Resurrection!

After a particularly inspiring morning, I've decided to bring back my blog, in a shiny new format! While I still fully support the open-source concept of idea sharing, collaboration, and dissemination of information, I will now be using this blog to share my thoughts and experiences. Especially in how I relate to technology in the classroom.

I have found a big piece of the teaching puzzle to be missing. We, as teachers, suffer because we must work hard on low-level tasks that are not thought intensive, but merely time intensive. An example that springs to mind is correcting multiple-choice tests. This task requires a significant investment of teacher time, and only asks students to demonstrate recall, rather than higher level thinking such as application or synthesis of information.

If we as teachers are able to change our methods, we can devote more of our time to higher level tasks. Assessing application, developing individualized plans, or coming up with creative ideas to implement in our classroom. If you're a teacher, chances are good you're heavily invested in your students' success. I'm not talking about reducing that investment - merely off-loading some of the work onto tools, and investing our time into other beneficial activities.

As always, I encourage comments, responses, and the adoption of any or all of my ideas for your own use. I only ask that you volunteer your changes and improvements in the same open fashion. We teachers need to work together and support one another, and I believe strongly that we can do this effectively through digital tools.

With utmost sincerity,
James