Monday, September 10, 2007

I am tungston, hear my isotopes...Part One

Friday was a good ol-fashioned round-up of local Classrooms for the Future Tech Coaches.

Oh, the memories of this day will stay with me forever (primarily because I'm blogging about them).

Blogging was discussed. At one point, a fellow coach wanted to know how to use blogs in a class. Here are a couple reasons why this 'event' sprouted awe and ire in me:

1. A CLASSROOMS FOR THE FUTURE TECH COACH did not know about blogs.
2. Two Tech Coaches did not read blogs.
3. The only idea one coach had for blogging was to have a teacher post a question and then have all her students respond.
4. See #1

I left the meeting more confused than when I arrived. As the organizer of the meeting, I was hopeful that we would all have an opportunity to share some of our plans for the upcoming year. I had questions in need of answering. Instead, I left a little confused, concerned, and even angry.

I drove home, feeling like I should rededicate a brief segment of my life to blogging.

So, I am unleashing 'Think BIG' (Blogging Ideas Galore). I am scouring my brain for blogging ideas. I am focusing all my powers on harnessing the greatness that blogging affords learners, passive and motivated alike. I am aware of the power of blogging; its potential for reflection, collaboration, etc..., etc...

I am all about blogging because it is CREATIVITY in action. Blogging is more than the 'something-from-nothing' camp of thought, it is the 'something-from-someone' ideology; it is reaffirming, empowering, and HTML.

When we blog, we make something. We make a point. We make an argument. We refine an opinion. We identify commonalities. We reaffirm our beliefs. We propose, suggest, and every once in a while, hyperlink.

It's high time that the ed-tech lot stop conferencing and unconferencing, reinforcing their own thoughts with like-minded souls, and begin to share.

Really, really share:

With our staffs that don't know about blogging. With our students who may not care about blogging. With a population that we know is going to have to demonstrate creativity in order to sustain a meaningful and rewarding professional life.

So I am going to share ideas for blogging. Ways to get students blogging about learning. Ways to increase creativity. Ways to strengthen literacy and thinking.

And it all starts with tungston, my favorite element on the Periodic Table.










Stay alert. Stay awake. Stay for Part Two.

1 comment:

Kristin Hokanson said...

Ken--
I get most of my ideas by READING...reading, reflecting, writing I use scribefire so as I am reading, I can take notes...reflect on my notes and read. I think that THIS type of notetaking is ESSENTIAL for students...not to take the "skeletal outline" and write down whatever the teacher says, but to THINK as the teacher is talking...write ideas down (aka a blog entry) and then reflect on what it is they REALLY learned during a lesson...so I declare a blog can be a place where kids take notes about what they learned during a class period...how is that for idea #1?