Human Voices Wake Us

I took my test Saturday. I was a little freaked out because I was the first person finished. It took me 1 hour 20 minutes to answer 115 questions. I think that’s good. My husband says that I was well-prepared. I’m also a fast reader. And I figure that if I think I knew the answers and didn’t pass, I must not know enough and need to go back and study. So I’ve decided not to worry about it (even though I’m now blogging about it). I did feel confident answering most of the questions. Some just seemed so obvious, like including all stakeholders, making decisions by committee, being supportive, and championing all learners. I’ll let you know in 3-4 weeks the final result.

Interesting comment by Gary Stager on The Pulse: “Every kid with a laptop is now a broadcaster capable of sharing experiences, work, thoughts, concerns and comments with the world. Every faculty meeting may be archived. More importantly, conversations may emerge and engage “participants” where they are at the moment or when time allows.

Many of your schools invested large sums of money for videoconferencing equipment capable of watching a lecture from another location. Like in a traditional classroom, students in videoconferencing settings are expected to sit down and shut up (SDSU). After all, it’s rude to talk when someone else is speaking – even if such conversations help you understand what is being presented. Chatting allows the social construction of knowledge while others are speaking without those conversations being disruptive.”

Stager writes about how, while he was in the middle of a conversation, people around the world were chatting about the conversation.  Imagine having professional development with a real-time discussion board.  It would sure be telling.  Are the participants getting it or are they just complaining about how bored they are? 

Let’s add Twitter to the mix (which I haven’t used yet, but know about).  What if during an assignment students could Twitter a question?  Using a discussion board or wiki allows for teachers to think about grouping in a whole new way.  Student groups no longer have to be made up of the kids in your class during a period.  You could group across periods, across schools, across the world! (insert swelling orchestra music). 

Now let’s talk teacher groups.  Some teachers have done it by creating blogs and sharing.  What if a district could form teacher groups from around THE WORLD (cue music)?  

In today’s society, these types of ideas are perfect reasoning why every student should have a laptop and why districts should stop purchasing desktops for teachers and replace them with laptops.  We need to be able to get and share information at any time, any place.  Not just get, but SHARE.  After all, sharing is caring.