Like A Wrecking Ball
The future of education puts me in awe. The possibilities I see with technology, while scary and overwhelming, make me feel giddy inside, like a kid on Christmas morning. I am invigorated by the challenges of transforming learning for our future and I am equally as blessed to work for a district that anticipates and thoughtfully tackles the changes ahead of us.
Some very exciting opportunities have come up the last couple of days. Through my Google+ group for Google Education Hangouts, I’ve located a teacher to pair up with one of our own CHS English teachers. I don’t know how it will go and honestly the three of us have never even done this before. On Tuesday, we are planning on doing a Google Hangout to just get the kids in each others’ classes introduced to one another. And did I mention the class is in Ontario, Canada??? Talk about tearing down the walls! The unit will be over exploring themes in The Great Gatsby. I guess I need to dust off the ole’ novel and get reacquainted with the content.
I am very proud of our teacher for stepping up and volunteering to participate in this little experiment. Mrs. Hancock has a flair for eccentricity and this type of collaboration is far outside lots of educators’ boxes. I fully expect edges and boundaries to be pushed on both the student and teacher side, but I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow with my peers and our students.
I want this to work. I want it to work because I BELIEVE this is where education is going. I anticipate the students being as reinvigorated about learning as I am about teaching. I also want them to have the experience of meeting people and making lasting connections with others outside their small scope of influence. The world is such a big, big place but we have such an amazing opportunity with the internet to take our children to the farthest corners of the Earth. Ignorance can be stomped out by knowledge and experiences. One lesson at a time.
This is so exciting Stephanie! I too believe that when students can connect beyond the walls of the classroom, they can be inspired to take their learning to a different level. It will be awesome to see how the students from both schools are inspired in this project! Yes, it is new. Yes, the students will not know how to make it work at first. However, all involved will grow through the project! This is exactly what connecting through the Internet is all about…providing the opportunity for students to communicate, collaborate, problem solve, and reflect with students beyond their campus walls!
I hope to do Google Hangouts live for the collaboration to show teachers how easy and fun they can be. It’s that buy in piece. When everyone sees how awesome it is, they are just all going to want to do it!