Blogging on the Shoulders of Giants

This is the day I have been anticipating since I agreed to join the 21 clc team last spring. Actually, I suppose that is not completely accurate. I have been both excited and nervous about beginning my own blog. Excited because I believe the possibilities are endless for learning and education through these means. I also feel that I have some real thoughts and ideas to add to the eternal conversation and that I actually have a verse t contribute to the "powerful play." However my trepidation is deep seeded and powerful. You see, I have a real problem with stability. I moved around a lot as a child, and even more as a young adult. I have never really had long term ties to anything. Most projects I have been involved with, even the very successful ones have firm beginning and most importantly, ending, dates. Blogging doesn't. It goes on and on. I have on at least two previous occasions attempted to blog and both times I stopped soon after I began. And that is to say nothing of the numerous times I tried to keep a journal, the longest of which I kept for three months while studying abroad but stopped keeping as soon as the trip was over. I already feel like I'm going to fail to continue blogging once I get it started. HOWEVER, one thing feels very different about this attempt at blogging for me which I think bodes well for my success this time. The difference this time is purpose. I have a clearly defined purpose for keeping this blog and that is to create an interactive learning community in order to further oral communications education and theatre instruction on the high school level. I also hope to explore educational ideas in general, specifically technology and arts in education.

Thing three for our 21 clc project asks us to read some blogs and talk about them. I noticed that the format of the blog itself was not particularly important, as long as the information is interesting and accessible and the site is interactive and user friendly. Of course the sites that are more aesthetically pleasing feel more professional, but the main focus of what I saw was the information itself. That is very encouraging to me because I am an endgame kinda person. I want to know what the point is and what needs to be done to accomplish the task at hand. In this sense Blogging can cut to the chase and get right to the matter at hand. While learning how to make the site more appealing visually over time, you can start right off with deep issues and discussions and let those discussions drive the blog as opposed to having to create or perform for people.

Having said that, creation is an important part of blogging and really the part that fulfills our artistic needs as well as the innate human need to communicate. In his new book, "Eating the Dinosaur" Chuck Klosterman interview Errol Morris, award winning documentary film maker and asks him why people answer questions. Klosterman opines that he does not really understand why humans respond to questions, but that we most always do. He comes to no definite conclusions, but ultimately decides that we as humans have an innate need to talk. This need may be something that is hardwired into our DNA and might be one reason that blogging is inevitable, but i digress. The point is that blogging must in some way at least provide a starting point for discussions OR continue discussions from other blogs. The key being the interaction of ideas and more fundamentally, albeit virtually, people.

So if we accept the assertion that blogs are content or information driven and require interactivity for survival, then the implications for education are simple. Obviously to create content one must first learn it and understand it. This simple point is leading me towards what I am sure is going to be a controversial but I believe universally true statement: Our jobs as educators is no longer to try to facilitate the accumulation of knowledge. It is to teach students that they should be using the available knowledge to create, to encourage them to connect with others in a healthy manner, and to be responsible for what they create. The days of spending instructional time imparting facts are numbered. I really feel like this is the point I am going to come back to over and over again as I move through the 21 things and begin creating my own personal learning network. At any rate, today it begins and so really the day I have been fearing may be close at hand. The day when i stop blogging again. However, if my recent life achievements are any indication, this just might be the start of a new day for me.

Web 2.0 (9/14 - 9/18)

Steve Hargadon has a wonderful blog which discusses issues vital to educators concerning technology. This particular blog post explains his reasoning for believing that Web 2.0 is the future of education. (Web 2.0 is basically the newest evolutionary existence of the web in which content is created and shared, changed and enhanced, by interaction between and among users. This evolution allows for increased interaction on the part of the producer and consumer, blurring the lines between which is which and causing Haragadon to coin the term "prosumer.") Each time I think about these points I am almost overwhelmed by what lies ahead in our future, both in education and in the work place.

I do not want to repeat information from previous posts, but I think teacher interaction in the on-line social networks is VITAL! If educators are not a part of these social networks, it will not stop them from existing. It will just mean they exist without any direction or leadership from our generation. Some may argue that we are not doing a very good job leading, but that is not an excuse for not trying. My feeling is that we will only do a poor job leading when we give up and stop trying to be leaders. And it does no good to lead where there are no followers. We must go to where the students are and educate them there. This is not going to be comfortable for us. We have no models or schema for what this kind of education looks like. But we must face our fears and deal with our discomfort, for the sake of our students! They need us there, teaching them what to do in this Brave New World.

As for my communications class, this shift changes not only instructional methods but also the content itself. How rapidly communication is changing each second! And how wonderful to be alive at a time when this great shift is occurring. As I try to keep up with all of the changes I am again reminded that the keys are still the same as they always were. That success comes from having principles, believing in those principles, and living by them. And that working in groups to be successful is fundamental. That you must think win-win and seek first to understand and then to be understood. By teaching these basic Seven Habits, I think I am preparing the students to enter that virtual world. And in the coming weeks and months I intend to find ways to move all of this learning online and to lead boldly as is my charge.

Blog Backlog- Week One (9/7-9/11)

Lifelong Learning: I can imagine that any kind of hopes and expectations that I would be an asset to the 21clc team this year have long since waned and cooled, as I have not in any way taken advantage of the wonderful opportunity bestowed upon me when I was invited to be a part of 21clc team two this year. I am now just beginning to utilize the wonderful tools provided to me through this project and i am already blown away. The possibilities are endless. I will post more in the future relating to the implementation of the "things," but right now I will give a simple breakdown of my reflection on Thing One which is created to focus on each educator as a lifelong learner.

The video we watched was the seven and a half habits of life long learner and is modified from Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. (As a disclaimer, I have my communication classes read Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens and work through some of the workbook activities. I find that it encourages reading and breaks intrapersonal communication- First Three Habits- into manageable chunks while putting interpersonal communication- Habits 4,5, and 6- into easy lessons for teens to understand. More on this in future blog posts about curriculum and lesson planning for Oral Comm.) The reason I feel it is important to point out that I am very familiar with the seven habits is that the thing I found to be very helpful in seven habits is the introductory material when Covey talks about paradigms and the way we see a problem. In this activity the thing I found most intriguing was the concept that lifelong learning is attitudinal.

The reality is that most of life is attitudinal, but when you really think about it if a person approaches life as a learning opportunity, then we really never encounter problems or setbacks but only chances to learn more things. If something breaks, it is a chance to learn how to fix it. Or an opportunity to invent something else to use or create new options or solutions. In this way, life is full of possibilities and is exciting. Also, this allows you to complete any task, no matter how seemingly mundane, with cheer knowing that something you are doing or learning might be applicable to some future task. So attitude really is key and everything is a learning opportunity. And if we can approach students with this mindset and get them to buy into this concept, then we can much more effectively cover information. Student motivation is really the key to teaching and convincing students that learning is something we do all the time is a cornerstone to effective instruction.

O Me! O Life!

Walt Whitman laments existence and purpose in his poem "O me! O Life!," helplessly but hopefully searching a seemingly increasingly cold and "faithless" society for some sense of why we inhabit this sphere for a brief moment.  The conclusion he reaches is is beautiful and offers hope to all of us searching meaning.  His Answer? 

"That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.	"

As I have long loved this poem, I have often skipped to the end in an effort to discover what my verse will be and in doing so I missed the real keystone of the answer.  IDENTITY.  The verse you contribute is your identity, your character.  As we venture forth into an age hyper interconnectedness and accelerated culture the most important thing we as educators can do is build the character of our students.  This is the fundamental lesson.  All other lessons are built upon this reality.  This challenge is intensified by the fact that we can only teach students to have the highest levels of integrity if we ourselves have that same integrity.  This is the supreme challenge to an educator: To display the highest level of character that our students may learn from our actions as well as our words.  We know that the most effective method of teaching is modeling and we are constantly modeling even when we are not actively in front of a classroom involved in instruction.  I write these lines to encourage everyone who seeks to contribute a positive verse to the powerful play. Thank you for your effort to maintain high character and standards.  Your identity lights a candle. Thanks for being the change you wish to see instead of cursing the darkness.  With enough of us lighting candles, the future looks bright indeed.

As for the functionality of this blog, it is an obvious work in progress.  i plan to archive show pictures and hopefully videos here as well as providing useful links for instruction and travel.  Please feel free to link to me, ask questions, or engage me in conversation.  Thank you for your time.  -Jay

21st Century Learning

One of the main concerns of our society is the current state of our educational system.  We spend hours lamenting the structure of our current system, complaining about unmotivated students, and lamenting the lack of quality teachers as more and more talented educators flee the schools to find jobs more lucrative and fulfilling.  One problem we, as educators, experience is lack of germane in-service training. We spend hours listening to the same old pep talks and same old pedagogical dogma, all watching our clocks and waiting to get back to our summers.  While I try to be very positive about each in-service I attend, I must admit to having lowered expectations after years of doing this.

Thank goodness for 21st Century Learning teams.  We are actually learning things that will transform education and prepare our students to continue education for a lifetime as well as compete in society for the best educations and jobs worldwide.  I have learned today how use technology to engage students.  I feel like doors are opening to me as an educator and that the possibilities are endless for my students. I ask that you feel free to comment on this blog and to return again and again to offer you thoughts and ideas. Thanks for your time.  I promise to offer many positive things in the days, weeks, and months to come.  -Jay Williams

As an activity for a slow summer evening, I would ask you to post as a comment something you have learned from me.  It can be in or out of a classroom setting. You may be very specific or very general and you may list a single word or phrase or pontificate voluminously. Please feel free to write as much or little as you like.  Thanks for your time and your thoughts.