Mar 13 2007
Teaching Teachers
Blogging /learning is changing me and given me the opportunity to help others. Today was day #2 for my “The Web 2.0 Educator” course. I had to chuckle to myself when my students gave me that dazed “my head is going to explode” glare. That feeling is a friend of mine, I have it quite often as I read the blogs of Will Richardson and David Warlick to name just a couple. Infact, David Warlick’s recent post in regards to blogging/learning really touched a note with me. I think I have mentioned before that I had long hoped for a career where I would be able to learn for a living. I feel like that has taken place in some small measure.
It’s about learning. Will Richardson is a learner, and he learns through his blog. Everyone he interacts with, who reads his blog, who blogs about his blog, who comments on what he’s written — is a potential teacher for him …and they come to his blog because they believe that he is a potential teachers for them.
The sense of accomplishment I felt when reading my class blogs was truly heart warming. Some of them got it on their first try! I didn’t get “it” (how to post) for a while after reading feeds and commenting. Here are two of them only one day after learning about Web 2.0 and setting up their blogs:
the video clip “Did you Know?” really opened my eyes to globalization and where we stand in comparison to the rest of the world. It’s kind of scary. I almost feel as if time is taking off without us and its so hard to catch up. We’re so advanced, yet other countries are so far ahead of us! I’m afraid that I won’t keep up with the fast pace shifting that’s occuring and won’t be as technology savvy as I’d like to think I am now. -Karen
When I take time to reflect on my job and the general state of education, I am troubled by the fact that we discourage our students from fully utilizing their technology knowledge. Most schools have strict policies regarding things like cell phones, IPods, and electronic devices. Is this the right attitude that school districts should have? Karl Fisch’s “What if?” presentation really hits this point home.-Jesse
Congratulations to the teachers who are taking risks and signed up for this class, and thank you to all the bloggers that I read and who have helped me. It is because of you all that I know anything to pass on to these excited educators.
image 1-http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/schoolboy_1.jpg
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[...] Well yesterday we got into the mechanics of blogging. It is my hope that most of you realized how easy posting can be. Essentially all you are doing is using a text editor and creating hyperlinks out to other sources. The important part of blogging is reading and thinking. It is that simple. For example on my blog last night I posted about reading David Warlick’s post on observing Will Richardson. I loved how Dave discussed Will being a “learner” and how he used his blog for learning. [...]
We all get that head exploding feeling with a new course. The important thing is to practice what you are learning and it is no longer overwhelming.
Keep up the great work!