Web2.0 - Rethinking Our Schools?

My reaction to the videos "Shift Happens" and "Pay Attention" was kind of guttural and terrified. I feel like I am way below the technological level of the image I now have of these kids. Granted, I will be teaching upper Elementary and Middle School age students, so it's not quite as bad as if I were to walk into a high school classroom, but still...

These videos were very dramatic in the way that they made their point. I also feel like there's a lot more to it than just some teacher (me), who is fairly technologically impaired, attempting to throw out assignments just because they incorporate technology... what about the kids without i-pods? What about maintaining a certain level of, forgive me for saying it, control in the classrooms... These are issues that have to be well-thought out and we must weigh the advantages vs. the disadvantages...

I really do like the new Revised Bloom's Taxonomy with the added level of "Create."

My Favorite Web2.0 Tools

Web 2.0 consists of various web-based tools for creating just about anything you can think of. These are tools that I have typically thought of as software systems that I would need to purchase in order to make use of. It's pretty exciting to have all of these things right there on the internet and ready to go. I have to admit that it's both frightening and provocative to think about using some of these applications in my future classes. It's difficult to get outside of the box as far as what my school experience was like. And, I admit, there is still an old-fashioned side of me that thinks, "I want my students to read literature from a book, not a screen... and I want my students to experience theatre in the flesh, not in some virtual reality." But, without a doubt, I will have to adjust in order to engage.

Some of the Web2.0 that are most impressive to me are:

Google Sites (for creating web pages) - this is exciting because you could have different websites for different classes... You could post assignments, videos for discussion, provide links to students, parents, and teachers... I am quite certain that I will have web sites for my classes... it's too easy and so much fun!

Google Chrome (like you said, not really a 2.0 tool, but still very cool)

FlipMyPhotos (a tool for photo editing & enhancement) - I keep thinking of different ways that this could be used. One specific thought that I had was in a middle school theatre class: students could take photos of one another's faces as they attempted to express specific emotions. We could then use the tools in this program to enhance the effects. Photos could then be put on a disc, blown up at a photo printing place, and used as a backdrop for student scenes.

More creative (than mine) uses for blogs, from Willamette Aspire '10:

Post Lessons
Get to Know Students
Communicate with other classes
Communicate with other countries - for class projects
Online Journal for students - reflection on class activities
Calendar updates for events, etc.
Specific links for research activities
Assignment list - links to homework handouts, etc
Reflective blog throughout a course - weekly reflections
Picture Diary for the class
Parent Involvement - instead of newsletter (kids write the articles!)

Culture Shock

Again, I provide a disclosure for my continued babble. The essential bits as described in the assignment regarding educational uses for blogs includes:
-As a discussion forum in literature classes where all students are reading the same text.
-To communicate with students about assignments and to provide specific links to research tools.

The continued tale...
Well, as it turns out, not feeling socially accepted was nothing compared to being socially overwhelmed. Holy moly! We moved at the end of my sixth grade year. This time our travels took us south, to California. Anaheim, California. When we first arrived, I couldn't believe that there would actually be ANYTHING that I would EVER like about that place.

At first, I didn't even want to leave the house where we were staying with my stepdad's mom. I was pretty scared of everything. I got very depressed and began to stage emotional protests with my mom. But, looking back now, I realize that I was really quite lucky to have all of the people in my stepdad's family who were doing the things that they thought might help me to adjust. They took me to Universal Studios, Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and the beach (where I learned my first lesson about the value of sunscreen.)

My seventh and eighth grade years were speckled with inspiration and success, largely because I had some really great teachers. My teachers encouraged my creativity and gave me reason to believe that I might be able to overcome the turbulence of my life as a "gypsy" child. I started playing tennis and volleyball and taking Spanish classes. I had wonderful friends.

In July of 1992, I cried nearly all the way back to Oregon. I was sullen as we made our way north in the U-haul. I contemplated escape at one of the rest stops in the Redwood forest (thank goodness for a little bit a cowardice!) I swore that I would never forgive my mom for moving me away from my friends in California.

Finally, we landed in Gold Beach, Oregon. There are a million details from high school that describe how I was inspired, challenged, and given direction towards a college career... About how lucky I was to go to high school for four years in the same place... about how this small town nurtured my academic needs...

But, I will finish this post for now and continue the saga at a later date.

The Open Road

Warning: This ended up becoming a bit of a cathartic ramble. Essential points as follows, if you don't feel like delving into my lengthy description of my childhood trauma:
-plan to teach grades 3-8... in some capacity (at the junior high/middle school level it would be fun to be in a literature, writing, or theatre class)
-my hobbies include crocheting, reading, painting, and chasing my sons around
-my interests are limitless: foreign travel, education, and friendship support are high on my priority list

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My road to a teaching career was much like my family's migration to the Northwest; certainly not a direct route and most definitely involving a number of detours and wrong turns.

I was born in Fargo, N. Dakota in 1978. My summer memories of the Midwest include fields of green corn stalks and yellow, top-heavy sunflowers stretching out in every direction for miles. My winter memories recall vast blankets of snow so deep and cold that it would take me 30 minutes just to prepare for an adventure outside on a bright, but frigid, January day. I remember moving. Head start - 1 school. Kindergarten - new school. Different Kindergarten. First grade - new school. 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade - one school . . . then we hit the road.

My mom and my step-dad sold the majority of our belongings at a garage sale and thus began our voyage west. Just like in Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath," our 1959 Ford pick-up with holes in the floorboard was loaded with the necessities for survival as we made our way through N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and eventually to Oregon. The search was for a better life. A new life. But, it was not my search. I remember going to food banks and washing my face in icy snow-melt mountain streams.

Eventually, we broke down in Charleston, Oregon. This is where I learned to crab and met my fifth grade teacher, Judy Polhamus. Mrs. Polhamus was sympathetic, kind, and encouraging. She expressed sincere interest in me and my capabilities. I was emerging from a dream, learning to use my talents when we moved again.

This time our move took us to a remote area of Eastern Oregon. Sagebrush. Wild mustangs. Arrowheads. 6th grade at Crane Elementary School. Lunch served family-style on 2 long tables for the entire 6th and 7th grades combined. Sports meant everything. So, I took up basketball and track. I fell in love with exploring the wide open spaces. I went for walks that heralded big and small natural wonders. But, socially, I did not belong.

TO BE CONT...