This week during one of my seminar classes, some of my colleagues lead a group discussion on how to incorporate technology in the classroom. I was interested to participate in this discussion since I often avoid technology - a weakness I admit, but I am working towards incorporating the use of technology in my classroom. Now, this is often a difficult thing to accomplish since I have limited access to things like lcd projectors, even overhead projectors (Laurie, you know my pain). But I am trying to be creative in the types of assignments I give students by focusing on how they use technology to either produce or present such assignments. The discussion leader began the class by asking us what our "dream technological classroom" would look like in terms if there were no limits such as money, space, or technological advancement. After people shared their wishes, he went on to lecture us about how there were new developments everyday that would one day move classroom work to be done entirely on computers. Wait what?! No paper? Or books? Or writing? Madness.
I initially responded to this idea with skepticism because I felt the type of classroom he described would ultimately be in danger of limiting interaction among students. But soon I began to look closely at WHY I was a bit disturbed. Was I being close minded? Was I romanticizing the world of letters and books? Deep philosophical questions. But then I remembered a conversation I had with my master teacher. I asked him why he always wrote assignments on the board, then had students copy them down. He told me that he carefully wrote each assignment and tried to model the type of writing he expected from students in the prompt. He hoped that in addition to directly teaching his students writing, he would "secretly" show them what he thought writing should look like; it was the act of copying it down onto paper that he emphasized. Now, I am not sure if there is any theoretical or practical evidence to prove this, but it raises the question - what happens when student stop "writing?" Because in my colleague’s "dream technological world" students took notes on computers. I am not quiet sure what I think of all this yet, so I suppose I am looking for some direction into further inquiry. In any event, the discussion and presentation raised many questions, prompting me to look closely at my own fears and biases about technology, but also what I think might be the appropriate balance of technology, because I realize that students need the opportunity to learn those skills.

Success ... Sort of

I am approaching the final days of Romeo and Juliet. In the beginning, the students were so exicited to read the play, because you know, EVERYONE reads Romeo and Juliet. But they soon grew tired of all the drama. Then at the beginning of the week, I announced that we would begin working on our final project: rewriting a scene from the play using a modern setting and modern dialogue; the students had to choose character and dialogue that a modern audience could relate to. Now, I had deep reservations. Throughout the unit, students did "authentic assignments" - writing an advice column for Romeo, creating a myspce character profile. With each assingment, I had to explain WHY we were doing it. I think part of this had to with the fact that I am a new teacher and I need to work on how I go about establishing a purpose for my students. But I also think part of it might have been that I think students are reluctant to take any assignment seriously without the words "essay" or "test" in them. It becomes an excuse. But to my great suprise, once I explained to the students that the final project was rewriting a scene and NOT an essay, they seemed to get a bit more exicited. Perhaps the trick is to be sneaky - or remind student that the alternative is something that might be a little bit boring. Make them believe that the authentic assessment is less work - or at least because they have to be creative (and I also let them work in pairs) it doesn't feel like work.

Authentic Assignments

I am planning the next unit for my 12th grade class – we will begin reading Their Eye Were Watching God and as I combed the 11/12 standards, I found that my options for a final unit assessment were slim – reflective essay or research paper. Now, the research paper seemed tempting, but I went with the reflective essay because I realized that although I have bee teaching these kids (though on the brink of adulthood) I only know surface level information about them. So I thought reflective writing might be a good opportunity to 1) get to know my students better and 2) have them engage with the material on a more personal level since my attempts with the last novel we read (The Stranger) failed.

I thought that I could have the students write reflections inspired by the themes of the novel, something more than just writing about the novel. They would also do other forms of writing and perhaps a visual representation of the novel. Then they could choose 4 – 5 assignments and include them in a portfolio with an introduction. I thought this might be a good idea because I am having trouble getting my 12th graders to turn in assignments. Although each assignment would be worth points (for completion) students would have the opportunity to revise their work or a second chance to complete the work. I’m not sure how this is going to play out, because we are rapidly approaching the end of the semester and these 12th graders are getting anxious … could this be considered an authentic assignments?

I told you ...

Critical friends and the like … I warned you in my first posting that I am not computer savvy. Indeed, I managed to effectively keep myself from logging onto my original blog by either losing my password, writing it down incorrectly, or entering an entirely different email address all together. So I must begin anew.

I think it becomes very hard to keep any personal drama away from the classroom, particularly if it is something serious and out of your control. What happens when you simply have no emotional or mental energy to deal with your students – even though they are acting as they have been all semester? I had long week with my 9th grade class last week, and I am happy that I have next week off because it gives me some time to reflect. What do you do when your students flat out refuse to do what you’ve asked them? My first reaction was to say “Do it because I told you.” But I know that if I were in their position, I would get frustrated, perhaps even laugh, at that type of response. In fact, I would probably laugh now. I think the challenge becomes figuring out a way to 1) Make whatever activity you’re doing in the classroom relevant for the students (all things we’ve talked about) and 2) Communicating to the students that the skills they are learning will somehow be important in the future. So I suppose the answer to my questions is figuring out the best way to talk to my students without freaking out. I am not so sure about those answers … any suggestions?