Just a heads-up that if you use Edublogs for your school blogs, the behind-the-scenes interface has changed.  All of the familiar tools are still there, but they may be in different places or called something else! 

Once you log in, Edublogs has a link to a tour of the new interface if you want it.

Before I accepted this job blogging for SLMAM, I met with my principal about it.  I thought (and still do) that it was a great way for me to have regular opportunities to reflect on my practice and keep looking for new tools and ideas to move my school, myself, and our readers forward.  

But … I told her that I just would not be comfortable airing negative perspectives or dirty laundry about our school, our students, or our colleagues.  First Amendment or no First Amendment, it just didn’t feel right.   Plus, there are some things that I just don’t want to hear quoted back to myself.  

So when Monday’s Washington Post story, “When Young Teachers Go Wild On the Web,” started hitting the blogosphere, I breathed a sigh of relief about my choice.  The Post reported on new teachers who had pretty racy personal or (un-)professional information on their personal Facebook or Web profiles.  One particularly painful example: a special ed teacher who put a ‘retard’ bumper sticker on her personal page.

Or maybe you heard about Tricia Walsh Smith’s YouTube video, where she publicly aired her divorce woes. 

Like Chris Harris says on the “Digital Reshift” blog, your digital life is not private. 

Check out BigHugeLab’s photo album project, where you pull your Flickr photos (or browse for them on your hard drive), arrange them, print on a single letter-sized piece of paper, and snip-and-fold into a pretty nifty little album.

Think about … putting a mini-Inspiration graphic organizer on each page for a portable study guide for students with special needs or exporting KidPix photos and assembling them into a book.

image: BigHugeLabs