always learning

I know that I’m catching on to this whole web 2.0 phenomenon a bit late, but I couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities it holds for my classroom, and my life. I just finished Will Richardson’s book (so much to learn!) and I was so inspired (and awed) by the epilogue, that I want to do everything. Now. The only problem is, I’m not quite sure where to start…

A few weeks ago, I read Vicki Davis’ post about the power of newbies, which inspired me to write more about each step I learn as I go along. For a while there I was feeling so far behind that I didn’t want to demonstrate my “late-adopter-ness” by posting things that everyone knows already. And then I found this post, which made me realize that there are so many other teachers out there, just like me, that want to jump in feet first, but are just as overwhealmed. And I realized, we all have to try together. Post what we’ve learned, share what we try, and build on what we’ve read elsewhere. There’s no place else to go but up.

With that positive thought in my mind, I figure I should write down all the things I’d like to try to do in the coming months:

First stop: Wikis

It seems like the next natural step after blogging and something that other teachers in my school might be interested in doing. Plus, since this is an edublogs account, I have a free wikispace already set up. I’m thinking I will use that space to create an online classroom for the middle school IT classes I teach (despite the fact that I spent ages last year making this wonderful middle school IT website, which needs to be password protected because of the student work posted there).

Also, since the Social Studies Meets IT blog also has an attached wikispaces account, I’m hoping that Peggy and I can start using that as well.

Since it always helps me to test out new tools before I share them with the students, I am going to test this out right now. Any advice?

Next up: Flickr

I’ve been looking at photos on Flickr for ages, never did I realize all the implications for educational use until I read the Flickr chapter in Will’s book. Talk about an eye-opener! I would love to get started using Flickr in English lessons by having our students write some “Flicktion” (Richardson pg. 109). I love the idea of using images to inspire creative writing. And I love the idea of using Flickr for math, or geography, and of course, art! I’m realizing now that the possibilities are endless!

After that: Podcasting

Our school is just about to invest in some extensive IT equipment – MacBooks, to be specific. I’m so anxious to get those laptops so we can start creating podcasts about what we’re learning. I’m thinking that our middle school online newspaper could add an audio, or even video, section. Or our social studies integration class could podcast about what they did that week. And if I was really on the ball, I could set up an RSS feed for the parents so they could listen whenever anything new is posted.

See, if I just get thinking about how all these things are interconnected, and how many things I should be implementing right now, I find myself overwhelmed. How do you start? How do the amazing edtech gurus out there learn about all this new stuff and incorporate it into their daily routine? Help!