They will come

I opened a blog space for my next year grade 7 students. They don't know me. I don't know them. We are both a bit nervous. On "Step-up Day" I handed out a paper with directions for finding and logging into the space - and then the space address changed - I created a new space online and linked to it from my school homepage. Which is why teachers need accounts at free spaces, like Blogger or eduBlogs.

Slowly, they are coming. The wonderful thing is that the students who dip their toes into the water come back. I am having digital discussions about reading, about next year, about appropriate stuff. I have been gifted with poems and reflections. The school year has been extended by over a month.

Upside: I am working hard to be an alert and interesting teacher, digitally. One student and I have already begun to plan for a girl-in reading club focused on a new and tough novel.
Downside: I don't want to let these kids down. I am reading overtime.

Actually, that is not a downside, except of course that this is vacation.

But what better use of a teacher's time than teaching?