What Does it Mean to be a 24 Hour Teacher?

I have to go back to Will Richardson’s book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom as I continue to connect with points made in this resource. The book makes me think of the fact that learning never stops so, therefore, teaching should never stop either. In his chapter on social networks, Richardson (2010) talks extensively about the power of social networking in schools and shares several strong examples of how teachers have used the formal social networking site, Ning.com, to enrich students’ educational experiences and help them accomplish major projects like a 120 hour career exploration (Richardson, 2010). This learning and student engagement is taking place outside of the classroom, 24 hours a day. In one example, a teacher set up a Ning for students in his Marine Biology class and it has transformed into a place where students, former students, experts, and people interested in marine biology share information in a structured and educational fashion ALL times of the day and night! This clearly takes learning beyond the classroom and creates a learning experience that students can literally access long after they have left the building. It may not be all together comfortable for teachers to get used to the idea that they can and should make learning accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and I respect that. However, this does not mean that a teacher needs to answer every question or discussion prompt within minutes of a student post. Rather, it is the act of posting a deep and meaningful discussion question that students answer and discuss online that takes the learning from a single experience to one that occurs repeatedly over an extended period of time, all times of the day. When students engage in an online, threaded discussion that may last over several days, they are thinking about course content, building critical thinking through reflective discussion, and engaging in the language of learning even when they are not sitting in class. Teachers who have used Edmodo, for example, have seen students posting late at night or early in the morning (especially the day before final posts are due). This is real, authentic learning and it is taking place far beyond the walls of the traditional classroom and it is taking place 24 hours a day.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Corwin Press. Thousand Oaks, CA.

Technology: Helping Students Protect Themselves, Prepare themselves, and Enrich Themselves

A lot of powerful teaching tools are seen in chapter 5 of Schrum and Levin (2009). What stood out most in this chapter was the “One School Leader’s Story” section discussing the lesson from international school teacher, Clay Burell. Burell taught world history to ninth graders in Singapore and he had his students contribute to a “wiki textbook” that they co-created. What a powerful and endearing learning experience for students! Not only are they learning how to research, evaluate sources, and engage in a variety of media tools, they are creating and comparing knowledge in ways Marzano would be truly proud. In developing 21st-centtury skills, it is important that we help students develop the skills to navigate large amounts of information quickly and how to share it appropriately, Burell’s lesson accomplishes this. Students, naturally, develop this expertise on their own as they manage smart phones, computers, media, marketing, peers, and all the other influences that engulf the formative years. Empowering students to meaningfully and safely navigate information on the web is a particularly important skill to develop because the information on the web is vast and sometimes disturbing. We can control this within in our schools but eventually students will be independent and will need this important skill. Teachers who use social media to host online discussions with students also help to develop these important skills. Tools like Edmodo are very structured and controlled and teachers can oversee online student discussions around academic and rigorous topics. Not only is it important to help students discover how computers can enrich education, it is important they experience this now because this will be a big part of students’ post-secondary educational experience. In my own Ed.D. program at Rutgers, I am using no less than 4 different sites (Sakai, eCollege, Thinkfinity, and Wiki) to interact with my professors, my classmates, and the educational world to discuss, problem solve, network, and learn together (undergraduates are doing this as well). This is a powerful experience and one that we need to prepare students for.
Schrum, L. & Levin, B.B. (2009).

Leading 21st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement
And achievement. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks: CA.