Thoughts While on Spring Break...

We're out on Spring Break, I don't know who originally thought of this idea; but I am happy they did! ;-) Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my students, colleagues and my work with them TREMENDOUSLY! But... this time off gives all of us the opportunity to refresh our minds and spirits. I welcome time for sleeping in, exploring web sites that I don't have time to explore on a day-to-day basis, do some spring cleaning, playing with the dog, reading, working out (OK maybe NOT!) organizing, RELAXING (what's that??), stamping and scrapbooking, shopping.....all the things I enjoy, at a much slower pace.

One of the things I enjoy about returning to school after the break is everyone seems ready and eager to "take in more". We've all had time to get recharged and energized.
I came across this video that made me smile and caused me to wonder....really wonder, who among my kids, past and present, will do extraordinary things? Will it be Darren? Casey? Anita?Kevin? Luke? Riley? Marissa?...... Samantha? Jack? Michael? Brenna? Tonia?.... Jimmy? J'Kolbi? Laura? Jill? Blaise? Jennifer?Brooke?.... Dillon? Chris? Amanda? Jayme?...Natasha? 'Bella? Celina? Emily? Dana? Monica? Mohamed?.... Who among the hundreds of kids that I have had the honor and pleasure to teach, influence and love will break away from the norm to take a chance to do something extraordinary?

It's going to be an exciting year....

I am really looking forward to starting school. I should amend that to include the fact that I am NOT looking forward to waking up early. (I LOVE the option to sleep in) ;-)

Beyond THAT, I can't wait to meet new children, parents and families and make connections with them in ways I have not done before. Don't get me wrong, I've had a web page for my classroom for quite a while now. I keep my parents informed and provide many online opportunities for my students; but this year I look forward to expanding that to include blogging, online surveys, image and video sharing and so much more. As I said in an earlier post, (June 15th ) I am really excited to make use of the Web 2.0 tools that are available and useful to me as a teacher. I can't wait to make connections with others down the hall, across the District and around the world.

I have enjoyed the time spent this summer discovering and playing around with Web2.0 tools. At times I found myself becoming deeply lost in the learning process...sometimes to the point of having lost a sense of time. I would sit down to try something out for a few minutes and fall so deep that hours would pass at the pace of minutes. I LOVED it!!

I spend time during the year training teachers. I am anxious to share what I have learned (the power of the tools) with other teachers and to continue learning from them. I want the teachers I work with to see what other educators have created (online) and become inspired by those ideas. It would be thrilling to see the creativity of my colleagues manifest itself into the online world. I would love to see them share with their students and collaborate with teachers around the globe. I want them to know that in the (online) creative process, there will be times of frustration, as well as times of celebration. But then again, they already know this process..every teacher does...it's not completely unfamiliar territory. The delivery method is perhaps new and unfamiliar...but we know the process.. all too well.

I want the teachers to find a level of comfort in taking the process of sharing ideas and information with students and fellow educators beyond the walls of our school....outside of our grade level meetings and into the world. I will share with them information about social networking, blogging, podcasting, web site design and creative commons licensing. I want them to know that their voice can be heard, and everyone who comes into contact with their work will know who the voice belongs to. I know that once they start making meaningful use of these tools, they will soar. They will inspire others to join us and find joy in the creative powers of us all.

Yes, from my viewpoint, these are exciting times....I am so looking forward to the start of school!

Just under a month to go...

Today I spent time updating some links on my Teacher Resources page. I added a set of Back-to-School links in anticipation that some of the teachers from my classes/workshops might check out the site to see what's new and find some online resources that take them one step closer to using tech tools on a daily basis.
As school approaches I am trying to think through the details of the blog that Katie, Sara and I will share with our students. I am wondering how to begin the year with it...how to explain it all to a group of 5 & 6 year old students.? How do we get the kids motivated and interested?

I remember last spring my afternoon class went WILD because we received an Email from a teacher in New Mexico that happened upon our site and liked our page on Tangrams. They were thrilled that someone outside of our class/school knew we were learning about them. It was an excellent opportunity to share with them just how broad the Internet can be. A great time to (re)explain that if we put something out there...anyone in the world can see our work.

They were confused by "New Mexico" and wondered if the people there "spoke English". ;-) (Gotta love those little K's) I took this as yet another learning opportunity. We pulled down the U.S. map and found New Mexico. I assured them it was in the U.S., but that even if it were outside the country, others could still see it. They thought Albuquerque was the funniest word they heard all week. They repeated it over and over for several minutes...giggling the whole time. They wanted to know if we could send an Email back; which of course we did! The kids helped me compose the Email. We sounded out the words together and came up with questions we had about the readers on the other end. One big question was "How did you find us?" They wondered how many kids were in the class, what units of study they were on, etc. It was great! The kids ran in the door first thing the next day wondering if we had gotten Email back. The class in New Mexico was going on Spring Break. My kids wanted to send more emails to them while they were away along with photos of our class. We did all of that...but alas we never really heard back from the class in New Mexico. The last we heard, the teacher was going to work on learning how to take a picture and send it in an Email. The kids were disappointed...but there wasn't much we could do.
This year it should work out better for us. I am excited because Katie and Sara have good Tech skills and are both interested in following up with some dialogue between the classes. I want to share with pictures, blogs, podcasts and the like. It should be fun!
My head is spinning with thoughts of ways we can connect our kids for learning!