Technology is a challenge for me. I won't even buy a Nook. Not because I'm poor, but on principle alone. I love real tangible books. I love paper pages and margins covered in notes and thoughts and highlighted excerpts that make me laugh or cry or question or just think. I like the warm feeling of a book that's rested on my chest as I've fallen asleep holding onto characters as if they were literally trapped in my grasp. Some things are sacred.
AND...some people are too sentimental...guilty.
Technology is extremely important in the classroom. As we have read in previous chapters, educators need to think outside of the box. What kind of citizens would we like to produce? What sort of values and skills should students be able to demonstrate when they graduate? How can we help students be well rounded and incorporate technology to synthesize a produce or concept that is valuable in the world? One answer is technology.
Max is a great kid. I'm Max, except Max is probably smarter and less self-indulgent. Max appreciates the value of pen on paper (or keys to screens?...yikes.). There is something great about expressing ownership over thoughts and ideas that have been committed to a place where it can be processed and considered - even judged - by others. As Max tell us, "In school, writing is about turning something in. Here it's about having something to say." GREAT IDEA MAX. Although there are times when students will have to simply accept that school is a place where educators will occasionally ask you to do things you don't want to do, and YES you will have to do it or there will be consequences (just like in the "real world"...an ironic concept we might want to discuss one day), there are also times when educators should take an opportunity to make school less painful and more meaningful. The examples provided here, blogs, book trailers, podcasts, and wikis, are valid options.
I enjoyed how the book provides a comment about the value of peer review. In this case, the peers are not students, but the body of the community in which students live. Producing work for your teacher or your class is one thing; producing work that is "high stakes" because there is a real response of the community is sort of genius. This type of work will allow students to not only take ownership of their work, but hopefully introduce them to the concept of REALITY in which people out there have opinions and when you put your name on something, it really does mean something.
Sidenote...
Lit circles and PodCasts or book trailers? YES PLEASE. I'll be utilizing that just as soon as I graduate, find a job, create a curriculum, and have a real class to try it on. Should be like, next week?...maybe?
No comments:
Post a Comment