Thursday, October 25, 2007

Technology Impacting a Special Day



Hello. Thanks to the many people who have left comments congratulating us on the birth of our second daughter - Scarlet.

Our oldest daughter was born 4 years ago - before I knew what a blog was or had any concept of a podcast. I didn't even own a digital camera when Addison was born but after going through dozens of rolls of film in the months that followed her birth I did buy my first digital camera. Since I have always loved to take pictures, the digital camera purchase is what my wife often calls "the best buy we've ever made".

Today with the birth of Scarlet, technology is an even more transparent part of our lives. Our hospital room has wireless Internet in the room, with a faster connection than I get at most hotels by the way, so I was able to send out an e-mail telling hundreds of family and friends in minutes about our new addition. I also took the digital photos from the night she was born, uploaded them to Walgreens and in a half an hour had relatives in Texas, Wyoming and Nebraska holding photographs of the new baby they could take with them to work to show off their new granddaughter or great granddaughter.

I know this technology has been readily available for years but it really hit me this week with the birth of our new baby. I also wonder how technology will impact her life, her education and her lifestyle. And if she isn't allowed to use these advancements in technology in the classroom - why not?

Monday, October 22, 2007

A New Speaking of History Listener



Hello. We have a new Speaking of History listener - our second child was born tonight : Scarlet Jane Langhorst, 7 lbs 15 oz, 19.25" long. Mom and baby are doing great, dad is on cloud nine and taking lots of pictures. Wow, what a night.

Monday, October 15, 2007

2007 MITC Conference - MOREnet Instructional Technology Conference Presentations

Hello. I'm spending Sunday and Monday at Tan-Tar-A Resort and Spa in Osage Beach, Missouri at the 2007 MITC (MOREnet Instructional Technology Conference). It is a beautiful fall day here at the Lake of the Ozarks but there will be over 500 individuals networking, visiting and sharing ideas relating to education and technology. It looks like a great conference and I'm excited for it to start.

I'm sure I'll have a little time to relax over the next couple of days but I'll also be busy with 4 presentations. On Sunday afternoon I will be presenting a pre-conference workshop on podcasting and using Audacity for classroom use. Monday morning I'll be giving the keynote address - "Why My Classroom Is Web 2.0". Later on Monday morning I'll be presenting a breakout session entitled "What's On George Washington's i-Pod - Podcasting in the Classroom" and later Monday afternoon I'll do a presentation on our book blog project entitled "Hardtack to Hard Drives - The Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project".

I have made the presentations for these sessions available as PDF files for any session participants or interested readers of the blog. If you have any comments or suggestions please leave a comment on this blog entry or e-mail me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Missouri Teacher of the Year Blog

Hello. As readers to the blog discovered a couple of weeks ago, I have been very humbled to be named the 2007/2008 Missouri Teacher of the Year. The official banquet will not take place until November but some of the speaking engagements and events have started and I am keeping a Missouri Teacher of the Year Blog to help "scrapbook" the year. I will try to take pictures and include a little text of the special events that occur. I will be traveling to a variety of conferences and conventions in the next several months. Some of these events will also be added to the Speaking of History blog.


Last night, for example, the City Council of Liberty, Missouri gave a proclamation in my name and declared that October 9, 2007 is "Eric Langhorst Day" in Liberty. Wow - that is just crazy! It will be a fun year full of exciting events as I represent the great teachers of Missouri and you're welcome to check in via the blog.