Spring is a Re-Birth
I am not foolish enough to believe that I have caused worldwide or even local disappointment due to my lack of posting but, if I have there, is a pretty good excuse.
My wife and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first son. I gotta tell ya, I have never really worked off someone else’s schedule, but waiting bites. You find out and for 8 and 1/2 months you think…oh God, there is no time. Then you hit the “maybe” weeks of 37, 38, 39, and soon 40 and you start to wonder if the child will ever be born. I’m convinced we are on our way to birthing a high school junior. (Hmm, only two years at home..)
Is it a contraction or gas? I can tell you what one feels like, but the other is any man’s guess. My wife looks at me and says, “I think that’s one.” She grins…I hyperventilate.
Anyway…When I am not aging rapidly, I am keeping a new tips blog for my school district. It’s a simple design based on the great work of my friend Jim Gates. I am using the blog to try and spread the word about great sites, web tools, and blog posts from around the web. Stop in and say hi.
I have also loaded some professional development material (mostly for DASD) to TeacherTube. I am excitied about the prospect of a video sharing site specifically for education. If you know me or my writing you know that I am an “open web” supporter, but big ripples start with small stones. TeacherTube could be the small stone that gets nervous administrators to begin exploring web tool potential.
Next time I talk to you…I’ll be a Dad. That is scary for all of us. 
March 28th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Congratulations on what will soon be the birth of your son! I guess that helps to diminish my disappointment in not seeing new posts from your blog in my feed and it also gives me time to ponder the great insights in some of your older posts.
I’m glad you mentioned Teacher Tube. There is an excitement about the potential of an educational YouTube. With the fear that overwhelms so many decision makers in education with such web sharing tools, I think you are correct in saying it might ease that tension and open up dialogue capable of producing change.
However, I wonder if it also builds an excuse by said decision makers. Will “they” simply take the wait and see approach to tools that are threatening to them? In other words, will they wait for an educational version of each tool before pressing forward? Is that a bad thing? a good thing?
Maybe it goes back to keeping “slow and steady” in mind, eh?
From my family to yours, Congrats!
Ryan B.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Ken,
Thank you for uploaded the Audacity Basics video to TeacherTube. I just used Audacity for the first time last week — had an audio emergency with no editing program on my laptop, found Audacity and quickly and easily accomplished my task. I’m going to use your instructions to experiment with podcasting. Thanks again.
Check out the TeacherTube blog at teachertube.blogspot.com.
Jodie
jodie@teachertube.com
March 29th, 2007 at 6:56 am
Ryan,
You are absolutely right. Some will use this as an excuse and I suppose the “education” version of tools will end up being just as big on the web as it is in print. I am coming from the perspective of teacher that obviously has a supportive administration. A tool like TeacherTube can open doors here; however, If the horror stories we hear are true then I’ll have to say “practice” applications would be better than no application at all.
Thanks for well wishes, and for making think about something other than labor, even if just for a moment.
Take Care