New to Blogs and how we respond

Funny. I really liked listening to Will Richardson at the Etech conference down in Columbus in Early March, 2007. It really got me thinking and, even though I've been involved in this technology thing since we got our first Vic 20's in our school, it never ceases to amaze me how, teachers communicating together, sometimes reminds me of trying to talk to someone up-wind in a 50 mph thunderstorm.

At 8:31 am Sunday morning, April 14, 2007, Will posted a response to an article and his posting, One Laptop Per Child Begins, talked about getting $100 laptops into the hands of 3rd world children to level the playing field. Richardson states that, "As Chris notes, it does make you wonder what it’s going to take to make this happen in this country as well...what’s it going to take before we understand what No Child Left Behind really means?"

I read the blog responses, I added my own response (look below) and the funny thing is, I think only a couple people were really responding to what each other said. It was like...well... like talking up wind in a thunderstorm; no one was hearing each other.

It seemed, too, that unless you wrote a book, no one really wanted to respond to what you were saying. I guess we're all sucking up to the "popular" and "famous" in the web 2.0 world. There is a blog pecking order and, since I'm new to blogs...I'm on the low end of that pecking order. (I guess some will call it sour grapes).

So, in case anybody of unimportance or someone lower in the pecking order than I am ever reads this blog, I'm going to post my "Will Richardson Response" to the newly, coined OLPC (one laptop per child) initiative that has been put in place.

By the way, I was up early that morning; my response was number 4 on Will's OLPC response list. That was exciting. I felt like John Candy in that 1984 movie Splash, where Candy gets his letter to the editor published in a magazine. (Gee, I forget the name of the mag). I'm running around with my keyboard waving in the air yelling, "It's on his blog...it's on his blog!)

So, to answer the One Laptop per child question posed about "what's it going to take" to get people in the United States to recognize the importance of getting technology into the hands of every U.S. student, here we go.

One would think that, if school districts, boards of education, and teachers could really see the importance of getting these tools into the hands of all students in America, it would get done in spite of the cost. And if we, in education, could change the way that we teach if every student had laptops, then we could probably make the sacrifices to find the finances to buy laptops, even more expensive ones, and get them into student’s hands.

For example, we could cut into a textbook budget for a year, learn to use free internet sources, drop boxes, paperless assignments, or other things that would help us find the money. We certainly wouldn't be hurt by using web info that has to be more up-to-date than the textbooks we use, and take that money saved for a year and spend it on 21st century tools.

So, what does it take. I think everyone realizes that. As the cliche goes, "It ain't rocket science." It takes systemic change, and human change, one person at a time, one small group at a time, and one heck of a communication job to get the point across to all entities involved that technology, used correctly in the right learning environment, can make a difference on what students learn. We need to gather more data that proves all students meet proficiencies through engaged, technology-enhanced, well-designed learning experiences and get that message out there to the people in charge of decision-making. It's a slow but necessary process and it's got to start somewhere. You can put laptops into the hands of millions, but if the people who count don't know what to do with the technology wants its placed, then, well, it's just like my first year of teaching when I walked into a Cleveland Elementary school, looked into a back storage room and found thousands of dollars of Title I equipment in that room with an inch of dust covering it all. Never used; never missed.

What would be really cool is if we could get all of these educational consultants all on the same page. Could we get them to quit their isolated approaches of "I know what’s best for education" and "Follow" me down "the yellow brick road" to Education-Oz where life is cheery and learning is maximized and it will only cost a small stipend. (Just take a look at all the web pages of everything from assessment specialists, value-added, 9 steps to student achievement, right brain/left brain/no brainers... everyone has the answer, but every answer can only be seen if you buy a membership to uncover the master wizardry of "their thing", and only one answer will work, so don't waste your time on others, and here, behind the magic curtain, is the Truth that you've been seeking...that will be $150.00, please.)

With organizations like George Lucas Educational Foundation and Partnership for 21st century skills, who seem so closely aligned in their framework and philosophies, it would seem that, if all the ed consultants across our nation really cared about changing the educational world for the better, they could band together under one umbrella, convince people in power how to effect change, and they would still make their money helping teachers and administrators learn how to adapt to our new, flat world. The Partnership for 21st century skills or a George Lucas Edutopian foundation, these are good organizations. There philosopies are very similar and they encompass all of these private consultant philosophies. (Why don't these two groups join forces. Bill and Melinda Gates, Dr. Phil Schlechty, don't they all basically want the same thing and aren't their beliefs basically the same?)

Once aligned, as a group, we could all make a difference. In Washington, D.C., in state legislatures, in local school districts, and in colleges where new and experienced teachers are trained, we could, as a group, communicate with everyone who is involved in education and prove with new research and data what common sense tells us; that people (students and teachers) can be engaged to learn if we create the right experiences, assist the right guidance, and help them by providing the right equipment to get the job done.

We always need consultants and we always need their help and support to get the word out and to help teachers; theres plenty of money around. The only difference is that now we work together instead of separately. We get organized. We use the same education language. If we stand together, we can effect change. We help each other instead of competing; we use the same, successful teaching skills, we get support of the non-educational community. We could get every teacher up to speed with the way subjects need to be taught in this advanced technological world and to more technologically savvy students. We could call the movement, No Teacher Left Behind.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that, the $100 dollar laptop isn’t the problem. It wouldn’t matter if it cost $1000. We in teaching are certainly part of the problem. Until we can get educators more concerned and more knowledgeable about what student’s really need to know as they enter the adult world; until we get legislatures more in tune with the same important knowledge, until we get our own special interest group with teachers, administrators, and consultants leading the demand for change, then we’ll still be here, 50 years from now, wondering why we can’t get the “$5.00 expandable cell phone/laptop/snickerdoodle” or whatever the technology will be, into the hands of our students.

And if we do get that equipment into the hands of the students, hopefully, we won't be wondering, as teachers, "Well, now that we have it, what do we do with it?"

Using a Wiki in School Part 1

Getting ready to invest courage in a 7th grade math project with my classes was, well, scary. First, I haven't taught math in years, since I began being the tech guy at our school, and, second, because as I stated in one of my other postings, I was caught sleeping during the Web 2.0 invasion. It was an etech conference in Columbus this year and listening to keynote speakers Will Richardson and Susan Patrick that finally slapped me awake. Just as Susan Patrick was telling her education analogy about steamships and planes, I found myself on an old, steamship bound for 1961 (The year Roger Maris broke the Babe's 60 homerun barrier.) I guess, since 1961, better conditioning techniques, equipment (livelier balls), and training entered the game and "possibly" brought about the advancement of new homerun hitters like, McGwire and Sosa. But whether it was bouncier baseballs or not, the new techniques of developing our athletes certainly has had an impact on the game.

Now, just like baseball, education has new techniques, equipment, and training and I need to take advantage of what's available or I won't be an effective hitter in the game. Occasionally, I might be able to hit the homerun ball but I really want to hit over 60 of them in a school year (about 1 every 3 school days).

I guess, to carry the analogy a little further, the web 2.0; wikis, blogs, youtubes, flickr, vods and pods are the steroids that enter the game. They can be dangerous but they certainly enhance performance, and it's that danger that scares me. I know what kind of garbage is out there; the bad sites and the bad people. Most of our parents know what's out there and as a teacher and parent, I want to engage students so that they really want to learn, but I want to make sure that they want to learn the "right" things. I want to help them learn the things that will develop them to become a major league hitter in whatever profession they choose.

The Partnership for 21st century skills, Edutopia, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation certainly have identified those skills that students need to have and the approach that educators need to take to get our students to learn how to learn, and no matter what us old-timers say and do, we can't avoid the impact of that hi-tech trans-atlantic airplane/rocket/space shuttle/space elevator that is rapidly flying over our heads while our young ones fly in it every day without a well-defined, positive destination.

I certainly can't solve all the problems in the world or in education and I've already proven by my great sleeping ability that I'm not a leader in this field of technology integration. But, when I see something that makes sense and stimulates my desire to learn, like the potential value in education of a wiki or a secondlife.com, I've got to jump in regardless of my fears.

Luckily, I'm not in it alone, because I've got a real math teacher who also will invest her courage and time into the project. Collaboration; a 21st century skill, I guess it really is important.