If Everyone Cared

new teacher wordle

Ok, I know it's hard to read this so tiny but apparently capturing it as a larger image is a bit of a chore. It's the text of a long e-mail note from my master teacher and the words that stand out are: "help, go, need, talk, know, grasp, class, wait, time...." I LOVE WORDLES. May not bother to write in full narrative ever again. Just cut to the chase in full color.

Response to “Essential Conditions”

I have a dear friend who helps me to think outside the box in many ways. She is an educator as well. One of her teachings goes something like this… We need to stop thinking in “win-lose/either-or” terms when we set priorities for education. In other words, we can pursue our ideals without constantly thinking - “Yeah right - this would be nice just as soon as my kids’ school has funding for a PE teacher, an art teacher, a music teacher, a librarian, and maybe some school buses for the district." We live in what feels like a middle class area, yet we have lost almost all of these in the past six years, while I sat helplessly by on the PTA board, sponsoring jog-a-thons and pancake breakfasts with one hand, deciding whether to make the slash through "classroom supplies" or "field-trip funds for the under-privileged" with the other.

So… I must admit that these are the thoughts I am battling as I read this lovely vision for technology in education. That plus “Yes! These are the essential conditions for all of the things we should have in the classroom.” It is a very thorough and well laid out plan.

OMG here comes one more complaint but how did that survey get attached down there??? I had copied and pasted the link but changed my mind and deleted because it really belongs in another post with an introduction not just stuck there with no explanation but when I deleted although the link disappeared on my editing page and still when I go back there is no sign of it yet there it is on the blog. I am so out of time for this...

I am a reluctant blogger, ambivalent towards technology. Love it when it saves me time, love its' new and unexpected gifts, love the access to - well, absolutely unbelievable access to information and more of course. Hate it hate it hate it when it turns on me, sucks my time, draws me in and screws me over. The absolute worst? When people say: "No, this is incredibly simple and easy, you will love this." And then it is the opposite of simple-easy and next thing you know, hours of precious time are killed-wasted-gone-forever in this maddening pursuit of nothing. Facebook and the like I simply ignore. I love real faces and real books.

I am aware that you, Colin, must have heard all this before, must have an answer, must have an immediate shake of the head response, but yet I am compelled...

So: in the classroom - I would love a flippin overhead projector that could be plugged in and used instead of the one that sits in the corner gathering dust where my master teacher piles the lost-and-found. Forget sending a monkey through cyberspace to deliver a survey. Nice trick, but I really just want to show everyone a picture in class. Can't project from the computer yet either, by the way. Really would have liked to show that amazing panoramic view from the top of Everest I found online before the Freshmen began reading that selection from Into Thin Air (which by the way should be underlined not italicized but how do I do that here?) but yeah, not happening.

As such, I wish I had not missed the first meeting of EDU 4113, which set me back before I even began.

A few responses to meeting #2:

Google Docs is ok, I've used it with more success than confusion in the end. But Colin, for those e-mailers who drive you crazy not knowing when to "reply" and when to "reply all" - don't you think that many of these will only be worse off in a new, even-less-linear environment?

And then - I was the one who said "I REALLY don't want to open a Facebook account." And you said and many in class immediately, dismissively chimed in with agreement - you just do it and then delete it don't be silly it's nothing. So I did and I followed along but after you jetted out of there the account remained and guess what since I rushed through in order to keep up and not be silly and made up a password as I went and forgot it immediately I was not able to deactivate that account. Even with a generous and Facebook-savvy classmate helping me for quite a few minutes we were not able to find a workable path to re-set or be reminded of the password and without it we could not deactivate. Oh God did I have other things to do with that half-hour. Getting late and lessons to plan for the very next day and Nate and Olivia waiting at home hoping I'd be there in time to kiss goodnight and not to get overly dramatic but in the end I was not. But I do still have a Facebook account attached to my gmail account in the name of Bezus Bingbong.