I have been struggling with that question this week as my old self and my new self struggle to become comfortable with this relatively new form of communication. I have been whining all week about what I should blog about, who cares what I think anyway, who is really reading all these blogs, etc. I looked to Pete’s blog, EdTechJourneys, for some inspiration. That was interesting reading, but it just made me feel like I’m going to be putting my thoughts out “there” and I’m having such a hard time articulating what I’m thinking. So I turned to the Education World site to see if anything there would jog my desire to post to my blog. As I began reading an article on that site, I noticed a link for the author’s blog. I decided to see what he was blogging about and proceeded to have my first AHA! moment while blogging.
The first sentence of Miguel Guhlin’s blog was talking about Pete Reilly’s (Ed Tech Journeys) recent blog post. With just a few clicks of my mouse I was able to become a ‘virtual’ part of a conversation between professionals in a field I’m choosing to learn more about. And while I do have the opportunity to speak to Pete in person on a weekly basis, it is enlightening to know (and really experience) the conversations he is having with his peers. The power of having a learning community on-line is becoming a reality for me.
Miguel outlined two methods of education we employ in America in his post:
Traditional Methods
- Domesticating education
- Attitudes relating to authority, conformity and power
- Drill-n-practice technology use is predominant here...inauthenticity of classroom activity makes it difficult for children to see how school learning applies to their lives. the data suggest that emphasis on advanced reasoning skills promotes higher student performance.
Progressive Methods
- Empowering education
- Powerful literacy
- Communicating/Collaborating using technology…Here, “technology use is used as an asynchronous tool for communication that allows teachers to engage and collaborate with one another within a building and across the district. Encouraging online discussion amongst teachers in study groups is core feature of professional development strategy.” But couldn’t the same be said of students and their technology use?
from Patrick J. Finn’s book, Literacy with an Attitude
Currently, I am reluctantly employing the first method in my daily practice because that was how I was trained and that seems to be the way of the education world. But, hopefully through my coursework in the NYIT program and with more discourse with my ‘virtual’ peers through blogging, I’ll move to the second method or to someplace happily in-between.
Valerie
Welcome to the conversation. One of the most interesting things you wrote above was, “I am reluctantly employing the first method in my daily practice because that was how I was trained and that seems to be the way of the education world.”
Please, share your experience with us. What you share, as well as your reflections on a single experience that captures why you state that, is what will draw more folks to the conversation.
For example, in Literacy with An Attitude, the author asserts the following:
He’s referring that different teachers–depending on their educational background–find themselves working in different places, teaching students destined for one of three different societal roles. Those include worker class (domesticated), artists (rise of the creative class appplies here), and executive elite (those who manage everyone else). Teachers who follow what you describe are actually domesticating children, teaching them functional literacy and little else.
From books like Richard Florida’s “Rise of the Creative Class” and Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind,” it’s obvious that worker bee learning isn’t going to cut it. But changing a system that has focused on creating worker bees is tough work.
I saw the connection between what you wrote and my experience in my school district in this way. As a teacher, you’ll do what you need to do to make your paycheck and keep working. What incentive is there for you to step outside of years of training and experience? What do I have to do as a district admin to help you get there?
Miguel
Comment by Miguel Guhlin — January 31, 2008 @ 4:00 am
Valerie,
I will be publishing a post about you and a link to your blog over the weekend.
Pete
Comment by Pete Reilly — February 2, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
I’m literally overwhelmed by the response to my blog. It took me a while to gather my thoughts to respond. It takes a while to get used to life in the “blogosphere”. I look forward to sharing my experiences and learning from the experiences of my colleagues, however near or far they may be.
Comment by luv2teach1084 — February 7, 2008 @ 2:11 am