I recently read the third and fourth chapters of this book, which outlined the student as a “scribe” and as a “researcher.” These are slightly shifted roles that I found to be rather interesting. When a student becomes a scribe for the classroom, they are the notetakers. Rather than all students taking their own notes, the responsibility shifts to one or two students, rotating daily. What I loved about the example presented in the book was that students in the particular math class outlined were not just given the role and left to fend for themselves. Instead, the student would take notes, and they would review them the next day to make sure everything is clear and correct. They would make the notes available to everyone in the classroom, building a collaborative textbook together.
For classrooms in which notes are an essential part of daily work, this might be a great idea to try out in your own classroom. It gives students voice and allows for assessment of understanding because the notes you take are a good indication of what you did or did not “get.” I especially love that their notes were used to create a student-made textbook, so the notes they were taking could be used by the whole class, and that it is a tangible product in the end.
The student who is given the role of “researcher” is charged with looking up the information that may need clarification during class time. This means that students have to know how to effectively research information looking for credible sources. Many students do not know the extra features of Google searches. Many students cannot differentiate between sites that give the right information for the topic you need. One piece of information that I did appreciate was that it expressed how Wikipedia, depending on the information you want, might be the best resource for information, such as for more pop culture information.
Students, especially for this role, would need explicit instruction in how to search effectively. One tool or activity that might help with this kind of teaching is this site: agoogleaday.com. It gives daily challenges for research in a gamified format. None of the challenges take only one google search; it involves multiple steps. Check it out. It’s really fun.
Again, the ideas in the book are great. I think there are a lot of valid and important ideas to consider, but I want more examples and more implementation strategies.
I am hoping the final two chapters will bring more clarity to the digital learning farm. As I near the end, I am still trying to figure out if there are ways that I would personally, at this point in time, implement ideas into my own classroom. Right now, though, I’m struggling.