Say it ain't so!

This is it! Our final blog for our class. Gosh - it seems like it was only 10 weeks ago that I wrote my first one ...



Oh, wait. It was.



Our final blog is on the NETS T4 standards,(http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf) which deal with digital citizenship and responsibility.

I posted last week about the difficulty with technology when it comes to knowing what we can or cannot share. For instance, can I legally post a Robert Frost poem? What about lyrics to a song that I want students to analyze?

For this blog, I'd like to focus on the following:
d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools

What I envision is eventually opening up what I do with my students to teachers and honors students at different grade levels.

So much of what we do in our classrooms is, frankly, a secret. Our kids come into class, we shut the classroom door ... and they what happens? Well, I'll never tell!

And therein lies the problem! We don't share, at least not as much as we should, what we're having students know and be able to do.

However, so you know: I love when other teachers or administrators come into my classroom while I'm teaching. Even unannounced. Even if I'm having an off-day, all it will do is help me be a better teacher. I've never understood why so many teachers freak out when an administrator pops in.

Also, I've argued since I started teaching at Mason for more collaboration among teachers. The honors freshman, honors junior and AP English teachers and I should be meeting often to discuss what our goals are for our students. And students should be a part of that conversation: after all, they're the clients.

Instead, we seem to muddle through the school year, doing our thing, alone.

I have big ideas, and technolgy like wikis can help me realize those ideas. What if we had AP students commenting on honors freshmen papers that were submitted to their wikis? Having AP students evaluate younger students' papers, knowing now what they know about writing, will help those APers reach the highest level of Bloom's. Or how about having honors freshmen reading sophomore, junior and/or AP-level writing so they can see concrete examples of what is expected of them at each level? Or how about teachers sharing lesson plans/writing drills/literature?

Of course, I want all of this yesterday. And I'm frustrated I can't do it all as quickly as I wish.

But the point of all of this, is to, yes, go ahead and shut that classroom door once your students are settled and ready to learn.

But then use technology to open your classroom to the world. And everyone, teachers and students, will benefit.