I would like to think of myself as fairly technologically savvy. For the past two years I have attempted to create paperless classrooms for my 8th and 9th grade students. Homework, as well as class notes and power-points are posted on a website and assignments as emailed back and forth. Last year my 9th grader biology students each built their own wikis based on research they collected on a current topic in genetics. All that being said, I can honestly state as of now, I love the idea of using web 2.0 techniques much more than I enjoy the actual implementation. Since I have gone paperless, there is not an assignment that I collect that does not- at least for a second- make me cringe. Sometimes I cringe at the thought of all of the emails clogging my in-box; other times I cringe at the thought of organizing all of my collected, most-likely improperly titled, assignments; or sometimes I just cringe at the thought of having to edit them (that is if I can open them all....), re-save, and then email them back. I continue to push this, however, because I believe a paperless approach is the most sustainable way to run a classroom; and it is important to me that the footprint my students and I leave behind is small. That being said, I realize there must be an easier way than my current practice which would allow me to obtain the same results; and I greatly look forward to learning about and implementing some of these "tricks".
As I read through the excerpt from "A New Challenge for 21st Century Science Education Leaders" one line stuck out:
"Effective leadership includes a compliment to the vision".
This really hit a chord for me. Reading over this week's assignments, I got so excited looking over the list of 21st Century Skills. Immediately the wheels in my head started turning, thinking about the various ways to make my class more interactive, more dynamic between teacher and student. That being said, when I have tried to incorporate some of these components into my curriculum and put an emphasis on "complex communication", it has taken away from the actual content of the assignment. My students (like me in setting up this blog) become more interested in the aesthetics and the "bells and whistles"of the task than the depth and critical thought components. I am eager in this class to learn how to teach beyond all of this and use the web 2.0 tools in a way that expands the knowledge of my students, promotes self-development, and integrates current research and data sets into the curriculum. I guess I have the vision, but I'm desperately in search of that above-mentioned "compliment".....
I have not used it enough to know if it would help, but Edmodo.com has an assignment feature. You might want to play with it during the course and see if it could help to streamline your assignment collection process.
ReplyDeleteIf Edmodo makes sense as a platform for your class, I would love to see how you use it (Think -- capstone project?)! I have helped teachers incorporate blogs, wikis, Ning, and a few other things, but not Edmodo.
I can't image trying to collect my 5 sections of 10th grade biology homework by email! I would love to try to be more paperless in my class. I have found too that the web based assignmnents that I have given often become a challege of figuring out how to use the website and not in the learning of the content. I am also excited to learn how the web 2.0 tools will help my students learn some of the important 21st century skills.
ReplyDeleteWow! It is amazing that you have gone paperless in your classroom. I cringe at the amount of paper we use in my classroom, especially because our school does not have paper recycling. I know this process is not sustainable, but I can't imagine switching. I would love to hear more about how you accomplished this.
ReplyDeleteI commend you for going paperless!! Everything you cringe about is all the things that makes me stick with paper. I definitely use way to much paper, (I tend to try and ignore the fact that I do, which is terrible) and I am excited about learning about some web applications to reduce my paper use, because I definitely need too! Looking forward to hearing about what you find works best for you!
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