For quite some time now I knew that it would be inevitable that I would need to utilise the social networking tools, such as Blogger and Facebook. I have resisted using these tools by believing that, in my personal and workplace life, there was no great benefit to me spending my time sharing my thoughts or issues. That is not to say that I haven't benefited from other people sharing their thoughts or resolutions to problems they have encountered. It was just that I always justified my lack of using these tools by saying that I was too busy to learn how to navigate 'another online tool'. So please be considerate of my lack of experience using this mode of communication.
One of my biggest achievements for me as a teacher was the day a student of mine with Down's Syndrome successfully tied his own shoelaces! The look of sheer joy on his face made all of the hours spent sitting with 'Ben' completing this task one step at a time worthwhile. As a Special Education Teacher, my focus when working with my students, was to assist them to develop skills to become as independent as possible in their daily lives. This often meant that many hours were spent developing task analyses of skills that most of us take for granted, and then teaching these skills backwards and building on success until the task can be completed successfully without adult support. My focus was on personal/social knowledge that would result in the outcome for the student that they would be more independent, require less adult support and achieve to their fullest potential. Even though I now work as a Support Teacher: Literacy and Numeracy (ST:LaN) and even though I am still working with students that require additional support, my aim as a teacher still remains to assist students to achieve to their fullest potential.
The past several years have seen my practice as an educator evolve greatly. Professional discussion has provided many opportunities for us as educators to reflect on what we value and the attributes of successful learners. My understanding of 'knowledge' has evolved from being that of a skill set that is used to complete certain tasks to encompassing the development of skills and attributes that allow the learner to be active participants in their own learning and development. I believe that the use of many different tools and mediums can be a part of this process but that our understanding of 'knowledge' will continue to evolve.
Driving home from work this afternoon listening to the local ABC radio, I heard about a fascinating project that is underway at the moment. As I was listening to this article, I couldn't but help reflect on some of the articles that I have been reading already as part of this course, challenging our understanding of what is e-learning and how our own context will influence this understanding.
A representative of the Queensland State Library was being interviewed about an online project
Memory Makes Us challenging us to think about what is the future of the book and how our current understanding of 'books' has changed from being ink printed on pages and bound with thread to a fluid concept that allows for the sharing of ideas through the use of various mediums and modes. "On 9th July, celebrated Canadian author Kate Pullinger will write a new work live and in public in the knowledge walk at State Library of Queensland. Kate will use as her inspiration ‘memories’ collected from the if:book site—short texts and images submitted by the general public—as well as contributions from visitors on the day." http://memory.futureofthebook.org.au/about/
This concept of a live online sharing of the writing of a book using the shared memories of people from all over the world, epitomises the ability of the benefit of the digital world to only be limited by our imagination.
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading this post and the sheer honesty that comes through. I particularly found engaging the comment about helping learners to achieve their full potential. Sometimes because we have such high expectations we forget that what we may consider a small achievement for someone else is actually something massive that should be celebrated. Knowing how hard it is to work in special education I really admire those who embrace it.
Your discussion about the future of the book gave me a new perspective of online collaboration. I realised that when I envisioned collaboration I pictured students talking; discussing, looking at each other’s work and using it improve their own. I hadn’t considered the possibilities of students collaborating to produce one single piece online. It’s maybe a small distinction but none the less new to me.
I can also relate to your comment about breaking tasks down. In my brief time working with students with special needs I found that the more systematically I could break down the task the more success students experienced and the greater sense of satisfaction I found in my work.
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