Week 9 Chapter 8 reflection

Chapter 8, Web 2.0, New Tools, New Schools

This chapter really spoke to me, personally, in several different ways.  This year, I taught two special needs, remedial English classes; one  for tenth graders and one for seniors.  I think that I have learned more from working with these kids than any other classes.  They aren’t particularly motivated and many struggle with things I consider to be rote-simple.    I have had to learn to adapt many of my lessons and ideas for success (in fact, my entire understanding of what it means to write/be a writer) as a result of working with these kids.  They are the ones that do and would benefit the most from technology. 

Most of the boys (and yes, both classes have been all boys… an interesting fact that brings up other avenues for discussion, right?) who, at their recent testing session, showed they were at the 2^nd and 3^rd grade level of reading and writing.  They are broad spectrum learning disabled, dyslexic, or ADD/ADHD.  The thing that drives me crazy is that they are all very bright and capable students… they have just learned that there is one way in school… a way that usually excludes the way they think and their abilities.  These kids are great thinkers but poor writers in the traditional sense.  Technology offers many possible ways for these kids to express their intelligence, understanding and need to communicate, from voice to text software to podcasts in place of essays, I find the web to be a huge asset to their learning. 

In the book, chapter 8 has a section on LD kids, specifically:

Hasselbring (2001) argues that in many cases, “students with disabilities have a greater need for accessing technology than do their non-disabled peers. This may be especially true for those students who need technology just to function within the school environment, such as students with sensory and physical impairments” (p. 16). Students with learning challenges are now able to have access to podcasts, learning materials, and videos, and at times that suit their individual schedules. Additionally, the multimodality of these tools allows students to learn in ways that best meet their learning styles.

(Schrum, Lynne (2007). Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools (Kindle Locations 3088-3092). International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Kindle Edition.)

I think this is an important concept that technology is finally allowing us to really consider… that we must reach them through their strengths and not simply always expect that they will meet us on our turf when it is not a level playing field for them. 

Week 9: Using Web 2.0 tools in school

Unlocking the tool kit - Should public schools open up access to all web2.0 tools, including allowing students to blog, or watch youtube videos? What do you think?

I think that schools should have open access to web tools.  Kids are going to abuse the system but they always have.  When I was a kid in school, we used to pass notes back and forth.  No one banned us from using pens and paper as a result.  The "What if" video/slide show from week 8 is a great example of how, historically, we are always resistant to change but that, in retrospect, it seems really silly because we have to change.  I think we have a responsibility to teach our kids how to filter what they are exposed to, themselves… AND we need to teach them how to behave in a manner that is both safe and respectful/self respecting.  The only way we are going to be able to do this is through teaching them to work the internet, Web 2.0 applications and social networking sites.  Youtube, blogs, wikis, facebook… all of it… cell phones, laptops and ipods… they are all tools but we treat them like weapons and contraband.  This stuff is the norm of the lives of these kids but we tell them that the tools they use personally and at home are wrong.  We don’t teach them how to use them wisely and then we punish them for using them in school-inappropriate ways.  We need to get in with what they know and are able to do in order to hook them into what we are teaching.  We need these tools and we need to know how to use them to our advantage.

Week 9 Brian Crosby and Project Based Learning.

The video entitled Passion-basedlearning in action: Brian Crosby at TEDxDenverEd was really inspiring.  Brian Crosby, who is a 4^th grade Nevada teacher is the epitome of a project based teacher.  I love the way he teaches.  I love the thematic way he incorporates every subject through multiple ways of thinking about things and project-based learning. You know, as a high school teacher, the thing I thought about the most after viewing this video was we are doing high school education WRONG.  I have been thinking this subliminally all along but as I am writing this, I am discovering what I mean by this.  Elementary schools have one or two teachers that teach all the subjects for a small (hopefully small) group of kids.  Why is it that for high school, we divide the subjects up?  I am never able to mind my own subject.  I am forever incorporating social studies, art, science, etc into my lessons.  I have been wondering lately, why it is that we have separate English classes…. What is English?  The language that we speak?  Grammar?  Communication?  Literature?  It is nothing if it is not tied to everything else we are and do… 

I like teaching thematically.  I want every assessment to connect… I want to teach using projects.  I really think this is the way to go and that you can inspire students to be interested and love learning.  I have so many thematic units chasing around in my head…  Crosby’s video definitely got me fired up about developing them.  The workload for creating these units is both exciting and daunting.  I feel like there is never enough time or support to get this kind of learning experience properly planned and executed… especially when you have 150 students in a year spread over a multiplicity of classes!

He did such a great job of incorporating so many tools and resources and he made it look effortless!  I mean, these kids were creating videos, blogging, skyping, writing and responding to others, reaching out to the global community in a multiplicity of ways… AND he met like a million core standards for science, math, reading and writing and technology.  I want him on my team!

I liked some of the concepts he mentioned at the end when he quoted the letter from the high school teacher who said that  “Active learning” means empowering students to become learners and that there is a difference between working with a student who knows how to be “taught” and creating a “learner”.

I also agreed in his global, categorical view on who should have access to a good education…  He discusses how this type of environment should not be the exception, nor should it be the norm only for privileged students.  It is definitely a way of teaching that is worth the effort… but I think a little restructuring of the school is necessary to accommodate this type of environment.    The wiki site administrator wrote under the video:

“The lessons Brian shares in this video were NOT easy to teach. Project-based learning, challenge-based learning, or passion-based learning is NEVER easy. It takes a LOT of time. It takes lots of planning. And it takes lots of passion. When it is done well, however, it can lead to unforgettable learning experiences and the kind of "deep" skill development for students which can't help but "stick" for a lifetime.”

Week (7) & 8: Connectivism and Constructivism

“How can we influence the educational system in the United States or even our own school district to embrace connectivism? Should we?”

It is funny.. I have been having a conversation in my head that parallels these questions this very week.  I have been thinking a lot about my teaching style and have been feeling very critical of it lately. My style (both personally and professionally) is to have two or more books, news articles, The New Yorker, NPR, documentaries, films, music scores and interpersonal conversations, etc., all going at once.  This is how I bombard my students.  When we read a book, we look at themes, structure and personal connections.  We question it intellectually and emotionally, looking at both author intent and reader experience.  Often, they are overwhelmed.  My honors classes find me so far out of the realm of what they’ve experienced that they are sometimes uncomfortable and vacillate between feeling like I am too hard and too easy.  I have heard both in a very short span of time. I give them self directed projects and experiment with many different activities and lesson styles and often will say “Let’s learn this together”.  Until recently, this never really made me feel weird or anything.  I always thought this was a good thing.  Now that I hear in the news that there is something “wrong with teachers”…  that we are somehow at fault for what people seem to be defining as the breakdown in our educational system, I am looking hard at what I am doing and trying to make sense of it.

What I teach can’t be quantified on a standardized test.  What does that mean?  I don’t know.  I think my original intent was to be the teacher from Common Craft’s “The Networked Student”—the teacher as learning architect.  I really like that idea but I don’t think it is what the American people want in their schools.  I know I should be confident in my process and in my education but at the moment, I am questioning everything.  I don’t know what is wrong or how to fix it.  I know that technology is making things completely different from what we have ever experienced before and that nothing will ever be the same but I couldn’t tell you if my hunch about how to do things is right.  I feel like I am groping around in the dark just like everyone else.  I wish I was confident in the answers I am giving but I am not. 

How do we move from a hierarchical system of learning and thinking where there are experts and novices and welcome such a radically different system of change in which the learner creates his or her own experience through networking and participatory action?  In answer to the question, I think that while my hunch says to embrace the change and let the reshaping happen, realistically, I know that our education system does not approach anything with a ready embrace…and  there is no way to speed that process up…  That is not to say I don’t have faith that it will happen…  I just wonder if it will take a tragedy or a miracle to make it happen!

Week 6: Chapter 3

“The whole open technology business is where the rest of the world is by and large now, and it’s where our students are as well.…It’s a mindset. Our students are very much into a world that is collaborative, and because of that, they tend to see things a little bit differently. They are exposed to a greater number of information resources than ever before, and whether it’s good or bad, they’ve come to expect that information to be available and free. (Villano, 2006a, n.p.)”

Schrum, Lynne (2007). Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools(Kindle Locations 1040-1043). International Society for Technology in Education(ISTE). Kindle Edition.

I just learned how to use Dropbox.  It is a (mostly) free online information storage device that allows me access to my files no matter where I am.  Using this program means I no longer have to carry around a USB all the time and it also means that my computer at school (and all the work I do there) is now in sync with the work I do at home.  I really can’t lose it (Well, I have yet to discover a way to lost it!) and that is a relief.  The other day, a student was lamenting the fact that she couldn’t find her USB so she couldn’t work on her giant English project at home.  She didn’t want to use google docs as it was a very formatted work of art and literature.  She needed the programs she was already using to create it.  I showed her dropbox and she was thrilled to discover this tool. 

My writing and teaching universe now resides in the clouds.  I used to be afraid of things like that but now I am afraid not to have these resources and I wonder what I did before I had all the tools I have now.  There are so many tools and resources out there that my students are using and we are discovering them and learning about them together.  I grew up, afraid to write in my books.  Then I discovered college and the joy of the highlighter.  Now that I am older and the technology has allowed, I am a part of the creation process… and my students are creating with me.  It is totally messy and sometimes I wonder if it is right but… I think it isn’t my call.  This new way of learning, being and sharing is the way it is and I figure we can either go with it or sit still.  I’ve never been very good at sitting still.

Week 6 Blogging, Podcasts & Conversations

"Blogs have the power to tear down the classroom walls and extend a student’s work on to the World Wide Web (Richardson, 2006). Students feel a better sense of ownership of their work when people outside school are reading what they have to say."

from:  It’s Not About the Tool: Why Online Student Collaboration Should Focus on State Standards

I totally subscribe to the notion that students will write… will do the work when there is a purpose and an audience.  By creating a blog or a way for student work to be seen, heard and responded to, I believe I will be able to reach some of my toughest audiences.  My LD 10^th grade class of boys excel at their plumbing and automotive classes.  They can read and interpret manuals, fix complicated instruments and do all manner of things that I wouldn’t even dream of attempting--but when it comes to English class.. no way!  They are tech savvy and they text like mad.  They talk to each other in the halls, telling animated stories but if I were to ask them to relate their thoughts through writing… it isn’t going to happen. 

I haven’t done it yet, but I wonder if a blog or even just some voice to text software would open up their interest in what we do in class.  I mean, I can let them read some literature they choose but it is also my job to expand what they are exposed to so… if I do something new that, on the outset doesn’t seem very interesting, maybe by using technology, (blogs, podcasts, etc) I can open up their brains a smidgen to let some other stuff in there and I can do something that will honestly prepare them for the world they will encounter post-high school. 

I think this is the kind of thing I struggle with the most.  Subjects like English have such vague state standards… I mean, you can interpret nearly any language arts lesson to fit into many of the standards.  I struggle with this… with figuring out what is truly beneficial, both with my LD kids and my honors classes.  I think that adapting the lessons to NETS standards is a step in the right direction.


So, I guess my answer to the question "Is it the technology that drives the project or the project that drives the technology?"... the answer is BOTH...  


We need the technology as an entity all by itself.  Quite honestly, it is redefining even the most basic curriculum.  There isn't an area in any subject that isn't touched by technology in some way so, not to integrate it is holding back student learning.  We also need to integrate technology and subject meaningfully.  Technology for technology's sake actually is ok sometimes but, at some point, if we want to preserve our culture, we have to pair the technology with the subject.  That is how the powerful experience is created.

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