As we wrapped up another school year, book collection became a major process.  For the past few weeks since school ended, the steady stream of students and parents coming in to turn in books or to pay for lost ones has been the focus of much activity. And the replacement charge is always high, in the $70 range.

Well, I was thinking. With the nature of content these days, the ability to collaborate, the growing use of the cloud, iPods, iPhones, netbooks and other mobile devices, has the long-standing image of the textbook as an essential instructional tool begun to fade?

I don’t mean the format of the textbook.  Sure it could become an e-book, or a Kindle book.  I mean cease to exist.  I am just asking. We have seen the demise of the encyclopedia.  Isn’t a textbook a subject specific encyclopedia?

I know that Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed something like this for California and has pointed out the savings that could be generated. It would be huge.  It would be a challenge. But it could be worth it.

In addition to the financial benefits, is it possible that learning would increase if we had to teach without the text and students had to learn without it?  Possible?  Imminent? Crazy idea?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Please feel free to comment.

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 21^st 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.