Personal learning

My community is pretty much made up of white, middle class people who don’t know how good they have it. As such, change doesn’t come easily because there’s so much at stake. I am increasingly concerned about the state of public education in the United States. Children go to school hungry; they go home to families that live in poverty; they don’t have stable homes. How can children learn in an environment like that? I would like to see us really look at education and remake public schools in the U.S.

In the end, though, getting to a place where we can take a real look at education and choosing how to recreate it to the benefit of all our children seems to be impossibility. There are so many stakeholders that sometimes seem to be only interested in protecting themselves that I get very discouraged about whether or not we can affect real change.
In the past, when I’ve had challenges like this, I just dig in my heels and stay focused and persistent. When my ex-husband lost one job after another I took second jobs and started a small business from my home. I read whatever I could find to out what I needed to know and moved on. In that way, the Internet has changed my life. It still amazes me that I can do a Google search and learn about whatever I want (and I can do it lying in bed!).

I think the Internet is going to continue to provide tremendous opportunity to learn, to share and to connect. I like to tell my students that learning how to use the Internet and become information curators and information creators is contributing to their being lifelong learners. I often present to educators on using the Internet to develop your personal learning network. These are skills that everyone needs to develop, and online communities are a wonderful way to begin.