English

Section 4: Department Discussion Time
Did You Know? Shift Happens. by [|Karl Fisch] media type="youtube" key="pMcfrLYDm2U&rel=1" height="355" width="425"

//**from Shift Happens Wiki Did You Know?**// is intended to be a conversation starter. As you use the presentation with various audiences, leave plenty of time at the end for questions and discussion. Questions such as the following are good ways to start conversation:
 * What should our learning environment look like?
 * What are your initial reactions to what you saw in the presentation?
 * How are these changes manifesting themselves in your personal lives? professional lives?
 * What do we think it means to prepare students for the 21st century? What skills do students need to survive and thrive in this new era?
 * What implications does this have for our current way of doing things?
 * Do we need to change? If so, how?
 * How do we get from here to there?
 * What challenges must we overcome as we move forward?
 * What supports will we need as we move forward?
 * What kind of training will we need to move forward?
 * What kind of commitments will we need to make (with each other, our students, and our community) to move forward?
 * Who's scared? Why?
 * What will we do next? What are some concrete actions that we can take in the near future?
 * Is it possible for a teacher to be an excellent teacher if he/she does not use technology? [see this [|key question]for another way to ask this]

What a great session with Karl Fisch, use his blog often, thanks. I'd like to introduce the English teachers present to an existing online world called [|CyberEnglish]. Many English teachers have found it useful to help them get started. Many are members NCTE and a listserve hosted at interversity.org called [|engteach-talk] Open discussion list for English teachers everywhere. I hope you find what others have done useful in your own quests and inquiry about using technology in the English classroom from the CE website and from the list. I may not really be about change as much as about evolution and shifting your paradigm and practice of teaching. good luck, may the force be with you, and rock on.
 * AND if you decide change is what you want..**

[|tednellen]