The video by Wendy Drexler, The Networked Student, can open one's eyes to what the world has turned into. I believe this is a great resource for a student to use. It should be made as an option for all, notice I said option. I personally do not feel it necessary to have a network for every section of learning. I support anyone that feels it benefits them, I feel I have learned effectively enough through out the years without this resource, and I think I can continue to to learn without having this resource.
Now with that being said, I do not want to discourage my students from having a PLN of their own. I will say that I do have a PLN, but I have it there for when I need it and it really kinda developed on its own. I will certainly suggest all my future students to develop one. This all may sound quite contradicting, but I suppose what I'm trying to make a point of is I will never require a student to setup a PLN.The reasoning may come from a selfish train of thought. When the question is asked why does a networked student even need a teacher, it is answered by saying the teacher helps a networked student manage his or her PLN and help when a student gets stuck. Nowhere in the answer did I hear that the teacher actually teaches the particular subject they are suppose to. You can call me selfish, but when I get my own classroom and my own students, I want them to come to me when they need help with history. It kind of defeats the purpose of my four years in college to be qualified to teach social sciences if I make my students establish a PLN for the purpose of learning from others and I'm just there to teach them how to run a PLN. Maybe it is just a very closed mind or selfish view on the subject, but to remember I do want to leave the option of a PLN out there for my students. Please comment on my view to let me know.
A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment
I watched the video A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment, and it seems like a great way to stay organized. Everything one would need for the their particular class is right in front of them. The PLN I have developing is mainly between me and other people, such as students and professors. Whereas hers was mostly with other websites.
Hey Joseph! I thought your input on this week's "networked student" post was great. I also have never really thought much about my PLN, but as I started thinking about it I realized I had past teachers and fellow classmates that made up my PLN. I found some websites that I thought might be helpful someday in my career. I don't think that I will require my students to have a PLN. I struggle with finding ways to incorporate this topic with math, so to enforce them to create a PLN would be kind of crazy in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with your view. I want my students to come to me for help. I think a PLN can be a great way for outside resources, but teachers are there to help and for the most part we will know what we are talking about! I mean we spent 4 years getting this degree!
"Nowhere in the answer did I hear that the teacher actually teaches the particular subject they are suppose to....when I get my own classroom and my own students, I want them to come to me when they need help with history. It kind of defeats the purpose of my four years in college to be qualified to teach social sciences..."
ReplyDeleteSo you are committed to being a burp back teacher who pours facts into your students heads and then burps it back? Another question: are you the best source of historical information available today?
I will reply with a blog post on this subject, especially since you request a reply to the position you have taken. My short answer is that your job should not be to teach history but instead to teach students how to learn history. You must be trained for this purpose which is why your training in the social sciences is important. But you should not "teach history." More later. I will announce the post on this subject on the Class Blog.
In the first quote above: suppose needs a d at the end
At no point have I said I would like to institute "burp back teaching". If I'm not supposed to "teach history," why am I going to college for four years to have the knowledge to teach it? Basically, from what I am hearing, I could have zero knowledge of the subject as long as I have the knowledge of how to send my students all over the internet to get the answers they need.
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