To blog or not to blog…
I read this phrase among the web sites I visited these past days on my research about the blog concept and blogging project for the UNAM Diplomado, it captured my attention because I think It’s the daily dilemma we all have to face in the new “just try it culture”. (Do I try this new teaching concept and see what happens? Or: why should I try new things if the traditional way I’m teaching seems to work fine for me?...
And trying out is what I’ve been doing since last Friday at blogger.com in order to create my blog, after my first try failed with a Spanish blog, I finally could create one in English!!!! (Thanks to my teacher Erik!).
And my homework for this week and Diplomado's new project is called: Ileana Says…Title suggested by my oldest son Juan José (17), “because you are going to say stuff to others, aren’t you?”, he said to me, and I think I will do… but more than only saying (posting) my ideas, I expect more that others (friends, former colleagues, actual colleagues, teachers, my “foreign daughters”…) also say (post) stuff (comments, ideas, links, related topics…) because with this interaction of opinions and comments, all of us can get ideas, tips and tools that help us all to improve our teaching skills (specially me, a total “digital immigrant”!).
I’m still doing a lot of web-research and checking other teachers blogs to learn all the possibilities this resource can offer for the teaching practice, so hopefully in my next post, I’ll come out with some practical ideas to make my blog a useful teaching-learning tool for me, my friends and students.
By the way, another nice reflection I found searching blogging concepts says something like this: One on the wonderful aspects about teaching is that you are also always learning new ways better teaching your students… What do you say about this?...
Dear Ileana,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I am so happy you could set this up, and even more after reading your post. Central to our debate regarding technology and education is the (inherent) never-ending nature of learning for us, teachers, and our willingness to give new (teaching) tools a try.
As you accurately mention, this can be a cumbersome experience if you regard yourself as a 'digital immigrant'. But you should go over the psychological limitations that such label imposes on you: if you keep researching, criticising, and trying new things you will be on the right path. There is no such thing as 'digital native' or 'digital immigrant' in my opinion, but a continuum in which we constantly move from 'willing to try new stuff' or 'I'm fine the way I am'. In the end, it all goes back to the 'good teacher' concept, which we know is a person who is constantly seeking for opportunities to become better. If someone is reluctant about using technology in their professions, that's respectable, but I do believe that nowadays we have so many things facilitating our job -and ultimately our personal lives.
How thirsty are you for knowledge? How much do you want to try new stuff for your own benefit and that of your students? Those are the questions on the table and we will eventually know the responses.
Congratulations on this achievement!