Trying to get back into the blog groove. It have been a busy summer...Teaching American History for two weeks, Talent 21 training with IDE at school, and last but not least writing curriculum for Talent 21.
Using technology has been troubling. Google Docs and Sites doesn't save changes, or accidentally gets erased. How will our students handle this? Well isn't it a life lesson? Always back things up. Thankfully those of us working on curriculum had saved somethings onto a Word doc, but its definitely challenging. Especially to those who are not tech savvy. One problem and boom, they shut down (Just like the kids!).
Everyone seems to keep forgetting that this is a learning process, a journey, not a race. We have to go through these pot holes to end at our destination. Now at least I know what to say to the kids when they are working and things get lost. Attitudes are also an issue, people lose site of the outcome and the positive. I feel like a cheerleader most days reminding people to keep their eyes on the prize! Teachers, I know were overwork, bogged down by paperwork, and give away free time too often, but remember what makes you awesome, the positive affect you have on your students.
We are charting new waters here, just like Columbus, we might think that we're headed to Asia, but land in America. Is that so bad?? If you Google ,Problem Based Learning or Technology Integration, tons of information will come up, but not much, especially cross curricular, that actually shows you how to put these things into practice in your classroom, let alone school wide. We have the opportunity to create something new here. Thematically, we have already decided on "Going Green", but it's up to the students to decide how to go about it. We, as teachers, will ultimately decide how technology will enable them to do this. If your not comfortable with Web 2.0, yes you should start trying to be, but this doesn't mean that you have to be creating Wikis or blogging about every lesson and unit in your classroom. Pick one that you think really lends itself to technology. My first unit on primary sources and map skills does so, so I decided to embrace it and embark on a journey with my students. I have learned many skills, but am prepared to learn many more at the hands of my 6th graders. Will next year be easier? Yes. Will next year be different because by then who knows it could be Web 3.0? Probably. But times are a changing and if we don't choose a path, we may just be left behind.
