When EdChat becomes EdAct or EdDo

Harold Shaw (hshawjr) had an interesting and insightful blog post concerning the November 24, 2009 #edchat discussion. Edchat takes place every Tuesday at 7pm and is a great way to discuss ideas with teachers from around the world. He feels that the discussion may have moved to involve a little too much "squeaking." While I agree with his perception about the direction of the #edchat discussions, I do think all teachers need that opportunity to "squeak," especially to those who understand where they are coming from. Having said that, it has come to the point where we need to act and try some of our ideas with our students and then share our success and failure with our PLN.

One of the participants (@nashworld) voiced that opinion when he said, "I would love an edchat where everyone agreed to IMPLEMENT an innovation, and then return here to debrief." It's a great idea. Maybe the edchat sessions can add that dimension each week. Vote each week on the topic to discuss and a possible idea to implement for the week. We can discuss how we may best implement, depending on our discipline, and then give it a try. The next week can be a debriefing as well as thoughts for future improvements and the next weekly idea.

I consider myself lucky in the environment where I teach. I have the support and the freedom to try what I feel may be effective and useful. It seems as if many public school teachers have their hands tied which will make for more difficulty in implementing almost anything. Given that, it is time for me to attempt and then share with those who care to listen. The more teachers we have implementing new ideas effectively and reporting on it, the more support those who need it will have. It is then we can turn Edchat into EdDo.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Boost Learning in Presentations and Games

How do students know what they know? (an effective exit slip)

How to Lead the Horse to Water?