Category: Russo’s Ramblings

My son started his school learning journey today. He was very excited when he woke up, hopped on the bus (yes I was a doting dad with the video camera) and had a great day. We had a bit of extra excitement at the end of the day when he did not get off the bus as he should have. Turned out that he was put on the wrong bus, and the driver did not notice the extra passenger for a little bit. Mommy and Daddy got many new gray hairs, but he just enjoyed an extra long bus ride.

Anyway, the joy in the eyes of a kindergartner going to school is so invigorating. I have to be honest and say that, while I may look more tired than excited, I feel that sense of excitement everyday. I look forward to the new opportunities that each day brings. The learning playground that I get to go to “work” in every day is a pleasure. Is every moment easy? Nope. Are there things that I wish I did not have to do? Yup. Is having a job of learning coach an awesome opportunity? You bet.

How do we manage that kindergarten enthusiasm so it lasts right through the tough years (middle school), drag years (high school) and beyond? How do we inject that elixer so professionals feel charged up and ready to seize every day with every student?

I’m tinkering with a new theme, and as a result, lots of things are moving around and are “works-in-progress.” Please excuse the dust – I figure it will take a couple of weeks as I learn how to customize the WordPress templates.

Well, July 1st has come and the blog is still here – woo-hoo! The transition from Teacherhosting to DreamHost is complete.

One of the reasons I like to do the extra work of registering and hosting my own blog is so I can understand and learn about it. The move was not so bad but I have to say I have learned quite a bit about site management in the last couple of weeks.

A tip of the hat and many thanks to Aaron from Clarity Innovations for his assistance during the transition.

Moving day is upon me. I have to say that in the real world, I do not like moving, and in the virtual world of moving web hosts, I like it equally as little! After receiving word that my hosting service, Teacherhosting.com, is discontinuing service as of June 30th, I’ve been a bit stressed about making sure everything gets moved.

I’m off to work with DreamHost, which was recommended by the folks at WordPress.org. This type of move is really nothing big, but if you’ve never done it, it is the worry that is the hard part.

I’m going to take this opportunity to do the summer “cleaning” of the blog. Over the course of the next month or so there may be some theme changes, content moves, etc. I’m anxious to do my first post after July 1st.

Happy summer…I plan to be back soon!

Image citation:
TheMuuj. Moving truck. Photograph. 27 Jan. 2008. 23 June 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/themuuj/2224917035/>.

Students, please take note: we lost a Buffalonian yesterday that is worthy of the title “hero.” He was not an amazing athlete. He was not a wizard with business dealings or money. He was a smart, straight forward, honest, hard working journalist, and at the top of his game. Tim Russert is the type of person you should aspire to be like.

I never met Mr. Russert, and since I’m not originally from Buffalo, it may seem strange that I (like many) feel a connection to him. If you read the book he wrote about growing up in Buffalo and his roots in the working class neighborhoods in South Buffalo, you quickly see that he was the epitome of hard work and dedication. Anytime he was on TV, be it Meet the Press, or any number of political shows, he set the bar for journalistic excellence.

Compare his heroism to the typical sports hero. We easily get caught up in the amazing talents of a Bill or Sabre. They are amazing athletes, but many times the surface ability is given more credit than it is due. I certainly could not compete with the likes of Marshawn Lynch on the football field (or any pro sports player), but when his SUV hits a person, and he evades simple questioning by the police to find the truth, it makes my skin crawl (see related Buffalo News letter to the editor here).

I certainly do not want to generalize that sports heros are not great types to admire – I just do not like it at all that the amount of attention, money, and importance placed on sports heroes is disproportionately large. I would love it if we put 80,000 people in Ralph Wilson stadium to hear the Buffalo Philharmonic play Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, with everyone singing the opening motif…(OK, maybe not the best venue for Beethoven, but you get the picture).

Anyway, lets take a little time to stop and reflect on what it means to be great. Tim Russert is everything we should be proud of as Buffalonians, and he is someone any student of any age should aspire to be like when they “grow up.”

Image citation:
Dbking. Russert Russert Russert. Photograph. 14 June 2008. Flickr. 14 June 2008
<http://flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/2577089389/>.

Flash back to 2004, at the NECC Conference in New Orleans. I think it was during David Thornburg’s spotlight session that I decided to jump into blogging. I did not do a ton of research; rather I wanted to get going quickly. One of the blogging services I took note of (and which happened to be hosting quite a few blogs featured that year) was Teacherhosting.com. I signed up for the basic blogging service, used their provided wizard/templates to get started, and off I went. I did not necessarily know the ins and outs of managing my own blog, but the challenge of it was cool.

I have purposely stayed with managing my own blog, playing with the mysql databases, installing my own WordPress management system, etc. I do not for one moment pretend to be a techie when it comes to this stuff. My usual preference is for hosted services who do all the dirty work in the background. I want to have an understanding of the technical side of things, and have learned that it is really not magic – just occasionally complex – to manage a site.

I’m very proud of how this blog has grown, in many ways. For example, the move from the more generic russo.teacherhosting.com to the domain I purchased, pointatopointb.org was a personal milestone. I’ve carefully caressed the look and feel of the site, in addition to the writing (which of course is most important). Check out some of the posts from that first summer of blogging here.

Fast forward to yesterday, and the following email from Teacherhosting.com:

“Effective Monday, June 30, 2008, TeacherHosting.com will cease providing Web hosting and e-mail services. This e-mail contains important information about actions that you�ll need to take to prevent any potential interruption in service or data loss.”

So suddenly in my quest to understand and manage my own site, I now have to figure out how to move hosts. Aaack! Can anyone recommend a good web host (and any tips for a successful move)?

I just can’t keep up. Sorry. I love following the blogs of the top names in ed tech. Then along comes Twitter, where you can post what you are up to in 140 characters or less from a cell phone, constantly, and its the new rage. Honestly, when one person generates an average of 10-20 tweets per day, enough is enough.

Do I need to know when someone’s plane is delayed? Do I need to see an ad for a new blog post? (hint – no – my aggregator will tell me when there is one). What I need is a manageable stream of thought and conversation, with the emphasis on manageable.

I do not have a Twitter account, but I have been following some top names in ed tech via the RSS feed from their Twitter pages. If I actually tried to follow more than a handful, it would become a fulltime job, and the information garnered from knowing what they are up to at any given moment would not be worth it.

Is there value to being able to plug into a network of experts, on call from anywhere in the world? Sure, but there are other ways, too. Twitter is cell phone IM, so you can literally be connected anywhere, anytime. Once the newness wears off, its just another way to banter. I have better things to do on a daily, hourly, and minute-ly basis.

I’m looking for value in being this connected, and so far I’m not seeing it.

With apologies to the best, brightest people in educational technology, whose opinions and thoughts I absolutely respect and aspire to replicate in my own work…

To borrow and repurpose the title of Susan Powter’s weight loss book – Stop the Insanity!