Practice What You Preach

Mrs. Iocoangeli and I are going to introduce blogging to her students on Friday. I thought it might be helpful to actually try it out myself beforehand, you know…practice what you preach. So, what kinds of things can I use blogging for?

• To share information about a topic I’m interested in or an expert in
• Exciting moments
• Things I wonder about
• Controversial topics–things that people can take a stand on and debate
• Creative writing
• Poetry (which I despise)
• Research writing
• Getting feedback from my peers on writing I’m working on

Basically, the uses are endless. For now, I’m going to go with what I know. An exciting moment for me and a challenge:

Last week, one of our technology specialists stopped by to set something up for me. I mentioned to him that we introduced the kids to iPads that day and how excited they were. He commented on how he didn’t know how they could be used beyond toys and that the kids would basically play with them. I told him to come back in a month and see what our kids can do with this awesome digital tool!!  :)   So now the pressure is on–and not just from him. Part of the responsibility of being among the first classes to deploy iPads is we have to disprove those beliefs some parents, teachers, and administrators may have about the impractical use of iPads. We have to challenge our students, push them towards higher order thinking, and transform the way they are used to learning at school. It’s exciting AND scary stuff!