NCTE San Anotonio–Shift Happens

The river was one reason the Alamo was located amidst what is now modern San Antonio...

Saturday morning at NCTE was a tough one for me.  I was exhausted and as a result, I missed the 8:000 am presentation by Karl Fish–a major regret because I use his youtube.video (posted at the bottom of today’s blog) as a wake-up call to teacher and others who just don’t get the power of technology in a rapidly changing world. By the way, the posted video is an update of the original, so don’t assume you’ve already seen it! Which causes me to reflect again…where was Vicki Davis? I wonder if the NCTE organizers approached her about representing the practitioners’ view of edtech pedagogy as it intersects the field of English studies: reading and writing in the vast and uncharted territories of Web 2.0?

Saturday’s highlight came late in the day at the 10th Annual Middle School Mosaic. Sara Kajder shared some marvelous edtech ideas and though the crowd was rather despondent (evidently exhaustion was not a unique experience), everyone valued her sharing. There were no roundtable discussions, atypical of the middle school mosaic, but those who voiced their absence also expressed their satisfaction with the session as a whole. Kylene Beers addressed us with the frankness and sincerity that is her hallmark as she voiced her passion and pledged her dedication to work towards change in the social inequities of education and learning opportunities.

Especially poignant were the student multimedia presentations from the 2007 California Teacher of the Year’s Hispanic students. I am not surprised by the quality and the depth of their creativity and emotional sensitivity. You see, I have seen this before; I have taught this way for years, even before the widespread availability of technology. We can do it teachers… but we must make the attempt. Enthusiasm and well-placed intentions will not get the job done. You, yes you, must dig your heels in and give it a try, even when it feels uncomfortable….and it will. Admit to your students this is a trial run and lighten the constraints of fore-knowledge on your teaching. Get into the “flow” of learning beside and among your students rather than in front of them.

And there was more…Sara Holbrook who not only writes for kids, but actually visits classrooms and teaches kids how to become writers themselves. Always uplifting, her poetry is at the same time physical and emotional….just what kids need. And let’s see…Robert Probst who I have never seen in a more amusing state. Of course I don’t know Robert except as a speaker (or rather sage) on the stage or the writer of respected texts…but this evening he was amusing as he poked fun at his age through the evolution of technology. I think I could pass his PowerPoint off as my own…I too began with pen and paper, only later to welcome the technologic advance of a weighty and stiff machine that looked like a minature upright piano and we called a typewriter. I feel so blessed to no longer compose by hand!!

I am far too long and haven’t mentioned everyone who was there…but some I’ve already blogged about…like my among my favorites, Teri Lesesne who must be reading in her sleep to keep up with all of the YA literature she critiques for those of us in the field!