Welcome to the Eastern Suffolk SLS blog! I hope we can create a forum to exchange ideas here to enhance how we communicate with each other and with the rest of the online community with similar issues and concerns.
At the ASSET Conference today, Will Richardson was the keynote speaker on the Read/Write web. He challenged teachers to think in terms of the global reach that blogs and other web 2.0 tools possess to expand pedagogy beyond the classroom walls, beyond static web sites, and into the collaborative online sphere. As an example, he shared a journalism class that he taught where students decided to contact Sue Monk Kidd, author of THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES to see if she would participate in a weblog discussion about her book. She was only too delighted to do so and the project took on a life of its own. Sure makes those old book reports look decidedly ho hum, don't you think? You can find Will's blog at http://www.weblogg-ed.com. Great speaker, we might need to bring him to speak if we can find a break in his schedule next year.
As for this year, we have Robert Lackie visiting us in May for our last liaison meeting of the year. Robert will be sharing his tips and tricks for bringing us up to speed on Web 2.0 tools in his highly entertaining style.
The message that I feel we need to keep at the forefront of all this change is maintaining a sense of relevance with students. If instruction does not incorporate the tools that students use to view and understand the world, how can we expect them to remain engaged in their learning? What does this mean for us as library media professionals?
What happens when we get out of the way and let students think beyond their home, beyond their school and community, and engage with all the wealth of contacts and knowledge that is out there? What happens when students create their own learning and share it with others?--gb
