Shanghia Pre Conference Session on 9/7/08
So I made it through the first week of school and was feeling pretty warn out from all the action. I was looking forward to just relaxing on Sunday with my wife and catching the NY Jets and Brett Faivre. Then, as I went to Dawn’s computer, I couldn’t resist the urge to check my new twitter account. LIke most of you reading this, I have that problem sometimes. It was all over after that. I had read David Warlick and Jeff Utech’s last post on twitter about a Second Life meeting this morning. I immediately clicked these links and was teleported into my new life. I had tried second life a few times and just couldn’t seem to get the hang of it. Most of the time I had too much going on to focus on this. I have to say, if it wasn’t for my twitter account I may not have made it there that morning. For almost two hours I relaxed on a bean bag and listened to ohter chat about this upcoming conference. At the same time, we (the audience) carried on a live conversation through text. This experience for me will continue to drive my passion for the way we look at teaching and learing. I felt surrounded that day by pure genious. In my entire educational career I was never more engaged in listening, then I was at this time. Some critics believe that these sort of spaces are not going to play a role in the education of our students. Folks, the time is now. We must reshape decision making, reshape policies and restructure our schools to provide an educational system that is relevent to the future needs of our children. Our children are bored! Get them engaged. Teachers…are you on sites like Classroom 2.0 to get new ideas. Are you contributing to this conversation or are you just living within the walls of your classroom. Join groups that share a common interest. I dont care if they are school related or not. Get a grasp on the New Web. Create your own learning and do it through a digital community.
