Need a few quick, high-energy reasons to jump on the Twitter bandwagon? Read Bill Ferriter's article, "Taking the Digital Plunge", and you just might decide to spread your wings sooner rather than later!
Mr. Ferriter acknowledges that he is the staff member constantly complaining about his district's firewall and that he considers experimenting fearlessly with digital connections to be part of his job as a teacher. He's built a network of innovative colearners with whom he collaborates regularly even though he's never met any of them in person.
Finding partners beyond borders has not been a problem, nor has learning how to make his thinking transparent. Ferriter knows all about revising positions on the basis of feedback, how to access valuable information from colearners and about creating shared content. He feels strongly that though our kids have no trouble connecting, no one has taught them about the power of these connections. In his mind, few are using these networks to pursue meaningful personal growth. Mr. Ferriter feels that our challenge as teachers is to identify ways that students can use these tools for learning.
The article goes on to detail that it's all about experimenting with every new tool that bursts onto the teenage radar and showing our students how these tools can translate into opportunties for learning. First steps are offered for interested educators to consider:
* Build your own personal learning network. Begin by signing up for a Twitter account (www.twitter.com) and visit the Twitter for Teachers wiki (http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com)to find colleagues to follow. Or you might join an online community of educators discussing teaching and learning. His current favorites are Classroom 2.0 (www.classroom20.com) and the Teacher Leaders Newwork (www.teacherleaders.org). He reminds us to keep in mind that new groups form every day.
**For those a bit nervous about taking the plunge quickly, Ferriter suggests following some of the good education blogs written by teachers. Many are listed in the Support Blogging wiki (http://supportblogging.com) and on Ferriter's list of resources (www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/16618841).
In closing, Ferriter reminds us that we must model new learning transparently. He feels we should share with students how the digital connections we engage in enhance our skills and deepen our knowledge. His hope is that we will pair high-quality teaching with a meaningful understanding of today's tools for networked learning and therefore be prepared to support tommorow's networked kid.
Doug,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughtful post. I, too, have watched my children make digital connections. My daughters are lifelong writers and at a young age both were fortunate to find sites on the internet where they could post stories and anxiously wait for critical feedback from their peers. I wonder how many of their teachers knew of their late night writing!
Both of you speak about something very powerful. This 24/7 style of learning is new. I truly believe that kids are learning all the time, it's just now more apparent because we have these tools that we can give them. Trying to facilitate that in our classrooms is something we haven't really had experience with. So here we go! By the way, did you try Twitter?
ReplyDeleteNice job on the Shelfari gadget!
ReplyDeleteAlice,
ReplyDeleteDo you remember way back when, when change in education was described as retooling an airplane while piloting it? I guess that's where some of us are today. We can imagine changing the curtains while driving but it's a bit harder to imagine changing the BODY of the craft, as well as, the fact that the TIME ZONE we're navigating through is so very different! And, no, I have yet to sit down and explore Twitter. But I want to.
Oh, and thanks for the comment on my bookshelf. My challenge in loading it is that I have not been able to load a new, empty shelf! Everytime I log on, Shelfari sees me as a returning customer--because of my classroom blog. I had wanted to start a new account for just professional titles but it keeps seeing me as Terry L. rather than a new person. After WAY too much time, I gave up and simply loaded my classroom shelf on. I'll get back to it someday! (That tech piece can really take up a lot of time. The skill I'm trying to develop is to give it a certain amount of time and then walk away until another day!)
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