May the force be with you!

Throughout the force of my inquiry, a constant stream of questions rose anew just when I thought the battle won, the Sith overthrown. My questions about the role of technology in our society were not answered, but instead only magnified. While the journey of SI has now come to a close, I wanted to ponder the message imprinted on the force. Luke and I  continue to search for answers led by our fearless leaders Lacy, Steve, Sally, and Lil.

But in all seriousness, SI has revolutionized the way I view my teaching practices. I want to thank our leaders for all of their support through this process. Lacy has been wonderful at organizing our agenda and posting a record of our documents and research on google docs. Steve, poor Steve! I have constantly plagued him with questions about how to use various technologies, and he has patiently helped me to become successful with a variety of digital resources. Sally was a source of encouragement for both my demo and quiet thinking. She reminded the class it's ok to sometimes sit and listen to the amazing conversations that occur in SI. And Lil has challenged my thinking. I had the opportunity to partner up with Lil during many of our demos. She presented new ideas that counteracted typical standards for teaching and listened to my ideas for constructing new units. She quietly explained how and why certain thinking occurs and how we should approach teaching these ideas in the classroom.

Not only do I want to thank our leaders, I also want to thank everyone in SI. I can truthfully say that everyone in SI brought something special to the table. Without my writing group or any other member of the class, I feel like SI would have been missing something. My head is spinning with ideas of how to construct fair and individualized writing evaluations for students, how to bring in students' personal stories and backgrounds, how to build units with easy-to-use technology components in my classroom, and how to foster an environment that encourages creative and academic writing without any fear of judgment.

The end of SI is bittersweet. I've found a community of friends and teachers who are passionate about writing, who care about teaching both our students and myself, and most importantly, who will be there to support me this year when I try out all of my new ideas. It's a little terrifying to revolutionize my teaching, but I have a strong feeling that I am taking a step in the right direction. I believe that I have finally found a group of people who will support me if I fail and encourage me to try again.