What 'fits' for me in the here and now

BRAIN OVERLOAD!

How often do we go to courses, learn and see the AMAZING, know that we want a piece of that in our rooms and schools but can't quite get there?  Well that is exactly how I have felt for the past few weeks.   The idea is there but my mind just can't make the connections.  
Here is my little story of frustration and the AHHA moment when I solved it the best way I could.

The challenge for this week was to create a classroom monitoring portal.  A what?   Well that's certainly how I felt and even after doing some reading I am still very foggy about just what I am trying to achieve.

What I do understand?
A CMP is a 'pull' technology where information comes to the learner.  It is a place where RSS feeds, emails, Wikis, blogs etc all meet in one central location around a central theme that you have initiated.

What am I trying to achieve?
In the ideal world our students will not only be global citizens they will be digital citizens. In fact you really can't be one without the other.   To be a digital citizen one must be able to use a range of technologies and tools to communicate globally.   The idea is simple and I can see the big picture and where this could head for our small rural school.
I want the students of WSS to use the technology we have to communicate with the world around them.  I want them to see the big picture.     


What's stopping me?
Well its a little like a 5 year old starting school and being expected to read Yellow books straight away.  It's all about realistic expectations, sound systems, pedagogy and sustainability.
I don't want to start a whole lot of something that I can't keep going or is ultimately relying on me to drive it.    Yes you need a pioneer but you also need others to come on the journey with you with the ultimate hope that they will get the vision and run ahead.

I am not sure of just how we will use a CMP when as a class we are not yet using some of the obvious things like wikis, blogs, RSS feeds.    (don't be too judgmental - we only got a website 18months ago and last year we set up E-portfolios)

I have the big picture but not the steps to get there yet.  Yes I am happy to learn off others and if readers are able to help me expand on my classroom monitoring portal then I am willing,ready and able.  BUT for right here, right now this is my small step towards the big picture.

What am I going to do?
When I looked into a website host I chose to go with a company called SPIKE - spike has a simple userface and great technical support - it also is a one stop shop in terms of e-portfolios, blogs and learning caves. They are not as technical as others but they are in one location which is an important consideration on parents, teachers and staff.

So I am going to set up and work with the big kids to add to a Learning cave.    A learning cave is password protected (this is very important to our community HERE and NOW)  and will give our students the chance to make the first step and start participating and developing their knowledge of digital citizenship.

So it isn't what the challenge required but if I look at the 'Becoming a  flat classroom project' as an inquiry then we are on the path.  We are looking at what we know and what we want to find out and taking the so what step.

Its about the HERE and NOW.   It is about teacher sanity and student engagement.    It is about realism and admitting that you are not on the same page as everyone else.
We are the tortoise in this story - SO watch out world here we come, one small step at a time