reQall Part 2: Final CLAS Follow-Up

In the last post, we examined reQall. I think you will not only enjoy this video, but will also sympathize with the leading character. We all forget. The good news is that there are tools available that can help. Remember, when we are doing the best we can with the tools we have, our improvement opportunity is to get better tools!



This blog was created over 5 years ago for the purpose of providing the follow-up needed to make professional development work. We covered a great deal of ground in a hour. Hopefully, these last several posts have made the tools we talked about clearer. Thanks again for coming to the session and for your support of CLAS!

reQall: CLAS Conference Follow-Up

The final tool we examined was reQall. I have no doubt that many of you have already established an account. Here are a couple of posts that cover the service in more depth:

• Oh No...Jott's Not Free (But reQall is) This post provides an explanation based on my initial experiences. Actually, I was mistaken about one point in that post. For you to "share" a message with someone else (have what you say sent in am e-mail to them), they do not have to have a reQall account. All who you have to do is add them to your contacts in reQall.
  
• Demonstration of reQall This video provides an explanation of the service
  
• reQall Videos Here are two more videos which demonstrate the capabilities of reQall.
  

Google Docs: CLAS Conference Follow-Up

Google Docs is a powerful, free tool which allows you to post documents which you can access from anywhere, allow selected others to access from anywhere, or allow selected other to edit from anywhere. During the session at the CLAS Assistant Principal Conference, we looked at several example of its use:

• Handling maintenance requests for a school system.
• Handling ticket requests for an event.
• Gathering survey results.

Here are two posts which will give additional insight into the use of Google Docs

• Google Docs in Plain English This short video gives an overview of the concept with just enough depth to get you started.
• Love Letters Through Google Docs If collaboration is your aim, this whimsical video demonstrates how multiple people can view, edit, and improve a document.

Blogging: CLAS Conference Follow-Up

At the CLAS Assistant Principal Conference, we briefly touched on the concept of using blogs as a communication tool. Here are several posts which address blogging:

• Blogs in Plain English This short video provides an overview of what a blog is and how to create one.
• And Then There Was the Blog This post provides my rationale for moving from a paper memo to a blog in order to communicate with faculty as a principal.
• Keeping the Fire Alive This post addresses maintaining a blog so that it does not become a good idea which later dies.
• Leadership Day 2009 In this post, we look at the benefits of blogging for principals.
• Communication Doesn't Have to be Hard Districts benefit from maintaining a blog. This posts examines a practical example of how two districts used the tool effectively.

In addition, in the right-hand column, you will see a button taking you to Your Own Blog in 10 Minutes or Less. This blog consists of a set of post, each taken from a blog I had maintained. Each is designed to demonstrate a particular techniques.

Over the next few days, look for other posts related to topics from the CLAS Conference .

CLAS Assistant Principal Conference

For the assistant principals who attended the CLAS Assistant Principal Conference, this post is designed to help you get started with your own iGoogle page. When getting started with any endeavor, it often helps to see an example. Some months ago, composed a post listing the gadgets that I have on my iGoogle page, what they do, and the quickest way to get them. To revisit that post, click on the link below. If you like some of those, each one is only a click away from being added to your iGoogle page

Click here to see that post.

Here are several related posts that you may enjoy:
iGoogle
iGoogle
Google Reader

Thanks again for coming to the workshop!

CLAS Secretaries Conference

If you are visiting for the first time as a result of attending the CLAS Secretaries Conference, welcome. I hope you will visit often. Please take times to look through past months and years. You will find a wealth of information, both technology-related and non-techie. Mixed in, you will find other posts that are simply important to me and the interests I have. Feel free to leave comments about things you have a question about, things you liked, or just comments in general.

Thanks to the principals reading this post who supported their school secretaries in the desire to attend. Money is tight, and I put a great deal of thought in preparing for this workshop. It was my hope that those who came would take with them tools and strategies that could be implemented immediately. Furthermore, it is my hope that the funds mustered for this conference will be seen not as an expense, but rather as an investment in helping good people become even a little better at their jobs and perform them with a little less stress.

Special thanks go to Earl Franks, Exective Director of CLAS and Linda Campanotta, Professional Development Coordinator for scheduling me for this conference.

Gadgets on My iGoogle Page

For the MEMSPA members who attended Thursday's workshop and for the CLAS members who attended today's workshop, here is a post from some months ago regarding iGoogle. When you are getting started with any endeavor, it often helps to see another example. This post gives links to each of the gadgets I have on my iGoogle page.

Click here to see that post.

By the way, there are some great Halloween themes to choose from. On your iGoogle page, click "Change them" and enter "Halloween" in the search window.