Seminar Project Abstract

In looking at the Meriwether Lewis Elementary School website highlighted in Will Richardson’s book, I determined that I really needed something that had a front page that wasn’t going to change or have its most important information get buried at the bottom of my project, like a blog. I realized that I want the look, functionality and permanence of a website with dropdown menus, but with the ease of creating content like on a blog or wiki. In talking with Dr. Chen last week, I explained that I teach at an independent studies high school diploma program called Jefferson AEWC. Since it is an open entry/open exit program, there is a constant influx of new students who always need to be oriented about their new school responsibilities, weekly conference and attendance schedules, book check-out policies, where to get materials, how to read their assignment sheets and, not least, the critical steps required to graduate, which we absolutely expect they will. It has become entirely too time-intensive to explain all of this from a couple of times a day to a couple of times an hour, and trying to do it extemporaneously risks leaving out critical details. In traditional high schools, the incoming freshmen get oriented on special days or weeks, meet with buddy seniors who give campus tours and answer social questions, and meet all of their teachers who explain their classes at the beginning of a semester or school year with syllabi. The high school diploma program I teach in has no comparison on many levels. Beyond the aforementioned details, the students hardly know one another to begin with, nor do they regularly attend at the same time or even on the same day in two consecutive weeks, making new social connections almost impossible. Unless they become aware of A Place Called Home's blooming programs and take advantage of them, those AEWC students who are uninvolved and unaware, orbit within their limited paths of obscurity and isolationism as enviable opportunities revolve around them disappearing into black holes.

Our school (which is really a two-room branch site with a staff of six) is housed within a vibrant, dynamic community youth center with evolving programming. After teaching there for a year or so, I was stunned to learn that students of mine who had attended our school for over six months were completely unaware of the opportunities available to them at A Place Called Home. They would walk down the hall past the "heart" of the community center, come into class, turn in assignments, receive new ones and go home without even checking to see what free food was being served. They also wouldn't take advantage of the free music, dance or art classes. They wouldn't go see the career counselors upon my suggestion to begin developing a transitional plan for post-high school. And finally, I was boggled to realize that they also wouldn't attend the Teen Night events--either stand-up comedy, spoken word/slam poetry events, or talent shows with great music and free food--which were created with our student population in mind. In traditional high schools, these types of events would be announced during homeroom or zero period, advertised by banner signs streaming from cafeteria or student center walls, or at least be mentioned by a classmate in passing: "You going to the dance on Friday?" Upon examining all of this, however, I can now see that they possibly might have had information overload their first few days. What I might value as an incredible opportunity for them, my students might experience as an auditorial nightmare, incapable of processing it in all of its complex layers. Confined by my human limitations, my frustrations and disappointments stemmed from forgetting to tell a new student something that I had mentally footnoted to share. I would nail the school side explanation to them in full, and then inevitably forget to tell them about the free prom gown program or dental cleanings happening at APCH over the weekend.

For students who already lack organizational skills and weren’t functioning highly in the traditional classroom model to begin with, I cannot think of a more efficient or better information dissemination tool than the web for them to see, watch, listen and read all of this new, detailed information at their own pace, with the ability to continually refer to it. And for teachers who are too busy to stop in mid-sentence to explain another minute, yet mighty detail, to have to just do it this one last time, electronically, is completely relieving. Thus, in addition to explaining this alternative high school model, I will show them the abundant opportunities available to them in the art, music, sports, and youth leadership programs, as well as encourage them to use the on-site Teen Center, computer lab and counseling services by using www.edu20.org to manage all of this. It has always been our vision for our high school students to maximize the support services offered to teens in this neighborhood by APCH, and I am hoping this project furthers the bridge of collaboration between us. Finally, in the spirit of web 2.0, I also envision my students reviewing an APCH experience or program they participate in on our class blog to attract others, or pointing other students towards a website or article they found relevant to a specific assignment in government, psychology or english.

This is My Modest Proposal

In looking at the Meriwether Lewis Elementary School website highlighted in Richardson’s book, I determined that I really needed something that had a front page that wasn’t going to change or have its most important information get buried at the bottom of a blog. I realized that I want the look, functionality and permanence of a website with dropdown menus, but the ease of creating content like a blog. In talking with Dr. Chen last week, I explained that I teach at Jefferson AEWC, an independent studies high school diploma program. Since it is an open entry/open exit program, there is a constant influx of new students who need to be oriented about their new school responsibilities, schedule, assignments and our expectations regarding their commitment to the graduation requirements. Further, our school (which is really a two-room branch site with a staff of six) is housed within a vibrant, dynamic community youth center. Initially, I was stunned to learn that students of mine who had attended our school for over six months were completely unaware of the opportunities available to them at A Place Called Home. However, I can see now that they might have had information overload their first few days, and that what I might value as an incredible opportunity, my students experience as not being able to process all of the layers auditorially. For students who already weren’t functioning highly in the traditional classroom model, I cannot think of a more efficient or better dissemination tool then the web for them to be able to browse all of the information at their own pace and then continually refer to it. So in addition to explaining this alternative high school model, I will show them the abundant opportunities available to them in the art, music, sports, and youth leadership programs, as well as encourage them to use the on-site Teen Center, computer lab and counseling services by using http://www.edu20.org/ to manage all of this. It has always been our vision for our high school students to maximize the support services offered to teens in this neighborhood by APCH, and I am hoping this project furthers the bridge of collaboration between us.

The Andragogical Challenge...

The Andragogical Challenge of Using Web2 Tools by 20th Century Educators
By Chris Petrini

As I read “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms” by Will Richardson, I felt myself falling somewhere in between a ‘Digital Native’ and a ‘Digital Immigrant.’ He identifies today’s youth born during the 21st Century’s ‘technological revolution’ as the natives and the generations spanning from the Baby Boomers to the Gen Xers as the immigrants. The term digital divide has evolved to keep pace with the new technologies it refers to whether it’s the simple absence of computers or the inaccessibility of a broadband connection. Richardson (2006) extends this definition to compare how our youth learn, by fearlessly interacting with technology outside of the classroom, with the “more linear progression of learning” and teaching methods they have received from Western schools, which have been largely unchanged since the era when Socrates mentored Plato (7). However, what “Blogs, wikis, podcasts...” offers, is a very readable introductory manual highlighting the best Web2.0 tools and applications that educators can employ in their classrooms today, to not only narrow this gap between students and teachers, but to also engage their students in a type of collaborative learning environment that they must master if they want to remain competitive in today’s ever-changing global world.
After reading the first three chapters of the book, I finally felt like I understood the importance of using Weblogs in a classroom setting. The skills being taught to students who use blogs or wikis goes far beyond the national and even California’s Language Arts Standards. Blogging is not like sending a text message to friends in a specialized vocabulary. It requires reading the links that somebody points you towards in their blog and reflecting on it before responding to it. It is not the forum for quick, knee-jerk reactionary responses, but it is a permanent recording of your thoughts for all to search, read and respond. Because of a blog or website’s permanence, Richardson suggests several ways of ensuring oversight of a class or school blog to control the content before it is posted. The instructor and the school’s image is the most important aspect to keep in mind. In addition, to protect the users/schoolchildren from revealing enough personal information so they could be contacted, general blogging use requires that parents sign consent forms, and that students follow strict guidelines. In this way, the blogging experience remains a safe and enjoyable one for the students.
Where Richardson was able to use blogs most effectively was in creating a collaborative space for his class while they read the novel, The Secret Life of Bees. His school had recently adopted it into its curriculum, and he thought that it would be a great idea to create an online readers guide through the use of a weblog. What eventually ended up happening was the book’s author, Sue Monk Kidd, was invited to participate in the process. It provided her with students’ interpretations of the novel she hadn’t thought of, and conversely, the students were able to ask Kidd questions and receive insights about character and plot development, along with thematic considerations. I can only imagine the excitement that buzzed in his class as his students eagerly looked for new meanings while pushing each other to interpret symbols in the book in the hopes of stumbling upon a new discovery or a great reveal.
This experience certainly epitomizes the strength of what bringing in new technology, particularly Web 2.0 applications, can do to students’ thinking, creating and writing.As teachers begin to think about putting this technology into practice, an additional argument for it is that it also allows students to expand on the knowledge base they have, exceeding the minimum requirements the class/syllabus/content standards require. The practice of moving information from a teacher’s head and lips to a student’s notebook is no longer a meaningful, relevant method of getting students to think. Richardson, in his support for the Read/Write Web, argues that Web2.0 technology, and blogs in particular, are “a constructivist tool for learning” that shouldn’t constrict a student’s ability and creativeness, but instead be a learner-centered and collaborative approach. (27). The final point he makes is that the Web not only breaks down traditional learning barriers literally, but it also breaks down walls figuratively. In his class blog for The Secret Life of Bees, he cited schools from other local districts, states across the country and even from Poland who participated in the learning process by accessing his class Weblog and responding to the content that was created by his class.
Looking at the 18 brand new Dell Optiplex 755 machines loaded with Windows Vista connected to their sleek flatscreen monitors, I can begin to see my technophobic thoughts dissipating. Instead, I wonder what I can inspire my students to become by giving them the tools and the access that the internet can provide. To not make use of them in any capacity would be a crime, but to not know about the potential the Web offers my students would be so last century.

References
Richardson, Will. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

All systems go!

Live and running. Thanks for taking the time to check out my first blog. Not too interesting yet, huh? Well, I have just finished reading and skimming Will Richardson's book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts..." (the rest of the title is just too long, so you will have to read my full book review to find out what comes after the ellipses) and have come to learn nearly everything I could have through a book about blogging. So, now I am floating my ideas in cyberspace, fully cognizant that whatever I write will follow me throughout my e-profile like a bad comment on a presidential campaign, popping up a million times on YouTube or the local news. Given that the best learning is done by doing: I do, I learn, I redo, I relearn, I yearn to learn to not redo. All comments are welcome.

Chris Petrini