After a long day of PD yesterday, I've been thinking about how we see ourselves as educators. Been thinking about what our own education means and how we continue to develop as teachers. Been thinking about real teacher education.
Our PD session ended in a faculty discussion where we debated what the role of lecturing is in the high school classroom. On one side, we had folks who said that kids need to "learn to become engaged in a lecture" because that's the primary form of classroom communication they'd see in college. On the other side were the folks who argued that outside of the college classroom, there wasn't a job on Earth where the primary form of communication is lecturing and therefore we should dispel with it in our classrooms in favor of 'real world' education.
This of course, is a classic argument that's been going on since at least Mr. Dewey's days.
And I think it misses the boat.
Because the argument is structured in such a way to propagate the false dichotomy between 'levels' of learning and experience. I'd argue that rather than gear your instructional strategy towards expectations in educational leveling -- i.e. teaching with different strategies to second graders than to college freshmen based on the 'ideas' of what the expectations of teaching and motivation are -- what we really should be doing is understanding who our students are in a meaningful and compassionate way and, without any preconceptions about what's going to 'work', we should be formulating approaches democratically with the input -- and veto power -- of our students.
The students deserve the veto. It's their education, after all. And if the teaching method you are using isn't working for them -- be it lecture or open learning or project-based or what-have-you -- then they have a right and obligation to petition you to understand what would work for them and you have a professional obligation to try out new strategies.
Hard? Yes.
Professional and necessary? Even more so.
I'm tired of teachers acting like their 'tried-and-true' method is the only way. I was tired of it as a student and I'm tired of it as a teacher. It's arrogant and it stinks of the fear of losing the comfort of the 'normal'.
Nothing about your students is 'normal'.
I realize that I can be a bit militant in the pages of this blog. And I fully realize that I've got an ego and personal arrogance that occasionally makes me look like a jackass. So I'm gonna say right here right now: Don't base your teaching approaches on the arguments that you hear on this blog. Rather, base your teaching approaches on the conversations you have with your students. Find out who they are. Ask them how they learn. Challenge yourself to figure out how to teach them. Each of them.
Because in the end, this isn't about lecturing vs. not lecturing. It's not about preparing kids to be able to handle college. It's not about the authority of one form of instruction over another.
It's about engaging minds and empowering individuals.
That's it. That's the whole point of education.
And you ain't gonna engage the mind of a student by arguing the finer points of pedagogy with your colleagues. You're only going to engage the minds of your students by learning from them how their minds work. You've got to talk to them. You've got to know them. And you have to trust one another.
Real teacher education happens when you leave your ego behind and jump into the learning process as not a 'teacher' or a 'facilitator' but as a fellow human being who has compassion for human beings and who recognizes the real importance of education as the armor of empowerment. Because the 'real world' is an endlessly relative term; and what we really want is not to produce students capable of dealing with one kind of 'real world', but capable of adapting, showing compassion, and helping to empower others in whatever world in which they may find themselves.
Showing posts with label teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teachers. Show all posts
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Make Active Patience a Habit of Life
So often in the discussion of ed tech integration -- and perhaps especially so in the discussion of bringing social media into the classroom -- teachers who consider themselves savvy in this digital age become frustrated with those who would rather not change their habits of teaching.
This frustration is understandable, but it is nonetheless unhealthy.
In my experience, the majority of teachers and admins opposed to social tech integration are those for whom social media itself has not become a habit of life. It is not that they are inherently 'against' whatever it is that social media suggests; if anything, they have so little understanding of it in the first place that 'engagement' is moot.
But engagement is the key. For engagement is active involvement; it is the truth of social media that often lies obscured by so much of that in the blogosphere and twitterverse that is banal and petty. We here in this conversation often tend to think of SM as fundamentally 'good', but a quick stroll through the comments on YouTube readily suggests that labels such as 'good' or 'bad' do not apply so easily to the Net; and perhaps we are better off gauging our critical eye towards modalities of static vs. dynamic, engaged vs. disengaged, active vs. passive. Certainly, the way in which we choose to describe what we find online tells alot about our own personal experience within the digital realm.
Now let's consider that admin who has heard some good things about social media, but who for several reasons resists allowing access in the classroom. Let's think about that teacher who by all regards has led a distinguished career, but who sees the current trends in ed tech as just another in a long line of educational fads. Let's think about the young teacher who can't wrap the mind around the idea that the same platform one uses to have a laugh with friends can be used to educate children.
How do we engage these folks? How do we get them to 'buy in'?
The traditional route in schools has been for those in charge to tell those on the ground that they are going to buy in. There is no choice: buy in or perish.
This route, however, is the source of so much frustration, anguish, and rough rivalry in education. It is all about power -- and the resulting friction is a source of untold amounts of unnecessary negative energy.
The second route is for those in charge to allocate limited control to committees with the charge of leading the parade. The problem with this admittedly very common solution is that it creates -- at least in the minds of many of those outside of the circle -- a minor hierarchy. Frustration therefore is directed towards the minor hierarchy, which by definition has only the most limited control and is therefore rendered passive by the negative energy directed towards it.
And so, we so often find ourselves in situations where stasis is tolerated in the name of definitional workplace satisfaction.
And so often with regards to ed tech and social tech integration, nothing gets done and no one understands why.
Well, the 'why' gets back to the very first point, namely: the majority of teachers and admins opposed to social tech integration are those for whom social media itself has not become a habit of life.
Without social media being a habit of life -- not unlike reading a newspaper or writing a letter have long been worthwhile and generous habits of life -- it will not be internalized. A operator within the realm of social media who has not internalized it as a habit of life will be as successful at understanding social media as an illiterate is at understanding a newspaper. Even less dramatically, consider the Op-Ed pages of your favorite paper. Given your familiarity with a given columnist, you may or may not truly be internalizing -- and thus understanding -- what is being said; but if the columnist is unknown to you, you may have more difficulty grasping certain habitual nuances of a given argument.
In other words, if you ain't a regular reader, you may not understand what all the hub-bub is about.
The same goes for social media.
In light of this, it should appear rather obvious to us that the best way to go about invigorating your faculty with the engaging values of social technology is not by some hamfisted top-down approach, nor through committee-level prognostication, but rather by allowing individuals themselves the opportunity to let themselves buy in.
And how is this done?
We so often think of 'patience' as a form of waiting. We are 'patient' when waiting in line at the supermarket; we are 'patient' when sitting in a traffic jam at rush hour. This type of 'patience' is passive; it is the patience of not being in control.
But there is another form of 'patience'.
There is the form of 'patience' that we need to exhibit when teaching a small child how to throw a ball. There is the 'patience' needed to get a bill through congress. There is the 'patience' of opening oneself up to one's inner feelings through meditation or prayer or ritual or deep thought. These are active forms of patience; they are forms of patience that are active complements to the will. The purpose of being patient with a child is to teach it. The purpose of being patient in legislating is to get the legislation through. The purpose of being patient in the approach to inner understanding is to manifest that which is within.
And it is that sort of patience -- active patience -- that should guide our thinking in making manifest our desire to get a whole faculty to 'buy in' to the full integration of tech and social media.
What does this look like at the practical level?
The key to becoming immersed in social media lies in the individual interest of a given person. While Teacher A may be an excellent history instructor and Teacher B may be a seasoned math teacher, in the life that exists outside-of-the-classroom the former's greatest passion may be for modern dance and the latter's for jazz. Rather than bring them together and try to get them passionate about using social tech in their classrooms, demonstrate to them what resources are available out there in the world of social media and then let them use it to pursue their own personal interests.
Let them experience the joy of discovering what social media has to offer them rather than telling them what a joy social media is.
Down the road, help teachers with similar outside interests start Delicious groups and write collaborative blogs. Give them time during the school day to collaborate on outside-of-school projects and encourage them to use the resources of social media to bring those projects to fruition. Re-allocate your scheduled meeting times and resource many of the mundane functions of faculty meetings to the Web and instead hold faculty meetings where you give teachers the floor to give presentations on the things they love outside of school.
This is all part of the method of active patience.
By letting teachers use social media to explore their own interests -- whether or not those interests are 'directly' related to school -- you will foster a culture that fundamentally understands and values the resources of the digital age. The 21st century faculty will create itself.
Just be patient.
This frustration is understandable, but it is nonetheless unhealthy.
In my experience, the majority of teachers and admins opposed to social tech integration are those for whom social media itself has not become a habit of life. It is not that they are inherently 'against' whatever it is that social media suggests; if anything, they have so little understanding of it in the first place that 'engagement' is moot.
But engagement is the key. For engagement is active involvement; it is the truth of social media that often lies obscured by so much of that in the blogosphere and twitterverse that is banal and petty. We here in this conversation often tend to think of SM as fundamentally 'good', but a quick stroll through the comments on YouTube readily suggests that labels such as 'good' or 'bad' do not apply so easily to the Net; and perhaps we are better off gauging our critical eye towards modalities of static vs. dynamic, engaged vs. disengaged, active vs. passive. Certainly, the way in which we choose to describe what we find online tells alot about our own personal experience within the digital realm.
Now let's consider that admin who has heard some good things about social media, but who for several reasons resists allowing access in the classroom. Let's think about that teacher who by all regards has led a distinguished career, but who sees the current trends in ed tech as just another in a long line of educational fads. Let's think about the young teacher who can't wrap the mind around the idea that the same platform one uses to have a laugh with friends can be used to educate children.
How do we engage these folks? How do we get them to 'buy in'?
The traditional route in schools has been for those in charge to tell those on the ground that they are going to buy in. There is no choice: buy in or perish.
This route, however, is the source of so much frustration, anguish, and rough rivalry in education. It is all about power -- and the resulting friction is a source of untold amounts of unnecessary negative energy.
The second route is for those in charge to allocate limited control to committees with the charge of leading the parade. The problem with this admittedly very common solution is that it creates -- at least in the minds of many of those outside of the circle -- a minor hierarchy. Frustration therefore is directed towards the minor hierarchy, which by definition has only the most limited control and is therefore rendered passive by the negative energy directed towards it.
And so, we so often find ourselves in situations where stasis is tolerated in the name of definitional workplace satisfaction.
And so often with regards to ed tech and social tech integration, nothing gets done and no one understands why.
Well, the 'why' gets back to the very first point, namely: the majority of teachers and admins opposed to social tech integration are those for whom social media itself has not become a habit of life.
Without social media being a habit of life -- not unlike reading a newspaper or writing a letter have long been worthwhile and generous habits of life -- it will not be internalized. A operator within the realm of social media who has not internalized it as a habit of life will be as successful at understanding social media as an illiterate is at understanding a newspaper. Even less dramatically, consider the Op-Ed pages of your favorite paper. Given your familiarity with a given columnist, you may or may not truly be internalizing -- and thus understanding -- what is being said; but if the columnist is unknown to you, you may have more difficulty grasping certain habitual nuances of a given argument.
In other words, if you ain't a regular reader, you may not understand what all the hub-bub is about.
The same goes for social media.
In light of this, it should appear rather obvious to us that the best way to go about invigorating your faculty with the engaging values of social technology is not by some hamfisted top-down approach, nor through committee-level prognostication, but rather by allowing individuals themselves the opportunity to let themselves buy in.
And how is this done?
We so often think of 'patience' as a form of waiting. We are 'patient' when waiting in line at the supermarket; we are 'patient' when sitting in a traffic jam at rush hour. This type of 'patience' is passive; it is the patience of not being in control.
But there is another form of 'patience'.
There is the form of 'patience' that we need to exhibit when teaching a small child how to throw a ball. There is the 'patience' needed to get a bill through congress. There is the 'patience' of opening oneself up to one's inner feelings through meditation or prayer or ritual or deep thought. These are active forms of patience; they are forms of patience that are active complements to the will. The purpose of being patient with a child is to teach it. The purpose of being patient in legislating is to get the legislation through. The purpose of being patient in the approach to inner understanding is to manifest that which is within.
And it is that sort of patience -- active patience -- that should guide our thinking in making manifest our desire to get a whole faculty to 'buy in' to the full integration of tech and social media.
What does this look like at the practical level?
The key to becoming immersed in social media lies in the individual interest of a given person. While Teacher A may be an excellent history instructor and Teacher B may be a seasoned math teacher, in the life that exists outside-of-the-classroom the former's greatest passion may be for modern dance and the latter's for jazz. Rather than bring them together and try to get them passionate about using social tech in their classrooms, demonstrate to them what resources are available out there in the world of social media and then let them use it to pursue their own personal interests.
Let them experience the joy of discovering what social media has to offer them rather than telling them what a joy social media is.
Down the road, help teachers with similar outside interests start Delicious groups and write collaborative blogs. Give them time during the school day to collaborate on outside-of-school projects and encourage them to use the resources of social media to bring those projects to fruition. Re-allocate your scheduled meeting times and resource many of the mundane functions of faculty meetings to the Web and instead hold faculty meetings where you give teachers the floor to give presentations on the things they love outside of school.
This is all part of the method of active patience.
By letting teachers use social media to explore their own interests -- whether or not those interests are 'directly' related to school -- you will foster a culture that fundamentally understands and values the resources of the digital age. The 21st century faculty will create itself.
Just be patient.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Fountain of Youth: Reflections on Teaching Uses of Social Tech to Young Teachers
Spent the evening leading my weekly Social Tech in Ed class.
And they are starting to get it.
We've shifted gears from demonstrations of how to use the tech and sessions building PLNs to the hard and vital work of actually integrating SM into daily classroom teaching and learning.
And I am so impressed with how far these young teachers have come in five weeks.
Some of you will remember the "I am scared of Twitter" teacher I mentioned several weeks back. Well, now she's taking part in Tweeted ed discussions and seamlessly using Twitter to complement our f2f classroom discussions. A young teacher who slammed Second Life as useless a while back just stopped by after class to talk about ways he wants to use it to simulate museum education in his classroom. Today, the teachers took the role of students in a social tech integrated AP English classroom; and to a person, even the most self-described 'math'-minded (as well as those just shy to speak) blogged beautiful reflections on the structure and meaning of T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'.
This is the power of social tech in action. And this is why I am so committed to teaching it's application to teachers.
Because we need our teachers to understand that it's not about 'using tech', but rather is about fully engaging in the reality of the 21st century. And we need them to understand that -- if anything -- social tech is a fountain of youth when it comes to learning and ideas.
Let's encourage teachers to drink from this fountain and re-enliven their teaching and learning.
I certainly don't mind handing out the cups.
And they are starting to get it.
We've shifted gears from demonstrations of how to use the tech and sessions building PLNs to the hard and vital work of actually integrating SM into daily classroom teaching and learning.
And I am so impressed with how far these young teachers have come in five weeks.
Some of you will remember the "I am scared of Twitter" teacher I mentioned several weeks back. Well, now she's taking part in Tweeted ed discussions and seamlessly using Twitter to complement our f2f classroom discussions. A young teacher who slammed Second Life as useless a while back just stopped by after class to talk about ways he wants to use it to simulate museum education in his classroom. Today, the teachers took the role of students in a social tech integrated AP English classroom; and to a person, even the most self-described 'math'-minded (as well as those just shy to speak) blogged beautiful reflections on the structure and meaning of T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'.
This is the power of social tech in action. And this is why I am so committed to teaching it's application to teachers.
Because we need our teachers to understand that it's not about 'using tech', but rather is about fully engaging in the reality of the 21st century. And we need them to understand that -- if anything -- social tech is a fountain of youth when it comes to learning and ideas.
Let's encourage teachers to drink from this fountain and re-enliven their teaching and learning.
I certainly don't mind handing out the cups.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tomorrow's Friday Chat: Grassroots Mentoring of Social Tech in Schools
Tomorrow, we'll be having a Friday Chat session at 10:15AM EST on Today's Meet.
The topic: Grassroots Mentoring of Social Tech in Schools.
We'll talk about mentoring colleagues in an inviting and nonthreatening way on all of the ways they can integrate social tech into both their daily classroom practice as well as their ongoing personal professional development.
Because social tech isn't about following rules and jumping through hoops; it's about empowerment.
The topic: Grassroots Mentoring of Social Tech in Schools.
We'll talk about mentoring colleagues in an inviting and nonthreatening way on all of the ways they can integrate social tech into both their daily classroom practice as well as their ongoing personal professional development.
Because social tech isn't about following rules and jumping through hoops; it's about empowerment.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Response to 'Letter to the Teachers of My Children'
Have gotten a lot of responses from folks on this blog and on Twitter as well as in person regarding my 'Letter to the Teachers of My Children' posted last week.
Today an anonymous comment rolled in and I think it's worth taking a good long look at it:
Now I have no idea who wrote this, but I do care a lot about what they think. Because I think if one's immediate reaction to a letter from a parent is to fall into an 'us' versus 'them' mentality where we tell parents to go homeschool their kids, then we really aren't getting anywhere in education.
Secondly, I do know more about my boys than their 3rd grade teacher. I do know how one of them clams up when in conversation with strangers and I know how the other obsesses over every little thing. I know what books they've read and what books they've thought were fluff. I know that they hate 'childrens' music' and that they think Disney sucks. I know what they look like when they are happy and I know when they are faking it (and they are good at that).
Their third grade teacher will have known them for two days; I've known them for close to nine years.
Now I have no idea whether the writer of the comment was a teacher. Maybe, maybe not. Hope not. But maybe.
Let's for the sake of discussion say it was.
Well, in that case, rather than getting huffy about somebody stepping on the toes of your profession, you'd sure as heck be better off starting to try to build closer relations with families. Because kids don't learn just because they are in a classroom; and just because the kid isn't in the classroom doesn't mean he's not learning.
I cherish every meeting I've ever had with a parent (even the one where a mother threw books and papers at me); because insight into the world of a parent and insight into the ways a parent sees their child is insight into the world of the child. And it's that child that you as teacher have the honor of spending some time with everyday.
Each kid in your class is an honor.
So don't give me some anonymous junk about "You should just homeschool your kids". I'm a teacher myself, I'm a professional, and I don't have the audacity to pretend that the parents of my kids can't help me to better teach them.
Today an anonymous comment rolled in and I think it's worth taking a good long look at it:
Glad to know you know so much more than your kids' teachers do about what tbey should learn and how they should learn it. Why don't you just save the whole lot of you a bunch of trouble and home school your kids?
Now I have no idea who wrote this, but I do care a lot about what they think. Because I think if one's immediate reaction to a letter from a parent is to fall into an 'us' versus 'them' mentality where we tell parents to go homeschool their kids, then we really aren't getting anywhere in education.
Secondly, I do know more about my boys than their 3rd grade teacher. I do know how one of them clams up when in conversation with strangers and I know how the other obsesses over every little thing. I know what books they've read and what books they've thought were fluff. I know that they hate 'childrens' music' and that they think Disney sucks. I know what they look like when they are happy and I know when they are faking it (and they are good at that).
Their third grade teacher will have known them for two days; I've known them for close to nine years.
Now I have no idea whether the writer of the comment was a teacher. Maybe, maybe not. Hope not. But maybe.
Let's for the sake of discussion say it was.
Well, in that case, rather than getting huffy about somebody stepping on the toes of your profession, you'd sure as heck be better off starting to try to build closer relations with families. Because kids don't learn just because they are in a classroom; and just because the kid isn't in the classroom doesn't mean he's not learning.
I cherish every meeting I've ever had with a parent (even the one where a mother threw books and papers at me); because insight into the world of a parent and insight into the ways a parent sees their child is insight into the world of the child. And it's that child that you as teacher have the honor of spending some time with everyday.
Each kid in your class is an honor.
So don't give me some anonymous junk about "You should just homeschool your kids". I'm a teacher myself, I'm a professional, and I don't have the audacity to pretend that the parents of my kids can't help me to better teach them.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
From the PLN: Teachers Speaking out on Social Media
A number of readers wrote back concerning our recent discussion of PLNs and social tech for professional development.
Reader Shaken writes:
Reader Mel writes:
Another reader commented on the changing nature of teaching itself in light of social media. Here's a particularly prescient selection from a well considered argument.
Reader Seth writes:
Reader Shaken writes:
I'm a new teacher (just into my second year) and have found the three months using a PLN of more value than my entire time at Uni. To have the knowledge, expertise, experience, ideas and thoughts of innovative educators at my fingertips is incredible. I am learning so quickly and have now found myself teaching my colleagues.
Reader Mel writes:
I'm currently trying to change my PLN behaviour.
For years I've been a lurker. I've read edublogs, been on Ning and been following my twitter feed. Now I'm attempting to be apart of the voice out there and I think what you're saying here is a big part of that but in reverse.
I've been following others but not giving of myself and is that fair either, no. I have something to contribute to help the network work better. Also, by doing so the network is making more of an impact on me.
Another reader commented on the changing nature of teaching itself in light of social media. Here's a particularly prescient selection from a well considered argument.
Reader Seth writes:
But there's another level to all of this that is worth thinking about: educating teachers to educate their students in public exposes the foibles of the students (directly) and of the teacher (at least indirectly, and sometimes directly) to public scrutiny. It's scary business. It requires some very real confidence in yourself as a person and as a teacher to be able to not know something in public -- or to correct a mistake in public.
For many teachers faced with social media, I think this is part of the very real threat that they feel: they are turning their classrooms open to (potentially judgmental) strangers -- and ceding centerstage, and ceasing to be the expert, but instead being a learner with their students.
It's big stuff, and technology is a symptom, and not the disease. In almost every case where we talk about technological issues, what we're getting at are fundamental questions of pedagogy and philosophy. The technology just exposes some of these more-buried issues.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
A Letter to the Teachers of My Children
Dear Teachers,
Tomorrow morning, I'm sending three kids your way. Thought you should know a little bit about them as well as a little bit about my wife and I and our feelings about education. And, so I'm sending this note.
First of all, you should know a little bit about the kids.
Our twin boys are soon to be nine years old and they are sort of excited about going into the third grade. I say 'sort of' because in the broad range of things to be excited about as boys of their age with 'very' best personified by going to the store to get a new pack of Warcraft Trading Card Game cards and 'not at all' being somewhere along the line of watching Bambi, I'd say from observation that going into third grade sort of falls in the middle.
As you are sure to soon discover: the boys love fantasy adventures, have read (or been read) all of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and would rather battle with wooden swords than play soccer.
They also love jazz and both of them play horns. If they are being shy, just ask them about the road trip we took this summer and about going to the jazz club in New Orleans.
My little girl is going into first grade. She is easily the smartest person in the family. She wins all the family spelling bees, loves handicrafts (we have a ridiculously large and growing collection of handmade pot-holders all over the house thanks to her ingenuity), and she has a memory sharper than most you will have encountered -- so you might watch what you say around her ;)
She is also a very precocious reader. Her favorite seems to be Asterix and Obelix. Ask her any question you want to about Ancient Gaul and Julius Caesar; if you're not up on your ancient history, you may want to read up over the next weekend or you're gonna catch an earful all year.
Oh yeah, and one more thing: all three kids are totally wired. And perhaps that gets into knowing something about my wife and I.
See, we are both people who hated school. It's not that we hated learning, quite the contrary... it's that neither one of us really feel that we did much learning in school.
Well, I can't speak for my wife, but I remember ditching homework assignments -- especially in English class -- to read the things that I wanted to read. I guess I was a bit like my daughter that way. I recall once getting in trouble for not getting the 'comprehension questions' finished in my American Lit textbook; I'd been up to the wee hours reading Ezra Pound. When I told my teacher what I'd been up to, the only piece of Pound he knew was the one short -- and completely un-representative piece -- in our textbook. That started me thinking that the dude was clueless. His later comments that a piece of Surrealist poetry that I'd turned in for a grade was very 'Joyce-like' confirmed my suspicions that he'd been a 'C' student in college.
That's not to say I've always been down on teachers. I still remember the strength I found inside myself each Friday afternoon when our middle school language arts teacher led us through meditation practice (I'm sure that wasn't in the curriculum). I still remember the music suggestions made by my seventh grade English teacher... and by large part, the early part of my music education was shaped by him. I still remember the teachers I didn't even have for class in high school but who cared enough to take in a teenaged freak and give a little advice and comfort; I try my best to honor them by taking on this role in my own work as a teacher today.
Where things really came together for me was in the advent of the Internet. And I'd say that, with regards to education, I'd be nowhere without the connections that the Internet has offered. Because this new century is all about connectivity; and I know now that I was certainly made for these times.
The Internet allowed me to learn on my own terms. It took learning out of the static environment of those musty old classrooms and textbook-wielding teachers and put it into the hands of a kid with dynamic interests and access to the minds of visionaries and big thinkers. It allowed me, and continues to allow me, to create myself according not to the doctrines of an arbitrary and politicized curriculum, but by the whims of my own mind, heart, and imagination.
And I've taught my children that that is what education is all about.
And so, there's a good chance that my kids aren't always gonna have their homework done. And there's a good chance they are going to do lousy on their State Testing.
There's also a good chance that my six year old daughter can run circles around most of yr eighth-graders in strategizing how best to take on a dozen dark creepers in the bowels of a dungeon. And there's a good chance that Miles Davis is the soundtrack to my boys' daydreams; and yes, they are ignoring you. It's not that they don't care; it's that they care a whole lot. Just not about what you might be teaching them at the moment.
So, I want to allay a few concerns you might have right off the bat.
First of all, I want you to know that you can talk to me and my wife as people. I'm a teacher. I know bs teacher talk. You don't have to use it with me.
Second, your honest opinions of my kids will not offend me. I'm not going to sue you or try to have you fired. Sometimes my kids are jerks. Sometimes they are rude. I know this. I'm their father. If you tell me that my kids are always perfect angels, I will not believe you; in fact, I'll probably think you are somewhat clueless.
Third, I expect you to be challenged. If you are not up for challenges, get out of teaching. Meaning: you had better read up on what's going on in education; I expect my kids' teachers to be professional, aware, and engaged with the cutting edge of 21st century education. If you can't cut it with what's going on in your (and my) profession, we're going to have problems. Read up.
Finally, I expect you to treat my children as citizens of the 21st century. I do not expect, nor want, you to teach them like you and I were taught. Computers do not scare me. Social networks do not scare me. And they don't scare my blogging, MMOG-playing, YouTube-watching elementary schoolers. I've been doing my part to teach my kids digital citizenship; I expect nothing less from you. I want you to experiment with the integration of social technology into your classroom and I'm not gonna freak out if there are problems along the way.
I am gonna freak out if you treat the computer as a glorified television set.
So, to wrap this up. Looks like we've got our hands full this year. Our world is rapidly changing and we're gonna have to help each other carry on through these tidal waves of change. I promise to do my part as a parent, and I'm going to count on you to do your part as a professional teacher. Together, we will raise the 21st century's first generation.
Be fearless. And I'll do my best to be fearless. This isn't a competition between us; but at the same time, it's not like we're on the same team versus the kids. I'm gonna expect a lot of you this year; and you should expect a lot of me. Let's start by connecting on Twitter. You know where to find me.
Sincerely,
Shelly
@TeachPaperless
Tomorrow morning, I'm sending three kids your way. Thought you should know a little bit about them as well as a little bit about my wife and I and our feelings about education. And, so I'm sending this note.
First of all, you should know a little bit about the kids.
Our twin boys are soon to be nine years old and they are sort of excited about going into the third grade. I say 'sort of' because in the broad range of things to be excited about as boys of their age with 'very' best personified by going to the store to get a new pack of Warcraft Trading Card Game cards and 'not at all' being somewhere along the line of watching Bambi, I'd say from observation that going into third grade sort of falls in the middle.
As you are sure to soon discover: the boys love fantasy adventures, have read (or been read) all of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and would rather battle with wooden swords than play soccer.
They also love jazz and both of them play horns. If they are being shy, just ask them about the road trip we took this summer and about going to the jazz club in New Orleans.
My little girl is going into first grade. She is easily the smartest person in the family. She wins all the family spelling bees, loves handicrafts (we have a ridiculously large and growing collection of handmade pot-holders all over the house thanks to her ingenuity), and she has a memory sharper than most you will have encountered -- so you might watch what you say around her ;)
She is also a very precocious reader. Her favorite seems to be Asterix and Obelix. Ask her any question you want to about Ancient Gaul and Julius Caesar; if you're not up on your ancient history, you may want to read up over the next weekend or you're gonna catch an earful all year.
Oh yeah, and one more thing: all three kids are totally wired. And perhaps that gets into knowing something about my wife and I.
See, we are both people who hated school. It's not that we hated learning, quite the contrary... it's that neither one of us really feel that we did much learning in school.
Well, I can't speak for my wife, but I remember ditching homework assignments -- especially in English class -- to read the things that I wanted to read. I guess I was a bit like my daughter that way. I recall once getting in trouble for not getting the 'comprehension questions' finished in my American Lit textbook; I'd been up to the wee hours reading Ezra Pound. When I told my teacher what I'd been up to, the only piece of Pound he knew was the one short -- and completely un-representative piece -- in our textbook. That started me thinking that the dude was clueless. His later comments that a piece of Surrealist poetry that I'd turned in for a grade was very 'Joyce-like' confirmed my suspicions that he'd been a 'C' student in college.
That's not to say I've always been down on teachers. I still remember the strength I found inside myself each Friday afternoon when our middle school language arts teacher led us through meditation practice (I'm sure that wasn't in the curriculum). I still remember the music suggestions made by my seventh grade English teacher... and by large part, the early part of my music education was shaped by him. I still remember the teachers I didn't even have for class in high school but who cared enough to take in a teenaged freak and give a little advice and comfort; I try my best to honor them by taking on this role in my own work as a teacher today.
Where things really came together for me was in the advent of the Internet. And I'd say that, with regards to education, I'd be nowhere without the connections that the Internet has offered. Because this new century is all about connectivity; and I know now that I was certainly made for these times.
The Internet allowed me to learn on my own terms. It took learning out of the static environment of those musty old classrooms and textbook-wielding teachers and put it into the hands of a kid with dynamic interests and access to the minds of visionaries and big thinkers. It allowed me, and continues to allow me, to create myself according not to the doctrines of an arbitrary and politicized curriculum, but by the whims of my own mind, heart, and imagination.
And I've taught my children that that is what education is all about.
And so, there's a good chance that my kids aren't always gonna have their homework done. And there's a good chance they are going to do lousy on their State Testing.
There's also a good chance that my six year old daughter can run circles around most of yr eighth-graders in strategizing how best to take on a dozen dark creepers in the bowels of a dungeon. And there's a good chance that Miles Davis is the soundtrack to my boys' daydreams; and yes, they are ignoring you. It's not that they don't care; it's that they care a whole lot. Just not about what you might be teaching them at the moment.
So, I want to allay a few concerns you might have right off the bat.
First of all, I want you to know that you can talk to me and my wife as people. I'm a teacher. I know bs teacher talk. You don't have to use it with me.
Second, your honest opinions of my kids will not offend me. I'm not going to sue you or try to have you fired. Sometimes my kids are jerks. Sometimes they are rude. I know this. I'm their father. If you tell me that my kids are always perfect angels, I will not believe you; in fact, I'll probably think you are somewhat clueless.
Third, I expect you to be challenged. If you are not up for challenges, get out of teaching. Meaning: you had better read up on what's going on in education; I expect my kids' teachers to be professional, aware, and engaged with the cutting edge of 21st century education. If you can't cut it with what's going on in your (and my) profession, we're going to have problems. Read up.
Finally, I expect you to treat my children as citizens of the 21st century. I do not expect, nor want, you to teach them like you and I were taught. Computers do not scare me. Social networks do not scare me. And they don't scare my blogging, MMOG-playing, YouTube-watching elementary schoolers. I've been doing my part to teach my kids digital citizenship; I expect nothing less from you. I want you to experiment with the integration of social technology into your classroom and I'm not gonna freak out if there are problems along the way.
I am gonna freak out if you treat the computer as a glorified television set.
So, to wrap this up. Looks like we've got our hands full this year. Our world is rapidly changing and we're gonna have to help each other carry on through these tidal waves of change. I promise to do my part as a parent, and I'm going to count on you to do your part as a professional teacher. Together, we will raise the 21st century's first generation.
Be fearless. And I'll do my best to be fearless. This isn't a competition between us; but at the same time, it's not like we're on the same team versus the kids. I'm gonna expect a lot of you this year; and you should expect a lot of me. Let's start by connecting on Twitter. You know where to find me.
Sincerely,
Shelly
@TeachPaperless
Friday, August 28, 2009
Educating Young Teachers in the Use of Social Tech in Education
Spent last evening with a group of young teachers in Baltimore.
This was the first of our ten sessions on social technology in education, and a few things struck me as noteworthy.
First of all was the professionalism of the group. It's not that I don't regularly encounter teachers who take their profession seriously, rather it's so long been a standard quip that young teachers are so inherently unprofessional that it was a nice fork-in-the-eye of hearsay to see that our young teachers -- at least the folks in my group -- are more than equipped with a good set of professional skills.
Second was that by-and-large, these young teachers are unaware of everything we've been talking about on this blog. That is, with the exception of two or three 'social' Twitterers, the only social technologies represented among the group were MySpace and Facebook. And almost everyone who admitted to using MySpace claimed that they had long since given the service up.
In a way, there seemed to be a bit of embarrassment surrounding the use of social networking. Many admitted that they'd not want their students peeking into their own FB profiles.
Ten weeks should change that attitude.
One of the goals of this course is to help the teachers build their PLNs, so it was exciting to see so many of them sign up for their first Twitter accounts. In fact, we got off to what I consider a good start beginning with a review of the shift in educational technology from the old hardware days to the Cloud and social media followed by a look into the work of folks like McLeod, Fisch, and Richardson.
Then it was on to the nitty gritty of building a digital profile: students created their own Weebly pages to be used as the hub of their social network (I've found this is a relatively easy way to organize if you are using several Web 2.0 services). Folks left the class with a web page, a Twitter account, Diigo, and instructions for starting a blog.
Certainly a different sort of thing than when I was in Ed School.
Next week, we'll take a look at Google Apps for education and Google Profiles as well as ways to activate one's PLN. And on that latter note, I have to give a big hearty shout-out to my own PLN across the Twitterverse: responding in a massive voice in my request for things young teachers should know about Twitter, you all gave the medium the chance to perfectly illustrate the message.
Thank you and I hope you all continue to be a part of this building process for these young teachers over the course of the next ten weeks.
This was the first of our ten sessions on social technology in education, and a few things struck me as noteworthy.
First of all was the professionalism of the group. It's not that I don't regularly encounter teachers who take their profession seriously, rather it's so long been a standard quip that young teachers are so inherently unprofessional that it was a nice fork-in-the-eye of hearsay to see that our young teachers -- at least the folks in my group -- are more than equipped with a good set of professional skills.
Second was that by-and-large, these young teachers are unaware of everything we've been talking about on this blog. That is, with the exception of two or three 'social' Twitterers, the only social technologies represented among the group were MySpace and Facebook. And almost everyone who admitted to using MySpace claimed that they had long since given the service up.
In a way, there seemed to be a bit of embarrassment surrounding the use of social networking. Many admitted that they'd not want their students peeking into their own FB profiles.
Ten weeks should change that attitude.
One of the goals of this course is to help the teachers build their PLNs, so it was exciting to see so many of them sign up for their first Twitter accounts. In fact, we got off to what I consider a good start beginning with a review of the shift in educational technology from the old hardware days to the Cloud and social media followed by a look into the work of folks like McLeod, Fisch, and Richardson.
Then it was on to the nitty gritty of building a digital profile: students created their own Weebly pages to be used as the hub of their social network (I've found this is a relatively easy way to organize if you are using several Web 2.0 services). Folks left the class with a web page, a Twitter account, Diigo, and instructions for starting a blog.
Certainly a different sort of thing than when I was in Ed School.
Next week, we'll take a look at Google Apps for education and Google Profiles as well as ways to activate one's PLN. And on that latter note, I have to give a big hearty shout-out to my own PLN across the Twitterverse: responding in a massive voice in my request for things young teachers should know about Twitter, you all gave the medium the chance to perfectly illustrate the message.
Thank you and I hope you all continue to be a part of this building process for these young teachers over the course of the next ten weeks.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Social Technology in Education Lesson Plan Wiki
Seeking teachers to submit content to the new Social Technology in Education Lesson Plan Wiki!
There are so many fresh approaches being taken to the integration of social and participatory media in education, I thought it would be a useful thing to have a practitioner-created resource full of lesson plans demonstrating the best practices in social tech enhanced teaching.
Feel free to submit content and ideas. It's a wiki... you can't mess it up. Experiment, mash it up, get some thoughts out there, and let's put together a nice free and collaborative resource.
There are so many fresh approaches being taken to the integration of social and participatory media in education, I thought it would be a useful thing to have a practitioner-created resource full of lesson plans demonstrating the best practices in social tech enhanced teaching.
Feel free to submit content and ideas. It's a wiki... you can't mess it up. Experiment, mash it up, get some thoughts out there, and let's put together a nice free and collaborative resource.
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Boy Who Cried Tech
Been reading some of the old criticism of ed tech back in the 1980's.
And I have to say, from my vantage point as a child of the '80s who'd been put in a GT class to learn how to program in BASIC at age eight, I'd have to agree with a lot of the criticism. Memorizing how to write GOTO commands probably wasn't the best use of learning time.
I also remember the god-awful math games. Once a week, starting in fourth grade, our math teacher would take us to the school's "computer lab" (years-old Apple IIes and dot-matrix printers) and force us to play mind-numbing sprite-graphic ed versions of games like Space Invaders and Asteroid. In addition to being an insult to the aesthetics of geeky kids, the math games really just made all of us want to cut school and hike over to the bowling alley in Arbutus where they had real video games like Galaga.
As I recall it, there were two serious pre-WWW gaming events. The first was the release of Zork. Being a text-based game, a lot of folks now look back and figure that the game proved that graphics weren't necessarily the most important thing. That's not true. 'Graphics' at the time amounted to Breakout and Pac Man; so that was sort of a moot point. The cool thing about Zork was that -- to the degree that it could -- it put the player in the driver's seat. It, along with Oregon Trail [a rare engaging ed game of the period] and some others, presented for the first time a style of gaming that would be a different experience for each player (or at least that was the ideal). It was an ideal rarely, if ever, lived up to by most 'educational' games.
The second event was the release of Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers. That, in my opinion, was the game that killed pre-WWW ed tech. Mario took the concept of gamer-driven adventure and combined it with really cool graphics and -- most importantly -- tricks that only savvy players would be able to figure out. Whereas in Space Invaders and Donkey Kong, levels amounted faster or more populated versions of the previous level, in Mario you had the element of surprise: you really didn't know what was coming next. I've played the new Mario games for Wii and have the same immediate affection for them; at their best, they are sort of like little surrealist games. The point to winning is figuring out the logic of the virtual world. They are the complete opposite of simple didactic 'educational' games.
So, in the mind of a kid, this sort of gaming experience should have immediately dashed the hope of folks who would have us believe that a computer version of Hangman was really going to hold our interest. Unfortunately, it didn't. And rather than learn anything from Mario, ed games held on to Frogger.
And then came the MMOGs. Game over. As soon as you create a shared virtual environment in which players are collaborating with or competing against other live people, you've created a mindset in gaming that can never really go back to the old single player island games. How do we think about the old styles of games now? Well, it's sort of like trying to use a laptop without an Internet connection. You can do stuff -- like type documents or listen to music -- but it doesn't take long before you get antsy to get back online.
Because the connection is the thing.
It's what's changed the scene. It changed the way we use computers and it changed the way we play games.
The connection, therefore is the new technology.
A lot of folks don't understand this. To them, the computer is the technology. And computers have been around for a long time.
But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the network itself. We're talking about the paradigm of immediate global connection. We're talking about social technology.
We're not talking about computers and computer games.
And in our zeal for educational technology, I think we're seeing a backlash based on this misunderstanding of exactly what we're talking about when we're talking about technology.
We've got teachers who suffered through DOS and sprite-games. We've got teachers who suffered through the Word document wars. We've got teachers whose introduction to online management was SharePoint.
Give these folks a break.
In a sense, we've done nothing but fill them with the expectation that -- at the very least -- the technology we put in front of them and expect them to use is going to be clunky, difficult, and well, kinda boring and obvious.
It reminds me of a fable:
This is the reason so many of our colleagues think we are full of it. Because for thirty years, we shouted to them about glorified typewriters, calculators, and overhead projectors. And then we're surprised when they show reluctance to try out social technologies.
We need to be careful about preaching to each other and thinking that the excitement we feel is shared by all of our colleagues. What we need to do is have an open discussion with our colleagues and admit that much of what we have considered beneficial educational technology in the past has in fact primarily been our own excitement dressed up as a learning paradigm.
But things have changed. And this time, it's for real. And if we don't all buck up, throw aside our differences, and engage this thing for the benefit of the students who are already living their own lives in this digital domain, we might as well hope that next time it's wolves.
Thanks to Aesopica, the Internet's best resource for all things Aesop.
And I have to say, from my vantage point as a child of the '80s who'd been put in a GT class to learn how to program in BASIC at age eight, I'd have to agree with a lot of the criticism. Memorizing how to write GOTO commands probably wasn't the best use of learning time.
I also remember the god-awful math games. Once a week, starting in fourth grade, our math teacher would take us to the school's "computer lab" (years-old Apple IIes and dot-matrix printers) and force us to play mind-numbing sprite-graphic ed versions of games like Space Invaders and Asteroid. In addition to being an insult to the aesthetics of geeky kids, the math games really just made all of us want to cut school and hike over to the bowling alley in Arbutus where they had real video games like Galaga.
As I recall it, there were two serious pre-WWW gaming events. The first was the release of Zork. Being a text-based game, a lot of folks now look back and figure that the game proved that graphics weren't necessarily the most important thing. That's not true. 'Graphics' at the time amounted to Breakout and Pac Man; so that was sort of a moot point. The cool thing about Zork was that -- to the degree that it could -- it put the player in the driver's seat. It, along with Oregon Trail [a rare engaging ed game of the period] and some others, presented for the first time a style of gaming that would be a different experience for each player (or at least that was the ideal). It was an ideal rarely, if ever, lived up to by most 'educational' games.
The second event was the release of Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers. That, in my opinion, was the game that killed pre-WWW ed tech. Mario took the concept of gamer-driven adventure and combined it with really cool graphics and -- most importantly -- tricks that only savvy players would be able to figure out. Whereas in Space Invaders and Donkey Kong, levels amounted faster or more populated versions of the previous level, in Mario you had the element of surprise: you really didn't know what was coming next. I've played the new Mario games for Wii and have the same immediate affection for them; at their best, they are sort of like little surrealist games. The point to winning is figuring out the logic of the virtual world. They are the complete opposite of simple didactic 'educational' games.
So, in the mind of a kid, this sort of gaming experience should have immediately dashed the hope of folks who would have us believe that a computer version of Hangman was really going to hold our interest. Unfortunately, it didn't. And rather than learn anything from Mario, ed games held on to Frogger.
And then came the MMOGs. Game over. As soon as you create a shared virtual environment in which players are collaborating with or competing against other live people, you've created a mindset in gaming that can never really go back to the old single player island games. How do we think about the old styles of games now? Well, it's sort of like trying to use a laptop without an Internet connection. You can do stuff -- like type documents or listen to music -- but it doesn't take long before you get antsy to get back online.
Because the connection is the thing.
It's what's changed the scene. It changed the way we use computers and it changed the way we play games.
The connection, therefore is the new technology.
A lot of folks don't understand this. To them, the computer is the technology. And computers have been around for a long time.
But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the network itself. We're talking about the paradigm of immediate global connection. We're talking about social technology.
We're not talking about computers and computer games.
And in our zeal for educational technology, I think we're seeing a backlash based on this misunderstanding of exactly what we're talking about when we're talking about technology.
We've got teachers who suffered through DOS and sprite-games. We've got teachers who suffered through the Word document wars. We've got teachers whose introduction to online management was SharePoint.
Give these folks a break.
In a sense, we've done nothing but fill them with the expectation that -- at the very least -- the technology we put in front of them and expect them to use is going to be clunky, difficult, and well, kinda boring and obvious.
It reminds me of a fable:
There was an ed techie tending the school's computer lab who would continually go up to the faculty lounge and shout: 'Hey! We've got fantastic educational technology that we can use here at school to make the learning experience so much more engaging!"
The teachers would all come running down to the computer lab only to find lame educational games and Byzantine proprietary productivity applications.
Then one day there really was a revolutionary shift in educational technology as social media entered the scene. But when the ed techie shouted, none of the teachers believed him and no one bothered to try out the new apps.
And so, they (and their students) all missed out.
This is the reason so many of our colleagues think we are full of it. Because for thirty years, we shouted to them about glorified typewriters, calculators, and overhead projectors. And then we're surprised when they show reluctance to try out social technologies.
We need to be careful about preaching to each other and thinking that the excitement we feel is shared by all of our colleagues. What we need to do is have an open discussion with our colleagues and admit that much of what we have considered beneficial educational technology in the past has in fact primarily been our own excitement dressed up as a learning paradigm.
But things have changed. And this time, it's for real. And if we don't all buck up, throw aside our differences, and engage this thing for the benefit of the students who are already living their own lives in this digital domain, we might as well hope that next time it's wolves.
Thanks to Aesopica, the Internet's best resource for all things Aesop.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Top Eleven Things All Teachers Must Know About Technology (or: I promised Dean Groom I wouldn’t write a top ten list; so this one goes up to eleven.)
The Top Eleven Things All Teachers Must Know About Technology
1. Technology is not a monolith.
2. Technology is not a monolith, but many technology providers are monolithic.
3. The Digital Age is not going away.
4. Meeting strangers is a good thing.
5. This ain’t your pappy’s technology.
6. The Digital Divide is not the result of technology being expensive.
7. The most important thing we can do right now as teachers is to be campaigners and advocates and organizers for free universal Wi-Fi Internet access.
8. When it comes to authentic tech integration, parents are the best friends a teacher can have.
9. Kids need to be taught digital citizenship.
10. Specific devices and tech apps become obsolete.
11. You must be fearless.
1. Technology is not a monolith.
Technology doesn’t tell you what to do and it doesn’t force you to behave in ways you’d rather not. Technology -- particularly social technology -- is whatever you make it. Use what you want, leave the rest. Mash it up, alter it to fit your needs, customize it, and own it. If you can’t do that with your technology, then you are using the wrong technology.
2. Technology is not a monolith, but many technology providers are monolithic.
There is very little that any teacher will need that can not be had via open source options. If your administration is spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on software and licenses, they are literally throwing their money away. They need to know that. And you need to be the one to tell them.
3. The Digital Age is not going away.
We have already produced babies who will see the 22nd century. So let’s stop trying to prepare them for the 20th. The Internet as it exists today is equivalent to the Model A; let’s be wise for once and not build the highway of the future with the notion that our kids are going to be driving Model As on it.
4. Meeting strangers is a good thing.
So often our fears about technological connectivity center around the fear of what sorts of strangers our students might bump into out there online. Fact is: we should want them to meet strangers. That’s the point. You don’t make the world better by isolating yourself; you make the world better by engaging with it and sharing opinions, ideas, and observations with all sorts of people. Our task as teachers -- and as parents -- is to help our kids understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy relations between strangers online. One way to do this is by modeling the behaviors we expect of digital citizens in the classroom everyday. That's not an option anymore; it's part of our job description. We are all health professionals now.
5. This ain’t your pappy’s technology.
Your students bring more tech power into school in their pockets each morning than you managed to procure spending untold hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last thirty years. All those folks who complained and questioned tech budgets back in 1983 and 1996: they were right. You were wasting money on gadgets with little educational value. But, guess what? Then it all changed. With the advent of the mainstream World Wide Web and subsequently with the development of Web 2.0, technology itself actually became something different. It was no longer about the hardware. It was about the network. Which brings us to the present: Mobile Cloud Computing. The new paradigm is about your information, your friends' information, the information of strangers, and how these informations all coalesce in the Cloud. The future is now. And despite the fact his job might be on the line, don't let your old school IT guy tell you otherwise.
6. The Digital Divide is not the result of technology being expensive.
The Digital Divide is the result of a failure of imagination and the poor -- indeed practically criminal -- allocation of resources. Does your admin realize how little it costs to bring Wi-Fi to your building? Does your admin realize they are spending more on textbooks in many cases than they would on netbooks? Has anyone ever sat down with your admin and demonstrated how to hack past your Internet blocks and filters? Does your admin realize how that money is wasted? Does your admin realize that your students can access the unfiltered web via their cell phones? Do 70% of your students arrive everyday with cell phones and yet your colleagues still say technology is out of your reach? It's time to rethink.
7. The most important thing we can do right now as teachers is to be campaigners and advocates and organizers for free universal Wi-Fi Internet access.
We work in the service of education. We give students information and we teach them how to use it. That’s exactly why we have to be the ones to lead the fight for free and universal immediate access to information. We should demand WiMax systems in all of our cities and suburbs and Wi-Fi grids throughout the rural hills and valleys. We should also insist that all highway corridors be made Wi-Fi accessible so that travelers can have access to the Internet as they are en route to whatever destination. Internet Access is a matter of fulfilling the promise of democracy. Internet Access is a Civil Right.
8. When it comes to authentic tech integration, parents are the best friends a teacher can have.
You have parents who use social media and Web 2.0 technology on a daily basis whether at home or at work. So why does your school treat it as taboo? Bring parents in to your building, collaborate with them. Have tech savvy parents demonstrate real-world applications of technology and help bring non-tech savvy parents up to speed. We are educators. We educate. In light of the changes going on in the new Digital paradigms, that's going to mean that we have to educate the whole community and allow the community to educate us.
9. Kids need to be taught digital citizenship.
Hate using YouTube because of the filth in the comments? Then teach your kids that commenting on YouTube is a part of their responsibility as digital citizens; because in all social media it is the users who decide the content. Digital citizenship being a daily component of classroom learning, in eight years time let’s see what the comments on YouTube look like. And that doesn't mean YouTube needs to be 'cleaned up'; rather, much of the passion related to YouTube happens in the comments and it's often raw and real (as well as sophomoric and prejudiced). But it tells us alot about ourselves and we shouldn't be afraid to help our kids navigate it and become critical participants in the dialogue. Never forget that you are a teacher: you aren’t ‘making’ the present, you are ‘facilitating’ the future. So don’t be discouraged about what you see now, rather be encouraged about what your teaching will let tomorrow look like.
10. Specific devices and tech apps become obsolete.
Don’t dwell on that. Instead, recognize that the Digital Age is more about a new networked and immediately connected way of thinking; that’s not going to change no matter whose name appears at the top of the browser or on the back of the smartphone. Obsolescence is the handmaiden of innovation. Get used to it.
11. You must be fearless.
The old rules are exactly that. The old system doesn’t work: just look at it and see for yourself. Everyone knows this. The admins know it. Your colleagues know it. The kids and their parents know it. So let’s stop tip-toeing around it. It’s time to do something about it. This is 2009: demand the impossible, again.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
New Research on the Social Media Attitudes of Teachers
So you wanted some new research on the attitudes of teachers towards social media?
Well, here you go; courtesy of IssueLab, WGBH Educational Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and Education Development Center's Center for Children and Technology.
IssueLab, by the way, is my new favorite thing on the Internets. I have just signed up as a Lab Rat.
Well, here you go; courtesy of IssueLab, WGBH Educational Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and Education Development Center's Center for Children and Technology.
IssueLab, by the way, is my new favorite thing on the Internets. I have just signed up as a Lab Rat.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
LearnCentral
Led a session yesterday within the virtual rooms at NECC. Using Elluminate technology, the presentation incorporated a shared desktop, live audio, chat/backchannel, and sort of a live shared browser.
I've been taking part in these types of sessions for some time now, but only as an audience participant. I like the format. It's rather utilitarian, (my wide teases me about being addicted to all of the ham-radio things the Internet has to offer), but it works great and I especially like the ability to just pop into a session and see what's happening.
So after yesterday's session, the moderator Kim Caise told me to check out LearnCentral.org which is another project of Classroom 2.0 founder Steve Hargadon. I go there this morning to discover over 4,600 educators using the profile-based sm and free Elluminate rooms.
Where have I been?
That's the thrill of the Internet and social media. Just when you think you've got a handle on things, something flies out in front of you and demonstrates just how much you still have to learn.
Some people are turned off by this.
I live for this.
I've been taking part in these types of sessions for some time now, but only as an audience participant. I like the format. It's rather utilitarian, (my wide teases me about being addicted to all of the ham-radio things the Internet has to offer), but it works great and I especially like the ability to just pop into a session and see what's happening.
So after yesterday's session, the moderator Kim Caise told me to check out LearnCentral.org which is another project of Classroom 2.0 founder Steve Hargadon. I go there this morning to discover over 4,600 educators using the profile-based sm and free Elluminate rooms.
Where have I been?
That's the thrill of the Internet and social media. Just when you think you've got a handle on things, something flies out in front of you and demonstrates just how much you still have to learn.
Some people are turned off by this.
I live for this.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
ISTEvision: Digital Stories from Teachers and Students
One part of the virtual NECC has been ISTEvision.
My favorite aspect of the site is the section devoted to digital stories by real teachers and real students.
From the story of a rural Idaho classroom which has connected to a classroom in New Zealand to teacher statements about their commitment to bringing authentic educational uses of technology into their classrooms, this series of videos -- from the amateur to the glossy -- is testament to the dedication of teachers and students to meeting the demands of the 21st century.
My favorite aspect of the site is the section devoted to digital stories by real teachers and real students.
From the story of a rural Idaho classroom which has connected to a classroom in New Zealand to teacher statements about their commitment to bringing authentic educational uses of technology into their classrooms, this series of videos -- from the amateur to the glossy -- is testament to the dedication of teachers and students to meeting the demands of the 21st century.
Monday, June 29, 2009
You Wanna Know What's Going on in Ed Tech? Ask the teachers and students.
Finally found what I came here for.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, in room dedicated to the student showcase.
No corporate spokespeople. No flashy commercial displays. Just real kids and real teachers showing what they are doing integrating technology into their classrooms.
When it comes down to the brass tacks, this is what NECC is all about.
Because without those kids and those teachers actually having the audacity to engage with tech in their learning environments, all is for naught.
Without that connection being made, without that learning taking place, it's all a carnival.
Among my favorites was a project taken on by Antonio Lenoyr and his students at the Cedros school using Google SketchUp to visualize concepts in geometry and architecture in a unit on 'Architecture and Urbanism'. Another was a presentation on 'Virtual Pioneers' by a teacher named Andrew Wheelock and his middle-school students. And then there was the digital portfolio program from Rhode Island public schools.
In the center of the room is a '21st century Media Center' where teachers and librarians are helping each other learn how to navigate Second Life, create digital storyboards, edit Wikis, and create their own blogs. It's hands-on learning at its best.
As I'm sitting here blogging in the center of all of this activity, I can't help but think: this is what it's all about. It's about giving the tools to students and teachers so that they can make connections. And who are we to say what those connections will or will not be.
Our task as educators is to confirm in our students' hearts and minds that they have both the right and capability to think, make, and do. Our task is to give them the support via content, tools, and skills to think, make, and do. But our task is not to teach them what to think, make, and do.
The big difference between this room of teachers and students and a lot of what was going on downstairs in the big convention room full of tech and software companies lies in that distinction.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, in room dedicated to the student showcase.
No corporate spokespeople. No flashy commercial displays. Just real kids and real teachers showing what they are doing integrating technology into their classrooms.
When it comes down to the brass tacks, this is what NECC is all about.
Because without those kids and those teachers actually having the audacity to engage with tech in their learning environments, all is for naught.
Without that connection being made, without that learning taking place, it's all a carnival.
Among my favorites was a project taken on by Antonio Lenoyr and his students at the Cedros school using Google SketchUp to visualize concepts in geometry and architecture in a unit on 'Architecture and Urbanism'. Another was a presentation on 'Virtual Pioneers' by a teacher named Andrew Wheelock and his middle-school students. And then there was the digital portfolio program from Rhode Island public schools.
In the center of the room is a '21st century Media Center' where teachers and librarians are helping each other learn how to navigate Second Life, create digital storyboards, edit Wikis, and create their own blogs. It's hands-on learning at its best.
As I'm sitting here blogging in the center of all of this activity, I can't help but think: this is what it's all about. It's about giving the tools to students and teachers so that they can make connections. And who are we to say what those connections will or will not be.
Our task as educators is to confirm in our students' hearts and minds that they have both the right and capability to think, make, and do. Our task is to give them the support via content, tools, and skills to think, make, and do. But our task is not to teach them what to think, make, and do.
The big difference between this room of teachers and students and a lot of what was going on downstairs in the big convention room full of tech and software companies lies in that distinction.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Hire Geeks
Common thinking about what kinds of folks make good 21st century teachers generally runs as follows:
The 'he' saying this is Jeff Murphy, a director of instruction for the Florida Virtual School and he's being quoted in a recent article from Education Week.
I cannot tell you how tired I am of hearing this sort of talk.
The last thing I want is to be 'trained' more. And, I'm sorry, but 'lifelong learner' has just worn out its welcome as a catch phrase.
I want teachers who are curious, experimental, sophisticated, and engaged. 'Lifelong learner' sounds like someone taking a woodshop class at the retirement home.
What we really need is to be recruiting more geeks.
I'm talking about folks who don't have to be 'trained' in using technology. I'm talking about people who live and breathe social media and don't understand how you live without it.
That's who we need to be recruiting.
Because that's where our kids are.
And -- even more importantly -- that's where the world our kids are entering into is.
***
It is painfully obvious to our kids that certain teachers have no clue when it comes to the integration of technology into their classrooms.
And more 'training' ain't gonna help.
Because before you integrate technology into your classroom, you've got to integrate it into your life.
And you should only integrate it into your life in ways that you need and/or want to. The worst thing we can do as a society is to force people into the use of technology -- particularly social technologies -- via training and tech mandates.
That's like forcing a democracy upon another country.
Not a good idea.
Rather, we should model the best practices in the use of technology and give folks the room they need to experiment with the tools so that they can develop personal relationships with them.
In other words: no two people are going to use Twitter the same way.
So don't bother 'training' teachers to use it. Rather, present it; model it; and then give the teachers the time and space to experiment on their own.
***
The same article cites Kayleen Marble, the lead teacher and writing specialist for the Arizona Virtual Academy, run by K12 Inc.:
Are we living in 1983?
We're actually talking about a 'virtual academy' whose idea of what makes a lesson more interactive is that students are 'required' to 'click and move objects on the computer screen with a mouse'?
Really?
No wonder there are so many books written about the illusion of the worth of technology in the classroom.
My twin eight-year-olds have their own blogs. We sit down together and play MMOGs. They compose their own musical scores with GarageBand. Do you really think 'pointing and clicking' is the key to engaging them? Do you honestly think they need to be taught how to use a mouse?
***
We need geeks.
We need them to tell us that we look silly when we talk about technology.
We need them to be our school leaders and not just our technology mentors.
We need geeks running the show.
And let me define 'geeks'.
Geeks are not techies who know nothing but computers. Geeks are 21st century folks for whom digital technology is naturally, casually, and obviously integrated into all aspects of social living.
Geeks -- depending on age -- grew up with a Commodore 64, and then a Nintendo, and then a Sega or an X-Box. Geeks learned to hack software in elementary school. Geeks have had MySpace and Facebook pages so long that they tend to forget how to log in to them if they are not on a computer with their password saved.
And there is no one type of geek.
There are Liberal Arts geeks. And Science geeks. And math geeks. And music geeks. And history geeks. And art geeks. And sports geeks.
Yes. Sports geeks. And lots of 'em.
Looks to me like the folks who are so terrified about 21st century style education just don't understand geeks.
We're not here to computerize and dehumanize you. In fact, we'd rather stop the bickering and let you do your thing while we get on giving our kids an authentic 21st century education. If you need a hand, let us know. But if you think we're going to tell you what to do, forget it. That's really not how most of us think.
We're not here to 'train' you.
“They’re constantly in the process of being trained and being a lifelong learner,” he says.
The 'he' saying this is Jeff Murphy, a director of instruction for the Florida Virtual School and he's being quoted in a recent article from Education Week.
I cannot tell you how tired I am of hearing this sort of talk.
The last thing I want is to be 'trained' more. And, I'm sorry, but 'lifelong learner' has just worn out its welcome as a catch phrase.
I want teachers who are curious, experimental, sophisticated, and engaged. 'Lifelong learner' sounds like someone taking a woodshop class at the retirement home.
What we really need is to be recruiting more geeks.
I'm talking about folks who don't have to be 'trained' in using technology. I'm talking about people who live and breathe social media and don't understand how you live without it.
That's who we need to be recruiting.
Because that's where our kids are.
And -- even more importantly -- that's where the world our kids are entering into is.
***
It is painfully obvious to our kids that certain teachers have no clue when it comes to the integration of technology into their classrooms.
And more 'training' ain't gonna help.
Because before you integrate technology into your classroom, you've got to integrate it into your life.
And you should only integrate it into your life in ways that you need and/or want to. The worst thing we can do as a society is to force people into the use of technology -- particularly social technologies -- via training and tech mandates.
That's like forcing a democracy upon another country.
Not a good idea.
Rather, we should model the best practices in the use of technology and give folks the room they need to experiment with the tools so that they can develop personal relationships with them.
In other words: no two people are going to use Twitter the same way.
So don't bother 'training' teachers to use it. Rather, present it; model it; and then give the teachers the time and space to experiment on their own.
***
The same article cites Kayleen Marble, the lead teacher and writing specialist for the Arizona Virtual Academy, run by K12 Inc.:
“You’re competing with kids who are used to computer games,” she says. To pique students’ interest, Marble adds visuals to her online lessons, such as graphics and video clips, and creates interactive lessons that require students to click and move objects on the computer screen with a mouse.
Are we living in 1983?
We're actually talking about a 'virtual academy' whose idea of what makes a lesson more interactive is that students are 'required' to 'click and move objects on the computer screen with a mouse'?
Really?
No wonder there are so many books written about the illusion of the worth of technology in the classroom.
My twin eight-year-olds have their own blogs. We sit down together and play MMOGs. They compose their own musical scores with GarageBand. Do you really think 'pointing and clicking' is the key to engaging them? Do you honestly think they need to be taught how to use a mouse?
***
We need geeks.
We need them to tell us that we look silly when we talk about technology.
We need them to be our school leaders and not just our technology mentors.
We need geeks running the show.
And let me define 'geeks'.
Geeks are not techies who know nothing but computers. Geeks are 21st century folks for whom digital technology is naturally, casually, and obviously integrated into all aspects of social living.
Geeks -- depending on age -- grew up with a Commodore 64, and then a Nintendo, and then a Sega or an X-Box. Geeks learned to hack software in elementary school. Geeks have had MySpace and Facebook pages so long that they tend to forget how to log in to them if they are not on a computer with their password saved.
And there is no one type of geek.
There are Liberal Arts geeks. And Science geeks. And math geeks. And music geeks. And history geeks. And art geeks. And sports geeks.
Yes. Sports geeks. And lots of 'em.
Looks to me like the folks who are so terrified about 21st century style education just don't understand geeks.
We're not here to computerize and dehumanize you. In fact, we'd rather stop the bickering and let you do your thing while we get on giving our kids an authentic 21st century education. If you need a hand, let us know. But if you think we're going to tell you what to do, forget it. That's really not how most of us think.
We're not here to 'train' you.
Monday, June 22, 2009
This Week's Friday Chat - Professional Development for Educators: What's Social Media Got to Do With It?
By special request, this week's Friday Chat will be on the topic:
Professional Development for Educators: What's Social Media Got to Do With It?
We'll be talking about the (nearly) 101 ways in which social media provides for more meaningful professional development for teachers and ultimately what that means for our students and the the classroom experience.
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
Professional Development for Educators: What's Social Media Got to Do With It?
We'll be talking about the (nearly) 101 ways in which social media provides for more meaningful professional development for teachers and ultimately what that means for our students and the the classroom experience.
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Now THAT'S a list.
@MagistraM tweets:
Indeed.
The iThinkMedia list of 100 educators is useful for finding folks deeply involved in thinking about ed tech, but it's definitely heavy on the higher-ed side... as well as folks involved in industry and research.
And, yes, some of the folks mentioned are just downright silly in terms of being one of the 'top 100' ed tech Twitterers. No insult implied, but I mean, the president of Ohio State University?!?
No hate mail, please.
So, a list of 100 Ed Twitterers not good enough for you? Ok, then... how about 1500?
The EdTech Twibe started by Steve Katz is much more comprehensive with over 1500 Twitterers from all walks of the education life. And lots of these folks are actually K-12 classroom teachers.
Weird list of top 100 ed-related folks, don't you think? Not too many K12 and lots of those marketing to educators.
Indeed.
The iThinkMedia list of 100 educators is useful for finding folks deeply involved in thinking about ed tech, but it's definitely heavy on the higher-ed side... as well as folks involved in industry and research.
And, yes, some of the folks mentioned are just downright silly in terms of being one of the 'top 100' ed tech Twitterers. No insult implied, but I mean, the president of Ohio State University?!?
No hate mail, please.
So, a list of 100 Ed Twitterers not good enough for you? Ok, then... how about 1500?
The EdTech Twibe started by Steve Katz is much more comprehensive with over 1500 Twitterers from all walks of the education life. And lots of these folks are actually K-12 classroom teachers.
Educators to Follow on Twitter
iThinkMedia has put together an annotated list of 100 educators and ed-related folks to follow on Twitter.
Check it out, follow to yr heart's delight, and leave your own suggestions for follows.
Check it out, follow to yr heart's delight, and leave your own suggestions for follows.
Friday, June 5, 2009
TeachPaperless: Thank you, Teachers
A comic strip about memory and gratitude.
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