Welcome Grade 6s

Hi
I am pretty excited about teaching you about blogging. I am no expert, but I have learned that one learns more by teaching others. (Yeah, you thought it was all about you, didn't you?)
A year ago I want to a Principal's conference. The topic was technology. I was asked to introduce the guest speaker. The problem was his topic was "Blogs, Wikis and Twitter," and I didn't know what any of those things were. I had to Google them (I knew what Google was) before I could write my introductory speech. How embarrassing. I was inspired by the speaker, Will Richardson (you should Google him, he has some interesting things to say about education and technology) and decided that I would take on his challenge to become more "googleable."
I decided I would learn to Blog. My goal was to learn one new thing about Blogging every day all summer. I did that, and I discovered some pretty neat things -- about blogging, about the power of Internet 2.0 and about myself.
I discovered (or re-discovered) how much I enjoy writing. When I was younger (much younger...) I wrote alot -- at school and at home for fun (imagine that!) As I got older I kind of lost that as I got busy with being a "grown up." When I blog a few minutes a couple of times a week I get back to that creative side of me that has lots to say (some would say "lots to say about nothing"). Secondly, I was ridiculously excited about learning something brand new; something "scary" that I thought was beyond me. It's a powerful thing to realize you are capable of more than you imagine. Lastly, I learned that this technology-thing I was avoiding opens up so many possiblities -- in life and for teaching. I can't wait to figure out what else I can learn about that I can bring into the school. Wouldn't it be amazing to have wireless and ipads for everyone. Imagine the possibilities of that kind of classroom!