Bud the Teacher

But I’ve never in my life written the way I write in this Weblog. And frankly, I don’t know that I’ve learned as much from any other type of activity as I have from this type. And I learn when I’m doing just what I’m doing now (sweat on brow.) I’m not journaling. I’m not just linking. I’m attempting to synthesize a lot of disparate ideas from a varitey of sources into a few coherent sentences that I can publish for an audience and wait (hope?) for its response to push my thinking further. That’s the essence of blogging to me, and I can’t do it without a Weblog. That’s the distinction. That’s what tells me this is different. And that’s what makes me think so hard about the effects that blogging, not just using a blog, might have in a classroom. If we’ve been blogging without Weblogs in schools all along, then just put me out of my misery now. But I don’t think we have.

     Will argues that "blogging" is a specific set of skills that are really best utilized in the form or genre of a blog (you can’t be a blogger in a notebook, for example) — and that much of what he sees in schools is journaling, not blogging:

Xanga is not a blog site. It’s an online journal site. There is nothing inherently wrong with journaling online (provided it’s done with the proper precautions.) But there is something wrong with calling that blogging. And that’s what’s happening more and more. And the problem comes when parents and principals equate Xanga and other such sites with blogging, which in turn predisposes them negatively toward efforts to use blogs the way we know they can be used.

    For better or worse, I agree with him. Blogging is a unique set of skills and much of what my students are doing on their personal blogs (journaling and ranting, mostly, according to one student) isn’t really what I’d like to see in the classroom. But I wonder how many students are actually participating in this conversation. Are adults once again making decisions for students without their input?  Wouldn’t it be terrible if the decisions about blog use in classrooms were all made for students, instead of with them?

   I was curious, so I shared some of the debate with my students, and asked them their opinions on the matter — what uses do blogs have in schools?  Are your current uses of blogs something that would be useful for schools now?  What would be a way that your personal and public uses of blogs might intersect?  Their class discussion was fascinating — and is important enough that, when their posts are complete, I will share that information with you. 

I am currently awaiting their answers on their student blogs.  I am eager to see the "second draft" versions of our class conversation.

    I’m not Catholic, but I, like much of the world, was saddened to learn of Pope John Paul II’s passing last week.  The man made a difference in the world, and, agree or disagree with his politics, held human life in great respect. 
    But that’s not the reason for this post.  The reason is to respond to this statement from Philip S. Corwin:

   

      The Washington Post reports
that during the days leading up to the funeral of Pope John Paul a
Dutch priest "led Internet listeners on an intimate audio tour that
allowed them to pay one last visit to Pope John Paul II before he was
laid to rest. Father Roderick Vonhogen brought the Catholic Church’s
ancient rites to life through a cutting-edge format: the podcast, a
radio-style show that is distributed over the Internet. "

The story continues:
"On
"Catholic Insider," listeners hear Father Roderick banter with students
camped out in St. Peter’s Square and describe the pope lying in state
in the basilica. "It’s beautiful, it really looks like he’s sleeping,"
he whispers as a choir sings in the background.

Religion, whether organized or splinter, is clearly not asleep and seems to be emerging as an early adopter of podcasting.

That
said, articles like this are bound to fade as the novelty value of
podcasting dissipates. We already take ubiquitous video imagery for
granted to the extent that it hardly seemed remarkable that multiple
amateur videos provided a worldwide audience with unprecedented views
of a historic natural disaster, the recent Indian Ocean tsunami.
Likewise, it will soon be expected that any world event of note will
generate multiple first person podcast reports and reflections.

  The last sentence is so significant, let me repeat it:

Likewise, it will soon be expected that any world event of note will
generate multiple first person podcast reports and reflections.

    What a big idea — that the expectation of society will be that, when the big events of the day are occurring in one’s own neck of the woods, that person is responsible for sharing their experiences and information with the larger community. 
    I don’t know if society is willing to buy-in to idea that we are all responsible for contributing to the knowledge of others.  Heck, many of us can’t seem to fathom that jury duty or voting are important civic responsibilities.  But as a teacher, I hope to prepare my students to be  responsible citizens.  Stepping up to contribute when society has a need or interest is one way in which they can do so.      
    Grassroots Journalism, indeed. 
    Podcasting, then, becomes a tool that is a piece of a larger obligation to share information.  This idea furthers the idea that blogging and podcasting are tools for students who have real value to add to an educational program, and that students are not just in school to gain value and/or meaning from someone else.  We (schools) exist as institutions to help students craft their worth and interests into tools that are useful to society and to the students themselves.  Schools that see students as vessels to be filled with information don’t need social technologies. 
    I’m off to check out the Catholic Insider.  What other podcasts are exposing people to new experiences and ideas?