Professional Development Meme

I've been tagged! Normally the introverted rebel in me tends to ignore these Meme challenges, but I couldn't let this one go unanswered. Why? First, because this challenge comes from well respected colleague and friend Jen Wagner (who I know will check up on me to make sure I do it.) Second, it forces me to practice what I preach. Lately I've been leading a lot of professional development to prepare our middle school teachers for our 1 to 1 program which starts with 6th grade this Fall. I've been having them do a lot of project planning and goal setting. This is a good way to keep me accountable to do the same. So here goes...

Section 1: The Obligatory Posting of the Meme Rules

1. Pick 3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/01/08).
3. Post the above directions along with your 3 goals on your blog.
4. Title your post Professional Development Meme and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/353.
5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme.
6. Tag 8 others to participate in the meme.
7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

Section 2: My Goals

1. Learn how to work with SQL Queries. Our Angel VLE is built on SQL tables. Knowing how to find and manipulate data with this powerful tool will make my life significantly easier.
2. Take one new idea from both NECC and the Discovery National Institute and make a plan to implement it sometime this school year.
3. 2:14 it! Putting a Tablet PC in the hands of every 6th grader poses some significant new challenges this summer. My final goal is to keep a positive attitude and "Do everything without grumbling or complaining." (Philippians 2:14).

Section 3: Tag! You're It!
If you see your name below, you know what to do.

1. Bridget Belardi
2. Rob Jacklin
3. Genny Kahlweiss
4. Alan Lutz
5. Jonathon Orr
6. Martha Thornburgh
7. Tom Turner
8. Trevor VanBlarcom (Maybe this will encourage you to start your own blog. You KNOW you want to.)