My first blog

Hello, my name is Jordan and welcome to my blog. I was born and raised in Airdrie, AB (right next to Calgary) and I am the second oldest of 5 children. Growing up, I enjoyed a wide variety of activities, many of which included a certain level of mischief. I am presently in the process of becoming a teacher and I am looking very forward to the challenges that lay ahead of me! What can I say about myself that would help all of you get to know me better......hmmm...let me think. I enjoy physical activity of all sorts, in particular soccer and climbing, I play the guitar, I enjoy camping, spending time with friends and family, mini-golf, plane rides, reading, sunshiny days, board games, music, cheese, wine, bread, slurpees, poutine, Jeopardy, word puzzles, concerts, road trips, obstacle courses, trying to walk on my hands, diving boards and I also enjoy entertaining the idea that I am indeed a ninja. Yup, I believe that about sums me up.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about using blogs as an effective educational tool. That was due completely to my inexperience with blogging. I would always hear people talking about their blogs or get a link sent to me which always struck me as being a bit weird because I assumed that blogs were just some sort of journal or diary. I didn't want to feel as if I was snooping through someones private thoughts. As I read through the websites on blogging and discovered the many educational possibilities, it became clear to me that not only is blogging an effective tool, but it is also becoming very necessary in the classrom. It makes relaying information to students a lot easier and is a lot more convenient than trying to reach people through other avenues. It is a great record keeping tool, and it provides students who are less likely to participate in classroom discussion or activities a comfortable and pressure free way to communicate. There are obviously privacy concerns as there is with any program that is used online, but that is another opportunity to help students learn about responsibility.