Computer Teacher, Teach Thy Self!

While perusing my feeds I came across a phrase by Lucy Gray from the Infinite Thinking Machine

It’s not about “competing in a global economy” for me…it’s about experiencing all that the world has to offer. I want kids and other adults to realize that there is so much out there to discover and explore.

Lucy was discussing the Global Education Ning network and a meeting that had taken place with other educators around the world. I would love for the blocks in my school to be removed and have my students have access to social networks being used in a constructive manner like Ning.  All students should be exposed to the wealth of information in the Web 2.0 world, especially the students who never travel out of their city/town, or think that worldly exposure only comes to those who are privileged.  I was one of those kids, I am grateful that I am more globally minded now, but I can’t help wondering how my educational experience would have been different if the Web 2.0 tools were available back when I was in school.  (We didn’t even have the Internet then!)When I think about how much my life has changed because of the global mind set of Web 2.0 it is staggering. Everything down to the way I think has changed! For example on the personal subject of vaccinating my son- before I would use google or maybe a meta search engine to find results on vaccine reactions. I would filter through resources and sometimes be satisfied with the results but often I would be left with even more questions than before. Questions I would like to ask a person who has the subjective experience or resources I can use.

Instead I use my Netvibes to keep me up on new search results, where it all neatly gets filed under my ‘Vaccine’ tab.  I use others’ bookmarks in Del.icio.us  and share mine.  Subscribing to blogs is just another way another way I start my research, but I also gain valuable subjective experience.  To round everything out I usually post any comments in my New Moms Yahoo group where all our topics are neatly searchable for future reference.  In many ways using Web 2.0  it is like having a ‘hive’ mind.  (I can’t help the Star Trek reference) I can consume, produce and deliver more information now than I ever could, and none of my information is static, it is ever changing. Having access to people and resources around the world has completely altered my paradigm.  I  find News about the U.S. through other countries to get a varied perspective on the current state of affairs.  Five years ago I doubt I would have even thought about the ‘lens’ that articles and News comes from, blogging has taught me to look deeper.

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.

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Two very cool things happened today:

1. I was interviewed by doctoral candidates about concerns I have for my school’s technology program.  I gave pretty lengthy answers on all the new things I wanted to do with my classes, so on of the candidates decided to use Garage Band to record my interview. After we were done he showed me how easy it was to select a drum track to accompany my voice, then bass, then a mandolin.  Before we realized it we had a semi-cool product.  In the span of 10 minutes a piece of work was created that I will later post on this blog.   We started talking about how “this” is some of the stuff that our students would love to learn. It would take their creative writing to a whole new level. 

2. I RSS Will Richardson’s Del.icio.us account so anything new that gets added I  receive.  The newest one was regarding Tabblo, a service that allows you to upload photos and arrange them into collages.  One very powerful Tabblo was created by Thomas Hawk. After looking at Thomas’s work especially in the “City that Care Forgot” I realized that here is yet another awesome opportunity for a lesson in my class.

Possible Activities:

1.   Have students select a piece of literature that speaks to them or create one expresses a certain mood or feeling. It could be as simple as having one of the kids colorfully narrate the findings on the lunch line! Later have students record this using Garage Band, and then add three elements to it such as drum, bass and guitar. Later the work can be published on their blog and recorded into a digital portfolio. A follow  up could be for the students to view video blogs such as lonelygirl15. Yes, a young 15 year old girl did not make these videos but film students did.  This is also a great opportunity for a poetry slam.

2.   Using Tabblo- have students collect pictures on a Flickr or upload their own pictures (great for yearbook, or journalism students) create a collage with available text space. Then have them write on the feelings that the collage invokes.