First Time On

I had heard a little about the blooging that was going on at my school but had no idea what it looked like or what it could do. When our techno wizard at school sat down in my office to describe what she was doing in class, I smiled, I nodded and I humoured her. I was wrong to do the last part. This is an absolutely wonderful idea for this course and for any course. The idea of an interactive on-line journal is amazing.

I am excited about this course and I am dreading it as my technology skills are no where near what they need to be. Seeing the abilities of the rest of the class has been daunting but you are all so ready to lend a hand, I feel confident and comfortable with the whole process.

I have been in education now for 22 years and I have never been so passionate about the whole process since assuming the vice-principalship at Parkside in St. Thomas, Ontario. I started my Masters at the same time and this will be my 10th and final course. It's been a great journey but I look forward to time to myself and with my family.

Education for me is the passion of my life. somebody asked me what I do in my spare time and while it may sound bizarre, I read educational literature. I've got Primal Leadership sitting on my desk in front of me covered in paper and intend to read Goleman's Emotional Intelligence series when that is through.

I am excited about this course in that I am very interested in the use of Media for presenting ideas. This interactive journal would be a great way to move a staff forward on becoming reflective practitioners. The role of dialogue with kids and with staff is critical to building trust in a school and in life. Using blogging within a staff chat room would be a solid idea.

I am going to be creating a powerpoint presentation on effective classroom management techniques which I hope at some time to use with my new staff. My idea is to take it real time in creation in front of the staff and include their ideas for handling issues and running an effective class. I'll have my ideas there but will include theirs as well creating the powerpoint in front of them.

I am interested now as well in the team project with regard to Professional Learning Communities. The technology that is available could be put to great use in data collection, information sharing, identification of resources for teaching and a miriad of other ideas. I look forward to making better use of the technology as the course goes along.

Thanks for joining me. I look forward to comments.

Richard Pincombe