I've been on this educational technology adventure for years now and I've realized that there are some pretty amazing schools and districts out there, not to mention amazing educators. It seems to me, some schools and districts are moving forward much more quickly than others. Some are quick to adapt to new technologies and some are much slower. Are leadership and funding the critical factors in determining the direction schools and districts take with how fast they move with technology? Are there others?


Is your school/district one who has a "Let's go for it and see what happens" mentality? I think it would be very fun to be working in an environment where new ideas were given the green light. I realize we're teaching in a world of No Child Left Behind where schools are judged by test scores, where funding levels aren't where we'd like them to be, where professional development may not always be up to us, but why aren't teachers given the opportunity to try something new? Why can't we experiment a little?


Or, is your school or district taking a very cautious approach? If they are, why? Is the time we have with students too valuable to "waste" on something that isn't research based? Are we risking valuable book time with students on topics directly related to "the test?" Is there simply fear with what could go wrong? How will this mentality change in a school or district? Can it happen quickly or do you think it must happen slowly? I'm not sure I have the answers.



Photo Credits: http://flickr.com/photos/alexajaye/2256556628 and http://flickr.com/photos/iirraa/93216696/

I'm getting overwhelmed. I'm finding so many outstanding blogs that I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start. There are tons of teaching blogs out there and tons of Ed. Tech blogs that I'm really starting to enjoy. However, I'm finding out this world is much bigger than I imagined. My bookmarks on del.icio.us are growing by the minute. The list is still very small compared to what's out there, but I guess I better start small - there's only 24 hours in the day.

I have to start narrowing down my interests. There's so much I want to learn more about - RSS feeds, Google Reader, Twitter, Ning, and others. I haven't even touched wikis yet. I'm using Bloglines - and I find it very useful. I'm in the very early learning stages of Twitter, recently signing up. I have no idea, at this point, how it works. If you have an idea, let me know. Look me up or something - if that's possible. I'm pretty sure my user name is imcguy. Should I learn more about this before moving on to something else?

Should I focus more on my blogging and less on other Web 2.0 tools? Should I focus more on reading the good stuff that's out there commenting on it rather than worry about how many people will comment on my blog? I'm upset when I don't get any comments - should I even care? Should I continue learning more about del.icio.us and how to share my bookmarks? What tool should my students start using? What would they benefit from first? So many questions.

This learning environment is huge. There is no way I could get this information from the teachers in my building, my department, or even my district. This is truly incredible. Now, how can it benefit the kids? How can I get classroom teachers to see the value of this? How can this increase test scores - or can it? While we need to prepare students for a future that most likely doesn't exist yet, how can we teach these skills when there is so much focus on getting our students to be proficient learners. These tech skills will help them as they get older, but I'm not sure how they will get kids to pass the test now!