Over Forty Fear

I wonder if some of the resistance to using technology creatively for instruction is really about fear.
Those of us who grew up before remote controls, cell phones and the Internet may be somewhat distrustful of the technology.  It is so dynamic that it is difficult to keep up with - wiki, blog, twitter, browse, all words that didn't exist even 10 years ago.

While some skepticism is healthy - as today's article suggests, we also can't afford, as educators, to ignore technology as a tool to more actively engage all of our students in learning and teach them how to use technology as a tool for themselves.

I am looking forward to learning from the eclectic expertise you all have.  My goal is to become more comfortable with technology myself so that I can model it as I work alongside teachers at my school, using it for staff development and to engage them in conversations.  Ideally, I'd like that to be a jumping off point for their use of technology to build background knowledge, engage reluctant learners and create opportunities for critical thinking through projects that demonstrate understanding and expand to encourage synthesis, analysis and creativity.    Hmmmm.... I don't mean that this will happen tomorrow, but it's a long term ideal.