the exponential human population growth

Hey everyone! Help me celebrate the birth of my friends brand new baby boy Emmett Stallings!

check out http://emmettstallings.blogspot.com and look at the picture of the little booger!

New Comic Ideas

The Global Community

The NECC conference reaches much further than I realized. After a workshop this afternoon, I went back to the GWCC to hang out in the hallways and get some free wireless internet. In the process I met a fellow person in need of electricity and so shared an outlet and a spot on the hallway floor.



Cecilia is from the Philippines and is a NECC award winner for the work she is doing in global community wikis with her students. She has recently set up a great site that allows students to log in and upload videos and pictures that spread a message of hope across the planet. It's almost a "here's what I'm doing in service" wiki that connects many students so far from Japan, Australia....and soon the US. I'm looking forward to more service learning in my classes, clubs, and youth group...and I'd love for us to get involved with her site.



So congrats Cecilia, and keep in touch from the South Pacific!

Web 2.0 Workshop....no web...no workshop

One of the fears of teachers everywhere who use technology is that inevitably, the technology WILL fail at some point...and.....then what? The workshop I was in today was on the Web 2.0 trend of open-source softwares and user-ownership over information sites and corporate sites alike. Funny thing was...the web was down during the workshop. The presenter was really flustered and I ended up leaving early because I wanted hang out at the conference center for a bit.

As technology-minded educators in the classroom, we always strive for using technology in such a way that it transforms our education process....meaning that we use the technology to allow us to accomplish things with the students that we would otherwise not be able to do. So what happens when it fails? Honestly....usually a digression to didactic learning where we deliver content without the aid of technology. Teaching at its purest form. This is often a fun challenge. To make teaching interactive and stimulating without the maelstrom of media that the kids usually get caught up in....aye, there's the rub. The trick is for the teacher to not get frustrated with the lack of technology when it breaks down and to simply keep the mind on the goal.....student learning.

The Adventures of Gas Man

Had some down time in a workshop and couldn't resist making this. Enjoy.

Swimming with the fishies

Once we got through with our workshops and the keynote address last night down here at the NECC conference in Atlanta, we were able to go to the Georgia Aquarium as part of the conference package. There were about 3,000 of us trying to get in at once, but it was great all the same.
I saw my first cuttlefish in person! For those of you non-dorky types, I'm shameless in admitting that I'm fascinated with critters of all sorts, but when it comes to salty sea critters, cephalopods are my favorites.....octopus, squid, nautilus, and the masters of disguise...cuttlefish.
Here are a few pics as well as a pic of the most amazing whale I've ever seen in person. The beluga whale. Watching these guys was almost zen-like.












All this said though, I'm really not keen on being away from kelley for this long...especially over a weekend which is my only real time to hang out with her during the summer. I'll be glad to get home on Wednesday.

cheers,
jeff

What the Tech

So it's day 2 at the NECC conference (where Link and I are) in Atlanta, GA. We're currently sitting in a 3-d photo workshop that is teaching us how to do object rotations and 3-D panoramas. This stuff is awesome! We'll be able to take multiple pictures of objects and then import them in a program that will animate them in a 3-D fashion....like when you look at a car manufacturer's website and you can rotate the image of the Toyota Yaris. Pretty sweet. I can see using this in Forensics, Biology, Anatomy, and even my tai chi and outdoor adventure clubs. Now.....all we need to do is get the district to tool up for the cost of the software! :)

Today's probably going to be the best day of the conference between this workshop and the aquarium.....I'll try and get some more pictures up later of the aquarium. Also, check out the new wiki site www.svitec.pbwiki.com for some daily podcasts from Link and myself.

Cheers!