Where Does Time Go?

It has been a really long time since I have taken the time to post and don't want another minute to get away from me before I publish another post.  I follow so many blogs and see the advantage of blogging even if it is for my own sake.  Time is an issue for all of us.  I am sure I am not the only person who wished they could figure out how to slow time down to really enjoy the moment with friends, family, colleagues and other educators from around the world. I am recommitting to my blog post, even if no one else reads my posts.  It is a great way to post my thinking, record my feelings, reflect on my actions, and record/share my new learning.   

When I left off last spring/summer I was talking about our exciting summer project.  It was a very busy summer and fall as we brought educators around the state/county to work together on the Common Core State Standards Initiative.  It was a wonderful summer of learning.  Even though the time flew and it was very busy I truly enjoyed the time learning from others. 

One of the things we stressed in our summer work was how to work collaboratively with others and learn from one another without needing to be face to face.  We taught, modeled, and utilized technology to help with the massive undertaking of our summer project.  Without technology, I am not sure how we could have accomplished what we did, nor would we be successfully moving forward with the unity we are finding in the county regarding the transformation changes approaching educators across the United States. 

I have become like a child in a candy store.  The more I see and use technology, the more I crave it.  I just love how technology allows us to collaboratively create, share and learn from one another.  I have been doing a great deal of reading around the topic of technology.  Two of my favorites from this fall include Literacy 2.0 Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms by Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Alex Gonzalez; and Creating Digital-Rich Classrooms by Meg Ormiston. I have also purchased and look forward to reading the book Teaching the iGeneration by William Ferriter and Adam Garry.

I am also looking forward to taking an online class this winter through WMU entitled:  Designing Staff Development for Educational Technology.  I really hope this class will stretch me and help me co-create some online learning modules that will assist educators across our county in understanding the new Common Core State Standards, but more importantly help educators in Kent County make the transformational changes that need to occur in education throughout the US.