Recently, a very bright former student of mine, Elisa Gomez, contacted me through Facebook. Elisa is now in law school, and when she learned about my exploration of Web 2.0, she posted an interesting reaction on my Wall:....well, to be honest, i think that i spent most of my mandatory school years being told that "those durn computers" aren't worth much/are useless/are a distraction. even now, law school professors are pretty suspicious of how everyone is taking notes on their laptops. I think I'd probably be a little freaked out to suddenly have my teachers promoting online collaboration as valuable and a worthwhile tool. When I was in high school, I was pretty sure I was on the cutting edge and everyone over 30 was stuck in the past. Turning that topsy-turvy is never comfortable!
Upon reflection, it occurred to me that since getting into tech, I have witnessed a number of things go topsy-turvy:
* Some of my most politically progressive colleagues have arch-conservative attitudes towards tech.
* After 41 years of reading his students' work, a retiring teacher has discovered Facebook and now hundreds of present and former students read his "Notes" for a change (More on this, Sunday).
* After a lifetime of trusting newspapers, magazines, and journals to filter information for me, I vet my own experts and do most of my reading through Tweets and Google Reader.
* As we all know, teachers with seniority often seek out the experience of young teachers for tech guidance.
* Media Specialists now lead curriculum discussions rather than merely serving as support staff.
* Though I often blog about my school, the Drive-thru probably has had more visitors from other countries (25) than from MHS.
*Based on my reading, I have the impression that Web 2.0 use as an instructional tool is more prevalent in elementary classrooms than the halls of higher education.
Do you have any examples to add to my list, or would you remove something?
------------------------------------------------------------
"Head over Heels" with kind permission of Heaven's Gate (John)
2 comments:
Appreciate the nod toward media specialists and their capacity to affect educational direction!
Well deserved. No group at our school models new tech use better and all of three of you desire to be up-to-date because you are true professionals. Thank YOU (collectively) for caring and sharing.
Post a Comment