By Aaron Campbell · January 22, 2006
Learning happens naturally as the human being grows. Fueled by curiosity, it is a process directed toward that which the learner desires most. As educators, we should trust this natural process while cultivating a nurturing environment in which the learner can grow best. In P2P approaches, we encourage students to call upon the authority within and take charge of the direction that their own learning takes. For example, when using weblogs with second language learners, it is important to give them the opportunity to decide the topics about which they are to write. To repeatedly ask students to write on weekly topics of the teacher’s choice is to direct their intellects toward subjects that have no connection to their own hearts. It becomes yet another exercise in the discipline of academic study, which bores a lot of people. If we want our students to be excited about learning, let us begin with their passions.
Take Yuki, for example – one of Rudolf’s students – who recently started playing the electric guitar and joined a band. With Rudolf’s guidance, he did some word searches on ‘electric guitar’ at Google Blogsearch and Technorati, and after exploring a bit, came across an intriguing post and commented on it. From there, he began conversing with a guitarist in Michigan who shares his interest in J-pop. Yuki is far more likely to continue cultivating relationships centered on playing the guitar than he is on topics that his teacher chooses for him. With persistence, Yuki can continue meeting people who share his passions in life, while improving his ability to communicate in English. He might even forget he is learning English altogether.
Let us celebrate the passions that lie within each learner and allow them to flourish freely within our classrooms. And when it comes to the use of P2P technologies, we should urge our students to write about what truly interests them, and to find conversation partners who share the same interests. In this way, we can allow that vibrant curiosity native to the learner to arise in ways typically reserved for informal situations outside the classroom, while being there to advise, help, and encourage.
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Aaron
wrote on January 23, 2006:
Trackback:
Brilliant post over at Dekita.org by Aaron Campbell. Start with Student Passion
I would say this is a must read for ESL teachers who want to tap into flow and inate student passion.
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Rudolf
wrote on January 24, 2006:
Between them, Technorati and Google’s Blogsearch do a pretty good job of mapping the live Web. These services can and should be used, I believe, for EFL students to find and engage in real conversations about topics they enjoy discussing. Here’s another example of a student of mine who, searching for Pride and Prejudice found this review and then contributed this comment.
Which is pretty cool.
Obviously, however, this needs to be done with caution. By the time students engage in anything like this, they would need to be familiar with the practice of posting comments to weblogs, so before you send them out on their own, they should have been practising amongst themselves for a few weeks just to get a basic understanding of how it all works and to avoid the more obvious pratfalls.
Also, you can’t force them to do it. It is one thing for students to post to their own weblog for no better reason than to complete an assignment while secretly hating it. But you can’t allow that to happen when they post comments to weblogs run by people who never agreed to be part of an educational “exercise”: you will run into very real ethical problems unless the students do it voluntarily, acting on their own will, and behaving like grown-up denizens of the Internet.
So anything like this shouldn’t be presented as an assignment, but as an alternative to an assignment. Don’t force reluctant, resisting, or actively hostile students on the attention of innocent people.
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Aaron Campbell
wrote on January 29, 2006:
I agree that students shouldn’t be forced to comment on the blogs of strangers. Actually, the should not even be forced to blog at all.
However, I see nothing wrong with asking them to comment by making it part of a weekly assignment. Many of my students are shy and need a bit of a nudge. The weekly assignments help give them initial structure.
I wonder how we can separate the merely shy from the reluctant, resisting, or hostile. I think that takes some sensitivity from the educator, to recognize which students are disinterested and allow them to pursue alternative exercises.
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Anita Bezic
wrote on March 06, 2006:
I am about to start my first blogging experience with students and your post has deeply influenced me. Start with Student Passion!” will be the motto of my first lesson :)
Thanks!
Anita
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Rudolf
wrote on March 08, 2006:
Hi Anita!
Feel free to put together a class info page and send us the link—we’ll put it up here on Dekita, which might send some traffic your students’ way.
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Aaron Campbell
wrote on March 11, 2006:
Hi Anita…
Glad to hear that the post was of some use to you. I look forward to seeing how your students take to blogging. Have fun!
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