Well, here it is mid-October all ready and I have not posted one thing since school began, September 2. The first thing I need to do is look back on how I did on meeting my professional and personal summer goals.

First the professional goals which were a part of Cliff Mims’ Meme; I completely met one out of three, going to NECC. Not so good! However I do have lots of resources gathered for both podcasting and Smartboards. I’ve been listening to two podcasts, PD to GO and Learning in Hand, all summer learning about both subjects. I’m still waiting for the Mac and the Smartboard at school. Once the Macs are imaged and ready to go we will have training. I think after the training I’ll be ready to take off with it. Once our Smartboard arrives I’ll be working with the other two teachers closely. The room it’s going into has a young enthusiastic teacher; actually she started out in my position when it was taught by a TA. So, she is not afraid of technology and is eager to get her hands on it. The other teacher is looking forward to sharing it and we’ll all have fun learning about it together.

I did better on my personal goals. I made the shirt for my husband. I bought route 66 material and made a Hawaiian shirt for him. Being 6’6” it’s not easy finding specialty shirts that fit. He loves it and has decided I can make some more. It’s an easy pattern so I don’t mind. And the good news was I hadn’t forgotten how to sew. Guess it’s like riding a bike. I didn’t do so well on the books. I started the John Grisham book but didn’t really care for it so I skipped to the last chapter to see how it ended and that was it, I never went back. Usually when I do that I still finish the book. I did not start the Harry Potter book. I did read a book about digital photography and bought a few more books which are not completely read either. But compared to last summer when I read 15 books I did poorly. I blame my PLN and my addiction to Plurk, and the Ning! I did a good job with the last goal which was playing with my macro lens. I love it and it is so much fun to get in close and see what’s really there.

Even though I may not have done as well as I would have liked on my summer goals I’m not disappointed. There are other things that I did accomplish that aren’t listed here.

1. Go to NECC with specific goals of what I want to learn.-Done and posted
2. Become familiar with podcasting and be ready to introduce it to students and staff in the fall. I know this is probably old news to everyone else but for our school it’s a brand new concept. Each school is receiving two Macs this fall I think this is going to make it easier especially since I can’t download audacity at school, although to be fair, I haven’t asked for it to be unblocked yet either.
3. I have an IWB in my labs with Smartboard Notebook. I won a grant recently and I get one SMARTboard for a classroom. I need to find ways to make the board truly interactive for the kids and to find good resources for the teachers. I have tons of resource sites. I need to take time this summer to look through and find the best ones to share with the two teachers that will be sharing the board. Our focus with the board will be social studies with a focus on DBQs.

Hmmm, it would have been easier to do eight goals and tag three people! But here goes.

Since I have limited time on the internet as I journey across the United States I’m not taking the time to see if you have already been tagged or not. If you have or if you’re not interested just pass it along.

Thanks.

Amber Coggin

Vicky S

Rick Glass

Meghan

Patti Hartju

Deb Renner Smith

Nadine Norris

Christina Troxell

Directions

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2008 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

The Rules

1. Pick 3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/01/08).
3. Post the above directions along with your 3 goals on your blog.
4. Title your post Professional Development Meme and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/353.
5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme.
6. Tag 8 others to participate in the meme.
7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

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