Thing 1!

One: Web 2.0
David Warlick's article on a "typical" Web 2.0 school day left me feeling a little ambivalent about all of the technological tools I currently think of so fondly. While some routines he describes are intelligent and constructive, there is an overall saturation of use that devalues each separate tool. Does that make sense? If someone like me, who scans almost 100 blog feeds a day and uses email, Facebook and Twitter, feels a bit breathless and ADD reading the methods described, then what about a 10-year-old with some retrieval and/or processing issues?

Some of the most appealing ideas for me were those that were used among faculty. The routine use of blogging amongst the faculty members is a much more interactive, responsive tool than curriculum mapping for cross-curricular sharing and for giving the curriculum a smooth transition among grade levels. Its success relies on a heartfelt commitment from the faculty as a community. The student blog assignments that challenged students to find another point of view are wonderful and thought-provoking. Actually, all of the ways that students in the article are communicating with each other and with their teachers do exactly what we hope; to directly involve students in the process and immerse them in the ideas. In the end, my hesitation is the quantity of use; for instance, not every discussion needs to be a podcast, nor should it. There should be time in a school day for some quieter reflection that allows students to digest and absorb the vast amount of information we are able to feed them visually and auditorially, thanks to all of the sources we have available to us as teachers.

We have become such a self-conscious society; we believe that every thought and action must be Twittered, status-ed and blogged. There is a lack of a thoughtful approach that includes decision-making about what to include and how best to state it and present it. Instead, people feel it's acceptable to spill their guts without a filter. I would hope that as educators we would not only consistently introduce our students to the vast and ever-growing range of technological tools, but also how to use them in ways that present their thoughts, ideas, research and conclusions with intelligence, and with a discretion that ascribes value to their learning process.

"Pay Attention" was - intentionally I hope! - devoid of any of the richness of information and interaction it promoted! While I love trying new technology tools and know I'll definitely use information venues such as blogs, wikis and podcasts I still feel as I did after reading the article; all of these tools are valuable when used as intelligently and thoughtfully as any other we use when planning curriculum. I have to say that just because my students are familiar and comfortable with cell phones doesn't make me likely to put them at the top of my must-use list! When I think of the richness offered to my students through technology, using cell phones seems to me to be a bit gratuitous as they really don't offer much beyond familiarity. There are just so many other better tools that aren't so fraught with peripheral issues that would result from loosening restrictions on their use in school: cost and the potential lack of availability due to cost, plagiarism worries and privacy concerns because of cameras and the ease with which images can be sent, etc. However, there were more than a few inspiring quotes and ideas in the video, and its lack of a true Web 2.0 presentation doesn't diminish its encouraging message.