More on Reality/Relevance

As I was walking today, it occurred to me that all of my classmates in this course are serving as my teacher -- be it coach, guide, or instructional expert -- and I hope I am playing that role for some of them as well. The corollary to that is also true -- in this course we are all living out the student roles -- researcher, technology expert (at least when we are making a Web tools 2.0 presentation), thinker, and self-teacher.  I'm learning about the course content (in the case of the reading this week, people, passion, reality, and relevance) through the comments, questions, suggestions, and observations of my fellow students as I respond to their ideas and they respond to mine. I'm learning about their passions and experience and why they are spending their Saturday afternoons (and more!) in this class. A reality for all of us is that we want to become teachers or hone our current teaching skills so that we can make a positive difference in the classroom. Joyce has structured this course so that it is completely RELEVANT to this goal and the work we are doing has REAL implications in our lives. I love the partnering opportunities we have had and look forward to implementing these strategies in my own classroom.