OMG!!

After spending hours reading, pondering, analyzing and personally relating to dozens of posts, I feel I can only say "Oh my God!" There is just so much information out there. I have believed myself to be an almost "techie." I can usually figure programs out without the help feature or a manual, just by playing around with it. My students spend most of their class time online in webquests that I have created sending them to various resources trying out all different programs that I have found.

Until now, I did not realize how much of a passive learner I had become in technology. I am telling myself due to survival in teaching and being a mother, I have stepped down from actively seeking out information from all the experts out there. In my undergraduate work I was on the cutting edge of the new social networking programs and teaching resources that were out there. But, in the last five years, I have let technology find me either through my students or in the various professional developments that happened to focus on technology. I no longer was on the cutting edge, seeking out information. If I program caught my eye, it would consume my life till I figured it out and molded it into my classroom or home. I guess that it happens to the best of us. I still need to be a mom, fixing dinner, helping with homework, potty training and making sure baths get done and teeth get brushed.

This past month I have been forced to become active again and that has opened up my eyes to how far behind I am. I am reading blogs in between teaching and after the kids go to bed, trying to respond in an intelligent manner. I am following others professional blogs and enjoying the information that I am getting out of them, but I am just running out of time. And, after I do read them, I remember the jist of what I read, but cannot remember the details given. I feel like I need to be like the gentlemen in the picture, but even then at home my two year old does not let me use the restroom for more than a second or sometimes even give me any privacy!

That is why the post from Dangerously Irrelevant called Scaling Back felt very relevant to me. The author, Scott McLeod, discusses his past year and all that he has accomplished and attempted to accomplish. In this fast paced world that we have created we are being called to so many places at one time. I could do as he did and list all my obligations, but I won't, fearing comparison. He looked back on all that he had done and began to see he had chosen to relax in areas that were important to him, such as in his teaching and chose to scale back other obligations so he could refocus his efforts on tasks that were important to him.

Three years ago, I would have never dreamed of needing instant access to my emails, but a year later I bought a blackberry and haven't looked back. I love being able to give answers to my co-workers and students questions immediately and now find myself annoyed when they do not respond back immediately. But, with this comes more and more of a pull to constantly be on task, when is the down time to just relax? There has to be a medium ground that allows me to stay on top of all the new it things and still be able to sit back with a margarita. Someday I hope to find it and still be on top of the technology that surrounds me.

picture found at www.orkut-scrapping.com