NETS-T4 Continued (The Final One!!)

To All My Adoring Fans & Colleagues,


May you all shed a tear and pay homage to what is my last graduate school blog post. I hope to keep this blog running long after EDT 610 and I have parted ways, but only time will tell. For those that have read my verbose musings diligently, thank you. And for those who thought I was simply long-winded, well, you're probably right. :)


Today's final post will continue the exploration of NETS-T4 (which is outlined in my previous blog post). Today, however, I would like to focus mostly on Indicator D:



Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools.


I think that all educators have an inherent desire to include lots of collaboration into their separate curricula. On one level, educators want (and need) to collaborate with other educators on similar subject matter. One another level, educators want to model collaboration for their students and then create a learning environment that, in turn, fosters collaboration.


When synthesizing all of these different processes, it can become quite overwhelming. But I am finding, day by day, that technology renders so many of these goals more achievable than I ever thought possible. The WikiSpace that I use with my students is a great example of collaboration.


"The Proof is in the Pudding" Example: My students recently read and responded to an article on banishing the "R" word (retard/retarded), and then they read a follow-up article on a childhood Down Syndrome success story. Many of my students have very limited scopes when it comes to tolerance (specifically when it involves children with special needs), but after exploring these ideas in writing on the Wiki, I was astonished by their poignant comments.


I have included some samples of student writing (gathered from our class Wiki) below:

Student #1 (specifically relating to the boy w/ Down Syndrome): "Some of their challenges may have dealt with bullies because many people don’t understand that people with Down syndrome can do most everything—they’re not that different. This misunderstanding also might have inhibited his learning experience. Perhaps a teacher or coach may have underestimated his intelligence."

Student #1 (regarding the words "retard" and "retarded"): "My opinion has changed because now I see it as not a harmless name or adjective, but a word that has so much more meaning and emotions behind it. I never really liked the word, but it didn’t bother me until now."

Student #2 (relating to the boy w/ Down Syndrome): "To me, Zachary and his family are very inspirational. I really like how Zachary has a job working at Target showing his community that he cares and that he is a people person! Zach is just like every other person, goes to school, has a job, loves people and even helps coach a hockey team!"

Student #3 (regarding the words "retard" and "retarded"): "I definitely have always thought that using those words were wrong but our class discussion really had an impact on me. Saying "retard" certainly discourages and affects others even though we don't really think about it when using it."

Upon concluding this lesson and discussion, I was really proud of my students. I felt that they had taken a controversial topic and had open, honest conversations about it. And, quite shockingly, many of them changed their attitudes in terms of using the words 'retard' and 'retarded'. Without the collaboration factor (specifically, without the use of the Wiki), I do not feel that my students would have had such authentic discussion over these topics. This is just one of many examples in which collaboration has been the key ingredient to my students' authentic learning experiences.