Sciencebugz Buzz

Blogging. I think I am still addressing a largely empty room. All weekend I’ve read about blogging and I’ve read blogs. I’ve read blogs about blogging. All of those blogs had an ear this weekend!

I’ve never been particularly interested in journaling. I tend to think about what I’d write quite a bit-while I’m mowing the grass or hiking over the dunes or some other activity far from a computer or pen and paper. The few journal entries I’ve written were about things that were important for that moment.  I would not characterize myself as one that needs to be published or read because my personal musings aren’t worth sharing. Perhaps talking to the empty room IS my perfect venue!

Maybe my call is not expressing my voice, but finding ways for my students to express their voices. Teachers are a conundrum. They talk a lot to anyone who will listen and lots of individuals who aren’t listening! But, teachers also love to listen-especially to their students.

Saturday night I ended up at school. Yes, it is embarrassing. I needed to set up a lab practical and the day had been much too lovely to be inside. Consequently, I was at school. PERFECT TIMING! It was the evening of the first battle of the bands at our school. Our students are remarkably talented in many ways. Listening to an awesome rendition of “White Room” (originally sung by Cream in 1968) by a band of largely ninth graders, I knew I would enjoy hearing what they had to say about their music and what inspired them. Maybe students would like to review their current favorite band or share a concert experience. I had a lot of time to think about this as I was working (but not write as I was setting up a practical!) I knew someone who would be perfect to help me have the chance to listen to what our students think about music. And I knew someone who could offer support and ideas for widgets and links to Facebook or other social media.

This morning I set my thoughts in productive motion. I chatted with Scott George, an English teacher and musician and he said he would help. I knew Patti Grayson would be onboard for technical support-we battled adding widgets to our blogs together and she is always up for a challenge. Within an hour the framework is up and with a blog post by Mr. George, I think we will be off on a new adventure. Our students will be able to write about music, they will be able to link to you tube videos of their music, they will respond to comments of readers, and they will be PUBLISHED AUTHORS! Go Gator Tunes!

http://www.gatortunes.edublogs.org

This is a video clip from Powerful Learning Practices pre-game activities.  There are some things that I instantly want to share when I see them-they are thought provoking and I want to hear what everyone else thinks about this information.  As I redid the pre-game information as part of my own searching to design better lesson plans for some topics that I feel just “lay there,”  I reviewed this video.  I instantly wanted to share it with my students.  Looking for better ways to communicate is really all about them and how they learn.  Here’s the link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

I showed the video made by students at the Kansas Univ about how they spend their time and what their classes were like.  I asked my kids what they felt they needed to learn to be ready for college.  Their responses to the clip were utterly fascinating.  Some agreed.  Some disagreed.  Some were shocked when I pointed out that my classrooms looked just like that in the dark ages. 

My most malleable kids are those who chose marine biology.  Did that self-selection affect what sort of learner they are?  I can tell you, they are among the first that I have taught that are willing to listen to one another as credible sources.  They use the wiki far more than my other classes.  They instantly took to diigo.  What sort of learner responds in this way?  What does this indicate about the jobs they will hold?  Do they reject me as the expert in the field or does working for themselves and listening to one another indicate they learn in modes other than those that are teacher directed?  They accept my input, but don’t feel tied to it.  When they get stuck, they are willing to ask for help-from one another and from me.  My position in the class is altered in what I think is a more responsible style of learning. 

Some of my students have begun to email their responses to the video.  Some students prefer the one to one in email.  Some never mention any sort of technology at all.   One asked why didn’t I tell him what he needed since I was his teacher and I ought to know by now.  Several mentioned Facebook and of those, two wanted to know if there were educational uses of Facebook (there are- from fake Facebook walls to groups to information sharing,) and a couple said how they learned depended on the teacher.

Relinquishing center stage as the resident expert is difficult.  I have learned to let go of some basic rights and personal concerns (for example: I should be the one to tell them about that!  Are they laughing at me or at something they are working on?)  Writing these lesson plans is difficult because my objectives are more than just content oriented.  Assessing the success of new strategies in old ways to meet needs of students, parents, and colleges is also a challenge.   

But far more difficult from relinquishing center stage is convincing my ap students that there are more ways to learn than from stand and deliver.  They can and will be successful learners even if they are learning from one another. 

Collaborative learning is breaking down walls I spent years constructing.  It’s a good thing I wasn’t too attached to those walls.

All teachers know that when they are working in class there are two dialogs or more occurring at the same time.  There is the dialog you think is happening-between teacher and student.  There is the dialog you may never know-the internal chatter the learner has as you are talking.  Then there is the one teachers like to suppress if it isn’t on task-dialog between students. 

 Once upon a time, students took the chance to communicate by passing notes.  Now they don’t bother-they just do knowing looks, pointing or other gesturing or turn around and chat.  I have often wondered what was so important that it had to be said right that moment. 

 My AP biology class doesn’t talk to me.  Oh, they talk to me before class and they talk to me after class and they talk to me in lab.  In class-there is no talking.  Not a comment.  Not a question.  Not even a groan. 

 Curious and feeling left out of their internal dialog and the knowing looks, I asked my students to try todaysmeet.com.  I wondered if I would be able to handle having them chat on purpose while I was working.  I wondered if it would all be giggles and silly stuff.  I’ll try anything once (or twice) if I think there is promise…. So I opened the discussion and turned them loose. 

At first there was giggling and silliness, sometimes the only thing I could hear was the keyboards.  Other times, they still looked at each other and acted out whatever it was they were talking about.  At the end of the day I read their back chat. 

Yes there was silliness.  But there were good questions that they never asked me.  Someone else in the class helped find the answers-in old notes or online.  They looked up definitions and they found pix to explain answers.

 Now I want to do this all the time… But the last comment on the back chat astounded me.  It said, “We don’t want to talk anymore.”  I do remember the point at which class suddenly seemed silent.  How strange.  Today I asked them if they would be willing to try chatting again.  Some said okay but a couple vehemently said NO.  They found it too distracting.  Since we still aren’t dialoging verbally, I’d like to try again, please.

Delicious?

I’ve been in the soup all day. Maybe it is Delicious. I am not at all sure. Most of my learning has been uncomfortable. The first time I did a dissection to teach myself what I would soon be teaching to students was hard. The first time I calculated the area under the curve to help identify peaks from a gas chromatograph reading was difficult. The first time I used recombinant DNA techniques to make bacterial colonies turn blue and be resistant to antibiotics was daunting.

I am stepping way beyond my comfort zone. I struggle with the thought of being immediately available or having my thoughts read at the touch of key. Having someone being able to read my Delicious websites is akin to having cookies identify where I go online and what I might be inclined to purchase. (I delete those…)

As I listened to the video about Twitter, I thought about my first experience with Twitter-the same year it came online. I was taking a class, imagine that, when one of our peers suggested we all get an account to Twitter and follow him. Instantly I had several tweets on my phone. I didn’t have unlimited text messaging. Already I was behind the curve-I couldn’t follow. Now tweets of those I have chosen to follow are dumping into a new email account. With my new RSS feeds on the same site, I can read well into the night.

Several technology courses, courses to help learn to integrate technological applications in the classroom, have surveys to ascertain how I benefited from implementing the applications I learned. One of the questions that always appeared on the surveys was, “I don’t have time to use technology and meet my classroom expectations.” Then the respondent could answer: “Strongly agree. Agree. Neither agree nor disagree. Disagree. Strongly disagree.” I never knew how to answer that question. Some days I am grateful to have come close to meeting my objectives. Other days just rock and I feel like tomorrow I’ll do something else completely new. I’m going to conquer new methods for inquiry learning one step into this rarified atmosphere after another.

In my opinion, that difficult question will be the crux of bringing my colleagues with me and this willing and able team to which I am so fortunate to belong. My peers didn’t sign on to do this. They didn’t ask to learn to teach in such a foreign and discomforting milieu. Our trip to the conference in Texas will be close to indoctrination. In part, the educators we will listen to and with whom we will share ideas are simply preaching to the choir. This little team is composed of people with a great desire to learn about the possibilities. When we return, this “choir” will have to address where our community is now and focus on our possibilities.

Remember when videos were NEW?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V83JR2IoI8k&ob=av2e

It’s time to take off our blinders.

I teach upper level science at Hampton Roads Academy, a college preparatory school with the whole child as its mission. 

 I’m not much of a journal keeper.  I am not good at sharing my thoughts with the entire world. 

 I’m here because my students are already in cyberspace or need to get there.  I’m here because new possibilities and challenges are fun and teaching as well as learning should be fun.

 I began in 1986 with one of the first computers.  I learned DOS.  Before long, with many geographical moves and many course moves, I had learned to write and save my lesson plans on the large, very floppy disks.  A return to a degree seeking program led to learning Microsoft Excel.  I learned Excel from the help menu in an evening so I could write my first graduate level chemistry lab.  Microsoft PowerPoint soon followed.  Then I was able to add videos as well as pictures to the PowerPoints.  Presentations in PowerPoint weren’t enough.  I began to search the web for new presentation possibilities.  Prezis and now happily, a whiteboard projector have added to expressing ideas.  However, I feel that I am swimming in the same pond-just making bigger ripples. 

 I created my own website (I learned HTML for the first website) and much later on, I put class wikis on the web.  I have a bookmarking page for myself and my students at www.portaportal.com.   For my own growth, I belong to 2 ning groups and classroom web 2.0.  This is my first foray into writing a blog, after reading blogs for the last couple of years.  There is much to learn and it is time to escape the pond. 

Time to explore a new world.