I think I have started this blog as a place to help me think through the changes that I am making in my philosophy (big word) and understanding of what teaching is in the 21st Century.
I chose the picture at the top of the blog because of the oriental feel and the bridge. I am in my fourth year teaching at an international school in Beijing and I feel like this journey is about me crossing a bridge from one side of my teacher career to the other.
I became fascinated with the Web 2.0 tools after some teaching colleagues attended the Learning 2.0 conference in Shanghai last September. I immediately dove headfirst into learning everything I could learn about all of these tools. For a solid week I read, I learned and I developed a passion for all things 2.0. Thankfully, it was the National Holiday week and I was able to have this time though I did take three days off and fly up to Xi’an, the oldest walled city in China, for a short vacation.
I already had a presence on Facebook which I had become interested in after the Virginia Tech tragedy. Soon most of my friends were on Facebook as well. I watched You Tube videos on 2.0 tools and i figured out how to configure my iGoogle to receive RSS feeds from bloggers that I had been ready about.
The K12 Online Conference was great and I spent a lot of time going through the achieves of the 2006 conference. I started talking to everyone I met at school about these great things I was learning and was met with a deafening silence. (Now that is not really fair as my school and administration are very open to technology. My new teaching partner and my new coordinator both have Masters degrees in technology.) But on the whole it took a bit of work to find other teachers to discuss this new information with.
I immediately dived into using some of the new tools and I need to thank my Year 5 (Grade 4) class for their patience and understanding as I kept dragging them along with me on this adventure. We have a class wiki, a website and a ning. We have also just completed our first Voice Thread project and I learned a lot of things as did the class.
As I continued my pursuit of all things 2.0 I realized that I need more education and so have applied to do a masters online. I am excited about beginning that in the next couple of months.
Anyway, the blog is to think through some of the things I am trying, ask myself questions and give me a format to change my focus.
The title of the Blog actually is taken from the Singapore Education System and it seems to say what I can feel inside of me. I have been a teacher for 34 years and I started when the ditto machines were hand cranked and you used blackboards and white chalk. I started when it was exciting to the children if I used different coloured chalk. Things have changed and I am changing also.
Since coming to Beijing to teach I have fallen in love with teaching again. It is not stale anymore. I am challenged each day and the learning curve is tremendous. I love it!!!!!! I will see where this journey takes me.
Teach Less - Learn More 