Monday, December 31, 2012

Professional goals for 2013


  • Improve my tweet/blog ratio. 
I have roughly ~4,600 tweets but only 23 blog posts (counting this one).  I started this year knowing that I wanted to have a professionally oriented twitter and blog and I've managed to do both.  Upon reflection it seems that I can still tweet daily with content being mostly info that comes across my reader feed and hashtag chats but should designate at least one day per week to blog.

The focus of my "reactionary" posts should be the topic du jour of the hashtag chat, my reaction to an interesting blog post, article or paper, etc.

I should also seek to create original content.  I am endlessly creating and tweaking content for my students and staff and much of what I do could likely benefit others in my field.  This dovetails into my next resolution...
  • Participate more in "real world" professional development
One of the downsides of doing one's work entirely online is how easy it is to fall out of real-world communication with... everyone and everything. Looking back on 2013 I am thrilled that there is such an active education and technology community in Baltimore, MD but thoroughly disappointed in how few events I attended in person (none!). This has to change in 2013. 
  • Be more of a leader
My professional position seems to be rather uncommon. I work with highly gifted math students in rolling-admissions online courses that are based on an individual mathematical dialog between student and instructor.  I also develop curriculum for these courses and supervise instructors. After four years of this (as of Nov 2008) I feel like I have a very good idea for what works and what does not.  It's time to articulate these ideas. 

I look forward to a year of learning and professional growth via engaging with educators in person and online!


Thursday, December 27, 2012

landscape panoramas before & after snowfall

I have the pleasure of spending my holiday in rural Indiana, specifically Boonville. Below are some photos I took before and after some snow (with permission of the landowners, of course). If there is any beauty contained within these photos, it is because the landscapes and camera did all of the work. I hope you and your family are having a safe and happy holidays.

Sincerely,
Joe

Before: 2012 12 25 
After:  2012 12 26

Click to enlarge each set of images.









Here are some others I took on the 26th which don't have a "before" shot. 

Click to enlarge.

A lonely barn on the way to a quiet wooded path.

The road goes ever on...

The land is so flat in Indiana.

A spectacular half-frozen pond in the woods.

Another view of the pond.
 My next post will be math related, I promise.