I have a new friend, and he is on top of the world. No -- really. He's on the TOP of the world. He lives in Nepal, and the school where he teaches is at the base of Mount Everest. How we met is one story, but this post is really about another altogether.
He reads this blog.
When I checked my Twitter feed this morning for the first time, I had a notice that an on-line newspaper (if there is such a thing since no paper is involved) called The Top of the World Daily had mentioned a recent post by one of our Ferguson students in "The Final Campaign". I went to the site and sure enough there it was. Kind of an honorable mention at the bottom of the screen, but it was there.
I shared it with my classes -- which have been learning about blogging -- and they joined me in being amazed at the reach that is possible these days through social media.
I met Sunny Thakral on a Twitter chat last week. The chat is called #nt2t --or teachers new to Twitter. It meets on Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. at #nt2t. We exchanged a few sidebar discussions and ended with the suggestion that at some point his classes and my classes might collaborate on some project. Not easy since we are 12 time zones apart, but it could be done.
He teaches at what appears to be a wonderful private school called The British School at Kathmandu, in Nepal. We discovered we had a lot in common despite the many differences between Texas and Nepal. Schools in Nepal face challenges just like ours; teachers have big dreams just like ours.
If you haven't begun the journey toward becoming a connected educator, you are absolutely missing out on so much. I doubt that Mr. Thakral and I will ever meet, but if we do get to collaborate on a class project and our students join together to accomplish something significant, we will have done something far between simple technology integration. Our students' lives will have been changed forever.
Harrison McCoy
AVID 7 and 8
He reads this blog.
When I checked my Twitter feed this morning for the first time, I had a notice that an on-line newspaper (if there is such a thing since no paper is involved) called The Top of the World Daily had mentioned a recent post by one of our Ferguson students in "The Final Campaign". I went to the site and sure enough there it was. Kind of an honorable mention at the bottom of the screen, but it was there.
I shared it with my classes -- which have been learning about blogging -- and they joined me in being amazed at the reach that is possible these days through social media.
I met Sunny Thakral on a Twitter chat last week. The chat is called #nt2t --or teachers new to Twitter. It meets on Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. at #nt2t. We exchanged a few sidebar discussions and ended with the suggestion that at some point his classes and my classes might collaborate on some project. Not easy since we are 12 time zones apart, but it could be done.
He teaches at what appears to be a wonderful private school called The British School at Kathmandu, in Nepal. We discovered we had a lot in common despite the many differences between Texas and Nepal. Schools in Nepal face challenges just like ours; teachers have big dreams just like ours.
If you haven't begun the journey toward becoming a connected educator, you are absolutely missing out on so much. I doubt that Mr. Thakral and I will ever meet, but if we do get to collaborate on a class project and our students join together to accomplish something significant, we will have done something far between simple technology integration. Our students' lives will have been changed forever.
Harrison McCoy
AVID 7 and 8