I love #2 pencils. I really do. It is a weird thing because wood makes my skin crawl. But a freshly sharpened #2 pencil is my favorite thing to draw/write with. To me nothing is better to relieve stress or frustration than drawing. Love the #2.

I have been surrounded by #2 pencils all day. In a negative way. What was the 1st thing you thought about when I said “#2 pencils,” it was a test wasn’t it? Yuck!

OK you are probably thinking that I am now going to hop on my “Why standardized tests suck” soap box, but I am not.  Ha!

I am sad this wonderful tool, the pencil, has such a negative stigma attached to it because of one of it’s uses.  Remind you of anything? Yes? No?

Did it make you think of the internet? Social media? Technology in general? Grades? Interactive White Boards? Students and cell phone? Or even text books?

What else did you did about?

So many of these things can and have been controversial in the education world. There can be bad and good in each. The problem is we take so much time harping on the bad we forget to look for the good. Find the good.

#2 pencils are not bad. They have just been given the bad name because one use. Now to focus on the good it can do!

**Yes I drew the picture with a #2 pencil this week. The picture is of the Sand Island Lighthouse off Dauphin Island, AL.**

This is a quote from Pretty Woman, my most favorite movie ever: “Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreamin’ – this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin’.”

That part of that quote “Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'” is one quote that has always stuck in my head. We all have a dream of what we want to do in life, right? I see post and tweets over and over about passions, following passions, dreams, etc. What is your dream?

I have a dream of what I want to be when I grow up. Kinda. Same thing since I was a student teacher.  It is not to be a classroom teacher though.  The school I was in for my 2nd placement had this guy that was doing all this tech stuff with different classrooms.  I would watch him and ask my supervising teacher about his job.  One day I even got to spend the afternoon watching him work with a class and their teacher. I remember watching and asking the kids to explain to me what they were doing and how (they were making a video about the state of Alabama, from the state parks to the state tree).  From that day on I knew that is what I always wanted to do. I have loved tech since my parents bought me a Commodore 64 when I was 2! My love (and nerdiness) has grown more and more with this advancing age of tech.

After 2 years of teaching I got a brochure in my work mailbox about getting a degree in “Technology in Education.” UM YES PLEASE! I was at the first informational meeting signing up. I completed my degree, wasn’t easy, I found out I was pregnant the week classes began. I knew this is what I wanted to do. After a year of applying for positions (in the rare case one opened) and not even getting interviews I went back to get my Ed.S. in that same field.  This has been an even longer journey to complete (found out I was pregnant the day after I registered), but I can say there are no more classes for me to take.

So this journey started when I began my graduate degree in May 2005. Today is March 22, 2011. Still nothing.  During this time I have watched my passion for helping and teaching teachers grow.  I love nothing more than staying after school and helping one with his/her lesson or taking my break to help someone figure out their ActivBoard. The weird thing is that I get more excited seeing others do new things with technology than even using tech in my own classroom. I love the opportunity to teach a PD session or chat with someone about how twitter and blogs have completely changed my teaching.   Yet those opportunities are far and few between. I have shed tears over fact teachers in my school could use training in the tech field yet I do not get to because it is not my place.

Now do not get me wrong, I really like my job, I have fun, and I am very thankful for it, but it is not my passion. We tell kids everyday they can be anything they want to be, or tell them to seek their passion. Yet is there a time where we should just give up on those dreams? Is there a time when we need to realize the dreams may not come true? Then what? Or do we keep hoping? Keep trying to make it happen? I think we do. I think we have to still push through fears, through the heart ache, through the struggles.  Through the jealousy of those who blog and tweet about fulfilling the passion you have had for 6 years.  You keep moving. You keep on dreamin’.

I am going to try to “keep on dreamin'” but with state budget cuts I know there will be no Tech Specialist jobs open again this year. If there is, I of course will apply.  Until then I have the same dream. I am going to hope that  this dream I am so qualified for will become a reality. Until then…

**BTW this is not a whine fest, I really just wanted to reflect and remind others not to give up. I am sure others have same issues and it is always good to know others can relate**

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Have you ever been to camp?  Well what about EdCamp? EdCamp Bham is coming April 30! For those who have not heard about EdCamps, there is a new movement of educators wanting to take control of their own professional development instead of waiting for PD to come to them.  These educators are also wanting to customize PD to meet their needs.  Most of these educators are sharing online through social media on a daily basis, but there is still a desire for face-to-face learning and socializing as well. This is where “un” conferences like TeachMeet and EdCamps are coming in.  These take that costomize learning that is happening online and delivers it face-to-face.

EdCamps and TeachMeets are free (some may have a low cost)! You cannot beat that! I know my district has cut all funding of PD (no comments on that, I totally understand what you are thinking about that right now). So with that, I have to pretty much pay for all my conferences I attend.  Between  EduCon this year and ISTE11 later this summer that is a huge chunk of change.  EdCampBham is not only free but in a location that does not have many conference choices.

Edcamps and TeachMeets are teachers learning from each other.  No one at EdCamp Bham is going to be presenting on their new product nor are they paid presenters. We do not even know who will be presenting! Everyone will sign up “barcamp style” that morning.  If you are planning on attending, try to think of one cool thing you did this year in your classroom and present on it! It is that easy! Only 45 minutes and use part of that time as a discussion with your peers, maybe they have tried the same thing and have stories to share!

So are you ready to spend a day hanging out and learning from other educators? Then consider EdCamp Bham. We are sold out, but join the waiting list, we will release tickets as spaces open.  If you are not in the Southeast next weekend is EdCamp Omaha for all you midwesterners, Edcamp SF is in 2 weeks for my west coast friends, EdCamp Vancouver the next weekend for those north of the border, and Edcamp Boston & EdCamp Detroit are the 1st weekend in May. Then of course Edcamp Plano will be next! There are many more listed here, why not give it a try? What is the worst that will happen, you will learn something?

If you are interested in sponsoring or donating swag/door prizes please let me know!

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****Warning. I feel sometimes I need to warn. Blogs are a place for reflection.  I am reflecting here and not all of it focuses on education. I know this is an “edublog” but this is my life and yes there is some “education” stuff here.****

Today is Saturday. I am exhausted. This has been a weirdly busy week.  Lots of ups and downs and just otherwise interesting stuff.  Now my niece was born this week, that was biggest up, but the rest of the ups and downs really had social media to blame.  I just wanted to point those things out, let me think out loud for a minute.

Monday started with my email saying I had a “pingback.” This is a cool point of the week. I do not only follow educators on twitter.  I follow people from all walks of life.  A follower who I have gotten to know over a little less than a year is Kary Delaria. She is this PR/Social Media genius (would say guru but not a fan of that word and she is too cool for it), well any way she wrote this blog post about my trip to Promethean to speak with them about using social media to connect with educators. It was odd how the edu part of my twitter world and the personal part collided. But I think that is what social media is about. Connecting. It is OK that we connect people from outside our small world of our PLN. We have offline friends that are not educators, so let that reach out online as well.

Monday afternoon  I asked a simple question on twitter.  This caused a weird reaction I was not expecting.  I had a chick moment and really took it personally.  I went on this rant about how educators need to stick together.  We do not need to use social media as a place to always look for a debate.  Debates are great, that is what makes #edchat such a great thing, but some times we need to just let people ask for help and ignore if we do not agree.  After my rant, I had social media hit me over the head again. Many many messages from educators I love and/or respect. I was like the opposite happened.  There were also more blog post written about how we need to stick together and more conversations started.  Conversations are so important, more important than debates.  I know we should not sit around and tell each other how great everyone is, but we need to treat other online as we would face to face.

Tuesday was an exciting day in Birmingham for social media.  The Alabama Social Media Assoc was announced.  Why was I excited about this? Well if you haven’t noticed, most social media organizations or meetings focus on PR or marketing (and sometimes foodies or stay at home moms).  It is almost like the outside world is never included in this.  Well the AlSocMe is focusing on everyone that is interesting in social media.  If you haven’t noticed using social media for education and getting more educators online and connecting through it is a huge passion of mine.  Now I feel part of something local that I will not so much be an outsider. I cannot wait to summer gets here so I can participate in events from this new organization!

So social media sometimes spills offline.  That is where #EdCampBham comes in.  This whole idea was passed on through twitter and blogs.  After some ups and downs in planning on Thursday (major drama) we pretty much mapped out the entire day (well weekend). I am so excited to be an organizer of this event.  We are now up to 106 people registered and number grow every day.  It will be amazing to see teachers learn from teachers at a free casual event!!

Ok one more thing.  My kids are blogging.  YAY! This week I conferenced with each about their blogs.  So many are on the right track and doing some amazing work! Next week (holding my breath) we are going public.  The blogs before had been private just for the classes to see.  They need time to privately make mistakes and learn.  Now we are ready for a global audience. I am beyond nervous about parent reaction, but after chatting Friday with Brian Mull then listening to Alan November’s TEDxNYED talk today about global audiences, I feel better about my decision.

SO anyway, there you go.  Social Media is extremely large part of my life.  In addition to all this I also have been asked to help with a few other projects this week, I am keeping on DL for now.  This is my passion, connecting others, connecting with other, mostly, learning from others.  It was a big week, no wonder I am so exhausted!