Thing 23

Although it means I'll have more time to cook dinner, I'm actually a little disappointed to be at Thing 23! I've really enjoyed learning about technology this way--the organization of the program made what seemed was initially overwhelming (the number of new things I had passively accepted ignorance about) simply fun. I won't attempt to answer the big question of what it all means definitively, but some "big ideas" I'll continue to think about are:

--how do we define community? how is it defined by our students?
--the speed of change: how do we keep up? how do our students keep up?
--equity & being left behind: if I get left behind, it's mainly my own fault. I have the resources. The stakes for not only being technologically-literate but also tech-efficient seem so high for our students, but I'm not sure that the urgency I often feel when I think about the flat world is widely shared.
--redefining "technology" from objects a teacher uses to enhance instruction to include intangible tools that facilitate student interaction and collaboration

Looking back at my initial post on Thing 1 & 2, I didn't have a radical shift in thought about the use of technology or the Internet in the classroom. I was open to it from the beginning on a personal level (I started using a computer when I was in preschool; some of my high school teachers were early adopters, so I've never questioned the place of the Internet in the classroom). I still have the same questions about how it might be applicable to my classroom given the subject I teach and the resources available, but I don't doubt for a minute that students' technological fluency is important. What has changed is my realization that many of things we explored have exciting possibilities for smoother collaboration and efficiency. I didn't think email attachments, for example, were particularly problematic, but actually using Google Docs (which I'd heard about and ignored), will change how I share information with my colleagues. I'm looking forward to having some additional time to spend on Flickr and plan to continue checking in with Bloglines.

As you might notice, these are all personal applications. Realistically, in the few weeks I have left before I go on maternity leave, I won't be incorporating anything new into my classroom. I'm more concerned that my sub will know where the mouthpiece puller is than with setting up a classroom blog. (Although it's not an entirely lost cause: I'm putting my files on Google Docs so that I can share them easier.) Completing the 23 Things project has given me some ideas about how I might incorporate more technology into some of the few non-musical projects we do as well as making me much more familiar with the world that students are growing up in, knowledge which has some value too.

I think that I'll make more of an effort to keep up. Some of the things I'd heard about but hadn't bothered to explore. It turned out that many of the new things were easy to do, and I think this experience will make me more likely to try them out and less likely to believe in the status quo. Of course, I'll want to know if RESA puts out a 23 Things version 2.0--this would be another great way to keep current!

Thanks to RESA and the facilitators for putting together such a great in-service opportunity. This has been tremendously interesting, much more so than many other professional development experiences I've attended. I'll definitely be recommending the next session to my colleagues!