dwalker

I am down here in New Jersey visiting Will, and those of you know him know how bonkers he is about all things tech. He is a proudly self-professed geek. Being around him is a little intoxicating. I get swept up in things I just barely wrap my head around; it’s a fingernail kind of thing!? But it is captivating. When I got here, he said, “Hey, I’ll interview on you on weblogg-ed tv!!” “Huh? Ah, no thanks!” Spoken like a true unbeliever. A couple of hours later, of course, we were sitting in front of his little mac laptop, talking about how we might use ustream and twitter in the classroom. Admittedly this is new technology, and much of the conversation was about making this video conversation a bit more interactive. One of the really interesting things about it was the number of people who joined the conversation. There were those interested in ustream, those who are looking for other schools with whom to partner on web-based projects, those talking about using literature to encourage authentic voice in writing. The energy and excitement were palpable, and typical of my early blogging experience, I was fascinated and not holding my own. I got lost early with the terms and technology Will was using, but what I do know is that this experience is all about the doing. Last year at this time I teaching other teachers how to go onto edublogs and start blogging, but they were apprehensive, partially because there is a natural reticence that occurs in this medium. We think of journaling as personal. We’re not supposed to share it with the rest of the world. Ironically, this journaling is probably our most authentic writing. My students prove it time and again. So the greatest challenge is to get teachers writing personal blogs to see how they feel, what it is like to publish. With the publishing comes the possibility of an audience, which for me was probably the scariest part. Several years ago I the invitational institute through the Connecticut Writing Project. It was a month long intensive where we explored teaching writing. The cornerstone of the program was our own writing. Just about immediately, I got it. I understood what it felt like to be a student again - the uncertainty, the second-guessing, the exposure, the sharing with others. It was hard. It was also the most amazing educational experience I had ever had. I discovered that I am a writer, that I write all the time, in many different ways. I am a writer in the same way I am a husband and a father and a friend and a son and a brother and a teacher. I write assignments and lists and reflections and poetry and stories and many more assignments. And because I do write, with all its uncertainties, I try to blog. Blogging reminds me what writing is like for my students. And blogging, in addition to being shanghaied by Will, reminds me that there is more out there to try. I need to cultivate the same sort of restlessness that is my teaching - always looking for a more effective, engaging way to do the work-in my use of what is out there on the web.

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