Overwhelmed

I am multitasking tonight, watching The Sound of Music (for the thousandth time, but this time in high definition - incredible!) and reading some of the blogs that I follow.

I read the most recent post in Cathy Nelson's Techno - Tuesday blog and I am overwhelmed at how far behind I feel I am when it comes to the blogoshpere. Many of the blogs that I have been following have been part of the 2.0 world for a couple of years or more!

Anyway, I followed her links to David Jakes' blog. In his most recent post, he wrote about professional learning communities. He blogs about the current impermeability of classrooms today, but writes:

That certainly can be changed, and the tools (blogs, wikis, social networking, RSS, etc.) we have now at our disposal make it doable and achievable, but many things have to fall into place. Teachers have to be willing, the technology must be available, administrators must understand the need, and the school’s climate and culture, which is greatly influenced by the community that the school serves, must be supportive.

Where do we start?

Jakes continues:

Teachers have to learn the tools, learn how to connect and contribute (typically through a blog), learn how to manage time and feeds, learn how to adjust the membership of their learning community, and learn how to accept being criticized when their ideas oppose those of others. Teachers need to see firsthand the benefits of a learning community, and what it means to their personal learning, before it can ever translate successfully to students. To get learning communities to develop and stick, start with teachers.

So this is a start. To all of you with whom I have shared this blog, let's start learning and begin our first steps together. That way, perhaps we won't feel so overwhelmed (or else we'll be overwhelmed together!).

Happy New Year!

photo: we're just a wee bit overwhelmed by being AT CINDERELLA'S CASTLE,http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninjapoodles/2110279618