On an island after the techonology P.D.

After an amazing weekend at the OTF conference I left feeling uplifted, excited and ready to bring so much to my classroom. That was until I checked my voicemail and was reminded by a staff voice message that cellphones and iPods were absolutely not permitted in the class. That's when my heart hurt; this is a board policy. I know that the road ahead will not be easy. I will have to take small and carefully planned steps but it just feels so intimidating. Does anyone share the feeling of intimidation? Words of wisdom perhaps?

Technology on the dance stage? It works...

As an English and Dance teacher at the high school level I am always trying to bring technology into the classroom. But in all the years that I've been dancing I never could have dreamed that a computer could have a place in choreography: technology has found an exciting and valid place alongside the dancers of the Voci Dance group. The group pays homage to technology in some of their choreography as a way to signal the need to be connected in order to thrive in this ever changing wireless world. Check out Pam Payano's blog for more or Voci's web page:http://www.vocidance.org . I myself am now following their tweets: http://twitter.com/VociDance

Finding the will to compete

In 2007 I decided to compete in my first fitness competition. I never thought I would have found the will to do 5 more shows after that. Getting up at 5 in the morning to run on a treadmill doesn't sound appealing but if I wanted to be ready, I needed to be running. And so I did: I ran off 30 pounds and ended up on stage 3 months later with a first place win. What a rush. There's nothing like it. http://www.totrainer.com/s_29.asp