"Creativity is contagious, pass it on." ~Albert Einstein

Monday, November 12, 2012

The Next Step



 "Don't be afraid of your fears.  They're not there to scare you.  They're there to let you know that something is worth it."        ~ C. JoyBell C.


Have you ever received a quick note or an email that made your day?  I did the other day.  Here it is verbatim, "Just wanted to write you a quick note that Kidblog was GREAT this morning!! :) Everything went smoothly and the kids really enjoyed it.  I am sending you the link so that you can check it out and read some of their stuff.  We are going into our second unit, which is called "Their thoughts changed our lives"...we are going to read about Ghandi, Einstien, and Rachel Carson (one of the first influential female scientists).  So today, I challenged the kids to think about "real life" people that have thoughts that change lives.  Real, fake, famous, or not...The prompts they responded to were, "What kinds of ideas have the power to change someone's life?" and "Have you ever been inspired by someone? Who?  Why are they special to you?"  Anyway, just wanted you to know that Kidblog rocks. :)"

Seems like a pretty basic email.  What you don't know is that this teacher had asked me to come into her class earlier in the week to help her integrate this new technology.  I had to turn her down as I was busy at the elementary.  Being the only Integration Specialist in our district, my schedule can get pretty busy as I try to meet the demands of 100 teachers and over 1,200 students.  I despise having to turn teachers down, but had to in this particular case as I was already booked at the elementary.   This particular teacher told me "no problem" and that she would "give it a shot to see how it goes." 

As you can see, I think it went very well.

Technology today is so hard to keep up with.  Yes, I know that there are a myriad of tools/apps that you can use in your classroom.  Too often teachers are overwhelmed by all of the choices that are available to them.  Need some simple advice when it comes to all of the choices?  Pick one or two tech tools/apps and integrate them seamlessly into your curriculum.  Go for quality, rather than quantity. 

This teacher took a chance, eliminated that "fear" that we all feel when teaching a new technology that we may not be too familiar with.  Quit trying to be "perfect" in your classroom.  Life isn't perfect. 

Are you going to take the "next step?"


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