In an ever-growing attempt to acquaint myself in the digital land, I have decided to use part of my winter break navigating twitter. Still flush with my one on one tutorial with a fellow colleague, Wendy Beamish, I felt I could tackle what felt like a massive stream of information, words, provocative phrases, rabbit holes, insights, white noise and meaningful connections.
A friend had repeatedly invited me into the social media foray but it had all felt like too much work and information and just one more thing piled on to the vice principal plate. It wasn’t until the pile of student discipline utilizing social media hit a certain tipping point – another blog entry conversation – that I finally decided to ask a colloeague for my “Twitter for Dummies” tutorial.
So, having borrowed from Wendy and Gino’s list of followees, I began my mornings taking a look at the steady streams of conversations and points of interest. I click onto a stream that leads me to 10 apps every teacher should have in the classroom and hmmm, I bet you my sister would like this one so I forward her the link on the ancient convention of email as she has not decided yet to enter the foreign land of twitter. I go back and click on to15 apps every teacher should have in the classroom, top 10 blogs of the year and oh there is something about Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber smooching at an airport, I have to check that out.
I go back and check another reference to an article on sustainable homes and notice a great article on solar panels. I make a mental note to pass the article on to others I think would enjoy it but have already been diverted to the traffic report that chronicles ice and big back ups on my commute route. I move on to get a closer look at an education profile and blog. I have now lost the reference for the article on solar panels and forget to send it out.
Oh! Kim Kardashian is pregnant! Ew! I have to check out the dress, and hmm, there is another link to check out other outfits. Awesome!
Yada, yada, yada, two hours later I am rushing off to my yoga class where I try to undo some of the frenetic zapping and fatigue that has my poor middle aged brain on overload.
It is, as my colleague phrased it, like being in an arcade, feeling the adrenaline rush of the ping ping ping, having some kind of experience, but not terribly clear if I have learned something.
It is an act of discipline to go beyond the quick phrases and dig deeper, reading all the way to the end of the article and complete the mental through line. And I am finding that culture of distraction, which is part of the landscape in the digital land that I slowly enter, tiring.
When I went to Mexico City and studied a Masters level course in Spanish, I remember my head hurting from the overwhelm of trying to learn well outside my comfort zone. I remember feeling exhausted but at some point my brain switched over and I was able to understand and speak with a greater fluency. I no longer left the class exhausted, with an aching head.
I am not sure if my brain will ever switch over. For now, I am working at learning to immerse myself in this digital cosmos and see if I can better understand my students and maybe contribute and improve my teaching and administrative practice.