Spring has Sprung: fresh ideas forming from under a frozen mindset

So...it's been a while...a long and embarrassing while. I have not posted a blog in two - not days, weeks or months - years! I can't say I ever really started. I could come up with a list of excuses. I am a blogophobe. I don't know what to write. I don't think it would matter if I did write. Who's going to read it anyway? The list goes on and on. But after reading so many inspirational blogs about people's passion for education (I have @danikabarker to thank, for one) I stopped making excuses.

A pedagogical popsicle

As Spring has started to show itself (and only begun as it has gone from raining on Sunday to -14 as I write this), I am inspired to 'turn over a new leaf' in my pursuit of personal growth. After attending yet another phenomenal OTF conference this February I felt it was time to get off the proverbial couch of excuses and start making headway in my quest to build my PLN and really expand myself so I could in turn help my students expand their horizons. I've met so many amazing people through these PD sessions and I will be forever grateful to them for the constant support I receive in 140 characters or less :) via Twitter.

Spring thaw...

While I have used wikis for three years now I feel like a phony. I wanted to incorporate technology in the classroom so I began wiki pages for my classes. They were little more than a homework board with an occasional link to some web articles or videos. I realized how limited my use of technology was if I was just using my class site for homework. Now, I look to my Twitter network for ideas and inspiration. I go to conferences and read as much as I can handle while balancing marking and lesson plans. I started a page on the wiki last year strictly dedicated to Web 2.0 tools that I thought my high school English students would find useful. In my own development, I try out at least one new thing a week and hope to add to my teaching toolbox so that I can help my students in some way to better move through this ever changing world that is in front of them. I don't know what their future will look like but I can certainly try to help them navigate it by exposing them to critical thinking tools and the wealth of information that exists at their fingertips.

Is that a hint of green under the snow?

My mind is a buzz! New ideas overwhelm me as I read tweet after tweet, blog after blog, and try to absorb all the fabulous musings I heard from Will Richardson and Garfield Gini-Newman. Does it mean using everything I've learned about technology or every tool that's tweeted my way? No. But it means taking risks. And if I don't take risks in my own learning then I certainly can't expect them to take any great leaps. If a lesson flops at least I'll know what works and what doesn't. What matters is I'm not afraid to try anymore and I'm not limiting myself to the tools that exist in the walls of the classroom. No more excuses. No more running from the blog. It's time for me to put myself out there and take a risk. I am already feeling the benefit as I sit and write this. I have let the thoughts move from head space to cyberspace. Well, here goes 'something'.

Here's to spring: a chance for (my) new growth.