Map maker, map maker, make me a map...

506 has definitely redrawn my personal map of what is possible and practical in the classroom. I have always been a fan of the internet and of digital technology in general, but I had never given serious thought to the ways I could put this affinity to use in my classroom. Above all, 506 has forced me to address the issue of computers and their increasingly undeniable relationship to English teaching. Before this semester, I had never had a blog before, and I had never even been a regular contributor to or reader of someone else’s blog. My exposure to the blogosphere through 506 has been fantastic. I am officially in love with the read/write web. Even the class wiki, which I have only recently gotten into and primarily because it will help my grade, has the potential to be an excellent learning tool. I have become a major supporter of Wikipedia as well. I used to go to Wikipedia once in awhile as change of pace or as a last resort when I couldn’t find what I was looking for through more traditional web resources. Now, I view it as the absolute best way to access encyclopedia-friendly information. It is my go to, my first choice. (Digression: I particularly love going to Wikipedia for info about narrow or obscure bits of pop culture…because wiki pages for no name musicians and stuff are usually produced by the band’s biggest fan they are often more comprehensive than anything you could get otherwise, even from the bands own website in many cases) I think that wikis can work as a way to supercharge group activities and group learning. They offer flexibility (by allowing students who have computers at home to work on their own schedule) and freedom, two things that appeal to increasingly quick thinking and busy youngsters.

But the thing I am most excited about is the use of blogs. I strongly believe that blogging can be a great way to extend class discussions, and have new discussions that might otherwise be impossible in the classroom. Anyone, who still has doubts about using blogs with your classes need only check out the stuff Chris is doing with his classes. Those blogs are fantastic, educational and really fun. In fact, the confluence of education and fun may be the mostly unsung benefit of these read/write technologies. It is a great answer for teachers who are having trouble connecting with or engaging their students. Not to mention the street cred you can get from having a really sweet class blog!!! I love the individual freedom to express that characterizes the blogs, and I think freedom can be a wonderful thing in an English class. I think the lack of freedom to interpret and invent that marks traditional English pedagogy has probably been the discipline’s biggest mistake all these years. The writing James did on his personal website has inspired me to rediscover the basics of English teaching. We need to think about what it is about literature that we love and impart these things to our students. People didn’t start writing and reading because they had to for class, or because they knew it would help them get a job. They did it because of the universal human desire to express, to interact and to share in life’s beautiful struggle with other people. It sounds funny, but in this sense, the internet might be able to help us get back to basics. If we can find ways to produce eager readers and writers all the other BS- Regents et al -will take care of itself.

Now the one thing I have to admit I am not yet excited about, is the Multimedia Apps and their usefulness in the classroom. My experience to this point indicates that the relationship between multimedia projects and teaching English is vague at best. And the time they require is almost prohibitive. Even the stuff we saw from Shade Gomez’s classes was less than inspiring. The videos and stuff were cool, some displayed a lot of talent and creativity, but I still can’t see devoting weeks and weeks of class time to it. Maybe once a year or something. I’m not even that excited about their benefit for us in 506. I think a class that focused on the power of the internet and emerging read/write technologies could be just as useful. Now it is true that I was trumping up the idea of “fun” a mere paragraph ago, and the multimedia apps can certainly be that. But we have to be able to marry the fun to learning. We have to be producing better readers and writers and critical thinkers and I am not sure I have seen a strong case for that to this point with making an IMovie. That being said I am glad for the experience. And I am inspired to use these kinds of apps in my private life after 506. I just can’t see their value in the classroom as clearly as I would like to. In the sense that any new technology requires one to think critically and problem-solve, multimedia apps are useful. But to me this isn’t a compelling argument for their use in an English classroom.

I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite people, Sarah Ostrom. Her "link happy" post inspired me to get a little link happy with this one. Thanks Sarah!!