Emergence and empowerment are the most spectacular aspects of this stage of the journey on which I find myself. It is a dual occurrence, where as I help others blossom, I find myself learning, growing and empowered in equal proportion.
I have the honor and privilege of teaching preservice teachers at the College of William and Mary. This semester I have the rare opportunity of teaching the same students I had before summer break. The are novices in the profession and novices in the Web 2.0 world. It has been so incredible watching their blossoming.
Want to read their blogs?
They started blogging last spring and were nurtured by several of what Stephen Downs calls A-listers <wink>- Vicky Davis, Bud Hunt, Darren Kuropatwa, Will Richardson, Anne Davis and others. This semester the unsolicited nurturing continues. And like all K12 students, my students too show marked excitement when they get comments! Thank you all of you who have helped nurture their emergence and empowerment. We are a community of learners in the blogosphere and everyone is so eager to help and collaborate.
One of my students, Brittany who blogs over at From Student to Teacher recently shared the experience of her first time in a "Teacher Store" and the excitement she felt at browsing all the possibilities with the visuals, gadgets, and educational toys. I can distinctly remember feeling the same way. She follows those thoughts with the realization that as a new teacher, who needs these items the most, she might not be able to afford them. I distinctly remember having this feeling as well as a new teacher. In an effort to find an alternative she finds this solution online-
I was browsing again this weekend, this time through blogs, and I came across a wonderful "store" that will certainly help when I do have my own classroom. Cynthia Rutledge has compiled a list of resources for free educational materials and shared it in her blog. This list is especially for teachers, and there's some wonderful items that would be an asset to any classroom, especially for subjects like geography and the sciences, with everything from posters to videos and even textbooks!
That is when it hit me! We need a Craig's list for education. I am thinking about suggesting it as part of the Learning 2.0 projects the Alabama teachers are creating in the Advanced schools (part the ABPC work I have been doing). Wouldn't that be cool? Think of the 30 year retiring teacher and all the materials that are typically in her position. If we had a Craig's list for teachers, novices could have access to all those resources.
Brittany has also created another blog called Precious Moments where she is recording those sweetly beautiful sentiments of wonderment that occur in the elementary classroom. I wish I had done that as so many of my stories have faded with time. Beautiful, precious stories that could have been archived if only I had been able to blog about them.
Another student, Meg blogs over at : Be all that you can be. Find your future as a Teacher
and her First Two Lessons Ever post is a must read. How exciting to get to share in that emergence from student to teacher through her blog!! Do you remember teaching your first lesson solo? She also talks in another post about being excited about all the new possibilities but being scared that:
1. I'll forget about these resources
2. That they won't work out realistically when I get my own classroom.
She asks key questions to which we all need to grapple. Take a read and offer her your advice.
Tiffany's posts are deep and engaging. Her writing style is far beyond emergent.
In addition, several of them are experimenting with creation of their first WebQuest on Quest Garden (by Bernie Dodge) as part of an implementation project for my course. We are creating a course wiki that will link to all of their projects. I will share here soon. But here are Tiffany's, Meg's, Erin's and Rachel's first draft versions of their WebQuests. They possibly are not in finished form.
I coming to see that part of my place in the blogosphere is much like that of a Web 2.0 midwife. I help birth bloggers and social networkers as a way of reforming education. Not because I value the tools, rather because I know using this medium provides for authentic audience, connected communities, strong writers, thinkers, and nurtures the development of higher order thinking skills.
Please join me in helping to mentor my soon to be teachers. They are hungry for your input.
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