C4T #2

Image via WikipediaSee Mary Teach

My first post on the blog of Mary Worrell was on her post called Does the suite make the teacher? Basically, the post delves into the topics of teacher attire (aye-yaye-yaye! Not the business suits!) and the safe use of the internet in classrooms, especially in regards to teacher and student communication outside of the classroom. The topics were very interesting to me personally since I've been wondering lately if I'd have to revamp my entire wardrobe in the next two years (arguably something that could be either fun or horrible) and my current interest in the use of technology in the classrooms. Miss Worrell is currently in The Netherlands and she discussed the attire of teachers there versus teachers here. First: teachers there can wear whatever they want. Second: They're accepted as professionals based on their abilities not clothing. I told Miss Worrell that I thought her points were very insightful (maybe not with those exact words) and thanked her for her thoughts. It's always nice to hear about how things work in other countries, no? I think so. Her other discussion about the "appropriateness" of internet use in class and communication between teachers and students grabbed my attention as well. It is a very hot issue. With careful use of filters and some ground rules for communication, I'm sure that those sort of things can be prevented.

For my second comment on Ms. Worrell's blog, I chose the post called Giving myself room to learn...and my film-making debut. In this blog post, Ms. Worrell describes the process she went through in order to create her first movie using iMovie. Since I also had to do the same thing only a few weeks ago, I felt a connection to her post and realized as I read that she had some of the same apprehensions and realizations about iMovie that I did. Initially we were both hesitant and unsure about the creation of a movie. Just the idea of making a movie sounds hard, but we both soon came to the discovery that iMovie takes all of the hassle and difficulty out of the equation. I ended up having fun making my sentence movie. In my comment on the post, I shared my experience and thanked her for the affirmation of my fears and also for the shared relief. It's amazing how something like the discovery of such a connection can make me feel better about my own insecurities when it comes to new technology.