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Week 4 Wimba

What a strange situation I found myself in this week. I made it Wimba, was all ready to share my project and was actually looking forward to getting feedback from our wonderful instructor and classmates. But alas, this was not possible....somehow my picture and sound would not stay on while in Safari, and then Firefox would not allow me to press the talk button. So I spectated as a mute, but was given a voice through texting Dorreen & Hunter and they share my thoughts. I was fortunate enough to also have Dorreen view my presentation and send me some wonderful feedback through email. She gave me some great suggestions on how to make my slides flow better and be more consistent throughout my presentation. By simply changing some titles and subheadings, and flipping some text, it looks better already!! I truly appreciate her help with this. Dorreen has been a big supporter of mine throughout this program. She, Hunter, & I were placed in a group together early on in the program and have cheered each other on ever since. I would not have made it this far without their help and encouragement.
I am also fortunate to have a cousin who lives near by that I consider very savvy in the world of presentations, editing, writing, critiques, basically everything I needed in a critical eye to look over my project. I presented to her live and in person last night and she took some wonderful notes and gave me critical feedback when I was finished. She suggested that I explain some of the acronyms that I used in my presentation, such as explaining what EMDT means. She also suggested that I somehow supply my audience with a list of all the wonderful Web 2.0 tools that I speak of. I mention several times that there are tons of free tools out there, but only elaborate on two of the ones that I used most. I am thinking to add a Wordle slide with names of the tools I learned about, and perhaps try to add some more graphics. She said she likes that I referenced articles and sources within the presentation.
I am thankful to have gotten such good suggestions, I think with these in my pocket I will be able to get my presentation right where it needs to be!

MAC Week 4 Final Leadership Post

I can't believe we are at the end of month 11 in this magical journey of our EMDT. I have thoroughly enjoyed this program and have learned so much from the classes, instructors, and my fabulous classmates. The time I have spent at Full Sail is absolutely priceless, and the collaboration between us as classmates, even though many of us are in different cities/states, is simply amazing. I am very blessed to have worked with such a wonderful group of educators. I have decided that my Leadership Project on Engagement Through Technology will be submitted for sharing at ISTE. This particular conference is centered around Technology in education and so I think this would be the perfect place to share my discoveries and ideas. I would like to thank everyone who supported me along the way, I will be forever grateful for your kindness.

Week 1 Leadership Post:

http://kmycakes.blogspot.com/2012/03/wk1-leadership-blog-post-leadership.html

Week 2 Leadership Post:

http://kmycakes.blogspot.com/2012/03/mac-week-2-write-or-presentthe-lesser.html

Week 3 Leadership Post:

http://kmycakes.blogspot.com/2012/03/mac-week-3-leadership-post.html

Click below to view my presentation and speaker notes:

Engagement Through Technology

MAC Week 4 Response to Hunter's Blogtastic Blog

Original Post:

Week 4 Review of ‘The Art of Possibilities’

 'Benjamin is My Star Hero!'

Benjamin Zander, author of 'The Art of Possibilities,' is one of those rare individuals who truly ‘Cares’. Is must be a rare gene strand of DNA? He shows this care by placing his visiting students on the stage near his orchestra so they could experience the truest form of ‘passion’ and orchestral performance. These students had already sat for a few hours in previous meetings and now they were going to sit through a concert – they might fidget and be distracting, yet they knew Benjamin was giving them a gift of a lifetime and they were perfect. That takes intuition and a lot of trust. When do we ever go out on a limb like that in the aspect of trusting someone?

And then when Benjamin shares the story of Cora his 2^nd chair violinist, he really opens up his soul. He shows us that he didn’t always have this ‘Pure Care.’ He once was, let’s say, in development. Cora changed his life for the better because she stood for something that mattered to her. He lost her in his orchestra and that is what caused a paradigm shift to create the Benjamin we know today. So what am I really saying? We all need to stand up right now, put our hand over our heart, and say, “Thank you Cora.”

My Response:

Kimberly DuranMar 24, 2012 01:07 PM

Hunter,

I love that we had the chance to experience this amazing piece of literature and were asked to blog about it. It is so interesting to read what others honed in on, which parts of the book hit them hard, and how they felt about the different stories. Cora's story was definitely awe inspiring. Wouldn't it be great if she was there for dinner when we go! Really love the photo that you put with this one =)

MAC Week 4 Response to Stephanie Waldner's Blog

Original Post:

MAC Week 4: Reading Post

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover with the exception of the chapter entitled...becoming the board.  This chapter made me feel so conflicted with accepting that you are a part of what happens in your life instead of being a victim.  I can see this being true or okay was somethings.  There is the phrase "people cause their own drama" but I don't believe that this applies to all situations.  Sometimes bad things can just happen.
In my continued reading, the story of the artist Alice Kahana really pulled at my heartstrings.  Anyone can think about what they have seen in movies and pictures about the situation she was in with her little brother, but when I had just graduated high school I went backpacking through Europe and my friend and I chose to visit both Auschwitz while in Poland.  I can only imagine how that last thing that she said to her brother changed her "vision" after going to that place.  It is a moment in my life that I would never forget.
At the end of that same chapter (11), the words Marianne Williamson wrote made me cry.  That is being printed and going not only in my classroom but in a frame in each of my children's rooms to remind them that they need to shine.

My Response:

1 comments:

Kimberly DuranMar 21, 2012 05:45 PM

Stephanie,

I am with you on enjoying the book from cover to cover, I have actually started to re read some chapters, ones that I thought would be most beneficial to my co-workers so that I could share at our next staff meeting.
I agree with you as well that sometimes "bad" things DO just happen. This is something that is so hard to accept and so difficult for kids to understand especially I think. They always tend to blame themselves or dwell on the why me aspect of bad situations. Your trip to Auschwitz sounds like it was amazing, I had a similar experience when I visited an old concentration camp site. It's like you could still feel all that had happened there.
Thanks for all that you have shared this month and for the past year we have been on this journey.

MAC Week 4 Reading Post

Chapter 12 really sparked so many thoughts in me this week. Often times in education,or at least the trainings I've been to the past few years, we practice "I" messages. Telling our students what "I" need to see happen, or what "I" would like to see happen rather than just telling kids what "they" need to do. "I" messages seem to be all the rage at my school even, and I didn't realize until I read this chapter about the We story. The "I" messages have worked decently, but what a concept to make it about we to show that I am there in support of my students, staff, and other co workers. I even tested it out today on one of my tutors that is a college student, and it worked so wonderfully. He really felt a part of the decision making process, and felt as though "we" (he and I) found a solution to something. I could totally see his confidence shift. It was astounding, truly. I really want to practice this more. I must deprogram my brain from the "I" message and allow the WE to sing out of my mouth!! What a great way to end this amazing piece of literature. This week I will begin my transformation from I to we.....!!!!

MAC Week 3 Leadership Post

I think my first choice of presentation venue that I would like to try and submit my work to would be ISTE. This is my number one choice because ISTE is focused on the use of technology in education. With the direction that education is going, and my school that I teach at is going, I would really love to be a part of a conference like this one. The experience alone and the information I'm sure I would get to see and hear would be absolutely priceless. The next place I would love to present my work would be AVID Summer Institute. I know this is not on the list, but my CBR project involved AVID students as my target audience. AVID strategies were involved, and we took so much to a new level with the use of technology, I would really love to share these things with other AVID teachers so that they could use all the amazing tools I learned about through this program, and share the information with them on a national level. People from all over the United States come to AVID Summer Institute, and one of the most loved aspects is idea sharing with other educators. I think the experience would be amazing.