A Reflection on being a Discussion Director

     After an intense week, my time of being discussion director has come to a close.  I would like to take this time to reflect on some things I might change for the next time.  I had to prepare for this in a short amount of time but I was very adamant about making my own discussion questions.  I really wanted to formulate them on my own.  My discussion questions for the week were:

Discussion Question #1:

Few "new literacies" such as the Internet, wikis, blogs, search engines, instant messaging, email,  and online gaming have made their way into the classroom.  What are your feelings about "new literacies" and the classroom?  

Discussion Question #2:

Many times we are to believe that if students are high achieving in offline text, they will be high achieving in online text.  This is not always the case.  What are your feelings about the idea of Isomorphism?  Do you think it exists?  Have you seen any examples of Isomorphism in your own classroom?

     

     I had given instructions that even though the two questions were unrelated, I wanted everyone to feel free to choose one to begin the discussion with and then we could shift to the second question or we could discuss both and see where they took us.  

     After looking over the discussion, I realized that although I enjoyed seeing everyone's ideas and opinions on both questions but, I should have stuck to one question.  What happened was that some of my classmates though it was necessary to answer both questions, which is was not.  Had I stuck to one of the questions, I could have seen where it took us.  (The first discussion question had started to make a different turn, a turn into professional development and the lack of teachers being prepared.)  I would have liked to formulate a new question based around that topic.  However, many of my classmates then shifted back to the second question.  This is where some people dropped from the discussion or were just trying to make sure they answered both prompts. 

     If I were to run a discussion again, I would definitely only begin with one question.  This way everyone knows what to answer and the discussion can proceed from there.

      Of course there are the tough jobs like the grading.  I want to be fair to everyone.  If I can advise anyone else it would be to make sure you join in the discussion as soon as you can.  I know that we are all busy, but when we have free time get involved.  As the director I went in each day and responded to everyone as much as I could.  However, it is hard for someone to join into a discussion after a week.  

     I really enjoyed being a discussion director.  Working with everyone was a lot of fun.  I realize my style may not work for everyone and that is fine with me.  I look forward to seeing how everyone else holds their discussions.   If anyone has questions about being a discussion director, please feel free to ask me.

What I Want From My Digital Learning Hub

     In the beginning of this journey, I was never really sure about what all of these digital ideas were about.  All I really knew about was email and the occasional facebook post to my friends and family.  After taking a few summer classes using technology I have learned so much on how to blog, upload videos, and use Google+.
     Now that we are beginning to create our digital hubs, I am beginning to think about what I would want to include in mine.  As I think more and more, my digital hub should include information about who I am, and what message I intend to send to others. As a mathematics teacher, I want to include videos and information that sends a message to other mathematics teachers that technology can be useful in their teaching.
     I want to use my site as a place for students to go when they are confused and have resources available to them.  I want to be able to be available to my students via twitter, blogging, and other social media.  My digital space should be a place for ALL of my students to have a chance to visit and see.  I want it to be easy to use and easy to get to.

The benefits of my digital hub would be for my students to gain understanding and for teachers of my subject area to browse for ideas.  A few items that I want to try to include on my site are:

• Tutorials to enhance learning
• Videos of lessons for students that may have missed class
• Math website links for enhanced practice (age and grade appropriate of course)
• Math worksheets for enhanced practice
• Link to my blog for other math teachers to follow along

     I am looking forward to creating my own Digital Learning Hub, although I am nervous about the difficulties ahead.  I hope for a great experience!!