Students learn from students: Teachers learn from teachers

I have just returned from one of the best learning experiences I've had in a while. The Kentucky Council of Teachers of English is an excellent venue for teachers to learn from other teachers.

The many lessons and the practical advice available at conference such as this one are what keep me on my toes. I have a million ideas floating around in my head thanks to the conference. I CANNOT WAIT to put them into practice! Through experiences such as this conference, I am reminded how valuable students learning from other students can be.

A Digital Immigrant Teaching Digital Natives

Once again it was a great day in English class. Today I introduced a new presentation program to the students. I showed them an example and told them to Google the name. They jumped right in! They created presentations in which they embedded text, pictures, and video, and then they embedded those presentations into the class Wiki. This whole process took less than 90 minutes. The presentations are admittedly brief, but I can say that it took me WAY more than 90 minutes to create a comparable presentation the first time I used the program.

These kids are immersed in technology and familiar with the apps and processes—a definite advantage! All I do is tell the students what I’d like for them to create, and they just find a way to do it. Quite an amount of critical thinking is involved.

So, I’m attempting to leave my immigrant status behind. Wish me luck!