GeoBlog

Will Richardson’s “Big Shift #5” is “Know ‘Where’ Learning.”  He states that knowing the answer is no longer as important as knowing how to find the answer.  The elementary schools in my district started using common assessments several years ago.  Soon, the high schools will be using them. It is only a matter of time before they come to the middle schools, and we’re already hearing more and more talk of them.  In fact, this week my principal put an article about the benefits of common assessments in all of our mailboxes.  I wonder how much money and time will be invested in creating these assessments, and I wonder how quickly they will become obsolete.  It seems that money and time would be better spent training teachers “to create our own texts from many different content providers such as Weblogs, wikis, Websites, discussion groups, and more.” (Richardson, p. 130)

Since I’ve started this course, I’ve learned how to bring many sources of information to my students.  Two years ago, I taught my seventh grade students about Darfur by assembling information, copying it, and putting it in a folder for each student.  It was a laborious endeavor.  Today, I started teaching my seventh grade students about Darfur by taking them to the presentation room in our media center, hooking up my computer, and showing students the new blog I created for them to learn about this topic.  They will watch videos, view pictures, read articles, analyze information, do research, and write.  Aside from the letter students’ parents will sign giving permission to participate, there will be no paper involved.  The activities, students’ writing, and even my grades will all be on-line.

Tonight, I showed my son, who was in my first seventh grade class, the blog, and he got very excited saying, “They’re going to love this.  This is a great way for kids to learn because we’re so connected to electronics nowadays.”  As I’m writing this, my e-mail “dinged” and I found notification of my first student blog comment.  If my students become half as excited as I am about using this technology to learn and to become involved in world issues, I’ll consider it a success.

And I doubt very much that I’ll need a common assessment to measure students’ learning at the end of this project.  In fact, I think they would find a test irrelevant and insulting as I’m anticipating that they will become involved and engaged in authentic ways.  What would the purpose of a test be if it wouldn’t inform me of their learning nor help them learn more?