Response to "Our Virtual Worlds"

Entering the virtual world of a well-designed game is a motivator to learn the intricacies of that world. Video games are designed to teach you mastery while you play.  The disappointments are not so degrading as to make the player give up, and the rewards feel real.

I had one experience with a video game fifteen years ago (SuperMarioLand) on my then young elder son's GameBoy.  I fell into the chasm of obsession, and played the game every night until well past midnight--until I could beat the "Big Boss" and save Daisy.  I then put the game down and vowed to never play another video game again, as I had an actual life to live.  But it gave me a window both into the addictive nature of games, as well as into the constructs of the game that modeled and encouraged systematic learning. Each time I played the game and "died," I learned a little more about the virtual world I inhabited.  Situations that were previously unpredictable death-traps became filled with enemies I could jump over, duck under or destroy.  I was adapting within MarioLand and becoming a master of all I surveyed.  How clever were the designers of the game to give me enough success each time to make me want to "live" again, in order to get a little closer to saving Daisy! The learning curve was steady and inexorable--until I mastered the game, beat the big boss and saved Daisy.

Isn't this what we as educators want to accomplish for our students? We want them to be excited to come to school to master skills that will allow them to feel mastery in their world.  Can well-designed educational video games accomplish this goal? Undoubtedly. I personally observed my younger son, at the age of eleven master the game Runescape.  He said it taught him the essentials of economics and commerce.   Is this the only way to achieve this goal?  Absolutely not.  There needs to be a balance between virtual worlds and actual worlds--as we are flesh and blood humans living in a world of animals, vegetables, and minerals.  We need to test our mettle by handling and pressing against more than just zeros and ones.  Video games can facilitate our grasp of worldly principles in an engaging and pleasurable way, but so can sculpting, playing music, dance, drawing and just playing real-life games.

Response to "Students as Designers and Creators of Educational Computer Games: Who Else?" by Marc Presky

After reading the article,  Students as Designers and Creators of Educational Computer Games:Who Else?, I have pulled out the features of "The Rules of Engagement" as described by Marc Prensky.  The article is wide in its scope, so I chose to focus and reflect on those features he has deemed most vital to successfully engaging computer games.  Those components are listed below.  Following each component, (in red) I reflect and connect:

*Goals

Goals need to be internalized by students as their own, and not just any goals will do. Engaging goals are not the 'learn the material' variety found in our schools, but rather the 'be a hero' type of goals found in complex games.

I find this concept of "be a hero" startling in its obviousness.  Virtually every piece of fiction written by elementary school boys involves vanquishing some kind of enemy, preferably in the most violent manner possible. I would add to this, an appealing option for many girls: "Be a star."  For both boys and girls, being a hero means being a star--but most girls are not driven by a need for domination through physical annihilation.  But they like being the best at something. Of course, splattering brains is OK, but I venture to guess that driving a schoolmate to suicide through ostracism would not be an acceptable form of vanquishing one's enemy.

*Decisions & Discussion

Decisions are engaging. For maximum engagement, decisions must be required, frequent and important to reaching the goals. Decisions are at the heart of the so-called 'learning loop' of decision-action-feedback-reflection, which is so crucial to both learning and engagement. Discussion, both during and after the experience is also important to engagement.

This reminds me of one  of "The Twilight Zone" episodes of my youth where a gambling man dies and goes to heaven, only to find that every game is rigged in his favor.  When he becomes agonizingly bored and begs to go to "The Other Place,"  the overseer laughs and says, "You are in the other place!" The need for autonomy and decision making are hard-wired into human beings.  This is why you have women self-immolating in Afghanistan.

 

*Emotional Connection

It is widely accepted that an emotional connection makes for stronger learning. The two biggest sources of engagement through emotional connection are Story and 'SiSoMo' (advertiser shorthand for sight, sound and motion).

The ability to empathize with characters and invest in outcome are embedded in our collective consciousness. The ability to comprehend story grammar is part of the human experience.  The sensory input of sight, sound and motion makes it all the more real and fosters empathy.

*Cooperation & Competition

Engagement comes from the careful balancing of these two seemingly opposite, yet related forces.

We all need an enemy to hate together.

*Personalization

Research and theory tells us that personalization, ie. creating teaching that meets the students precisely where they are, works best for engagement and learning. Students have learned outside of school to expect things to be offered to them at precisely their own level. 

I have personally experienced the brilliance with which video games are constructed to balance the right amount of difficulty to keep the game interesting with the right amount of mastery to make the player feel so competent as not to quit. 

*Review & Iteration

Engagement requires that students know whether what they did was wrong or right, and be able to try again. This involves both immediate feedback and what the military calls an 'after action review' (others call this 'debriefing' and still others 'reflection'.) Engagement also requires iteration; that is periodic revision based on the players' experiences and feedback.

Only in video games do you get to "die," or "fail" and come back for a chance at redemption and ultimate victory.

 
* Fun

Although notoriously hard to define fun is absolutely crucial for engaging the generation raised on Sesame Street. Game designer Rafe Koster defines fun in games as 'solving a problem mentally.' Whether or not they can define it, it is very clear (at least to students) when fun is missing.

(Ah, yes, the glint, as opposed to the glaze in the eye!)

Danny MacAskill - "Way Back Home" - NEW street trials riding short film

Smartboard Lesson on Geography

I downloaded a lesson in Geography and Map Skills from the Smart Exchange.  It was made by Dana Carlson from Cherry Creek (Long Island?) I adapted it a bit for my own needs by eliminating the Cherry Creek template in which the creators of the lesson have to plug the lesson into the NET standards, and I added a page of my own, which I will explain forthwith.

The lesson correlates nicely with the current PNW BOCES-based lessons on geography and map skills that the third-grade teachers in my district are expected to teach. It shows the northern and southern hemispheres of the globe, delineated by the equator, and the eastern and western hemispheres, divided by the Prime Meridian. It has several interactive activities where children can mark the lines of latitude and longitude with a yellow highlighter, place the names of the continents onto a map of the world, and place the names of the fifty states onto a map of the USA.  I added another page that has the fifty states correctly labeled, so the children can refer to it for verification.

This is a nice, serviceable lesson, or series of lessons on basic geography and map skills--suitable for elementary-aged children. I will use it in our upcoming study of the USA.

Review of Tuxpaint

I spent some time surveying Open Source applications.  I found many were not designed for Macs and that one had to download additional applications to open it.  I am wary of adding too many unknowns to my Mac, so I searched for those that were Mac compatible.  I also had difficulty finding one that would be useful in an elementary classroom.  The Open Source application I ultimately found and tested was at SourceForge.net.  It is called Tuxpaint, and it is an elementary painting program similar to Paintbrush or Kidpix.

Tuxpaint is attractive and easy to use--its logo is a little penguin with a paintbrush, ergo its name, Tuxpaint.  It has a wraparound sidebar with tool icons running in a double column along the left of the work space.  The tools include such functions as "brushes," "text," "paint,"  "stamp" (mostly penguins of different sizes), and "magic".  If you click on a function on the toolbar on the left, the choices for that function show up on the toolbar on the right.  For example, "magic" functions show up on the right sidebar and there is an arrow at the bottom that allows you to run through the many choices available. "Magic" includes some neat computer art-type ways to manipulate images.  If you pick "shapes," the shapes run the gamut from stars triangles, penguins (!) random blobs and stampy figures, spirals, kitties, snowflakes, hearts and arrows.

The colors run along the bottom of the page.  When you click on a color, the name of the color displays on the screen, so you know which color you are using.

There is one feature that children would most likely love, but that I found supremely annoying:  every move made is accompanied by a sound.  They are random computer generated sounds, which I do not want to invade whatever personal soundtrack I run when I am creating.  Thank heavens for headphones!

Of course there is an undo, save and print function.  So, all in all, a servicable, easy-to-use,  FREE program--good for districts or families who are watching their pennies.

All of this is with the caveat that computer art is not the same as hand-made art.  I strongly feel that children should have lots of practice handling media--it teaches them about the properties of matter, and gives realistic expectations as to how long it takes to make something real, as opposed to virtual.  That being said, this is a nice product.

LMS versus PLE

http://mohamedaminechatti.blogspot.com

In Mohamed Amine Chatti's ongoing research on Technology Enhanced Learning he sets up Learning Management Systems and Personal Learning Environments in opposition to one another--the first as restricted, top-down system of learning, and the latter as a fluid and rich learner-centered environment.

He declares LMS to be "a one-size-fits-all approach to learning by offering a static system with predefined tools to a set of many learners around a course. A PLE, by contrast, is responsive and provides a personalized experience of learning. It considers the needs and preferences of the learner and places her at the center by providing her with a plethora of different tools and handing over control to her to select and use the tools the way she deems fit."

He goes on to say that in a LMS, learning stops at the end of the course. That all knowledge is consumed as a result of a "push"-- a kind of forced feeding, if you will, of knowledge nuggets.  Whereas a PLE is a veritable vortex of acquisitiveness- a ravening ditch-pig of curiosity that can only be satisified by the bottomless largesse of the web.

 

I don't see the two environments as dichotomized as he describes them.  Over the summer,  I  took an on-line Meteorology Course, top-down input in a primarily "LMS," format.  It was intense and technical and involved the ability to read meteorologist's charts, the interpretation of data and the drawing of isotherms and isobars in Photoshop, calculating lapse rates and dew points and relative humidity.  I knew nothing about the subject, and would not have known how to construct my own PLE around the subject even if I had one second of time outside the demands of the course to do so. When the course was over, I  then went on to pursue the subject by reading a book on my Kindle, The Cloudspotter's Guide: The Science, History and Culture of Clouds by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, to enhance my knowledge and to view it through a more poetic lens.

Did learning stop at the end of the course?  Every time the wind blows and I envision it as air moving from an area of high pressure to low pressure, I experience a deepening of the knowledge.  Did I wish that I could control the pace and content of the information more?  Yes.  But I don't know if I would have worked as hard without the structure.  I think it depends on the nature of the content being learned which kind of environment works best.   I require a baseline of knowledge about a subject before I can formulate the questions that I want answered.  Then, I want to be left alone.  Until I need more input.  I see it more as a balance--a spiraling of wanting input and seeking knowledge.  In my classroom I try to provide that same balance: some listening, some talking, some game playing, some choice in independent work.  As students grow older, their ability to rebalance the proportions of those elements will change.

I want the content of an unfamiliar subject circumscribed for me--I don't like filtering through materials about which I don't yet have the discriminatory faculties to decide which is superior. But, I do want to control the pace.  Some concepts I absorb very quickly, and others I need to marinate in for a while.  I want my questions answered when I ask them.  That is one thing I love about search engines.  As my understanding deepens, I may read and reread until I develop mastery.

I am not certain what my thesis is on these matters yet, and the fact that this is a even a huge controversy is sort of surprising to me, so I have to mull it over for a while.  I'm always suspicious when people gather their wagons around one camp or another--for that, neither, is a particularly flexible way of viewing a situation.

Waiting for Superman--(I ran out of space)

Nicole, A thoughtful response. I do agree with your take that those children who end up in charter schools are winnowed by the simple fact that their parents try to find a better situation for them. I used to work in New York City--in a school where 98% of the children were eligible for free lunch and most did not hear English spoken at home.  The school had three programs, The "gifted" program, the bi-lingual program, and everyone else.  The children who were in first two programs were admitted pursuant to a parental request. The gifted program was comprised of mostly average-- with some truly gifted students.  What they had in common was parents who cared enough to be sure that their homework was done and that they showed up at school each day.  The same went for the bi-lingual program.  The remaining children were, at best, the children of parents who did not know how to work the system and at worst were the victims of the most ruinous family circumstances imaginable.  I had 22 boys and 10 girls in my class.  Two children had parents in prison for homicide.  Many were emotionally or learning disabled, but the families refused help for fear of the stigma of the "special ed" label.  Of course, the newest, most inexperienced teachers (me-at the time)  were given the most difficult classes.  I was dedicated, smart and passionate--but I could not fix my kids.

This is a tough situation.  As a parent of two sons, 18 and 22, I was glad that there were honors and AP programs for my boys. (They deserved them, didn't they?  They were smart and my husband and I were involved in their education.)  I would by lying if I said I wasn't glad that they were hanging out with a "better type" of student in these programs.  Yet, this stratification mirrors the situation that I described above.  As a teacher, I want one thing, (a mixed ability classroom--with lots of positive role models) but as a parent, I want another. (To reduce my children's exposure to distractions and chaos.)

As a teacher, I want the freedom to run my classroom with integrity and discipline--yet I work in a system that is so cowed by potential litigation that the inmates are running the prison.  Children are not held accountable.  Parents are not held accountable.  But teachers are held accountable.

The bottom line is I show up for work each day and dedicate myself to the success of all children in my class.  Day after day. Year after year.

Waiting for Superman

http://teacherrevised.org/2010/06/30/movie-review-waiting-for-superman-or-just-another-clark-kent-playing-dress-up/

This movie has been a topic of discussion in our district. Although I haven't seen it,  I honestly find its tenets to be so ludicrous as to be incomprehensible.

Yes, there are bad teachers.  But, honestly, in my teaching career, I have encountered very few.  (There are also bad doctors and lawyers, and if they don't break any laws, they are still practicing and making a living. )  My particular team of teachers is one of the most dedicated, professional and caring group of professionals I've ever encountered.

So, if teachers are so great, why do we need unions?  I believe resentment for unions stems partly from the fact that more than 75% of teachers are women.  Historically, teachers were young females, were horrifically underpaid, and were fired if they started a family.  Older female teachers were "spinsters."  Administrators were typically male.  There is a cultural suspicion of powerful women who protect their interests.

Well. that was in the olden days, right?  I have recently seen districts where the superintendents and principals were all male--and all of the teachers were young, blond, and mini-skirted.  No joke.  I even heard the principal jokingly refer to one of the old-timers as an "old face." (quotes his). But, sexism and implicit sexual manipulation or harassment aside, there are other instances where good teachers need the protection of unions.  What if a teacher irritates an administrator?  A paper trail can be created to justify the harassment and firing of that teacher.  What if a new administrator with new ideas comes in and wants to purge the staff of stubborn veterans who may challenge his or her point of view and hire a cadre of malleable young recruits?  Same situation.  What if an administrator decides to indirectly harass a union rep by doing repetitive "walk-throughs" of that person's friends?  I would say that for every "rubber room" candidate, there are far, far more competent teachers whose careers and livelihoods are being protected by unions.

It is  easy for those who reap the benefits of a particular political action group's labors to say it is no longer necessary.  It is like certain young women who think that sexual promiscuity alone equals woman's liberation.  This discounts the fact that there were women who worked for our right to vote, our right for equal pay and our right for reproductive freedom.  I equate unions with our right to fair working conditions.

It is so easy and convenient to bash teachers.  What politician is going to bash families?  (I wonder if homes where the lack of homework, reading, dinners or any limits whatsoever were highlighted in the "documentary?")  But they wouldn't do that! That is the bulk of their voting constituency.  Effective scapegoaters must choose a minority against which to pit a self-righteous majority.

Maybe the movie should have been called "A Convenient Scapegoat?"

Wikis for Wittle Ones Wedux

http://teachersfirst.wikispaces.com/Elementary+Ideas+and+Successes

 I'm thinking of ways to deepen instruction with Wikis.  Here are a couple of ideas that I like:

I like the geometry walk described below because it is a specific and concrete activity that could be enhanced by locating and photographing the objects.


"I'm thinking about letting my 4th grade small groups take a "walk" around campus and locate geometric figures, types of lines, and angles. Then we can post it here and learn to upload pics. If all goes well, maybe the students can add to this by finding geometric concepts outside of the classroom!"

My thoughts: I would like to see the templates and rubrics for this activity that describe the specific activities--do they distinguish between 2-D or 3-D shapes?  Do the children have to describe the attributes of the shapes?  Without a structure children tend to just run around and point, "There's a circle!  There's a square!" Fourth graders should be held accountable for a thoughtful analysis of what they have found.  This develops language and analytical skills.

"We have literature circles in groups of 5 with my 4th students. We conduct our literature discussions on our Wiki!"



My thoughts: This could be an intriguing and motivating enhancement of literature circles.  Again, I would be interested in seeing how focused "Thick" discussion questions are developed--are they generated by the children or the teacher?  What are the protocols for 'talking back" to the books and to each other?




To be honest, I have visited some other early elementary wikis and the quality of the student work has left a lot to be desired.  The technology should not be a substitute or a trendy mask for poorly developed work.




My other thoughts on 2.0--there seems to be an exponential increase in information and opinion--to the point where everyone is writing and no-one is reading other people's work.






I hate to be a Negative Nellie, but I call 'em as I see 'em!
 

Wikis for Wittle Ones

From TeachersFirst:   http://www.teachersfirst.com/single.cfm?id=5474

  

Wiki ideas for younger students (elementary):

• An annotated virtual library: listings and commentary on independent reading students have done throughout the year
• collaborative book reviews or author studies
  An elementary class “encyclopedia” on a special topic, such as explorers or state history – to be continued and added to each year!
• A virtual tour of your school as you study “our community” in elementary grades
• A travelogue from a field trip or NON- field trip that the class would have liked to take as A culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to the Capital and what we (wish) we saw.
• Detailed and illustrated descriptions of scientific or governmental processes: how a bill becomes a law, how mountains form, etc.
  A wiki “fan club” for you favorite author(s).
• Family Twaditionwiki- elementary students share their family’s ways of preparing Thanksgiving dinner or celebrating birthdays (anonymously, of course) and compare them to practices in other cultures they read and learn about.
• A Where is Wanda wiki: a wiki version of the ever-favorite Flat Stanley project. Have each Wanda host post on the wiki, including the picture they take with Wanda during her visit. Even better: keep an ongoing Google Earth placemarker file to add geographic visuals to Wanda’s wonderful wanderings as a link in the wiki. WOW! Where in the world IS Wiki Wanda?

My thoughts on the above:

These are all great ideas!

I'm thinking it would be pretty motivating for my third-graders to create a "Wiktionary."  Each week they are supposed to find three or four "Juicy Words" from their "Just-Right" reading books.  These are books that are not too hard and not too easy, and in which they should occasionally encounter unfamiliar vocabulary.  They are asked to create a semantic map for one word and put that word and two others into sentences that show they know the meaning of the word.  It would be great if they could compile these into a class "Wiktionary" to share with each other, with their families and with posterity.

I think it might behoove me to get a parent involved with editing for clarity and appropriateness before it goes to publication.

Smelly Knowledge by Jeremy Price

http://forestfortrees.edublogs.org/

In Jeremy Price's post on attention in "Smelly Knowledge," he quotes anthropologist Michael Wesch:

"In a hyper-connected world, we now find ourselves in multiple conversations at once, both real and virtual, and are often putting forth different masks, faces, identities, and selves in each one.
As interesting as the multi-tasking discussion is, it becomes especially interesting to me to consider the idea that we might also be “multi-selfing” as we bounce between our e-mails, tweets, texts, status updates, etc."

I find the accessibility to so much information a double-edged sword.  While it plugs into the aspect of my thinking that is lateral and associative in natural and comfortable ways,  I also find it supremely distracting.  It disperses my attention so thinly that  I do not read in the same way that has been intrinsic to me throughout most of my life.   Historically,  I have read slowly, thoughtfully and have made many lateral associations in my mind to my concrete experience--or to other books or world events.  This is what we in elementary school call "text to self," "text to text" and "text to world" connections.  That catalog of connections has now been expanded to "text to web"--which exponentially expands the number and kind of connections,  This can serve to expand one's experience--but it is a virtual experience--I find I am by necessity reading more rapidly and superficially--plucking out juicy tidbits and laterally connecting.  Ironically,  I read more volume, but less deeply and so tangentially that I end up either off topic--or worse, forgetting exactly what I was looking for to begin with.  This is ultimately unsettling--and inefficient.  By its very nature of permitting distractions and not filtering sites qualitatively, it may actually preclude deep, original thought.  RSS feeds can create qualitative filters, but one must take time to  peruse them in order to make those determinations.

Web reading is changing my very identity as a reader, and while I may have some facility with it, I am not certain it is ultimately desirable.

How do blogging and RSS fit into the Common Core State Standards?

In an attempt to narrow this topic into something manageable and relevant for me as an educator implementing these standards and as writer responding to the directives of this discussion, I made some decisions about which standards and which contexts I will choose to examine through this particular critical lens.

I chose to focus on the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts in Writing for both grade 3 and grades 11-12 in particular, since our district’s Curriculum Maps imbed these standards fairly consistently and I am intimately acquainted with their practical applications in both the elementary classroom, due to my teaching assignment, and in the high school classroom as a result of having read virtually every piece of writing my son (who graduated high school last year), has written. More specifically, I will focus on opinion, or persuasive texts, as these skills are constructed on a continuum from elementary through high school.  Below are the standards as described for persuasive writing for both 3^rd grade and 11-12^th grades.

Grade 3

1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons. 
b. Provide reasons that support the opinion.
c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons. 
d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Grades 11-12

1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. 
a. Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. 
b.  Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases. 
c.  Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. 
d. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. 
e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented

While the scope and development of these comparable assignments differs, the essential aim of the assignment is the same.  That is to formulate an opinion, support it with details, to use the appropriate logical language and syntax, and to wrap up one’s argument in a germane manner. The depth of the logic and the breadth of references and citations by necessity differ, as they are linked to what is developmentally appropriate for each age group.

So, allow me to unravel some common skills.

Grade 3:

a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.

Grades 11-12: 

a.  Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

This is the formulation period of this assignment.  How does one forge an opinion?  One must be exposed to enough experience in a particular domain, to compare similar phenomena, and decide that one is different, and/or preferable to another.

Blogging and RSS would dovetail nicely in this endeavor. To develop a catalogue of background information, differing opinions and current research, students would spend some time following blogs and reading incoming information from RSS feeds pertinent to their general topic. The source of this information would by necessity differ between these age groups, since elementary students do not have the discriminating skills needed to construct this kind of search.  This is where the teacher would have to do preliminary research to create a “delicious” account, with tightly controlled appropriate, yet relevant content.  High school students would (hopefully) have acquired the skills by now to discriminate between relevant and irrelevant documents.

Let’s examine the next component of this essay.

Grade 3: 

b. Provide reasons that support the opinion.

Grades 11-12:

b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

While the sophistication of these endeavors differs substantially, in essence they are demanding the same goods, which is to defend one’s position with details.

Again, the same accessibility to research and the opinions of others interested in their topics, both amateur and professional, would be available via Blogs and RSS feeds.  In this case, the development of their ideas could be enhanced and transmuted through interactive blogs by having real-time feedback to their reasoning, (as opposed to a “grade” imposed by a teacher at the end of the assignment.)  Similar content controls to those mentioned above would be necessary for elementary age students.

Let us continue to the skill that addresses appropriate logical language and syntax.

Grade 3:

c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons.

Grades 11-12:

c.  Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.

Here is an area that, for me, in particular, is a double-edged sword.  In the democratic world of blogging and RSS feeds, one may be subjected to all manner of rhetoric, from the sacred to the profane—and unfortunately this domain of lackadaisical research and slovenly thought is a poor model and implicit permission to do the same.  As a teacher, one must hold one’s students accountable to the conventions of English language, which have been ideally constructed to deliver clear and cogent thought. Those who have internalized this language may have no difficulty discriminating between the two, but those who have not will have their weaknesses enhanced and supported by similar deficiencies.

Finally, we are looking at the way in which the essayist will wrap up his or her argument.

Grade 3:

d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Grades 11-12:

d.  Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. 
e.  Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented

(For information’s sake, I have included the additional domain of style and tone imbedded in the upper level high school standards, which has been omitted from that of the third grade standards-- the assumption being that eight-year olds do not have sufficient mastery over language to control style and tone, nor adequate experience to be familiar with norms or conventions.)

That being said, I will focus on the ability to draw conclusions.  In my experience, the weakness of elementary students is that they will omit the conclusion entirely, or may say, “The End” or “Bye-Bye” as an approximation of a conclusion.  Upper school students may give a more sophisticated version of this by saying “and now I have told you why… (repeat thesis statement).”  A strong conclusion should reflect some sort of synthesis of ideas into one’s personal life or the life of our world, or perhaps even the universe.  It is realistic to expect third graders to personalize and upper school students to globalize or universalize.

So, where do blogging and RSS feed fit in this process?  I believe the act of articulating and sharing thought aids in the formulation of theories, and in the subsequent “realizations” that allow for minor shifts or major cataclysms in one’s world view, a view that embodies the personal or universal life, whichever this epiphany impacts.

A creative, flexible and dedicated teacher can make Blogs and RSS feeds work to support the standards, provided the district supports the teacher in this endeavor and is willing to create policies and that legally support the teacher in the event a student accesses inappropriate content.  Perhaps there would need to be expanded technology positions whose workers would screen the material and “package: it in such a way to be accessible to the different grade levels.  (Of course, there are the dangers of censorship with an agenda.)  But, with adequate support and staff development, it could work.

If I were an educational technology specialist working for a district, I would present a version of the previous argument as a way to substantiate the validity of utilizing the available technology to support the CCSS.

The preparation needed to make that a reality would involve a substantial staff development undertaking that would embody objectives similar to this course. This involves both familiarizing teachers with what is currently available and asking them to rethink the standard curriculum to embody these technological changes.  Additional staff development would be needed to train teachers to have adequate facility with the technology so that the implementation does not become a daunting, overwhelming undertaking.

If I were to imagine myself as a nay-sayer (which I frequently am when initially presented with a proposition which involves reconfiguring systems which I have worked long and hard to make work effectively), I might rant:

“Are you kidding me?  As if we don’t have enough to do?  I just spent five years giving up a program it took me ten years to develop so I could collaboratively create a grade level curriculum that is aligned to the new state standards and which interfaces vertically with all of the grade levels above and below me.  As it is, I often don’t leave work until six or seven at night, work through lunch and spend weekends assessing student work and adjusting lessons to address student needs!  Now I have to let the world into my classroom?  I have to spend hours hunting down and reading with a magnifying glass websites to find those that are appropriate, because, God forbid, a child sets eyes on something inappropriate, I could lose my job, get sued or end up in jail!  I have to be a servant to the “Disneyland” version of education where all work should be “FUN!”  As if these kids don’t spend all day with their eyes glued to a screen in which all of the thinking and selection of what is “interesting” is done for them.  Give me a break.  The district couldn’t pay me enough to compensate for the hours involved.”

If I were to respond as loyal servant of the taxpayers in my district and as an aficionado of technology (which I also am, with some reservations), I would respond thus:

“I am being paid by the taxpayers of my district to do the best job I can to prepare their children to be workers in the 21^st Century.  I have an obligation to find a way to integrate this amazing, ever-changing technology into my teaching in such a way that does not compromise my vision of excellence in teaching, but does not prohibit students from acquiring the skills they will need to be competitive.  So, I’m game.  Bring it on!”

Blogging and its effects on the traditional classroom

The personal is the political. 

I am the proud recipient of a spanking used set of laptops for my classroom use.  The imposing white cabinet comes with a lock.  It takes me several days to hunt down the resident brilliant elementary school techno-dude to ask him for the combination, (he's probably at the D.O. working on their website) which he emails to me.  I open the lock.  Twenty-one Macs.  Cool.  I want to figure out a way to get my third-graders to bookmark the new premium Spelling City program our district has purchased.  I open up one laptop and the folders for K, 1,  2 pop up.  No grade 3.  I'm 3.  I take a wild guess for the password for grade 2.  I type it in.  It works.  I'm in.  I Google Spelling City and I find the forty lists I typed in last year.  I find the screen names and passwords I created my class in August.  I bookmark the site. Now I just have to get 21 eight year-olds who can't copy the date off the board to simultaneously do what I just did--and then remember their screen names and passwords.  Which brings me to the topic of this blog.

Could blogging have an effect on my third grade class? Assuming I could bypass the legalities of having third-graders blogging their innermost thoughts, (I shudder to imagine them publishing the succulent details of their home lives that they have so trustingly shared with me). Well, could it?

I need to backtrack some more.  I am a writing teacher.  I love language and the thought it simultaneously reveals and transmutes.  I love teaching "catchy beginnings" and the closely examined life.  I love simile and metaphor and "juicy words."   I love teaching children to move action through dialogue by writing plays about their lives.  I love fables and folktales and the moral of the story.  Could blogging get that smart little boy who spent twenty minutes of Writers Workshop in the bathroom to become passionate about writing? Perhaps.  Could it embody the English Language Arts Standards?  Absolutely.  So what's the problem?

The problem is the hurried life of the Elementary School child (and teacher) and the vagaries of technology.  The informational and technological expertise required for each of the five subjects I teach is increasing exponentially--all of my subjects are hands-on workshop-based models--Investigations Math, Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop, Comparing and contrasting world cultures in Social Studies, Science 21, Words-Their Way spelling.  Children are being pushed to perform at a dizzying velocity--often beyond their current level of expertise and development. This simultaneous with homes with two working parents, single-parent homes and the lure of electronic games.  It is then incumbent on the teacher to provide instruction whose interest rivals computer games and that is differentiated to meet the needs of all children.

For the teacher, managing the materials, training and technology for all of these courses of study is becoming increasingly demanding--to the point where elementary teachers are spending more and more time preparing, cataloguing and implementing curriculum with each passing year--as we are being held increasingly accountable for student progress, to parents, principals, superintendents, the state and the federal government.

Can technology help?  Ideally, yes.  But just yesterday I was in the middle of a Smartboard lesson with an interactive 100 chart and my computer froze.  This had also happened the day before. Now, you cannot fiddle with a computer for ten minutes in a classroom full of elementary students on a regular basis. The techno-wizard told me to drop my computer off Monday morning for him to troubleshoot the Smartboard Program--so it will not be available to me on Monday, either.  Now, getting back to my plan to implement Spelling City on my classroom set of laptops.  If I multiply my issues times twenty-one--with eight-year-olds trouble-shooting the problems, I have an abject nightmare on my hands.  So, (I really am making a point here, however circuitous it may seem) would I love to have my kids blogging?  You betcha!  Would it support the ELA standards? Absolutely?  Is it realistic?  Absolutely not.

Not that that has ever stopped me from embarking on a new undertaking.

A Cautionary Thought

"And herein lies the dilemma for educators. What happens when a free-flowing medium such as blogging interacts with the more restrictive domains of the educational system? What happens when the necessary rules and boundaries of the system are imposed on students who are writing blogs, when grades are assigned in order to get students to write at all, and when posts are monitored to ensure that they don’t say the wrong things?" Stephen Downes