Featured student blog: meet Ann

[Jennifer Lubke]

Cross-posted at Classroom 2.0 and ThinkTime.

Many teachers shy away from contemporary music. Why? It could be because their own teachers did the same.

That quote comes from Ann, an aspiring music educator at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She and 14 other pre-service teachers are enrolled in a section of IT486, Intro to Instructional Computing, that I am teaching this summer. The course examines how to use technology to support teaching and learning and is designed to prepare novice teachers to integrate a variety of computer-based technologies.

One aspect of the course design that I really enjoy and value is the blog for reflective journaling. This is a required component. During the first week of the course, each student signed up for a blog at Google's Blogger. They were given a certain amount of license in the look and feel of the blog, but the overarching rationale for the pre-service teacher blog is the same: to develop and practice the reflective process. (More on that later.)

But why blend an introspective mode of writing such as journal writing with a public medium such as blogs?

As Christopher Sessums maintains:

Collaborative weblogs promote the idea of learners as creators of knowledge, not merely consumers of information. A collaborative environment like the one I'm suggesting can allow peers to be seen as valuable sources of knowledge and ideas; a connection that participants can rely on beyond any formal classroom structure, i.e., collaboration leading to a community of interest.

So to that end, I have been making readerly comments on each pre-service teacher's blog, and I am encouraging the class to follow, read, and comment on each others' blogs.

And now, to go a step further, I seek to shine a spotlight (or, in the case of our music major, "sound a trumpet") on some provocative posts in hopes of inducting our novice edubloggers into some of the wonderfully generous and nurturing networks of teacher/learners that have supported me in the past -- communities such as Fireside Learning and Classroom 2.0.

Ann's commentary on the state of music education strikes a chord because she describes a phenomenon that transcends content area and grade level: teachers tend to teach in the manner in which they were taught. Why is this so? How do we press forward into new realms of teaching and learning and resist falling back on tired and familiar practices that have outlived their effectiveness for today's learners?

What do you think? I invite you to visit Ann's blog and share your thoughts and feedback with her.

[Connie Weber]

Hi Jennifer,
Great stuff. Thanks! Very happy to be in your educational loop--and look forward to increased connection. This is a superb use of the network.
I left a comment on Ann's blog.
Send people our way, ok? We'd love to support these connections.

[Jennifer Lubke]

I'm laughing. You may be the last person on the planet who forgot his Google identity -- didn't you get the chip implanted like the rest of us? Ha.

[Ian Carmichael]

Oh - and I did rediscover my google identity, so I have cross posted my comment for Ann. I think we really need to see some developing of a mentoring structure/framework, so I hope the discussions that have flickered here and there will grow into strong life and solid reality. (Otherwise, new practise can become vitiated in a Community of Disuse - if you're the one protagonist against the many, as opposed to being energised in a Community of Practise)

[Jennifer Lubke]

Yes, I've been trying to convey to my students the need to locate mentors on their campus, both formal and informal. I am a fan of peer-to-peer mentoring in our profession, and I've enjoyed the discussions here at Fireside about the important of collegiality and computer-mediated teacher induction.

[Ian Carmichael]

Thanks Jennifer,,nice to see cross currents in the wash of the web. I'll comment here first, since I'd have to remind myself of an identity for Ann's blog.
To me, its a question of pressure - under the pump, or when my confidence is low (whether justified or not!) I revert. I snap into a mode I remember as successful from a pattern teacher of my school days, or college, or...
The way to keep fresh (I think) is first, to have colleagues who share my teaching practise and vision, and who I can be real with. [That's not everybody]. Usually there's enough in that dynamic group to reset my sights, so I don't fail because of the wind, or look down and worry that the safety net's long gone.
Second, there's also enough in that dynamic group to encourage honest assessment, and perseverance with the new. (In other words, through collegiality courage is multiplied. Yet again, the bare and bold truth is that teaching takes courage. And many days it takes more courage than I have. If I'm isolated then, then I'm finished. Keep a trusted team around you then - in real-time, real-space if you can, but certainly in cyber-space [with appropriate levels of disclosure!!]