Do you wanna build a snowman? I mean...do you wanna be a NOW-ist?

The more I read and listen to the links that Dr. H posts, the more I feel like I am doing such a disservice to my kids. I'd like to think that I'm a good teacher. No, not a great teacher. But sometimes after listening to these videos, I realize how much better I still need to do. I do think that is what will , hopefully, one day, make me a great teacher. I see my weakness and now I want to grow from that. If there's one thing that I have learned and will forever take away from this course, is that incorporating technology into a classroom does NOT mean you are teaching in a blended learning envirnoment. It's gotten to the point where I want to add that to my signature at the end of my work emails. I want to shout it to the world. I feel like most of the teachers in my district believe this exact thing though, and to some extent, it's not their fault. This is what our higher ups insinuate. "Incorporate technology!" It would not take me long to go find our "Monday Memo" and show you where this is said every single time. What isn't being said is how to do that productively. What isn't being mentioned is that it's not as simple as it sounds. I think what it should be replaced with is, "Is your technology creating a learning environment?" Just to take it a step further, the "is" should be replaced with "how"' and then we'll see what answers are given.

I will be honest, being a now-ist scares me. I'm afraid of failure. I promise I have countless posters hanging up in my classroom telling my kiddos to be otherwise, but I am a down right hypocrite. I am what Joi encourages us not to be. I wait to see if it's done correctly. I wait to see what others have done so I know what direction to take or not to take. I am the student that meshes into the background for fear of standing out and having to say something that might actually be wrong. Now, the teacher in me reassures myself everytime, "But that's the fun part in learning. That is learning. You are not failing, you are feeding forward. You learned something from that wrong answer," but if you've read any of my other posts you will remember the self critic in me tries to win every time. I want to get better at this! I want to "walk the talk." I want to show my kids that this is what happens when you "fail." I have a feeling this program is going to teach me a thing or two more than JUST technology.🤔