I'm Networked, Now What?

(photo from langwitches Flickr photo stream, based on Alec Couros' "The Networked Teacher")


At the Missouri "Access FCCLA" Conference this week, teachers had the opportunity to attend "The Networked FCS Teacher" workshop. During this workshop teachers Debra Price, Susan Herbert, Tracey Newman, Stephanie Krupa and Krystle Gremaud demonstrated some of the technology tools they each use for both personal learning and classroom instruction.

At the risk of "information overload" I wanted to share with you two tools from the Richard Byrne, of the Free Technology for Teachers blog. Richard digs through hundreds of blog feeds to find the most useful web 2.0 tools for education.

He has recently released two guides that I think you will find very helpful - whether you are in the awareness stage of web 2.0 tools for education or whether you already implement these tools and are learning even more.

"Twelve Essentials for Technology Integration" - Richard reviews 12 tools for document and presentation creation, tools for communication with parents and students, colloborative project tools, and educational alternatives to YouTube.

In "Beyond Google" Richard explores 15 tools and strategies for better search results. If you've been frustrated with regular Google searches in the classroom, then this is the guide for you.

If you attended the workshop and are interested in using Twitter, you might be interested to know you can follow @rmbyrne @debraprice81 @hello_newman @shaybert - as well as @chollingsworth and @MoFCCLA. Also remember to check out Twitter4Teachers and the Missouri educators TweepML list (from @stevejmoore).

So what's next after this workshop? Choose something that was presented that day, and start learning more about it. Set a goal for yourself - it doesn't have to be a big, fancy, stress-inducing goal. Just choose ONE thing to learn about and go from there. Network with other teachers that are learning that same tool. I really think you'll be glad you did.

Another Excellent Conference!

Access FCCLA 2009 is now a memory! We had a great conference with speakers that motivated, entertained, and challenged all of us to be better family, career and community leaders.

Thanks not only to our members and advisors, but also to the following people who each had an important part in making this conference happen:

• Missouri FCCLA State Executive Council Members
• Missouri FCCLA State Executive Council Advisors
• Our professional speakers/trainers - Patty Hendrickson, Kent Butler, Ryan Underwood, Kelly Barnes, and Rhett Laubach
• Content speakers from Prevention Consultants, ThinkFirst!, and the Missouri Community Service Commission
• Advisors Debra Price, Susan Herbert, Tracey Newman, Stephanie Krupa and Krystle Gremaud who led "The Networked FCS Teacher" workshop
• Tan-Tar-A staff members
• DESE Staff, especially Jamie Iler for all of her hard work in preparing registration and supplies for the conference

Thanks for a great 2009 conference! We hope you enjoy this video recap -

Teens, Leadership, and Stupid Human Tricks?

Day 1 of Missouri FCCLA's fall leadership conference is history! This fall conference called "Access FCCLA" has gathered nearly 1500 members and advisors for 1-1/2 days of intense leadership training. The sessions are led by professional speakers/trainers and our own Missouri FCCLA State Executive Council members. Here's a recap of Day 1:

Rhett Laubach and Kelly Barnes from Your Next Speaker led new members in intense leadership lessons in the Take AIM (Active and Involved Members) conference. Rhett works with the new high school members while Kelly motivates the middle school members. Don't let all the fun in those sessions fool you, because Rhett and Kelly teach these members the real deal about leadership. Tonight was just the warm-up for more in depth training on Monday.

Over in the Leadership Unlimited sessions, TRI Leadership speakers Ryan Underwood and Kent Butler were in search of Elvis. Well, that's one of the activities they did while working with chapter and regional officers. These leaders are climbing the leadership ladder and will learn more about themselves, working with others and making FCCLA the best experience it can be. During the session tonight, members were encouraged to take a "media moment" and update their Facebook, Twitter or MySpace status with positive messages about being a leader in FCCLA.

In the Chapters in Action session, Patty Hendrickson led chapter teams as they began learning about FCCLA programs. Chapters teams are learning about Families Acting for Community Traffic Safety (FACTS), Families First, and Community Service. Guest speakers on Monday will give the teams more ideas to implement back in their local schools. Patty is an expert trainer and these chapter teams will put her leadership training and tips into action with FCCLA programs.

Advisors were busy tonight with their sharing sessions. With the theme "Stressed is Just Desserts Spelled Backwards" advisors shared best practices, tips for STAR Events, and other relevant sessions to meet the variety of FCCLA Advisor needs. Thanks advisors, for sharing your knowledge!

What about that "stupid human trick" you say? For your viewing enjoyment, here it is, courtesy of one Missouri FCCLA member:

And there you have it!

Are you smarter than.....

Are you smarter than other FCCLA members when it comes to Family and Consumer Sciences Knowledge? If you are of the competitive type, you might just be willing to test your knowledge in the new Family and Consumer Sciences Knowledge Bowl through FCCLA.

The Family and Consumer Sciences Knowledge Bowl online information has been updated and registration for Level 2 is now open. All chapters are eligible for the competition at Level 2 for 2009-2010 only. Next year chapters will have to qualify through an online testing system. Since this is new and open to everyone for this year only, it’s a great chance for chapters to find out what this competition is all about and learn more about Family and Consumer Sciences.

Here are the team requirements in brief:
· Must be made up of five (5) FCCLA members from the same chapter.
· All five team members must attend the same 2009 National Cluster Meeting.
· Each team must pay the $75 team registration fee (mailed or onsite).

All competitors will receive a certificate and badge ribbon. Fifteen teams will win eligibility to compete in the finals at the National Leadership Conference next July!

If you have questions, please email competitiveevents@fcclainc.org.

Alumni Feature - Where Are They Now?

This post was submitted by Levi Rash, Missouri Alumni & Associates State President.

FCCLA Alumni impact the organization even after membership in high school. Here’s a look at what one of our very own Missouri FCCLA Alumni has been up to lately!

Name: Jamie Lunsford, Class of 2003

FCCLA Chapter: Gallatin High School- Gallatin, Missouri

FCCLA Participation:

• 1998 to 2000-National Gold Medal Parliamentary Procedure Team
• 1999 to 2000-Chapter 2nd Vice President
• 2000 to 2001-Regional 2nd Vice President
• 2001 to 2002-State Vice President
• 2002 to 2003-National Vice President of Membership

Upon graduating from Gallatin High School, Jamie attended the University of Missouri-Columbia where she graduated from in 2007 with dual degrees in Finance and Communication.

While in college Jamie interned and worked for Christine Hollingsworth in the FCCLA office at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She also served as a Communications Intern for the Missouri Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan.

Currently, Jamie is working as a Consultant for Cerner Corporation in Kansas City, MO. Cerner is a medical information technology company, for which Jamie assists hospitals with the design and implementation of Cerner’s Surgery and Anesthesia Software. Jamie plans to continue working for Cerner, hopefully transitioning to a more advanced consulting position in the near future.

Today, she serves as President of the College of Business Recent Alumni Advisory Board for the University of Missouri, and as Vice President of Membership for the Kansas City Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. Jamie hopes to continue her involvement with these organizations as well.

Jamie’s Advice to FCCLA Members: “Get involved!! By attending workshops, participating in STAR Events, or serving as an officer you will be able to strengthen your leadership abilities all while having the opportunity to meet people from all across the region, state or even nation! The interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills you develop will continue to benefit you in whatever your future may hold. On countless occasions I have relied on the life skills I developed through my FCCLA involvement in order to accomplish my workplace responsibilities.”

Chapter Spotlight - South Shelby

This week's chapter spotlight was submitted by Caroline Kirby, National Vice President of STAR Events.


It's that time of year again for the South Shelby FCCLA Chapter. STAR Events Sign-Up Time!


This past week, members of the South Shelby FCCLA met for the October meeting to start our favorite part of FCCLA. In the Career and Family Leadership classes, I along with our advisor, explained to the new members what STAR Events is, all the categories, and the opportunities a member has by participating. The new members, as well as the old ones, were eager to participate in all 25 national events (and 7 state events), including the three new events for the 2009-2010 school year: Environmental Ambassador, Fashion Design, and Food Innovations.


STAR Events is a great way for members to get involved in the organization, develop skills they will use the rest of their lives, and experience opportunities for a lifetime! So get your chapter members motivated to complete a STAR Event, whether it's Applied Technology or Focus on Children - just get everyone involved in the Ultimate Leadership Experience!

FCCLA - are you ready to DIG IT! for CMN?

Each year Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Inc (FCCLA) establishes a National Outreach Project with a partner organization to reach out in their communities and help work towards a cause. This year, FCCLA, with Cause Creative Marketing, is sponsoring the "DIG IT!" campaign to benefit the Children's Miracle Network.

Each chapter should have already received the DIG IT! information from the national office. You may also go to the national FCCLA website for downloadable materials, letters, posters, and a lesson plan.

If you're coming to the Access FCCLA Conference this weekend at Tan-Tar-A (October 25-26) you'll be hearing more about the DIG IT! project. If you're not coming to the Access Conference, please be sure to ask your chapter advisor about this project.

FCCLA is excited to have two celebrity spokespersons for this project - Simon Curtis of Nickelodeon's Spectacular and Monti Montanez, from the group Menudo. Watch Monti's video "My Dreams" made just for CMN.

Opportunity Costs and Social Media

This week I was fortunate to attend a half-day workshop at the University of Missouri-Columbia "Social Media Summit 09." This was a good opportunity for me to learn more about the marketing aspect of social media, as well as the management of tools that I already use, such as this blog, Twitter and Facebook. I don't have a background in marketing or communications, so this was a chance to expand beyond my self-taught knowledge. As educators, we know we're supposed to "market" our programs and FCCLA chapters, but not many of us really know what that means beyond a press release, nor do we know concepts such as ROI (return on investment) or strategies to reach targeted markets.

In this session, Brad Ward from Blue Fuego (Chief Explosion Officer!) used Prezi to share his expertise on social media (you can view his presentation material here) and I learned some good tips about managing the Missouri FCCLA Facebook page. With nearly 14,000 members each year in Missouri FCCLA, we need to better utilize this tool to build a stronger community within our organization. There is even more potential when we begin linking together other social networks such as MySpace and Twitter to build this larger community. It's very exciting to think about these possibilities and what it can mean to current members, advisor, alumni, and supporters.

Also presenting that day was Liz Allen from Caltech Alumni Association. Her presentation was one of reality - how do we manage all of this? For my FCCLA colleagues, classroom teachers, and others who are "it" when it comes to the marketing management of their program, this is a huge issue. Time - and the lack of it. I liked how Ms. Allen tackled the myths of social media: 1) you can control the conversation; 2) it's inexpensive; 3) it's fast; 4) it's hard; 5) you don't need a website if you're using social media; and 6) it's difficult to measure. You can access the PDF of her presentation here.

During Ms. Allen's presentation, I had an "aha" light-bulb kind of moment. The term "opportunity cost" came on the screen and I was immediately taken back to resource management discussions about choices and decisions. If I choose to participate in social media (and all that it means if I'm doing a decent job with it) then I have chosen to not participate in something else. The time it takes for me to write this blog post means that I am missing the opportunity to do another task. I have to determine if that missed opportunity outweighs, or doesn't, the professional and personal potential of this post.

Over the past 18 months or so, I've immersed myself in social media through participation in Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds and blogging. The time I've spent doing these things has taken away from other parts of my day - and night. For me, has this opportunity cost been worth it? Without a doubt, the answer is YES. I may have missed watching some television, and perhaps I have developed the habit of reviewing my Twitter feed on my iPhone before I fall asleep, but I have learned more about myself and the world in which I live. I believe my participation in social media - and what I've learned, especially through my Twitter PLN - has energized me as a professional. I think about things differently than I did before. I value even more the relationships and time I have with my family. I am humbled by the enormity of what I don't know - but that I have a network of professionals that are willing to teach me. I continue to learn, to think so hard it sometimes hurts, and to grow.

What about the opportunity cost of not participating in social media and networking? That means turning my back on the possibilities of educating others about some remarkable teachers and teenagers, the value of the only in-school student organization that focuses on the family, and the importance of family and consumer sciences education. That would truly be a missed opportunity. It's not really a choice, is it? This is a responsibility.

The duties of "social media community manager" may not be in my current job description, but they are surely a part of what I do. And it's up to me to figure out the best way to handle this in my professional and personal life. I'm still working on it.

Chapter Spotlight - Chillicothe FCCLA

How is your FCCLA chapter like a sports team? Is it?

This year Chillicothe FCCLA, is working on our FCCLA team. As a team we have team leaders, a.k.a officers, and team players, a.k.a all members. As a team we are practicing together in our family and consumer sciences classes and during chapter meetings. The team leaders are paired together and assigned members to mentor. As leaders we understand our responsibility to encourage and that is what we feel will really help membership this year. When people are encouraged they are much more likely to succeed, and that is exactly what our chapter is trying to achieve. With goals set high to help reach our regional project goal, state project goal, and national project goal we are ready for a great year full of FCCLA opportunities!

How has your FCCLA team pulled together this year? Feel free to take a page from our playbook and use it to improve your own chapter's chances of team success.

This post was submitted by Catherine Tipton, 2009-10 Missouri FCCLA National Officer Candidate

When Project Plans Change...

This post was submitted by Sherise Coffey, Region 5 State Vice President.


Have you ever had the best idea seem to unravel in front of you?





As the Hermann High FCCLA chapter started the year we were excited to join in the effort of our regional outreach project for the American Cancer Society. But as we began plans for a community-involved luminary ceremony at our Homecoming football game, we quickly developed great concern about how the community would receive this project.

As a community, Hermann had decided to start their own charity campaign called "Crusade Against Cancer." By starting "Crusade Against Cancer" the proceeds were guaranteed to go back to helping the people in our community.

After gathering more information on both causes, we felt that it would be inappropriate to hold a community fundraiser that would not fully be supported by the community. So, we decided to contribute our efforts to both causes. As a chapter, we decided to have the community events contribute to Crusade Against Cancer, but we came up with several other school-based charity projects, such as a hat day, with proceeds to be donated to the American Cancer Society.

For our chapter this was a learning opportunity and problem solving practice. What started as a bump in the road, ended being twice the charitable effort for two very worthy causes. So as your chapters run into set backs or problems, challenge yourself to work together and determine how it can become a positive attribute to your project!

Fashion, Science, and Technology

I've written before about science and fashion design, and I couldn't resist writing about it again today. If you follow Diana Eng's Fashion Nerd blog, you know she launched a new project called "Fairytale Fashion." Sounds like fluff at first...but watch her first fashion design challenge/question video and you'll see it's anything but. Know anything about biomimetic deployable structures? Well, I didn't - I'm going to guess most of your students don't either.

What a great way to get students really thinking - I hope if you teach fashion constuction or design, you might have students participate in her ongoing project. The project takes place through December 2009.

I've embedded the video from her blog here, but you can also visit her site "Fairytale Fashion: using technology to turn make-believe into reality"




Invite your science, math, or technology education teacher to view the site too. She has a list of upcoming episodes posted including topics such as deployable structures, electric fashion, and thermochromatic ink and conductive thread. You might just be able to do some really great team-teaching and sharing.

Students who are interested in this type of design could turn that interest into a really different Illustrated Talk, Recycle & Redesign, Fashion Construction, or Fashion Design competitive STAR Events project.

USA Training - Day 3

This post was submitted by Catherine Tipton, one of Missouri FCCLA's 2009-10 national officer candidates. She is with the group of FCCLA officers attending the USA Training Phase II Capitol Leadership program in Washington, D.C.

Being in Washington, D.C., has been exciting but also exhausting! This morning our group didn't think we would be able to be energized, but after a few classic "Cupid Shuffle" and "Jump on It" dances, we were ready to hear guest speaker Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Two quotes from her that made me think were "knowledge is power" and "find a passion...educate yourself."

Not only are these quotes extremely applicable to everyday life, but to FCCLA directly. As officers, we are aware that we should try our best to represent and be knowledgeable about this great organization. We take great pride in that and embrace our responsibilities.

Today we have focused on goals. We set 100 goals in different areas of our life. FCCLA is one of them, of course! A question I was faced with that I would like answered with your help is...How could I become more visible in our state? Better yet, how can the state officers become more visible in our state? How can officers make themselves more accessible to members for advice and encouragement?

Thank you again for this great opportunity and privilege of being on the 2009-2010 SEC!

USA Leadership Training - Day 2

This post was submitted by Nicole Terry, Missouri FCCLA State President, who is attending the USA Training, Phase II Capitol Leadership in Washington, D.C.

Hello, this is Nicole Terry, State President, blogging from FCCLA's USA Leadership Training in Washington, D.C. It's been an amazing training so far - yesterday we practiced our advocacy skills and visited Capitol Hill. The capitol and surrounding area was flooded with the red FCCLA blazers! The FCCLA members were visiting legislators in support of FCCLA, family and consumer sciences, and career and technical education.

As a group Missouri FCCLA was joined by Trenton Brock, our National 1st Vice President from South Carolina, as well as our own Caroline Kirby, National Vice President of STAR Events. Together we visited with Congressman Roy Blunt, Senator Claire McCaskill, Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (seen in the photo) and the staff of Senator Christopher Bond and Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson. They seemed eager to speak with us and learn more about our organization. We also had a guided tour of the capitol and sat in on the House of Representatives chamber. We had a fun day learning about our government and were exhausted by the end of the visits. Thursday evening we enjoyed a night tour of Washington, D.C.

Our sessions wrap up on Saturday, October 3.

I would encourage any chapter officers to take advantage of this leadership opportunity if you get the chance.

USA Training - Day 1

This post was submitted by JaLee Gooch, Region 4 State Vice President, who is attending the Ultimate State Officer Academy - Phase II Capitol Leadership program in Washington, D.C.

Hello Missouri FCCLA! How early did you get up on Wednesday morning? Some of us got up as early as 3 a.m. to get to the airport to catch our flights into Washington, D.C. for the Capitol Leadership Phase II of the USA Training program. After we got settled into the hotel we headed to our first meeting at the Ronald Reagan Building. We got rained on on our way there!

Once at the meeting, we spent our afternoon with state officers from all over the country. We played "Captain's Coming" and lots of other fun energizers with all the state officers. You don't know those energizers? Don't worry, you will get to enjoy them too at our upcoming fall Access FCCLA conference and spring state leadership conference! TRI Leadership Resources is putting on an awesome meeting for us! We're learning more about our officer skills, promoting FCCLA, team development, membership, and communication.

Thanks Missouri FCCLA for giving us this opportunity to be here and to bring these skills back to our state, regions, and local chapters.

New Membership Pin Revealed

Each year, every member of Missouri FCCLA receives a Missouri FCCLA Member pin. The following design is the 11th in the series (who would have ever thought we'd have a series of pins?)

The pins are mailed to the chapter advisors after affiliation is received at the state office. The pins are currently in production and we should be recieving them by the end of October - hopefully we will have pins to give out at the Access FCCLA Conference.

Without further delay....here's the 2009-2010 design! Interested in seeing the previous 10 designs?