Pat's past 3 weeks of October

Our Title III group met today for our regular Monday morning meeting. We coordinate schedules for the week and let each other know what we plan to concentrate on for the past week.

We'll need to develop a "Time and Effort" report monthly, so this post will address briefly what I've been up to the past couple of weeks. I'm too young too have a "senior" moment, but let me tell you, it's easy to forget a lot of little things one does, so this forum will help aid my memory when it comes time to fill out "the real thing".

I begin each day with time devoted to finding "what people are doing with technology" articles. It's amazing what types of things are being done in K-12 today. I believe this to be our anchor, as many high schools have rich technology programs in their curriculums and these are the students whom we will have as their next contact.

I've spent a week researching blogs and their use in business & industry and in the classroom. I think many people see these as a "hobby" where people write in them as a "diary". Blogs are much more than that. Besides the traditional "live journal" or "diary", they are used to create websites. In this manner, one doesn't need to know FrontPage or Dreamweaver or a graphic software program like PhotoShop. It's a way to make your presence on the web without technical knowledge.

It's also used as a discussion tool. You can create a group blog with each member of the group having access to it, tocreate discussion or add to discussion.

They're also used as a means to let others see your research. Whether it's articles you've read and discussed or links that you've found.

I've created a blog for our Title III group to see how to create one for one, but for two to see what will transpire down the road because we utilize it.

In the beginning . . .

I was to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 8:00 a.m. a couple of weeks ago to begin my new job.----But what---- No Desks? No Chairs? ---I saw only three other wide-eyed women peering through the bare window of the "office".

These ladies are my teammates. They are the ones I will toil with in good times or in bad; in sickness and in health; till grant objectives completed do we part.

As our positions were newly created and funded by a grant, our furniture was yet to be delivered and put together. What better way to get to know someone (and each others breaking point) than to put together desks and chairs? --The group made up entirely of females!! Now that may sound a little stereotypical, but you should have seen us using power tools AND reading diagrams!!

Needless to say there were times when we put parts of our desks backwards; times where we had to do and undo what we'd done numerous times---but we persevered.

It was amazing how well we got along. No one shouted at each other or called each other names. The best part was no fingers were accidentally power-screwed to a desk!

This was a great team-building experience. In a sense we were doing what we'll ask our faculty to do:

1. Collaborate
2. Don't be afraid to try new things
3. Never fear technology (yah power tools!!)
4. Learner-centered environments do work
5. If at first you don't succeed---try, try again.

By the way--those desks and chairs look great!! Oprah, if you're reading this, perhaps Nate could give us a tip or two on enhancing our environment as we'll be busy aiding others into enhancing their curriculums with technology.

As a side note: Our Administrative Assistant, Cathy turned out to be quite the "Ty-ra" Pennington!