Sep

21

Learning curves

Filed Under Musings 

I started this year at a new school, much bigger than my previous one, and the past three weeks have presented a serious learning curve (Which is why I haven’t been posting here much).

Being in a new school has also been informative. For the past few years I’ve been putting assignments on the Internet, working with wikis with kids, and making tentative attempts at blogging. The kids took it in stride, and the other teachers - quite aware of what I was doing - rarely commented positively or negatively.

Here, at my school, quite a few people have sat up and taken notice. They’ve commented quite positively on some of the things I’m trying. Yesterday a few of my students were researching on the library computers and the school librarian walked over to help them. She was expecting to have to help them try to find sites for their research, but they told her she didn’t need to because I’d already provided them on my wiki.

The librarian was impressed. For me that was routine and what is described as “best practices” on the Internet. You don’t send the kids randomly searching, you give them sites to start on (and, if possible, all the ones they’ll need).

It’s exciting to have your work noticed by quite a few people, but it’s also interesting to think that maybe you’re noteworthy because you’re doing something a little bit different or maybe even in a way that adds something to your teaching.

The mastery of so many things that are computer related is something I’ve taken for granted. It seems that I’ve got a few people to teach who willingly and eagerly want help. That’s encouraging.

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