Dancing in the Pool of Technology

Each year at this time, there are a ritual of things I enjoy doing to get me in the Christmas spirit.  One of my favorites is watching "It's a Wonderful Life" by Frank Capra.  One of my favorite scenes (although there are honestly too many to count) is the famous Bedford Falls HS Charleston dance scene where Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed dance as the floor of the gymnasium begins to open.   

As educators, aren't we in the middle of this same dance?  We are going about our business in our classrooms as the floor of technology is opening.  When we fall into the pool, will we adapt the Charleston to our new environment or complain about getting wet?  As a past HS varsity swimmer, I know how to swim and I have never worried about drowning in a pool of water.  But I know I still have a lot to learn if I plan to dance in a pool.  We are all falling in whether we like it or not-

Will you dance or drown as you fall into the pool of technology? 

. . . this is the question we must ask ourselves as we enter 2010.

In the words of George Bailey (AKA: Jimmy Stewart),
"I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long . . ." 

Image can be found at:  http://www.constellationcenter.org/images1/intro/wonderful_life_dance.jpg