Before we can answer that question, we have to know what the distinction between an internet visitor and an internet resident is.
Essentially, residents are people who cultivate a persona which stays online with or without the user. A resident has profiles on twitter, upkeeps a blog, etc. The resident creates. A visitor sees the internet as a sort of toolbox wherein users can log on; find resources they need; and then log off without leaving any trace. That's not to say that visitors don't have social media accounts or that they don't have input; but, the main difference is that residents have cultivated an online persona (or an extension of their real personal selves). I think that each of us, as users of the internet, exist on a continuum between the two. I'm not positive where I stand though. I have several different social media accounts (which i update semi-regularly), I have a couple of blogs (which have fizzled out. I should probably delete a few of them), I have a tumblr, etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting some software that I use or some sort of cool platform. As I see it, the main difference between the people that Dave White is describing and me is this: content creation. I think that people who are true residents in the internet do what any true residents do in other real-world communities. They create productively and have discourse. Professors publish. Teachers teach. Coaches coach. It becomes a question of citizenship. How do you stack up against your online peers? Are you someone who furthers the community? Are you someone who uses the community for your own needs? So the question remains: Where do I stand? I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. I try to add to my peers' internet experience. I try to create original content. I still don't think that I occupy a space where I am truly putting out an extension of my persona into the public, though. The internet is still a tool for me, and not a space. I am somewhere near the middle. I hope to get more towards the residential side of the continuum. White, D. (2013, May 31). Visitors and Residents [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFBadv04eY
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I've just finished reading "Why School?" by Will Richardson. His viewpoints were very well thought-out, and reaffirming, to say the least. As an aspiring educator, I have already made a private commitment to lifelong learning, but this essay (short e-book?) has helped to point that commitment by asking the question of: What are you learning and why is that important?
The essay resounded with me because I would like to become a teacher who learns along side his students and also a student who facilitates genuine and sustained inquiry. It has been my personal belief for a while now that students should engage in learning a process just as much as they should engage in achieving a product. I was pleased to see that Will Richardson touches on this in his section called "Be a master learner". Of course, the other 5 points are very good, too. Richardson's full list includes: 1. Share everything (or at least something). Collaborate with other educators! Thats more or less the biggest reason I'm writing this blog. There is always value in not trying to reinvent the wheel. Cast a wide (inter)net for resources! 2.Discover, don't deliver, the curriculum. For kids to be engaging in real learning, they should be developing inquiries and following them through. I think that this practice is probably the most romantic one on the list; but, nonetheless, Richardson makes an important point. Humans learn way more through real inquiry than they ever could from traditional skill and drill methods. 3. Talk to strangers. Richardson's not asking educators to drop kids off at a bus station and see what happens with this piece of advice. The point that he is making is this: There are millions of people (resources) on the internet for us to use to attain knowledge and engage in true learning. 4. Be a master learner. This, as I have already stated, was the section that resounded the most with me. In this section Richardson says, "There should also be no doubt that, to prepare students to be learners, we need adults in classrooms who can serve as outstanding role models for learning.". I am glad to see this sentiment phrased in a way that puts responsibility on educators to be not only people who teach effective study habits, but also role models for learning. It is my hope that I will be able to successfully commit myself to being a researcher and learner who my students can be inspired by and learn to learn from. 5. Do real work for real audiences. Students will have wayyyyy more buy-in for their assignments if they know that they will be affecting something "real". By "real" i mean something in their nonacademic lives. We, as educators, need to allow our students to develop some agency and self-efficacy by letting them put together their work with their community. This could be a number of things, ranging from videotaping and sharing scenes of shakespeare (instead of reading it) to actually going and studying local wildlife instead of looking at textbooks. The main point is that students are creating and that they are sharing their work with their communities. 6. Transfer the power. I know a few teachers who are scared of this one.This idea goes against alot of traditional school practices. But Richardson's main point is a good one. Students wont learn how to learn in the real world if they arent responsible for learning in the classroom. So, as educators, we have to ask ourselves, "What are we allowing students to learn?", and then we have to let go of (or at least loosen) the reins. ----UPDATE: (12/12/15) When I originally wrote this article in september, I was rather new to the teaching credential program and had not spent very much time educating students. I have learned quite a bit since then, and I think that, while the advice "be a master learner" still resounds with me on a very deep level, I am seeing a greater need for "Real work for real audiences". I have seen a HUGE difference in students interest levels when they are given the chance to create and interact with one another in a productive way rather than asked to complete stock assignments independently. Going forward into next semester's student teaching assignment, I will try to enact this idea of "real" work, and the practices that go along with it, as much as possible. Reference: Richardson, W. (2012) Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com. |
AuthorTrevor Rawlings is an educator at Pinacate Middle School in Perris, CA. Archives
April 2018
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