The first topics that come to mind are brain research, video games & cultural bias. Those topics i find myself ‘chewing the cud’ over and over and……

There needs to be expertise in a community but it doesn’t need to reside in any one person. That is the traditional model of education.

It is a community not a community of practice because the later implies exclusivity. That would only include those on the top of the wrinkles, not those caught in the folds.

What people caught in the folds learn is a truer indication of community practice (not community of practice)learning than only skimming it off the top.

My course work (online tech class for library degree)crosses into Web 2.0 work. I have scaffolded assignments and written with my students since I began teaching; it’s the way I was taught to teach, and it works.

I can’t always rely on the book rubrics. I make my own to fit what I create to teach. As long as my rubrics and assignments target state standards, I think I am doing well. I mix these assingments with the ones the books contain and try to strike a happy balance.

However, I believe the paradigm of teacher = expert must shift. Here in NYC this is an easier transition, because we have experts in every field at our disposal. If a student wants to learn about the law, which is more beneficial: me learning basic judicial law, or having him find a lawyer/judge as a mentor?

Why must we continue to confine learning to classrooms? Why can’t students have a whole host of experts from which to draw upon?

You learn a lot about the merits of an assignment by trying it. I used to do a lot of the similar projects and assignments that I challenged my students to do, and still do with big projects we do in the library. I just want to get a feel for the challenges they might face so I can scaffold it better.

So I don’t think this basic concept is out of line, myself.

However, it’s obviously not possible for educators to reproduce every assignment themselves, and I’m not sure about the merits of assessing them “in large part” on this ability. But I do think it’s maybe an important criteria to add into teacher evaluations over time.

What our systems emphasize, we do. If our assessments either for our students or our staff stress a certain process or product, those are the things that we know the “system” places import on.

So my question would be are our systems supporting the ends we desire?

I see great uses of some of the things I am learning and not much great use of others. Here are some reasons why.

As a public school teacher in a district that has few computers per students and no real “acceptable use policies” in place for some of the things we’re learning in our classes, I don’t want to spin my wheels uselessly. When the administrators of districts decide this is worth doing, it will become acceptable. That won’t happen if they are not produsers.

Also, I must side with the professor who questions whether we place too much value on expertise in this technology, rather than expertise in our subject matter.

That said, I find I can use the technology to give me more expert information in my subject area — and I have done so in the past several years, since the 1990s, in my efforts to “keep up”. It gets harder as one gets older, but I like it, so I will do it.

Unfortunately, there are those younger than I who don’t find it necessary or easy to do when we must use books that keep us tethered. I won’t elaborate on this at this time, but if you work in a school district that has purchased books to remedy the “Chidren Left Behind,” you understand. It’s tough for a lot of teachers to get away from just teaching to their books, and it may not be they’re ideas to do so. It may be mandated.

I loved Gary and Sheryl’s comments on community of practice…and see my teaching practice impacted by the connections I have made through blogging and twittering. Gary’s comments about elevating or even leveling the status of newbies is troubling in that it smacks of status quo in a very dynamic world. Tom Friedman may not have gotten it all right in THE FLAT WORLD, but he was right that the internet changed everything and leveled the business world. Is it not possible that this same interconnectiveness (did I just make a word up?) is impacting education too?

Also, I think what is lacking is transparency in education not only for our students but for other teachers. If more teachers would see their interactions as part of an apprenticeship model and thoughtfully talk about what they know/do and why/how they know/do it, then others could more readily gain ownership of the ideas, strategies and practice and in the end kids would benefit.

And if as an educator one isn’t practiced in one’s area but only able to direct others I don’t see that as expertise.