As I reflect on Tuesday & Wednesday’s EC & I presentation, a quote from classmate Dean gave me what I consider the perfect title for this blog. About eighteen months ago I was introduced to Google Scholar. I discovered online peer review journals and used these in addition to the online articles I was accessing through the university online data bases. This was absolutely amazing to me because I took my undergraduate degree in the days of microfiche and typewriters. I looked for any chance to talk about this with colleagues at work, but most just kind of smiled, listened to my rambling for a while and then politely changed the topic….all except our technology consultant who I am sure got sick of me running to his office to excitedly tell him of my latest learning from a research article.

I began talking with S., our technology consultant, about the possibility of offering online support to our teachers. I did not have time to visit all the teachers that seemed to want my help and I was frustrated with doing the same lesson many times. He encouraged me to begin online collaboration with a wiki. I began taking video of lessons of explicit teaching of reading comprehension strategies and uploading them to wikis. It was a tremendous learning experience. There are a few things about the process that I want to comment on. S. was a trusted more knowledgeable other (a leader in the district) who coached me when I needed help (not long drawn out lessons but with short just-in-time sessions). He was always willing to listen and celebrate what I had learned with a smile or a word of encouragement and/or to clear up misconceptions or misunderstandings. Together these are what I consider to be important aspects of the educational leader. Yee (2001) refers to this as the patient teacher, and describes the principal as close to the classroom and willing to teach students, staff members and parents. When staff members require assistance, she is non-judgemental and encourages staff members to participate in appropriate professional development.

About three months ago Alec Couros attended an EdAdmin course that I was taking and again introduced a number of tools. Google Docs and blogging stuck with me that night. I was writing a paper about the role of the administrator in educational technology. I decided to mess with Google Docs and create a blog on the topic. I contacted Alec to thank him for his presentation and tell him that he inspired me to try this. He posted a link on his blog and before long I had comments on my blog. Again I was amazed that a beginner like me (at blogging) had received such good advice from more knowledgeable others, this time from around the world. This is another great example of support.

Come December I decided to scrap the old Christmas newsletter in favor of a family slideshow. I used Picaso to create a show that would let our friends and family (who live in the USA and Canada on the east and west coasts and everywhere between) have a glimpse of our year. I was fascinated.

At that point I was using Google Docs to make slideshows, web pages and a blog. I cannot believe how much I have learned in the last two weeks. As Dean so elequently said, “Google is so much more than just a search engine.” Google Reader has provided me with a way to manage the blogs in our class as well as other blogs I have subscribed to. Alec’s lessons tonight on this tool were very helpful as I was able to organize the blogs in folders. It is like anything, the more I use it the more confident I become with it. (I should try that with cooking!!) One of my frustrations is keeping up with all of the posts. I can see why I teach my students how to skim and scan. It is absolutely essential for web based reading. I can also see the importance of support from more knowledgeable others….not the kind of support that tells me every step of what I need to know or do….but the support that provides me with the nudge I need to take charge of my own learning….to explore and create.

I love the fact that we can multi-task during our presentations. I can see why students get bored in our classrooms. The vision of Charlie Brown and his perception of the teacher (blah, bla bla, blah, blah, blah blah) comes to mind. I try to make my courses interesting for my students…meaningful tasks…limited lectures etc. However, I know that there are still some that are bored, bored, bored. I love the chat that goes on during the lecture and I love the fact that I can connect to links as they are posted. I keep them open and then return to them after class to make decisions about whether I will join, subscribe, read, skim, etc.

As we are working with the tools in the course, there is a little voice that keeps saying, “How will this work for students?” I know it will….I just need to get a project going and keep it manageable. One of the highlights for me this week was sharing what I am doing in this course with my grade 8 math class. One of my goals for them is to become more self-directed learners. I created a short contract. To introduce the idea of self-directed learning, I showed them the course wiki and explained the requirements of the course. I told them that I only get a couple of hours of instruction per week and that I am responsible for the rest of my learning.

I would like to incorporate more technology into my math class. I see them only four days a week for one hour classes and so time is an issue. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have the kids create wikis around the major topics…i.e. integers, fractions, geometry, measurement?

One other comment stuck out for me tonight and that was by Rob and Kyle. They were chatting about what they were learning and mentioned that Alec was learning too. (At this point, I think my working memory was taxed and whatever was being discussed made no sense to me.) However, I can connect to them being teachers and learners. I am constantly telling my students that I don’t know everything and that they teach me as much as I teach them. I find it refreshing to be in a university class with knowledgeable instructors who not only model teaching but also learning. Thanks!