24 hours

In the last 24 hours I got a real look at what technology can do for us in our lives.  I will try not to bore you with an extensive look at my day, but I think it is important to share with you how technology can be a great tool for us.

24 hours ago I posted a blog on shoveling snow.  The weather didn’t improve and I decided to work from home and that started a great 24 hours.

The Scratch Cat

I needed to communicate with the teachers for both of my class responsibilities, which meant email.  But that was not the only email I wrote (as I watched Storage Wars).  I sent an email to a TECH student who is interested in app development.  I also sent an email to a teacher about the Scratch program she was interested in teaching.

I then had to revamp some assignments for class.  The TECHS class wasn’t too much trouble because we were watching informational videos on Java Script that were already posted on Angel.  American Lit had to be changed to a purely online assignment.

I was then going to grade assignments for American Lit but got into two conversations about life.  One conversation on Facebook and one conversation on Twitter.  Both were with former students. The kind of conversations that energize you because they go beyond the basic; “Hey, what are you doing? Nothing. What are you doing?” routine. The conversations covered deep aspects of life (Fatherhood, Highs and Lows of Life).

I finally got to bed just before midnight.  I got a little extra sleep because the kids’ school

The Blue Moon Coffee Shop

had a late start because of the weather.  I got to drop off my two little girls at day care and then headed to my other office, The Blue Moon coffee shop.

As I drank coffee I was involved in a Twitter conversation about connecting with students on social media sites, sending information about Symbaloo for someone and read a couple of powerful articles.

I headed home so I could Skype into a Social Studies Teachers meeting a colleague (Deanna Stall) was hosting.  I demonstrated Socrative to them (a cloud based clicker tool for the classroom).

When my time was up I noticed a friend and colleague (Mr. Badura) was on Skype, so I shared Socrative with him.

I ate lunch (but didn’t tweet about it). 😉

Then I called each of the schools individually in my American Lit course with my iPad using the Polycom app.  I spent about 15 minutes with each school covering the guidelines of the assignments, answering questions about upcoming essays, and a few classes got a small tour of the house.

And now I am posting another blog.  To build on yesterday’s post, what technology did in the last 24 hours for me was to make small meaningful connections.  To share, to laugh, to help, and to make real personal connections with a wide range of people.  Now, I will take face-to-face conversations any day, but honestly, what happen in the last 24 hours could not have happen without technology.