to help out, perhaps you can make a video or podcast hello with a tip, example, or advice?  I would be MOST appreciative! Use the comments here or the contact form on the blog to join me for this endeavor.

Attribution:

Sunday I posted about our PACT that has commenced this week. I was reading a fellow SC educator’s blog here and he was sharing about ways to motivate kids to perform well. He asked for anyone to share motivational tools and techniques used, so I posted a comment on his blog. But as I thought about it, I thought I’d share here too–why not? Plenty of my readers are facing high stakes tests about now too.

A Typical Morning…

Our school has a morning news broadcast at school that I’m sort of in charge of–some days I think the kids and the show are in charge of me! I get to school each morning at roughly 7:15 to check their scripts, make sure our glitchy distribution system is up and running (and have time to troubleshoot if necessary–knock on wood–lately it has been running like a dream!), and then prepare my own materials for my to do list, classes that will venture into the library, or classes I’ll visit elsewhere.

Game Plan - A Meeting of the Minds

So anyway, in one of the principal-curriculum coach-LMS “meeting-of-the-minds” we brainstormed some ways to get students to pay attention to tips that may help them perform better on PACT. Our concern was that since our students are “tested” so frequently (3 times already this year using MAP) we thought we needed to impress upon students the importance of the test, how to approach this high stakes test, and give them incentives to pay attention and attend school. Here is what we came up with:

• Attendance was easy–huge ice cream party for all students who attend all six days of PACT. But reviewing test taking tips was a boring and dry topic, but one we felt was important. So we agreed upon the tips we would stress, and then came up with two projects. Here they are:

• Project one–take an ABC Powerpoint of test-taking tips that the principal had and present it on the news show. But the difference would be to have kids voices doing the preso, and lively, snappy, jazz-like music to accompany it, and make it enjoyable. We actually saved it as a video, and our students used (some 8th graders, some 6th graders) were allowed to voice record until they were happy with the product. The final video was just under four minutes, and I feel the kids enjoyed it. I may post it here later. It’s at school.

• Project two - A Test Tip Call-in Style Trivia Contest
  For the three weeks leading up to the week of PACT, we did test tips on our news program. But there was a twist. We gave the tip early, making it so the student viewers read it off the TV during the show and heard it on their tvs at the same time, done sometime early in the show. Then last thing we did before signing off, we sponsored a call-in contest, and students would have to use the class phone to call the library to answer. We would showcase four statements (seen and heard) on the TV, and then encourage callers to call the library and tell us which statement was true. We entertained the eighth caller, or the first caller after 8 calls who correctly identified the correct statement. By adding the competitive twist, teachers said the students were really paying attention to the news broadcast, and we were giving the kids information that was important to boot!

Did this work?

My students this week keep asking why we are not continuing the call-in contest since PACT is far from over. Good point! (Their prize was a coupon for a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. I really don’t think the kids use them, but they love winning. We would recognize the winner on the next day’s show.) Hopefuly they remember the tips we gave. There were many.

Final thoughts…

My students who work the news broadcast wanted me to string a phone into the studio, but we could not find a cord long enough. I told them perhaps next time, and in the meantime, we are hunting for a LONG telephone cord or perhaps investing in a cordless JUST for this purpose. It was a lot of fun, and the news crew for once focused on something besides playing with the chromakey and funky backgrounds!

So now, what are you doing at your school to motivate students??

Image Attributions:
Image ‘Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test Logo‘
http://ed.sc.gov/images/PACT.jpg
Image: ‘Push Me, I9m a Button‘
www.flickr.com/photos/26591882@N00/239370396

I suppose with the warm air and a change in my wardrobe (and the realization that this last summer’s pants don’t fit this spring’s rear (what a difficult confession!), I am making some small changes.

A Photogenic Adjustment

One of those changes has to do with my Twitter presence. I decided I was tired of the avatar I used there (same one as this blog avatar.). I sought and looked for another picture to use, and so began studying other avatars. I found that I was somewhat put off by the avatars that were comics or vague representations, not that there is anything wrong with that. Since my original avatar has been a real picture of me, I decided to find another one.

70,71,72…80 Degrees Fahrenheit

It is spring here in South Carolina, and most days are now in the mid 70s. We are starting to get a few in the 80s, though I wish they’d be centered more on the weekends. So I went looking in my picture stash for another picture of me–one that shows how much I love the warm air and the sea. FOUND IT!

Wallpaper too

So here is a little background on my Twitter Avatar and the redecorated Twitter page. When in San Diego for NECC in 2006, my family and I went on one of the boat tours. We went right under the Coronado Bridge. I have some fantastic pictures from this trip. It was the first time we (my family and I) went out west, and we made a 10 day vacation of the event, with NECC mixed in the middle. We were in Los Angeles for a few days, and then drove the Pacific Coast Highway to San Diego, where we stayed for the remainder of the trip. The boat tour was one of my favorite parts of the trip. So I’ve decorated my Twitter page with a shot of the bridge (that I suppose you cannot appreciate unless you use my page to “direct message” me.)

Is it a Waste of Time?

Why waste time on such an insignificant post and presence on the web, when so many use Twhirl or mobile phones to Twitter? I don’t know, except that I did have someone recently tell me how he looks at others pages–checks to see if they have any real creativity, as it will show on the Twitter page. So there. I have almost always kept that site reflective of me, my interests, and perhaps my limited creative streak.

Yes, a personal time-waster no doubt. But I felt the need to explain myself. I am still feeling a need to redefine myself. Wonder what else I can do? Oh, and yes, its probably a fluff piece in my blog too, since it really is trivial in interest or importance. I suppose this is my manifestation of spring fever.
What’s your spring fever doing to you?

Picture Attribution:

They all belong to me or my son #2 

Yes I’m on spring break this week, and I’m just sitting here today enjoying the “nothing to do syndrome”–a rarity in my life! I was checking my email, pitying all those school districts who’ve already had there spring break, or worse (like my husband/son’s school district) have yet to have theirs. Yes I’ll be very mad week after next when they come to the beach to stay with me for their spring break–where I will be working! It will be very tough each day I get up and go to work knowing full well they are getting up to go play. Worse yet, I’m pretty sure it will be nice, warm “beach” weather. Bah humbug! I may get “sick” one of those days. ; ) You know, the “mental days” we all take every now and then?

Anyway, I’m reading through my email and across comes a SCASL listserv message from Stacey, a fellow LMS in Spartanburg School District 5 (of South Carolina). She is looking for help with students using PowerPoint, but that is not why I write! I notice in her signature file a link to her blog!! Blog alert! Of course I naturally cruise right on over there. Awesome blog, too. So why is it special enough to give KUDOS to her district? Glad you asked.

In the blog URL, I noticed it read as follows:

I knew right away this little blog of hers is hosted on Spartanburg 5’s own server, and NOT on a commercial blog site! So I emailed Stacey inquiring about the old one, and whether or not the blog–a Wordpress theme no less, was indeed on the school’s site! Of course she replied:

Yes. Our district tech coordinator designated server space for teacher blogs. It is the same blog but has several updated entries.

This just absolutely makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside! Kudos to Spartanburg District 5. I plan to share this with my district too. But it is awesome still to know that South Carolina districts are forging the trail of 2.0 tools in the school environment, especially since our SC curriculum standards specifically call for students to engage in the use of blogging as a way to demonstrate concept mastery in writing. W00T!!

Now in my reader I had an Edublogs site for Stacey that I subscribed too. I new it hadn’t been updated in a while, but i was hoping…I’m proud to report that Stacey has knocked my socks off with her new site!

FYI–Here is how the word “Blog” appears in our standards–as one of the guiding principle–located in Guiding Principles - Principle 8. Also note I did not even search the other curriculum areas, but I bet this term appears there as well.

Guiding Principle 8
An effective English language arts curriculum utilizes all forms of media to prepare students to live in an information-rich society.

In today’s dynamic society, all forms of mass media are used to inform and persuade. Proficient students apply critical techniques to evaluate the validity of the information they encounter. In a culture where persuasive and invasive media messages abound, students need to think critically about what they read, hear, and view. The challenge for students is to respond to these media messages personally, critically, and creatively. The inclusion of media literacy in South Carolina’s academic standards recognizes the powerful force of mass media in the twenty-first century.

Today’s emerging technologies include many multimedia devices and programs that depend on the appropriate application of technology and thus require media literacy skills: digital photography, DVDs, CD-ROMs, high-definition digital television, Internet streaming, MP3 players, nonlinear (computer/video) editing, PDAs (personal digital assistants), PowerPoint presentations, blogs (Weblogs), and more.

The skills of critical inquiry—the ability to question and analyze a message, whether it be textual, visual, auditory, or a combination of these—are a crucial element in literacy instruction. The production of visual media is also a crucial element, enabling students to acquire and demonstrate an understanding of advertising, aesthetic techniques, audience, bias, propaganda, and intellectual purpose. Integrating into the ELA curriculum the vocabulary and skills associated with media presentations helps students develop lifelong habits of critical thinking.

Anyone else with me? Who else is going to show this to your principal and/or technology department and ask like me, “Why aren’t we offering this to our students and teachers?”

Attribution:

Image: ‘flyawaynow‘
www.flickr.com/photos/34361916@N00/108507291

Image: ‘w00t‘
www.flickr.com/photos/51035597898@N01/2330475408

That was the title of my session Friday, March 14, 2008 at our annual SCASL conference. This was the 3rd time I had given this preso, and quite honestly, I am still getting feedback from my attendees. The preso in one of its earliest formats appears on my “preso” page, which is supposed too serve as my place for anyone looking for handouts. I’ve gone strictly to electronic handouts, though in all honesty, it is really just some links. But since I first presented this at Summer Leadership (SCASA Annual Conference) and SC Edtech, it has been transformed. I have gone from a heavily scattered text approach (bullets–oh no) to a visual representation of my material for many slides, and I mixed in videos too. Oh and don’t forget I invited my Twitter network to say hello and speak to the power of RSS, as well as a Skype call from a network friend (Dennis Richards, Superintendent of his school district in Falmouth, Massachusetts .)

This mixture of material including Twitter shout-outs, a Skype Chat and call, videos, and my slide show helped me make this session much more than the “sit and get” presentations I have grown oh so weary of. And today, I have posted the entire slide show, all 37 slides, for anyone who wants to review it. I welcome your comments, either here or on Slide Share. Looking for constructive criticism, b/c I have one more conference where I may do this same presentation.

Today ended the SCASL conference that I attended in Columbia, SC. It is always a rewarding experience, as being a librarian makes you a singleton in your building most of the time, so what fun and excitement all of us like minded people can have when we are all together. There was never a dull moment. Here I am setting up my Exploratorium booth and getting ready to show and tell Flickr and SCASL Blogs!

Columbia was warm and sunny the whole conference (March 12-14, 2008) and I rekindled old friendships and made some new ones.

Fondest memories:

Sitting with Susan Henley and Camillia Harris (from Charleston School District) in Larry Johnson’s pre-conference session was so much fun–We talked almost through the whole presentation! But I had my laptop so we were pulling up the links to things he was talking about, so it was somewhat related. He never seemed to get annoyed with us, but I do think we were a tad distracting. Apologies Larry!

Eating dinner @ California Dreaming with Heather Loy and Mary (from Busbee Elementary). Although the three of us come from different school levels–Heather is from a high school, Mary from an elementary school, and I am from middle–each of us seem to face a lot of similar issues in our libraries.

Sitting through Joyce Valenza’s sessions were probably the highlight of the conference. She is leading with such an awesome example of what a true 21st century teacher librarian should look like, and I have set her as my own personal role model of what I want to be. I just want to thank Joyce for raising that bar SO high. One of my friends made fun of me for sitting on the front rows of the sessions Joyce gave. I just asked isn’t that what all kiss-ups do? But I truly wanted some of her knowledge & wisdom to touch me, if not physically, than spiritually from her aura. I don’t know why, but I felt the need to be right there. I think Joyce may have been surprised at the lack of knowledge on 2.0 tools, and she even fretted to some of us after her first session that perhaps she needs to slow down or chunk some of the content for easier digestion. I said no, please keep the bar raised high so our state librarians will know what they need to work towards. Note to Joyce: While there may have been fear in some eyes as you presented, there was a spark that we need to fan into a fire on utilizing today’s tools to engage learners. Many came to my session just thelp them understand better, and I thank you for that.

The SCASL Bag Fashion Show was a hoot-and yes, I participated. I hope to get more of the pictures posted and Ida Thompson’s rather funny diatribe that was read as we walked the fashion runway!

Supper at Damon’s with Julia Davis, MaryAnn Sansonetti, and Chris Craft was a delightful way to end the day, and we have some plans underway–watch for them to be revealed soon. Collective wisdom is awesome.

After two full days of “sit and get” style presentations, I was worried about my own presentation on RSS Feeds. I returned to my room Thursday evening set on revamping my preso, removing the little text that I already had in it, and retooling it to be less like the “sit and get” sessions I had been in the two previous days. I tried hard to come up with interactivity, but never could formulate a plan that I thought would work. So I decided to turn to my network. I asked for shout outs at the beginning of my session, asking Twitter to greet my group and tell how they use RSS. I had 24 tweets to share, and I used them to start and finish my session. I was dumbfounded to realize that Joyce Valenza herself and Kathy Shrock, both of whom have been at SCASL before, and both in my reader’s “expert” folder, tweeted to my group. (Joyce had already returned to PA, but sent warm wishes and thanks for the fun she’d had in SC the day before.) I also got a skype chat from Tim Van Heule while presenting, which was rather funny b/c he did not know I was in the middle of my preso. Really cute and funny, and it went something like this:

Tim Van Heule
Sessions already? 8:13 AM

Cathy Nelson
ready 8:13 AM
hi Tim Van Heule 8:13 AM

Tim Van Heule
What’s going on, Cathy Nelson? 8:13 AM

Cathy Nelson
in the middle of a presentation 8:14 AM

Tim Van Heule
Ah… Fun… leaving you to it. 8:14 AM

Cathy Nelson
bye 8:14 AM

My audience got a real kick out of the fact that I briefly chatted (using Skype chat as a text) with Tim. Since I had Skype open there was no disregarding it, so I just pulled it in as part of my preso! I had arranged to get Dennis Richards of Massachusetts to skype in, so instead of waiting for him to call (which is why i had Skype open) I just went ahead and called him. He was at the ASCD Conference in New Orleans. Using wireless on a conference connection is risky business indeed, too, but I forged ahead. It was a stop and go call, but Dennis did a fabulous job telling all how we knew each other from networking with the tools. He introduced himself as a school superintendent in his area, catching many LMS’s there off guard to know that a supt was using the tools as well. He shared that he had only been using RSS since last summer, but now thinks a whole new way about learning, particularly personal learning, now that he uses RSS. I didn’t drag out the conversation long since it was choppy, but do feel I left a strong impression about how RSS can help you develop a PLN (professional learning network) to grow and learn. In the mix I had the RSS in Plain English video as well as a video interview of Will Richardson where he spoke to the fact that educators must first learn the tools themselves before tryng to use them in school with kids. I also showed a short segment of an archived Ustream that Dennis Richards had on his blog where Sheryl Nussbaum Beach is talking about how a network can supplement your learning, and it was form the day before at her keynote at the NCAET Conference no less, going on simultaneously with SCASL–just about 175 miles up the road. Read about her keynote, and even view it here. I hope today I did teach how RSS can play a lead role in professional development, and I think I embodied the example of taking advantage of generous people in my network who helped me out. I thought this was one of the best presentations I have ever done. Of course, I’m biased too.

My audience seemed receptive to my message and now I have a TON of homework to do. I promised all the links I used would appear in the presentation link of this blog, and so I must set out to create that. I also have a 3-hour workshop to prepare for Monday. Am feeling very swamped!!

Next week, March 12-14, the South Carolina Association of School Librarians will meet up in Columbia, SC for the annual SCASL Conference. This year’s theme, Power Up @ Your Library, is very fitting, as there are some POWERFUL guest speakers, authors, and more coming to rejuvenate me! Annette Lamb, Larry Johnson, Joyce Valenza, Gail Dickinson…I almost feel like I’m going to a national level conference rather than a state level one. Our President-elect, Valerie Byrd-Fort has one a FANTASTIC job putting our conference together this year. I cannot wait until Wednesday next week!

The conference program was released today, and I have made a preliminary outline of what I want to attend–and guess what? I’m not skipping a single event. I will be exhausted when I get home Friday evening. Here is a rough itinerary (with session titles abbreviated for me) that is subject to change.

WEDNESDAY
Concurrent 1 (4:15-5:15)
James Bryan - Historical Fiction
or
Perry McLeod- Digital Storytelling

Exploratorium and All-Conference Reception (5:30-7:30)
SCASL Blogs! & SCASL Flickrs! (Okay, so you may not know that this is my responsibility and so I will be hosting it–IT! OMG!! I have not even begun to put together a display board or anything. I better get busy!! Late supper too-shucks…Someone wait for me to go eat.

THURSDAY
Concurrent 2 (8:00-9:00)
Joyce Valenza - Library Websites

Concurrent 3 (9:15-10:15)
Gail Dickinson NBPTS–>NBCT Now what?
or
Annette Lamb - PPT Sidekicks
or
Larry Johnson - Re-Imagine…

12:00-1:15 Meet authors/special guests
(Hob-nob with Authors Jaime Adoff, Eloise Greenfield, Will Hobbs, Alan Katz, Michelle Knudsen, and special guests Joyce Valenza, Annette Lab, and Larry Johnson!)
SCASL Business Meeting, 1:30 - 3:00

Concurrent 4 (3:15-4:15)
Gail Dickinson - AASL Standards
or
Annette Lamb - Re-Imagine…
or
Larry Johnson - RSS feeds in classroom

FRIDAY
Concurrent 5 (8:00-9:00)
MINE-Feed the Mind w/ RSS
(Note: there were some awesome sessions planned at the same time as mine, and thankfully some of the ones going on at the same time (Like MaryAnn Sansonetti’s “Ipodabilities” and Carole McGrath’s “T-N-T” I saw previously at a different conference. The only thing I have to worry about–other than an obscene early time to present–is that everyone else might choose theirs over mine. Oh, wait, that would mean fewer people in my session, which translates to an easier preso to give. Ok, I can live with it after-all!)

Concurrent 6 (9:15-10:15)
Debbie Keenan/Margie Edgerton - Flexible schedule
or
Julia Davis - Google Lit Trips
(I need to go to the Keenan/Edgerton session for ideas on a different preso I’m giving…but I want to go to Julias–how will I ever decide?)

Concurrent 7 (10:15-11:15)
Donna Shannon - Building a Knowledge Base in Reading
or
Andi Fansher - Moviemaker Magic

Awards Luncheon, 12:00 - 2:00
Eat with my Horry County LMS colleagues as we wait on the edge of our seats for the announcing of this years’ SC Book Award Nominees.

Okay so everyone can see that I have a jam-packed conference planned for myself, and still have many decisions to make. I’m carrying my laptop, and with free wifi, I plan to be connected to my network everywhere I go. Any of you loyal readers, would you like for me to “Ustream” anything? I have found out in the past I cannot “coveritlive” very well or even semi blog during sessions. I have to reflect and post. So I definitely could Ustream some. I’ll be taking a lot of pictures too, and will be posting them to the SCASL Flickrs photostream. So if you are not coming, you can virtually attend compliments of me. Let me know.