For the past two weeks, I’ve spent almost all of my course-related time experimenting with and envisioning using in the classroom all of these web-related tools. Ellie’s question on Chapter 8 from Kajder, “(C)ould you imagine using any of them with your students?”, gets me thinking that I’m cursed with being able to imagine everything. Every tool we’ve looked at, from wikis to webquests, I’ve thought about applying to both the freshman and senior English classes I’ll have next year. Two weeks ago, with wikis and blogs, I forsook almost all of my discussion board time playing around with these two tools.
This week, more tools to think about and explore, and I again used the time meant for constructing an initial response for the discussion board in order to take a virtual tour through the Dickens museum and play around with The Catcher in the Rye webquests. Everything goes on the list of things to set up this summer for use in the fall, but realistically, I’ll wait until the end of the course to make a short list of things I’d certainly like to get in next year. Here’s what such a list might look like. For the use of emails, I’d like to arrange collective class email lists for sending weekly assignment sheets (and do away with paper?). Discussion board—this is a very exciting idea for an evening homework assignment and an opportunity to see what kind of discussion about literature comes about. I used Kajder’s advice and played around with QuickTopic.com to see that it was very easy to set up a board. With webquests and virtual museums and field trips also piquing my interest, I surfed around to see all sorts of sites already available. The wiki, or a new website (we haven’t gotten that far yet), and I do see a place for blogs, too, although I can’t yet distinguish a blog from a discussion board. In addition to already being dedicated to beginning to receive some papers electronically—and responding to them so—there’s plenty electronic stuff on my plate for next year.
So, yes, these are exciting ideas and tools on my horizon that no doubt may yield important results for students also, but I also can’t help but think that there is still so much of the more traditional tools that, if I improve on them, will yield equally important results. I think it’s fair to ask, just how substantial, fundamental, are these technological innovations in the classroom? For me, literature is still about a person with the book, and teaching it is still about providing ways for students to have an experience with a book and its characters, creating forums for students to struggle with and wonder about the decisions that characters make. Technological tools can advance these goals, sure, but some very dynamic traditional classroom discussions can come from the right question being asked with the right discussion format. And writing, too—still about this solitary activity of being alone with a pen (okay, the keyboard—but still solitary), and teaching writing—academic writing, really—is still about emphasizing unity, clarity, and voice. Does this writing experience change with electronic responses over handwritten ones? Kajder’s recommended question for the teacher near the beginning of the chapter—“ask whether a tool enables students to do something they couldn’t do before, or could do before but now do it better” (98)—is the right one to ask. I’m inclined to say that the only way to know is to try it and see what happens.
I am excited about these different tools, perhaps, selfishly, more for the newness it offers to my own school day than for the certainty that these tools will advance students further than they would be if they remained in those dark ages of the neatly bound novel, some lined paper, and just their thoughts, mouths, and a pen to use for exploring.
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Alan, you can tell all these new tools has really got your mind thinking how to incorporate them into your classroom. I like the ideas of the virtual field trip and museums too. How cool is visiting the Dickens museum before or after reading one of his novels? I like your "try and see what happens" approach to see if technology enables students to do more with their classwork or an even better job. It's too easy to think, "Naw, that wouldn't work well in my class." I also agree with you that some of the best tools are still the "traditional" ones and improving on them will also yield successful results. I like reading what you are thinking in terms of incorporating technology in the classrooms. My oldest son is a junior in high school and he absolutely hates English. I don't know where or why it happened. All through elementary school, english was his best subject and his writing was so good, he was tested for the "talented and gifted program" but somewhere along the line, he lost his love of reading and writing. I think he'd rather go to the dentist and get all his teeth pulled without novacaine than read a book from his english class. So, with Jake (my oldest son) in mind, I think using technology is classrooms would definitely help bring some of the wayward or uninterested students back into the discussion. I think "seeing" and reading would help my son understand and enjoy-or at least not hate-literature and writing. I am so amazed at all there is to offer students. Alan, I think you are a great example of a dedicated english teacher who is always searching to improve, change, and create new ways of reaching all the students in your classroom. And if the "newness" excites you more than the certainty that it will "advance" students, that's ok too, because teachers need to be motivated too. There's nothing wrong with keeping your job as teacher interesting and exciting, it makes you a better teacher.
Alan, I totally agree with you. These new "toys" are really cool, and I've spent so much time looking at them and thinking about them. I think the thing is, I need to pace myself. I want to get my web page up and running first, so maybe I can do that for this class and start it this summer. Maybe next summer I could begin to integrate a blog or a wiki or a discussion board. The following summer look at webquests, etc. Each individually seems like a good idea, but I am not as sure about all of them all together, and integrating them slowly would allow me to watch what is happening, as well as pay attention to what is happening with advances in the technology, etc. But at the same time, I'm one of those in the department who is known not to be as in to the activities in the classroom. I am much more writing, discussion orientated than all the projects and games some other teachers do. It all works, in the end, I think, especially if you are an engaging teacher.
Daniel you mentioned that “Each [wikis, blogs and discussion boards] individually seems like a good idea, but I am not as sure about all of them all together …”. This would see the most sensible approach. Trying to integrate things in too much of a rush or all at once is like someone trying to eat a whole steak in one bite and just choking. I have a feeling that kids might like the wikis more than the blogs or the discussion boards but it might take a little detective work, and gate-keeping on the part of the teacher to keep an eye on whether the wiki commandments were being taken seriously. I think the key with integration of technology in the classroom is the old tried and trusted “slow and steady” mantra and if something doesn’t work after a few attempts jettison it, and move on to the next tool or toy available.
Did anyone read the MTA newletter that just came out? They had a whole article about being cautious with technology as teachers. The article focused more on instant messaging and using my space for students, and I couldnt help but think of this class and our discussions. It did make me rethink using email with students, or blogging where conversations take place. I am not saying we can't do it, but we do have to have some sort of protection for ourselves. Yes, I am speaking from a young, female point of view---but I do get fairly hesitant about communicating with students in ANY way outside of the classroom.
Alan, I love your image of "those dark ages of the neatly bound novel, some lined paper, and just their thoughts, mouths, and a pen to use for exploring." Most of us who became English majors did so because we thrived in that world, loving our time with the books we read and the thoughts we had about them. But many of our peers did not find their way into reading and writing as we did. And with new media, even those who would have been readers at an earlier time, might not choose that direction now unless they're engaged in some other way. But for my teaching, the biggest gain with technology has been changing the dynamic of whatever we do so that it's not just about what passes between me and individual students but what happens collectively. I used to spend hours creating "shared knowledge sheets" to present back to students in a cumulative way all of the great insights they'd shared with me that other students wouldn't get to read. Now they can read everything, and I can assign the pulling out of ideas to them. (A good thing, since I'm still spending more time with technology than without--but in different ways.)
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