It's 5 (a.m.) O'Clock Somewhere...

Waking this morning to a migraine forced me to address my stress. While there is much to life, and mine is full, some concerns float about technology issues at school. I am unsure how to blog my recent reflections. A great deal of turmoil, stress, and conflict have smacked the technology ping-pong ball around making it more like an electron in an agitated atom.


Basically, we want progress, and when it comes our way, we question it. Old patterns emerge and cause strange anxiety. So, progress that is handed to us causes us to grab on and hold tightly to it, and just -hold on to it. We really want to embrace it and use it, but hesitations of those old patterns have us freezing like a deer in headlights. As the headlights come closer, we rear up and start kicking instead of simply stepping one direction or another.
The question becomes how to engage the afore mentioned deer. Does one push the deer out of the way, shoving it to where we think it needs to go? Entice the deer to step to the other side, or just move to a different spot on the road of progress? Let it stand there and doing nothing, allowing the deer to do or die, while only increasing the anxiety and fretting? Step on the accelerator (bringing progress even faster), thus forcing a result?
The deer is interested in something on that path; it wandered there, even if aimlessly, into progress's path. That is good. I know there is a "greener pasture" with better tasty nibblies for that deer just a little further down the road---and even on the same side of the road; no crossing to the other side is necessary! The deer would love it in this new little meadow of delight; it just has to get there. I could lead it through the forest, but it has to trust me first, to follow. Even then, it runs to the street and gets caught in the headlights. Once there, we are in heightened awareness and anxiety and fear and reacting and panicked and and and.
So, that's where we are with some of this progress, deers running into a street at night. Progress continues. Innocent deer, nature, progress, and little helpers hoping to help the deer stay alive and find that magnificent meadow just a bit further down from the already eaten bare meadow full of hunters the deer currently lives.
The first question then is: are you the deer, the driver, or the helper?
And, then, what are you going to do?

Blog-success!

Wonders of wonders did my E102classupdates (link in side margin here) blog take off! I had students ask questions via the blog post ASK QUESTIONS here by way of comments. I then responded, in the hopes that students would look at other questions/answers before leaping with their question if it is already answered. Ideally, I hoped to save time in 1:1 q and a, when all students could benefit from the dialog. Sure enough, the blog found success! Big time! The night before the paper was due, several students really took advantage of the q/a format and got help from me while working on their papers. Better, they helped one another, in answering questions, and in support when "I'M FREAKING OUT!" was posted. The support and sharing was a delight to see for me. And the mad typing, while time consuming, had me excited for them. I know the comments helped them, a great deal. For now, it took a chunk of extra time for me, but 1. helped them much, 2. encouraged student: student help, 3. provided a sounding board, 4. can be used and modified for time streamlining next time.
In contrast, my juniors had the same situation offered on my e302 blog site, but did not take advantage nearly as much, nor did they really engage in helping one another. Interesting in that they all had the same introduction from me into using it; however, I did not have a class period with the juniors where I would only answer questions in the computer lab from the blog site (since the juniors did not have the computer lab available as a class). I guess it has to be started there.