Twitter Discussion

I had a chance to allow all four of my classes have a discussion with each other, not me!  I pulled myself out of the mix for the most part.  But I added a layer of technology to give depth and another dimension to the talk.  It also limited me to 140 characters or less.

In each class, I had a moderator to help lead and guide the discussion, and I had at least one technical facilitator.  I had asked the kids to create twitter accounts for us to use as part of the discussion.  I projected my account on the big screen and the technical facilitator refreshed and interjected digital commentary as needed.  I also had a student volunteer to be text relayer, relaying comments sent to their phone via text message.

My goal was to give everyone a voice and allow for some sidebar, but related, conversations to take place.  It was for the most part successful.  In some classes the conversation flowed better than others and the direction of the conversations were varied.  The basis of each conversation was framed around the question of what it means to be college ready and how Seminar can help prepare them for the challenges ahead.

There was a lot of contradictions overall.  Things like the request for stricter policies and deadlines being followed by a desire not to change too suddenly or at all.  Some said that they needed to learn self discipline or to be self sufficient or maturity but also said that those things couldn't be taught.

One of the biggest revelations I had today was how varied needs are.  In one class, they wanted the nuts and bolts of registering for classes and in another they got hung up on learning to cook and do laundry.  So my next step will be to create a "Readiness" self evaluation.  It will include categories that delve deeper into "Ready for College, Ready for Career, Ready for Life." 

I will then have students use the evaluations to determine what they need to get out of Seminar this spring.  I will be meeting with students to provide them with some feedback and talk through their evaluation.

From the conferences, I want to move to "Goal" folders.  I'm thinking like a workshop type time that will allow students to delve deeper into the areas they feel they need the most work.  Each "Goal" would have a set of activities.  Students could then "defend" the learning they've done during the individual time.

It's still taking shape, but the outline is becoming clear!