Do I Want to be Connected?

My first thoughts of this course relate to my utter dislike of social networks, especially because I'm using Google+ . I already had one friend express shock that I created a blog too. Because I'm not thrilled about the idea of having a Google+ page either, I've tried to make things as private as I can, but still function for this class. If I need to, though, I will be flexible enough to be more public. If I've learned anything while creating this post, it's that I don't have as much anonymity as I desire.

I tend to be a very private person because I don't want anything spilling over into my professional life as a teacher. And I've avoided Facebook like the plague. I really don't like the idea that a company mines my data to glean information about me, and the thought of friending people I knew in my 20s horrifies me. Those skeletons need to stay buried. I'm a respectable member of the community now. Not that I was a porn star or God forbid, a College Republican, but there's a time and place for everything, and it's called college. 

My digital footprint is real. So despite my efforts at trying to achieve some anonymity by refusing to create a Facebook page because I don't want to update people about the minute details of my life, there is still a great deal of personal information about me on the Internet. When I google myself, the first hit is my LinkedIn profile which I haven't updated since I lived in Texas six years ago. I think Teach for America wanted us to set up accounts for something. I don't even remember why I created it, but I think that one of the things I will do over the course of this class is to update my profile and link to the professional people I know through work and graduate school. I don't have to create a personal page, but I think a professional profile would at least give me some control over the information about me online.

My next hit is the same parent letter I have on my KIS Jeju Grade 3 class website I set up through Weebly.

Then something for a Flat Classroom Project that KIS encouraged, but I had already taken the initiative and started a collaboration/ pen pals with a former colleague in Gainesville, Florida.

The fourth hit is quite disturbing. A geneology site. I have no doubt my cousin's wife has something to do with this since she is a bit obsessed with her husband's side of the tree (my family). Her family only came to the USA through Ellis Island 100 years ago, whereas her children can now trace their origins to the Mayflower and the original Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (now New York City). If she reads this post, she'll know I still have no problems with illegal immigration since my ancestors arrived here illegally too. It wasn't their land to take. 

My experiences teaching along the Texas-Mexico border for six years made me very biased in this matter. Unless you are a Native America, we are all immigrants, and if people want to move somewhere else to better themselves, then by all means, they should be able to emigrate. I did. Just like my ancestors left the Old World 400 years ago for a new beginning, so too have I moved from West to East looking for new opportunities.

I've also noticed my mother's maiden name is on this geneology site, so anyone wanting to get a credit card issued in my name should have no trouble. Especially since another link lists my US mailing address.  But I digress....

In my March 10th post, I mentioned some of the technology I already use in my classroom, so I won't really repeat myself here. But I was pleased with the video I created for my introduction to my peers in my doctoral cohort using iMovie.

And today happened to be the first day of Service Learning week at my school. So I quickly put together a slide show using iPhoto and posted it on YouTube (unlisted, so that parents and students need the link to view it for the next few weeks).

So, I guess when it comes to what I know, I'd have to say that I know what I don't know. I'm not a Luddite, and I certainly use technology every day, but I find I want to achieve a balance between how I use technology in my professional life (heavily) and how I use technology in my personal life (sparingly).  At school, I use an iPad, an iPhone, a MacBook Pro, a SmartBoard, and a myriad of websites every day. At home, I don't even have the flat screen television the school provides as part of my housing package plugged in. I will check email, use apps, and play games with friends through my smartphone, but on most evenings, I dine out with friends, swim in the indoor pool, work on EdD program assignments, or read a book before bed.

What I want to know would be how to set up wikispaces to use for collaboration with my upper and lower elementary school teams for next year's Service Learning week.  I suppose by the end of the course, I will learn how to use more technology for effective collaboration with my colleagues at school and abroad. 

So, in answer to my query at the top of this post, Do I Want to be Connected? I would have to say, yes and no. Connect me professionally, but I don't want to connect with strangers or friends of friends when I already have such a diverse group of family members and personal friends all around the world with whom I keep in touch via email and through Skype.