10. Even when I think that kids are not really excited about being required to tweet for class, they actually do like it, value it, and look forward to it.
At different times I have felt that Twitter Tuesdays (TT) are a pain for my students. Sort of like mandated workbook activities or the old fashioned daily drill. I try to come up with interesting prompts that are content related or metacognitive in nature. One or two have even remarked that their friends commented on how dorky their tweets are. But then, a kid here and a kid there, tell me how much they look forward to TT. When I forget that it is Tuesday, they remind me. Whatever the prompt is—creative, explanatory, reflective—they answer it quickly, cleanly, and honestly.
9. Even when it seems like the hardest thing to do is to teach my students how not to plagiarize, they really want to learn how to paraphrase and cite things accurately.
Honestly, when it is time in Writing Skills for me to handle the down and dirty parts of writing, the kind of writing that students really need to succeed in school, I get nervous. It is boring, tedious, and unrewarding. To me. To them it is a life preserver in the sea of uncertainty. They do not want to cut and paste. They do not want to hand in work that is not their own. They just do not know how to do it. Slowly, painfully sometimes, the efforts at my school in using Noodletools—especially the notecard function—are beginning to reveal themselves. And there are kids who I never expect that become my MLA/ Noodletools experts. They know how to paraphrase, quote, and document. They will be the most popular kids in college, I am sure.
8. Working with kids in a secure social media site like a ning does let them share their ideas and writing more freely.
Sometimes, especially with my advanced placement students, I have felt that the ning we use is sort of beneath them. They are all facebook savvy and tumblr proficient. What does my ning really look like to them? Then they populate it with pictures. And a few good prompts and voila! A fantastic, private, safe environment to take risks in writing and risks in critiquing. As much as I think they need to learn the idea of audience, really, they intuit who is reading so much easier than either I or they think. They are freer with their ideas in the ning.
7. Providing students access to controlled social media environments and controlled social media responses that at first seem to constrain them really does help them to learn proper digital use.
And it is in the ning and on twitter that I can oversee their developing digital citizenship. Each year, I get a little better at this. I start off the year with the rules of digital etiquette. And the reality of a digital footprint. When I read what they write—and they know I will read it—then those with the idea of audience begin to develop a conscience. They learn the difference between public and private persona, and more importantly, the lesson that those lines are constantly blurring.
6. Even though my students might not always seem to read my tweets, when I least expect it, they let me know that they saw the picture of the turkey vegetable tray I tweeted.
This was a great lesson for me to learn. Since I began using twitter, I have always maintained one account. I get my best PD on twitter. And I post some personal stuff too. Like my son graduating from Penn State. Or at Thon. Or the turkey tray I made out of vegetables for Thanksgiving. ( Kathleen Szymborski @kszym Happy Thanksgiving twitter friends! #arapeng #arws pic.twitter.com/fsIMOsro )
I want my students to know me as someone who is a professional and who values the conversations about teaching and literacy, but who also is a mother and a wife. Although I do not allow students access to my facebook, I am keenly aware that at all times I am a teacher. I do not have to be careful what I post because I am who I am. I am a teacher. And effortlessly, who I am flows into all outlets. And there is nothing there to hide. So I am a transparent teacher (which reminds me we will be moving to Emerson soon in AP so get ready to read some transparent eyeball tweets!)
5. When I let go and let my students take control, they soar. The AP kids really made an amazing wiki for One Book, One School.
Wow, talk about getting in the way. Once I let my kids take control, look what happened.
http://arimperfect.pbworks.com/w/page/61236714/Home%20Page
Enough said.
4. There is no need for me to teach students how to use a program or an app. I just have to teach them how to use it properly.
For example, many of them know how to tweet. And use hashtags. But not how to use hashtags to find information. Or how to develop a PLN (personal learning network).
3. Kids can write on any device.
When I decided to write this entry, I moved to my laptop. I cannot type well on my iPad or iPhone. Sure I can write tweets or comments, but not anything longer or more complicated. I cannot type with two hands on the kids’ netbooks. But they can. And they can use two hands to type on an iPad. I still use the one finger thing. I guess years of texting has provided them with the fine motor skills to type on anything. Or maybe they are just not as regimented as digital immigrants like me.
2. Thumb drives are going the way of floppy drives.
Between google drive and apps like dropbox, I am almost ready to let them save everything online. Still thinking about that, though. I would appreciate any feedback.
1. I am really teaching kids how to become life long learners.
Perhaps the best thing I learned this year is that I am showing my students two things. As I stumble and bumble to learn the stuff I need to know to teach them better, they see me actually living what I preach—we cannot begin to imagine what we need to know for tomorrow. And secondly, that they have to be aware that at all times their eyes must be open in wonder, ready to learn in ways no one can foresee. Modeling for them and teaching the skills of developing personal learning networks is probably the most important lesson I can offer them.
I value that you “stumble and bumble” in front of your students. When students see teachers as human and not afraid to fail, they also are more willing to risk. What a wonderful thing when we take the leap together, hand-in-hand.
One of the most “painful” things for veteran teachers to do is give up control. Not only does it require trust; it creates work. Work in the sense that a teacher must step out of the comfort zone. My return to teaching has given me the opportunity to see how teachers are stepping off the cliff (not fiscal – although that appears to be happening as well). You have taught me much since Sept. I look forward to taking those steps.
Over the holidays I was watching a PBS report on children using some form of IPad, whether a “real” one or children’s version. It brought home to me more clearly than ever how far digitally far ahead they already are. Something to think about in our literacy discussion.
I remember when I first signed up for twitter my college journalism professor made us create accounts and follow certain people. The assignment was to follow certain journalists that “inspired” us. I think that had it not been a homework assignment I would not have done it. Maybe it is just me and never really liked twitter compared to Facebook it seems to be a great tool to have to follow not only friends and family but also a great networking tool.
Don’t worry, not many people who aren’t from the “texting generation” can use their smart phones and tablets to type long things out. We have become almost expertly skilled at typing a three page paper in the same amount of time on any device, however I do prefer a desktop or labtop.
Yes, I believe thumb drives take place of floppy disks. Thumb drives are great to have because you can store a lot of work without carrying a ton of floppy disks.
I do believe that you are making your children into life long learners. Not only are you a phenomenal teacher but you also apply yourself in ways that I haven’t seen many (if any) other teachers come close to. I’m so proud to be able to say that you’re my mom.
Kathi, many of the top ten your described also refer to my college students, although my college students are far less tech savvy and often cannot ning or tweet or even access their on line classrooms. But I agree whole-heartedly that we often need to get out of the way of our students and just let them produce.
I love that the top ten things all relate, or can be related to a part of technology. The students you teach have been born in an time when new devices, or social media form are as common as a new shirt. But yet you bring MANY of these forms into the classrooms. Sometimes we have never worked with the cites before but we adapt, we learn. Which is really what the classroom is about. Your last point is 100% true. You are teaching us that later on we will face something we have never seen before, be it the latest piece of technology the world has to offer, or an issue at our job. The skills you have implanted us with will allow us to “immigrate” to the solution. So for that, and for allowing us to have a freedom many teachers are afraid to give I say THANK YOU.
P.S. It’s true that she uses many apps and networks. in the past five months we have used a Ning,a Wiki, Twitter, Email, Prezi, youtube, and many more sites for projects, or homeworks in her class. (& other teachers that makes it fun!)
Participating in the Imperfect Wiki, I never felt limited by the traditional rubric I see time and time again for school projects. I remember in grade school, and even in high school, some teachers created a set of expectations, and forced their students to follow them verbatim. However, these same teachers also expect creativity and originality. This is nearly impossible to do.
Although, when a teacher allows the students to complete a project under the media of their choosing, such as my last spanish project, each student can hone his or her skills, whether it be public speaking or video editing. When a teacher backs off from the intense grading of a structured project, pressure is lifted off the student and he or she can feel that the sky’s the limit.