Here I am at NECC!!!

I can't believe how much my life has changed in the past 20 months -- since the day I first gulped and offered to do a PowerPoint so my teaching partner and I could promote a new idea we had for a course on our school. I had paid so little attention to 'things technological' that she had to show me what PPT was and what kids did with it and how to make it work.

In my own overly confident way after a few months of running tools down and talking about them a lot, I started sending proposals all over the place thinking that I really had something remarkable to tell people about how to use Web 2.0 tools in their own classes. And unbelievably people have been listening.

My 'tools & teaching' partner, Debra, and I have grown hugely since our first presentation a year ago in Calgary. Back then, we were so heavily scripted that we even 'bolded' in red the cues for changing the slides as we 'delivered our speeches'. We had so much to say and were so afraid we'd forget something important. Now we've relaxed into just telling our story and inviting others to share our excitement. [Note to self: Everything I'm doing is infused with the idea of story-telling now -- even doing math questions. This will definitely be a topic for a future blog.]

We have a great suite of tools to share. Debra shows how to transform a lesson and I take a more project-based approach.We're moving towards creating a PPLLG ("passionate potluck learning group") with play dates once a month after school. Even though she couldn't make this trip and I'm doing a 2-person act on my own, I have loads of wonderful ideas to share.

If you'd like to hear my story, drop by the Small Changes; BIG RETURNS poster session from 10-12 on Tuesday morning. Add me to your planner; you'll find me in booth 33 all the way down the right of the room at the back on the main floor =just after you come in the doors. Bring your curiosity and a lesson idea and let's talk. That's what it's all about for me -- bouncing ideas off each other and seeing what wonderful kinds of work we can get our kids to produce. I'll help you pick a tool that you can manage to do a old job in a new way.

Also the Wilkes people will be on the exhibit floor, so you can chat with Karena et al about the program if you want more information.