I recently attended a conference. Yes, I did a presentation but I really went to go to the well, to refresh myself with new ideas and new viewpoints.
When people present different viewpoints, I have an opportunity to better examine my own views. When a teacher tells how her first grade students use a wiki for literature study, I am confronted with my belief that wikis are for older students, a belief that I did not know I had.
I like to take someone’s idea and extend it or elaborate on it. For example, a person talked about a website that offered assistance to students at various points in the learning. I began to think of how I can build help into student material such as handouts or PowerPoints.
What well have you gone to recently (talking content with a colleague, exploring a topic on the web, reading a professional journal, viewing an educational show or a Youtube video on the topic)? How have your let yourself grow due to this experience? Be refreshed and a better educator!
My daughter (Kindergarten) has been watching me put together a web site for “Three Canoes” (a consulting group that I am forming with Mike Heroux and Janice Smith). She is surprisingly aware of the
Internet and noticed the disconnect between the name of our group and what we do (“help people with school computers” is as close as I can get).
The funny thing is that she says that she would like to make a website too, except her site would be named “Daffodils and Dumplings” and she would write about them.
I wonder if she could use a wiki with my help. She has surprised me by learning Debian Linux well enough. I’ll let you know what happens.