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Wading through the Waters

I am a little boggled by my initial forays onto Twitter. I have an account. I'm following 24 people, mostly educators. I read what they write- they post seemingly constantly. They write that they are leaving for the airport, about to go shopping, grading their students' papers. A few of them are "following" me although I'm not really posting anything but replies occasionally to other people's postings. Somehow, when I sit down to type in a little 140 character glimpse into what I'm doing or thinking, it doesn't seem like anything worth writing. Why would anyone care? These people don't know me - so why tell them what I'm doing?
I don't mean to seem like an introvert. Most people would not describe me that way. In fact, there are few things I like more than a good conversation. But I'm not sure I really get this need to tell everyone everything you're doing. Doesn't it take you out of the moment you are in? I thought I'd "tweet" about the inaugural address as I was listening to it - but then realized that I couldn't - and didn't want to separate my attention into the little compartments I would need to in order to do several things at once. A sign of my Digital Immigrant status?

I know that you have to invest yourself in any relationship in order to move it forward. But it seems like chipping away at a block of granite with a toothpick to try to get to know people by typing one sentence every once in a while. Perhaps that will change if I just lead with the behavior to see where it takes me. I'm not going to give up on it yet.

Certainly, I see the benefit of the forums and discussion boards developing on the Philadelphia Archdiocese elementary school teachers Ning site. Those posts are directly work related. I love to share ideas and talk about teaching related stuff. It's the general, three million different topics at once approach of Twitter that I find so hard to understand.

Hmmm... what shall I tweet now? ... heading out the door to go driving with my seventeen year old son..... (are you fascinated yet?) Stay tuned for later on when I wash the dishes and change into sweatpants!

I think my school (SSJ)is ready to start using Moodle. Maybe we could start sharing info on this topic? Share your tips if you are more established users? Point out any mistakes to avoid as you start out? I'm planning to use Classroom Revolution as the hosting entity. Melissa Dow recommended them and their website looks impressive. Here is the link to their site if anyone wants to check it out. http://classroomrevolution.com/

New Year's Resolution

Okay. I'm just back from a really fun and stimulating weekend at the Technology in Education Conference hosted by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. I am all at once inspired and daunted by the many new avenues for communicating that were presented at the conference. I've sort of had a toe in the water of 2.0 apps with my facebook account. But that was really started just as a way to stay connected with my kids. I figured if it was part of their world, then I'd like to be a part of it too.

It wasn't until this weekend that I started to really see the potential of networking for my own learning. As for blogging - I remember about a year ago when I thought I was ready to start and I set this up. As you can see by the date of the previous post- a LONG time went by without adding to it. I don't think I realized the reach or potential of the whole blogging phenomenon. And yes, I do feel a little like I'm talking to myself - since no one is really looking at this for its content - yet. But perhaps over time, it may develop into something more than just random musings for my own benefit. For the moment, I'll use it like an online journal and leave it at that. If there are others in the blogo-sphere that begin to read it, then that would be really cool - but if not, I'm sure there will be other benefits to my "thinking out loud" in type.

So, what is the resolution? Devote at least an hour a week to developing my online networks. I'll try to add to this blog about the ways that technology is informing, transforming, and hopefully improving my teaching. And hopefully, learn to drink from the firehose of information and clear the data cloud until I achieve "balance" - whatever that is!

RVS USERS UNITE!

I've been thinking about the fact that more and more schools and teachers are using the RVS software programs, School Tools and Gradebook. This growing number of professionals should be pooling their knowledge and expertise in a more organized way - and so the RVS User Group has been created. Please read, comment and add any posts that interest you. Feel free to post questions. It costs nothing to become a "member" of the group and the potential gain is enormous! Let's share our questions, hints, shortcuts, and suggestions so that we can all work more efficiently!

This Is Where it Gets Exciting!

I've decided to begin this blog to explore the impact that technology has on my work in the classroom. Although the real energy of teaching definitely comes from interactions between people (student-to-student, teacher-to-student, colleague-to-colleague,) I am constantly amazed at the power of technology to transform those interactions. In the last 6 years, almost every aspect of my career has evolved, leading me into a new way of teaching that is inextricably meshed with technology.

Electronic communication, interactive Internet resources, classroom hardware, and management software programs have turned what used to be the fairly constant, somewhat static, insular world of the classroom into an ever-changing, open-ended window to the world at large. Teachers and students are connecting with each other and with information in ways impossible only a short time ago. For me, technology has amplified the wonderfully enriching experience of connecting to people, which is what drew me into the field of education in the first place!