I recently changed jobs.  Loved the former job but needed something back in my life that was missing.  I moved back to the classroom.  The funny thing was that I didn’t make a big announcement of the change and yet, people have been finding me at the new place before I even arrived there!  The first incident was described to me as a parent saw my name on an e-mail list.  That sent people “googling” me to find if the name really was “me”.  The next incident was someone heard a rumor that I moved on and searched for me on the district website.  A third person likes to use search engines to find updated information on friends (am I being stalked through the Internet?) and also found some information regarding my new status.  By the way, none of these people are my “friends” or even know my friends on Facebook,where my new status is listed.

That brings me to remind people that what’s “out there” about you should be something you wouldn’t mind anyone seeing.  I would say if you didn’t want your mother to know it then don’t post it, but some people don’t care what their mothers see or hear.  I am appalled at somethings I see.  The cursing and negative comments, the pictures of drinking games posted particularly by young people.  Employers are more and more investigating potential employees by “googling” them and searching social network sites.  A friend recently wanted to ask me a question and didn’t have my new e-mail address.  Instead, she looked for me on Facebook, found me and sent me a message through the site.  It’s not that hard to find people.  So, I stress the point as it has been made so many times in the last several years by many experts – make sure the information that is available on the Internet regarding your life and personal information is something a potential employer would not find offensive.  Or your mother for that matter!

Ahh, the Swine Flu – the impending pandemic of the 2009 school year.  Remember the Bird Flu from two years ago?  Back then it brought to light a great point – if schools had to close due to high volume absences from such contagious diseases, how do we still teach?  States have been debating these for the last several years.  Blogs, wikis, Skype, conference calls are all items on the agenda to discuss.  There are pros and cons to the use of each of these items.  The problem is that not all schools are at the same level of advancement in technology use nor are the staff members.

So I ask – what do you consider the best use of technology to keep the learning going?

I’m pretty good at technology ~ I must be, it’s what I do almost 18 hours a day at least 6 days a week (I try to stick to a sleep schedule.)  The funny thing is the more I know, the more I need to know.

Do you remember learning how to drive?  At first its exciting and scary at the same time.  Once you start feeling more comfortable its as if you and the vehicle have become one?  That’s how I feel when I learn a new program and work with it.  It’s the feeling I want to share and have the teachers I work with feel the same way.  Sometimes it does get intimidating around the students.  Why?  Because they have no fear to try new things.  When I was growing up television was black and white and had only 5 main stations (hmmm, trying to figure out how old I am?)  Now not only are  there hundreds of stations (and still nothing on) you must decide on HD, plasma, cable, DVR, and let’s not talk about how to use the remote!

Anyway, as educators of a digital generation, we have a lot of catching up to do and fast!  Years ago I was the “cool” aunt who knew how to win the Zelda game in Nintendo.  Now my nephew is teaching me new moves on Wii.  I have hundreds of songs on my ipod and I believe my laptop has become an additional appendage for me.  But there is still so much to know and the truth is we need to harness this knowledge and teach the students how to use it effectively in the future.  How do we do that with so little time?

By the way – my “fit age” on Wii is much less than my chronological one – I think I like this game!