Finding time to write in this blog has not been easy lately. I feel like I have been blogging everyday because of responding to the forums and participant blogs. I was thinking that I should gather some of my responses to the forums and post them in this blog. I do enjoy the back and forth in the forums, but only one or two people read them. Many forum responses get buried 4 and 5 posts deep and never see the light of a flickering screen.
Many of the participants are feeling over whelmed and frustrated with the amount of information they have to process and the software they have to learn. It was a good move to make each session 2 weeks long, I knew that the newbies would need more time to work with each session. To be really effective this should be a series of workshops each teaching only one Web 2.0 tool. Each workshop should be 4 weeks. I would start with setting everyone up with Firefox and Google tools. Then Skype, so that we could use voice and video to teach the other applications. This should be a school year long series of workshops with enough flexibility to allow participants to proceed at their own pace. As teachers new to Web 2.0 get more comfortable with using the tools they will naturally have more confidence in learning each succeeding tools and become more independent learners. Isn’t that what we learned about good pedagogy in graduate school?
After I wrote this post I read Vicki Davis’s blog coolcatteacher.blogspot.com. For those who don’t know, Vicki and Julie Lindsay developed the Flat Classroom Project. Vicki’s blog post is call The 5 Phases of Flattening a Classroom. As I read it I realized this not only applies to student, but also to teachers. The teacher becomes a student when Web 2.0 tools are introduced and moving from the classroom level of connectivity to more complex levels will give the teacher more confidence, just like students. I find that the rush to get every teacher up to speed quickly with technology fails because teachers are use to knowing and becoming a student again means not knowing.
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March 29th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I am one of those “newbies” in this Web 2.0 class. After reading this post I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It is SO overwhelming taking this course - a bit like being in a foreign country - with no native speakers at your beck and call (no not really - just a drama girl). But suddenly, after searching and clicking and clicking and searching - you find your peeps - well one of them!
Who would have thought how happy I’d be reading my teacher’s blog. It was totally by accident - after being lost and frustrated - I said what the %#@& - let’s just see what this guy does on his blog! And click - here I am.
I finally feel relaxed because I’ve been so stressed and the feeling being overwhelmed and frustrated got talked about during this post!!! Thank you. I’m not even sure why “stress” is the feeling - but let’s just say - I’m one of “those” students - who wants to know the answers before I take the course!!! Oh, and i noticed at least one of my classmates blogs to the right - I better check that out next - don’t want to miss more than I already am. LOL!
You guess it - I’ve decided to LAUGH -and at myself - of course! This is a great lesson for me - because this will help me EVEN more as I begin to integrate what I’m learning into my special ed classes with very special students!
However, I love the idea of this being a year long course - so point me in the right direction, sign me up, hook up the video feed, and I’m there!!!
Thanks.
Megan