Sometimes I'm not so sure. Just when I feel confident in my teaching abilities, something new comes along and reminds just how much I have to learn. I'm starting to understand what all those experienced teachers were telling me when I first started teaching. "You never really figure it all out." or "I've been doing this for ___ years and it still surprises me." This year is my fourth year re-living the fifth grade and yes, most of the time I feel completely confident. Then there are those times when I swear I just set foot in the classroom for the first time yesterday.
Where are these insights about experience and lack thereof coming from? My first two graduate courses left me feeling pretty confident that I know what I'm doing when it comes to technology. I am able to imagine activities and then sit down and accomplish them; at home and school. A lack of understanding has never held me back from a computer. My policy for learning technology has always been if I need to know it, I'll figure it out by messing around with it and using logic to work through it. If I can't figure it out, I can live without it. Friday night I was pushed into a state of utter disequilibrium for the first time in probably four years. (Well done Dr. Merrill!) I had no idea there was so much more that I had been missing in the world of communication tech. Yeah, I use Facebook and Myspace to stay connected to friends. I knew about blogging but never felt like I had much to say. (Obviously that was a mistake.) I keep all my grades online and I teach a wide variety of interactive lessons on our Activboard. I even have a class website that I update daily with announcements, homework, and uploads. But a Wiki? Social Bookmarking? CSS??? So much farther to go.
Keep watching my blog as I muddle my way through the world of telecommunications in education over the next four weeks. Hopefully, as I think out loud through this avenue, we can all learn something...fifth graders included.
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Isn't it crazy how there are so many things out there! I began to feel somewhat confused....almost as if I was sitting in a foreign language class. After talking with Dr. Merrill about a couple of the assignments, I was reassured that "I Can Do It". Like you, I plan on doing some independent exploration. Only now, I know that I must seek additional help where I need it. I wish you success!
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