Wow! When I listened to Kevin and went to his website, I felt many emotions. There was excitement tempered by fear and insecurity. There was wonder filtered with a moment of sadness at being older and near the end of my teaching career. I felt affirmed and comforted by his remarks especially when he talked about not needing to teach everything about technology. When he spoke about offering technology as a choice to students and letting them explore the how to, I felt relieved.
I liked the quote on his site:"Do whatever it takes to help learners reach their dreams and teach them to dream." That is why I became a teacher! I have found over the past twenty years that more and more students are devoid of dreams. That makes me sad and I often wonder if it is the world situation, the way families live in a fast paced world, or the way we teach, or a combination of all the above. A quote that has hung on my wall for the past 17 years is: "Teaching offers something. It offers love, not only the love of learning and of books and ideas, but also the love that a teacher feels for that rare student who walks into a teacher's life and begins to breathe. I teach because being around people who are beginning to breathe, I occasionally find myself catching my breath with them." (Peter G. Biedler) I look at each of my students as a "rare student" and now I know that I must, as Honeycutt, puts it: "play where they play". I also know that I need to keep breathing, learning, and risk trusting this technological world.
It seems that I am always preparing lessons that will encourage collaboration and problem solving. I use the interact units for Social Studies. In most units there is an element of journal writing. I noticed on Honeycutt's site an Oregon Trail lesson where students collaborated ideas. I will be teaching two Social Studies classes next year and I would like to simulate either the westward movement or an immigrant's journey. The classes could team up, each taking a different trail if I did the westward movement and create a journal of their venture. I am thinking a wiki might work for that. Maybe one class could use movie maker for an immigrant experience and another class could do the write-ups or even podcasts as they pretend to be immigrants and tell their stories. I have to think more deeply about this. My heart is beating fast! It could be from excitement or anxiety.
1 comment:
I love the quote you shared, Cheryl!
I think your project idea for immigrant experiences and journaling a journey collaboratively is a good one. I wonder if there is a way to include a "Kevin Honeycutt-esque" project or activity where students in one location need something from students in one of the other locations in order to complete their journey/project/activity. Some food for thought.
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