I watched a video game trailer last week – an amazing one – that raised for me this bevy of non-rhetorical questions:
- Are my kids collaborating on anything, let alone a multi-media project?
- Am I acknowledging and asking kids to use their non-print talents in my classroom?
- Am I admitting in my teaching that print speaks to other media? To the heart?
- Am I allowing students to specialize?
- Am I teaching my kids anything about programming or the problem-solving habits that go along with it?
- Am I balancing chunked instruction with lasting, uninterrupted time for discovery and self-expression?
- What amount of time do my students spend on print-based screen activities versus non-print ones? On replicative versus creative activities? On passive versus active ones?
- Will my students make anything that makes me cry or stare on wonder?
- Will the best three minutes of our time together be any kind of masterpiece?
- Am I caving again to what I think are the expectations others have of me?
I want to know….by mod as hell