Olympian Cheryl Bernard

Canadian Olympian and Silver Medalist Cheryl Bernard is presenting at a session hosted by PCcorp and HP. She's a sharp business woman with great skills demonstrated by her success. She shared her Silver Medal with us as she spoke about winning and losing and how the Canadian Anthem brings tears to her eyes.

Impossible to inevitable...

During the game against Russia Cheryl was proposed to by a Crazy Canadian Fan, painted in red and white wearing a speedo. If anything is going to test your mettle, it would be that! She went on to blow a kiss, shake her head no and point to her ring finger and beat the Russians.

The Olympics is a big deal, with big pressures and distractions and joy and life lessons. The two biggest were relationships and pursuing dreams.

The measure of a person is how they behave in defeat... not in victory. Watch your thoughts, they become words...

The greatest benefit of playing sports is that they provide an opportunity to demonstrate excellence.

Dreams are not attained in the waiting... they are gained in pursuit.

dream, plan, believe and act

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dE1LQmg4Y0pzaEI0N05pYmhvZmdUdmc6MQ

QR Codes etc...

Today I read an article outlining the dangers of QR coding - there are those that would send you to websites that have malicious code. I created my first QR Code about 2 years ago and immediately suspended any further conscious thought regarding their use. Most of the time I like to be aware of the trends, do a little dabbling and then wait for the populace to catch up to the innovators.

Really, though, QR codes can be an exceptional way to share information very quickly with our students that have SMART phones in their pockets. I've been impressed with beQRious.com and use i-nigma on my phone.

There's a QR on my wall in my office. No one has used it yet but I'm curious to see how long it takes before it becomes important.

The other app I think needs to gain some traction just on a consumer note is Red Laser.  It's an App for my iPhone that lets me scan Barcodes while I'm shopping and provide me pricing from various locations.  Good stuff.

On Being Famous (well, not really...)

There's something about the Internet that makes you consider personal presence. I have been recently mentioned by @VanessaSCassie on Twitter and her Blog. I don't really blog a lot nor do I Tweet (@kjamesa) as much as some of my cohort.

Vanessa writes a description that leaves me appreciative of her compliments and sets me up as a possible source for innovation. I'm somewhat humbled by her perception of me and want to let you know that you would be fortunate to be in her circle of influence. She's a rock star.

In the moment she tweets , there are currently 2520 of her followers and who knows how many lurkers of her Blog that suddenly have an insight into who I am.  People I know nothing of may go in search of some of the personal wisdom that Vanessa eludes to that remains unpublished and still floating in the intercises of my experiences.  Her post has caused me to think at length about my own Tweets and Blog(s) and rekindled my thinking about posting more regularly.

I'm glad I wasn't alone! The four others mentioned have made the time to regularly add to their own online presence. I would invite you to read their posts - they've done some great work.

In the interim I'm cleaning out my digital garage and sorting out the 3 or 4 sites where I have bits and pieces of my writing. I'll put them in one spot so that if you do come looking... there will be something worthwhile to read. 

My thought for today - if you haven't looked into WordPress as a tool for creating a Website or Blog, you should. From a PC using Microsoft Word you can publish directly to your Blog (I haven't tested the Mac side yet..) Images and formatting are not lost in translation on the way from creation to publishing and I highly recommend its use.  When you do get started, consider using the latest version as there were a few security leaks that have been fixed. Many hosts including locations like http://www.asmallorange.com allow for one step installs of WordPress to their servers. WordPress itself offers free hosting.  A great place to start.

I'm using Blogger.com for this Blog, and I've tried a great number including built in blogging in iWeb for Mac as well as WordPress on a local server.  They all have their parts that shine.

Consider what you are doing when you get started posting... you never know who will show up on your door step and whether or not you'll become famous...

Enthusiasm, Hope and Energy

Three things every leader should bring with them to the table. Del Litke talks about leadership and focuses on the research tonight with a group of leaders in Foothills School Division. We're discussing important points and uncovering those tidbits that support our learners.

What we know is that kids performance increases the most when they have outstanding teachers, and is increased further when that's supported by great leadership. The two in tandem - a school that is a culture that believes all kids can and must learn - is where we all want to get to.

Follow us on twitter #fsdleaders

Data Gathering for Engaging Leadership

Data Gathering (click here for a full window version of the form)





Chris Anderson: How YouTube is Driving Innovation


Dan Brown: An Open Letter to Educators

Are we building classrooms or learning communities?