I had the good fortune to sit in on an elluminate session given by Will Richardson called "Using Blogs as a Teaching Tool." There were over 30 teachers from Alabama participating in a session orchestrated by Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach, Cathy Gassenheimer, and John Norton. Two hours passed by in 5 minutes. It was the first time I've had the chance to hear Will present; he makes everything seem so natural. He has a very personable and engaging style of speaking. You can't help but feel comfortable as he discusses a suite of engaging ideas followed up with striking examples. There was one comment he made that really resonated with me: "Don't hand it in; Publish it!" I'm going to use that with my students. ;-)

I really appreciated the invitation to join the group from Sheryl. I've had some correspondence with several Alabama teachers and I "bumped" into Jeanne Simpson and Aimee Smith. I also met Suzanne Culbreth who is running 3 classroom blogs this semester. All the teachers in the session were so enthusiastic about blogging in the classroom and made me feel such a welcome member of the group. I had thought I would just sit in and listen but the conversation going on in the chat room was so engaging we all had a lively discussion. (There was a lot of chatter abot wikis too!) It really was a blast! I left feeling pumped up about blogging all over again! Thanks to Will, Sheryl and all my Alabama Buddies! ;-)