This book sort of reminded me of volunteering to record books for kids struggling to read. You have to read the book VERY SLOWLY so the kid can follow along with his finger, and sometimes, when you're attempting to strike a balance between your pace and your word accenting, you can't help thinking, "Is this REALLY helping kids read better?" As an incredibly optimistic educator, I'm sure Richardson would tell me to hope for the best, and that taking these first- and second-graders on this guided tour of an already boring book (think "My Shirts") will contribute to that acceptance to a state school somewhere down the road, but you have to wonder...
I have to give Richardson credit. He goes, step-by-step, recorded-book style, through all the new-fangled technologies of what he calls the "read/write web," writing in the tone of a motivational speaker about the benefits of...well, blogs, wikis, and podcasts (he likes that little try at humor with the "well" followed by an obvious statement, so get used to it). The book is excellent as a veritable "idiot's guide" to cool stuff on the web, recommending free blogging and podcasting software and going through each step of registration and formatting, all the way down to describing the look of the icons you have to press to make something work, which is EXCELLENT for people with no background in the subjects.
Of course, this is a teaching book, and he dutifully gives the anxious "digital immigrants" (his phrase) doubling as classroom teachers incentives to bring this stuff into the classroom, recommending lesson plans and blogs that provide free lesson plans. He goes through the nitty-gritty of network setup and servers, making things as simple as possible.
Let me make this clear: I really liked this book. It was a useful tool, an interactive book instead of a "read-only" book, a comparison I'm sure Richardson would approve of. He spends a lot of time emphasizing the fact that the kids of tomorrow will have to be "editors" as well as "readers," and that it is a teacher's job to teach them the basics of filtering massive amounts of information. The Web, he says, is no longer "read-only." Students, and consequently their teachers, must interact with it, and he backs up his claims with some of oft-repeated but still-amazing statistics about the mind-blowing growth of the Internet and, of course, rightly-guided warnings that students are already using these technologies, so you're already behind. Get in the techie fray, he seems to be saying, or get ready for a Clockwork Orange-esque world where your students will be able to out-think, or, rather, out-Google-search you.
All this being said, I was tempted to go back through the book to count how many times he used the word "social," just for statistical purposes. Just for quick reference, social=good. Social also=progressive, forward-thinking, and a whole host of other educational buzzwords. The Web, he tells us, is now "social," students' work should be part of an "ongoing conversation." Doing things with blogs and wikis is far more "social," and its cousin, "collaborative." Truth, he says, is now being created by everyone, and students need to be a part of this.
I couldn't help wondering: Should truth really be this democratic? Do we really want a fifth grader to be contributing to our ideas about "TRUTH"? Sure, all of this is sort of alarmist...it's not like some middle school student's internet project about carpenter ants is going to derail our modern, capitalist society, but the grand, communistic theory behind all of it started to taste bad as he continued to emphasize it, although he only uses the word "communal" once. In an education book like this, of course, he wasn't exactly obligated to mention the philosophical issues behind the "creation" of "truth" that a wiki embodies, but the reader just may be obligated to consider it.
The idea of a paperless classroom comes up and, although it's never mentioned, the connection to environmentalism and global warming is obvious, and even admirable. Still, I wondered if Richardson had considered the more introverted, traditional students who may be overwhelmed by a sudden switch to blogs and a wiki-based curriculum (the entire national curriculum of South Africa, he points out, is already being developed on a wiki). He does say to start slow, but I couldn't help selfishly thinking of myself in this new "Web-based" classroom. All of this constant "collaboration" with others would have been overstimulating to me, and still can be in my university classes. Some kids prefer to work alone. And, while Richardson has a point that preparing students for the "real world" (my phrase) of group work and collaboration is important, I'd like to add an aside that that should be paired with a more traditional work environment to allow students who learn more independently to thrive. I'm sure Richardson would point out that the Web can allow different forms of that individuality, and I would hesitantly agree.
Ultimately, of course, barring a world war or bird blu epidemic, the "paperless classroom" and the increased use of "web portfolios" and "online curricula" are inevitable as the technology continues to evolve and the current "digital natives" (his phrase) grow up and extend their Facebooking tendencies to their eventual professions. Richardson acknowledges this, and I had to at the end of the book, too. To a "digital immigrant" looking to become versed in the language of the natives (don't worry, he doesn't overextend the metaphor), the book is incredibly inspiring and practically useful. But, like the recorded books kids, I wondered if this book is just too little, too late for the current generation of teachers. We might just have to wait for the next, tech-savvy generation to cycle through to see any real transformation.
RECOMMENDED
I have to give Richardson credit. He goes, step-by-step, recorded-book style, through all the new-fangled technologies of what he calls the "read/write web," writing in the tone of a motivational speaker about the benefits of...well, blogs, wikis, and podcasts (he likes that little try at humor with the "well" followed by an obvious statement, so get used to it). The book is excellent as a veritable "idiot's guide" to cool stuff on the web, recommending free blogging and podcasting software and going through each step of registration and formatting, all the way down to describing the look of the icons you have to press to make something work, which is EXCELLENT for people with no background in the subjects.
Of course, this is a teaching book, and he dutifully gives the anxious "digital immigrants" (his phrase) doubling as classroom teachers incentives to bring this stuff into the classroom, recommending lesson plans and blogs that provide free lesson plans. He goes through the nitty-gritty of network setup and servers, making things as simple as possible.
Let me make this clear: I really liked this book. It was a useful tool, an interactive book instead of a "read-only" book, a comparison I'm sure Richardson would approve of. He spends a lot of time emphasizing the fact that the kids of tomorrow will have to be "editors" as well as "readers," and that it is a teacher's job to teach them the basics of filtering massive amounts of information. The Web, he says, is no longer "read-only." Students, and consequently their teachers, must interact with it, and he backs up his claims with some of oft-repeated but still-amazing statistics about the mind-blowing growth of the Internet and, of course, rightly-guided warnings that students are already using these technologies, so you're already behind. Get in the techie fray, he seems to be saying, or get ready for a Clockwork Orange-esque world where your students will be able to out-think, or, rather, out-Google-search you.
All this being said, I was tempted to go back through the book to count how many times he used the word "social," just for statistical purposes. Just for quick reference, social=good. Social also=progressive, forward-thinking, and a whole host of other educational buzzwords. The Web, he tells us, is now "social," students' work should be part of an "ongoing conversation." Doing things with blogs and wikis is far more "social," and its cousin, "collaborative." Truth, he says, is now being created by everyone, and students need to be a part of this.
I couldn't help wondering: Should truth really be this democratic? Do we really want a fifth grader to be contributing to our ideas about "TRUTH"? Sure, all of this is sort of alarmist...it's not like some middle school student's internet project about carpenter ants is going to derail our modern, capitalist society, but the grand, communistic theory behind all of it started to taste bad as he continued to emphasize it, although he only uses the word "communal" once. In an education book like this, of course, he wasn't exactly obligated to mention the philosophical issues behind the "creation" of "truth" that a wiki embodies, but the reader just may be obligated to consider it.
The idea of a paperless classroom comes up and, although it's never mentioned, the connection to environmentalism and global warming is obvious, and even admirable. Still, I wondered if Richardson had considered the more introverted, traditional students who may be overwhelmed by a sudden switch to blogs and a wiki-based curriculum (the entire national curriculum of South Africa, he points out, is already being developed on a wiki). He does say to start slow, but I couldn't help selfishly thinking of myself in this new "Web-based" classroom. All of this constant "collaboration" with others would have been overstimulating to me, and still can be in my university classes. Some kids prefer to work alone. And, while Richardson has a point that preparing students for the "real world" (my phrase) of group work and collaboration is important, I'd like to add an aside that that should be paired with a more traditional work environment to allow students who learn more independently to thrive. I'm sure Richardson would point out that the Web can allow different forms of that individuality, and I would hesitantly agree.
Ultimately, of course, barring a world war or bird blu epidemic, the "paperless classroom" and the increased use of "web portfolios" and "online curricula" are inevitable as the technology continues to evolve and the current "digital natives" (his phrase) grow up and extend their Facebooking tendencies to their eventual professions. Richardson acknowledges this, and I had to at the end of the book, too. To a "digital immigrant" looking to become versed in the language of the natives (don't worry, he doesn't overextend the metaphor), the book is incredibly inspiring and practically useful. But, like the recorded books kids, I wondered if this book is just too little, too late for the current generation of teachers. We might just have to wait for the next, tech-savvy generation to cycle through to see any real transformation.
RECOMMENDED
