Creating My Blog/My First Experiences in an Online Class

This is my first experience ever blogging, so I'm not entirely sure how to start. I suppose I will start with a little bio.

I was born in and grew up in Ohio, and I really feel that is a big part of who I am. I moved to New York to go to college in the city, at New School University, where I attended for 2 years. It was a great school that focused on interdisciplinary studies, and was "alternative" in the sense that there were no tests or textbooks. Assessments were through writing, and our readings came from publications in the fields we were studying. I loved it there, but moved on after 2 years. I moved to Fishkill, where I have decided to stay, and eventually started going to the Mount. I finished my degree in English there in 2009. My son Aiden was born in December 2009, and in Spring 2010 I began my Masters program in Adolescent Education. Currently, I am attending classes, working as a substitute teacher in both Beacon and Poughkeepsie, working very part-time in the grocery department at Shoprite in Fishkill, and working at the Office of Distance Education on campus.

This is my first experience in an online course. So far, it is going okay, but it is a little frustrating. I am good with technology, so it isn't so much that I am not able to handle the different ways that we are using technology. For me, it is more that I am so used to the traditional classroom, that it is just frustrating having the entire process changed. We are all having to relearn the way a classroom works, and this is exhausting and time consuming. In the end, I guess it is better that we are learning this now rather than later.

I really would like to incorporate technology into my classroom in some way. Kids today have never known the world without technology--granted, I essentially haven't either, but my life has never been nearly as absorbed in technology as kids I see in schools today. Their daily lives work around cell phones and Ipods, and they are constantly connected to the internet. Technology has become so pervasive, but kids really should also know how to use it in constructive ways. So, if I'm going to teach that, then obviously I'll have to learn it. But my point is, I'm glad in a way that I am going through that process now, rather than trying to figure it out at the same time I'm trying to teach it.

I am excited for the many ways I could possibly use technology. As an English teacher, I will obviously be using it for research and for writing, but I'm hoping to do more. I'm hoping to challenge my students to publish themselves, at least online, and to try to involve themselves in important academic or even political "conversations." Hopefully this class will allow me to more exciting ways to incorporate technology into my classes.