Reaching Higher

I've never been considered tall. Never grabbed top shelf grocery items with ease. Never bought pants that didn't need to be hemmed, jeans excluded. You get the idea. But there are times in the classroom when I have never felt so small and yet so tall at the same time as I did this past week.

I had Mr. Gluck's fourth graders in the computer lab. It was our second session with Google Sketchup, a free 3D modeling program. In our introductory session, I showed them basic tools, then let them explore. Giving students basic skills, then time and opportunity to create, is essential to getting the most out of learners.

These kids launched themselves into the program and within minutes were roaring with delight and discovery. I could've closed my eyes, imagined their playful cheers, along with chirping birds, rustling trees, dogs barking, and we could've been in the park. But instead, we were in a classroom, as each student reveled in the discovery of new perspectives and abilities they didn't know they possessed. And most important, they eagerly shared what they learned with their neighbors. Welcome to the 21st Century classroom. Where young people explore, collaborate, and learn about new worlds and possibilities.

A quick scan at computer displays around the room revealed architectural marvels. Students created office buildings, libraries, Cape Cod styled homes with attached garages, structures buttressed with pillars, tall residential buildings in the middle of a park. In short, they found themselves in the architectural rendition of the Wonka Factory where anything is possible, if you dream it.

Mr. Gluck and I struck our "Mr. Clean" pose -- radiant and proud. This was good teaching. Now here's the part where I felt small. In the second session, I attempted to make the connection with this program and the fractions unit they were working on in their classroom. Their eyes darted from my projection screen to their computers as they fidgeted on their floor spots, patiently indulging my need to do whatever it was the teacher felt was important to do, to feel like he was being a teacher. And as I fumbled with the tools wondering why they weren't cooperating as well as they had on my laptop when I first created this lesson, I realized I needed more time to work out the kinks. So with Mr. Gluck's permission we sent the kids back to their computers to continue their projects. And the kids' reaction? I could have jacked Alice Cooper's School's Out over the speakers and you would've thought that summer had arrived.

So I had bought myself a few minutes to perfect my lesson. The extra time helped. Finally, I was ready with renewed confidence to resume my fractions lesson and demonstrate to kids the explicit connection between the Sketchup models they had created and what the textbook said they should be learning at this time of their lives. I turned to face them and announce that I was now ready to teach them. But when I got a closer look at what they had built and listened to the depth of their collaborative conversations, I turned to Mr. Gluck and confessed that my lesson seemed inappropriate considering the rate at which they were gobbling up and processing information. I realized that I was about to deliver the equivalent of a first grade math lesson, considering what they had already accomplished on their screens. I felt small, delivering a lesson that was inadequate to their needs. So we decided to punt.

We did regroup them briefly to discuss the architectural value in knowing fractions and having a sense of symmetry and balance. They seemed to understand, especially in looking at their work. Now here's the part where I started feeling tall. We gave these students basic skills, along with time and opportunity. And in turn they astonished us with their love of schoolwork and ingenuity. And it all started with faith in what motivated kids can accomplish.

We realized that at times Sketchup may not work seamlessly with our math curriculum. And it would need to be carefully massaged into any of the other curriculum areas. In fact, at Fox Meadow, fourth graders used it to build colonial homes. But to dismiss the value of any academic pursuit that generates so much enthusiasm and creative energy would be a mistake. Sometimes as teachers, we're so busy trying to check items off a bloated curriculum, we tend to overlook the needs of the children and ultimately the heart of every school district's credo: instill the love of learning.

Mr. Gluck's fourth graders will be back in the lab working on Sketchup. Maybe we'll plan an entire city. Is that in the curriculum? I don't think so.

It's good to feel tall.

Reimagining Teachers

GM, Ford, and Chrysler are dinosaurs. And the asteroid's coming. But whereas the dinosaur probably didn't see the end coming, Detroit probably has. The writing's been on the wall. Yet they clung to costly business practices, balked at alternative energy, and banked on vehicles that consumers couldn't afford as the price of crude soared from $16 to $147 a barrel in less than 10 years. Still, Detroit refused to change, refused to adapt to the changing global economy, and consequently, gave up their marketshare to other countries. And now they're roadside, in the middle of nowhere, hazard lights on, waiting for AAA.

So what can educators learn from Detroit? The writing's on the wall for us too. But are we reading?

Public education was shaped by the 19th century factory model. As educator David Warlick says, this model is about working in neat rows, performing repetitive tasks, under close supervision. There are still traces of this model in many of today's classrooms as well. Now toss in an instructional model that's teacher driven. Mix in today's digitally enhanced children. And Warlick says, you've created an odd classroom recipe: 21st century children, exposed to 20th century teaching practices, in 19th century classrooms.

Is this how we are preparing today's children for the 21st century? Is this the best we can offer?

Three years ago, a Colorado high school presented its teachers with a slideshow that focused on 21st century challenges and the responsibilities all educators have to help our students meet these challenges. This presentation has become known as Shift Happens. The video has over two million hits on YouTube. And all around the world, it has started an important conversation. The video references a rapidly changing world and impresses upon its viewers to consider how to adapt, so as not to leave our children behind.

The original PowerPoint presentation was enhanced for the video to include simple animations that refer to the following thoughts and more about our changing world:

• How many 2006 college graduates in India speak English?: 100%
• In ten years, it is predicted that the country with the most English speakers will be: China
• According to US Labor stats, today's average learners will have 10-14 jobs by their 38th birthday
• More than 50% of today's 21 year olds have created content for the web
• More than 70% of 4 year olds in the US have used a computer
• In the US, one of eight couples married in 2005, met online
• Each month, 2.7 billion Google searches are conducted. To whom were these questions addressed before Google?

Once upon a time, we all imagined a future world where access to technology was seamless and prevalent in most daily routines. We saw it on TV, in movies, and at Disney World. But the wait is over because we're there. The future is now. And this is the only world our children know. It's time to reimagine the roles of teachers and redefine our responsibilities to help our children meet the challenges of the new millenium.

Pandora Radio

At my age, it's not easy being trendy. I've tried a number of times. On occasions I can be hip, but without the hop. Definitely, without the hop. I just don't have that cool or youthful aura or multicultural "yo no se quoi" to pull it off (Blogger's note: I combined the Spanish "yo no se," which means I don't know with the French "je ne sais quoi," which means I don't know what it is).

I even failed at the iPod. Who does that? I gave the iPod a shot once. And I enjoyed my brief run with the pack, the in-crowd. I had been seen in public with those signature ivory ear buds and matching audio cables slung down my neckline like suburban, ghetto-fabulous jewelry, giving those who had accessorized like me that cool, casual nod that only elite members of our society could do. I was, at the time, trendy. A free spirit... following the path traveled by millions before me.

The only problem was all that crap playing in my ears.

It was my own fault. I had jammed the iPod with full CDs from my collection. Sure, Groove is in the Heart was great, but did I really need to pollute my iPod with the entire Deee-Lite catalogue. And around the holidays I get weepy and reflective listening to Dan Fogelberg's Same Old Lang Syne, but how many songs about faith, love, and caring for those less fortunate can one take, while puffing away on a LifeCycle?

But the greater problem, and I'll get to the point of this blog post in a moment, the greater problem is that the iPod lacked the element of surprise. Even if playing in a random mode, all the songs not only sounded the same, but I knew them already. This is why I prefer listening to radio instead of an iPod. Radio offers a playlist that I didn't design. It offers an opportunity to learn new songs that mesh with my musical tastes. Now of course, radio has some portability limitations compared with an iPod and you need to find a radio station that isn't like so many others these days-- formulaic, predictable, and repetitive. But I think I found one.

It's called Pandora, which is the point of this blog post. I had heard of Pandora, but like the iPod, I didn't get it, until now. This web service is a product of the Music Genome Project, which claims to have analyzed tens of thousands of songs, dissecting them by musical traits ranging from melody and harmony, to orchestration and arrangement, to lyrics and more. Pandora allows you to create your own "radio station." You input a song or an artist and it responds with a quick analysis and a subsequent stream of music from the same "genetic" family.

As an example, I created a Beatles radio station. And I got a steady feed of Beatles songs, solo hits from band members, and artists from the Beatles gene pool, such as the Rolling Stones, the Who, David Bowie, and Simon and Garfunkel. Then I created a Little Drummer Boy radio station and instantly, music for my yule log. Then for kicks, I made a Deee-Lite radio station, expecting the worst, but instead was pleasantly surprised. It offered Madonna, Bjork, which I skipped, a song by the Cardigans, which I haven't heard in maybe ten years, and right now it's playing the Mary Jane Girls, who I have never listened to, but sure enough I can hear the comparisons to Deee-Lite. Oh wait, I've heard this song before. "In my house, my house..." Hmm. Wait a minute. I'm still listening to the lyrics... I get it. The Urban Dictionary has a word that describes these girls.

Anyway, Pandora is an advertising-supported, free Internet service, with subscription options. Give it a try. Right now I'm still listening to the Mary Jane Girls.

"So when you need some lovin tenderness, And it's me that you miss, Here's the key to unlock the door, To my house (to my house)..."

Yep, definitely a word found in the Urban Dictionary.

Google Trends

Google says it can now detect flu outbreaks as they're breaking. Last week, the search engine unveiled a site that graphs flu queries. According to Google, people tend to run flu searches when their circle of family and friends begins to experience symptoms. Surges in flu searches can serve as an early warning system. Last season, Google detected an outbreak about two weeks before the Centers for Disease Control made its announcement.

On the one hand, Google's new flu detection site appears to be a great public service. Much like NORAD tracking the flight path of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Actually, if we're looking at flu activity in our own state, it's probably more like watching the BLOB swallow the town theater. There's little more to do, but cover your eyes and scream.

Now conspiracy theorists may take issue with the notion that Google has mined data from personal Internet searches. But the greater concern might be that we have been offered another reason to waste time on the Internet. Online users will bookmark it. Check it everyday. Maybe even personalize their web page with a graphic showing their state gradually slumping over in a feverish, achy, mucus-filled clump-- wrapped in a quilt.

As for me, it's bad enough I'm wasting time blogging, but now I'm going to experience this daily sense of urgency to check this site, if for no other reason, to see if it's too late to get a flu shot. And once I'm on this Google site, who knows if I'll be baited by the hyperlinked topics that are lurking in the tall grass, waiting to sucker me into visiting another web site, which will surely lead me into a hallucinogenic tumble down a nested egg-like escapade through the World Wide Web. How many degrees of separation is this Flu Trends site from one that offers say a recipe for tuna casserole? And while meandering through the web, will I learn the middle name of Joaquin Phoenix? Or find a fare to Mexico City for under $400 without having to fly out of Philadelphia?

In one survey, workers say the Internet is their top distraction. This of course, is neither a surprise nor cause for national alarm. Slacking is the new national pastime. And it has surpassed finger football in popularity among all workplace spectator events, although I have no supporting data. As a nation, we have come to revel in this shared tendency to have our attention easily diverted (check out these great Internet activities). It's called the LOOK AT THE MONKEY syndrome. Let's say there's something really important happening, over here. Perhaps it's famine, genocide, a virus that's spreading rapidly from continent to continent, but... LOOK AT THE MONKEY. Over there! He's so funny! And cute too! Is he always doing that?

Still, I applaud Google for its effort in the name of public health. I hope it continues such efforts on behalf of the public good. Perhaps it can analyze search data to anticipate future trends that one might deem detrimental to our collective security, conscience, and good taste. Who knows? If Google had been on the ball earlier, fashion fads from the 1980s might not have been able to make a successful comeback. Just imagine, as searches for 80s fashion tips had begun to spike, local law enforcement officials and members of Homeland Security could have rushed in, armed with Google data and search warrants (maybe not so much the warrants), to prevent this unholy and unsavory resurrection. Wishful thinking.

Still, it's not too late for Google to do some good. America can't be saved from the return of the 80s, but there's a developing nation out there somewhere whose streets are about to be flooded with spandex, leg warmers, and mullets. Maybe as a nation, we can't help ourselves, but we can do the decent thing and spare a nation like Guatemala the indignities of 1980s American pop culture.

Google. Please. For Guatemala.

Screencasting: Video Tutorials Made Simple

I often hear people say, "I'm a visual learner. I need to see in order to understand." For these types of learners, myself included, screencasting is an effective medium for learning. Screencasting is a video capture of actions on your computer display. It allows you to provide a video/audio play by play of your on-screen actions. This can be a powerful tool for making tutorials.

Imagine a teacher, or better yet a student, using a program, perhaps Kidspiration, Excel, or the Smart Notebook to demonstrate new math skills. A video screen capture of this demonstration can then be used to teach other students. Imagine. Kids teaching kids. What a radical concept! And this video presentation can be stored in a database or uploaded to a web site as an on-demand homework helper! So if you have parents who need a little help themselves before they can help their children, screencasting might provide some relief. Take a look at this sample tutorial I've put together on inserting an image into a Word document. This technology has been around a while, but these days I'm into Jing. It's easy to use, produces a quality video, and best of all -- it's FREE! Check out the video tour and download it today!

Stories of Our Lives

My daughter hit me in the head with her baby's baby bottle. Right above my forehead. The bottle was plastic, but it felt like I was beaned with a wrought iron fastball. I winced and reeled and maybe even bleated like a wounded lamb. I saw stars. They were orange. The moons were pink and the clovers green. It was if she had dropped an anvil on my head and then a bowl of Lucky Charms for good measure. My recollection of this incident is understandably hazy. But I'm pretty sure my daughter was smiling. Her transgression left me in a bind. I had always told her mother that when it comes to disciplining our child, I was the "good cop." But after such a brutal assault, what's a good cop to do?

I mention this story because I want to tell it. We all have these stories. And best of all, when we tell these stories, we elicit similar stories in return. And this exchange becomes tidal, creating enthusiasm and synergy between people. Such a connection can kindle much needed warmth on a chilly day. And while these stories may not be headline news or subjects for research journals, they give us color and music in our lives. They give us a sense of identity and importance by way of experiencing and then passing on these stories.

Studs Terkel knew this. He was a celebrated author and story gatherer. A journalist known to draw out fascinating tales of Americana through ordinary Americans. I'll have to admit, growing up, I knew him only in name. I was not familiar with his work. But in reading his obituary in the New York Times I realized his life's work is what many educators already want for their students. Engage in conversations, interview, research, and help bring about an understanding of the people we know through their stories, their words.

So why am I talking about storytelling and Studs Terkel in a technology blog? Today's educational technology includes resources such as computers, Instant Messaging, videoconferencing, audio/video recording devices, blogs, wikis, and a myriad of multimedia tools, all of which are easily accessible and most important, they are magnets for kids. Do you know any children who go home at the end of the school day and devote hours to these devices? Swapping stories eagerly, willfully, soulfully... after the school day ends? Hmm. Where's that rhetorical question. I left it around here somewhere.

Save Early, Save Often

"Save early, Save often." This should be your daily mantra. There are many ways in life to apply this aphorism. But for now, think computers. Have you ever lost an entire night's work of typing a thesis, a proposal, a book, just because you neglected to hit "Save"? And sure, you could blame the computer for its shortcomings, but are you any better off after having slammed the keyboard or shouted at a darkened display that's reflecting the faint, glassy image of the nutjob heaving in front of it? Back in the founding days of our founding nation, our founding fathers might have invented a maxim that would have kept people in check from repeatedly doing stupid things, as many of us today are accustomed to doing. "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man... blah blah blah."

Imagine Ben Franklin losing an entire year's unpublished edition of his popular Poor Richard's Almanac because his supersized inkwell tipped over while he was playing "man about town," dazzling the locals with pithy pearls that generations later would inspire countless Fortune Cookie writers. Imagine what he'd say upon returning to the homestead to find his work completely saturated with ink, every single word obliterated, knowing full well that each time he had previously risen from his work, he'd think something along the lines of "I really should move my inkwell further from my scroll. But first, tea!"

If this incident had actually taken place, and historians are in debate, then Ben Franklin might have coined a wise saying that today would convince us to routinely press the Save key. And it might have gone something like this:

Save early, Save often or
Forsooth, you will find an early coffin

I use the word "forsooth" for historical accuracy because my research indicates that the people of Colonial America used it back then the way we use words like "really" and "you know."

So please, whether your views on the Constitution may be of a strict constructionist or interpretationist, know that our founding fathers can't save you from yourselves. Save early, Save often.

iGoogle

When you log into your Google account you probably check your calendar or Gmail and then stop there. But have you noticed the other Google applications? There are many wonderfully useful and fun tools. In fact, you can completely overhaul your Google home page's bare-bones look with a galvanized iGoogle. This page can be customized with features called gadgets. These gadgets can let you read up to the minute news articles from your favorite web sites, track gas prices in your neighborhood, scan movie theater times, check the local weather, and more. So if you're looking to reinvent your wimpy Google home page. Shove it into a phone booth and transform it into (Super) iGoogle!

I'm A Sucker

So I'm hurting inside. Last Friday I learned that my application to the Google Teacher Academy was rejected. Three teachers from our district applied for one of the 50 slots and all three were denied. I really wanted this opportunity. I mean at first I was indifferent, but then I really wanted in. I wanted to be inside the fishbowl, learning from the Google Masters and sharing my newfound knowledge and expertise with friends and colleagues. But now I won't get that chance. Now I'm just jilted applicant "#2038." Strangely though, since being given the cold Google shoulder, I find myself more aware of Google applications than ever. I'm gobbling them up like salty cashews. Google is so much more than a search engine or a calendar. And in the coming weeks, I'll share with you what I've learned... since the fateful day that my GTA application was filed in Google's database under "S" for Shred or perhaps "I" for Incinerate. In the meantime, take a look at the video I produced for the application. It required some soul searching, which I haven't done in a while. And it feels good. So thanks Google, for the opportunity. Really. I hope we can still be friends.

Fun Photo

Want to have a little fun with a digital photograph? Try a web site called Dumpr. It allows you to upload a personal photograph from your computer and into one of several design templates like the one shown here to the right. You can then Save the new image to your computer, share it on your social networking or photo web site (such as Facebook and Flickr), or email it. And it's free!

Moving Forward

If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow.
- John Dewey

Author and Educator Scott McLeod publishes a web page (a wiki to be precise) called Moving Forward. It's a collection of articles, blogs (weblogs), and tutorials underscoring the importance of preparing today's children for 21st century challenges through contemporary learning experiences and technology resources.

Today's young learners are online, connected, wireless. They accessorize with cell phones and iPods. They build informational and social networks that extend beyond their neighborhood, beyond state lines, across oceans. They learn and share cultures, languages, stories, and songs with people they've never met. They produce and publish original material for a worldwide audience. And if they're not doing this now, they will -- soon. Oh, one more thing. Much of this activity is done without adult involvement.

This is our world, where "digital natives" run free and "digital immigrants," the rest of us born before the 20th century's twilight years, are left in their wake, a little befuddled, and maybe even a bit envious of their tech savvy and joy. But the immigrants are not without a role in this globalized and technology-infused (if not enriched) world.

In this "New World," there's still a place for "Old World" values. It is incumbent upon adults today, teachers and parents, to help children navigate through this world safely, responsibly, and respectfully as citizens of the world; to develop their own technology savvy, to learn the language of their children, and impress upon them the obligations of family, community, and citizenship.

The world has changed. It has been changed by new technologies, getting newer everyday, giving birth to a world that according to Thomas Friedman is now Flat (again!). The purpose of the Edgewood TechBlog is to help immigrants with this responsibility of preparing our children for 21st century challenges. Each post will feature technology news, resources, tutorials and tips, or members of the Edgewood community who are getting us Moving Forward. I hope you find this blog useful.

Until the next post, just know that while this challenge is daunting, things could be worse.