I want an Oompa Loompa Now, Daddy!

So, somewhat rested and relaxed and under the influence of a beautiful cocktail concoction of Vicodin and Valium, I watched Tuesday's rerun of class, since I was unable to attend. As I watched, I found myself becoming extremely agitated. Assuming my Vicodin was wearing off, I thought to take more until I realized the root of my frustration: Now that I have been introduced to all this online learning and collaborating, I find I am no longer content with the notion of previously recorded sessions. While watching the group and Louis's discussion, I had to stop myself from adding comments and became irritated that the session was now officially in the past and I had missed out. GRRRRR! How quickly things have changed for me. Thanks to Google docs and all our online collaborating we've been doing, I have become like one of my young students who "wants it now!" and is itching for live action. Since I like to take what we're doing in class and apply it to my classroom setting, I'm beginning to make many connections, and suddenly some things are beginning to make sense. For example, numerous times during my classes, I have busted my bright, darling, nasty 6th graders chatting through their gmail during my "brilliant" lectures on the intricacies of software such as Powerpoint and Word. How could they possibly find their chat sessions more inspiring than my lectures? But now I get it. Their technical knowledge and aspirations no longer tolerate the boring details of such software. For much of our software at school, which is outdated, they've "been there and done that" and outside of class have moved on to bigger and better things. I have suddenly realized that I have been outwitted by my 6th grade! Without knowing the technical terms, they are already collaborating instantly through Google, Club Penguin, Adventure Quest, their PS3 and Wii, to name but a few. At any given time, they are connecting with others and living adventures and problem solving together live. And even though I am quite aware of their pastimes, having three kids of my own, I have brushed off their extracurriculars as pure fancy and meaningless to the heart of my technology curriculum. What a fool I've been! Hence it's no wonder my students are agitated. They no longer want to wait for the beep and leave a message so that someone can get back to them later. They want to live in each other's space constantly and work together. And despite my threats that Big Brother is watching, they continue to create connections and collaborate, often including Big Brother in the online sandbox.

During our sessions over lunch, I often hear other teachers complain about our students' need for instant gratification and their inability to sit still through a lecture and that they can no longer occupy themselves with quiet reading or focus on a worksheet of math facts. I used to second their feelings, but now I'm beginning to feel their angst. I myself am beginning to feel my transformation into a techie version of Veruca Salt: "I want instant collaboration now, Daddae!" Poo-poo to the "previously recorded" sessions, email, and weekly paper memos that appear in my school mailbox every week. Give me the instant messaging, the live webcam, Skype chatting, and online collaborating. How will I handle old-fashioned email where I will have to actually wait for a return message? Perhaps this will be my goal as I work through the MEIT program. How to maintain patience, control and establish boundaries and balance for myself as well as my students and co-workers. Afterall, we all need a little quiet, alone time, and everyone remembers what eventually happened to Veruca once she made her demands.