Somewhere From Here

A few weeks ago our school received a cart of 30 Chromebooks. I was keen to get started, even though I have never used Google Drive, and very few Web 2.0 tools.  I new we would be getting an inservice eventually, but I thought I’d bring a few into my class and see what happened.  Over the last weeks I have shown different groups how to do different things, and then allowed them to share with the rest of the class.

And, I can say that we have mastered a number of skills, starting with the most basic, which is to logon.  Which, quite frankly is more complicated that one would expect. While everyone can get on eventually, I do still have a few kids who have a great deal of difficulty typing in their email without making a mistake, and then many get bamboozled by the need to identify the right network (which requires a different username and password!).  We also now now how to use the Chromebooks for updating our blogs, and many children have figured out how to do things like change their Themes, Titles, and fonts.  A few have added a Clustr map to their blogs as well. And today, after visiting our partner class’ site for the Blogging Challenge, many children wanted to learn how to do a Voki.

I have never made a Voki before, and my initial reaction was to tell the kids that I would look at it this weekend, and we would make one together on Monday.  But they had the Chromebooks in their hands, and many were keen to get started right away.  So I let them.  I started doing the Sign Up on my laptop, which was connected to the Smartboard, so the kids who wanted to watch followed along.  A few gathered around my laptop, and the rest huddled in groups of 2 and 3 around their own Chromebooks and worked their way through it.

Right away we had an opportunity to discuss Digital Citizenship, as the sign-up requires names, email addresses, and a birthday.  To be honest, I wasn’t prepared for this, but the kids monitored themselves and decided only first names, they used their school gmail account.  A few did try to use their own birthdays, but discovered that they are too young. I gave them my birthday instead.  Soon many of them were signed up, and playing with the Voki.  Two or three of them had the time to create a short Voki and embed it into their own blogs before we had to leave for lunch.

I was proud of the collaboration, problem solving, and enthusiasm the kids showed this morning.  And making a Voki was cool.  But, I do still feel like I am about to jump off a very, very big ski jump:

This is all going very fast, and I am unsure, both about the what kind of learning has been happening in my classroom, and about the possible repercussions of introducing my students to so much technology.

This week’s focus on Digital Citizenship with #ETMOOC as very much focussed on the benefits of using technology in the classroom and has downplayed the risks many see as to a large extent fear mongering.  And, I agree.  But I am still afraid.

I have this crazy inner dialogue going on.  It goes something like this:

Have I opened a Pandora’s box now that the kids know how to use their district gmail account as an actual email account, rather than just a username to log on to the Chromebooks.

 As though they didn’t realize it was an email? Here is my opportunity to discuss Digital Citizenship with it.  They are kind kids in class.  Do I really imagine they are suddenly going to turn into horrible bullies if they figure out how to email each other? What would  make me think that they would suddenly change who they are in an online environment?

And what if they all go home and make Vokis? What if the Vokis are all silly and don’t demonstrate their deeper learning of content? 

Oh no!  They will have made silly Vokis, and had some fun.  They can make Vokis that demonstrate deep understanding of content and blooms taxonomy later. Or not.  Maybe Voki isn’t the best tool for demonstrating deeper learning of content. They did learn how to problem solve and work together, and they were utterly engaged the entire time. That counts for something. 

We have spent a lot of time writing blog posts, and reading and commenting on others over the last month. But if I look at what they are doing on their individual blogs it is still pretty superficial work.  Many seem to have forgotten how to use a capital I.  There are spelling mistakes. There is a lot of talk about pets and sports.  Not so much about all the amazing things we have been learning in class, or reflecting on their learning, or engaging with other learners to flatten our classroom walls. Am I spending my time wisely?  How do I balance between using blogs as a place for children to write about things they are interested in (their pets and sports), and using them as a place to demonstrate and reflect on their learning.  

Yes.  Finding a balance it hard.  Lately the balance has been towards giving them freedom as they learn how to use the tool rather than learning through the tool.  That will change. It takes time. 

The parents have been mostly silent about the work we are doing on our class and individual blogs.  What does this mean?  How do the parents of the kids who have been keen to work at home feel about this?  Maybe they prefer to limit screen time.  Am I undermining their decisions?  Is it a burden? Do they feel the class blog gives them a sense of what we are doing?  Do they even check the class blog?  Should I be doing more to get them engaged? What could I do? 

All of the feedback I’ve had has in fact been positive.  They are an articulate and involved group of parents, and I think I have good relationships with them.  They would probably let me know if they had any serious concerns.  No news is good news! 

And so the inner conversation goes on, and on, and on.  But, I think I just need to stay the course.  The exhilaration I will feel as we move from learning about the technology tools, to learning with them is real and is a worthy goal. The possibilities this offers my students in their learning is a worthy goal.  Fear is just fear.  I often say that I never want to let the testing culture hold me back from doing what I know to be good teaching and learning.  I also need to make sure I don’t let fear of the uncontrolled in technology hold me back from what I know to be good teaching.