After reading the Edudemic article about 10 skills a modern teacher must have, I must say I feel like a dinosaur. There seems to be way too many options with technology to try and figure out what is best to use with my classroom.
My head spins when I read the words Blogs, Glogs, Google+, Learnist, Digg, , , I feel like I can barely "Tweet" correctly, although I now have 117 tweets to my name instead of the 4 I had a month or so ago - so there is progress. I also must admit to participating in a first twitter chat over spring break... I can honestly say I wouldn't have thought I would have done it except the question intrigued me - it was about Blogging of all things!
I agree that we need to surround ourselves with people who have the resources we need and are willing to share their knowledge and successes and failures with those of us just starting to test the waters of the vast technology ocean.
I also appreciate the comment about using only what you think will work in your classroom and if you don't see a purpose in 15 seconds (note it may take me a full minute) then pass it by. If only the latest and greatest would slow down for just a minute to let me think about how I might use it - my mind clearly isn't as fast as it once was.
Self admittedly, the biggest hurdle I face is the fear of failure. I know the adage "If at first you don't succeed try, try again." But when all the technology seems to be flying at and around me it is overwhelming and I want to succeed.
I may not be the modernist teacher, but I will carefully look, listen and observe my fellow teachers who are embracing it all; try to implement a couple of new technology ideas when they seem to fit and maybe when they don't and hope that I learn along with my class.
Now to figure out how to delete the first blog post I had for this blog - as in retrospect it seems way out of place.
Great post Jane! Even as a "younger" teacher I was also afraid of failure at one point too. However, I have learned (with the support of many other teachers) that failure is okay. Repeated failure should be a concern, but when we are trying something new we need to be open to the idea that it might not work. We shouldn't expect it to fail, but we shouldn't be completely discouraged if it does. Showing our students that we shouldn't be afraid of trying something new is one of the best lessons we can teach them. Great job!
ReplyDeleteJane- I like your post. I share some of the same feelings as you do with trying to tweet correctly and stay up to date with the latest gadgets and devices that could be used in the classroom. I agree with you that it is extremely important to surround yourself with knowledgeable people who are willing to help and step outside the box. I feel we are fortunate to have many of them who work in our district as well as our building. I look forward to learning together with you.
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