An introduction

One might ask oneself, why exactly would I want to set up my own blog...or, for that matter teach 12 & 13 year old kids how to do it. The truth is... I think it is a unique opportunity for publication. We all have opinions, and most care to express them. This is one more outlet which allows students to reach a broader audience. I am both eager and apprehensive.

The purpose of this blog project is multi-faceted. I have to wonder, am I expecting too much? But the truth is that the skills learned during this workshop are useful not only in the classroom, but in the workplace and in the personal realm. I believe we have a responsibility as educators to bring our students to the cutting edge of technology, teach them the skills to move forward, and let them become the leaders of their generation.

So, what do I want the students to get out of this project? I want them to have a particular comfort level with the technology. I want them to have a regular reference for assignments, and a way to ask questions & get feedback on their time... as they are completing assignments. I want them to have a format for their thoughts and musings (reading journal/writing journal) that is accessible to me without limiting their own access.

I'm optimistic that most of these goals are attainable, if not immediately, at least through the course of the school year.

A new hope

It seems not so long ago that I was in the seventh grade and was learning to type... on an old-fashioned type-writer... not even electric. I learned to type for many reasons. Probably the most important for me was that my handwriting was slow, and it was hard to read. I was frustrated by the fact that I could never keep up with my own train of thought. Learning to type helped... I even began to complete thoughts, to save them for posterity. The development of the computer and word processing programs is nothing short of miraculous! But as much as I wrote, volumes of words, seldom was I read by any other than myself. What a shame.
My hope for this year is that I will learn, along with my students, how to share some of my questions, my conclusions, my ideas, and my beliefs with a larger audience. We are, after all, a global community.