Reason #321 I will probably not pursue a PhD in my lifetime. I struggle with academic writing. I spend hours writing paragraphs. I come up with what I think are great ideas, but then fight to clearly articulate them. In the end I am usually satisfied, but for me that process is deadly.

Anyway, I have been slaving over the article I am writing with one of my former MA professors on knowledge management for teachers. After looking at everyone's comments from a couple posts ago (Thanks, they were very helpful!) and reading some of the popular and academic literature available, I have developed the following criteria for a knowledge management system. (Numbers 1-6 are for a personal system and 7-10 are necessary for a collaborative system).

A KMS must have

1. The ability to store multiple types of resources.
2. The ability to easily revise descriptions and artifacts in addition to storing multiple versions of a specific artifact.
3. The ability to add annotations and comments beyond the descriptions.
4. The ability to categorize and tag all entries.
5. A simple interface to input and upload information.
6. A simple interface to search by category and tag.
7. Individual logins for each participant.
8. Safeguards so artifacts aren’t mistakenly deleted by another user.
9. The ability for participants to comment and annotate artifacts from different users.
10. The ability for participants to track recent additions and changes.

I'm feeling pretty good about this (and have spent way too much time on it), but, if you are a teacher and you have a suggestion or comment, please leave it. We are working on a final draft this week.

Unfortunately this article is only a discussion of ideas with a couple possible solutions. There is no silver bullet for teachers out there. I've looked at the most popular content management systems and it doesn't seem like they could be easily adapted. The best solution I can come up with is a blog. WordPress or Moveable Type (personal license is free, but if you want more then one author you have to pay) fit the list of criteria nicely. I would love to build my own system from scratch, but, unfortunately, I am only a geek - not a supergeek programming guy. Anybody know a guy (or gal) who is and has extra time on their hands? It could be a great project, there is probably demand, from what I understand, there are a few teachers out there.

Once this article is done, I can start working again on my NECC presentation. They placed me in an insanely big room. So please come if interested, there will no doubt be seats!

The 2005-06 school year: 180 teaching days, three major anti-district rallies, an 11th hour deal to avoid a strike, the completion of my masters degree, the diagnosis of my son with celiac disease, four sections of AP World History, and one out-of-control section of CP World History. It has been quite a year.

I usually have two types of emotions at the end of the school year. Either I am totally done and want out or I am sad because I am so comfortable with my classes, I don't want to start over. This year is different; I'm satisfied with the end of the school. The time is right for it to be over.

I have no more looming graduate classes (as much as I loved the program, it added a certain amount of stress to my life). Teaching AP World History was an incredible challenge and I look forward to going through it again. Building upon what I started and making it even better. Next year, I will teach more then one section of college prep, which will make my investment in that class greater. That class felt very stale to me this year, I will be doing some major reinventing next year.

My students this year were great. They challenged me. I worked harder for this class, because I felt I owed it to them. I only wish I could have done more. The dynamic in each of the AP classes brought out the best in me and, I think, them. I won't say I was burnt out, but I am refreshed.

When I said my parting words to them on Wednesday and Thursday, I was not emotional. We were done. We had a good run. But it is time for them to move on. To other AP classes, other challenges. I told them thank you, they returned the gesture. In two years, I will gladly shake their hands or give them a hug as they graduate and go on to do something else.

If you are a teacher and haven't commented on the post below, please do! How do you organize all your teacher stuff? What works? What hasn't worked? I'll be summarizing the results next week.

Just working on a number of different projects and getting ready for the end of the year. I'm doing the Holocaust Wiki Project again, putting EconEd into Joomla, and working on another web site.

Only four more days with students!