Teaching and Technology Philosophy or If My Computer Crashes in the Middle of a Forest, Will My Principal Still Hear Me Scream?

     When I was first interviewed to work in my school district, one of the questions that I was asked was what was my personal learning philosophy? My overall thought and response was that every child can learn. I still believe that to this day but as a result of furthering my own education, I am now more aware of the diverse ways that students learn.  As a result I have had to expand my own teaching strategies.  Coming from a world predominantly influenced by animals, pets and livestock I developed a strong sense of behaviorism. Nearly all animal behavior is rooted in the drive for food, safety, comfort or mates. I must admit that I still gauge many of my people interactions based off of what I have experienced with the hooved and furry but I have adapted my stance to include the tenet that human learners can and should be actively engaged in the world around them if they are to make sense out of or construct meaning from that world. Dr. Patricia Wolfe reflects that “for years, we have tried to teach brains that we have not understood” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b).  Brain research now shows that behavior is not the only basis for learning. Sometimes there is a reason why a child can’t read or process certain information. As a result educators, me included, must strive to deliver content using diverse and multiple strategies.
    Already I find myself encouraging my students to rely on each other more to help build knowledge. Increasingly I will pose a question to my students than ask them to quickly turn to a seat mate and discuss the possibilities for just a few minutes. We then come together as a class to combine individual thoughts into a cohesive explanation using specific student input to fill in the scaffold I initially presented them with. In this way students not only use their own personal experiences and backgrounds to tie new knowledge to but they also benefit from the cooperative nature of interacting with their peers (Pitler et all, 2007). Another strategy that I am using in the class room more frequently is the use of non-linguistic representations.  Dr. Michael Orey states that this dual coding allows students to store the image as well as supporting text which in turn helps students to visualize concepts and ideas (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011a).  My Biology students may not recall the chemical reaction for photosynthesis right off the top of their heads but as soon as I ask them to tell me a story about a “plant named Bob”, they are able to construct it from the images they have built the equation around.  Using non-linguistic representations such as pictures, songs, diagrams and student movement is a strategy that I think fits really well for many different types of students. In addition to varying teaching strategies, using technology offers a wide and varied choice of tools to help reach learners at many levels.
     In the past seven or eight weeks, my brain has been undergoing a construction of its own as I have experimented and explored technologies that can be used to engage and teach students. Like any renovation, some pieces fit, some pieces don’t and some pieces are brought out only when the crazy old great-aunt who gave them to you visits.  I’m not overly thrilled with voice thread but Prezi holds promise to use with student constructed projects.  The wiki adds depth and interaction to the traditional teacher web page and I would like to continue developing this for my classes. Just recently I have encountered the idea of a non-linear power point that includes links and attachments rather than straight sequencing of slides. Using power point in this way will encourage students to research and assimilate multiple sources of information into one place supporting both creativity and scope.
     I feel as if I now understand that technology can support the delivery of my content, but it is unlikely that I will commit to any one in particular.  More importantly I feel as if I need to commit to continuing the development of my own technology skills. If I become more comfortable with looking at the possibilities of a new technology rather than only the challenges it may present, then I will be able to facilitate learning for my students no matter how quickly that technology may change. I want to continue to practice using technology as it suits both my time and curriculum and feel that the internet itself is a valuable source for searching and researching.  By networking with other educators in my school and across the internet, these technologies will be more accessible and less intimidating. Over time I hope to make my class room more accessible electronically through the use of a wiki that allows me to upload power points, class activities and notes as well as schedules, discussions and supplemental resources.  Better organization and communication with students and parents is a bonus that having such a site would offer which has been an ongoing goal of mine.  I grew up knowing how to swing my own hammer if I had to build something. What I am building now is the ability to show my students a different future for their education and as I am easily frustrated with electronics it’s probably best for my computer that I put my hammer away and pick up new tools instead.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011b). Program one: Understanding the brain [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Because that's the way it has always been done...until now

     A child watched her mother prepare a ham for an upcoming holiday dinner and asked her why she cut it in half before placing the two halves side by side in the pan. She explained that that is how she learned to cook it watching her own mother years ago. Later in the day, she asked her mother about the meal preparation to which she replied that she too had watched her own mother prepare the meat the same way.  Finally at the meal the two generations asked the matriarch of the family why she had prepared the holiday ham by cutting it in half first to which she replied, “ because I only had the one pan and it was the only way it would fit into it”.  Each successive generation followed the original model of preparing the meal without realizing where it had originated. They had learned within a social construct, but social learning today occurs within a much bigger construct, a global technology network

     As educators we have the opportunity to serve as models of learning for our students, thus using social learning but George Siemens suggests  that our role is changing due to advancements in technology and social networking. The traditional class room driven by preset objectives, assessments and learning outcomes becomes less effective as outside sources of supplemental information causes fragmentation of both content and conversations. Today’s educator of socially networked students becomes a curator of information; arranging key components of content for students to encounter. In addition teachers must help students to navigate the many sources of information, aggregate them into themes and filter the over-abundance of information rich sources. Siemen’s encourages educators to become a persistent presence for students via technology using tools such as wikis, blogs, podcasts and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Group collaboration supports both independence for the individual learner being accountable for their contribution as well as interdependence by meshing the varied skills of diverse learners into singular projects.

     We are by nature, social creatures. Many years ago learning from the group around you may have saved your life as you discovered which foods you could eat and which “foods” would eat you. Later social learning would be used to learn a trade or skill at the side of a parent or employer.  Social learning today is not necessarily out of necessity but out of opportunity and the cooperative group allows for learners to construct knowledge in conjunction with other learners. The youth of today are connected and networked in multiple ways and through multiple technologies. Connectivism is the combination of social learning theory  with the connections we are able to make socially and technologically to other learners and even teachers. Pitler et all explains the importance of the cooperative group in student learning through interactions with each other.  What is decidedly different are the types of activities that  corroborative groups can now accomplish using technologies such as wiki pages, Voice Thread, multimedia presentations, web site creation and even establishing connections with peers and content mentors from around the world. Ultimately the goal is the same as it has always been. We want our students to learn and if we realize the importance of using technology and networking to develop and maintain legitimate connections then our learners will never again be confined to only within the four walls of a traditional class room.

An aside:

The thread that binds us all....or not.

This is my attempt to create a voice thread about the issue of building a sense of community within a school building. Voice Thread could also be a good way to present an issue or topic to your students then have them make comments to develop an online class discussion.  Science lends itself well to asking a question that has no set answer. Students are encouraged to develop and support their stance and predictions.  My goal is to set up a voice thread for my Environmental Science students to have then discuss the impact of their activities on the environment and to propose and hopefully commit to, feasible solutions. Rest assured that there will most likely be a great deal of editing, mumbling under my breath and gnashing of teeth. You HAVE read the name of my blog, right?
voicethread.com/share/3752200/

Blah, blah, blah Ginger... blah blah Project Based Learning

Some time ago there was a Far Side Cartoon that suggested that what we say to dogs--sit, stay, don't do that on the carpet;  and what dogs actually hear; blah, blah, have a cookie,  are two totally different things and so it is not only with our students but with educators as well. Recently there has been yet ANOTHER term thrown into the soup that is educational jargon, Project Based Learning....dun dun dun...and then my eyes glassed over. Please not another psuedo research based, magic fairy dust and acronym laden, be all, end all, curriculum busting, life altering, just gotta do it and have it in your class room now, strategy. So for the sake of the future of all learners everywhere, I decided to take a look anyway.

SO...what does PBL look like? Let's see, it suggests that we start by asking a question that every student can answer. Well that seems reasonable.  Next...questions asked will direct students to encounter the principles and major concepts of the content through student driven inquiry......whoa, whoa, whoa....you mean without me standing rigidly in the front of the room delivering a mind numbing and behind blistering lecture? Let's see...students of different learning styles can learn and present material in a way that best suits that individual style. You mean we should want students to actually enjoy learning and coming to school just because it fits their learning style?  It continues...students will investigate real world problems while integrating genuine curriculum. Well that is just educational anarchy. And finally...PBL encourages students to explore abstract and intellectual tasks in order to make judgements and synthesize information meaningfully.  Well that is just crazy talk, after all I have curriculum I have to cover and I'm the teacher and they are the students so I am supposed to lead them to the fountain of knowledge......right? Hmmmm maybe we need to rethink the status quo a little.

Background on  project based learning or PBL can be found in multiple places but most echo the need to develop 21st century skills in our students. I am happy when my students remember to wear deodorant and bring their own pencil to class but let's just say that maybe, just maybe I might want them to pick up a few additional bonus skills in my class room like personal and social responsibility, strong communication skills, cultural understanding, decision making and knowing how to choose and use technology appropriately to accomplish a genuine task. Just saying, it might be nice if later in life my former students might actually contribute positively to the world situation. I suppose I could look at Problem Based Learning just a little more and sarcasm aside, it really does make sense. For years our students have been telling us that they learn best by doing hands on activities and they like to talk to each other. Sometimes they even cooperate with each other without me standing over them. It is easy to see that the engagement level goes up significantly when they can make some personal connection to the question and task. Perhaps it is best to try and teach how our students actually learn.  By doing so not only will they construct and build their own learning but we also just might construct and build better citizens that can stand up and deliver in our quickly changing world.

How Many Gargoyles are on Notre Dame Cathedral or why DID the Chicken Cross the Road?

     How many Gargoyles are on the Cathedral at Notre Dame?  I suppose if I wanted to be the center of attention at the holiday office party or were a contestant on Are You Smarter Than a 5^th Grader, then I might need this informational tidbit but according to author Jamie McKenzie on From Now On, The Educational Technology Journal, these are the kinds of meaningless questions that educators typically ask students to research when exploring with technology. McKenzie continues to insist that there is a difference between knowledge and understanding or insight. If we want our students to develop higher order thinking skills then we, as educators must ask them to search for the answers to essential questions. Rather than just engaging our students in a search for random information to accumulate shouldn’t we ask them to deliberate on why and how and what if?  Once they ponder these questions what kind of understanding can they build and what would that look like if you could actually map the thought patterns in the brain?

     When it comes to actual content, these essential questions should be at the center of any network or visual organizer. Thoughts can become actual words and pictures that support the construction of cognition. I don’t necessarily want my students to simply tell me the structure of DNA.   I want them to use their knowledge of that structure to infer what could happen to the traits of organisms if that structure would change and suggest what implications there could be for a species that has undergone those mutations. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski suggest that if students are going to synthesize new meaning from what they have found then they must be able to sift and weigh all the accumulated bits of information in order to glean out the most important and supportive ideas. Learning to summarize is much like writing a traditional newspaper article. Who, what, where, when, why and how are merely guides to get the complete scoop and now even note taking and brain storming have entered the digital age with access to software that can assist students in this task. If we are to believe wiki answers then we could discover that there are 5000 Gargoyles on the Cathedral of Notre Dame but what was more enlightening for me as a learner was that Gargoyles were actually architectural rain gutters that had different spiritual and social meanings. Surely that is more essential than a simple head count.

     However, I still do not know exactly why the chicken actually crossed the road even though a Google search yields over three million hits in less than .15 seconds. That’s going to be a BIGGGGG graphic organizer. Oh the meaning we can construct.

Teaching the Animal in All of Us?

     I have always maintained that I like most animals better than some people but perhaps that is because the furry beasts just seem to make more sense to me than some of the almost as furry teen students that inhabit my class room.  Lately I was asked to consider the role of behaviorism and whether or not it had a place in the modern class room so I have pondered.  B.F. Skinner would tell us that learning is the result of a response to events or a stimulus depending upon how it was reinforced. My St Bernard has learned to associate the word "cookie" to mean that he is going to get some sort of treat. It can be a meatball, a goldfish cracker or even his pill coated in gooey peanut butter. It doesn't matter. Cookie means yummy and his leviathan head quickly lifts from his cozy den under the kitchen table on stilts at the mere whisper of the word. My students are not as quick to be molded. One I could not afford enough treats to feed hormonal, growing teens and the administration might frown upon me smearing the roofs of their mouths with peanut butter when they answered a question correctly. There are potential peanut allergies of course. No other reason I can think of other than that.

     Rewards may motivate some students to do well in school but motivation is a tricky beast. What motivates one student may not motivate another. I am amazed at the excitement shown even  by teenagers if I happen to put a sticker on their papers and they hold up the smiley face in  the nine of a good score as if they were Braveheart on the hillsides of Scotland. Some students HAVE to have the A. Some students are convinced that they will never GET the A.  What I find seems to be the biggest reward to many of my students is that I BELIEVE in them.  They get honest feedback from me about their challenges but more importantly I see strengths in each of them that perhaps no one else has taken the the time to notice. Is this recognition and expectation a positive reinforcement or a negative one? I suppose it depends on the student.

      Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski would have us  specifically reinforce effort in order to teach our students about the link between effort and achievement and for them to set goals for that to occur. Having students track these goals is a visual and tangible way for students to link their effort with a specific outcome. I agree that as educators we have a vision for our students that sees beyond their immediate situation but a sage will tell you that you just can't put an old head on young shoulders. Sometimes hard work just doesn't pay off with equal academic reward though and then we must help to guide our young students to the reflection that leads to personal growth or dare we say....learning? I think most kids just want to feel like they are doing okay and they look to our red pens, raised eye brows and smiles as gauges of where they are on that journey. Is this learned behavior or not? I believe that it is definitely a part of it and as educators we need to be aware of what behaviors we are rewarding. Do we want rote mastery or creativity and do we have to sacrifice one for the other?

     Meanwhile. Sit. Stay.  I'm going to get the jar of peanut butter.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cardio-techno Conditioning on a Steep Learning Curve

     A few short weeks ago, I light heartedly created this blog with the tongue in cheek name that it bears.  Little did I know, or perhaps in my heart of hearts I did know, I just didn't want to give into the fear that the title would be a harbinger of what challenges lie in store for me as a learner.  It has been in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. In his book, Blogs Wikis, and Podcasts,  Will Richardson suggests that in order for teachers to be able to prepare students for a future that will most assuredly be full of technology and networked spaces, then we must  experience these environments for ourselves. He prescribes to the notion that if we are to understand HOW to use these tools to teach our students then we must become engaged and connected with these tools personally.  Well personally, I must confess that I have indeed “experienced” them but I am far from experienced IN them.

     Wikis, pods and blogs sound like they could be nick names for sweets or the small, precocious children of pop stars, but they are not sweet and they are not adorable.  They have been agents of discord and frustration.  Under the guise of creating, publishing and networking with the aforementioned tools my computer has heard words that I would dare not type.  I have lost hours of valuable sleep and forgone meals and social outings trying to embrace this beast called technology that will not go away. To say that I was frustrated is an understatement equivalent to reminding someone that rain is wet.  I had placated myself with the thought and hope that maybe the technology would change so quickly that the world would forgive my apparent inability to grasp today’s bees’ knees.A quick glimpse of sanity from Dr. David Thornburg insisting that students need to be taught basic intuitive 21^st century skills such as cooperative learning, critical thinking and communication reminded me that not all learning had to take place via a tweet or a mouse. 

     Trilling further built my case for allowing some quarter when it comes to using technology by admitting that there are some challenges with using information and communication technology information and communication technology. Here I thought that everyone in the world had read the manual except me.  He writes of a new learning curve and encourages society to shift from learning from and about technology to learning with technology. It was encouraging to feel the shift in my own paradigm from feeling like I didn't know anything about these new technology tools to that of realizing that I am at least on the spectrum of learning.  Technology is not an all or nothing endeavor. Trilling outlines stages from disconnected to majority to innovators and finally mavericks.  I think perhaps I was seeing the world around me being in the final stage of Trilling’s curve feeling as if I could never bridge that gap so how could I ever lead my students there?  

     In addition to teaching, I am a dairy farmer. As dairy farmers in an increasingly global and technological venue we are constantly being badgered to implement new and improved technologies.  We decided that we would not necessarily be the first to adopt the new but would also not be the last to set the old aside.  I am adopting that mindset for my class room as well.   Being able to look at the distance I have traveled rather than that of what is left to traverse, has given me the confidence and will to accomplish more.  I now realize though that I must commit to practicing using these technologies myself and need to seek out colleagues and resources that can provide a safety net until I can navigate them successfully. If I am comfortable with the mechanics of using the tools of technology then I can more effectively apply learning through them. These two goals go hand in hand with each other.Surely there will still be a few choice words and episodes of high blood pressure but I am a little further along the curve than when I started.

Invasion of the Pod (Cast) People

Does anyone remember the cheesy horror flicks that had aliens duplicating themselves into human persona via a POD? Well the new Pod people are among us and I am the one that feels like screaming. These pods though are in a different form than the 1956 version of gelatinous pods found in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. These pods are PODCASTS and I believe that after struggling with multiple files of unknown extensions these past two weeks that I have entered a new and strange world.  Like it or not I have crossed to the geek side....I have pod casted.  It's true. I have joined the ranks of the wired multitudes and published a brief response to an impromptu survey about the use of technology in schools and whether or not students feel that schools are current with incorporating that technology. I don't want to ruin the surprise ending, but guess what? They are not. I am coming to the slow realization that perhaps Alan November is on to something when he speaks of the disconnect that is occurring with students and schools because they cannot use the "containers" or digital tools that they are so comfortable with to create and learn.  Trust me, I understand that it is ultimately about the content and I will stand hard and fast that there are some things that students just HAVE to know, but I am starting to wiggle a little uncomfortably with the idea that maybe educators, me included, do need to look at some other ways to allow students to construct their own meanings about that content and where it fits in the world.  Meanwhile I will not numbly follow the technology simply because it is there.  I will use my own brain to construct my own meaning and let's hope that podcast people and pod people do not become one and the same or  I may be that person standing in the center of the road screaming at cars passing by to wake up and not let the aliens (or technology) take over our individual thoughts.

P21, 3R's, 4C's and a good pair of running shoes

     P21 is not the latest fitness craze.  P1 stands for Partnership for 21st Century Skills which is a national organization that "advocates for 21st century readiness for every student". This  organization encourages the education system to be mindful of not just the core subject areas, the 3 R's, but also to be mindful of  4C's.  The 4C's stand for Critical thinking and problem solving,Communication, Collaboration and Creativity and innovation.  The goal is to help American students breech the increasing gap in achievement that seems to have been created with our last greatest educational reform.  These are not NEW skills but perhaps they have become forgotten ones for many of us.  Someone probably spent a lot of time to generate the rainbow graphic complete with supporting pools to illustrate the framework for 21st century learning .

      I suppose I have always subscribed to the belief that young people need to be taught not just book skills but life skills. This P21 framework encourages us to think of all the parts as being interconnected and that just makes sense.  That in itself should be scary but perhaps there is some hope then that the policy makers and researchers are finally realizing what educators have known for years.  There is more to teaching than what is in a text book or on a test.  My greatest fear is that the bureaucracy  that is our education system will take a goal so pure and common sense and muddy it up by trampling it under its misguided but well meaning feet.  Students need to be able to read and write and do basic math.  They should leave school knowing how to read a car contract or an apartment lease and they should know how to balance a check book and understand the fine print in a loan paper.  Students should be taught how to find information, not forced to remember minute details. Students should leave school prepared for what lies AFTER school and that will most likely involve working with other people and negotiating the technology of the day. 

     This all makes sense but at this point no one can tell us exactly what it will look like in the actual class room.  I want to know how we are going to teach children these skills. What courses will we offer?  How will we determine if it is successful or not? P21 offers comprehensive resources for policy makers, educators, parents and students. They have a plan for the learning environment all the way through professional development and curriculum design,  This is the complete package but I'm not sure if I am ready to open it.  At the moment everyone is buzzing about 21st century skills.  Dr David Thornburg identifies no less than a dozen key skills for the modern learner to be successful and speaks of "deep global transformation". Dr Chris Dede lauds collaboration as the next greatest interface.  Everyone is talking the talk but as of yet, I'm not sure who is walking the walk but rest assured when the time comes to lace up the walking shoes, the teacher in the class room will be the first to get blisters.

Wha wha wiki wiki wiki...whaaaaaaaat?

My day is complete.I have learned something new. In Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Will Richardson explains that the term wiki is an abbreviation of wiki-wiki which in Hawaiian means "quick".  For the average teenager, add -pedia to it and it becomes the sole source of all human knowledge. Add "group" to the front of the word and it becomes the bane of my existence at the moment.Richardson suggests that Wikipedia is the "poster child for the collaborative construction of knowledge and truth that the new, interactive Web facilitates".  I feel like a different sort of poster child.  I understand how Wikipedia works. People from all over the world can edit and supplement information about any topic ranging from snail tails to rocket trails and the idea is that since it is public to everyone, no one group or individual can spin the information too wildly out of proportion. I'm okay with factual stuff like how many kilograms there are in a pound (It's 2.204 by the way. I didn't have to look it up but I did confirm it and even SIRI understood what I wanted and she almost never gets things right) but I am a little sketchy on subjective issues like race, politics or religion. After all some things just can't be quantified and individual experiences can build bias.  Meanwhile Thomas Friedman insists that the world is flat as a result of all the potential globalization that technology provides and Wikipedia is just one part of that new world map. Following closely on its heels is the idea that students in individual class rooms will benefit from a class wiki site.  Some educators are well on this path while others, myself included, are just hearing about this latest and greatest tool. Richardson assures us that regardless of how we feel about them, using wikis in the class room can foster a sense of community and encourage the exchange of information and creative ideas among students.  If group collaboration is the new hope for the future then perhaps I had better try to prepare  my students for this new world order.  After all some day I may start to drift off in a haze of anesthesia and glance up to see face of a former student frantically tapping away on the latest portable electronic device trying to retrieve vital information needed for my operation.  I can only hope that they know how to access Anesthesiologists-R-Us and that I was the one that taught them how.

To Blog or Not to Blog?...That is the question

Well if the question is to blog or not to blog, I must admit that I'm not sure of the answer.  Currently the purpose of blogging seems to be to keep me up well beyond a healthy bedtime and to challenge me to develop a series of electronic breadcrumbs so that I am able to find my way back to where I once was on my computer.  Often my computer prompts me condescendingly, "Are you SURE you want to close all tabs at once?"  I suppose the the actual edict of the week is how will I incorporate blogging into my high school class room?  Initially I believe that I will use it as a means of communication with my students.  It will be a place where they and their invested adults can see what's going on in any particular week in a course.  I am hoping to have a calendar with upcoming due dates and assignments as well as links to resources and additional content information.  Since I teach science, I like the idea of providing links to current events or stories in the news that have a science spin.  Genetics, bio-technology, world health, environmental issues and the ethics of how society will use its new found technologies are all fair game for stimulating thought and discussion.  A blog would be a good place for students to post their comments about both sides of any of these issues and to extend their thoughts by providing additional research and support about their stance. So just in case anyone else's bread crumbs have brought you to this site, I encourage you to please let me know if and how you are using a blog in your class room.

Does anyone know how to spell USB?

Not to date myself but I remember going to the drug store with my dad to test television picture tubes. He seemed like some techno-God being able to figure out just how to fix the horizontal or vertical hold of our beast of a television.  It was its own separate piece of furniture, big enough for its own zip code yet it had a picture area small enough to be blocked by the family cat. OK, so we had a BIG cat but the greatest advance in tv's at the time was if you had color and  whether or not you needed to put tinfoil on the rabbit ears to make the picture more clear.  Today electronics pervade nearly every aspect of our lives and my own children insist that I do not "deserve" a Smartphone because I don't know how to effectively operate one.  Meanwhile I find myself teaching in a high school with children that have never known a time without computers and cell phones and I am at best, electronically "special". I am aware that the proper term for this generation of youth is "digital native" and I am also WELL aware that I was not born on the same planet as most of my students let alone the same country.  I can't help but feel as if I am a visitor to their world and they are ordering 5 course meals in electronic technology while I can barely ask where the bathroom is.

So here is the beginning of a journey, a crusade perhaps or at least hopefully me not spending 40 years wandering in the desert looking for a place to plug in my laptop computer that is probably wondering how IT got paired with ME. The objective is to become more sound in the field of technology and specifically how to best use it to help our students become successful learners.

By the way, does anyone know how to spell USB?