Lessons on Collaboration

Her long braids and traditional Bolivian skirt swayed as she walked towards me. Her huge smile revealed deep wrinkles and missing teeth while she served me a bowl of piping hot sopa de mani; my favorite Bolivian dish. “Jillian! Eat, eat, eat!” Mrs. Lidia told me in her broken Spanish. I sat down on a hard wooden bench, swatting flies from my soup as her five year old granddaughter ran out to the dusty courtyard to proudly show me her favorite doll. Believe it or not, this was what I had been striving to accomplish my entire two year service as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Sure, I had helped build a library with the community, started a successful girls’ group and conducted numerous teacher workshops. But an invitation to Mrs. Lidia’s carefully prepared soup meant so much more than just lunch.

“Get to know your community, get to know your community, get to know your community” was drilled into my head during my three month Peace Corps culture and language training. Bottom line: I had to get to know my community before any work would start. As I reflect on what I learned in Bolivia, I think to the future and envision putting these skills to use as a teacher. Getting to know my students will help me identify their learning styles and interests. Being an understanding teacher will assist me in creating a respectful learning environment where children enhance their confidence and self-esteem. Listening and communication skills will be fundamental to forming relationships with my students and their families, and essential to generating collaboration in the classroom. Providing choice and authentic, student-centered education will promote enthusiasm and motivate learning. Finally, my students will get to know me as a person and we will all teach and learn together.

Although Mrs. Lidia was never a teacher in a classroom, she taught me many skills that will help me to become an effective teacher. For instance, she taught me to be patient, to listen and to wait longer than usual for the person to respond. She taught me that forming relationships and collaboration takes trust and time and even though you might not be able communicate with someone doesn’t mean there can’t be understanding. Finally, she taught me that the struggles of life should never stop you from sitting down to share a smile or a good bowl of soup!

Week 3

After reading about cell phone use in classrooms, I could not help but remember an experience I had as a volunteer in the small community of Pampa Grande. I was at a community meeting for the community's library project in Bolivia when someones cell phone rang...mind you, the meeting was conducted in the ancient Incan language of Quechua. An indigenous woman ran out of the meeting with her cell phone to answer the call. Later, another woman ran out mocking her with a shoe up to her ear. At that point the whole community erupted in laughter. It was all very ironic to witness because although most of the community members had cell phones, about half had a bathroom, and a third had potable water.

Week 2

What an insane week with finals and elections. You should have seen me Tuesday night trying to keep my left eye fixed on CNN and my right eye on my lesson plan! Talk about multi-tasking.

I found it very interesting after Obama was declared the winner, that most commentators mentioned his success had much to do with how he embraced the idea of using technology in his campaign. I participated in his campaign and was amazed by how easy it was to volunteer by downloading canvassing instructions and a list of undecided voters in my neighborhood. I didn't even have to go to the campaign office. His website and "Barack TV" made it easy for people to watch speeches and listen to his ideas. He also got to voters through YouTube and Facebook. It is clear that our next president understands digital natives and as teachers we may need to follow in his footsteps!

College- Week 1

Well, the fact that I am writing this post at 12:46 AM on a Saturday night is a little sad, but to be expected in graduate school. We are over-lapping classes right now so there has been a lot of work. Fortunately, I don't have kids or a full-time job!

I will have to admit that the first two classes that I had at Concordia were bit of a disappointment. At one point I was on the verge of transferring to a different school. Educational technology, however, is a breath of fresh air! I finally feel like I am getting my money's worth!

I am very excited about this class because so far all of the readings, discussions and assignments have been very engaging and relevant. I can tell already that this class will give me tangible and pratical tools that I will be able to use in my classroom. I also like writing the discussion posts- I totally feel like I am on a debate team!

Using Blogs in the Classroom

I have been really impressed how technology is being integrated in the classroom through blogs and other online tools to journal and reflect. With this tool, however, comes the opportunity for students to abuse it. As the article, "Don't Feed the Trolls" (2008) says, "spreading gossip, and innuendo, leaving mean-spirited, ugly comments in social networking sites, or posting inflammatory information about a school or teacher-contribute to the general sense that incivility is just part of the culture on the Web." (p. 13) I agree with the article and believe that we need to be talking with kids about civil discourse. This article was proof that teachers play an important role in modeling appropriate communication online and off. I think that integrating this theme in everyday classroom activities is fundamental. It is imperative that we work with our students to become civil decision makers and problem solvers of the future.

I really enjoyed checking out Mr. Harbeck's Math Class Blog. I though it was great how he included video to teach concepts on the smart board. It is also a great way to remind students of homework assignments and keep everyone organized. I would have loved to have that when I was in my eighth grade math class!

If I have the resources, I would love to integrate blogs into my curriculum. Students could write reflections on readings or classroom activities. I could keep a blog to keep students and their parents up to date on homework and special projects. I could also share useful websites, podcasts, games and videos to make their learning more interactive.