Bud the Teacher

    You were warned.  This is a bit of a rant — something I try never to do here on this blog.  But, I feel like if I don’t get some of this stuff out, I’m going to abandon blogging, and I certainly don’t want to do that. 
    I made arrangements with my old principal to have a classroom set of wireless laptops available for our students last Spring.  We requested the money from a district capital reserve account and the district granted our request, as well as a request to put a SMARTBoard in my classroom.
    Four months went by.  I returned to school and began looking for the computers.
    They weren’t there.  And they still aren’t.  I was promised by the gentleman in charge of such purchases that I’d have them by Christmas.  Maybe. 
    That simply isn’t good enough.  I understand busy, and I understand being understaffed, as the district’s technology folks are, but I’m getting tired of waiting.   I had plans to get students blogging on a regular basis.  Now, I can’t put them in front of computers often enough to do so.   Am I being foolish to assume that seven months is too long to wait for equipment once the money has been approved?
    In August, I bought some server space and put a Moodle on it so that I could be able to manage my own resources when it came to student work and server space. The district folks are pretty busy, and I wanted to save them the trouble.   My administrators have been quite supportive of that work and how we’ve looked after students. 
    Now I’m ready to do the same for hardware.  Anyone know where I can get $20,000 or so for a classroom set of laptops and some other wireless equipment? 
    Heck — let’s go for broke.  If we get our own Internet pipe, we won’t have to deal with the filters, either. 
    Okay — now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.  Thanks for making it this far.

    Miguel posted an interesting question/experience on Friday to a listserv and to his blog:

      We are starting to use blogging, podcasting, etc. for instructional uses
      here in our district. These are teacher-guided uses, that add
      instructional value and engage students. We’ve had some issues come up
      with student going to a blogging site: www.myspace.com
      during their off time (library, etc).
   

      I’ve had two calls in the last few weeks from a principal and a
      librarian at high schools. They are having problems with this site. It
      seems that students are posting inappropriate content (photos, etc.).
      They’ve requested blocking this site. During the first phone call, I
      advocated for leaving these sites open but monitoring use (walk around,
      see what’s happening) and taking disciplinary action, if necessary. I
      don’t want to have to block every site that pops up—if we block this
      one, they’ll simply find another. Further, word travels fast–if we take
      disciplinary action, they’ll take more care in following our district
      AUP. Are any of you having similar situations? If so, what are you
      choosing to do?
   

I posted a comment on his blog, and I hope you’ll do the same, but I wanted to elaborate. 
    My school district blocked Myspace (or is it My Space) last week.  They did so in response to administrative and teacher complaints.  I’m not sure of the details, and I’m not sure if I’m pleased or uncomfortable with the blocking itself. 
    Intellectually, I abhor the idea of blocking access to a website.  Some of my students have used the site, and they don’t use it for some of the troubling things that I’ve seen others talk about when discussing the evil that is Myspace.  Others, I know, use the site for personal stuff that shouldn’t be on the Internet at all,  much less in our school.
    Practically, I don’t know that I can go to bat for a site like Myspace.  I’ve got a bigger hurdle in front of me in regards to blogging and filters, and I’m not sure that I want to take a stand on the side of Myspace.  I’d rather save my fight for the right battle.  (But what happens if I wait until it’s too late?)  One of my biggest frustrations with being anti-filter is that it seems like one way to view my position is that I’m the guy that wants to remove a layer of protection from our students and the world.  That’s not necessarily a useful label.
    But  blocking is still wrong.  Where are the monitors that are supposed to be working with students on the Internet.  In Miguel’s example above, as well as in my district, someone is paying close enough attention to know that students are up to no good.   
    Why couldn’t they have used the few minutes that they spent calling/e-mailing Miguel to teach the students about appropriate use instead? 
    Doug’s post on banning pencils because they have the potential to be misused seems appropriate to mention here:

I gotta say that this “potential misuse” as a reason for banning
technologies drives me nuts. If we applied this rationale for not
allowing a technology to an old, familiar technology, we’d certainly
have to ban pencils from school because:

1. A student might poke out the eye of another student.
2. A student might write a dirty word with one. Or even write a whole harassing note and pass it to another student.
3. One student might have a mechanical pencil making those with wooden ones feel bad.
4. The pencil might get stolen or lost.
5. Kids might be doodling instead of working on their assignments.

Oh, sure, kids might actually use them to take notes or compose a paper - but really, what’s the chance of that?

I cringe whenever I hear a district or school “banning” cell phones,
blogging software, e-mail, flash drives, chat, game sites, etc. Each of
these technologies has positive educational uses. Each of these
technologies is a big part of many kids’ lives outside of school. And
yes, each of these technologies has the “potential” for misuse.

One of my biggest worries has always been that by denying access to
technologies that students find useful and meaningful within school, we
make school less and less relevant to our Net Genners. When are we
going to learn to use the kids devices for their benefit rather than
invent excuses to outlaw them?

I’m with Doug.  Why are we blocking the Internet instead of teaching students how to use it?  I know I’ve asked the question before, and I know I’m preaching to the choir, mostly. 
    But, doggonit, I get really frustrated feeling like the outsider here when I know that it isn’t my paradigm or institutional inertia that is the problem. 
    Will spoke to a group of English teachers tonight about the power of new forms of writing.  They seemed tired to him:

In general, I could see the fatigue on their faces, the "I’ve got too
much on my plate to think about this" looks. And I totally, totally
understand it. And, by and large, this is a very smart, very dedicated
group that I really believe wants to do the best for their students.
But they’re pretty overwhelmed as it is.

But I also wanted to push back and say we need to be more imaginative
in our approach to these ideas. That we need to be willing to accept
some of these changes and find the opportunities instead of clinging to
our old paradigms. That we need to embrace these changes instead of
resist them, because this is our students’ future, without question.
None of it easy, I know.

I don’t know that most of the quote is applicable, but I do feel the desire to "push back" against those in my district who are blocking sites.  I just don’t know how.