Reflecting Pools

Oh, to be a native speaker of the digital language! My students and my own three kids have me beat—for a while. The way our world communicates, collaborates, and accomplishes goals is so different than the way it was just a few years ago. I laugh now to remember that in the year 2000, I asked my husband, “How do you find the Internet?” Now the Internet is not a place, but a realm of possibility: an arena for work, play, self expression, and connection. I had to work hard to do a lot of catching up; and of course, given the speed of technology, I will always have to work hard to keep up.

Now, however, I’ve reached the exciting point of seeing possibilities and setting ideas in motion. I’m itching to try the RSS feeds. I’ve got to get Google Docs, Moodle discussion boards and wikis, and Writeboard straight in my head because I want my students to collaborate online easily. I still want to learn how to use Podcasting with my classes, but I’m afraid I’m not organized enough. Of all the ideas that David Warlick discussed in his article about Web 2.0 though, there was one that really got my attention—educational blogging.

I’ve used blogs with my students, but with less than stellar results. I believe that I did not take the power of the blog seriously enough. I applaud Warlick’s example of students posting assignments rich in critical thinking. The more seriously the students take the assignment, the more they will invest. I also appreciate the point about the conversational nature of a blog promoting thinking about content, rather than preoccupation with form. (As an English teacher, I’ll have to see how far I can push that can of worms!)

The beauty of the use of blogs, though, comes with the students’ responses to each other. They must post one persuasive response (more critical thinking) in agreement with a posting and another persuasive response which disagrees. All comments must show informed and thoughtful ideas. The point is to move beyond mere disagreement and to explore viewing other sides of issues.

In my classes, I focus a lot on differing perspectives and how they influence interpretation of ideas and events. I also focus a LOT on open-ended key questions that help students explore the relevance of the material. That’s where I want my students to go—into the Realm of Lifelong Thinking and Learning. I believe I’ll see how far Reflecting Pools can take us this year!

Filed under: Learning K12 2.0 and tagged blog, critical thinking, David Warlick, open-ended questions, perspective, persuasive