What will it take to have at least a few teachers consider a classroom blog as a way to do this? As the technology integration person I find that teachers tend to think that I know and love all things connected with computers and I must have some unique way of knowing and learning that would take too much time and effort on their part. I can attend team meetings, create help sheets and screencasts, run support sessions, but it really means more if they hear and see a presentation done by someone who is espousing a technology use who is currently a classroom teacher and thus seems more similar to them. In Kathy’s video and support materials she makes it clear that she is a veteran teacher who has found some new learning tools that are making a difference for her students. I hope that I will find the right opportunity to share her session with some interested teachers of Kindergarten or Grade 1 this year.

At NECC 2007 I had the opportunity to met Maria Knee from New Hampshire who is similar to Kathy in her passion about classroom blogging with her Kindergartners. Last year Maria presented at our Maine Technology conference and was an inspiration to two teachers at the elementary school who then began to use classroomblogmeister with their students. I find that each time a teacher makes that connection with another educator that then leads to new conversations within teams and grade levels about new possibilities. Then they are in a position to ask me for help in learning the tool, whether it is their first slideshow on bubbleshare or maybe a team blog as the first step toward a classroom blog.

Perhaps then I will have some more colleagues who find that as Kathy says, “…nothing has ever inspired & motivated my children to learn like the way that blogs, wikis and podcasts have…”