Venti and Refill

The chapter “Venti” in the Socially Networked Classroom covers the use of social media in the classrooms, as well as touching upon hybrid classrooms being used in a progressive-thinking high school.  I have heard of the “flipped classroom” concept, where students learn and view a lecture from home and come to school to participate in a “workshop” style setting where the teacher is there for support but is not lecturing. 

What really resonated with me in this chapter was the creative process teachers were taking when it came to project based learning.  A teacher named Liz believed “strongly in the use of role playing” and had students using “blogs and wikis” which allowed for a “multimodal platform for that kind of roleplaying” (p. 101). Being in a public fifth grade classroom, it is hard to keep students’ attention and keep them engaged in learning.  At this moment I am doing a lot more direct teach than I would like (I have a particularly unfocused and low performing group), but I would eventually like to switch to project-based learning where students are taking charge and I am simply a guide for their learning.  I am thinking about slowly introducing this kind of learning in the form of “stations” into my science and social studies lessons, where I will have some of my students at their seat working while the rest are on Kindles and computers completing a virtual activity.  This chapter really got me thinking about how I need to begin rethinking my classroom instruction. 

The chapter “Refill” is the concluding chapter in the Socially Networked Classroom. I have really enjoyed this book with its practicality and readability.  The chapter concludes with a thought about Web 2.0 and its implications in the classroom.  It speaks of how there is a concern that technology integration can be “too much fun” and take away from the educational aspect of learning (p. 118).  However, technology integration can simply be recording students’ poetry instead of having them write it, having learning and technology mesh together in a natural way.

One big takeaway from the chapter was the issue of time – is there enough time in our day to implement and integrate new media into our classroom schedule?  The chapter speaks of questions educators ask about technology integration, such as the time it takes to teach tutorials and make sure the students know how to use the tools.  It suggests, instead, that teachers spend less time teaching students the tools and give the students chances to give each other tutorials. The chapter closes with a pondering about whether some teachers are ready to adapt new literacies into their curriculum, or if they prefer to fall back on the “filing cabinets” taking up space in their room.  Comfort is not always a good thing, and the text teaches how important it is to take risks, to step out of our comfort zones, and to make learning an exploration for both students and teachers alike.