Monday Musings - September 8, 2014

One of my favorite parts about blogging is that it is very easy for me to look back at my reflections to see if I've continued to grow, or even just to be reminded that different challenges tend to come (and then go) during different parts of the school year.  As I looked back to my Monday Musings post from the 2nd week of school last year to decide what to write about, I decided I'd like to just post it again. Call it cheating if you want, but I think it's important to be re-shared as we are continuing to learn new technology again (with your new macbooks, Apple TV's and new apps or even just refreshing ourselves on MAP testing)...

Image from Venosdale

I've always felt pretty tech savvy...I love learning about what new web 2.0 tools or iPad apps are out and I catch on pretty quickly.  I feel like that all changed when I got my new laptop a few weeks ago...it was only 5 minutes after Brad brought me my new device that I called his office to ask "how do I scroll?" Yes, you heard that right, I couldn't even scroll down on a webpage.  Go ahead and laugh (I know I did).  You were all witness to my lack of skills with this MacBook Pro in our first staff meeting when I couldn't get anything to work right.  After a couple of weeks with it now, I am getting used to it, but still turning to google, youtube or "phone a friend" almost daily to learn how to do things that are different than on a PC.  I am also learning really neat features that I could never do before.

Why do I share this with you? Because I know that, for some of you, going 1:1 with iPads might feel the same way.  I know that it's hard to say "don't worry," but I do encourage you to not be afraid of them and model your learning for your students.  As teachers, we don't have to be the experts of everything that gets imparted to our students.  When we show students that we don't always know how to do something, but learn until we figure it out, we are modeling for them exactly what lifelong skill we want them to have.  

I know I've said this in a previous Monday Musings post, but want to share it again:

We do not have to be experts at the tools...we have to be experts at learning and show students what it is like in real life to not know the answer or not know how to do something. To be successful in life you need to know how to find it out. Or as Will Richardson says we have to be able to "learn, unlearn and relearn."