2008 February | Ms. B's Thoughts

An interesting discussion emerged in the undergraduate class I teach on Monday nights. I have the students reading and reflecting on various articles related to education. The first was an extreme proposal by Alvin Toffler in his article Future Schools: Reshaping the Future from the Ground Up, in his article Toffler proposes a totally new look at how schools are organized. Included in this was the idea of a 24/7 school. Many of the students took that to mean that the doors of the school would be open 24/7 and that students could come and go at will. I believe the intent was to have learning available at a variety of times depending on the needs of the individual students. It wasn’t until I read through their blog comments that I was able to pickup on this and a few other misconceptions. We circled back to the discussion again and revisited the authors ideas. The blog was just a tool I used to pick their brains. To find out what they were thinking. Everyone could understand each other through reading each others posting. That coupled with the in-class discussion and the perspective I brought as a veteran teacher created an avenue for deeper understanding. The teacher was still essential.

Throughout other postings I am getting to know my students, things that bother them, things that excite them, how they learn, process and even manage their time. I have late night learners, last minute procrastinators and those that finish the assignment given before I have even driven the 20 minutes back to Negaunee. It is interesting to see these emerging personalities in such a short time frame. (Note: in addition to the blog, they are using an online companion site for their textbook and they are completing T/F, M/C and essay questions for each chapter. The results are automatically sent to my email.)

Technology is just a tool. In one student’s blog they complained that the use of technology can get in the way of learning. That it can be overdone. (My first thought was…overdone = worksheets, there is nothing in our education system more overdone than worksheets…) I think that the anxiety I have seen from my students as I push them to use more technology to access information and communicate with each other is a prime example of WHY we need to teach more using technology…why there needs to be more professional development TIME for teachers to learn new technologies. The best use of technology for learning is when you don’t even notice the technology–you just see the engagement of the learners, feel the excitement in the classroom, and hear the discussions in the hallways.

I have seen this happen with blogging. In a nanosecond of time, I have seen it work. Twice. The first in our freshmen English 9 blog. We planted the seeds…and just with a little cultivating, they have grown…they are comfortable. They have voices and they feel confident in expressing themselves. The second time, very similar to the first, was in this college class. Brand new to blogging, some were nervous, anxious, and took weeks to learn the process. Others took right too it, confidently expressing themselves, navigating the process, posting, commenting, uploading pictures. They are all coming along, expressing themselves differently than they do in class…some quiet there are more confident online.

It is interesting…and so much fun…to see this all happening…I just can’t wait to learn more!

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