In all the writing we do about 21st Century tools and new ways of learning, it’s important to remember that, in the end, it’s still about the personal connections we make. It’s about connecting with our students, sharing our passion for learning with them, and sharing their energy and their ideas.

One of the tenets behind my pedagogy is the ethic of care as exemplified by the writingsde Nel Noddings. She speaks powerfully about creating caring institutions, and at SLA, one of the ways that manifests itself is right in the job advertisement where we state "We believe we teach students before we teach subjects." And then we try to live that every day.

In my own professional life, that has had the added benefit of staying in touch with many of the students I have taught over the years. Tonight, one of them — Jessie — is in town because she has a job interview tomorrow. One of the real joys of teaching has been seeing some of those teacher-student relationships develop into adult friendships as the kids have gotten older.

And of course, technology has made it easier to stay in touch with those folks — you should see my IM Buddy list — so there’s your link back to School 2.0. But it’s true — one thing that I have to be patient enough to wait four years for is building a wonderful alumni network for SLA-ers to stay involved at school. At Beacon, kids kept their accounts, and many alumni still write on the Beacon forums and take the time to stay involved in the community.