Today's class had me all giddy. Ya'll will probably think I am nerd for it, but today's activity rekindled my excitement for teaching. Last semester I took ENGL 276R; this is the class that is the entrance course into the English Teaching major. Here future teachers are given mass amounts of ideas on how to effectively teach. One teaching activity I remember was the "Chalk Talk" day. Professor Wing wrote a topic on the board ("love"--we were going off of Romeo and Juliet), and then the class was given markers and we wrote our thoughts, comments, ideas and opinions on the topic. We would comment off each others' comments, and have a huge silent discussion all through white boards and dry erase markers. However, we were outdated.
Dr Burton started a Google Doc about the evolution of books, and for a good 30 minutes our class was dead silent as we all had a silent discussion via this Google Doc. We could watch each other type their comments, and using all our ideas, a very large document was the end result on the evolution of books, eBooks, iPads and other electronic reading devices. It dawned on me that this was the future for teaching. Instead of writing on white boards or chalk boards, teachers and students can have "Mac Talk" via Google Docs. I got all excited and started planning lessons I could do this way, and then it hit me that in 2 years when I start teaching, technology will have evolved even further and Google Docs might already be a thing of the past.
But until then, what do you current or future teachers or non-teachers think of this teaching method? Would a less monitored Google Doc discussion be effective in a high school class? Would the kids like it? Or would they get bored with it?
PS I know at least 4 of my followers are teachers or future teachers, so you better leave your opinions! : )
Hi Car,
ReplyDeleteI have heard of the chalk talk method before, and I have done something similar with a smart board. The silent discussion via Google Docs is a new idea for me and I think it would work great. I think students would especially like it if they could somehow be anonymous commentors- some are more likely to "speak up" without the stress of embarrassment. When you did the activity with your professor, were you all using laptops? If so, it might be a problem to get access to computers for an entire class in most public schools. When I taught in Utah schools, I realized that it was common for both the mobile labtop labs and the regular computer lab to be scheduled two months out. You'd have to plan ahead! However, my district in Wyoming issues a laptop to each enrolled student so I could easily do a Google Docs discussion with my students. Thanks for the tip!
I think using Google Docs in a High School or even Middle School setting might be useful. Of course they would need direction in their discussion just as we needed a little push for our discussion. I think the problem with most students is that they are afraid to speak up just in case they are wrong or say the wrong things. I think Google Docs or something similar would be a way to give kids a voice and confidence in their thoughts.
ReplyDeleteCarlie, this is a great post. I recently blogged (see http://amywhitakerwrites.blogspot.com/2011/05/digital-collaboration-in-classroom.html)about the possibility of using Google Docs for peer workshopping. I don't know that this is necessarily a wonderful idea, but I think it could be something that is worth exploring. Technology in the classroom can be scary on all sorts of levels, but if it can help our students learn, I think we need to put forth the effort to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is a fun idea but I'm not sure how practical it will be. Most English classrooms don't have many computers and a trip to the computer lab just to do this might or might not be worth it. I agree that it would be fun for the kids but I guess you'd have to ask what you want from the activity and if it's worth it. Now, if you all could have iPads or something like some schools are doing, then I think it would be practical and fun for students to do. Another thought, maybe it would be possible to do something similar with twitter and cellphones? Just thinking out loud.
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