Things 1 and 2 -- Learn About Blogs and Create a Blog

Well, I'm finally getting started with only about a week and a half to go!

I found the article interesting and the "video" (this didn't seem like a video) thought-provoking. First of all, wouldn't it be great if all teachers had the resources available to use technology in the integrated way described by David Warlick.

I'd love to be able to do this--who wouldn't--but let's face reality. At this middle school, EVERY teacher posts to a blog daily/weekly, all classrooms seem to be equipped with computers (one per student?), microphones and other equipment are available to record podcasts, the librarian and "school tech facilitator" assist teachers by mapping and organizing website content to foster collaboration and communication, students have access to a school-facilitated wiki and a school "social bookmark," and students responsibly use their ipods and cells phones for learning (and not for socializing or cheating).

Now let's get to reality. In my high school, each classroom has ONE outdated teacher computer, used mainly for taking attendance and recording grades. A microphone mounted from the ceiling? Are you kidding? And the only school "tech facilitator" we have are the computer techs who spend all of their time troubleshooting problems with our old equipment. Students are not even allowed to have ipods in school and cell phones must be powered off and out-of-site during the day because of the rampant cheating and socializing that happeneded before the school implemented the new policy. I'm at least fortunate that I teach computer applications where I do have one computer per student; however, the computers are old and outdated. This year, they "updated" our 10-year old computers by creating mini workstations of three to five computers networked to one single station sharing 1GB of RAM. While they work somewhat better than the previous single-station computers that had only 128 MB of RAM, they still freeze up and move at a snail's pace. Our school does use Moodle, so we have access to a wiki and some collaborative features, but, again, the system is slow and limited in its capabilities. Furthermore, I only wish we could have a "social bookmark" site for the entire school. Students cannot save favorite sites--not even teachers are given this privilege. It's very frustrating to want to incorporate technology into the curriculum with the realities of the limited equipment, time, and money we have.

Finally, in this utopian world described in the article, where do teachers get the time to use technology and collaborate like they do? The reality is that teachers barely have time to keep up with lesson planning grading, paperwork, administrative duties, contacting parents, etc. I would love to write a daily blog and do all of the things described in the article, but where do I find the time?

I am looking forward to beginning the journey of discovering the possibilities available in Web 2.0. I spent many hours last summer researching Web 2.0 applications in hopes of implementing them in my class. I even created a blog! When school started, however, the reality of limited time, outdated equipment, and lack of support caused me to lose my enthusiasm. Hopefully, my journey through 23 things will encourage and inspire me again and give me PRACTICAL ways to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into my teaching.

I think the idea of using a blog as a way to reflect and share is a great idea. That's why I started my original blog (although I'll admit I haven't updated it in a long time). The one new thing I learned about blogs from the video was that blogs started as a way to share news. I guess I've always just thought about blogs as being like an online diary. I still do, but I can also see how information shared in a blog can also be like a "news" story.