One of the amazing things about being a edu-blogger is, of course, getting to know the other folks out there who are thinking about and writing about and doing this stuff. Having Will close our planning session with a presentation that was both practical and inspirational was the perfect way to end a really amazing, exhausting and transformative two weeks. I think we all ended up with a sense of how much work we have in front of us, how much work we’ve already done, and how much we could achieve if we don’t allow ourselves to be limited by anything other than our (students, teachers, parents, even principal) own passion, energy, intelligence, creativity and curiousity. In the words of Tom Sobol, "When you have the chance to change the world, don’t screw up." No pressure.

So back to today… we closed our session with Will with the chance to really reflect on our own ideas for technology / new literacy infusion in the classroom.

Here were our prompts for the reflective journal (filled out on Moodle, of course…)

• I want my kids to use computers…
• I need to learn more about …. to facilitate ….
• I worry most about…
• I am most excited about…
• I will want more training on…

What the faculty wrote was amazing, and I may ask some of them for permission to post their entries on here, but for now, here’s my journal entry.

I want my kids to use computers… as a tool for information creation, retrevial and critique. I want them to understand what a communication tools is… how it changes and evolves and how we are in an age of faster change than ever before in human history. I want our kids to understand that they don’t have to be passive receptors of information, but active participants in the information age. I want my kids to read, write, produce, direct, podcast, v-cast, blog… I want them to do all those things critically — understanding that the choices they make when they craft a sentence or put together a series of cuts in a movie affect the way their message is understood. I want kids to have a message, and I want them to use these tools to better craft and publish those messages. I want our students to be able to see themselves as 21st century citizens with the right and responsibility to join in the global conversation in an informed and impassioned way.

I need to learn more about what 1:1 really can mean to facilitate our faculty’s ability to maximize the use of these tools. I need to more about how other schools and teachers are using the tools to keep demonstrating models of what is possible. I need to learn more about the dark side of 1:1 so that we can plan for it, expect it and mitigate it.

I worry most about sustainability. I worry about how much it costs to keep getting these laptops — and I hope that, should the money for the $1500 laptop run dry, we’ll be ready to use the $100 laptop.

I am most excited about watching the amazing and thoughtful group of teachers that comprise the SLA faculty use these tools in powerful and new ways. I am most excited about seeing them share their ideas with students… and seeing students share their ideas with us. I am most excited about seeing all of us blog about what we learn and, with luck, become a model that other schools can follow.

I will want more training on… new ways to continue to look at these tools to make our school more efficient… more democratic… more transparent… I will want to keep finding new ways to quickly and easily get information into the hands of the stakeholders (parents, students, teachers, administrators) who need it the most. I will want to keep working to make our school a 24/7/365 school where we all understand that the walls of the school are merely the physical representation of the collective mindscape that is SLA.

(Thanks, Will.)