I’m writing tonight from the Warwick Hotel in Denver, Colorado, where I am preparing to begin a three day National Writing Project event tomorrow. We’ll be looking at information from other NWP sites and coding them to help get a fix on what’s going on around the country. (At least, that’s how I understand the process right now — I’ll understand it better tomorrow.) In the evenings in between work sessions, I’ll be planning a conference presentation on blogging and checking in with a teacher that I am working with on a pen pal project with our students.
Busy weekend, but it’s that good, "good things are happening in our classrooms, let’s share them" type of busy. I’m really looking forward to it. I hope I can record some audio and pass along our conversations.
One note — we’ll probably be giving that conference presentation on blogging in a room without Internet access or computers. We’re thinking that we might use sticky notes as a metaphor for blogging.
How many of you are conferencing in areas without reliable Internet access? #
Bud the Teacher
Inquiry & Reflection for Better Learning
Wow! You must really like a challenge.
I imagine that’s like teaching a blind person what “red” means.
Here’s an idea: Print up pages of blogs you want to display, including “what happens after you click the comment link,” or “the blogroll link,” or any other link. Make overhead transparencies and flip through them as you give your presentation. What do you think?
Unfortunately, all of the conferences I’ve been to have been in newer chain hotels or large convention center hotels, so wi-fi has always been present. However, I have been in a situation before in which I had to pay 12 dollars a day for Net access in my room, which in some ways might have been worse than going without connectivity.
If you haven’t given your presentation on blogging yet, I’d second the sticky note idea. Although if you’re presenting toa bunch of veteran teachers you might want to use the old “red pen” analogy on the student’s paper. Blogging is just the same as journaling or free writing, and the comments are like the teacher’s comments done in red pen at the end of the paper. Except the teacher in this case happend to be anyone on the Internet, and you can control how many of them leave comments on the paper. Not sure if that helps, but it might work well with your sticky note idea.
Hope all goes well for you Bud.
Thanks for the ideas, guys. I neglected to mention that I will be caching blogs and other stuff and using a projector to display the stuff that we want to show folks.
But SEEING isn’t DOING. My co-presenter and I want the audience to experience blogging as writers. That’s why we’re thinking about sticky notes — they’ll “publish” to the walls, and then they can visit each other’s sites and add their comments. Might even involve some yarn to create visual representations of networking and connections.
Sounds hokey, I know — but I think it will work. It kind of has to. Successful blogvangelism demands no less.
I like the Warwick – I’ve been to several events there, nice rooms, decent prices, good location, etc – but…
Why on earth did you agree to such a thing?!?
Rip the conference organizers a new one. This sort of thing is not acceptable.
I’d show up and stand silently in front of the room for the entire time.
Get with the 21st century or get out.
The Warwick has Wi-Fi. The conference that I spent some time planning for does not. Don’t blame the Warwick — they’re A-OK.