the good, the bad, the deeply lamentable, part 2
well, more than a few days have passed since that entry.
My student with Asperger’s, we’ll call him Steve, is a delight and a joy. I’m very lucky in that he seems to have adjusted to the whole idea of school, the chaos – of which there’s a whole plenty- of the halls, all the other stuff- last year. But I’m going to take some credit for the way he’s now blossoming in my class. He’s doing the work, he’s making jokes, and responding to my sense of humour, he’s moving around the room, he’s interacting with other students- really, he’s the least of my worries about that class. I really like him, and I have a whole lot to learn about asperger’s because this is not at all what I expected.
I tried something new this year in my applied classes. I asked them to complete their introductory “all about me” assignment by sending it to me in an e-mail. I wanted to see if my hypothesis about the reasons for their reticence to blog was correct. I figgered that blogging is far too exposed for these students. They are far too insecure to risk exposing their ideas to ridicule, especially the best ideas, which are so often the ones that are different, and expose a bit of emotional vulnerability.
Additionally, last year I did have students do a few e-mails as assignments because I wanted them to learn how to write professional e-mails, or how to write e-mails to their profs or teachers or bosses. It was very gratifying to see Dennis Jerz, a pedagogue whose work and teaching in writing and digital media I admire greatly, post this guide to writing effective e-mails to professionals and see that we are in synch as to the needs and requirements.
Instead of asking them to write lyrics to songs they can remember, this time I asked them to give me a link to a website they like. And also to ask my a question about myself or about the course. It’s fascinating to see the websites they like. Most of them are youtube videos. If they’re appropriate, I screen them for the class. Quite a few of them loved this Charlie bit my finger video. But none of them had seen this brilliant remix. Which reminded me instantly of The Happiness Project. (what I wouldn’t do to teach in a networked lab). So I played it for them and they loved it. And that tells me something about their net habits. When I clicked on the original Charlie video, the remix vid was high on the list of recommended videos and I was instantly intrigued. So I followed my bliss. I’m guessing that these kiddos only follow the links recommended by their friends.
