Keeping Myself On Track

I have to be honest at this point in the game.  It is not something that I am proud of, or a characteristic of myself that I am overly fond of.  I am a procrastinator.  I have worked really hard over the past couple of years to make sure that I make myself deadlines and stick to them, but I still leave some things until the last possible minute.  I always have to remember to just

Do it!

 rather than the other hundreds of tasks that I find myself doing instead.  When I have something due I can think of at least a dozen things that I should clean, a handful of books that I would rather read, people that I should go visit, TV shows that should be watched on the PVR, etc.

So here I am making my deadlines public to the whole world!  The shame that I would feel if the whole world knew I was missing my deadlines will definitely keep me on track this semester!

Throughout this inquiry, I will be exploring a combination of all of my tools at once. This outline is to serve as the deadlines for my exploration, even though I hope I can be organized enough to complete aspects of the inquiry in the weeks prior to my deadlines. As blogging and Twitter are such large tools, they will be explored from beginning to end, whereas some of the smaller tools will not be explored over the whole period of time. I will be using my blog throughout as a reflection of my learning as well as a topic of exploration.

Week	Tool	Work Schedule
1 October 9 – 15	Blogging and RSS	• Publish initial blog posts (Introduction, Autobiography of a tech user, Proposal) •      Link Google Reader account to blogger site
	Twitter	•      Beginning following additional users who Tweet about professional topics
	Diigo and Delicious	•      Explore the features and uses of each and make a decision about which is best for my use
2 October 16 – 22	Blogging and RSS	•      Expand Google Reader list by researching teacher and student blogs and adding Twitter users’ blogs to Reader •      Begin to comment on other writers’ blogs •      Publish blog post regarding Diigo vs. Delicious
	Twitter	•      Continue adding to “following” list •      Research the language of Twitter to use when Tweeting
	Diigo and Delicious	•      Reorganize bookmarks using my selected tool •      Add widget to blog to share Diigo or Delicious bookmarks
3 October 23 – 29	Blogging and RSS	•      Publish blog post regarding Twitter language •      Begin adding widgets to improve blog
	Twitter	•      Continue adding to “following” list •      Start sharing articles, blog posts, videos, etc. that relate to educational topics
	Evernote	•      Explore uses for Evernote in my professional life
	Glogster	•      Explore the features and use of Glogster
4 October 30 – November 5	Blogging and RSS	•      Publish a blog post regarding the use of Evernote •      Publish a blog post about the features and use of Glogster •      Embed Glogster presentation into blog post •      Publish blog post regarding Goodreads vs. Shelfari
	Twitter	•      Continue adding to “following list” •      Participate in live #daily5 chat
	Evernote	•      Explore the share feature in Evernote and share links to notebooks using my blog or Twitter
	Glogster	•      Create a Glogster presentation to present to staff members
	Goodreads and Shelfari	•      Explore the features and use of each and make a decision about which is best for my use •      Begin creating bookshelf and finding/creating groups
5 November 6 – 12	Blogging and RSS	•      Publish a blog post about live chats in Twitter •      Explore the use of blogging in the primary classroom •      Compare various blogging sites to determine benefits of each for primary classroom •      Continue to add classroom blogs to Google Reader
	Twitter	•      Continue adding to “following list” •      Explore the use of lists in Twitter
	Diigo, Delicious and Evernote	•      Continue to use Diigo or Delicious and Evernote to organize information collected from websites, blog posts, etc.
	Glogster	•      Explore uses for Glogster in the primary classroom
	Animoto	•      Explore the features and use of Animoto
	Goodreads and Shelfari	•      Add widget to blog to share Goodreads or Shelfari bookshelves
6 November 13 – 19	Blogging and RSS	•      Publish blog post about the possible use of blogging in the classroom •      Publish a blog post about the features and use of Animoto •      Embed Animoto presentation into blog post •      Publish a blog post about the use of Goodreads or Shelfari to create discussions
	Twitter	•      Explore uses for Twitter in the primary classroom
	Animoto	•      Create an Animoto presentation to present to staff members
	Goodreads and Shelfari	•      Participate in Goodreads and Shelfari discussions about chosen book
7 November 20 – 26	Blogging and RSS	•      Publish blog post about benefits of RSS •      Publish blog post about possible uses of Glogster and Animoto in the classroom setting
	Twitter	•      Continue adding to “following list” •      Find a new live chat to participate in
	Animoto	•      Explore uses for Animoto in the primary classroom
8 November 27 – December 3	Blogging and RSS	•      Publish blog post about overall blogging experience •      Publish blog post about Twitter experience •      Publish blog post about where to go from here
	Twitter	•      Continue adding to “following list” •      Participate in a new live chat