Tomorrow. It's Only (About) A Day Away.

Now I know there are 24 hours in a day, but lately it seems that Tomorrow gets here a little sooner than usual. As if its clock is running a tad fast.

In education, this is especially relevant when it comes to technology. The prevailing viewpoint is that developing technology related skills is essential to the future of our children. And generally, this is true.

But what lies ahead is never clear. The future cannot be predicted with precision. It really isn't a distant point on the horizon, like Venus shining brilliantly just before sunset and rising predictably into the darkening sky. The future is more like Venus shaking off its gravitational orbit and visiting another planet or beginning a rapid descent on Earth.

At best, we can blindly guess or hypothesize what skills are needed in the years ahead. And while it is important to be mindful of these possibilities, I think we can do better for our students today. But we have to start today.

One line from the updated version of the widely popular Did You Know video reads: "The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010, did not exist in 2004. We are currently preparing our students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented, in order to solve problems we don't know are problems yet.



We must prepare students for the road ahead, by making them literate and proficient with the technology tools and resources that are available today and giving them a vision and skill set that can be used to shape their future, even from an early age. But to achieve this educators must take a serious look at how technology can improve our teaching and learning experiences.

We must give students the opportunities to research and collaborate online, evaluate the content readily available on the web, and teach young people to appreciate or respectfully cope with the diversity of opinions, experiences, and needs for using a communications tool as powerful as the Internet. If we can prepare our children for the many needs of today's digitally driven world, then we give them a leg up on the challenges that are yet to cross their paths in the future.

In absence of adult leadership, many children are already discovering the possibilities of the Internet on their own. But unfortunately without the guidance of responsible adults, they are making up rules that serve to enable their creative work, but disregard obligations to their global village. We must teach our children well. And if we succeed, then they will become digital citizens who someday will stretch the creative and economic potential of technology.

As Yogi Berra once said, "The future ain't what it used to be."

Playing for Change

Playing for Change has been around a couple of years, but it's worth mentioning to those who are not familiar with this charitable project. Its purpose is to bring together musicians from around the world to remind us that universal loves can transcend issues that divide us. If you haven't heard their music or seen their web site, please take a moment. Their music and purpose are soulful and just.

The Art of Remixing

Spend five minutes on YouTube and you'll spot thumbnail descriptions of numerous videos that have been inspired or remixed from its original content. For today's generation of video producers and consumers, taking original video material, recreating it at home, and sharing it with a worldwide audience is the new normal.

For instance, take this original video called David After Dentist. Within a couple weeks of its posting on YouTube last year, it had been seen by millions, having gone, as they say, "viral."



The video has drawn a number of responses, mostly laughter, some critical for recording the child in a moment of vulnerability. But it has also inspired that so-called highest form of praise-- copying.



The Chad Vader video is an example of how one form of expression can motivate and inspire others to create in the manner in which they've been influenced. In other words, Chad, meet David. Or to rephrase, "art begets art."

Now some readers might feel I'm taking creative license in calling both videos art. Ok, sure, so they're not exactly cut from the cloth of Fellini or Scorcese. But art is an opportunity to express feelings and perspectives of our world. No matter its form, art, when produced skillfully, can be provocative, inspiring, exhausting, exhilarating, illuminating, and entertaining.

Which brings me to the Backyardigans. One night I ran an online search for Backyardigan videos. My daughter loves this TV show. Me too. Cute animated animals singing songs about childhood fantasies: racing cross country, sailing the high seas, and becoming pirates and mermaids. After striking out on the Nick Jr. site, I turned to the Internet's one stop (window) shopping for video-- YouTube. I was unable to find a particular song that was kicking around in my head, but I was astounded at what I had discovered.

Apparently, there is a community of Backyardigans 'remixers.' They take original Backyardigans video, cleverly cut and splice scenes within or among episodes and add a soundtrack. Here's how the Backyardigans usually sound.

And here's a remix.



One can find a number of video clips on YouTube that were "borrowed" from cable TV broadcasts, web sites, or copyright protected Backyardigans DVDs and then digitally manipulated and reinterpreted. There is no shortage of inexpensive video editing equipment and software to crack DVD encryption codes that are designed to prevent copying. Video artists are in their hey day and in regards to many popular children's shows, as one YouTube contributor says, "The moment we've all been waiting for... Colorful dancing 3-D rendered animals and rock music. Don't hurt me. it's one in the morning."

Now there are a ton of legal issues here that I'll save for another posting, but for the moment I'll sidestep them in order to get to a point. Our economy has become the casualty of a new China Syndrome. The old syndrome was the metaphor for a catastrophic nuclear meltdown in which a super heated reactor would melt straight down to the earth's core, then on to China.

Today's meltdown involves our economy, our manufacturing base, and ultimately our jobs, with China being but one of many overseas destinations. That said, shouldn't we be working on ways to rethink and restructure our economy, to find sources of income and employment that currently do not exist. (See Thomas Friedman's column on The New Untouchables) Where might these innovative and creative ideas come from?

Interestingly enough, they just might be coming from people like David's dad, Chad Vader, and other YouTube posters who are burning the midnight oil to find new ways to make people stop and think.

An Open Letter to Google

Dear Google,
It's been four months since you broke my heart. Since you rejected my application to the Google Teachers Academy. I've gone through my dark days of isolation and despair, but I can now see a slim light of recovery peering through the curtains.

Rejection is always hard, whether from that little blonde-haired girl I knew in 4th grade, czarist and delusional Co-Op Boards, or even from a global, communications titan, for whom rejection is merely a means of clearing a path towards global domination.

I've gotten over the hostility that comes with scorn and humiliation. I have reined in that urge to barrel into a Kelly Clarkson-type rampage. And I have resumed my responsibilities as an educator which include sharing Google resources for school and home. Recently, I convened staff and shared a few tricks that can be performed in the Google search window. For instance,

• solve a math problem ex: 270 divided by 9
• get the weather ex: weather scarsdale, ny
• currency conversion ex: peso to us dollar or 20 dollars to yen
  
• world time ex: time in bangkok
• area/zip code ex: area code in omaha, ne
• movie times ex: slumdog millionaire 10583 or movie listings 10583
• definitions ex: define: mercurial
  

And this is just a sliver of the many things you can offer. In the coming weeks, I'll share more tips. Although, I'll have to admit I cringe at the irony. I mean, here I am showing teachers what wonderful things they can do with Google, things that I had to research independently, which would have been unnecessary if you, Google, only paid closer attention to my application and teaching philosophy video, for which I spent hours upon hours of soul searching in seeking your approval and the opportunity to receive personal tutelage from your experts.

Perhaps I was unrealistically hopeful or misguided. To have given you so much of my heart and soul... and for what? I mean really, who do you think you are? Oh sure... "Hi! My name is Google. Yes, it's true. I'm so globally indispensable, my name's a verb. Have you met my friend Photoshop? We're actually leaving this party. On our way to a party about global conquest. Bill Gates. Warren Buffet. Oprah. They'll all be there."

Wow. Ok. So maybe I'm not completely over the rejection.

Reinventing the Wheel

When I hear the phrase "Why reinvent the wheel?" it's often used to end discussion. It is the gavel that closes a hearing, a metaphor that has become a foregone conclusion implying that what has been done before should continue to be done, lest we waste valuable time and energy attempting to create something that is new, but inferior compared with the original.

And while people may take a solution that is tried and true, then build upon this foundation to make something better, my concern is that this phrase is too often used as a device to deny creative pursuits.

Yes, there is expedience and often sound judgment in relying on the wheel and not having to remake it, but tradition should not stand in the way of adaptation when situations warrant. Technology has changed so much of how we engage in daily activities, while shaping the routines and perspectives of our children, that it stands to reason that so many of the wheels in our lives are now being reinvented because new creative and functional solutions are within reach.

Today's children must be challenged to innovate and find imaginative solutions to problems in school and out. The time has come to create a generation of problem solvers who strive to think differently.

It has been more than 5,000 years since the wheel was first used on Mesopatamian chariots and about 40 years since the Flintstones left prime time. Shouldn't we be ready to reinvent a few wheels in our lives by now?

So from here on, when I hear the phrase "Why reinvent the wheel?" I propose "Why drive, when you can fly?"

Free and Legal Online TV

Back when I was young, jobless, indifferent to school, responsibilities, the future of my country, in other words, a teenager, I would spend my free time (of which upon reflection, there was a great deal) in front of the television. It was the 70s & 80s, that Taupe Age of Television. Sobering civic and social issues would on occasions interrupt the canned laughter and slapstick dialogue between chatty characters with sparkling teeth, dimples, and one liners (Whatchoo talking 'bout, Willis?)

It's the late 70s, about 330 in the afternoon, and I've rushed home from school to watch... One Day at a Time. Bonnie Franklin is a single mom, ooo a divorcee as they used to say, raising two teenaged girls played by MacKenzie Phillips and (steady... steady...) Valerie Bertinelli who would go on to crush the hearts of boys and young men everywhere, when in real life she ran off with guitarist Eddie Van Halen. A rock star, figures. So appropriate for the time. Today, she probably would've hitched up with a fireman. And of course, the fourth main character of the show was Schneider the building superintendent, macho-extraordinnaire, with the swagger of a worldly man who's seen things, you know, "like in 'Nam," when in truth, the only battles he'd done were with overflowing toilets.

A few weeks ago I had been experiencing random nostalgic moments, one of which happened to include this sitcom. And even though this program ranks nowhere near my Top Ten All-Time list of television sitcoms, it marks a certain time in my life that I do want to remember. Mostly, so I don't make the same mistakes my parents made when they raised me.

But at about the same time I was feeling nostalgic, I was introduced to a web site www.hulu.com.
Hulu is an online library filled with television programs, past and present. You can find several episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends and its clever wordplay, which is as funny today as it was back then ("You're back in one piece" -- "You were expecting installments?"); the A-Team, featuring who else, but Mr. T; Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno as Bruce Banner in the Incredible Hulk, along with current shows such as Heroes and the Simpsons.

Hulu is free, online viewing of many television shows AND featured films, such as Pride of the Yankees, Rudy, and get this, the first three Karate Kid flicks. Talk about living large! Hulu is advertising supported, so you'll have to watch a brief commercial at the beginning and occasional superimposed ads.

Still, the quality of this viewing experience is much better than watching on Google Video or YouTube. And by watching on Hulu as well as the other broadcast network websites (ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, WB, etc), you don't have to worry about the consequences of downloading favorite shows from foreign-based websites that do not recognize US law, quite possibly facing litigation from the major entertainment studios for video piracy and copyright infringement.

And since you're most likely reading this blog on your district issued laptop, please let it be known that the Scarsdale Public Schools will not take kindly to being named as your co-defendant.

Hulu.com... it's legal.

The Internet is Evil (or is it?)

Many educators and parents dwell on the dark side of the Internet. They say Google, YouTube, Wikipedia are the Internet's Axis of Evil. They are a Trilogy of Terror, the same name of the classic 70s B movie with one hokey horror story after another.

Yes. To quote the Frankenstein monster, in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, "Fire is bad." But fire is also good. It can warm leftovers, regenerate forest life, provide a soothing ambiance around the bubble bath... so I'm told.

The Internet is no different. One can find images, videos, and ideas that are bad or false, that assault our moral sensibilities and skew our research. On the other hand, there's so much good that it does provide. And knowledgeable people, who are able to navigate the world wide web, who can locate, evaluate, and verify sources, and apply information that has been mined from the Internet, will become this century's leaders in our schools, our communities, and our workplaces, not just where we live, but around the globe.

Thanks to the Internet and its ability to connect us with people anywhere in the world, even in real time, we are no longer limited to "Think Globally, Act Locally." Now we can think and act globally AND locally at about the same time.

So what does this mean for parents and teachers? We need to be better prepared for this current world order. We need to provide children with guidance and supervision. Our instincts prompt us to steer children out of harm's way. But how will they respond if they do wind up in harm's way? How will we have prepared them for this inevitability?

It is imperative that ALL parents and educators have basic Internet skills because like it or not our children will acquire and develop them. And some day they will wind up in harm's way. And the question that will be asked is, "How did we prepare them for this inevitability?"

We prepare them by setting aside petrifying, Internet fears and cynicisms and acknowledge the possibilities of a WiFi, interconnected global community through our own personal web searching practice. We do this to create a common ground for conversation with our children, so that we can provide credible guidance and supervision during their web work (please read this NY Times article about the literacy debate regarding online reading) . We take them by the hand and show them how to find pieces of information on the Internet, synthesize them, and evaluate them for accuracy and usefulness to their research needs.

But most important, in this struggle between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants we need to constantly impress upon them our Old World values. Our children, the Digital Natives, will be prepared for whatever horrors lurk on the Internet if the content of their character includes honesty, fairness, safety, social and family responsibility, and a passion for solving problems.

There is so much knowledge we can impart to our children as they encounter unfamiliar experiences whether in person or on the Internet. And the more we talk to them and share with them our experiences and the values that we hold tightly, the more likely our children will be able to deal with the pangs and bangs they endure in life, online and off. This is as they say, good teaching, good parenting.

I'm reminded of an old tale. A man falls into a deep hole in the ground. His repeated calls for help are unheard. And just when he's about to give up, another man appears at the top of the hole. But instead of lowering a rope, the would-be rescuer jumps into the hole. The first man is stunned and asks, "Are you crazy? What are you doing?" The second man replies with reassurance, "It's ok. I've been down here before. I know the way out."

iTunes U

Many college campuses have begun posting their course lectures as a free download in iTunes U. Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Oxford and many others post course materials to iTunes U. These lectures range from Psych 101 to guest speakers such as Thomas Friedman on how the world has become Hot, Flat, and Crowded, the title of his current book. You can also find on iTunes U an audio download of President Obama's Inauguration address. Again, it's free. Colleges and Universities have acknowledged that technology has affected learning styles and so they have decided to adapt to changing student needs. iTunes U is one way they have chosen to meet the 21st century needs of their clientele. If you're curious, launch iTunes, go to the Music Store, and search for iTunes U. So go ahead. Take another whack at higher education!