In 2010 I decided to change my approach.  I wanted every shot to have the potential to be a good photograph.  To be able to do that, I needed to understand photography well beyond focusing and pressing the shutter button.  I turned to my old, reliable friend, the podcast.  Since I listen to several TWIT podcasts, I started listening to This Week in Photography.  That podcast had been going for several years, so I started with number one and went through the backlog until I caught up.  Along the way, one of the members of TWiP started his own podcast, Photo Focus.  I started listening to that one too.  There were a few other podcasts that I occasionally listened to, but most of what I learned came from TWiP and Photo Focus.

Of course, everyone on the podcasts was saying, “take more pictures.”  So in 2010 I did take more pictures, more than 40,000.  In the past I had used Google’s free photography management software, Picasa.  I highly recommend it and the price is right, but in the podcasts everyone was using Aperture (an Apple only program) or Adobe Lightroom.  I picked up a copy of Lightroom and am learning to use that.  (Lightroom keeps track of the total number of pictures on my computer.  That is where I am getting all these numbers.)   I also bought a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements.  It does 95% of what the full version of Photoshop does, but at a small fraction of the price.

This year I am doing a 365 project.  This involves taking and publishing a picture every day for a year.  If you look at my numbers, taking a picture every day is not a problem for me.  Last year I took 5000 pictures with the point-and-shoot I keep in my jacket pocket.  But a 365 project is more than just taking a picture every day.  I joined a Flickr group called 365: the 2011 edition.  Each week there is a new theme for our photos.  I learned early on in the podcasts that themes make better photographers.  Anyone can take a picture of an interesting topic in good light, but by restricting the topic to a theme requires more skill, not just technical skill, but creative skill. 

By participating in this 365 group (there are more than 800 members), I am also getting more people to look at my pictures and give me valuable feedback.  Social networking is important in photography.  Last year I started posting my Flickr pictures in Facebook.  From that, my average picture view went from 3 to 30.  Now that I am a part of a group where everyone is interested in making better pictures, I am looking at more pictures and more people are looking at my pictures.  It’s going to be an exciting year in picture taking.  There is still time to join us.

Click the play button (single click) and the presentation will go by itself.

The main problem with RssReader is its age.  It was last updated more than five years ago.  As a result, it lacks some of the features of newer readers, plus I’m starting to get random errors with some of the blogs I read.

I went looking for a new reader and found this list at the Open Directory Project.  Specifically I was looking for a reader that could handle sorting by tags.  I found FeedReader3.  As you can see below, the feeds can be sorted by tag.

When I give a blog assignment in class, I have the students add a very long and specific tag to each post.  This does two things.

1 – I can sort the posts in my reader by assignment.  This makes grading much easier especially if there are several posts which are similar.  I can tell which post goes with each assignment.

2 – The students can find each other easier.  Google picks up each post with its tags and a search of one of the tags will show all posts by all students.  At some point I always have students consider the work of other students.  These tags make it easy to see what everyone else is saying.

So far FeedReader3 has worked well.  It has an OPML import and export feature, so moving all my feeds into FeedReader3 or out to something else is snap.  From what I see,  I will probably stick with this one for a while.

For several years I repeated summer PD with my teachers and each year the same “technology” was requested.  Most teachers were interested in learning more about Microsoft Office.  Sometimes there would be a few teachers asking specifically for one application like Excel or PowerPoint, but it was always something to do with Office.

Times have changed.  The number one item I hear about now is the SmartBoard, but Office follows in a close second.  If a school does not own SmartBoards and does not plan to buy them, Office is still number one.

The funny thing is, I have never taken a class to learn any version of Office.  I have read several books and used assorted online resources, but I have never sat in a class for the purpose of learning how to use Office.  Yet, I have learned to use sixteen different word processors since my first job.

The technology standards for the state of Ohio have an indicator which states all ninth graders will:

Demonstrate proficiency in all productivity tools (e.g., word processing, spreadsheet, database, desktop publishing).

And these standards were adopted almost six years ago in 2003.

I am using Office 2007 right now.  Office 2010 will be out later this year.  The freshmen I have in class this fall will still be using the old version.  Long before they graduate and get jobs in schools, Office 2010 will be out and widely adopted.  By the time they teach ten years, few people will still be using Office 2007.

This is why a personal professional development plan is so important.  If we do not keep up with the basic technologies on our own, we will never master the use of advanced technology tools which really are exciting to use in the classroom.