Thing #5: RSS – Really Super Stressful :)
Setting up the Google Reader and subscribing to the three feeds gave me stress. Seriously. There are too many things needing my attention and now you want me to add RSS to the mess? After I took a deep breath and remembered to view problems as challenges, I persevered… and came across Think Different on my feed. Yes, I totally know what this kid means. We are at an educational fork in the road! He continues,
The current education system just doesn’t know how to handle these kinds of people.
and more
The system doesn’t understand creativity.
and still more
Where would we be if Bach was told his Brandenburg concertos ‘didn’t quite meet the required standard’? What would have happened if Van Gogh was told his paintings just ‘didn’t make sense’?
This immediately reminded me of an item I read for Thing #4: How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci. And then I realize, that is the point. To make connections. Here is my one criticism with this though:
When do the students read in depth? Web 2.0 and RSS are all about grazing and gathering, but where is the detailed, thorough study taking place?
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Wendy,
This is a very important consideration: deep vs wide reading. Many of our students (not unlike the general population of students) are giving “continuous partial attention” to everything.
I would recommend your reading and following Will Richardson’s blog as he is reading and reflecting on this topic. We are also doing the same in this PLP cohort I manage. There was an article in the Atlantic Monthly this summer titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid”? You might Google it (smile) and check it out.
I’m reading a book titled Distracted right now which is very concerned about students’ ability to focus and attend (required for deep reading). And, I’m at the point where I believe the online tools need to be employed and modeled effectively in the classroom so that we can merge kids’ digital interest and social learning skills with rigorous material.
I’ll be interested in hearing more of your thoughts. I will say, I must be diligent in my own practice to balance all the networking, surfing, learning I do online that takes me “wide” with the reflection and study I do “offline” that takes me “deep.”