Into the Woodwork

First off, this is not a, "Sorry I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like to lately because of X, Y, or Z." post (even though I haven't)

I've always felt that the blogging platform is, in many ways, a digital rendition of an old school teaching style. One voice kicking out ideas or thoughts to a 'class' of readers. Of course there are comments and the asynchronous nature of the whole thing, but ultimately, even with all the differences they're much the same.


Not that there is anything wrong with that. There's something of blogger soul searching going on around the ole' RSS reader (Death of a blogger) these days, that some are asking why blog when we have Twitter or Ustream or ____ (Next Web 2.0 tool to be filled in tomorrow.) Tools that are more immediate and those needs better. I guess my reply would be, if this format aides ones own thought process and helps others to boot? It's a win-win.

'Nuff said on that, so why the pictures of lions and antelopes in this post? Well, creatures like these are pretty standard around the school halls of MSAD #48. We are fortunate enough to have one of the only taxidermy programs anywhere (that I know of) and host some incredible exhibits throughout the district. These have ranged from the lions you see here, to polar bears, giraffe heads, numerous deer like animals and an assortment of birds. All amazing and many taken for granted.

I rarely think about these lions as I walk by them and I chuckle whenever I'm with someone who starts as they see them for the first time. For me the pair have become part of the woodwork. One of the questions I've been asked by visitors is, "How do you stop the students from bothering them?" And I realized that for the most part, students barely see them as well.

It occurred to me that if we can do that for lions and bears, we can do that for the technology as well. I'm seeing the signs more and more that this is happening, but we'll know it's really a success when it had become part of the woodwork.