A few days ago, I had the pleasure of hosting about 20 college students in my classroom. They are completing an introductory course in technology and education at the local college, and the instructor wanted them to see what it really looks like in the classroom. I was excited to have them come in, and knew that my students would be ready to show them all of the great things about our eMINTS classroom. I didn’t really change our plan for the day, I just decided to let them get a little taste of reality. I didn’t mean to scare the pants off them, but I think I did. I forget how chaotic and overwhelming my room can be to an observer, because my kids and I are just used to it by this time of year. Let me paint a picture for you…
24 students, 20 college kids, 13 pc’s on tables, all in one classroom- that in itself was a victory. I had the list of tasks and projects on the board, the kids know that they can pick and choose what to work on, but eventually everything has to get done. Some are scanning doodle4google pictures into a folder on my laptop so we can make them into a voicethread next week. Some are adding to the never ending story wiki that our class started this week. Some are using Inspiration to create a circle story outline. I am attempting to conference with a student before he prints and publishes his book for the end of year writers exhibit. Some are commenting on our spiderwick voicethread. The rest are reading, blogging, journaling, working on a math review page. The room is louder than usual as my students explain what they are doing, and answer questions. I stand at the front and field questions about my website, lesson planning, our online curriculum. Then the hour is over and they file out of the room with their heads spinning.
My students breathe a sigh of relief, and get back to what it is they need to do. I flop into my chair and immediately start analyzing the whole event. I wonder what they thought? Did they think I was crazy? Did they get what was going on? Should I have toned it down? Revved it up? What good did that do them? What will they take away from this day? What can I do?
I have talked many times about shaking up the world of pre-service teachers, and this just made me realize that I need to get with it. Those students need more than two hours of mass submersion in a tech classroom! They need to eat, drink, and sleep it for months! They need to understand how it changes the lives of those kids! They need to see what I see every day! They need a little bit more reality if things are ever going to look different in the classrooms of the future, and I need a plan…to take over the world of pre-service education:) Maybe Dembo will help me!