From Half-Group to iDo

When watching a Screencast on "How to Edit a Wiki", can you differentiate which question is posed by a traditional student versus an iDO student?

"So when is this due?"

"So what happens if I edit the wiki and I don't have time to finish it..Should I publish or cancel?"

Answer: The second is the iDo student.

So I renamed my classes today from "Half-Group" classes to "iDo" classes. Why? Simple. My half-group classes are not about the fact that they are a half-group. Instead, they are about the fact that what they create in class is done almost entirely by them. This is the first generation I have taught that when the question asked is: "Does anyone know how to work this computer/cell phone/dvd player/iPod?" they respond "I Do." They know....a 12 year old can. It is my hope that each student will leave this class at the end of the year being able to say "I did that." As in "I made that," "I participated in that," I tried that." See what I mean?

What really initiated the change was when yet another class grasped for the comfort in questions that have developed after years of education by spoon-feeding. Years of education where students are not students, but machines that consume whatever WE GIVE them. Then, when they are in an environment where they are given little and expected to do much...all of a sudden they can't do. Questions easily answered by reading a short sentence from their computer screens (or maybe some answered by simply listening, watching, thinking, or clicking) become their focus. Their focus shifts from accomplishing the task through discovery to panic and fear because the teacher stopped feeding. They stop asking questions about the specific environment they're working within and start really questioning what in world happened to their cozy classroom environment they've come to know so well.

Later, they tell their peers "it was boring".

I believe Boredom is a mental/emotional/spiritual state that can be used to describe few moments in life as long as we interact and immerse with our environment. Even if the interest is feigned, boredom is not a possible outcome. I think it is impossible! I DO think students often confuse the word "boredom" for "non-understanding". It's not that they were bored, but they just didn't get it. And by that I mean they didn't follow why something was happening or the attempted-outcome from within their environment (and this is not always their fault...there can be many external factors...but in the end we are all the Kings of our own selves)

No More.

My students will not be defined by what "group they are in". My students will not be "bored". My students will not be "spoon-fed". My students will respond to the question: "Who knows why (and how) Web 2.0 can be used as a tool for communicating clearly and effectively?" they will respond in unison: "iDO!". They will not be merely "consumers". They will be INTERACTIVE, IMMERSED, EMPOWERED DIGESTERS that can say "iDo" and "ICAN"!

Good-Bye "Half-Groups"! WELCOME "iDO"!!!!