Today was amazing! When I see someone living there passion and sharing it with students, families and communities, I know there is hope for others to follow in that same path! G is a dynamic individual! Surprisingly, considering I rate myself as a 1.5, today was more inspirational for me as opposed to feeling overwhelmed. I felt the passion of a 4. The knowledge and tools he shared ranged from immediate attainability to what some may consider unreachable for the moment, but to me that is ok...it is something to strive for. I love this side of education, it is a true model for differentiation at its finest. Expanding on this line of thinking I reference to the tools he shared like Google Earth, Sketch up, and Google search tools. These are all things we can take right now and use...it has made my immediate life much easier.
Now for the hard part. G set the bar high today, and as I discussed with some people, they either felt overwhelmed, and/or a calling to implement these huge ideas and possibilities. After all, as educators we are doing work that is high stakes, and high risk. Our students lives and success depend greatly on our influence and guidance. Because I am an optimist, and believe in the service of education, I cant help but look at the glass half full. I want to tell them that they are amazing...and thank god they are warriors on the battlefield of education..preparing, and going on these intense reconnaissance missions of learning. Someone needs to take a risk, and the good thing is that we are not alone. I believe in strength in numbers, and my heart tells me that technology is a huge way that is unifying us as we speak...multiplying those numbers and numbers of people who are aligning in thought...ORGANICALLY!
In summation of today, I leave with endless possibilities that exist in the realm of education and Tech. And I look forward to sharing resources with individual staff members to begin with in my building, thus gradually building my techy allies! Lastly, and above all...I cant wait to learn more from all of you!
"...intense reconnaissance missions of learning." What a great phrase!! Thanks for your honest feedback and keeping your head up in the process. It can be overwhelming, but like we tell our students when learning something new, chunk it, and learn it one part at a time. Thanks for your thinking!
ReplyDeleteThe power of optimism...I like it. I, too, felt inspired by Doug's presentation yesterday and appreciated all of the tools he presented. The next challenge is to implement this tools and help our student with a new way to learn.
ReplyDeleteI love your optimism! I enjoyed the day immensely too, but felt overwhelmed knowing I could never do it all. I get bogged down sometimes with what I'm not doing instead of looking at all the great stuff I am doing! Can you just hang out with me? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Celina, for that energizing response. My blog reflection was a bit of a Debbie Downer, and so it was refreshing to have you say, yes it's a lot, but come on people, we can do this! I think that's a powerful part of being a leader--being able to motivate and inspire rather than being the pessimist. So, on to the task of taking some of this info. and bringing it to our daily lives, our schools, and hopefully improving our classrooms!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! I totally think you are dead on... as a 2.5 I wasn't left overwhelmed... in fact I was inspired to just try or wait perhaps in the words of yoda, just do!! (There is no try, right?!?) I loved hearing that wiki is a reliable source. That is part of my fear... not knowing what to trust and not having the time to figure it out. But yesterday's presentation helped abate that fear, as Nike would say: to just do it. (Wow, as an aside - Yoda and Nike have the same philosophy!!)
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