Common Sense Classroom

One of the things I liked best about Twitter, reclusive person that I am, is the fact that I could lurk and learn without having to take the risk of  “putting myself out there” by participating in the conversation.  Of course, I did participate when I had something to say, but that (very much like my sporadic posting schedule on this blog) was inconsistent at best.  Of course, it did help my “participation quotient” when I met several fellow tweeters face-to-face at conferences, but with no accountability other than the incentive of discovering new tools to share with my colleagues, and finding out how my cyber-friends were doing; I really had no incentive to do more than prowl around scavenging tidbits left on the stream by the folks I followed.

Then there was the tweet that changed everything…

Someone (I think it may have been @lparisi, though I’m not certain) posted a link to a screencast of Liz B. Davis  exploring Plurk.  I was so intrigued, I  set up my own profile and began to explore this alternative microblogging platform.

Now, my vision for how I would use Plurk was much the same as the way I used Twitter – free on-demand professional development.  I built my network by first finding the folks I followed on Twitter who were also taking Plurk for a “test drive”, then I checked out who they had befriended.  Before I knew it, my Plurk timeline was filled with fascinating information, useful tools, and a lot of very friendly conversation.

The conversation threads made it so much easier to follow interesting discussions than what I had experienced on Twitter.  It also allowed me to see the entire dialogue, including folks who would not have otherwise appeared on my timeline.  When an unfamiliar person contributed an especially thought provoking or pithy response to the discussion, I would often “pop over” to their profile and either become their fan, or request friendship.

When I began to accumulate a number of friends and fans, an amazing thing happened…I gained karma!  Yes, my friends, you read me right -  karma.

Now, here’s the way Plurk karma works:   the more active you are, the more karma points you earn.  As you gain more karma, you are rewarded with the priviledge of changing the title on your page and a growing  library of  fun emoticons.  Of course, if you don’t devote a little time to quality Plurking each day, you begin to lose karma – which is the bain of every plurker’s existence.  Be careful! If you are anything like me, it is easy to unwittingly become a little obsessed with karma. . . but never fear – your plurk friends will help you out with a karma boost when you really need it, just be sure to recipricate the favor when their turn comes around.  After all, you should always plurk unto others as you would have them plurk unto you!

Karma kidding aside, the small measure of accountability that those pesky points gave me, along with the conversation threads being so much easier to follow and contribute to,  had an unexpected impact on the way I use this microblogging platform.  I became more of an active participant rather than lurking in the background filling my delicious and diigo sites with educational bookmarks galore (although I do still do that).  I also became a much more social member of the community.  I’m not sure if it is the organization of the site itself, or the encouraging, caring nature of the fabulous members of my precious Plurk PLN, but I truly look forward to connecting with these folks on a daily basis.  I love to encourage, and be encouraged by them. I genuinely care about the struggles and celebrations they share on the public stream and via private plurks.  They’ve inspired me to be a more social being, not just in cyberspace, but in real life as well.

So, for this I extend to my fellow plurkers, my heartfelt thanks.  It is because of you that I’m no longer lurking. . . I’m Plurking!

If you are in any way unfamiliar with the NCLB Act, you probably don’t reside in the U.S.A.  No Child Left Behind has been the mantra of those who hang out in educational circles for the better part of a decade. While I have always been quite vocal in my assertion that, “Every child I’m given the privilege of teaching WILL learn as much as they are able (beyond what I expected, or even hoped) within the time I have to spend with them – no excuses!”; I have an additional concern that often weighs heavily upon my heart.

While reading the chapter 4 about wikis in Will Richardson’s book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms,  the following passage started me thinking:

Already, students are turning to Wikipedia as a resource for research, much to the chagrin of many teachers and librarians.  As we’ve already discussed with blogs, knowing what sources to trust is becoming a much more labor-intensive exercise, and wikis, with many often anonymous authors, make that even more difficult.  The  idea that “it might be wrong” is a tough one for most people to overcome. (p. 59)

As I read this, my mind began to wander away from the examination of the role of  wikis in the classroom, to a quandary that has been a constant topic of conversation since I entered the online discussion regarding all things Edtech.  I began to reflect on the laments I have heard continuously from tech directors, coaches and facilitators throughout my PLN (both web-based and in RL).  They express a deeply felt concern that there are scores of teachers who are still reluctant to embrace technology as an integral part of the classroom curriculum. Tech integration as a seamless part of the content based curriculum seems to be beyond the comprehension of, what is perceived as, the vast majority of teachers.

This is a broad generalization, but in 19 years of public education I’ve made some observations.  Teachers tend to be “control freaks” by nature, and usually will not enthusiastically venture into things which we believe go beyond what fits into our personal sense of “rightness”.  Most teachers also seem to be resistant to change, and given a choice would probably never move to a new classroom, grade level or content area.  Finally, teachers are very busy folks, and find it difficult to give up things seen as “tried and true”, in favor of things that don’t fit into our entrenched paradigms of “quality” education.

The central question:  What is holding all of these teachers back and what can we do to change it?

I’ve often wondered, as technology liaison on my own campus, if it is a simple “fear factor” that holds some of my colleagues back.  Is embracing technology like going to the dentist – “I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m fairly certain I’m not going to like it…” -  thus leading to avoidance behavior?

I confess, there are many times, when I encounter a new tech tool that seems beyond my scope of current understanding, I still get that “niggling” feeling at the back of my neck.  I frequently face that moment of, “I don’t know if I can do this…” – but I don’t let it hold me back.  I just go ahead, dig in, and give it a go.  Unfortunately, I seem to be part of the exception, not the rule.  I have to admit, it bothers me more than a little bit that my young 1st grade students, who are into blogging, wikis, digital storytelling, and other  Web 2.0 technologies, are not likely to have the opportunity to grow in their use of the read/write web once they move beyond my classroom.  This could very easily lead me to embrace the pessimistic view held by many of my techie colleagues, but…

I see a new dawn on the horizon!

Through my online PLN I have been able to “hook up” with other like-minded educators, which make me feel part of a larger community and not quite so isolated as I explore things I never would have tried on my own.  I have my own 24/7 tech support when I get in over my head with an unfamiliar tool, courtesy of Twitter and Plurk. This opportunity has enabled me to create working models to use as examples to help more reluctant teachers visualize the possibilities, which could not have been conceived within their current scope of understanding.  Also, a climate of collaboration which has been encouraged by my past and current administrators, as well as a wonderful technology coach (even if he is my husband) who is there virtually “on demand” as much has possible, has created an environment for change.

In our culture of instant gratification, the change might seem like the ripple made by a gnat upon a great lake of calm waters; but it is change nonetheless.  I see change when there is an uproar led by the “old guard” teachers when email or network service goes down. I see change when teachers stream video to bring content areas alive rather than using the book and its worksheet companion.  I see change when teachers are using web-based applications as a literacy work station in the classroom on a daily basis.  I see change where within 3 years time, I went from being the only classroom blogger in my building, to having one or more active classroom bloggers in each grade level.  I see change.  I see change!

With a climate of collaboration and support, quality real-life classroom examples, and the enthusiasm of a few crazy teachers like myself, more and more students are having daily opportunities to work with Web 2.0 technologies, and as with all change – it starts small, but it begins to grow exponentially.

How do I hope to make sure there is no teacher left behind?  Easy!  Have a vision for the change I want to see, then let that change begin with me.

References:

Richardson, Will. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. California: Corwin Press Inc.,U.S., 2008.

Through my husband Jamie’s PLN on Plurk, I have been able to hook up with the delightful Carrie Whalen and a group of great educators for a book study on Will Richardson’s book: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  We are using a meeting room app called Wiggio which is entirely text based, but has served our group quite well as a collaborative tool. 

After watching the “What is Wiggio?” video above, I began to wonder if this tool might have more to offer me than a one time book study platform I was invited to join.  I participate in a lot of groups on and off campus and I tend to live in frazzled state of frustration as I try to remember who I’ve emailed, who I’ve spoken to in the hallway because I know they won’t be checking their email, who is absent and not getting the information at all, and what information did I include/exclude when I communicated with the folks I was able to contact. 

What if I had one place where I organized all of my different groups?  What if all of my members had their cell phone numbers, as well as email addresses in their profiles?  What if I wanted to let all of my students parents (who don’t use RSS) know I’ve posted new information on my classroom blog?  Wouldn’t it be great to send a text to everyone without having to go dig my cellphone out of my purse? Could Wiggio make my life easier and  be a great platform for future collaborative book studies? You know, I think I might give this a try…

I’ll let you know how it turns out! 

I started this blog in April of 2008 as part of my homework for OpenPD, my first organized experience with web based professional development.  As I swiftly taught myself to adapt to monitoring and contributing simultaneously to a ustream chat, skype backchannel chat, ustreamed vodcast and corralling my 7 and 9 year olds in the background (I was participating from home most days – I am woman see me multi-task), my little suburban Texas world was forever changed.   Darren Draper and Robin Ellis’ pet project allowed me to connect with and learn from folks, like Cory Plough and Sue Waters (yes Sue, I know there are no pictures – again – I promise to do better in my next post), from across the U.S. and around the globe.  I learned about how people were using blogs and wikis, and began to reflect upon how maintaining a personal/professional blog, in addition to my very active and demanding classroom blog, could help me grow.  To this end, I completed my homework for the course by starting my own edublog, and faithfully posting to it – for all of two weeks. 

It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to say (those who know me, know that I am rarely at a loss for words), the problem was that it was end of year crunch time here in my little corner of the northern hemisphere.  My poor blog got lost in the rush of busy-ness.  Often thought of, but not acted upon.

Then came summer vacation, and I did just that – I vacated.  I fled to the much cooler, mountainous New Mexico territory with my mother, the kids, and very limited Internet access (sans husband, who still had a few weeks left at the tech center).  I returned home  just in time to prepare for our trip to NECC 2008 in San Antonio.  Poor blog, no time for you . . . even if I could remember the URL.

Then there was NECC 2008. Boy, talk about inspiration!  I must have begun 8 unfinished posts while I was there and shortly thereafter, only to realize later that my brain was so boggled by all of the information and conversation I attempted to consume and contribute to, that not a single one of them made any sense.  Alas, my poor little blog seemed doomed to neglect. 

I have spent the last three weeks since NECC filling my aggregator with the blogs of all of the great folks I was fortunate enough to connect with during the conference, and have spent a great many hours neglecting my family while pouring through them, leaving a comment here and there. I have engaged in the conversation and begun to establish quite the little personal learning network via twitter (I was a longtime holdout, but the words “powerful tool for professional development” are very motivating for me).  I have wondered if given the amount of elapsed time, if I have missed the posting boat when it comes to NECC.  It’s not that I have been procrastinating exactly; it’s more like I have been reflecting and processing all that I have learned.  And all that I need to learn.  And the fact that I will never know everything that I need to know, in order to truly make the positive and profound impact that I hope to make on the lives of the children I am priviledged to teach. 

I have learned through the many blogs I have been reading, the microblogging I have engaged in on twitter, and all of the conversations of which I have been privileged to be a part, that I am not the only one who reflects upon these things which flutter through my overactive consciousness.  I’m really not all that abnormal a breed – there are many “overthinkers”  and “overdoers” in this world, and I am delighted to have finally found them.  I believe that this is where this little blog will finally fit into my life, in a way that makes sense. 

For better or for worse, I have found my way back to my Common Sense Classroom blog.  I invite you to continue to meander along with me; as I endeavor to explore all of the things that will help me make my classroom a place of amazing adventure, that can be explored with just a little bit of common sense.

My own children brought this little gem home from daycare several years ago.  I remember stifling many a chortle as they used the phrase to cope with life’s little frustrations and disappointments.  After a time, I began using it anytime they would complain about the way things were going.  From there, as you may have guessed, it didn’t take long for it to creep into my “teacher talk.”  I have to admit, I have begun to believe that the phrase has a little “magic” to it.  It can quite effectively turn a frown into a grin, and it has such a nice rhythm to it, that the kids can’t help but join in the refrain anytime I pull it out of my bag of tricks.  But you know, upon reflection, I think that there is a little more depth to this little pearl of wisdom than I had previously realized.

It occured to me, that most teachers I have met over the past 18 years or so (even the really good ones), are primarily focused on student deficits.  It seems like we are programmed to immediately notice the weaknesses in our students.  I can’t count the number of times I hear educators talking about what kids can’t do.  Yikes!  If we spend all of our time focused on the negative, how can we possibly accentuate the positive? 

The truth is that it really doesn’t matter who your students are, what they can do, or where they have been - they all have one thing in common . . . they have strengths!  We as educators have to get past our preconceived ideas about what students should “look like”  when they walk through our doors.  It is always amazing to me how smart kids become when I believe they are smart, and how much they can learn when I step up and give them the opportunity.  Sure, I’m “wrung out” at the end of most days, and truth be told, there aren’t many teachers in the building that would get in line to spend the day with my classroom “crew”; but I wouldn’t trade a single second that I have had with these amazing kiddos.  As we have explored blogs, wikis, Skype conferencing, and other Web 2.0 treasure troves; I truly believe I’ve learned as much from my young apprentices as they have from me.  What a gift!   Who could ask for anything more?