Monday, June 7, 2010

Thing # 2

I worked on the post in Word thinking I could paste it in....Blogger won't allow that, yet it will allow one to paste a comment...strange. So I am asking for permission to let my comment count as my Thing # 2 post in this one instance?
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1 comment:

  1. KJonesJune 7, 2010 at 4:59 PM

    Thing # 2
    It was an interesting exercise – beginning to explore – re-explore, actually the notion of learning to use Web 2.0 tools in the context of my essentially Web 1.0 world….yes, it’s true, I have a present tendency to look down my nose at the edu-world that has these cliques of thought about 21st Century skills, but is so mired in the traditional that it will be the 22nd Century before we see any systemic change…oh, yes, I have past tendencies as well….with my nose held a little too high, I begin to embrace the vid-presentation on the biz of Life Long Learners…thinking, Man, O-Man is this a bunch of old hat stuff…ho-hum….
    LLL – Break out of the Box! Everything is Attitudinal…then I thought of how I might present this concept to my students and it hit me – what frustrates me most about middle schoolers is their ho-hum….attitude! So I said to me, “Look fathead, you have been waxing snootily about this stuff for a few years now and all you have really done is talk! “Your former bosses did a lot of talking about Web 2.0 too, but in the final analysis, they were just plain afraid of the Web – period – so all they did was talk too!” “Now you’re at a district that is stepping out there in a formal, fairly brave way to see this stuff find its way into classrooms and your attitude sucks!”
    I got up, took a break and restarted the LLL prez with a new mindset – I did sign up for this, might as well put some kind of measurable Heart into it. I began to listen with eagerness and some degree of intensity, pausing to take notes ….here’s the interesting exercise part…scribbling my thoughts on my flip top spiral sketch book! Mr. Forward, Mr. Green, Mr. EduHeretic is learning to incorporate Web 2.0 tools using a 16th Century medium and a 19th Century inscription device – Irony Roars & Change is a Bitch!
    I take my sweet time in my ironic play land – beginning to really consider these habits – Set Specific & Precise goals – How can this be done if you don’t know where you want to end up? Is this not the root of all teacher frustration with students – they just don’t get it! When in reality, it is not the students who did not achieve – it was the lesson/project planner who didn’t really have a solidly formed goal for them to achieve. This is LOTI after it was PBL after it was Backward Lesson Design after it was Harry Wong! I waste my energy, my creativity, my passion and ultimately myself in setting out steps to achieve some loosy-goosy, ill defined, feet of clay, and hopelessly unrealistic pseudo-goal. I filled out the action plan, like I have done so many times before. I opened the 7 ½ Habits document and then began to transcribe my handwritten notes in e-form – with the aide of various forms of enhancement for emphasis. OK, I feel a start coming to life…at least I used some good old Web 1.0 stuff to use in forming a plan of attack. So on I will go – I will participate, I will see my challenges and shortcomings as opportunities for growth, I will attempt to transform arrogance into confidence and competence and I will determine just Where I am! My toolbox will come to fruition once I can see – really see – where I want to go – but I know that finding the tools to build something meaningful is far easier than asking for them. I will set these skills and tools in mind stone by passing them on to my colleagues – willing or otherwise. The last and bestest – I do so love to P L A Y ! ! !
    My Action Plan will change markedly over the next several weeks. The elements of this plan, together with the other ingredients in the Summer 2010 Staff Development Stew, will bear fruit – might not garner the Blue Ribbon at the Techie Fair, might not even be particularly juicy or sweet – but from a mile away, it will be recognized as Fruit – New Classroom Fruit!

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