I know, I know...I had all summer

Is it wise to have a person who is so ADHD teaching kids? Do I sympathise too much when they miss a deadline or do I give them more time than they should have to finish things? What is is about deadlines that can first lull me into complacency and then throw me into sheer panic?

I knew about the conference since the spring. "I will have all summer to gather my information and have it all together," I convinced myself. Even though I have lived with myself for ### years I still have a tendency to believe this brain when it lies to me.

Okay, it wasn't really a lie. I did intend to spend my summer doing many things. I always do. And then it's September and I look at the pile of good intentions that were started, but never finished and think, "Well, I can finish these at Thanksgiving."

Truthfully, I did indeed work on my presentation. I did gather buckets and buckets of ideas and information. I did begin working on a webspiration and I did play with Prezi. But the problem is there's so much information there and from the beginning of the summer to the beginning of the fall more was added. Heck, every day something new comes along. How do you zero in on the good stuff and not waste time on the useless?

Oooo, I know, I know -- you rely on others in your group to help you by sharing their experiences, successes and failures.That's why I'm hoping that I can get some folks to network with me and share their amazing stories of educational wonderfulness. Experienced teachers know when things work and when they don't. We know we've done a great job when we see the lights clicking on in the eyes of our little charges and when we're falling flat on our faces when they just sit and look at you (or when they don't if you're in middle school). So help us all out -- do tell.

More on getting ready for Trinity

I've been working away at trying to get my poor dislocated brain to settle down and focus. It's hard when there's so much stuff and so little time. Yesterday I got a confirmation from the Diocese and found out that I can't use my own laptop. Yikes!!!! At first I felt panicky, however, the more I think about it, the more I realize I can use some of the stuff I'll be talking about. We'll see what happens.
Just what I need, more challenges (opportunities for growth). That's a Pollyanna statement if I've ever heard one.
The grandboys are in the living room with their laptops playing Roblox -- again. I'll talk a little about that at the conference.

Getting ready for Trinity

Although it's a brave new world of web 2.0 many of the teachers I know are having a hard time trying to adapt to it, especially those of us who can remember the Beatles or even the Talking Heads. We are the digital immigrants trying to teach digital natives. I'm beginning to hate the terms, however, at workshops and conferences I've notices that the 20-something teachers are having no problems wrapping their brains around what's being discussed or presented. They're blogging and podcasting and uploading to Nings while I'm still trying to find a place to set my coffee down so I can get my laptop out.

I didn't even get into technology until I had already had a 25+ year teaching career behind me in music education. It was all accidental. I can't remember exactly when I bought a Gateway laptop for myself, sometime in the late 90's -- the purpose was to use Finale for music composition and arranging for choirs. When the principal saw me walking around with a laptop she assumed that I knew something about technology and asked me to teach PowerPoint to a particularly unpleasant group of 8th graders that no one else wanted to deal with. So without any knowledge or experience I ventured into the realm of technology education.

The day I discovered the joys of teaching technology was the day I made several other discoveries...
1. Most of the people I met back then at conferences and workshops were either:
a) former music teachers on their second careers or musicians
2. Most of the kids who really took off with the class were the most ADD kids on the block.
3. The possibilities for creativity were endless

So putting two and two together I concluded that technology and music (and ADD) are a natural fit -- no, not because of a tendency to do math well (please! not all musicians can do math even though some people think it's mystically connected), but because it stimulates the part of the brain, the part that's most ADD, that part that wants to create, find, gather, synthesize, consume, multitask, and hyperfocus. All these things came naturally to me.

Why I love teaching technology:
I could never sit still as a kid. My mother got tired of hearing "she can do the work, I've seen her do it" when she saw another poor grade. I was not a test-taker. I was unable to read books in black and white with small print because the words all jumbled together. Dates meant nothing because I couldn't connect them with anything I've experienced. School was a nightmare for me both in the classroom and socially. Teachers would call me out of the room just to scream at me for some reason that I still can't figure out. I didn't fit in. It wasn't until college when I began to attend study groups that I discovered that I wasn't so stupid, in fact, I was beginning to get A's.

Back then we were taught to teach the same way as our teachers taught -- but when you are in music education there's a lot more room for self-expression and creativity. Teaching is so much different now. If I were a kid today I think I'd have a fighting chance at success in school because there is so much more available for "different learners." When I see that kid coming into the classroom and sit by him/herself with a sad expression, when I see them begin to squirm or fidget, when they start to go off into another world -- that's me. And I am ready for them.

So watching some Youtube videos about web 2.0 and the future of education makes me smile because of the realization that change is coming - it's already here. The linear, black and white, gotcha, sit still and shut up era of the classroom is starting to go the way of the bag phone. The brave new world is being created at such a fast pace that even I can't keep up -- but the kids, the digital natives, they're having no problem. Teaching in a Catholic School is different. Taking classes online with teachers from around the country has opened my eyes to problems in the public sector that we, thankfully, do not have to deal with yet. However, we have things to overcome, too. Most of us weren't taught to teach in a Catholic School. We've had to adapt.So here's the reason I've started a Ning. I want to share with other teachers of the diocese about successes they've had, resources they've found, ideas for classroom integration. I think it will be useful for everyone.

Dearest Microsoft

(I jumped on a sweepstakes to go to NECC from Microsoft. Sure it's in driving distance, but in these troubled economic times even the gas money is dear.)

Microsoft, it was you who brought me into the technofold by showing me the wonders of PowerPoint and Word. It's you whom I spend my days trying to get kids to be happy and comfortable with you.

And it's you and your great applications that keep me from jumping on the Apple bandwagon with it's promises of educational ease and no worries.

Could you do more for me? Probably. You are really putting forth an effort to reach teachers and I applaud you for it.

If I were to ask one thing of you, it would be to help me teach the little ones, the children still trying to wrap their fingers around a mouse. You have a lot of great apps for high school and college age students, but I want my primary kids to be able to comfortably use the tools you gave us and have the tools grow with the kids. I want them to be able to use them for creativity that will enable them to be the next movers and shakers of the world. That's it.

Got through so far...

Got through the triduum and now the Easter Season. This week we have our visit from the middlestates team. Hope it all goes well.

Yikes! That was really depressing.

I just reread the post from Saturday. Hokey smokes! I guess I was a little depressed at the time. What happened after that was nice, though, because I got to play for a retreat at the diocese and got a bit of a spiritual booster shot in time for Holy Week. It was conducted by Father Luis Rodriguez and he really rocked it. I think every "cradle" Catholic should have to go through RCIA. There's some good stuff.
Tomorrow I have to go to a conference at the diocese and learn about how to protect the school's network from unscrupulous employee blogs and nasty searches. Sounds like fun. Oh, well.

Stupid, stupid brain

It's Saturday morning and I've been up since 5:15 -- the time I get up every day. I'm waiting for 8:00 so I can call Jinny (my sister) ((the one with cancer)) and catch up. We talked on Tuesday and she's right--the cancer dominates and colors everything, every conversation, every memory, every plan. I think about calling Jinny and the second thought is, "I wonder how much more time I'll have to do this."

Damn internet. Damn modern life. It's too easy to find out things you don't want to know. It's too easy to lose focus. I teach information skills and I'm beginning to think I'm being overloaded with it. Perhaps I should join the fundamentalists and move somewhere I can get all this junk out of my house.