Report on T Cubed Webcast

Yesterday (18 July 2007), I was fortunate to sit on the Webcast of Teachers Teaching Teachers. We were able to talk to an incoming Freshman named Victoria (participant in Youth Bridges) and an Australian Senior named Danielle. You know, we all know how honest kids can be. Well, it was great to hear the perspecitives of these two articulate young women.

In many ways, what they said clearly supported the Compelling Communications theme of the day. Victoria shared with us how much she enjoyed being able to use Web 2.0 apps and that these served for jumping points to further discussions and connections with peers. She admitted to spending more time and putting forth more effort in her class where these apps were used because she realized that her connections and communications with these peers were contigent upon them. That was powerful for me.

Conversely, although Danielle loved the creation of Comic Life projects, the assignment to create a metaphor based on two texts did not hook her. She wondered when she would use that skill. She was not enthused because the assignment did not mean anything to her. She did, however, admit that she would much rather be doing the Comic Life project than writing an essay. She raised a good pondering. She wondered if she was missing something from not writing the essay? Have we or has our educational system trained our students so well that they, too, are under the impression that writing an essay will equip them with everything they need for a job in the real world?

The discussion continued. This is where it got good. Both students began to complain about teachers. "Why don't they know how to do that? Is it MY job to teach them? Why doesn't everyone teach the way I was taught last year?" These were some of the challenges we heard. They also feared that teachers were resistant to learning these tools, and even more alarming, many would not accept or invite help from students because it would show that they did not, in fact, mean everything. (Insert sarcastic gasp here).

So I was left with this: Compelling Communication does not only need to be reflected in the work we ask our students to do. We need to also engage in these types of meaningful interactions WITH our students. Maybe, there should be a Students Teaching Teachers?