Technology Should Make Ya Move!

As I sit here on my ever-widening rear end night after night, searching and reading and collecting Education issues, I am serving as a reminder of how I do not want my children or students to use the computer and internet: It, the computer-centered world, cannot be the be-all, end-all solution to anything, especially not Education.  A computer cannot be the means for engaging, teaching, researching, producing, and assessing (not to mention entertaining) students.  Yet I see in a lot of the work and ideas that herald computer technology as the only future for Education, and concurrently the only way to communicate with any person under 16 years old, the common thread of isolation, of a student linked electronically and wirelessly to teachers, classmates, and the means to receive, practice, and demonstrate understanding of knowledge.

I'm not merely railing against the video game generation that never sees a ball or bike touch real dirt, that's an old argument, nor am I hating on the texting/FB-ing addicts whose thumbs and phones are never separated.  But what I see online and out on the campuses seems to fall into two schools of thought regarding technology:

1. "We're a Technology school, we let 'em use computers!"  These schools/teachers are so hip and with it their students can use Word, then Google up some pictures to really snazz up the book report!  The advanced students that finish class work first, or the RSP students that "don't do" a certain subject, can play cool math games... What's the difference between my son sitting for 2 hours in front of the screen playing Zoo Tycoon and sitting for 2 hours playing Shoot the Geometric Shape?*
2. "We need to relate/connect/catch up -- we Twitter and Facebook and Text our students!"  The emphasis here is playing their game, communicating on the students' terms.  Assignments are available online, questions and answers relayed wirelessly,  entire semesters of work produced electronically.  Is my son demonstrating a mastery of the subject matter or of his ability to collect and merge the correct pieces? 

No Luddites here, I am all for the 21st century and beyond -- I just want there to be balance, a synchronicity between Wikipedia and the dog-eared paperback Thesaurus, between the video camera and real live actors.  Technology assignments should always try to incorporate movement, should have elements of other media involved.  For example: video science reports with real world demonstrations and on location interviews; text message or twitter scavenger hunts that involve reading maps, interviewing classmates, collecting measurable data; history research reports that result in physical demonstrations of knowledge, such as speeches, songs, or re-enactments. Many of these and other ideas can be found at Edutopia's Digital Science and Math Lessons .


* no, I do not let my sons sit for 2 hours playing anything.

Animated by Purpose

Came across this randomly (or was it... "inspired"???) while playing with an iPad at the Apple store.  Through my drool came this rapid animation and words such as motivation and incentive -- words I happen to be turning over repeatedly in my brain pan as I get ready to take on a 3rd grade class for the next week.  Anyway, got home, looked it up again, this time with audio, and there must be something here we can use in Education.


Now I don't know anything about this RSA group, I'll look 'em up in a minute*, but the video is well done if a bit on the fast side... I want to run it back in slow motion just to make sure I caught everything.  Coming from the business world, I've experienced the "just because you give them more money, or offer the opportunity to earn more money, doesn't mean they'll work harder/faster/better/not be rude to customers" phenomenon. It seems the people that are going to work hard and get things done, and done right, are the people that will do it that way regardless of monetary or advancement incentives.  I'm sure the same is true of students -- the ones that will work hard and complete assignments will be those students whether they get a bouncy ball or Starburst or not.

How should we inspire/encourage/motivate our students?





I do like the Free Time idea -- let them work on whatever they want, but (the manager in me can't let go) I want to see results, I want to see contribution from all team members, I want to see your product shared (taught to) the rest of the class.

* update: okay, I've found RSA.org, as in The Renaissance Society, but that wasn't it.  Here is the RSA YouTube page and the official "21st Century Enlightenment" RSA site, and here is the video/art site for Cognitive Media  ...

...and here's another video -- he starts discussing education and "kids these days" at about 5:30

Wiki your classroom!

Awesome ideas for getting students to create and collaborate online, thanks to the Web 2.0 Class blog...

From the classes I've taught in the past 2 years I can see where options like these need to exist, at the very least, for those students who finish early, understand quickly, need a challenge, etc. etc.... #1 question I'm asked by students? Easy: Can I use the computer?*  I flat-out say no 99% of the time because I know they are only going to play games or sneak onto a music/mail/whatever site they aren't supposed to.  But what if they could run their own wiki?  Do meaningful research? Create or compose? The possibilities are, of course, endless...

I'm still working on my Year in Review (actually, I'm still working -- 3 more weeks of school), attempting to process all I've experienced and learned during this 1st year of full time (sort of) subbing.  And I definitely still don't feel like a teacher, nor feel I am in any position experience/knowledge/skill -wise to make sweeping judgments and claim to have the answers for what ails Education. (you know a "but" is coming, don't you?) But...

I do wonder why 1) some classrooms are so loud, distracted, unruly, disrupted, talkative? Is it just the way kids are?  Is it because they have a sub? Is it a teacher or parent or school culture problem?

2) why is there so much wasted/lost time during the school day? Does it really take that long to get started, to switch subject materials, to understand directions?  How much of question #2 is in direct correlation to #1?

Hmmm...


*provided of course the classroom does have working computers.  Love the district that chose to spend the $$$ on a large screen TV (aka "dust catcher"or "movie screen") instead of enough computers to be worthwhile...

Inspired to Teach

I feel fractured sometimes, or at least multiple-personalitied: 5 blogs, 4 Facebook pages, LibraryThing, Twitter (which I rarely post or check anymore)... half the time I find myself deleting posts or links because I put a book review or football drills on The Wife's hairdresser page.  I'm sooooo confuuuuused...

Anyway, I'm trying to create a FB page and have all my Teacher/Education/Children's Book* stuff, such as blog posts and cool stuff I find on other blogs and sites, go to one central hub.  Don't know if I'm doing it right, is there a way to quickly/automatically link/share eveything to a FB page? Hmmm...

Introducing  Inspired to Teach  the facebook page, aka "The Hub" ???  Ideas and suggestions always appreciated...

Wonder Walls and Imitosis

Should be working on cover letters, but instead fighting the urge to pick up my Father's Day gift by visiting cool Education sites and stealing collecting, graciously and gratefully, ideas such as the Wonder Wall .  Also found some awesome music by Andrew Bird* here on this cool video of a teacher's empty but always busy classroom, and virtual post-it notes.

The "Wonder Wall" is similar to something I had thought of before, and it comes more from being a father than a teacher: children are capable of asking over 1 million questions in a single day! Multiply that by a room full of 2nd graders and you can see how easy it is to drown in question marks... I plan on having a wall dedicated to questions students ask, with room for the answers.  Maybe we don't get to the answer right away, I can't let them get me started on Why is the moon so bright? when the curriculum calls for 3-digit addition, but by the end of the year we should have answered them all.  I think I'll have volunteer student "experts" assigned in September so if a stegosaurus question does come up and Jimmy has read every dinosaur book in the Library he can give a mini presentation and answer the question.
Someday...


* and I thought I'd learned a new word, the video's soundtrack is titled "Imitosis" -- but can't find it in the dictionary?

Resume time!

Not that I really have any hope of getting a classroom of my own, but I did include lottery tickets for all 2nd-5th grade teachers at each school I sent resumes to. I figure if enough of them win big and retire, the more openings for me! All I need is one job, just one...

Blog plus Facebook plus Twitter plus ...?

Is there a way to connect them all so a blog post feeds into a FB group page? Or visa versa? Playing around with it instead of while working on resumes...

Finally!

Not to knock anyone, but -- aw heck, no one I'm talking about will ever read this, so I'll knock and knock hard: there are some lousy, awful substitute teachers out there!  One of the reasons I got into this gig was the subs I saw (or didn't saw, many never bothered to show up for their assignments) at my sons' school. I thought Hey, I could do a better job than that!  I can hang out with kids, leave work in the afternoon, and have weekends and holidays off -- and no folding shirts!*

Not only could I do that, but I also knew I could teach those kids something, even if I had to make it up as I went along or simply read the text book with them, which was the reason they were there IN SCHOOL in the first place!  Some subs seem to think students never get to see movies at home or get to talk to their friends, poor things...

Anyway, the point of the post was to be "Finally" ...after volunteering, observations, college degree, waiting, pink slips and budget cuts, more volunteering and observations, I am finally able to be a Substitute at my sons' school.  It seems every district in the County had jobs for me but this one, and I was waaaaaaay down on the seniority list, but now I have had several jobs at various grade levels and should be able to work some on into July.

And my 3rd grader comes and eats lunch with me. : )


* I was a sales manager for Robinson's May/Macy's and have folded more shirts in a day than most people will in a lifetime... I am not proud of this fact, although I am a damn good shirt folder.

Pimp the Unshelved Website

I'm not a Librarian, but spend enough time paying late fees to them to appreciate the humorous situations in these comic strips, not to mention the great book suggestions every week...

check them out:  Unshelved

Armando Galarraga vs. Reggie Bush

One of those weeks when I wish I had a classroom or a team -- what a powerful lesson (not that I've worked out the details yet) on sportsmanship and doing the right thing: Galarraga, Jim Joyce, and the Perfect Game that wasn't vs. USC, Reggie, and the Heisman/National Title that are no longer...

playing telephone

I could not for the life of me figure out why this student had a U-shaped piece of pvc in her desk, and after telling her to put it away three times during the day I finally asked -- what are you doing with a U-shaped piece of pipe in your desk?!?!?

Then half the class ran over to a big cabinet drawer full of the white plastic mysteries, and showed me how they read to themselves holding the pipe like a telephone (although a much larger phone than any of these digital children have ever used!) -- their whispered voices went right into the pvc and around the bend to their ear so they could perfectly hear what and how they were reading. Amazing!

I certainly do not recommend using anything that has been attached underneath your sink, and I'm sure there are copyrighted name brand models in those educational supply catalogs, but this teacher had simply bought bright white 2" P-traps and let the kids start reading!

"Thank you for your idea"

How to Teach Math as a Social Activity | Edutopia

from the edutopia website