Lifelong learning

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This is a new venture for me, so I’ll be learning alongside my students with this one – truly demonstrating that we’re all lifelong learners!  I have used a blog before, but because WordPress is blocked in Kazakhstan, I’ve used that as an excuse to discontinue.  The truth is, though, that I do find blogging challenging.  I think of exciting and interesting things to say when I’m about my daily business, or trying to fall asleep at night, but when it comes to writing, I find myself stumped.  I’m sure the students will have the same problems so I’m wondering whether I should always provide writing prompts for them, or whether that would have the counter-effect of them writing to the prompt, rather than writing what they think and feel.  I’m hoping that there will be enough issues raised during the course of the unit to give them (and me) plenty to write about.

I’m finding it a little frustrating that I’ve not had a better response via Twitter regarding other schools to collaborate with.  When I was a school student, I would have found it very exciting to correspond with students in Kazakhstan.  I always had pen pals when I was a kid, although mine were not that exotic: one lived in Milton Keynes and the other in France.  I was living in London at the time.

As we move on, I’m hoping this will be less about me and more about the students.  I can respond to them and to issues that are raised as we go through.  Hopefully they will find it as exciting as me to have a language unit conducted solely through digital media.  It’s hard to tell sometimes with Grade 9 – they can be tiresomely unexcited sometimes!  I hope they prove me wrong and get thoroughly engaged in this.

What I now have to do is investigate how to attach / link this blog to our Wiki and how to put links and images into this blog.