January 28, 2008
But I find myself entirely uninterested in matters ed-tech, ed-policy, or ed-anything related, aside from what’s going on in my own classroom. The Twitterverse (cringe) bores the hell out of me; I’ve nothing to blog about; and too much of my time has been taken up by meetings about technology products that are supposed to make my life easier from a paperwork point of view but don’t give me anything to work with in terms of things my actual students need to do. I had a whole blogging assignment set up for my new Am Lit II students, but I’m not going to make them do it. I don’t know how I’d assess it (nor do I want to think about how I’d assess it), and to be honest, I’d much rather spend the time reading On the Road with them.
I think the problem is I’m just sick of all the technology stuff. I’ve wound up on this committee (I think I’ve written about it before) that has put me in the position of basically being the tech support/training guy for the English department. Fine, I don’t mind, but that’s not my job. I’ve pared the list of Web 2.0 apps that I actually use down to a few: Google Reader (and I’ve eliminated 2/3 of my reading list), del.icio.us, and Facebook. Everything I need is there.
So, sorry. Sorry to anyone who thought I’d be part of this big ed-tech revolution. Sorry to anyone who’s been eagerly anticipating my next blog post. I’ll keep this site up, and plan to keep writing on it, but I’m going to move, for the time being, more toward non-school and non-tech matters. I need a break from this whole sphere. Okay? Okay.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
[...] Y’all lost Jeff. I find myself entirely uninterested in matters ed-tech, ed-policy, or ed-anything related, aside from what’s going on in my own classroom. The Twitterverse (cringe) bores the hell out of me; I’ve nothing to blog about; and too much of my time has been taken up by meetings about technology products that are supposed to make my life easier from a paperwork point of view but don’t give me anything to work with in terms of things my actual students need to do. [...]
January 28th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I not only hear you, I feeeeel you. (You may, or may not, have noticed the silence on my little slice of the web as well.)
And … apology accepted.
PS - The Road (McCarthy) = well worth the read
January 28th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Read it cover-to-cover on last week’s flight to Hawaii. (Not to totally distract.)
January 28th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Here, here! I’m sick of grading. Whatever schlub came up with that tired scheme should have a date with the iron maiden.
And who the heck ever thought that poster-board would be a boon to teaching. Moron, I say!
I’ve just grabbed my abacus, my sun-dial, and two large stone tablets.
I’m ready to teach with tools that matter.
Have a nice break from blogging.
And I love del.icio.us! We use it to organize student on-line research.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
And I love “Anthem”.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
And people wonder why I don’t just talk about my teaching experiences. It’s enough to drive a man mad. Do what you must, man. Whatever you do, just make sure you reveal a little as to what’s going on in your classroom every so often, too, please. Thanks.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
@Ken,
Not saying the tech tools don’t make things better. But they’re not making my classroom practice better, and I’m not going to force it anymore.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
And @Eric and Dan,
One thing that spending less time in front of my computer has done is let me read a lot more books. I’d totally be through The Last of the Savages by Jay McInerney right now if it weren’t for Scrabulous. I won’t be giving THAT up any time soon.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
@Jose,
yes I said yes I will Yes.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:46 am
[...] Reader this week. Just read Dan Meyer’s post Crisis of Faith which is his response to Jeff Wasserman’s blog post where Jeff describes his frustration with technology and his decision to let it go. Jeff’s [...]
February 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
AMen Brotha! AMEN!