Chapter 9 New Schools

One of the sections that stuck out most to me was The Vision and The Reality. I would like to see parts of David Warlick's vision of a middle school become a reality. He proposes teachers keep blogs to keep track of homework and reflect on topics being covered in class. The teacher also blogs about what the week will look like on Monday. This would be a great way for parents to keep track of what their child is studying. Many parents know that sometimes it is like pulling teeth to get your child to tell you what they are doing in school and if there is homework or not. He also suggests that many of the teachers keep wiki sites that serve as class textbooks, and that students construct their own study resources using team wikis. I think that there is potential for wikis to me used, but the idea of the wiki being the textbook concerns me. I think that the wiki could be a great resource, but would be a lot of work for teachers if they were having to create their own textbooks. Warlick also has the vision that all significant presentations and discussions be recorded and posted in podcasts that students, parents, educators and community members could subscribe to. Although I think that some classrooms and schools have a long way to go, I can see this vision becoming a reality.

This chapter also touched on a few of the issues keeping this vision from becoming a reality. Many teachers lack the knowledge of web 2.0 tools, already are busy with the demand of regular teaching tasks, and have a low comfort level with technology. Once you learn the technology you have to find ways to integrate it.

Not only is there the issue of teachers having the knowledge, there is the issue of having access to the technology needed to use these skills. Right now our school has one computer lab, one mobile lab, and three computers in a classroom for students. This leaves limited time for access to these tools.