Practice Makes Perfect (maybe)

[Beth Barnhill]

So I find myself a bit anxious, asking myself, "What am I doing here?"  As a brand new blogger, I am embarrassed that I don't know how to do it properly.  This has long been a failing of mine and something that often has stopped me from diving into interesting new things.  I might not do it right the first time and therefore look foolish.  That's a crazy idea for an educator; we tell the kids all the time that it's okay to fail, to learn from your mistakes.  But somehow I've internalized the idea that it's not okay for me.  Somehow I should be better than that.

 

Well, forget that.  I'm not going to limit myself like that anymore.

 

This blog is in response to an idea that I caught sight of while cruising the internet, thinking about online learning.  I started by wanting to create some simple workshops for my K-8 staff for an in-service day, progressed to Moodle (where I decided that I'd like to actually learn to design and teach some more formal online courses), and on to looking at complete 12-credit Certification in Online Learning from a major university.

 

Talk about jumping the gun! 

 

I realized that I'm lacking in so much knowledge; what tools are out there and how they can be used creatively.  I consider myself to be your average digital immigrant, wanting to participate but not sure of how to speak the language or how to integrate into the culture.  I can pretty much get around using the basics, and I'm willing to learn, but I need to practice.

 

So that's what this place is:  practice.  I love the idea of a Professional/Personal Learning Network as a place where I can drag all my new ideas, techniques, and questions and dump them in an (eventually) organized pile.  I'm not sure I want to make this public just yet, since the world might then see that I'm *gasp* NOT PERFECT.

 

But I'm working on it!