Wow, technology!

I was trying to get up to date with all the the blogs and feeds I follow and it is a never ending battle. The incredible number of resources jumping up everyday makes it impossible for me to ever be able to explore and experiment with all of them. Just the number of sites that allow for a variety of methods of digital storytelling boggles the brain! How to choose, which is best and how do you find out? I do follow many wonderful people on twitter and really enjoy their amazing output but again, how to keep up? I have resigned myself to the fact that I will miss some amazing things (I am actually expected to work here!) and hope that because so many people post and tweet about the really good stuff I will be able to see it at some point. That does not mean I will actually get to play with it, but maybe I can send it on to someone who will.

I have a friend and colleague at a Catholic school near me, she tries so hard to keep up but she is the technology teacher, tech support person and technology professional development person. There is just not enough hours in the day for her to even begin to explore a lot of what is out there. I am afraid most teachers, even technology teachers are in that boat. There is just so much and way too little time to find out what works best. They just keep trying, following the educational technology leaders and trying to find a way to use just a small piece of what is available. So much of what is new and exciting is not going to get a shot because we are all stretched too thin, so many really wonderful things end up disappearing before they even get exposed to the general population.

I find this both encouraging and disheartening. Wow, the possibilities and at the same time OMG, how to even begin to use this enormous resource. I am blown away by the possibilities, I have a friend, a young ex-coworker in Japan, he went there to teach English a few years ago. In the past we would just have lost touch over time, now he blogs and I can follow him and read all about his amazing experience. I love it! That is the encouraging part, the disheartening part is that in the midst of his life he has so little time! I guess that what we will all experience in life and work in this new age of technology!

Just my random thoughts!

Great TED talk by Gary Flake on Pivot, a new way to look at the web.

Great YouTube video made by a middle school to promote reading!