(That's my son giving the thumbs-up after completing the world's highest commercial bungee off the Bloukrans Bridge in South Africa last summer. The photo is in the correct direction even though it looks sideways. He is being hauled back up after the jump.) For those of you who need a little perspective, below is the Bloukrans Bridge. Yikes. The bungee jump is right from the middle. Egads!
Why the thumbs-up? Because after my last post, bemoaning the lack of internet to present a workshop on blogging at my state conference, I emailed the workshop coordinator. She already emailed me back (thanks!) and there will be internet access arranged for in a couple of rooms, so I can present the workshop after all. YEAH!!!What have I gotten myself into? I'll be teaching a 2-hour hands-on workshop and a 1-hour blogging workshop, hopefully one right after the other. My idea is to get it all done, breathe a sigh of relief, and then just have fun for the rest of the day. Am I crazy? Will I have time to go to the bathroom? I guess I figure these two things:- I'll probably retire in year so there's only so it's time to give back to other art teachers rather than get new ideas for myself, and
- I've attended some less-than-adequate workshops in past years (and some wonderful ones). I do not like having my time wasted, and know I'll give the best workshop that I can. Hopefully nobody will be disappointed.
Every year I attend the annual conference of NYSATA, the New York Art Teachers Association. One thing I look forward to is presenting a workshop. I've been doing this for about 8 years, so I know what to expect. I know that when you present a workshop, it's pretty hard to get to a workshop either directly before or after it, unless there is something you want to attend in the same room where you will be presenting.
I'm presenting a 2 hour hands-on workshop (making flexagons & kaleidocycles, what fun!), hopefully on Saturday morning, so I thought "what if I presented ANOTHER workshop directly after it?" Then it would be time for lunch and I wouldn't have time with nothing to attend. So my plan was... (drum-roll please) to present a workshop about BLOGGING! Here's what I had written:
"Enter the world of art teacher blogs to expand your educational horizons. It's easy to share ideas and expertise, and before you know it you'll have a network of new colleagues and will be communicating with art teacher globally. The presenter is an experienced art ed blogger." So before I submitted the proposal, I called the hotel. It turns out that the LOBBY has free WiFi, but the conference rooms do NOT. The organization would have to pay a fee to set up its availability when planning the conference. This isn't going to happen. :-(
I obviously cannot teach a workshop on blogging without the internet. So I'm bummed...
I guess instead I'll be spending more time at the distributor's booths. Darn. Here's my cat pretending to be grumpy:
(That's my son giving the thumbs-up after completing the world's highest commercial bungee off the Bloukrans Bridge in South Africa last summer. The photo is in the correct direction even though it looks sideways. He is being hauled back up after the jump.) For those of you who need a little perspective, below is the Bloukrans Bridge. Yikes. The bungee jump is right from the middle. Egads!
