As the journey turns.....

My TIP (using Gaggle) has never been far from my mind since last summer, but I admit it has been mostly on the back burner as life as guided me in other directions. (New city, school, home, and age group.) I moved into my new home in late September, my last shipment (with many damaged items) arrived the day before Thanksgiving.

I have been spending 70 percent of my day actually teaching students, mostly keyboarding. DoDDS is in their third year of a Keyboarding Initiative and I found only 4 or 5 students who could key by touch at the standard. Online assessments in writing will be introduced in May for 5th graders. There has been resistance from teachers as well as students. I have very little time for actual collaboration and co-teaching with the rest of my time taken up with troubleshooting and planning events like Internet Safety and professional development.

Last year, my first year as an ET, was in the middle school setting. My main emphasis was not teaching the students. This year, I find that working with the little ones, I have been catching every flu/bug that they bring into my lab. I have taken to handing out wet ones and having them wipe the equipment down. I have gone on 3 separate three-week conferences. I have also discovered that primary & intermediate level teachers are not the same as middle and high school teachers. Not worse, just different. Life is good--never boring. I like that.

I received permission from my principal to do my TIP as my PGP (professional growth plan) and set off recruiting teachers. I practically hit a brick wall. I was able to find 2 elementary teachers....just two! Gaggle is perfect (in my mind) for 3rd-6th graders. The teachers feel they don't have the time to "learn" something new. ughhhh...So I set off to recruit from the high school next door. I hit a thicker wall, which frankly amazed me. The ET at the high school doesn't like Gaggle and discourages its use. I was able to recruit 2 new teachers...yeah up to 4! Just this past week, a fellow teacher took pity on me and volunteered...my total is now 5.

Can a successful, authentic, meaningful research project be performed on only 5 subjects?

I am scared to death, I am truly feeling overwhelmed, anxious and insecure. I worry I am in over my head. With those fears and insecurities, I find myself avoiding...I am too conscientious to slack off and I am not a quitter....so I will plow ahead, suck it up and make it happen!

I plan on having the teachers complete a survey...I need to create that today (from my informal verbal ones I've taken). I have already asked my teachers to meet with me once a week for group training as well as one-one-one and co-teaching. I like that the timing of this coincides with 3rd quarter/2nd semester. I will also take informal verbal surveys with the students beginning tomorrow. DoDDS (the military) will not permit others to survey the students or parents. The union frowns upon us surveying the teachers...the work around is that it is voluntary. Other work I need to get a move on includes getting on Google to create my website for compilation and delivery purposes and to start annotating and marking resources for the class library although I have gathered some rough resources. Lastly, to participate more in the discussion group. I have been reading and enjoying them but find I don't have much to say....although many of the comments make me smile and visualize the speaker at that moment.

Am I alone in being so far behind?

I look forward to working and hearing from my classmates and especially my teammates (Hi, Matt Klein, Jason and Charonda). I downloaded your TIPs and looking forward to reading them.

~Peace