Making a Difference One Light Bulb at a Time

In 1984 I began my teaching career.  I was finally getting to work at a job I had dreamed about since I was a child. I was terrified! I hoped and believed that I could share my knowledge with others in such a way that would make learning fun and valuable. Sometimes when you are teaching, you get to see those light bulbs go off for students when they get a concept. It provides some validation for you as an educator. If you don't receive that validation, you lay awake at night trying to think of ways to improve the instruction or information so that you can help students. No one really realizes how important those light bulb moments can be for educators. 

As I have progressed from classroom teacher to technology coordinator to assistant superintendent, I find that I still look for those light bulb moments.  I am constantly searching for a way to help others through sharing knowledge. One of the ways I do that is through delivering and providing professional development. As a presenter, you don't always know when you have succeeded in providing participants valuable information. Sometimes, you get to see the light bulbs go off (in a good way) during the presentation. Sometimes people come up to you after a presentation and share what a difference you made for them. Those are moments to cherish. Sometimes you see the light bulbs go off in a way that tells you that you immediately need to modify and adjust - you've lost them! As a career educator and instructional leader, I am always doing whatever I can to improve education for students. While I am not in the classroom, I hope that the professional development I provide and share still reaches students and improves instruction.

You might think this post is all about me.  That is totally not my intention.  It is to remind us all to share with others! I am so thrilled to see people who have been in one of my presentations now listed as conference presenters. This post is also a reminder to each of us to share with those that have been light producers in our lives.  It's never too late to let someone know that they made a difference in your life and to continue trying to make a difference in the lives of others.

It's not what you know..................but what you SHARE! My shared resources can be found at my website, through my delicious bookmarks, or by following me on twitter.

Simple Screenshots with February's Tools of the Month

How many times have you needed a picture of something on your screen.  You know about the printscreen (prtscr) key.  However, that gives you everything on your screen and so you are stuck trying to crop the picture. You finally give up and think, they don't really need a picture of what I'm talking about.

Good news awaits! A hidden jewel in Windows 7 and carried over to Windows 8 is the snipping tool.  To find the tool, click on start and start typing in the search box that appears right above start and start typing in snipping.  You will see the tool appear at the top of the search box. Click on the tool.  When it opens, it automatically appears with the crosshairs to start your screen selection to snip. Once you have drawn your selected screen and lift your mouse button, you have the option to save your selection, highlight parts of the selection and then save, or just select to copy the selection and paste it in a new location.  Your saving options are as HTML, PNG, GIF, or JPEG. Check it out yourself and see how amazingly simple it is to get the perfect screenshot!

Since February is a short month, I'll give you a second tool as well. It is called the step recorder.  It is another hidden gem included within Windows 7.  Click on start, type in "step" in the search box above start and click on "Record Steps to Reproduce a Problem". Click to record and then go through the steps of something you are trying to explain or as it suggests to demonstrate what happens when you are having issues and you want to share with someone the screens that appear.  I see both options as being incredibly helpful.  The results of step recorder include an itemized step-by-step listing of the steps you took (great for giving someone instructions on how to do something) and/or it also gives you those step-by-steps AND includes screenshots along the way!  How cool is that? How many times have you created step-by-steps for people on your own and took all those screen shots yourself.  This tool does it all for you. What an amazing timesaver!