SchoolMatters Weblog

NSBA 2006 Blogs Panel

Blogs: The Community Engagement Tool for the 21st Century
NSBA Annual Conference, April 9, 2006

If you are interested in my two-page handout from the NSBA blogs panel, you can find it here:
http://www.wheeleronboard.com/docs/NSBA2006-blogs-wheeler.pdf

Links in that document

• Brian Wheeler’s Internet sites
  • http://www.wheeleronboard.com (constituent website)
  • http://listserv.bnsi.net/mailman/listinfo/schoolmatters (constituent e-mail list)
  • http://schoolmatters.typepad.com (blog)
  • http://www.albemarlematters.com (a network of school-based e-mail newsletters)
• Technorati can help you find the blogs: http://www.technorati.com/blogs/
• My RSS feed: http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/index.rdf
• NSBA Boardbuzz feed: http://boardbuzz.nsba.org/index.rdf
• Blog authoring software: TypePad http://www.typepad.com
• RSS reader: Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com
• Listserv or e-mail mailing list software: Yahoo! Groups http://groups.yahoo.com/
• Albemarle County Public Schools Policy BG: Board-Staff Communications: http://www.k12albemarle.org/Board/Policies/BG_0405.pdf
• A primer on RSS feeds: http://waldo.jaquith.org/blog/2006/01/rss-intro/

Brian Wheeler

School Boards need Professional Development Too

I am writing today from Chicago, IL where I am participating in my second National School Boards Association (NSBA) national conference.  School board members need professional development too!  We have been giving a lot of attention and support in Albemarle County to professional development for our staff. I think school boards need to practice what they preach and assess best practices from all over the country, just as we expect our instructional leaders to do. 

I came back from last year's conference full of ideas about health education, the arts, and getting students on the school board.  Those workshops last year had a tremendous impact on my school board work.  I expect this conference to be just as valuable.

This year I am also at NSBA as a presenter and blogger.  I was invited to participate on panel called "Blogs: The Community Engagement Tool for the 21st Century."  I also volunteered to take my laptop and camera around the conference and report on various workshops and events.  The NSBA conference blog is here and I just posted a summary of my first morning workshop related to student participation on school boards.

Brian Wheeler