Summer Summer Sometime

So, this summer - the summer after my first year teaching - has been mighty interesting so far. Unfortunately, I feel like I have been slacking big time as far as my school work is concern. Maybe its because I do not have too much to do, or maybe its because I am enjoying the city too much.

This week my goal is to really start working on my plans for next year. As far as technology in the classroom is concern, I plan to make a serious effort to infuse technology in to the teaching of many traditional ELA concepts. I want my students to to be comfortable with all new technological advances, yet I cannot focus on teaching the technology. This could present a small challenge. However, if I stop being so lazy I know I can make it work!

This is my major dilemma: how do I fill all this time?? I want to do so many different things that I end up doing nothing! From here on out, I am going to focus on small tasks and get back into the swing of things. I will let you know how it goes.

The End? The Beginning?

Well, it is officially the end of our class, but I believe that it is also the beginning of a new chapter in my attempt to educate young minds. Many people know that we have been working with educators from across the world; I am extremely excited to get my students involved with this collaboration next year. I am thinking quite a bit about "where" we will be. I am curios where will be in our materials, but also where in the world we will be working with other students.

I have been seriously considering the possibility of creating an online learning community in the school. What I mean by this is creating a series of blog, websites, and online social networks that ALL junior teachers will manage. This will help to relate all the subjects that the students are being taught to each other. Its just a thought still; we shall see what happens.

Now what is really on my mind the most: where to go from here? It is important for ALL of us to remember that we can't simply forget everything we have learned during our first two class of Stockton's MAIT program. I can't help but think of Robert Frost's famous words, "Two roads diverged in a wood...And that has made all the difference." Hopefully, our roads will make a difference for our students....

The Importance of Connectivity

I'll start this week off by discussing the major change in my daily life: my move to Philadelphia. Despite the heat, the move went very well. Amy and I got everything in to the new place in just over two days - we felt like that was good time. However, it was not until after we were all moved in that I began to realize the importance of connectivity.

It is no secret that the internet has been an integral part of my life, especially my adult life. Sometimes, I realize now, that I take the ability to connect, create, and work with others through the touch of a button for granted, big time. That was never more apparent to me until this weekend, when Amy and I had NO INTERNET! I had forgotten what it was like to have to wait to talk to friends, get updates, and even get work done. It is amazing how important the role that the internet plays in my daily life, and, it got me thinking about the future. Scary thoughts!

Not only was the lack of the internet an interesting update this week, but I also have made major break throughs with our Siberian contact, Ekat. I heard from her on Monday morning; she is going to evaluate our Digital Stories AND possibly skype with our class on June 17th. This was a major breakthrough as far as I was concerned. It really is amazing how connected the world educators can be. This was an amazing break through for me. I hope am really hoping that we all get to experience working with and talking to educators from Siberia!! I will keep you posted on how it goes!!

One more note about connectivity: this whole idea of Video Conferencing is completely new to me and I could not be more interested in it. I have been researching different tools to maximize the overall outcome of a technologically induced video conference, and the three best tools that I have found so far are skype, tokbox, and oovoo. I suggest you check out all three, they all have different positives and negatives. Well, on second thought, isn't the point of technology to make things easier? Maybe I will post a video comparison of the three for next week.

Until then.... do svidaniya? Peace!