Will Richardson’s post Teacher Bloggers Not Blogging (Says Me) looks at the David Warlick article in EDTECH titled Blog Rules. Yet another reference I have found recently to Principal Dr. Tim Tyson and Mabry Middle.
Will says:
“Blogs are powerful communication tools. Blogs are powerful publishing tools. But blogging (the verb) is still much more than that to me. Blogging, as in reading and thinking and reflecting and then writing, is connecting and learning, neither of which are discussed in the article. (And maybe they weren’t meant to be, I know) I’m not knocking what Tim or his teachers are doing, I think it’s great. But I’m just asking the question: how are his teachers modeling the use of blogs to learn not just to teach?”
I have been looking beyond just blogs and considering the use of technology ‘to learn not just to teach’ quite a bit recently. Is it a natural progression to use technology to teach first then to learn, as we integrate new technology? Or is this just a lack of training and professional development? I’ve heard more than a few people call the new Smart Boards nothing more than glorified blackboards recently, (I have yet to actually even see one of these, much less know how teachers/students are using them, so I am really just making note of what others have told me). The fact is that technology such as this needs the user to be trained. How can we implement new things in new ways if we lack the knowledge or training to do so? Also, I think teachers must model what they expect, or at least find appropriate models for students to follow. A blog that replaces a daily diary may be useful, but does it expose a student to the potential a blog has as a reflective, synthesizing, learning space?
On the topic of blogs, I have been thinking about what this blog means to me. I write it as if I have an audience, but I write it for me, not the audience. It is sort of a cathartic expression of my thoughts on education; A place to synthesize ideas and reflect on new areas of exploration. I am surprised just how often I look back at my entries, reread them and follow the links. It has also been an experimental playground where I have learned a bit about html, and figured out how to add tools, such as the meebo messenger, the ClustrMap, as well as the flikr and bubbleshare photo windows. This blog isn’t about my practice as an educator but it certainly affects my practice. It is a learning tool.
I am developing some ideas about using wikis and blogs in my Science class next month. As I develop the plan, I need to ask myself:
‘Am I adding technology to my teaching or providing students with new learning and new ways to learn?’
‘Am I creating an environment where students will express, synthesize, and reflect on their (and each other’s) learning, or am I creating a new way to report out?’ (A glorified poster board).
‘Am I encouraging students to be lifelong learners?’
What else should I be asking myself?
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A side note: The curriculum does not come up in my line of questioning… it seems almost insignificant in this meta conversation. Does it matter what the content is, or isn’t the process far more important?
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It is now a few hours later and well into the night. Wandering from blog to blog, I found myself on John Connell’s. From one of his posts a few days ago, subjectdiscipline2.0- join the debate: “…for too many too often, ” the talk is of new ways of learning but all that happens is the old framework is polished and added to.””
Once again, technology to learn, not just to teach!
From my comment on his blog:’I think that if we want students to be lifelong learners, and we want them to take ownership of their own learning to any extent, then subject discipline must be, at the very least, ‘loosened’ up.’
…This is another topic that has been buzzing around my head recently. It actually goes back to David Warlick’s idea of ‘Derailing Education‘ and taking ‘side trips’ that I discussed in another post.
Originally posted: December 16th, 2006Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting: I’ve added the comments on my original post into the first comment below. I’ve also put my questions above in bold font (apparently ‘bolded’ isn’t a word). I find it interesting that this was only my 14th post on this blog and already I was using it as a resource to reflect on. Yesterday I spoke briefly to teachers with 1:1 classrooms from our district who were meeting for a pro-d session. The focus of my talk was around Scaffolding and supporting students as they venture onto new ground with an online project. With respect to creating new online projects, (Project2.0’s), I think sometimes the focus is a little too much on just ‘using the tool’ or ‘creating the content’ and not enough on skills like: How to have a meaningful online discussion; How to design a page/project/powerpoint; How to provide meaningful feedback to a fellow student; or What does appropriate online behaviour look like? Are students ‘expected‘ to know this? We literally spend years teaching paragraph structure to students, but unleash them on a discussion forum or blog with little or no training. I said/asked things like: • Create some incremental platforms for success. I also asked a number of assessment questions… without making any statements or wielding any opinions on the subject. The reality is that most of the teachers are using wikis not blogs, but I think think the points I made apply to making any digital tool more learner centered. I’ll share my presentation in the coming weeks. I design many of my slides in ways that are very unfriendly to SlideShare or other online presentation tools, so I will take the time to do so after I get this blog up to date. |
Comments from my original post:
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1.
I may post a more coherent comment later cause I just got home from my grandmother’s Christmas party at one and am mildly drunk (thank yoooouuu, crazy liberal grandparents–just about killed myself coming down the front steps)
In order to do new things in new ways… I think it’s inevitable that you’ll have to struggle through doing old things in new ways, etc, but you can shorten that time. One of the things that I think might determine the length is the criteria. Those of us blogging for fun have no criteria–thus, we decide how quickly we get the hang of things, and mostly by visiting other blogs and learning from them, and we determine how often we practice. Students blogging for school have to work within the criteria, and if that criteria is specific and restricting, it limits them to thinking in old ways to achieve the grade in the same way they’ve always done it. The criteria should be as open-ended as possible and/or press students to specifically do things in new ways. I’d also suggest you do set an example for them and show them first the new things they can do–linking videos and sites, etc,–and maybe use a few other blogs to show them how it’s done.
Also, using blogs to learn and not to teach, you might want to think about what sort of thing the students will be blogging about, especially in a subject like science. A fact can only be presented as that fact, and the only thing creative about it is clever sentence work. Blogging topics–if you do give them topics–should encourage genuine thought and interpretation instead of pointless repetition of facts (ie, ‘Who invented the telephone and when?’). I only say this because it’s an example of doing an old thing in a new way and I’ve had teachers who tried to do something like that, but I’m not as worried with you behind this kind of assignment as I would be if it were another teacher.
For encouraging lifelong learning, I think the best thing you can do is give students an audience–each other–and really teach them to have fun with a blog. Not just post what you ask them to, but ideas that interest them (possibly not related to science) and fun sites. Make it something more personal and applicable to their lives, not just another assignment like the kind they type up and print out. A blog *is* personal, and it’s living as long as the person behind it gives it life. Sort of related to what I said above about criteria, plus making it something fun that they can use. And emphasis collaboration, I think, because that’s what the internet is good for and that’s the way the world’s going.
I would love to say more… there’s so much in this post I want to reply to 🙂 … but my head is both woozy and killing me at the same time, it’s LATE, and this comment is long enough. I’d like to talk more about this later. Apologies for the poor structure and incoherently scattered thoughts, my head won’t let me hold thoughts for more than a few seconds. (Won’t drink again until legal. Best deterrent ever.)
Kris on Monday, 18 December 2006, 11:09 CET
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2.
One of the key issues here, David, is the strong point you make about the nature of the curriculum. Following your own and others’ comments on my post about the future of the ‘subject discipline’, I agree with you that it is no longer valid for some national agency to determine the content of the curriculum for every learner in every school in the country. It just no longer makes sense. I think there may still be room for a light-touch central curriculum in the elementary / primary sector, but it makes less and less sense for kids as they get older and older.
I like your questions that you feel the need to ask yourself – a good starting point, indeed.
Following your comments, I have now added something to the debate myself here.
John Connell on Tuesday, 19 December 2006, 17:57 CET
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3.
I think you’re right on about what makes blogs such excellent personal learning tools:
“On the topic of blogs, I have been thinking about what this blog means to me. I write it as if I have an audience, but I write it for me, not the audience. It is sort of a cathartic expression of my thoughts on education; A place to synthesize ideas and reflect on new areas of exploration.”
T me it’s the ability to trace your own thoughts that makes blogging such an excellent learning experience. A blog is a map of the mind’s landscape.
Walter, NewMediascape.wordpress.com on Sunday, 07 January 2007, 23:13 CET