About Me

My name is Mark Ahlness, and I've been a teacher now for 31 years - in public schools. This blog began as a place for me to share my thoughts about the integration of technology and web 2.0 tools in the classroom. It's been quiet here lately, mostly on account of my concern with the edreform movement in the US. During the last couple of years my voice has moved from here to Facebook, to Twitter, and right now into the new horizons opening up with Google+. I read a lot online, focused through 188 rss feeds. Add the few hundred I follow in Twitter, and it's a lot of information to digest, but I do my best.

Throw in trying to learn the banjo, and well there's just not enough time in the day.


Home for the past 38 years has been Seattle. I absolutely love it here, and I have no interest in returning to the places of my childhood - MN, SD, ND, and CT. Seattle is a unique little bubble that fits me just right.



Update, June 26, 2012: I am now officially retired. 

I teach third grade at Arbor Heights Elementary School, where I've been lucky enough to have the same job for the last 20 years - yes, you read that right. My third graders are bloggers here. I'm married and have a couple of cats. Oh, I ride my bike to school every day. Just to round out my existence I grow five varieties of hops in our back yard.


On these About pages I used to go into the stories of my innovative time in the edtech field, but that just doesn't seem so important these days. Here's a page that will give you a feel for that time (I really need to update it). 


Drop me an email, or follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, delicious, or Flickr


All the best, and thank goodness for the kids.