DENIED!

I don't think I realized how connected I am to being connected until I received the image above on my computer. "What was I doing?" you ask?

Catching up on my RSS feeds with Bloglines, Twitter, updating my GoodReads account, posting a new Writing Frameworks post, email, Skyping Jenn and waiting for the cube to stop spinning in the DataWarehouse where I am pulling ELA data that I cannot share.

Except for Skype and e-mail I was in the penalty box for 12 very long minutes!! How was I supposed to get any work done? After laughing and being taunted by Jenn sending me sites to read and getting really frustrated when I couldn't Google an answer, I started to open up Word in order to write this blog post. My mind was pretty quiet - for the first minute. And I swear I could hear the crickets chirping in the school.Then I started to get antsy. Very, very antsy.

Is this a problem or have I just grown used to a different way of working?

Passing the Word (Deadline Noon May 5)

I've discussed my discomfort for some of the things that have from ASCD before, but discussion isn't action. A superintendent is working diligently to help ASCD think differently. To that end, he is looking for volunteers to sign up on his wiki (huh - just went back to the site to get the link and someone wrote over top of mine). His goal was 50 - the next target is 100!

Playing with Pictures

It is raining and I am resting up for the Elvis Costello/Police concert tonight so I decided to finally download my camera and play with the photos. Hours later - I have not only ordered some really cool Mother's Day presents, but I messed around with Picasa and ScrapBlogs some more.

Picasa is a Google Application (all you need is a Google account and it is free) that allows you to not only store your photos but add some interesting features. One that I just love is being able to turn your traditional color photos into sepia. I ended up falling in love with this one of my second grade niece - so much so that I ordered copies for the whole family!!



Feeling suddenly artistic - I decided to create a Scrapblog of our recent trip to Aruba. The end result is here:



I thought I would share how easy this was to do because I could think of a million applications for education:
1. Scrapblogs of field trips or other school events
2. Individualized pictures for the end of the year as gifts
3. Photo editing that can go into blogs, newsletter, school calendars, websites
4. Powerpoint presentations for end of year parties

Any others?