Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

It has been a long time since I posted to my blog. I have to admit that this spring I have largely neglected this blog. So, here is a rundown of what I have been up to that has taken my time away from writing here:

1. I spent much of the past month putting the finishing touches on a Charter School Planning Year Grant for Wasioja Valley School, presenting to school boards about the idea (if you have been following my blog this year you should know what I am talking about). --I will be writing about this in another post--

2. I have been involved this past year with a great project cosponsored by Hamline University and Northeast Intermediate ISD 916 that concluded June 16th & 17th with a Technology Integration Institute at Hamline University. --I will be writing about this in another post--

New Tools & Schools - Hamline University Technology Integration Institute Closing Video from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

3. I have been teaching two summer school courses, Digital Photography & Business Systems Technology, for National Connections Academy.

4. I presented two sessions at the SEMTEC Techspo on June 8th

5. I have been meeting with Goodhue teachers periodically over the past month to work on curriculum alignment and technology training.

So, what is on my to do list for the rest of the summer:

1. Hamline University assigned me as instructor of record for the technology integration institute so for the next couple weeks I will keep busy reading reflection papers, action plans, and mini-lessons.

2. I have three different dates with TIES for workshops I will be facilitating:

• July 16th I will present sessions on "web 2.0 photo tools" and "web 2.0 portfolio tools" at their Technology Integration in K-8 Visual and Performing Arts Seminar
• July 20th I will facilitate an all day workshop on "Utilizing Social Media"
• August 7th I will facilitate two workshops: "Build Your Own Custom Search Engine" & "Cloud Computing—A Survey of Free Online Applications"

3. I will continue meeting with Goodhue teachers throughout the summer to work on curriculum alignment and technology training.

4. I need to start work on developing two hybrid courses I will be teaching over ITV in the fall: Digital Media & Web Design.

5. I need to start gearing up for a graduate course I will be offering at Hamline in the fall called, "Digital Fluency."

6. On August 3rd I am presenting a session at Byron Public School's teacher academy on Project-Based Learning. August 2nd David Warlick will be giving their keynote address and I am excited to finally get a chance to meet him in person.

7. I fully intend on posting to my blog at least once a week for the rest of the summer. I have also let my aggregator overflow and have not devoted my usual time to participating there. I also believe I promised Clay Burell at least a couple more posts on Change.org in my series about charter schools.