Blogs on Social Media

Do you remember the first staff meeting you ever attended? Did you look around the room and wonder who you might be able to work with in the coming weeks, months or years? I remember and can still feel that same sense of apprehension I had about whether or not I would have an opportunity to collaborate. As my first year progressed I found it easy to collaborate with a couple of teachers in subject areas other than mine but for the most part I was alone -- on my own when it came to learning, growing, and developing into the social studies teacher I wanted to be.

There's nothing like an 8-hour infusion of passionate, creative and focused problem-solving.

I am in Philly for the ISTE 2011 conference, and spent the day at the inspiring prequel to this annual edtech gathering: EduBloggerCon.

In 1763, a royal decree was issued from Great Britain to the North American colonists: Do not?do not!?expand west of the Appalachian Mountains. The colonists resented the proclamation, inferring that the British were trying to contain them along the Atlantic Seaboard where control and taxation could be more easily imposed. The King believed his proclamation to be motivated by good intentions, protecting colonists from instigating any more costly wars with Native Americans, for one. But nothing could stop the westward expansion fever. Frontiersmen had already plundered the fish-rich rivers and fertile lands of the west, unspoiled by settlements and tobacco-ruined soil. No matter how many punishments the King and his court imposed, the rules would be subverted. Unofficially, the revolution had begun.

In 2011, social media is the new frontier. Adolescents are the early frontierspersons because they discovered and embraced social media first.

Yesterday I was wavering on whether or not to go for a run outside. I hadn't run in awhile and for some reason I was concerned that I would not be able to eclipse the two mile mark. The temperature was a balmy 31 degrees and there was still a thin layer of snow covering the ground. All of the variables in play suggested I stay home. As I continued to devise excuses not to run, someone very special in my life simply said, "Just get out there."

This simple sentiment resonated with me.