Chapter Two - Weblogs: Pedagogy and Practice

             I continue to be overwhelmed while trying simultaneously to figure out how to use these innovative tools and wrap my mind around ways to use them in a sound, educational manner.  Having said that, my excitement for them grew as I read in Richardson’ work how he and other educators are finding innovative ways to enhance their students’ education.  I was particularly taken with the understanding that blogging is a tool that when used effectively can push students do more than simply “journal” ideas (p. 20).  Richardson cites Eide Neurolearning Blog, 2005 and notes the various types of deep mental engagement and social participation that can take place while blogging.  As educators, we are constantly looking for ways to get our students to use higher levels of thinking, and it appears that blogging can be an effective tool to achieve this.

             We’ve known for some time that students’ ability to attend to a given task vary from child to child and age level to age level.  We’ve learned to vary our teaching style and intersperse activities and social engagement so that children can better focus and utilize social skills in order to learn.  It is looking like, again, if used correctly, that blogging as a teaching tool can be used to meet many of these needs while providing even more content related stimulus and opportunities to develop, check, and/or reinforce their comprehension of what is being “blogged” about.  On top of that, they are simultaneously enhancing their cognitive, technology, and communication/social skills in general.  Blogging allows students to have access to a huge amount of ways and means to make a point, counter an argument, check for accuracy, enhance an idea … you get the picture. 

            I really am beginning to believe that if I can understand the many benefits that blogging has to offer and effectively use them,  it will be well worth the effort to then come up with creative “projects” for my students to work on as a community of learners.  The fact that they will always have a broader audience for their work besides the teacher is a fine motivator for them to put more effort into their work.  In addition, the opportunities for a lot more feed back from a potentially large and varied group of participators will make the learning experience richer and more meaningful (p. 27).  

Chapter One - The Read/Write Web

Responding to Chapter One of Will Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.   Crowin: Thousand Oaks, CA., 2010.

           

            I found Mr. Richardson’s opening chapter a little intimidating, a little reassuring, as well as enticing.  I consider myself a “surface” technology user in that I don’t understand anything about technology other than what I can see transparently with my own eyes (no clicking to get to what’s going on behind the screen for me!).  If something doesn’t work the way I think it should or “disappears” without my intentionally making it do so, my immediate response is to get in touch with a “techie.”   When I’m at home, my 23-year old son hears my frustrated cry for help, as he has since he was about 10.  I am, in other words, that generation of educator of whom Richardson refers to who must face the “daunting task  … to catch up to their students” (p. 8).  I ask myself, is it really possible at this late stage in my teaching game?  After all, he isn’t just talking about learning how to use some new programs on a computer or other communication devices.  He is talking about a whole new way of thinking about learning and therefore of teaching.

            Paradoxically, Richardson has also lit some excitement in me about using technology in new and more far reaching ways.   I was intrigued by Richardson’s brief discussion of William D. Winn’s research on how repeated exposure to and use of technology from early childhood has neurologically altered our students from sequential thinkers to parallel thinkers (Prensky cited in Richardson).  This has me thinking about using technology not just in terms of “engaging” students, but also as a necessity to facilitate the kind of learning that their brains are now being wired to do.  He isn’t just talking about new ways for students to “publish” the same kind of learning we’ve been teaching to for years, but literally expanding the classroom to encompass the world by providing opportunities for students to think in multiple layers as they use various types of media to research, get input, share discoveries and ask questions about limitless topics with people from all parts of the world and walks of life.  Which, of course, also forces the issues of assuring our students are kept safe.

            Fortunately, I finished reading the chapter with a sense of reassurance about being “selfish about their use in your own learning practice” (p. 8).  My first instinct when I am learning something new to use in the classroom is to jump right in and figure out how to use it NOW with my students.  Instead, I understand from Richardson’s words that the wiser course would be to use these tools in my own life and from that practice make determinations about how they can best be used with my students.  After all, much of my teaching about reading and writing stem from my own experiences with them and my depth of understanding of what students can gain from doing them both well.    Once I start figuring out ways to authentically incorporate these technologies’ use in my classroom, I’ll have the added bonus of learning even more from my students and others as my practices evolve.