Introductions

[Steve Hargadon]

Welcome! Please introduce yourself, let us know who you are and where you are from, and, if you are already using Ning in an educational setting, how you are using it.

[Linda Denker]

Linda from Lee's Summit MO. I am an Instructional Technology Specialist for the Lee's Summit School District. I have been in this position for 7 years. I have attended workshops on Ning but currently it is not really being used by teachers in our district.

[Joy Walton]

Hello everyone! My name is Joy and I am an elementary educator from Richmond, Virginia. I am specifically interested in integrating Digital Storytelling projects into the curriculum and have created a social networking site (http://digitalstorytellingclassrooms.ning.com) for educators to share ideas. I would love to know how you are using Digital Storytelling in your own classrooms. I am excited to be part of this growing network of educators and look forward to connecting and collaborating.

[Jenn Brooks]

Hello all. My name is Jenn Brooks. I'm in my 4th year of teaching in a small high school in Lancaster County, PA. My classes include biology, environmental science, and forensics. I created a Ning username last year and signed up for the One Comment a Day Ning but haven't really done anything with it. I’m currently enrolled in a Web 2.0 class through Wilkes University and am looking forward to learning more about the use of social/educational networking in the classroom.

[Alison Snyder]

Hello! My name is Alison Snyder and I teach 2nd grade in the small rural town of New Bloomfield, PA. I am in my fourth year of teaching. I taught first grade for the first three years and this is my first year in second grade. I previously had a Ning account through my school but haven't really used it much, as I joined at the end of the school year. I am taking a Web 2.0 course and I am interested in connecting with primary teachers to share ideas. One of my interest areas is incorporating technology into my classroom. You can join my Ning site as well! (http://primaryteachers.ning.com) I look forward to sharing and learning some new ideas!

[Laurel Hilton]

Hi! My name is Laurel (Laurie) and I have been teaching for 19 years. 15 of those years have been in first grade. I am currently working on my Master's in Instructional Media through Wilkes University. I have a Promethean Activboard in my classroom and absolutely love finding ways to make learning exciting and fun for my students. I have created a network on Ning for collaboration with other first grade (or lower elementary) teachers: http://firstgradefun.ning.com

[Sarah Sperazza]

Hello my name is Sarah from Pittston PA. I am a second year special education teacher for an Intermediate Unit. I teach a small class of physical support/multiple handicapped students. I am currently enrolled in an online course through Wilkes University working towards my Master's in Instructional Media. I have never used a ning before but I am looking forward to exploring its benefits! :) Check out my Ning site at http://ssperazza.ning.com/profile/SarahSperazza

[Paul Braun]

Hello, my name is Paul and I am a Library Media Specialist at Wales Primary School near East Aurora, New York. We are a K-3 school in the Iroquois School District. I am new to ning and would love to learn more about how to use it to enhance my abilties to educate our children. I welcome all opportunities and advice.

Thanks....

[Amanda Somers]

am Somer, Working at Spacify...am new at Ning..

[Victoria Efird]

I'd never even heard of Ning until I enrolled in an online course, "Technology Boot Camp", designed for educators who are technology novices. One of our assignments is to join Facebook, MySpace, or Ning. I liked the idea of Ning, so here I am. I am a "digital immigrant" trying to keep up with my students. I teach Dev Ed reading at SPCC, a community college in North Carolina.

[Lauren Fox]

I'm Lauren and I'm currently teaching high school Social Studies at a cyber school in PA. I had never heard of Ning until this week. I'm looking forward to learning all the ways to use Ning to improve my teaching style.

[Mark Setton]

Hi, my name is Mark, and I would love to hear from you. I wrote on October 18 but forgot to give a contact address.
I founded an educational non-profit at http://www.Pursuit-of-Happiness.org , devoted to showing secondary and university students how to build resilience against depression, based on new discoveries in the rapidly expanding "Science of Happiness." Our nonprofit presently has no budget and runs entirely on the goodwill of six volunteers, many of whom contacted me through the internet.

I am amazed by the philanthropic spirit of so many Americans, which is enabling us to accomplish things I would have thought were completely impossible. No one sends us donations, but instead they want to give us their time, which is far more precious...

We are hoping to test drive a number of mini-lessons that can be readily integrated into existing curricula, and we plan to conduct webinars (and provide CEUs) soon. We dont have an expert in that area, so if anyone is interested...please contact me at [e-mail]

[Ken Schieffer]

Ken Schieffer from Bear, DE (outside Newark, DE near the University of Delaware). I am creating a collaboration network that SAP America will hopefully use for our customer/partner web collaborations. Although my role at SAP America is Education Principal, my background is actually in the classroom where I have been an SAP Financials platinum instructor for SAP Education in North America since 1997.

In my current role, I have responsibility for the success of our Financials curricula and to that end am actively pursuing a collaboration mechanism to help me align our education offerings with our customer learning requirements.

It is fantastic that I stumbled upon this group and hope to be a contributor to its success.