I’ve started blogs before…food blogs, personal blogs, family blogs, dog blogs…but, until I moved to northern Canada, I simply couldn’t keep them going. I suppose this could be a result of many things – the availability of movie theaters, restaurants, and parks just to name a few. Sure, I kept up-to-date with facebook and was around and astonished when Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary offended branding officials and linguists alike by including Google as a verb in their 2006 edition, but that’s about it.

The beautiful hamlet in northern Canada which I call 'home'.

So now here I am, above the Arctic Circle, wondering how to connect. True, a Bruce Willis movie with butter-drenched popcorn in a dark movie theater isn’t much of a human interaction, but at least you are surrounded by people. This reality has, however, guided my professional journey to an extent.

As an adult educator in the north I encounter a unique learner: a person with vast skill-sets, only some of which are generally deemed appropriate for in-class work…I’m not saying that I wholly agree with this generalization, but it’s one that is commonly thrown around in the dark and dusty corners of various staff-rooms I’ve entered; I’m trying to align my worldview with my current reality. People tell me, “think outside the box,” but I think I’ll need help. How does ‘education’ work in this environment.

I’m sure there are quite a few metaphors which could be used at this juncture, but I’m just trying to keep things as clear as possible. When I speak with most of my colleagues in the ‘south’ (below the treeline), their main pet peeve seems to be keeping ahead of their grade-school kids when it comes to the undeniable power of online tools. However, how do you teach someone with no experience with a computer to stay ahead of the kids at school? I work with future teachers.

I hope someone out there will stop by every now-and-then to give me some advice. And, if I insult anyone, please don’t hate me: explain why you were offended so I can learn a bit more…

#change11