A Captive Audience-----Run, Run, Run!

I'm attending a conference, which shall remain nameless.  After the initial opening ceremony speeches I was once again motivated on doing what is best for kids---putting aside my ego and my wants and needs and putting my energy and effort into making instruction and lessons better for kids.  And then....... the first session I went to was AWFUL!  I've only left 3 professional sessions/workshop early in my entire career and this was number 4!  Not at all what it was advertised as and only promoted a specific website.  Unfortunately, I was seated at a front table and there was no way I could sneak out gracefully.  After enduring for the first hour, I looked behind me and saw that others had the same idea as me.  Half the room was now empty.  I took a deep breath, packed up my stuff, stood up and turned around to find the presenter standing right behind me!  She asked, "Are you leaving?"  I softly said, "Yeah." and walked out.  I didn't explain why I was leaving and that may have been rude, but......
This is the way some of our students feel some of the time they are in our classrooms!  Unfortunately for them, they are a captive audience---they can't pick up and leave!  How much do we engage them? Are our lessons relevant to them?  Do we differentiate for them?
I reflect on a lot of my lessons where I was frustrated with the students lack of attention, their lack of enthusiasm, their....... I take ownership for being the reason why!

Gotta love my parents!

I went to my parents house--the wonderful farm where I grew up---to help my dad with some "tech" issues he was having.  I walk into the house with my Macbook computer, my iPad, my iPod Touch, and my new iPhone.  My parents have a Macbook laptop and desktop---that I purchased for them---but they barely know how to use.  I'm not criticizing by any means, but it does remind me that there are many people out there, including my family, who could really care less about all this "computer stuff" as my mom calls it.  I spend an hour with dad working on his spreadsheet issues and another hour showing mom how to import photos from her digital camera and then how to attach photos in an email.  We had at least three pages of written step-by-step instructions on how they "should" be able to do it on their own.  I have to smile when mom says she doesn't need to learn this because if she wants it done, it can wait until the next time I come home.  She says she has lived 67 years without this stuff and hopefully she'll live another 67 without it also.  Their life revolves around each other and all the farm work, while mom says that my life is revolving more and more around my tech "things."  I have to agree with her.  I'm always excited to see what is new on Facebook or Twitter or on all the RSS feeds that I receive-----and then I spend even more time exploring all the things I've been introduced to while reading everything.  It's a vicious cycle.  So, at least while I'm at the farm, I'll disengage myself from all these tech things and just enjoy the simple life, the non-digital life, that my parents enjoy every single day.  I'm sure I'll spend hours and hours when I get home catching up on everything!

Vacation?

I'm SUPPOSED to be on vacation.  That means getting the house cleaned, organizing my closet, playing with my daughter, shopping, taking naps etc..., right?  That was my intent when "vacation" started.  The reality is that I'm spending time on Twitter, Facebook, reading blogs, eating popcorn, checking email, playing with my daughter, reading more blogs, rechecking Twitter and Facebook, reading educational articles/blogs, ..... I am so excited about all the things that I learned at ISTE and all the sites that I have been exposed to that I can say I'm almost addicted to this laptop and its contents!  I looked at the clock this afternoon and saw that I had been on the computer for 2 HOURS straight!!!  I didn't even keep track of the time I spent on it this morning and again this evening.  Balance---that's what I need.  Actually I need to connect with some of my friends and talk "work"---maybe that will get some of this out of my system. Is it bad when you love what you do so much that you'll even do it on vacation?  Maybe I need to revise my idea of "vacation."

Let's Get Started

This blog is meant to be a place of reflection--- a place for the multitude of questions I have, a place for observations I make while collaborating with my colleagues, and a place to collect all my "squirrel" thoughts that inundate my brain on a regular basis.  Join me in reflecting on....well, just reflecting on anything!