Thing #10

WOW! Feeling a little overwhelmed!  Trying to get 6 Things done in one week has been hard because there is so much to look at and do BEFORE you can blog!! It's Saturday morning and I'm on #10 with two left to do (let's not mention a PERSONAL life).  I've really enjoyed zooming around the web and subscribing to different RSS feeds and blogs of other technology information.  I guess some of my frustration with all this is that my mind wanders back to "how can I incorporate this" and "what am I teaching next that I can do NOW!" It's hard to stay focused on THIS class and not think about my third grade class!  I had already subscribed to The Cool Cat Teacher blog early during Thing #3 or so.  I really liked Free Tech for Teachers and Dangerously Irrelevant, so I subscribed to them too.  I think my main problem (and this could be my age) is trying to (slowly) change from all textbook to technology and being able to meet and master my state standards.  I also fear that I may be doing SOME injustice to my students because they may LIKE what I'm doing and other teachers are NOT attempting to learn all this and they will be forced back to textbooks.  Is it wrong to make learning fun and interesting for 180 days and send them back to boring textbooks?  I'm feeling guilty and confused.  The other question that comes to mind, is it fair to make my teaching easier and less stressful because I am fortunate enough to have a smartboard and projector in my class and two other teachers on my hall don't have anything yet?  I'm sorry if you got sucked into my ranting....but comment back to me, I'm really interested in hearing your challenges with all this!!

On to the assignment, I can definitely see how reading my feeds and staying up on technology will be very beneficial to my class and me.  I just wish there was more time during the day to sit and explore and read and try it out!!  I also need to get back into my classroom and try out some sites on my school computer so I can determine whether they are blocked or usable.