Wikiing

I started a wiki with my eighth grade students to share ideas about a writing assignment they are going to be doing. My idea was that they could use this to discuss with each other what they might want to write about and then they can each have their own pages to begin writing their stories, getting input and editing from their classmates throughout.

Then, something very funny happened today. During class the students all logged on to the wiki and began chatting with each other through the discussion forums. It was at this point that I noticed a couple of things. First, the classroom was so quiet, except for a random chuckle or chair moving, you could hear a pin drop, And second, the students were totally and completely absorbed in each others' ideas for writing.

I know from experience that if I had asked these students to bring in ideas for writing and discuss them in their groups or as a whole class, there would have been no where near as much "discussion" as there was online this afternoon. For some reason, these students know how to discuss way better through the computer. It reminded me of a story I heard on the Moth Radio Hour about a father trying to talk to his 12 year old son. He realized the only way to really ever be able to get anything out of his son was through instant messaging. The story is hilarious, and just reconfirms my ideas about these kids being much better at sharing ideas and feelings through the computer. The story is in Moth Radio 3 and it is the second story told.

Taking away their tools

Picture this, you're back in seventh grade, writing notes to your friends about what you are going to do after school, or maybe about which boy you like in class, or maybe you are even writing a nasty note about a teach or another student in the class. The teacher catches you and tells you that your punishment is that you can't use pen or paper for 3 weeks...

I know this might be extreme, but this is how I feel when my students get their laptops taken away for misuse. Depending on the crime some of my students have gotten their laptops taken away for one, two, or three weeks, and sometimes even indefinitely. Of course most of these infractions and punishments always seem to happen just as we are about to start a digital story telling project that will require the use of a laptop...

Of course these misuses can't go unpunished, but sometimes I really beginning to feel that I am being punished more that the students are. I have to come up with an alternate way of completing this assignment, as well as an alternate assessment seeing part of the rubric for the initial assessment does deal with use of the technology.

I am beginning to be of the mind that we really need to do a better job of teaching these students how to responsibly use the tools that they possess. If we keep taking them away, how are we going to do that???