The only time I have time for blogging any more is when I am driving on a highway, flying on a plane, or riding on a bus. I just started a new teaching position as a gifted and talented specialist and I feel as if I haven’t got a clue what I am doing. I think everyone should feel like that once in a while because I believe that is when real learning occurs.

My last post was about microblogging in the classroom and my students have been doing just that during this quarter of school. We are using a tool called Shout.em which is very similar to Edmodo. Some of the kids really “get” microblogging and are asking questions, sharing information, making connections, and getting to know one another in a new way. Other students are not sure and some see it as a big waste of time. There is an old saying that goes something like this:
“Contempt prior to investigation will lead a man to everlasting ignorance.”
This attitude seems pervasive with people who do not see the purpose behind the connected learning applications like shout em, moodlechat, Quest Atlantis, Second Life, Reaction Grid, etherpad, etc. can provide. I am finding that the students who investigate with an open mind, in most cases, find the purpose behind connected, anywhere, anytime learning applications and begin utilizing them to enhance their own learning. When email, fax machines, telephones, automobiles, nose hair trimmers, and toasters were first introduced many people didn’t see their purpose either…until they decided to investigate them with an open mind.
have made over the past year…on-line…are some of the best
A guy named Fred (not his real name) from India remotely helped me get my Hewlett-Packard computer fixed earlier this week. I gave him the controls to my computer and we had quite an interesting conversation as he fiddled with my kitchen desktop from thousands of miles away. I am a question-asker when something is intriguing to me as any
I asked him what school was like for him when he was younger and he shared that there is a tremendous amount of respect for both education and teachers in his culture and also…an extremely low divorce rate. I wonder if a stronger family structure and a deep cultural respect for education and teachers might have something to do with a student’s success in the classroom.
On a personal note
evidence to the contrary, I may be on the right track. I am not sure, but I imagine at other conferences laptops are used by far more people to share ideas and discuss conference content. This is the first conference where I brought my laptop and used various web 2.0 tools to enhance my learning. Those tools [(twitter, skype, WoW (yes, for me, it is a learning tool)] have made this conference the most meaningful I have ever attended.







