Sharing our reflections
This past Tuesday I visited the class of a University of Georgia colleague, Gretchen Thomas. She invited me to be a guest speaker on my favorite topic, blogs and education. Several in the class knew about blogs but the definitions were consistently those of it being an online journal only. I love being able to dispel those notiions. It is exciting to be able to share the possibilities that blogs offer us in education. The majority of this bright class were Elementary Ed majors so I took them through The Write Weblog and modeled how you can use your blog to teach and learn from each other and then empower the students with their own blogs to explore their own learning. Each time I get the opportunity to talk about blogs I continue to be amazed at how interactive this process can be as you stand back and see the writers with distinctive voices emerge. There is really nothing like it. We talked about potential, possibilities and the need to truly listen to our students.
Near the end one of the students asked me what I thought the next big thing would be. The question kind of threw me as who knows? I told her that we just needed to be open to the ways that education needed to change and that they needed to be a part of these conversations. I pointed this group to wikis (which none had heard of) as a way to explore other possibilities and collaborate with others who are learning, too.
If any of Gretchen’s. students are reading this I just want to say that there is great value to this collective wisdom that can come from the voices of students and teachers on blogs. Let your voices be heard! We need to share our reflections.
May 28th, 2010 at 8:38 am
You can definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren¡¯t afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.