Many of the alternative education students I now teach are incredibly intelligent. They are smart enough to have circumvented the “system” for many years before their poor choices or challenging personal situations finally caught up with them. Traditional forms of education (lecture based, teacher-centric “learning”) haven’t worked for them. In fact, I would argue that those who have “succeeded” in many comprehensive sites do so in spite of the education they receive. Bright, innovative teachers can be found out there but schools also often contain teachers (and administrators!) who preserve the status quo. To be frank, our system of education is broken and it works against those who want to revolutionize the way knowledge is disseminated to the students who sit in their classrooms. Unfortunately, fear of litigation clamps down the “mouths” of many a district.

Few older teachers utilize blogs, podcasts, Blackboard, or other forms of on-line learning, although many of my colleagues are interested in researching these technologies. This is probably because of the time issue; it takes time to receive training; it is labor and time intensive to become proficient at using technologies; it takes a lot of time to create, implement and monitor blogs and websites.

However, I have observed that my students absolutely LOVE using technology. Whether it’s texting their friends, accessing websites in a science, literature or history classroom or just composing their drafts electronically, I have noticed that the level of their engagement rises as the incorporation of technology increases.

I can’t wait to tap into their virtual world and meld it with our daily, “face to face” interactions as a learning community.

Do you find wiki a lot easier? For yourself or for your students?

Dena

What’s a tyro?

If you would like to share your plans, I would be grateful.
S