I'm confident that I am not the first person to share with the world that "everything I learned about digital technology, I learned from kids," however, I am starting my first blog after discovering that my two daughters have been blogging for over a year.

I discovered their blogs, read LOTS of their ramblings and have decided that ADHD truly does run in families. I never thought of my older daugher as ADHD, however, she has the most interesting and random blogs I have ever read. - Not saying much. I don't read many.

However, I am impressed with their writing. They are fairly amazing individuals anyway, so that should not surprise me.

So back to learning from kids...

I am a principal in an elementary school inWestern Canada. We are a fairly large municipality and my school is considered as "inner city" though as a former American, I have a tough time seeing it in the same light as I am accustomed to seeing American inner city schools. However, we do share many of the demands that inner city schools face in their day-to-day lives.

One of the things that amaze me when I look back on a career in teaching that began in 1974 is how hesitant my colleagues are to allow the children to teach them. I truly belive that I learned very early on that the kids I teach are contstantly trying to teach me the things I need to learn. Although I am not convinced that they are always conscious of their efforts, I am completely sure that the lessons are there every day and that all I have to do is be open to them. When I am open to the children and what they present to me, I have an almost infinite potential for becoming human, for learning about life that is real, about learning about a world I could never see if I remain closed to the children with whom I work.

I don't want to seem that I totally neglect the children with whom I lived and from whom I learned at home, however, I think I will approach that subject another day and stick to something a little safer for my first blog.

I recently finished a doctoral degree in Curriculum, Teaching, & Learning. So I can lay claim to the "Dr." in my title. What amuses me is the image others have of what that "Dr." means. As far as I see it, it means that I truly come much closer to understanding how children learn and how teachers teach than I did before beginning doctoral studies. However, because I studied how learning technologies (in particular - computers) assist children ihn the development of their literacy skills, my colleagues assume that I know everything about computers, digital technologies, and using the WWW as a resource.

What I know about all those things, I first began learning from my two daughters. I broadened those landscapes when I began working with students and using computers to assist them in their learning. When I began my research for my doctoral thesis/dissertation, I truly focussed on the children and what they did when given free reign to explore the digital resources available to them. They taught me how to use graphic organizers, how to present information via powerpoint or other presentation software, how to use digital photography to create easily accessible communications, and a host of other uses I would never have thought of if left to myself.

So why would anyone - especially someone my age (I'm into the fifties!) not open up to a generation of people who have no fear about digital technologies? Digital technologies are second nature to these kids. They come to me to ask me how to do something, and I invariably lean three or four things from them while I show them what they came for. Amazing.

So....Now I want to learn to blog! I think this is a medium that is going to be fun for me. Whether anyone actually reads this or any other ramblings will be fascinating. I think that the potential that someone would is so enticing! There is an almost erotic nature to that idea. As I expose my thinking to the world, who will read it? Who will find it attractive? Who will find it worth their response?

We shall see.

In the meantime, I think I might use this opportunity to share what I have learned throughout the years without having to be constrained by the technical demands of academic writing and the publishing world. You will not likely find any footnotes or references here unless you ask for them.

Just my "pearls" of whatever wisdom might have been gained over the last fifty-two years of living, learning, loving and laughing.

Soon!