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Passion for informing others

I've taken a break from my normal "webbing" activities to get a focus on what I want to do next.  It seems that my skills don't match up with the archaic designs of our current school system structure (plus my turnover doesn't help either).  It seems like the schools NEED someone like me to get their own districts up to the current 21st century, but there's both overhead and infrastructure barriers that prevent them from doing this.

Many animal activists groups call it "inhumane" if we were to let a dying dog live in suffering if no remedy can elongate its life.  Yet in our current society, the powers that be are quite willing to let the suffering of the current system go on.  My personal opinion on that rests with those that have a "gravy train" of funds or income which would disappear when the system gets a reboot, and trying to ride that train for as long as it will run.  My other reasons I'll leave for you to guess because it's just too political for this forum.

"Didn't you call this blog Passion for Learning?"  Yes I did!  While the above relates to the topic, I felt I needed to get that out of the way, and now will step down from the soap box.  The part about teaching I really love is to relay content and understanding for that content to those who have never experienced competency or knowledge of how to do a specific topic successfully.  For example, someone who has been doing exponential properties doesn't really understand why we do it, until I break it down and provide it as a quicker mechanism to the arithmetic operations s/he has already learned how to do. 

Also, I developed this addiction to pass on knowledge when I started a business for myself selling consumer products, including health and household items. (For more on this topic, you're welcome to email me at corysheldahl@gmail.com).  From all my experiences and education (I finally got done with my MS in Ed. Tech), it seems that the next natural progression for my search of work goes to helping educate people with educational technology concepts.  My biggest frustration is that people automatically assume that technology in education is the latest toys available, or the newest way to organize and dissect information for use in determining how well our students are doing, oh say on standardized testing (which absolutely does nothing for their overall learning experience, other than to label students as "good" or "bad".)

How do I intend to help?  It's by talking with the educators, students, and parents, and find a solution which will maximize their learning experience.  Technology, along with what I stated earlier, really isn't about the objects, but more in the way we do things.  If a teacher tells me what s/he has for tools in the classroom, I'd make recommendations on how to utilize those tools.  To me, that's technology.  As this blog is long enough, I'll talk more about it next time.

Till I chalk again,

Mr. Shel

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