"The sky's the limit!" read the banner high on the wall under the media center skylight. As teachers greeted each other on the first day of pre-planning, all were invited to Imagine the Possibilities of a new school year. Our "Blue Sky" celebration was inspired by the following quote from Kevin Rafferty, a Disney Imagineer in the book The Imagineering Way:
"When you want to make the most of your creative abilities or rediscover what they are, do what Imagineers do: allow yourself to be a kid again and let the fun and fearlessness of childlike creativity set you free! Untie the ropes of opinion and rejection that are holding your imagination down, so it can soar into the deep blue sky of endless opportunity. Then hop onto that noble purple-and-pink-polka-dotted elephant, face your enemy--fear--with a kitchen-pot helmet and cardboard sword, and charge full speed ahead into that land of countless dreams and untold surprises!" (p. 27)
Teams of teachers embraced the 2008-09 theme with a variety of creative mediums: music, poetry, power point presentation, and drama. Our morning of celebrations concluded with an introduction of our 2008-09 Faculty Book Study, Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools, with the help of Suzy "Webb 2.0," a Duval County Instructional Technology representative. EVERY teacher created their own blog before lunch! Wow. Our 21st century faculty of learners and leaders embraced this Web 2.0 tool and were exceedingly imaginative in designing a first blog and publishing an initial post. If you'd like to view these teacher blogs, I invite you to visit Mayport Elementary's Website. You can scroll through our faculty list and connect to see the beginnings of their 2008-09 blogging journeys where the possibilities are endless and the sky's the limit!
1 comment:
Who better to turn to for guidance than the ultimate Imagineers at Disney! This is one of my favorite quotes from the book; it really does epitomize the “anything is possible” line of thinking that you all have embraced!
Post a Comment