First, I am very excited about the ideas I gained from Viki Davis's blog on Wiki projects. I had actually been planning a research project over themes from The Scarlet Letter; my idea was to present results in a PowerPoint presentation, but how cool would it be if students created a wiki (even a blog) instead?! Obviously, I've still got some kinks I need to work out, but I had planned on making my directions rather nebulous in nature anyway, allowing students to explore and be creative. The conversation aspect of a wiki is perfect for such an assignment.
My only complaint about Davis's post is totally catty in a way only an English teacher can be. It's written in a style I like to call The Reading Rainbow Essay. "Have you ever been to the zoo? Well, I have and today I'm going to tell you about it!" In all fairness, it did pick up considerably after the intro paragraph, but it was still awfully simplistic; I'm guessing she teaches middle school (if I missed the part where she tells us what grade she teaches, I apologize, but I was practicing my skimming). Other than that bit of snobbery, I actually liked how easy it was to follow (after reading The Scarlet Letter all day, my brain is rather mushy).
With the inclusion of creative writing in the Junior TEKS, the 1001 Flat World Tales was also intriguing. I like the fact that students edited and proof read, forcing the student to improve both grammar/mechanics and content. I get SOOOO tired of the usual teen angst gar-bage. Having a judge or group of judges that requires the author to improve or "have his head cut off" is just plain delightful.
I also checked out Room 15 Wiki and one about some class's question of the month. Before I continue, let me say, I'm tired, cranky, and have had a REALLY bad day. The complexities of this class in addition to all the rest of my work (and being observed by the new assistant principal sometime in the next nine days) is not helping my mood. With that said, I just don't see how the students are actually doing any work and, if they are, how it ties into the curriculum. Mr. Lyndsey's page is cute and informative, but, again, it was created and maintained by an adult. I also have a hard time believing that a group of grade-schoolers (albeit grade-schoolers smarter than I) could, as a class, put together such a vast reaching product as the one seen in the class question of the month wiki. Between benchmarking, milestoneing, TAKS practicing and the actual TAKS (not to mention all the paper work, parent conferences, assemblies, class meetings, emergency drills, announcements, picture days, etc) I just don't see there being time for it all. Considering we've been told be have to give up some of our "pet projects" in order to fit in all the aforementioned crappola, I resent the very existence of these wikis. And, with that, I am done.
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It's almost as if we need to create a new, private school with a completely different curriculum and unlimited resources in order to do these really cool projects on a regular basis. This is a sad statement about our current state of education and the pressures that educators face every day -- not sad because of the fact that we don't really have these unlimited resources but sad that the concept of "engaging the students" is changing. It is as if "engaging the students" no longer rests on the kids' desires to learn for the sake of their futures or for the sake of learning in and of itself. It is no longer a matter of intrinsic motivation or personal pride, but this concept of engaging our kids is so closely linked to entertainment and fun -- hence technology.
ReplyDeleteI'm by no means an old-school teacher. I value technology and will try 1001 things to reach my students. If at any point in my career, I find that I can no longer keep up with the modern world and reach my students, I'll have to consider a new career. But sometimes the learning community, the students especially, just have to roll up our sleeves and work. We actually have to exercise our minds and not our eyes to get something out of a lesson.
On another note, of course, I, too, would love to implement wikis and blogs and slide show creations and presentations into my daily activities in the classroom. Can I do this? Of course. Can I do it often? I doubt it. Should I do it often? I really don't know.
Sorry for the rambling. As far as your idea of creating a wiki or blog for The Scarlet Letter, it's a great idea. Perhaps, the students could take on the persona of one of the characters from the novel and respond to various prompts and to the other characters. Whatever you decide to do, let me know when you get that ball rolling, so I can steal it.