2008.07.10.Past


 * Exercise | Introduction | Past | Present | Future | Conclusion | Resources**

=Past=


 * **Chris (Technology Director)** || **Bridget (Librarian & Teacher)** ||
 * The easiest thing to do as a Tech Director is to block all 2.0 and social networking tools with the district's filter. It certainly appeases the solicitors and any worrisome administrators. But is that in the best interest of our students? How can we expect them to learn and acquire 21st century skills with our help if we block every tool that can be used to teach them such skills?

I tried to begin a conversation with our administrators (30+ of them) and found a room-full of blank stares. Those who knew a little about what a blog or wiki was mostly held the comon perception that to have a myspace page is to have something inherently bad.

As this conversation extended well beyond my 15 minute agenda, I decided that it might be a good idea to create a [|blog]...both to continue the discussion and to let everyone discover what a blog was (and could be) through an exercise that utilized a blog || I've tried to be proactive concerning my professional development and attend numerous conferences and trainings over the past few years. After conferences like PETE&C I am so anxious to get back to my classroom and implement these tools--especially 2.0 applications.

I always felt unsupported and felt like I was speaking a language no one else understood-blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc. My principal, fellow teachers, and even colleagues in grad school weren't sure what to make of my "ramblings" of 2.0 tools and the benefit they have to the classroom.

I still wanted to do what was best for my students, so I set up an account on Edublogs and began blogging with my students. A few weeks later, Chris was doing a random "walk through" and was waiting in my office for the class to leave. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he heard the word "blog" because he wanted to implement these tools in the district as well. That was the beginning of our vision to transform the district. ||

=Feedback= (Insert below)