Hi. Not so long ago I was sitting in a Language Arts staff development meeting for middle school teachers. It was your usual fare of inspiring conversations, gripe sessions, silly activities, meaningful information, and about 4 hours of wasted time. However, during one of the group discussions, the district’s Language Arts Coach said the following: (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Our students have a strong foundation in digital literacy; we teachers have a strong foundation in print literacy. It is our job to defend the printed word and keep it alive.” Her comment put a stark under me. However, it was probably not the spark she intended. It is true, our students are growing up in a digital dominant world, but what is tragic is the fact that too many schools are resisting this change instead of embracing it. As time lapsed (i.e. the car ride home) her comment bothered me more and more. I felt that her comment and the validating head nods she received are the problem, not the kids that love cell phones. Our students have been born into a digital age. They are the children of the MP3, the DVR, the DVD, the cell phone, and video on-demand. Yet, most of our schools and lessons mirror technology that pre-dates the age of instant information and wireless communication. We are continuing to teach children through mediums and approaches that existed when I went to school and tend to villainize or discourage the use of technology in the classroom (I’m speaking more toward the inclusion of mobile devices, video games, Wikipedia, social networking, etc. and not computers or interactive white boards and such – it’s true teachers love their PowerPoint and MS Word). Additionally, we are doing very little to educate children about the digital tools they have at their fingertips. Instead, we lumber on as dinosaurs down the same worn road ignoring the digital asteroids that are hitting all around us.
Since that day, I’ve been tracking a handful of educational blogs that focus on the use of technology in the classroom and/or the sharing of new, inventive ideas. I have also been trying to focus my thoughts and theories about education in some form of meaningful writing. Lastly, I have been trying to do a better job with implementing technology in the classroom and educating students how to take advantage of the digital tools at their disposal.
So, I started this blog. I hope for it to be helpful. I hope to do all I say I will.
My hopes include: posting thoughts and reflections about education, various online/digital/print resources, book reviews, new technologies, and much more. My goal is to keep the ranting to a minimum and focus on methods to pull us out of the dark. My fingers are crossed.
But first, a little bit about me. I have been teaching for 8 years at a middle school in the southern United States. Currently, I work with the Language Arts teachers, advance content teachers, and gifted students for grades 6-8.
Till then, welcome and thanks for reading.
