Once again I'm going to start posting on my blog - HMPH.
Yes, I have tried this many times on many blogs - here, as well as elsewhere, but it never sticks. It's hard. It shouldn't be, but it is...
I have lots to share, and really I'm not all that afraid of sharing with people I know, but sharing with strangers is not something I can easily do; it's extraordinarily challenging. I know, right, that just doesn't make sense...I'm a TEACHER for crying out loud, isn't talking with strangers a prerequisite?
Yeah, but only for those first few days, and those strangers are just as scared as I am - blogging, on the other hand, it's always strangers. It's that -"talking with strangers" - which keeps pulling me away from blogging.
Am I afraid of offending someone?
Nope. I'm pretty sensitive and aware of even the little issues, although it's possible I might accidentally offend, yet it's never, ever with intent.
Am I afraid of grammar and spelling mistakes?
Yup. I edit my SMS and emails many times before I send them. It's a challenge. My poor kids... when they were in high school, I would not respond unless it was proper sentence structure and spelling. Now, I've let them off the hook - mostly. But, they've been programmed.
Am I afraid of being wrong?
Nope. Please, puhleeze, correct me. It's part of my first day, class introduction: "If I am wrong, and I can guarantee I will be - regularly, fix me! I am not perfect, I do not want to be perfect. It's boring."
What do I talk about?
Well, I've spend a significant amount of time thinking about this...I tend to over analyze a lot. I know I want to stay very focused on my strengths - geek. Although I'm very geeky it only goes so deep... it's more my ability to quickly critically think of the most effective geeky way to accomplish something. Soooo, I think I will stay focus on how to use geek and what geek to use when. Maybe, we'll see.
I'm also going to ignore the fact that I'm technically talking to the world. I'm going to "pretend" I'm talking to people I know, consequently, my dry, sarcastic humor will poke through. Oh joy...
Google defines 'geek' as being someone who is especially devoted to one particular interest. (link)
Step one
In order to be a true Geek one must completely immerse themselves within their chosen Geekery. To clarify, one must wake up at 2 a.m. (or any other random time between 12:45 a.m. and 3:15 a.m.) and do their Geekery for a minimum of 30 minutes which typically will stretch until the alarm goes off.
Step two
Not only must one be completely knowledgeable about every little detail of their Geekery, they must also know all the rumors, politics, and insider dish (who's doing what to whom) about what's really going on. Without this depth of knowledge, one can never converse with other similar Geeks in an intelligent manner. If one struggles in this area, please go hide in a closet - you are a shame to all Geeks worldwide - you may come out once you have redeemed yourself.
Maintenance
Now that one has achieved their coveted status of Geekery, one should start to notice unusual, odd occurrences, such as completely unknown people asking for help with Geek. Obviously to help maintain one's status, one does whatever one can to help which reinforces their status of Geekery. GEEK IS WICKED FUN!!
This past July I finally made the leap and bought myself an iPad 2 for my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me! And still to this day it amazes me the psychological impact my iPad has made on my motivation to "get things done".Being a Geek (yes, that's a capital Geek) teacher, I am constantly teaching, battling, and playing with technology all day, so when I get home, I'm brain-drained. Yet most nights I have piles of homework (grading or planning), so I sit there in my home office with my laptop trying to get things done, trudging along feeling pressured to "just get it done" - not being relaxed, not being creative, not being very positive.Again, being the Geek teacher, I am knowledgeable of all the tricks of getting things done quickly, this program for that, that technique for this, and this website for that - this is not the problem. The problem is the stress of the day following me home and instead of relaxing while being imaginatively clever, I race just to get those things done, no extra thought, no extra tweaking, just get it done.Now, with my iPad, YEAH!, I'm still doing basically the same thing as above (working all day with piles of homework). The difference? I'm not sitting at a desk, I'm home reading, surfing, discovering and when something about work pops into my head I spend time doing that then go right back to reading, surfing, discovering until the next work-something jumps to the front and demands attention.It's all about location. My iPad has freed me from the psychological desk trap and all it means - racing against the bells, quick, before the next interruption, and the dreaded at least it's done. I find my finished products are a little more snazzier which entices the need to share the joy.
The joy?
I highly recommend any tool that frees one from the desk trap.
Ok, I have not met my goal to post. Ah, go figure? It really does take a lot of dedication which I obviously do not have, YET.
There are only six school days left!!! But, of course like most teachers, I really don't get a summer vacation. It's the nature of the beast - especially considering the subjects I teach - which demands a significant amount of attention over the summer.
In other words, I tweak or totally revamp most of the curricula I teach. Technology is not like English or History where most of the information is static. Do not get me wrong; it still takes a clever mind to make English and History interesting enough to get students' invested enough to learn.
But teaching technology is more than how it is taught, it's constantly evolving and updating! AND that requires a lot of dedication to learning new information and incorporating it into the curricula constantly.
For example, English grammar does not change nor does historical events, but in technology software is updated as well as programming languages. Imagine being told that how to make a noun plural is NOT to add an -s to the end but rather to add an -z, AND the signing of the Declaration of Independence really happened in 1676. At least I don't get bored, right?
Since I will be spending a significant amount of time working on curricula this summer, I will share a lot of the new information I discover as well as how those lesson plans are evolving. I'll also share some of those ramblings we all have about who in the heck makes all these changes and WHY!
