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.