Getting Started

I don't know about the "pinky swear" part Chris mentioned and I would have called it a "pinky promise" as this blog is destined become a public document as our notoriety grows, but the rest is pretty much how I remember it too. A healthy sense of fear mixed with a big dose of excitement.

Being at least a decade older and not blessed with Chris' mental dexterity, I certainly had more reason to be nervous. The first thing I had to do was to be honest with myself -- in most cases the students will know more about and certainly be less intimidated by the technology we are using than I. However, this fact doesn't need to be intimidating. I have other things to bring to the table!

As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, "Not all who wander are lost!" I hope that is true in our case. Let the journey begin!

What Did We Get Ourselves Into?

Last year, Craig and I stumbled into the opportunity to "pilot" a classroom full of MacBooks for a year.  I teach Grade 7 Mathematics and Craig teaches Grade 7 Social Studies and after a pinky swear over a cup of coffee one morning, we decided to jump into this together.  At the beginning of this school year, I suddenly realized that I was actually terrified, "but in a good way", as I put it.  It suddenly dawned on me that while this would be an exciting year, it would also be a year full of uncertainty as we tried to juggle our curriculum, working with our colleagues, having great ideas fail...and the list went on.

The other day, Craig came up with the idea to blog about our experience.  Not only as a way to journal our  "adventure", but also as a way to share with one another and our larger school community.  Plus, he also promised that we would be internet sensations within a month - we have 30 days left to go.