What Do Students Think about Nings?

I am wrapping up my first use of a ning with my classes, and from my perspective, it was a great success.

• All of the students participated not only with what they had to do for their own work but also with commenting on other students' posts.
• The ning became a part of our in-class work as well as out-of-class collaboration because the students and I referenced it in our discussions, I projected parts of it to get class started, and I set up in-class cooperative learning activities on it.
• The group of college students training to be teachers who joined the ning pushed my students out of their comfort zones, thus making them think even more.

I wanted my students' perspective to add to mine, and I wanted them to have a chance to reflect on the whole experience (see my reflective struggles below!) So I asked them three questions:

• What did you like about using the ning? What could be improved?
• Do you like the idea of using a ning for one text or would it you like to use it for all year (instead of TurnIt In for discussions, the website for docs, individual notes …)?
• How do you feel about expressing yourself to others on the web (our NJ collaborators, doing things like this overall that are open to strangers)?

Their responses were overwhelming positive. All of them enjoyed the ning, and the most often cited reason was seeing others' ideas and being able to ponder ideas more slowly because they were written down and could be returned to. They truly "got" that sharing ideas makes their own ideas that much stronger. One wrote, "I really liked the fact that just because of what the ning is and how it works we were sort of forced to see other people's thoughts on things. By that I mean, for example, through the character groups I got to really see the opinions of others, and their support for them, of such a complex character as Iago. I think it really helped me to develop my own opinions much stronger."

Half of the class wants to use the ning for the whole year, while the other half recognizes that even the most exciting things can be overused. They made an excellent point though that by using the ning earlier in the year, they will be fully versed in all it can do and then get more out of the work on Othello. One wrote, "The only improvement I would recommend is to use it more so we are used to it before we get into a major book discussion because then it is hard to think that there is a source there for you." So I plan to start the ning at the opening of the year and use it for the online discussions I used TurnItIn.com for and some other work. I am going to focus on not overusing it before I get to Othello in January, so I will ask my students to reflect throughout the first semester about the ning. Maybe I will find them asking me to use it even more.

Finally, I wanted to know their thoughts about interacting with people on the web, but not in their accustomed social way. Nancy Devine got me thinking about this when she polled her students and discovered an overwhelming fear of being "out there" on the Internet. Our society has focused so much on Internet safety that it seems to be hurting our students' views of what learning and growing they can do with Web 2.0 tools. I teach at a laptop school, so I thought my students answers would be a great counterpoint to Nancy's students because mine have had technology underpinning their whole high school career. Here is what mine say: all but two are confident and comfortable sharing their ideas on the web. What seems to be at the root of this is they feel they have something worthwhile to say and they seem to understand that this type of academic conversation is different than giving your email to a stranger. So what is the difference and how can we bring more students to a place of comfort with such sharing? Maybe you read that question and think, "I don't think they have to share on the web," but I have seen such growth in my students and more importantly in myself through my own collaborations that I have to disagree. The web is a way to help our students learn even more and even more deeply. We need to make sure this door is open to every student.

Here are some ideas I have:

• regular use of technology is the first step and of course the step that creates our "digital divide" -- by using the technology regularly for more than just social networking (what students do on their own), it becomes a more natural and less fearful place of learning
• the next step is slowly opening the Web 2.0 door for them -- my students knew that the people in our ning had been invited there by me -- they knew there were none of the much-discussed-child-stalkers in there -- the more we can offer of these experiences, the more students will learn of their value and seek them on their own

In the end, my students' work in and thoughts on our class ning have proven to me that technology used thoughtfully, purposefully, and creatively makes for better learning.

Reflection

"Although reflection is often the first thing to go when teachers run out of time on a project or a unit, activities that prompt students to look back at what they've learned and accomplished isn't just busywork or an unnecessary step, educational experts say. In fact, encouraging students to pause and think about what they're learning and why it's relevant to their lives is a critical piece, according to Katie Charner-Laird, a principal at Lincoln-Eliot School, in Newton, Massachusetts" (Suzi Boss, High Tech Reflection Strategies Make Learning Stick).

Oh, how many class periods have I taught when my plans for a five-minute final reflection disappeared because a discussion is still going or an activity taking longer ... It is such a hard balance to maintain. I do not want to cut off students when they are engaged in the learning, but I also do really believe that the reflection is what cements the learning. I have larger reflective work set into my curriculum -- personal reflection on the semester exam, reflective letters in final portfolios. I hereby reaffirm my commitment to making the small moments of reflection a priority!

What Really Works

Last night, I participated in my third Elluminate PLP session with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson. Sheryl and Will were working with us to explore the truism that it is not the tools or the content that matters for good teaching -- it is how we teach. The pedagogy. Hearing that was music to my ears because so often we teachers, in our day-to-day busy-ness, lose sight of this most important thing. So we do not talk about pedagogy enough -- and maybe we can never talk about it enough because there is always something new to learn.

And that is what Sheryl then helped us do. She asked us to think of the teaching strategies we use that are most effective at helping our students learn, and we shared them in the chat. While we only had time to explore a few, it got me thinking that this would be a very powerful activity for every teacher to do every now and then. So here is my list:

• Higher-order questioning: Using follow-up questions (even those as simple as, "Why?") to push my students to explain and dig deeper into their answers
• Student-to-student discussions: These can be done in a variety of ways (jigsaw, fishbowling, etc), but the one that has worked the best for me recently has been the online discussion board.
• Reflection: Asking at the end of a lesson, when a student gets an assignment back, at the end of a novel, whenever there is an end moment -- What did you learn? What might you still need to learn? Wha goals do you have?
• Portfolios: This is usually labeled as an assessment method, but I think it is equally a teaching strategy (and linked to "reflection" above). The process of looking over the year, pulling out moments to remember, and reflecting on those is a lifelong lesson.
• Writing with my students: They know you value something when you are willing to do it too, and you see so clearly what they are experiencing.

What are your best teaching strategies?