Slammin' & My Techno Self

I am not sure where my titles come from at times. This post is to revisit my technology manifesto, but (1) it ain't gonna change much and (2) this video is refreshing. I like the power of slam poetry. Taylor Mali is a master at it and an ex-teacher and the poem is about teaching. It is one of those things that one would really hope the administration would play at the first of the back-from-summer meetings. So enjoy.

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I have never been a technophobe; yet as a teacher with few resources and little tech support, it has never been worth it to invest myself in the web. This is something I have tried, but without a PLN it is time-foolish and time-frustrating. (okay it is still time-frustrating--imagine learning all of this during a full school year!)

My manifesto about the use of technology stands. If anything I wonder more about the faddishness of things. Yes, glogster and animoto are fun, and I will likely use them, but will they last? Where do they fit in the future of creativity----cutting and pasting photos and music and having it 'put together' for you? This may be what my students need to do because this is the direction of their future. Does this mean creativity is evolving? Photoshop takes mastery, Picnik is quick button pushing; I just don't know when I am encouraging future skills and when I am giving them cliff note versions of real creativity. Painting-by-numbers isn't the same as paint placed with purpose on a blank canvas.

Communication is a place that I can see utilizing the web's power more in my students' educational lives. Students have different comfort zones as we are learning with their comfort in platforms such as texting and facebook.

A device such as Voicethread may help the more introverted students participate and engage each other in richer ways. I will see. I am curious as to what my class wiki (more to come) will do and not do for each course's community. I am proud of myself and my classmates for taking these leaps of faith and being the wiser for our 'base jumping' to be better teachers, finding new ways to encourage authentic learning experiences.

Comments

  1. RandyJuly 23, 2009 at 5:24 AM

    "A device such as Voicethread may help the more introverted students participate and engage each other in richer ways."

    I am also a fan of Voicethread and see it allowing students who struggle with writing participate in a meaningful way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marta ToranJuly 23, 2009 at 12:14 PM

    Great post Susan. Yes, your blog titles are most creative... Thanks for posting the Taylor Mali video, I really enjoyed it (it's the kind of thing every teacher needs to have stored in their computer somewhere so you can revisit it once in a while for motivation).

    Give the Classroom 2.0 webinars another try, I also checked out the Glogster webinar and it wasn't that great, they kept having technical difficulties, most are much better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marta ToranJuly 23, 2009 at 12:17 PM

    Oops, sorry Susan, the second half of the post was meant to go on Nattie's blog! I read both posts one after the other and then went back to reply... got them mixed up.

    ReplyDelete

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