Chapter 9

Chapter 9

p. 130 – “(the massive amounts of information available on the web) requires that we teach our students to become more active consumers of that information instead of just passively accepting it as legitimate.”

If higher education programs are serious about equipping student teachers with the tools necessary to teach students in the 21st century, they are going to have to provide more than one 2 credit hour course in technology. We wouldn’t presume that a student teacher already understood best practice methods for teaching science, so why would we do the same for technology. This is too important an issue to gloss over. (sorry for the rant)

p. 132 – “ the Read/Write Web makes it easy for students to produce work in truly collaborative ways for large audiences. That work can have real purpose and real meaning for the audience that reads and consumes it.”

This is in keeping with what we’ve learned about the value of an assignment in general in the MAT program – it’s most effective if it reflects a real-world situation. This also acts as a motivating factory. I think anything less is a type of busy-work for students. If school is really to get students ready for life, we need to take this very seriously.


p. 133 – “our students are learning that their voices matter, that people are listening and responding, and that their ideas count. To not embrace those feelings by continuing to look at curriculum-as-lecture is to fight against a tide that we will not be able to keep back.”

Naturally, when a student’s voice matters, it acts as a great motivating factor, but it also is a foreshadow to how our democratic society works. If a student comes to understand that they really do have a say in the world, they are likely to take advantage of that situation in their life, rather than simply be a passive “member” of society. These are all civil right’s issues that we as teachers must deal with in a responsible manner.


p. 135 – “students can display mastery in countless ways that involve the creation of digital content for large audiences.”

I’m not one who is nostalgic for the days of cursive in the classroom being a big priority: the reality is that we don’t need it anymore. Most people use computers to do most of the communicating of ideas in their jobs now. Cursive, and ina way, handwriting in general, have become obsolete. Likewise, modes of communication have moved to the forefront in ways that have not been appropriately addressed by curriculum creators of school districts. It is no longer the case that we only communicate through writing and speech. There are many ways that professionals in the world use non-traditional means to communicate in their jobs. It would be wise to acknowledge this and prepare our students for this reality.

p. 135 – “Big Shift #10: Contribution, Not Completion, as the Ultimate Goal”

I wonder, with the emphasis on accountability and district control in our current education climate if this can become a reality. My hope is that it will, but it seems unlikely given how much control would be relinquished to the student (and to a lesser degree the teacher) in achieving this end. We shall see how much longer NCLB and similar outdated policies will stay in place. Something has to give in my opinion.