Hello and Welcome!
Posted by ejallen on January 7, 2009
Welcome to my first post. I know the page doesn’t look quite ready yet, but it will soon.
Why, “Imagine and Teach?” Well, I needed a name. And I wanted to get started. But I think the real reason is that imagination is a big deal to me. Imagination is what powers us, it drives our thinking. It also drives our students thinking and learning when their imagination is allowed to be unleashed from the standardized, quantitative world in which they live.
Imagination has always inspired and challenged me. Being visually impaired, (Stargardt’s Disease) an assistant principal, teacher, musician, dreamer and theatre director, my imagination is vital to me having enough “vision” to do what I do.
So imagine and teach. It is what I hope I do. It is what I try to do. And it is what I try to encourage.
I am presently in a Powerful Learning Practice cohort and am loving it. Without it, I would not be blogging. PLP has challenged my imagination and my teaching. It has challenged me as an administrator as well. I now find myself with an increasing 21st Century educational outlook.
PLP has not only driven me to blog, but to the idea of a personal learning network. By using our ning site and Twitter, I have begun to develop my personal learning network. This has been an incredible experience even though it has only been a few months. I can only imagine the possibilities. If you have not ever thought about a personal learning network, I highly recommend it.
So there are some opening ramblings from me to get this started. I will blog more about my journey into the connected world in another post. And who knows what else. For now, hello everyone thanks for stopping by, please feel free to leave any comments.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
This is a great blog title, Ed. Imagine and Teach – a great slogan for connected 21st century learning. Thanks for sharing.
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January 7th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Congratulations on beginning this and welcome to yet another chapter on a never ending road. (mixed metaphors? Doesn’t matter)
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January 7th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Congratulations on starting your blog, Ed. Imagine and Teach is a perfect name for this blog because you are one of the most imaginative and inspiring people I know. I’ll check back often, and expect to catch the blogging bug from you.
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January 7th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Welcome to your first blog and congrats! I think I would have named it Imagine, Teach, and Inspire because your enthusiasm certainly inspires so many! You’ve been officially added to my RSS feeds and look forward to more of your postings
As Will Richardson would say, Blog on!
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January 8th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Thanks all for the first comments! I hope to make this an informative, questioning and fun place.
Ed
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January 9th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Hi Ed
Best of luck with your blogging. It’s good to hear that your involvement with your PLP has helped you take this step. It definitely helps when starting as a blogger to have people already to connect with.
Mine was a really lonely blog (my personal blog) for quite awhile – but that never worried me because blogging for me has been about reflecting my thoughts and sharing information.
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January 9th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Ed
I look forward to following your posts. All the best as you enter into the edublogger world. I’m looking forward to visiting Philly at the end of the month for educon 2.1. I hope to see you there.
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January 9th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Charlie and Sue, thanks so much for the comments. I would have given each of you a comment, but I don’t know how!
I do think that I am going to enjoy this. So check back, and maybe every once in a while, I will say something that makes sense and matters. In the meantime, I will begin rambling.
See you both on twitter!
Oh, and Charlie, it looks bleak for Educon. My daughter has a dance show in Philly on Friday, I have a school event Saturday evening. Sunday, is free. I wonder if I can get a deal on a 1 day ticket. I will email Chris Lemmon. I would love to be there and meet some people in person.
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January 10th, 2009 at 4:35 am
G’day Ed,
Welcome to the edublogosphere. In about a week’s time, I will have been blogging for a year and my personal learning network has certainly helped me develop both my personal blog and my class blog with my students. Feel free to visit us in Tasmania, Australia.
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January 10th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Welcome to the world of blogging! Blogging has pushed me to a new level of creativity and imagination. I have been blogging for a year and three months and now I look back at my journey and it has been incredible. I look forward to following what you are learning and creating.
Bill
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January 10th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I read your comment on Weblogg-ed and thought I’d comment on your first post. I’m a beginner too, but you’re way ahead of me! Eleven comments and counting on your first post! Well done!
Have you ever heard of Kieran Egan? He is a professor at Simon Fraser University and he is doing some great research/writing on the topic of imagination and teaching. I recently read his book “An Imaginative Approach to Teaching” and you might also check out http://www.ierg.net, he’s involved in that too.
Good luck with the new blog!
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January 10th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Hi Ed, it’s wonderful to read your first blog post. I am tagging you for the 7 things you don’t need to know about me. Can’t wait to read it.
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January 10th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Thanks Jo! I just made my second post so I know what my third will be now. I need to think of the people I am going to tag.
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January 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Ed, Congratulations on your blog, your first two posts are excellent! Getting started in developing a personal learning network is an incredible experience, I agree with you, mine has helped me grow personally as well as professionally over the past couple of year, I know you will continue to discover the same. I am very happy to also be involved in PLP and to have met you through this experience. I hope you can make it to EduCon on Sunday, I would enjoy meeting you face to face!
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January 14th, 2009 at 4:00 am
Hi Ed,
I really like seeing blogs written by administrators, so keep going with it.
This year I will be running a web2.0 course for the administrators at my school so your blog will be a great example for them to see.
The 31 days to better blogging can be found here http://31daychallenge.wikispaces.com I’m pretty sure it’s not too late to join in (I’m still on Day 1!).
Regards, Colin
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