Well, I've Jumped In

Along with everyone else at Arapahoe, it seems, I have set up a class blog. One of my Advanced Placement students asked, "What's a blog?" which made me realize that the flattening of the world is happening so fast that even the kids' heads are spinning. My students were very patient and helpful as I made my clumsy way through the procedure. Once the kids posted, I began to see the power of this technique. They shared their ideas about a topic for the essay they will write next week--and then I blogged a response to each kid. Tonight, they are going to post their thesis statements. I like this very much, because the kids can get ideas from each other--and they can read the comments I make to each of the students. I'm hoping this will result in more interesting and probing essays. I also urged my class to look at the thesis statements that will be posted in Terry's and Lary's A.P. classes.

Now that the blog is up, the students come up with creative ways to use it. For instance, during class discussion, students take turns recording notes on the computer. The kids decided to post these notes to the blog so they can access them later. They also asked me to create a link to the blog on my web page. I was going to abandon my web page--but now I think I'll keep it and modify it so it isn't as time-consuming to maintain as it was last year.

I really, really need a secretary. When I first started teaching, we had a para-professional for the English department whose job it was to organize our books and type our exams. I would love to have someone in our department who could free me from tedious jobs like data entry, attendance, etc. Maybe we could outsource such work to India? (JK)

First Week of School

I have decided to have my students create blogs. In A.P. English the students will use blogs to react to the reading we do and to share their ideas about writing. In English 10 I need to think specifically about the type of writing I want them to do. In the past, I've had students do "free writing," where they furiously and spontaneously write about their thoughts, memories, or feelings about a topic. Such writing is designed to get the kids to record their innermost ideas--to capture images that sit somewhere in their brains. The theory is that sometimes these uncensored thoughts produce very vivid, authentic prose. At first I thought the blog could be used in this way, but then I realized that the strength of free-writing is that it is uncensored, private, and free. Of course one doesn't want to put such writing on the internet. Duh. Blogs are supposed to be edited carefully--so I need to think some more about what I want to use them for in English 10. I certainly don't want the blog to be just a diary. I want it to be more intellectual--and I want students to write well. Interesting, though, I am free-writing on my blog!!!!! I need to continue talking to people and thinking about my goals. Next week, I hope to have a better idea about my intent.

Reaction to Friedman's book

A part of me feels great fear—the mother part of me. My kids aren’t always highly motivated and I fear they won’t compete successfully with Chinese. They also have learning problems and I sense they won’t be working for HP. Science and math don’t appeal to either of my sons. Their gifts lie in art. So maybe they’ll have a difficult time (financially) in the flat world.

As a teacher, I want my students to understand the importance of hard work, creativity, cooperation, tolerance—all those great, life-sustaining values. I want them to study math and science and computers and business. I want them to read well, write well, speak well. I’ve always wanted my students to do those things. As I have done for thirty years, I will continue to stress the vital importance of clear prose and of logical thinking. I will continue to promote the higher levels of critical thought as well as creativity and imagination. I imagine these skills are invaluable in a flat world.

As a lover of literature, I don’t feel terribly affected by this book. No matter what the economics or politics of the world that awaits my students, I want my students to cherish literature and to consume it. (I don’t care if they consume it digitally or not.) The words of the great writers are like religion. They guide and inspire and give us a reason to live. I teach literature to preserve it and to inspire kids to consume it. I want them to find the joy and meaning in it that I have found. I teach literature to give kids a place to expand their minds after they leave the work place, after they send their emails, after they sell their products. Literature will teach them tolerance and will stretch their imagination. It will show them the past, the present, the future. It will show them who they are. It will flatten their world and globalize them.

I don’t know exactly how my teaching must change with the new technology. I suppose I should have the kids blog about their gut reactions to a piece of writing rather than write formal essays about what symbols mean. Or maybe I should ask my students to write collaboratively so that they’ll become adept at sharing and cooperating. Maybe I should ask them to explore more and maybe I should tell them less. But in a way that is a shame. If my job as an English teacher in the 21st Century is to sit quietly in class and record discussion points as the 15 year olds debate among themselves, I feel my expertise is being wasted and that I’ll become incredibly bored. No one wants a bored teacher sitting in the front of a class. I suppose that my students and I could learn to video-conference (can that properly be used as a verb?) and engage in online seminars about Beloved or Of Mice and Men. As I stop to think about it, it might be terribly exciting to open my Socratic seminars to include students from China or India. If technology will allow me to do what I've always done--engage with students, discuss great books, and share ideas--I see no problem with it.