After promising to get back to my blog, I see it has again been a while. I keep telling myself busy is good. It's a good thing I love what I am doing!

This week we are spending our days in Guernsey (and Torrington), Wyoming with some truly awesome teachers. They are taking some time out of their summer vacation to come in and practice a few new technology skills! Every time I walk up to this school, I am greeted by the beautiful piece of art you see above. I am not sure who the artist is, but I find these two children with their books simply enchants me. The photo just does not do it justice either!

This afternoon we decided we should do a bit of exploring after our training was done and we saw some amazing places. Our first stop was to see the Oregon Trail ruts in Guernsey. Those are the ruts in the picture above. It is hard for me to fathom that the trail was worn so deeply

in some places that it is still visible this many years later. Yet there it is - history you can touch.

To continue our exploration, we went over to Register Cliff. It seems that travelers along the

way, carved their names and, in some cases, the year they were there in the

rocks of the cliff. Over the ye

ars, many people have continued the tradition so there are many names there. Getting to see names and dates from the 1800s continued to amaze me. I had to admit, I was tempted to carve my name in there with the others, but somehow it just didn't seem to belong.

When we arrived back in Torrington, we went to the park and watched the Platte River run. Like many places in the country today, the water is running fast and high. I heard that there is a church in town that is sandbagging, just in case. There is so much flooding in places and I hope they don't see it here!

I enjoyed our little adventure this afternoon greatly, but I have enjoyed talking about Google Docs, Google searches, and iGoogle so far. Tomorrow we are going to talk a bit of Promethean boards, blogs, wikis, and a few other tools. I just don't think life can get much better than this! I am one lucky woman to get to travel and talk to great teachers about things I am passionate about!

Until next time!

Far Too Long

I am saddened by how long it has been since I have posted to my blog. It isn't because I didn't want to. I have been so incredibly busy and had so many changes in my life since my last entry that I don't even know where to begin!

Let's start with the job. At the end of the last school year, I was feeling the need for a change. I had been at North Middle School for 11 years and just didn't feel like I was making much of a difference any more. That is just not a good feeling. After just a couple of prayers for guidance, lo and behold, I found a new home at TIE (Technology and Innovation in Education.) I cannot imagine a better fit for me! I get to work with teachers and school districts around the state. We help them integrate technology and think about 21st century skills. I even get to go to Wyoming and work with an incredible district that has gone 1:1 in grades 7 - 12.

I work with some of the most amazing educators at TIE. It is a positive, forward-thinking organization that has allowed me the opportunity to think about education as a whole and what we need to be doing to be agents of change. I have been incredibly busy, but for the most part, I thrive when that is the case.

We just finished the 25th Annual TIE Conference. I have attended for years and have presented at it the last several. It is a whole different thing being on this side of the conference. I figured they were a lot of work, but I truly had no idea! That being said, I still loved every minute! The keynote speakers were wonderful. The participants were awesome! The conversation was thought provoking! What more could you ask for?

On a personal note - we are pretty much empty-nesters. Chris is in Kansas doing his thing at Spirit Aerosystems. Tony is currently at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri recovering from shoulder surgery and hopes to finish his National Guard training soon. Jamie is a junior at USD in Vermillion. The boys are doing great, but as a mom, I really miss them. Mike and I are both incredibly busy, but took some time to go visit his family in California earlier this year. That was fun and time we both needed.

I plan to get back to this blog on a regular basis now. I have lots of thoughts about education and technology that I would like to share!