My Daily Affirmation

When I was a classroom teacher in the Bronx, the district office would occasionally send a team of inspectors to each school in its jurisdiction. It was an "all hands on deck" team, which even included non-education staff members. One year, I remember talking with my 4th grade students in my classroom, when the district accountant poked his head through the door. He didn't say hello or make eye contact with me. He just stood in the doorway, scanned the room, ticked items off his checklist and left, without saying thank you, goodbye, or making eye contact. And that was how the district evaluated me as an educator. A 5 minute, fly-by from the district accountant and his checklist. I'd like to think the standards and techniques for evaluating teachers have improved, since the 90s. But if they had evolved to take into account the complexities of managing diverse, personalized learning needs, while growing a community of learners, would an accountant be able to reliably evaluate a teacher's performance? Probably not. And that's why in this country, we have high-stakes tests, the ultimate clipboard checklist. But that doesn't stop a good teacher from trying to move even the most challenging students...forward.

Pixie Sticks!

When I see my elementary students light up each time they launch the art program Pixie, I think about how art is often abused in public schools.

Let's get this straight. Art is not a curriculum checklist item. It is also not an enrichment activity or a pleasing diversion from the rigors of the school day. Instead, it is essential to growing young minds and developing the intellectual skills needed for success within the traditional curriculum and even further.

Let's take a look at drawing. For some parents, cynicism and disgust is a natural response to the umpteenth sketching of Thomas the Tank (read Mom, You're One Tough Art Critic from the NY Times). But when children have the opportunity to draw freely, they are exercising their brains.
To borrow from an article written by Jean Mormon-Unsworth:

"Art is not just skill. It is the process of thinking, imagining, risking, seeing connections, inventing, expressing in unique visual form. Drawing is as basic and essential a mode of expression as is language and writing. Everyone can draw. And, just as we all learn the same form of cursive writing but develop an individuality that becomes our identification, so our drawing develops as individually as our writing. The task of a teacher is not to tell the student what it should look like; rather, the teacher's role is to lead the student to look. There is no absolute standard of good drawing."

In Scarsdale, elementary students come to the computer lab and use a drawing program called Pixie. This software is easy enough for a kindergartner to master the basics (my pre-K daughter loves it too!), while offering sophisticated features that an older elementary student can appreciate as well.

Pixie is the drawing/painting equivalent of a sandbox. Children jump in, grab a paint brush, and splash the digital canvas with color. They stamp images from a bountiful graphics library. They smear paint and grab a roller to leave a trail of balloons or animal tracks. And as if life in the sandbox couldn't get any better, Pixie connects to your computer's built-in web cam allowing students to add pictures of themselves to their artwork. Talk about setting a classroom on fire!

Interested in buying a copy for home use? The company, Tech4Learning, is selling this program for $25, that's more than 50% off the list price. Visit their site here and use this Discount Code: HUCVL100

Over the last ten years in Scarsdale, we've tried a number of art programs at the elementary level, each too flawed to continue, but I have a feeling Pixie will stick around.

King of the Mont(blanc)

Producing holiday cards can be stressful. Themes, costumes, set designs. So many choices. But this year, my wife and I ditched them all as the postal deadline got closer.

Instead, we used pre-existing photos and Shutterfly! Done!

Using web services like Shutterfly, American Greetings, or Jib Jab to produce photo cards, e-cards, and animated movies can certainly cut down on stress and production time. And animated greetings like the one I made using Jib Jab took 15 minutes to produce, but I'll enjoy it for the rest of my life.

Now on the surface, it might seem I've identified another arena where digital gives "hand-cranked" technology a beat down. But let's be clear. My wife and I didn't write holiday cards. We produced and sent them, but didn't write unless, "Happy holidays from the Tomizawas" in red blazoned text counts as writing.

This is not writing, it's efficiency. Technology for the masses makes life a little easier and a little less stressful. Still, for every leap forward we take with technology, we tend to lose a step somewhere else. For instance, I don't have any numbers to make this point, but I'm guessing we were probably a more literate nation (read and wrote more) before television, not to mention the Internet and YouTube. And in the days before GPS, I'll bet more people could find their way out of the wilds by pinpointing their position using the sun or stars. Nowadays, people can barely find their way out of the mall parking lot, GPS or not.

Technology has great power in connecting people, but only virtually. And in a virtual world, everyone keeps their hands to themselves. You can't hug someone online, although apparently there's a service for that too. Yes, I love writing letters and cards by hand. There are only a handful of people like me left.

Handwritten notes, letters, and greeting cards provide an intimacy that electronic messages cannot. They provide a direct connection between reader and writer through paper that is literally touched by both, through the ink that seemingly carries the smell and caress of the writer's hands, and through thoughtful, inspiring, and loving words which flow from one person to the other from the moment the envelope is opened. They are deeply personal and everlasting.

Can an email, ecard, photocard, or animated Flash movie top that?

I guess the short answer is, it depends on who's writing. These days if you walk into a greeting card store, you'll find thousands of cards that do the talking for you. Just sign your name to it. You know how hard it is to find a blank greeting card these days? It's as if we are being told, "You have no words of value to share with your daughter on the eve of her wedding, so let this card do the talking with its catchy limerick from Shoebox Greetings."

But look at me, the hypocrite. While my holiday photo card allowed me space on the back to embrace individual friends and family with handwritten words filled with sentiment, grandeur, and herald angels, albeit over the Shutterfly invoice order number and date stamp, we mostly went with "Happy holidays from the Tomizawas" and slapped a postage stamp to it.

Now I'm going to have to atone for my sin. Where did I leave the pen and paper? But first, let me take one more look at our holiday video!

Why Blog?

Well, I certainly don't blog for the readership. For me, it's a creative outlet. A constant reminder that I should be writing something else, but at least I'm writing. Although I will say it feels great when I hear that it is being read.

When students blog at Edgewood it's an opportunity to practice skills and etiquette required in an online community, while sharing ideas, perspectives, and attitudes. For teachers, it's not only a means to assess student learning, but an opportunity to correct breaches of etiquette that if gone unchecked can become those infamous incidents that make tabloid news.

A good friend of mine blogs with her first grade students. She recalled a parent who once questioned the appropriateness of first graders participating in online work. Perhaps 5th grade, the parent suggested. My teacher friend replied, "If we wait 'til 5th grade, we will already have lost them." In short, if disregard for civic and moral obligations go unaddressed they might become deep-seated and possibly inextricable. That's why it's important to expose our young children to social media (videochats, blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc) as early as possible and walk them through their responsibilities to fellow members of their online community.

When I see students participating in a class blog I think about my own childhood. I wish my teachers had blogged with me. That way whenever a teacher had asked if any student had questions about a lesson that was so overwhelming and convoluted I would have been able to say, "Yes! Me! I don't get it! Help!" and slam the brakes on the teacher before he moved on to the next subject. Instead, I was too afraid to compose an intelligent question or articulate my confusion. I was incapable of asking for help.

So, I'd walk home frustrated, full of despair. Until suddenly, it would hit me. And I'd have the question and the words to articulate exactly what I would need from my teacher. But by morning, that language would be gone, buried in fear and the shame of my own ignorance. In class, the teacher would move on, confident that every child was ready to move forward. And I would slip back, a little further, each day.

This is why I love watching teachers blog with their students. They post discussions to their blog, prompting students to reflect on what they learned, assessing their learning through their ideas, and using their questions to frame subsequent class conversations or entire lessons.

They're giddy, confidently sharing observations and questions, responding to comments posted by other classmates, while demonstrating a healthy respect and appreciation for the words and wisdom of their peers, ultimately creating an environment in which no child is left behind.

Measuring Great Schools

Lately, my daughter Isabella has been singing of a "sentimental feeling." Why a 3 year old would be having feelings of nostalgia was beyond me. Then again, I thought, well the holidays ARE just around the corner.

But it turns out she was practicing a song for her pre-school holiday show. It was Rocking Around the Christmas Tree -- "you will get a sentimental feeling when you hear... Voices singing let's be jolly, deck the halls with boughs of holly..."

My daughter loves school. She loves her teacher, her friends, her schoolmates --older and younger--, and even loves homework. Isabella and her friends make school seem so carefree and important and fun all at the same time. I suppose for young children, it is.

So why does school have to change for so many students, teachers, and parents? Why did it change? Throughout this country, we talk of the importance of "love of learning," perhaps my least favorite cliche in education, although it has plenty of competition. But what does "love of learning" mean when student and teacher achievement is primarily measured with raw numbers? I can't think of anything further removed from love than using numbers to quantify it.

I question any educational system's ability to promote a love of learning culture, when its priority, official or not, is to test its way to the global apex of student achievement and to use test scores as a measurement of student performance relative to kids in other countries. Not because I disagree with the idea of testing, but because I disagree with tests that are based on standards and skills that represent only a fraction of those needed to prepare our children for the global challenges of today and tomorrow and in the process suck the love out of learning (and teaching).

Too often it seems that our political leaders just want numbers to establish the appearance of greatness. Perhaps it's to earn re-election to public office. Or maybe it's to show that we're still a pre-eminent nation and no country, let alone one smaller than Rhode Island, should ever upstage America. Is it even possible to promote a love of learning culture, when all that these officials want is to train American youngsters to beat kids from Singapore in the international math assessments? "C'mon!" they shriek, "We're America! We beat the Russians at Lake Placid! We won the Cold War! We can't lose to Singapore!

Cut to film studio.

Take Scene 97: America Restores Greatness in Education...roll film... and ACTION!

How do we beat those kids from Singapore? We must develop a sophisticated, carefully considered approach, marshaling good old fashioned American know-how.

First, we'll implement highly scripted curriculua that takes the pressure off teachers, allowing them to focus on content distribution, rather than say, teaching. Then for the kids, we'll lower the passing grades, so that many of our kids will do well on state tests. Brilliant idea, Texas!

Talk about your shot across the bow of the SS Singapore!

Wait, lowering passing grades didn't work. Still too many kids not passing state tests? So strange. What was that Texas? Just make the tests easier. Texas, I have no idea where you come up with these awesome ideas, but keep 'em coming!

Wait a minute. We still have too many failing kids on our rolls. Try what, Texas? Just kick the perpetually failing kids out of our schools so they no longer put a drag on our overall test scores. That's pure genius, Texas!

Hey wait, lowering passing grades, making tests easier, automatizing teachers, and kicking kids out of school appears to have made our kids dumber and less interested in learning. What do we do now, Texas? Anyone?

Cut to reality.

When we put too much emphasis on test scores, we become vulnerable to the weaknesses of a flawed testing system. We lose focus on the the social, emotional, and intellectual development of children. Judge a child solely on his/her performance on a math or literacy test and you miss the big picture. Our children have value far beyond what single-shot state assessments are capable of measuring.

I think about what it took for those Chilean miners to find the inner strength to stay alive. How do you measure fortitude? Perseverance?

What about the inner city child who rushes home after school to make sure his little brothers and sisters are fed and bathed, with homework finished, before mom returns from a long day at work? How do you measure devotion? Love?

In his new book called the Six Leading Edges of Innovation in Our Schools, Milton Chen quotes a former schools Superintendent who said that his single measurement of a great school is, "Do the kids run to school as fast as they leave it?"

And that's when my thoughts turn to Isabella. Sometimes I need to drag her out of school at the end of the day. I hope she never loses her love of learning.

Online Stopwatch

Need a new stop watch? Try the nifty Online Stop Watch.

It offers a variety of stop watches from the egg timer, to a lap splits count, to a metronome, and if you're really bored and want to live a virual life as a member of an explosives team, there's the Bomb Countdown, which is probably a safer pastime than Milton Bradley's Time Bomb that I had as a child. If you ended that game with only one black eye or chipped tooth, you considered yourself a winner!

A Culture of Participation

We are in a burgeoning Age of Online Participation. Burgeoning only because let's face it, who knows what tomorrow will bring and how technology will influence the extent of and enthusiasm for participation.

But for now, consider this. If Facebook and its 500 million active users were a nation, it would be the third largest behind China and India. Every minute, 24 hours worth of NEW video is posted to YouTube. And then, consider pro-democracy movements of recent years that were influenced by technology.

In Burma (Myanmar) 2007, anti-government rallies flare like wildfires, encouraged by messages and photos posted by bloggers and other online users, using foreign based web hosts, thus complicating the military government's crackdown efforts. In Iran 2009, the integrity of the presidential election is questioned publicly via Twitter Tweets in both Farsi and English, calling the attention of a global audience to ongoing government acts of injustice.

In previous years, before Tweeters, bloggers, and YouTubers, the rest of the world might have carried on without noticing that somewhere in the world, innocent people were being forcibly removed from their homes and detained without due process.

But today, we are living in a Culture of Participation, a phrase I first heard from educator Steve Hargadon. It is now the norm to email, post and read reviews on Amazon before buying online, upload images to shared photo sites such as Flickr, read Wikipedia, not to mention participate in the world of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Even elementary students are contributing to online conversations. At Edgewood, I surveyed students in grades 3-5 last spring. 53% say they have personal email accounts. 82% participate in a social networking site such as Moshi's Monsters, Club Penguin, YouTube, and even Facebook, which technically does not allow users under the age of 13.

Still, despite all the negative publicity geared towards the use of the Internet, these resources offer each online user a voice to be heard and shared. And in a time of increasing polarization in our country, where pundits and public officials are grabbing mics and air time to point fingers and incite fear, more than ever we need to hear voices of reason, compromise, and justice for all.

I'm Sure I've Seen Dumber

I've been reading a book called The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein. It contends that despite the many promises made of new technologies to revolutionize learning, they are more likely making our young people stupid...er.

The author marches out a brigade of statistics from national academic, arts, and research groups. The numbers show that young people aren't reading anymore. Their writing skills are unacceptable for college and the workplace. They are disinterested in artwork that's not a product of their culture. And they lack the mental stamina to stay focused on singular projects that require intensive critical thinking.

And then I put the book down on my nightstand, next to several other books I haven't finished reading.

I understand the distress felt by this author and many others. It's today's adults believing that today's youth lack knowledge, responsibility, and accountability. Of course, with Social Security running on empty, a booming global population that will threaten the viability of natural resources, and an endless parade of pandering, self-indulgent public officials who are more focused on, above all else, staying in power... well... I guess the feeling is mutual.

And while the author makes a compelling case, I hope it becomes more than self-righteous fodder for those already forecasting a nuclear winter, circling 2012 on their Mayan kitchen calendars, and sporting bumper stickers that read, "Nostradamus was right!"

And yes, I've seen other distressing numbers too. Our nation's students have more school days than many other developed nations, yet their performance lags in areas such as math and science, two subject areas that will produce the engineers and ingenuity needed to change the world's economy. Back in the days of the Apollo space program, most NASA engineers were in their 20s. Today, they're in the 40s. One presenter at a tech conference I attended mentioned that today there are more NASA engineers in their 60s, than in their 30s.

Where are NASA's future engineers? Possibly in China or India which are graduating more engineers from college than the US.

Regardless, I'm more of a "future is bright. Gotta wear shades" type of optimist. Especially when I see my two little kids jostling playfully in the shopping cart. Maybe one of them is a future NASA engineer.

Mr. Bauerlein begins a terrific conversation. So I will add that today's young people have developed skills that were not foreseen, ten years ago, applying technologies that were not imagined 15 years ago, sharing their ideas through a medium (the Internet) that did not exist to the public 20 years ago. They can mobilize, inspire, and inform hundreds, thousands, millions of people with the tap of a keystroke, thus creating a new power structure, where anyone has a say in decision making. Potentially, it offers the purest form of democracy.

This ability cannot be dismissed, no matter what the statistics say. Sure, it's a goofy idea that one electronic message can mobilize dozens to Grand Central Terminal to freeze their bodies at a precise time all for the sake of 'performance art,' but anyone who's ever tried to organize a group of children or teachers... you have to admit, it's pretty impressive.

So perhaps the problem is not so much the youth of today, but with the educational system-- a system that reflects the needs of an agricultural and industrial society of long ago-- that the grown-ups have stuck them with. Maybe the problem is with inadequate assessments that don't paint a complete picture of the learner and uninspiring curriculua or teaching strategies.

That said, it is imperative for educational leaders, parents, and bureaucrats in charge of what is taught in schools to reshape the curriculum so that we can make the best of the know-how, curiosities, and passions of today's students. Learning should be experiential. It should be fun and it should be relevant to our world. How much more powerful will the writings of Shakespeare, Newton, and Gandhi be when their words are invoked by teachers in a manner that connects students to their experiences? As adults, if we can create learning contexts for kids to apply their creative talents, then perhaps we won't be complicit in raising the Dumbest Generation.

Edgewood News. We're Fairly Balanced

Jillian, a second grader, came up to me one day and told me a joke: "Why don't skeletons like scary movies? Because they don't have the guts."

On the one hand, very cute. On the other, Jillian did something that kids do naturally. She shared a joke. And just like that, Jillian had unwittingly launched the latest page of Edgewood News, our Jokes page.

Edgewood News, in case you haven't visited the site, publishes audio and visual content that highlight special people and events in our school. And while the web site has been magnificently designed and maintained by Edgewood's super tech genius, Mr. Cadalzo, the content is generated entirely by students.

Mr. Cadalzo, along with Mr. DelMonaco, Mr. Scholl, and myself are the staff advisers for the Media Club, which includes students from grades 3, 4, and 5, who gather during weekly lunch sessions to work on their news stories for the web site or produce Keynote slides for EagleVision, the wide screen TV in our main lobby.

Student work in the Media Club is impressive for its scope and independence. The students pitch the stories, take photographs, identify resources for interviews, develop questions, book, conduct, record, and transcribe interviews, extract audio excerpts, write a script (sometimes collaboratively) grounded in research information culled from interviews, then either produce a Keynote slide or edit an audio story using the Garageband software. Not a bad working lunch.

The angle of each story, whether for EagleVision or Edgewood News, is the kid's perspective. Staff advisers provide some technical and editorial assistance, but mostly we help students stay focused on their story, perspective, and voice.

We're also working on multiple ways for kids to interact with the website. For instance, we provide a moderated comments section in which visitors can leave positive feedback for published students. And it's a good way to practice appropriate online behavior. Visitors can also upload video suggestions for our 3 Words segment, which is in its infancy, but gaining traction. And finally, our latest venture in online interactivity, the Jokes page.

Ultimately, stories produced by the Media Club for EagleVision and Edgewood News will give readers, viewers, and listeners a sense of what we value in our school, from our school's most important contributors, those in the K-5 demographic.

Do you want to see photos of the entire school making our Swimmy photo? Edgewood News has it! Want to know about life as a firefighter? Got that too! Ever wondered why the teacher always wore sunglasses to school? Well, I won't spill the punchline, but you can find it here too.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

My wife was chatting on the phone with her mother, speaking in Spanish, interspersing the conversation with the name of my daughter. I turned to my 3 year old daughter and said, "You're going to have to learn Spanish." She replied, "Que?"

My kid, like many of my students, is constantly surprising me with her quick thought and information processing, as well as her impeccable comedic timing.

And as her dad, I know my responsibility is to feed her stimulating, intellectual opportunities so that she can go forward to create, participate, and share with the world, while squeezing in the occasional stand-up at Dangerfields.

At the Edgewood lunchtime Media Club, we give our students time to explore and create. Two students in Mrs. Huang's 5th grade class came to the lab, opened up the Garageband audio editing software, which they were using in Ms. Forte's music class, and created the Circuit Rap. This song was a reflection of their classroom lesson on electricity.

I find that the key to positive learning is teaching basic skills, then giving kids time and opportunity to practice and discover. And when they discover, as a researcher, I learn so much.

Adora Svitak is a 12-year old author, public speaker, and according to the media notes, a child prodigy. She agrees that "learning between grownups and kids should be reciprocal."

She recently spoke at a TED conference. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design and these conferences bring in speakers who have ideas that are deemed worthy of sharing with the world.

This tender-aged presenter is a gifted and polished public speaker. And her ideas are compelling, although not new to every educator.

She reminds her audience, consisting primarily of adults, "The way progress happens is because new generations and new eras grow and develop and become better than the previous ones. It's the reason we're not in the Dark Ages anymore. No matter your position or place in life it is imperative to create opportunities for children so we can grow up and blow you away."

Take a few moments to watch her presentation. She'll blow you away.

Please Sir, I Want More... Homework

This video production from some forward thinking teachers in Ohio reminds me of a presentation I saw last year at a technology conference.

The keynote speaker asked: "Why don't kids demand more homework? Why aren't they begging for more homework?"

He noted that kids will go home and dedicate hours of their unstructured, free time to playing video games, chatting online, uploading and sharing videos, listening to their iPods, blogging, texting friends, and pursuing their curiosities on the Internet.

Yet when these highly motivated learners return to school, just about all of these activities are taken away because they are deemed distractions or inappropriate to the curriculum.

These tools and resources that occupy so much of their time at home are the favorite toys in this century's digital playground. Young people, elementary school aged and older, are devoting hours upon hours of their free time in this playground, finding their speaking/writing voice, exchanging ideas with a global audience, collaborating with peers, analyzing and synthesizing information from multiple sources, developing effective presentation skills, and educating themselves in order to refine tastes and pursue personal interests. All before dinner time.

Looking for a powerful and sustainable source of energy? Look no further than the kids in the classroom. Motivated learners can energize the learning day and drive the curriculum to places educators probably couldn't anticipate. Places where the "aha" moments are replaced with souped up "holy crap!" moments. This is where we need to be. This is maximum fuel efficiency.

The world has changed considerably in the last thirty years and so have learners. The learning day and the school day are no longer synonymous. When kids express an interest in something, they have the capability to find a teacher from anywhere in the world, any time of the day. Teaching practices that thrived in the 70s and 80s (and earlier) are not equally effective with today's learners.

Each day educators must ask: Are we getting the most out of our kids? Are we making them ants-in-the-pants ready for the next intellectual challenge? Are we settling for a captive audience or shooting for the captivated audience? We should be shooting for captivated every time. Why else would a teacher take the job?

Lost in Translation

The other day in the family car, my 3 year old daughter and her Japanese grandmother, attempted to jump a vast lingual divide.
It was like watching one of Evel Knievel's daredevil stunts. Not pretty. But you couldn't argue with the entertainment value.

I had just told my daughter that she was invited to jump on our neighbor's trampoline. I could see in the rear view mirror that she was excited. She repeated the word. "Champo-lean. Champo-lean. One champo-lean. Two champo-lean."

Her grandmother, who often gets her understanding of a conversation by focusing on random key words that are barely relevant to the discussion (example-- Me: "The car was sandwiched between the truck and the building." Her: "Today, I ate roast beef."), overheard my daughter and asked aloud, "Japanese?"

That's when the fun started.

My daughter replied, "Champo-lean."
"Japanese?"
"Champo-lean."
"I am Japanese."
"CHAMP-o-lean," snapped my daughter, not to be outdone in this inter-generational throw down. Having too much fun to mediate, I asked my daughter if grandma could go on the trampoline.

"Yes. But she has to take off her shoes. GRANDMA you have to take off your shoes!"
"Of course. I do. I take off my shoes. I am Japanese."

The best translation tools and voice recognition software in the world couldn't have saved this conversation. Google should know. They are among the industry's leaders in providing online translations. But despite the ability to process billions of English words, a few billion more than their competitors, Google translations aren't the most reliable. But if you'd like to give Google a shot at translating your letter to an overseas relative or reading a web page that was not composed in your native tongue, try some of their tools.

The latest Google venture certainly holds a great deal of promise for the hearing impaired. Google is applying its voice recognition software on videos that are shown on its subsidiary, You Tube. If you're watching a You Tube video, check the bottom right corner of the screen for the [CC]. Most often, you'll find that Closed Captions are not yet available on You Tube videos. But if you do, you may find not only an option for on-screen transcription, but an on-screen translation of that transcription in a slew of languages.

For instance, here is 9/11 era speech from President Bush and an essay on race in America from President Obama. The transcriptions on both speeches are mostly effective, although on President Obama's video I did notice one slight discrepancy when he referred to Ezequiel, but the translation said something about gills.

Still, for the hearing impaired, closed captioning on You Tube videos offers context that wasn't available before and is therefore a step in the right direction. Ken Harrenstien, the man who's spearheading Google's effort to add captions to their videos, is deaf. These days he can laugh at the absurd calculations produced by Google's data-driven translations. He's even quick to point out that the name You Tube comes out of the voice recognition program as You Too. Still, he's confident that the technology will continue to improve.

For now, if you're up for a good laugh, consider this: translation is a dish best served... scrambled. So if you're in no rush to catch the next trambilla, remember that life can be unpredictably joyful, when you don't aspire to literal meanings and settle instead for something that is completely different.

Letters to Haiti

Abraham Lincoln once wrote, "The legitimate object of government is to do for people what needs to be done but which they cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or cannot do so well for themselves."

Historians, news makers, media pundits, and opinion makers spin this quotation a number of ways that match one's political leanings, so I'll offer mine. I think Lincoln meant that people have an obligation to humanity. People should help people in need.

My father knew something about this. Long before I even knew of such a word, he showed me, through his actions, the meaning of the word compassion. He had faith in the kindness of strangers and believed we all owed a debt of gratitude to our family and community.

I thought of this when I heard the NPR story of a group of 5th graders in northern California who reached out to students in Haiti, sending them cards & letters, packets of seeds, and wishes for better days. But my eyes immediately teared up when I heard these students were from Northridge, California. This city was the epicenter of an earthquake in 1994. Dozens were killed, thousands were left homeless. These students were not yet born during this quake, but the stories of tragedy and loss are apparently still alive in their families.

Some might say it's easier to be compassionate and empathetic when one has personally experienced loss. These children probably grew up repeatedly hearing stories of their parents' devastation in The Great Quake of '94. But these children are also growing up in a time, when they know they have the ability to reach out to people from all over the world and in the best cases, help those in need. And they have jumped at this opportunity.

This is the strength of a new generation. Start ripples here. Send waves of relief somewhere over there. My father would be proud of these kids.

What's A Wiki?

This year a handful of Edgewood teachers are using class wikis. What's a wiki? A wiki is an online web space that can be edited by multiple users. It owes its name to the Hawaiian word wiki-wiki (rhymes with freaky), which means quick.

Wikis promote a sharing of ideas from a team of contributors. For example, we recently began a new wiki called 2waymichi, which compiles useful phrases for the new Japanese student. We're also working on wikis for other languages.

In other instances, wikis can be used to pool together research resources, or compile a list of problem solving strategies, or explain how they decoded a particular math problem. But because this shared information lives online, students can access these notes and resources when needed, provided they have Internet access.

Here's another use. A class can begin a writing assignment on its wiki. Instead of using a notebook, students can write on their designated wiki space. Classmates can be assigned as peer editors, who can lend a critical ear/eye, posting suggestions to the student's wiki space on how the writing might be improved. In this manner, writing can be developed seamlessly between home and school.

In this case, the wiki becomes a substitute for the notebook. It's important to remember that writing done in the notebook is considered draft work, not yet ready to be published. Misspellings and grammatical mistakes are temporarily forgiven. The same can be said for the wiki. Even though writing done here is visible to classmates, students are most often sharing experimental ideas, not necessarily finished products.

Wikis typically have some form of protection or privacy. Many are visible to the public, but only invited participants can edit text. And some wikis can only be seen by its members. In our district, many class wikis are only visible to its members. Some of these class wikis are produced by students as young as first graders. But for all K-12 students, we promote the importance of netiquette, which means respecting one's online community. This means we give our classmates a pat on the back in the name of creating a safe, productive, and fun learning environment.

Collaboration skills are essential in this global market and must be fostered and developed at an early school age. We can build these skills using a wiki, which does not require its collaborators to be in the same room, same school, or even the same country. If you'd like to learn a little more about wikis, click the video below.

Elvis or Billy Idol?

Tonight at the dinner table I flashed my 11 month old son a modest impersonation of Elvis, consisting of a raised, quivering upper lip. My son returned the gesture with a Billy Idol-like sneer. With two children, including a three year old daughter, who my wife likes to believe is the second most mature person in the house, our home life has been hectic, albeit with unmitigated... happiness.

Needless to say, maintaining this blog was a low priority in the last year. But here I am, in the middle of the night, trying to find the writing voice I misplaced somewhere between the pile of poopy diapers and those nightly, sprints from dinner to bed. I'll say this again, just to be completely clear. I said, "Poopy," comfortably and without shame.

Now that I've managed to climb back on this horse, I will try to stay on. I will resume blog entries that include the big picture look of technology in our world. And I will write more often about the technology work that is shaping the learning environment at Edgewood. That is, when my little Billy Idol isn't too busy Rebel Yelling at me.

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?"