No Talking and No Having Fun

February 19, 2008

Story One: 

We just got an email from one of our districts that has just completed two Weather With Rusty events. This district has an old VTEL unit. Shane and I first dusted the unit off and got it connected in the fall of 2004. We told them what they could do with the unit, but we didn’t really find the right building coordinator. In January 2007, I met the person who has become the building coordinator at a presentation I gave at MCC.

Now, January 2008, they have completed two student events. Here is the comment from the building coordinator.

Thank you for the info, I just went onto Mr. Garrett’s Blog and left a comment.  I also want to thank you and Roxanne for helping us set Project Tornado up with Rusty; our students are still talking about it. We look forward to February 29th for Snake, Rattle, and Stand Still VC.

I was reminded of the power of videoconferencing. It is so motivating for the students….THEY ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT! Isn’t that what we want? Students talking about content? Students creating knowledge? Students teaching their families about how to be safe in severe weather situations?

Story Two:

I met with a building coordinator from one of my other districts and they will not be allowing Weather With Rusty videoconferencing during state testing because it is just “fun” and might be distracting for their students. (NOTE: the students who would be participating in the videoconferencing are not even involved in the state testing on said date and time.) 

When did the notion that learning must be painful, boring, and quiet to be effective become so pervasive in our educational system?

Posted in Weather With Rusty