First Week Thoughts-Creating a More "Tech-Savvy" Classroom.

I've thought all week about what I should write about in this week's blog. I'm still really nervous about posting my thoughts and opinions for other people to read, but here it goes. I spent the early part of the week immersing myself into Sara B. Kadjer's The Tech-Savvy English Classroom and Troy Hick's The Digital Writing Workshop. I tried to find time to read some of the articles posted in my Google Reader but was slightly overwhelmed at the plethora of information coming at me while trying to begin a new semester last Wednesday. After reading, I had so many great ideas for implementing more technology in my second semester classes, I hardly knew where to begin.

Last spring, while I was working on the National Board process, I knew I wanted to implement blog spaces or discussion forums into my regular classes. I have been teaching online English 101 and 102 classes for the last four or five years, and the discussion forum has always proved to be a useful tool for students. While I used the discussion board in an online classroom, it really never occurred to me to use it in a "face to face" class until last year. That was also partly because the technology was not available for use in a high school classroom environment.

Since the technology is now available, I've spent the last year working, learning, and developing my teacher website into a tool that is helpful and useful for students and parents. I post detailed agendas of what takes place in class each day with links and documents should a student be absent. I post PowerPoints from daily lessons and homework. For a long time, I thought I was the only person who used my website and that my efforts were for nought. However, I received student buy-in this semester. They appreciated being able to go back and review notes and lessons, and the attached documents cut down on students who misplaced handouts and assignments before the next class. Some of my parents have also emailed just to say that they appreciate being able to see what is going on in class each week. This renewed my energy toward creating a "tech-savvy" classroom.

This week, despite headaches, frustrations, and a genuine lack of time to prepare for a new semester, I did not deviate from my plan to implement real world uses for technology in my classroom. On Wednesday, in my first English 101 course of the new semester, I greeted my new students at the door and asked them to log-in to a laptop to prepare for their first writing assignment in the course. While students were waiting for the technology to cooperate, I had them watch video advice on how to be successful in English 101 from a student who had taken the class the previous semester. After watching the video, students went to my teacher website where I added a blog space for students to leave comments and postings about their expectations for the class. After they completed their posts, I asked them to respond to at least two of their classmates, an expectation which will continue for the course of the semester.

I like to establish my expectations and procedures for my classes on day one of each course. My students were nervous at first, and many of them expressed the same concern I felt last Saturday when I posted my first blog. Their responses were short, but they all thought the idea of blogging was cool. When I told them they would post their thoughts and opinions on the readings we complete throughout the semester via blog this semester, not one student complained.

I also plan to have students in my Creative Writing course post blogs with original pieces every other week, so they can post feedback for each other before they bring the piece to workshop. I am also going to implement similar activities into my other classes, but I will have to gradually add the assignments into those courses. I don't want to overload myself with so many ideas that I get frustrated and give up.

My hope for the use of blogs in my English 101 course is that class discussions will become more authentic. I want to see discussions driven by what the students want to know and learn instead of a teacher-driven lesson. Sara Kadjer provides support for this idea in The Tech-Savvy English Classroom. Kadjer found through student feedback that discussions started in this format are more "natural" than those led by a teacher. I also want to encourage students who don't frequently participate during in-class discussions to find their voices.

Last year, I wanted to encourage more student participation in Socratic Seminar. To do so, I had students create written responses to the Socratic Seminar questions first. Then, I posted many of their responses into a PowerPoint presentation. I also allowed them to bring their written responses with them to the circle. Some students, who were usually reluctant to speak out in class, realized the importance of their voice when they saw their answers published. This took more time to prepare than blogging, and I think that "real-life" publication will have an even more powerful impact on student participation. In Chapter Four of Kadjer's book, she says that this creates a "low-stakes entry point for those students who might traditionally be reluctant to enter into a whole-class oral presentation." This is my goal.