Ideas from Empowering Students

Ok, a little problem in that instead of posting, I saved a draft that was blank.... Not exactly sure how i did that (probably copy and paste issues due to the fact that most of my time not in school has been in bed fighting a bug), but here's what I said:
Teachers as "Digital Immigrants"
Alan November uses this title in an analogy about why there is a difference between our student's use of technology and ours.  Just as children of immigrants will adapt to their new home more quickly than their parents because they are surrounded by their new culture and find it exciting to learn and adapt, our students are similarly surrounded by technology. Meanwhile the immigrant parents and teachers are not as "surrounded" and have a feeling that they have much more to lose.  I find this analogy apt, as technology (especially online media) has its own language, norms and ettiquite, just like a new culture. In order to fit in with peers, students naturally learn about the collaboration and communication emphasized in the 21st century skills. (If you can't relate with your peers, how can you make friends?)  How we traditionally teach is counter intuitive to this process, as we ask students to perform as soloists, when they learn to interact with each other in ensembles.
November addresses our mutually expressed problem with technology: we don't get the training to properly "work" it to help our students.  His solution: ask the students what skills they excel in or are working on at home. Let them become the teachers. By no means does he suggest just hand them the reigns, but if you either interview students or give them a questionnaire you could incorporate their skills as an option for a performance assessment. As they work on and submit their products you can ask them to explain what they are doing and expand your own knowledge.
 An example of this occurred in my homeroom the other day.  I have the freshmen and a senior walked into the room.  Ignoring me, he looked at my students and asked if any of them knew how to do video editing.  It turned out he was trying to create a highlight video of his track meets to send to a college coach.  I was left on the sidelines as some of the students spoke up and (once they learned why he needed their help) volunteered.  Here was a perfect example of a student recognizing that a peer (or someone younger than him!) was the best source for a technology skill.  This group of freshmen generally test low and are a handful to work with behaviorally. But they all love music and are really attached to their phones.  With the addition of the knowledge that they also have editing skills, I wonder if a lesson that asked them (as a class or in small groups) to create and edit a video about a math concept directed at people their age would engage them.  I worry about their ability to produce something without profanity, but I also think they would work to make sure their product was well done. (They are very quick to critique/ criticize each other and their work.) What does everyone else think? Should I try it?
As another part of this November points out that another resource is other teachers.  Although we may be islands in our own classrooms, he says we should reach out and find other resources in our building.  Essentially, teachers need to master the same 21st century skills that we are supposed to be fostering in our students. You could connect with a classroom across the building with Skype and create sharing of ideas between students in different classes or grades.  Or learn how to build a class website from the teacher who teaches web design or is in charge of the school website.  Maybe a way to disseminate this information quickly is to have interdepartmental get togethers during staff meeting time and have people share things they do in class or on their own.  That way, people could learn more about the skills of their colleagues. November also predicts (in 2010) how sharing of ideas between teachers through blogs and sharing websites would explode.good websites to go to could also be shared at these meetings.
Resources can also be found  through parents and community members.  November offers these as potential sources for the "real life problems" the Common Core wants teachers to incorporate (especially in math).  These sources could provide data that students have to analyze or a problem they need to try to solve.  When the final product is going to be reviewed by an outside source, students are more likely to extend themselves to produce quality work.  I wonder if this is another was social media could be useful? Could I ask friends on Facebook to give me problems that they might be asked to solve at work to have my students' try to solve? While it would give students an idea of skills they would need for certain jobs, would it just look like I was trying to "shoehorn" something into a regular class? Would there be privacy issues?