My name is John. I teach 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts in a semi-rural district in Western New York. I graduated in 2003 from SUNY Fredonia with a Bachelors degree in Secondary English Education 7-12, and have just received a Masters degree in Educational Computing from Buffalo State College. But enough of the academic stuff.

I enjoy my job, and I like finding new and interesting ways to get my kids to learn (and enjoy!) something they wouldn’t normally be into. Most recently, I have turned to Web 2.0 platforms for ideas, but I also work alot with podcasting, simple video editing, blogging, message boards, etc…

The reason for this blog is twofold. I’m always praising the benefits of technology in the classroom, so I felt like I needed to practice what I preach. I’ve had blogs before – some before I even knew what a blog was – but I’ve never kept one for professional/academic purposes. If I’m telling kids and other colleagues that this is the way to learn, I should probably be able to use myself as an example. But mostly, I created this blog as a way to keep my thoughts in order. I’m not too old yet, but old enough to know that it’s no fun to forget something important. I’ve had too many instances where a web address was on the tip of my tongue and I had to resort to a shot-in-the-dark Google search. If no one else ever stumbles across the blog, at least I’ll have it to fall back on when I’m too senile to remember even my own name.

So have a look around. I hope you find my blog as profitable as I do. And leave your mark – there’s nothing worse than a lonely post without comments!