I feel like I’m bursting at the seams with new ideas and approaches to share with teachers, but there is never enough time during the school day to grab their attention. And a jam packed curriculum makes things a very hard sell these days. But I know that teachers want to learn. I know that they want to use creative and authentic ways to prepare their students for a global community. So I don’t give up trying to reach them. Yes, it’s a challenge. Therefore, I am formulating a plan to get some face-to-face time with brave souls who want to try something different even though there is only eight weeks of school left. Stay tuned…

In the meantime, I was psyched to come across free, online, technology professional development. Teacher Challenge is a web site supported by Edublogs. The purpose of the site is to take teachers through 30 day challenges to increase their technology skills. Some of the challenge topics include: teacher blogging, student blogging, the best of free web resources and student safety on the Internet.

A wonderful feature: the challenge is 30 days; however, the teacher can complete the tasks on his/her own schedule. Interested in the topic, but stretched too thin right now? Not a problem. The challenges are archived. I’m thinking this would be great for a collaborative or study group to explore through out a school year. Or maybe, summer by the pool with your wireless connection is your preference? Either way, it’s your time table.

I’ll conclude with a quote from the site: ‘The greater we support and increase a teacher’s skills, the better they are able to support their students use of web 2.0 technologies.’

I couldn’t agree more!