Thinking About Learning

It’s a great feeling to finish a huge project!!! We have been working about a month on these digital stories. We celebrated today with a popcorn party as we viewed our stories. Even though it proved to be a very time-consuming project, we used many different technology tools to produce real world products. The knowledge that they were producing stories to share with a world-wide audience made an impression on my students. Tomorrow they are going to post entries describing their stories on their individual blogs on blogmeister. I’ve already put a link to the stories on our blogmeister homepage. We hope that people will take time to post comments about the stories. My students are just beginning to learn how to write effective comments. I developed a lesson about crafting comments for my 5th graders after viewing Lani Hall’s fantastic presentation, “Second Nature-Extending Dialogue in the Blogosphere,” during the K12 Online Conference.

Here’s the thank you video, Wes!

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We can discern…a transformation of human personality in progress which is of evolutionary proportions, a shift of consciousness fully as epoch-making as the appearance of speech or of the tool making talents in our cultural repertory. ~Theodore Roszak

The more I become immersed in Web 2.0, the more convinced I become that we are on the front edge (or perhaps even in the midst) of a cultural revolution of mammoth proportions that will affect every corner of the globe…both in the educational realm and in the lives of individuals.  As I expressed in my last post, it can be a little discouraging to try to move forward when so few people in your immediate world share the vision.  That’s one of the wondrous benefits of the ability to be involved in a world-wide learning community like the K12 Online Conference.  That conference with its live discussion components was an effective demonstration of the  quote by Roszak.  I believe that Roszak fears this cultural change, but as an educator, I can see how the ability to interact with anyone on the planet opens the door to unlimited potential for learning, creativity, and bridge-building.   I was so encouraged by Wes Fryer’s comments about our presentation, Cultivating Digital Educators.   It’s very affirming to know that your voice has been heard and validated!  Thanks, Wes! 

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The more I learn about Web 2.0, the more frustrating it can be as an elementary classroom teacher.  The world is changing so rapidly!  The ability to communicate effectively is an increasingly necessary priority.  Memorizing facts is less necessary than the ability to locate needed information.  As the world becomes smaller and flatter, the needs of learners are changing.  The problem I’m encountering is that the education establishment (fueled by NCLB) seems blind to the type of transformation that needs to take place in education.  A rigid standards-based curriculum is not the answer!  Teachers are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the demands of this curriculum coupled with the increasing number of children with special needs.  At my elementary school, we are blessed to have great access to technology resources, but the weight of the demands are causing many teachers to narrow their focus to what must be done each day to meet district expectations related to curriculum.  These demands seem to limit the ability of many to see the big picture of the drastic changes that are taking place in the world related to technology, communication, and the power of Web 2.0.  Most of the presenters of the K12 Online Conference have been connected to middle and high schools.  Is anyone out there having success with getting elementary teachers actively involved with Web 2.0 tools in the classroom?  Has anyone found the answer to meshing the real world needs of our students with the rigid expectations of high stakes testing?