ooops

I’ve been blogging for over 4 and a half years now, and sometimes what I say is wrong!

I said that iPad are for iConsumers. Meanwhile, teachers around the globe are using them with students in interactive, engaging, creative, and yes productive, (iProducer), ways.

As Chris Kennedy said in response to my ‘Transformative or just flashy educational tools?‘ post:

“We should encourage tools, especially for our younger learners that can do many things – I think that is one of the great appeals of the ipad.”

On the same topic, and in the same post, two David’s trumped this David (me) on my own post, in their comments. Originally, I said “A tool is just a tool“.

Then Dave MacLean said,

“…do we consider the classroom structure a tool when looking at classroom conversations? Do we consider the gym as a tool when a team is playing volleyball. I see voicethread as a medium rather than a tool. The entire websphere is a medium in which new levels of “conversations” are happening. The differentiation of the types of articulation methods is growing. We have to understand that our paradigm of communication and interaction is antiquated.”

And then David Deubelbeiss said,

“… The technology we are talking about is not just a tool but a way of being in the culture. A part of social and media literacy. …students talk/speak/communicate/learn/acknowledge/become/desire…. through media for good and bad. A tool is not just a tool, imho. It is a cultural artifice and a way of being.”

In response I said,

In my post I mentioned the need to create learning spaces and Dave MacLean (and later David) make some interesting points that the tools are the spaces or the medium or the cultural artifice… and thus as Michael Wesch says: “we need to learn how to educate in this media-scape”, (my Black & White Education post refers to this).

Good teaching transcends the tools and so be it pencil & paper or wiki or Voicethread or blog or poster board or Glogster, good design is important (on two levels, design of the final product as well as what I’m talking about here – design of the lesson or activity). Also see Ira Socal’s Toolbelt Theory for Everyone “Tools matter though. They are the most basic thing about being human.”

A tool is not just a tool!  I was wrong.

…And that’s the beauty of blogging. I get to learn from my peers and mentors that come and visit this learning space. As Dean Shareski says,

“This is the single best professional development experience I’ve had.”

On a related point, Rick Fabro says this about Principals and Vice Principals,

“…they need to be prepared to risk being wrong in order to find ways of responding creatively to the particular context of their school?”

I quote him, on my daily-ink, and say that this applies beyond just Principals and Vice Principals…

WE need to be prepared to risk being wrong in order to find ways of responding creatively to the particular context of OUR schools?

And so as I try to work things out, I’ll ‘blow it’ now and then. I’ll do so rather publicly, right here on my blog. I think out loud here. Some ideas I think are pretty good, sometimes I mull over things that still need work, and sometimes I must confess that I was just plain wrong.

So, that’s right… I was wrong. I often am. Realizing that is key because I often speak with air of authority, especially on my blog. If I don’t recognize my mistakes, if they aren’t challenged, then I don’t learn… I just continue to be wrong and to expunge miss-information.

I was wrong… but I’m learning!

8 comments on “I was wrong

  1. Hey,
    thanks for sharing this learning experience. In my opinion there is no better way to use a blog as a teacher. Your learning process becomes transperent and it just shows that it is pretty ok to rethink own positions and change them for good reasons.
    Greetings from Hamburg/Germany,
    Ralf

  2. David…Were you WRONG? What is WRONG? Like our students there is no right or wrong in the thinking process. Your thoughts at that time were aligned with your thinking and knowledge base at that time. So,you are, in fact, not RIGHT now either. You are reflecting and this ‘refection in action’ (Schon) is a result or your interactions with others who caused you to ‘reflect ON action’ (Schon).
    So,,,keep it up…I am focused on the role of language in learning and particularly in Oral language development and I am needing to think aloud on this topic of technology and its place in developing LANGUAGE …SPOKEN before written…it is causing me to reflect and ponder. My Blog will be up soon as will my website…so check in.
    Thanks for the reflective example
    Carmel

  3. The only reason I’d ever get an iPad is to use it to teach! The best piece of educational technology I’ve ever used is the SmartBoard. I’ve seen it get a student with Downs up in front, interacting with the class. I’ve seen students with learning disabilities use it to give more engaging presentations than most high school students can do (or university students for that matter). It seems like a fancy white-board, but can do so much more. The only problem is that you have to be fairly computer literate to be able to use it. Luckily, we have a generation of students who seem to have an intrinsic understanding of computers to help us out.
    http://livingstone.vsb.bc.ca/f-miscellaneous/Globe%20Article.htm
    http://virtualbookmark.typepad.com/the_virtual_bookmark/2008/10/smartboard-inqu.html

  4. Thanks for the comments,

    Ralf,
    If we are going to be transparent, I think we need to be prepared to rethink our views in a transparent way… good point!

    Carmel,
    Would love to hear your thoughts on storytelling and metaphors in learning… the spoken word in the digital age is an interesting subject, that perhaps explains the popularity of YouTube?

    Karenne,
    Yes, why do students feat their mistakes when that is where the greatest opportunity for learning lies?

    Sara,
    You bring up 2 points I want to explore more about on my blog over the next while:
    – technology for assisting with special needs
    – tech savvyness as a prerequisite to using tech tools
    Also, thanks for the link. Actually bookmarked it a week & a half ago, and plan to share it with staff at some point. Maybe you can introduce it for me:-)

  5. Portfolio Prozess

    Helen Barret gliedert den Portfolio Prozess in die folgenden Schritte:

    1. Collection
    2. Selection
    3. Reflection
    4. Projection
    5. Presentation

    Ich bin aus gutem Grund ein Freund offener Portfolios. Das Thema Fehlerkultur spielt hierbei eine wichtige Rolle. David Truss hat hierzu einen schönen Beitrag geschrieben.

    ____________
    *Translated:

    Portfolio Process

    Helen Barrett divides the portfolio process in the following steps:

    1. Collection
    2. Selection
    3. Reflection
    4. Projection
    5. Presentation

    For good reason, I’m a friend of open portfolios. The theme of errors culture plays an important role. David Truss has written this, a great contribution.

  6. A tool may not just be a tool but is technology not a tool? It might have lots of possibilities but in order to be effective and creative, is it not its use by the person who has it, that the tool has any ‘real influence/power/ ability’ to bring about the change that it is capable of. In that sense, if i consider technology to be a tool, why does it feel that I am saying the ‘wrong’ thing? Perhaps I am still missing the big picture and would love to join this conversation and learn more. I see my 4 year old using the iPad and to her it is a ‘toy’ to ‘play with’ just as much as her blocks are a ‘toy’ to play with. The transformation and the ‘power’ of the iPad come into play when she starts to use the iPad to plan, create, save, and share her ‘playing.’

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