The truth is, I started reading this book by reading the Epilogue. I would never do that with fiction, just like I avoid film spoilers, but with this book I thought it would give me context on where we were headed -- and it did. Richardson spells out a vision for an inspiring, productive teacher who truly helps his students learn and makes progress alongside his colleagues by making wise use of available technologies. I'm glad I started my approach this way, because it gave me a context of the ideal into which to fit the details provided in each chapter as we proceed.
Here are some added thoughts, now that we've finished the book:
Although our imaginary teacher Tom McHale may have seemed unrealistically productive to me at first, I now have a better sense of exactly how quickly Web 2.0 tools allow us (as teachers and students) to produce and curate content. I particularly like that Richardson explains how the teacher can use Web 2.0 tools with classes of students, parents, and with colleagues as distinct audiences, simply by setting up separate blogs and Diigo accounts and groups. I noted, too, that the example of tagging an excellent student blog post to a "Best Practices" list allows for easy collection of evidence from student work to be shared for his own evaluation cycle.
Kathy, You are a divergent thinker. Backwards planning is always great. Its like pre reading this gives you a focus and helps you to zoom in on what you really want to know. Itsounds like you have your own vision for increasing your knowledge of useful technologies for yourself and your students.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea! I finished reading Ch. 7 about Flickr. Now I'll jump to the Epilogue. Maybe it will help me put the information I've read about so far into perspective. Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteKathleen:
ReplyDeleteI find your approach to reading the end of a book first interesting because it's exactly opposite of how I do it. Unlike you, I read the last chapter of a fiction book first, and I rarely watch a movie unless I know how it ends. And also unlike you, I have never done that with a text book. After I read your chapter blog, I went back to the Epilogue and I can understand what you say about putting it all in context. It makes good sense. You may have given me new insight to reading text books!
Linda