Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

I hate when presenters ask the Twitter Networks to simply say hello to their audiences.  I do like it when I’m asked to say hello and tell where I’m from, though, as this shows how far and wide reaching your network is. And I like it even better when folks ask for an opinion or idea along with this warm greeting, which is what  did today for a workshop I did today in Columbia, SC.  (I asked for folks to tell why networks are powerful.) I had recently been far removed from Twitter for assorted reasons, and so was a wee bit scared no one would comply.  Network, you absolutely amaze me.  And my participants were super impressed too.  It was funny to be able to read through the greetings and be able to tell the group an anecdotal comment about how each and every one has expanded my knowledge and expertise in some way. Thanks for coming thorugh for me today.

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!!

Do Ostriches really bury their heads in the sand when frightened? According to “Phrase Finder” this is a myth. Ostriches basically when frightened lay down and flatten their heads along the ground, so as to disguise themselves from possible predators. But this reminds me very much of how our schools and IT deal with content they block at school.

I really, really, really try NOT to write about filters and blocked content so much. After all, I am a mother of one teen-aged son, and one young adult son in college. Living w/ guys you kind of know what their world revolves around, and how easy it is to be sidetracked by less than academic content, especially online.

But it is infuriating to know that I cannot access the Nings set up at school, even though many of my PLN resides there. I must wait until I get home to actually partake of the plentiful servings of rich content and collaborative opportunities that are there! Why are they blocked? They are classified as a blog, a social network, and a forum. I am getting ready to participate in a collaborative project, and yes, I want TOTAL access 24-7. I don’t want to wait until I get home from school. This opportunity could actually lead to GLOBAL projects for classes at my school, and egads, yes, during the school day! I belong to several nings, including Classroom 2.0, TeacherLibrarian, and most recently Powerful Learning Practice for Teachers and Students. These are NOT risqué, profane-laced sites, but rather places where I can learn more, and pass the learning on to students and teachers, even at my own school. If there was ever a place to see authentic 21st century learning, the Nings I am a member of are it. And best, its members are ready to open their arms and welcome all, and can answer JUST ABOUT any question.

This has been nagging me for some time, but it has become really frothy and ready to fizz right over. You see I tried to network w/ another friend, and low and behold she wasn’t getting any of my emails b/c her email filters out all incoming mail from gmail. Now what’s with that? I know many of the EXPERTS in the field use GMail as their primary email for professional contacts. Is this district making the implied statement that only pedophiles, rapists, child-killers, and prostitutes use gmail? What about parents who use email and want to contact their child’s teacher?

Well, very soon I will be participating in a learning/leading excursion and will be charged with leading a group of newbies into the fray we know as web 2.0. Our main portal will be a Ning (called Powerful Learning Practice for teachers and students,) and my goal is to hopefully generate some collaborative projects for my school and students, and therefore we will need that portal (Ning) open. Yes folks, its time to approach IT about loosening this clamp on Nings. All blogs, nings, wikis, and social networks are not bad for kids.

Let us be the professional and offer guidance into sites where we can teach our students to evaluate situations and circumstances and exhibit making good choices–what an authentic teaching scenario—instead of sticking our heads in the sand, like the fabled ostrich.

Image: ‘untitled‘
www.flickr.com/photos/49358150@N00/298444281

Image: ‘ostrich‘
www.flickr.com/photos/13119988@N00/213159950

Lucy Gray led a session at MacWorld in San Francisco, and asked readers to respond to these questions. I missed the original call, as I fell behind in my reader. But I do want to respond, and so I figured I would respond both here (and there, albeit a little late.)

• Why and when did you start blogging?
  I began first with a blog for my school library, and use it to talk to kids about the SC Book Award Nominees. I was already reading many blogs, actually discovering a whole new world called the blogosphere in Philadelphia at NECC 05. During the summer of 2006 (5/31/06) I launched the library blog (titled @the Northside Library which btw is now defunct since I no longer work there), and then that same school year, birthed my professional one-TechnoTuesday: Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts begun October 1, 2006. I started the school one as a tool to discuss the book award nominees. I did so to expose students to the read/write web, and then a professional one to further my own learning, as I saw what the impact reading other professionals was having on my own learning. Little did I know then I was cultivating a PLN or PLE.

• Do you blog for yourself? Yes and no. I began with intentions to involve students, but in my school environment and teaching situation, I just do not feel it was a successful as I would have liked. But it did not deter me. I even had authors who I was blogging about respond. Then when I began my own professional one, initially I felt I was just echoing my thoughts in my head. But it was therapeutic. I would say that specific bloggers were my catalyst, but I was reading so many it would be unfair to name one or even two.

• Do you use blogs in the classroom? If so, how (briefly)? I used to sponsor book lunches, and one way kids could get invited was to comment on the blog. I still use a school library blog in my current position, but I have to promote it to get student interest and reactions. If I don’t remind kids, they don’t visit and read. That may be just that this is still new to them –that of a read/write tool being available in school. Our kids are just not accustomed to them being open instead of blocked.

• What blogging tools/software do you rely on? I used to like technorati to find edublogs, but I’ve sort of lost interest and trust in it. But it was a tool used to help me find blogs to read. For blogging, I have used Blogger, primarily b/c it was easy. But I went over to Edublogs, and have been there since. I am not 100% happy with Edublogs, but they are listening to my concerns, which is making me interested in staying with them right now. Other important tools I use for blogging are flickr for hosting images (I had no idea how much space I was using in my 100mb of free space for pictures–I wish someone had told me that!) and a reader for reading the blogs I subscribe to. I used Bloglines, but played at Google Reader for a while. I went back to Bloglines, but that may be b/c it was comfortable and well known.

• What’s your most powerful/memorable experience that’s resulted from blogging? There have been several but I’ll note just a few. First memorable experience was having authors of children’s books to respond on my blog. Second, to get a surprise nod in a session I was attending in my own state Edtech Conference. Helping encourage me to blog also was my ClustrMap, which showed me that I truly had a worldwide audience. Last, to be mentioned just recently as a Woman Edublogger of 2007 in a popular blog. WOW.

• What’s your favorite blog? I’m not ashamed to mention my favorite today, as I’ve noticed many have held back here. But my favorite changes every 2 months or so, just as the topics and latest new thing changes too. My favorite blog right now is Dean Shareski’s Ideas and Thoughts.

• What’s the title and url of your own blog?
  TechnoTuesday: Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts
  http://technotuesday.edublogs.org/

Now I suppose I’ll go copy/paste this over at Lucy’s original log post too.