Turkey Crossing

How to get connected with classroom 2.0 tools and most importantly how to get connected with you students.

Does anyone have the directions for giving directions?

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July 25, 2007 05:19 PM PDT

Do we give kids too many directions? Every year I get a class of kids who seemingly cannot operate without very explicit directions. They need to know where to go, when to go, how much, when to stop, quantity, quality, on and on... They are afraid to try something unless they have very detailed instructions which bring them right from the beginning through to the end product. They do not have any faith in themselves...they do not trust themselves enough to take a risk and be creative and innovate with their own imagination. It is a long and purposeful process I use to get kids to trust themselves enough to explore and take a chance to complete something without explicit directions. It is a magical time of the year when it does happen. Go ahead, let go of your preconceptions about how the end product of an assignment should look and give you kids fewer directions this year . Let them try to come to the end on a path that you did not show them. You never know, they might show you a new way of doing something!

Music by Runaway Hudson...check them out!

Podcast Summary

This is a podcast about education and my attempt to use classroom 2.0 tools in my classroom. I examine topics that often go unmentioned in education classes, professional development, and journals. In this crazy world of NCLB and amazing technologies entering the classroom, this podcast is a reminder that we need to first give children our love, not our thoughts. If you are focused on getting your kids to get higher test scores and learn facts, this is not the podcast for you. If you are focused on building relationships with your students and letting them develop the skills needed to survive in the 21st Century, then take a listen.

My Blog and wiki

http://www.blogush.edublogs.org
http://www.edhead.wikispaces.com
http://www.morecowbell.wikispaces.com

Class wiki and Blog

www.collaborationnation.wikispaces.com
www.pbogush.edublogs.org

The following story captures the spirit of my podcast.

I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.
As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."
As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference."
The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that one."
I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish in to the sea.
...based on the story by Loren Eisley