My apologies to all the readers. I have had difficulties in accessing my own blog to publish new material. It seems with the addition of the new iPad and trying to connect my iPhone, iPad and computer so they would talk to each other I had to change account names and passwords. I've gotten so frustrated that on several occasions I have shut down the system to try again another day. Today I won.
Now to the merry month of May. If you have never taught in the public and I suspect private schools (K-12) you will understand that beginning in May the students start looking forward to summer vacation, the end of school, summer camp, seeing grandma, no homework and a vast amount of other thoughts. The old saying, "No more school. No more books. No more teacher's dirty looks," is very apt.
I remember although it was many years ago Jo Tyllia telling me to teach everything by Thanksgiving and then review. I thought she was crazy and didn't pay much attention. But she was correct--you teach how to learn, how to write your papers, how to turn in assignments, and all the details of "doing" learning and then as the year progressive as a teacher you just plug in the subjects. It is more difficult then it sounds. But by May the students know you well and have learned how to "press your buttons" as well and discipline in the classroom breaks down.
I doubt if any one class could take honors in "loosing their cool." Even the bands and choral groups, once they had given their spring concert found it hard to look at new music and preparing for the next year was impossible. It was time to pass out music that was fun and different. If I were teaching music now, today, I would have pass out some R & R stuff--easy stuff but which they could play LOUD. For the choral groups, some music from GLEE. Maybe I could bring in a parent who could teach the choral groups some new dance steps. Yeah!
But still my point is that May and June, until the end of school, is a difficult time to teach. Saying, "take out your social studies text" or "who has their assignment ready for the class," doesn't excite the learning nerves. They are jaded at this point.
I know of one high school civic teacher who every year brings in guest speakers such as the mayor, a city council person, someone from each of the political parties. She says that just having a different face up in front of the room helps keeps their attention. And indeed some learning is accomplished. Another high school teacher of English does improvisations of plots they have study during the year. The kids really enjoy this part and I have heard a few high school students say they try to take Ms. Smith in the spring just for this part of her class.
Grade school teachers as well have to come up with new ideas to keep their student's attention. I wonder what some of my old colleagues are doing now with the advent of computers in the classroom. I know I would be having some "search" questions for my students to do....'when you are done with your assignments'. You can't stop teaching to the curriculum and standards have to be met but there are various ways to motivate students.
But I have another point to make today. I see evidence of this problem in the local and national news, that of school administrators who are also getting tired and looking forward to not having students around for a while. Case in point, a middle school administrator called one parent and said, "please come and pick up your daughter--she is not dress appropriately for school." Oh, dear! Two weeks to go and the daughter is sitting in the principal's office. The picture of the girl was posted in another blog by the mother (who happens to be a journalist) and I could find nothing inappropriate. But to be fair perhaps the school had a school uniform, I don't know.
The there was the young boy who had his haircut designed with the face of his favorite sport figure on the back of his head. He was expelled from school and I suppose he might be allowed back if he shaved his head. This case baffles me. I've seen many students in school with....shall we say....interesting hairdos? I for one as a teacher is not going call a parent and say their student needs a better haircut. 'Tis a puzzlement.
This is my opinion but it seems to me that we are having more and more black and white decisions in the schools. A child does something and they are expelled. They say something and they are expelled. They wear something and they are expelled. In some cases a teacher has said something and she/he is put on administrative leave. There are no hearings that make the paper or the news, just the end result of expulsion or administrative leave. Perhaps the administration needs a break as well from the stress of teaching and learning....and administrating. It's the merry month of May.
Hang in there, teachers. Thanks for making it this far. Only a few weeks to go. Suck it in and give it your all. And..again, Thanks for this year.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
New Ways of Teaching
I opened my iPad the other day intent upon learning or relearning some mathematics. I was in one of those moods where if I learned something new I would feel better about myself. I had just finished Anna Quindlen's Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, a book about life after fifty, perhaps, even about growing older. Having just had a birthday (79) I was feeling a bit down in the dumps about my self and Quindlen's last chapter didn't help me much. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So I decided I would learn something that I had forgotten or perhaps learn something new.
In a different tack entirely, a friend of mine, Kaitlyn Cole, sent me a web site (blog) that was reviewing twelve schools that were using the Khan Academy learning materials with what seems like some success. Here, you can read it too. http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/04/12-inspiring-schools-using-khan-academy/ Take a moment to visit some of these school(s) and districts. You have to be impressed. One of the things that struck me from this blog was the fact that someone in each of these schools or districts has a good sense of the use of technology overall. Their web sites are well done, inviting parents to participate and the sites are easily traveled. In most of them I found references to Google apps and videos to help students complete their work and assignments. How cool is that? In any of these twelve schools, if a parent wanted to get involved with their children's education all they had to do was get on-line and check in.
Most of the schools seemed affluent or they were at least in communities that were supportive of the instruction. One school had forty percent of its population getting free lunch but was still showing increases in test scores. Pardon me while I ramble a bit--isn't it interesting that we now classify a school or a district by how many kids they have to feed, with the higher number indicating a poorer school while in Finland, ALL students get a hot meal at noon and their schools seem to be doing a better job of preparing kids for life in the real world.
Still having enough computers or pads (regardless of the brand) for the students to use has to be an expense for the school district. Can the kids take the iPads home? Insurance? To my friend, Ms Cole, we need a blog on how one district is using the Khan Academy and how much do the parents get involved. Interviews with teachers, parents and students would be helpful. And here is a tough question, what are the objectives? Where do they want to go?
However, the twelve schools mentioned seem to be on the right track and making positive use of the internet with material from the Khan Academy. Which brings me to my experiences of wanting to learn or re-learn something to make me feel better. Now remember, I wasn't feeling very positive about myself at this time. As a teacher I knew that I should do something that had a high success rate. Success breeds success--you have heard that from me over many blogs.
So I elected to tap the Show Me Interactive Whiteboard by Easel app. It came up quickly on my iPad but only in the landscape position. If you hold your iPad in the upright position we call this the portrait position as appose to the landscape position. Just want to be sure all of you are with me on this. Show Me comes up in landscape and gave me a selection of general subject areas starting with Math, science, languages, English, Social Studies and General. Within these general areas are further categories for you to choose. I chose Algebra.
Now why did I do that? I haven't used algebra in years--my last use was in navigational plotting of a sailboat going past a point of land to determine how far off we stood. By the time I calculated the distance we were long past that point of land. But that was a time before GPS. Today I measure the same distance in a moment on my chart screen and think nothing of it. I have to admit I haven't used what knowledge I gained about algebra in years. In this instance I was not smart. But ever onward and upward they say. I picked a lesson in the pre-algebra category entitled "Roots you need to know." It's a quick summary of certain roots one should know before starting into algebra....except I didn't even know my roots either genetically or mathematically. The young voice spoke to me like I knew what she was saying, saying essentially "..there were some roots that I was just going to have to know." And then she went on with the assumption that what she was saying made sense.
I found it interesting after a while to realize my old phobias of arithmetic and mathematics could still take a strong hold on me even at my advanced age. They were familiar tightening of the chest, worried feelings and some sweating of the palms. Didn't know that could still happen. And yet, I was in charge. I could turn off the iPad or better yet, switch to a book that I was enjoying. But let's reflect for the moment. What I needed was a good teacher at that moment. Someone with mathematical knowledge to know where I should start....and it wasn't in "roots you need to know". Somewhere further back, Roman numerals perhaps. In stone.
For kicks I decided to see what advance algebra would look like--maybe roots would look easier. I picked Factorization of Polynomials. The person explaining how to do this algebraic function didn't mention roots at all. Maybe i could skip them if they weren't going to be used in the factorization of whatever.
My point, gentle reader, is that I still need an arithmetic teacher to guide me upon this new learning curve. Where should I start. I scanned the arithmetic page and found a featured teaching lesson on Imaginary numbers. Yes, this might be the right place. Imaginary numbers...
There are several teachers who sometimes follow this thread that are math teachers and I hope they will not feel disrespected in any way. What I am trying to get is that having the Khan Academy or Show Me apps on your ipad or your computer is not the end all in learning. We still need teachers who understand where imaginary numbers or specific roots fit into the landscape of learning.
Good teaching starts with a description of where the learner is to go, what is to be achieved, what the end result will be. For most of us teachers it is called the objective. Perhaps this objective can be divided into tasks that once we mastered those tasks we will have achieve our objective. But good teaching has a third component--an acknowledgement of achievement. A pat on the back.
Look at it this way. (1) Here is what I am going to teach you. (2) Now I am teaching you. (3) This is what you have learned. In the medical profession there is a saying in learning to do an operation that goes like this: See one, do one, teach one. A little scary but perhaps it fits.
If I had a summary point to all what I have just written it would be that we need to know "What Knowledge is of most Worth." What should we teach our children? What do they need to know.
I think we are approaching a significant crossroads in education. There is so much to learn, maybe even too much. Anna Quinden says that so much of what she learned is not true or it is obsolete now. As we approach the end of our lives some of us oldsters are saying, "Now hold on. Is this important to a quality of life?" I think it might behove the Gates Foundation to maybe explore some possible curriculums which might include some of the Khan material. At least it would give school districts some 'objectives' to shoot for. But it will have to be, in the final way, what parents want for their children. We need to pass on the knowledge that is of most importance so they may do more then we did.
It appears this is already happening--there is this kid out there on the internet that know more about 'roots' then I do.
My thanks to my mathematics teachers who must have had their hands full with me. However, I seem to have survived and have used math to solve my problems. Thanks all.
In a different tack entirely, a friend of mine, Kaitlyn Cole, sent me a web site (blog) that was reviewing twelve schools that were using the Khan Academy learning materials with what seems like some success. Here, you can read it too. http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/04/12-inspiring-schools-using-khan-academy/ Take a moment to visit some of these school(s) and districts. You have to be impressed. One of the things that struck me from this blog was the fact that someone in each of these schools or districts has a good sense of the use of technology overall. Their web sites are well done, inviting parents to participate and the sites are easily traveled. In most of them I found references to Google apps and videos to help students complete their work and assignments. How cool is that? In any of these twelve schools, if a parent wanted to get involved with their children's education all they had to do was get on-line and check in.
Most of the schools seemed affluent or they were at least in communities that were supportive of the instruction. One school had forty percent of its population getting free lunch but was still showing increases in test scores. Pardon me while I ramble a bit--isn't it interesting that we now classify a school or a district by how many kids they have to feed, with the higher number indicating a poorer school while in Finland, ALL students get a hot meal at noon and their schools seem to be doing a better job of preparing kids for life in the real world.
Still having enough computers or pads (regardless of the brand) for the students to use has to be an expense for the school district. Can the kids take the iPads home? Insurance? To my friend, Ms Cole, we need a blog on how one district is using the Khan Academy and how much do the parents get involved. Interviews with teachers, parents and students would be helpful. And here is a tough question, what are the objectives? Where do they want to go?
However, the twelve schools mentioned seem to be on the right track and making positive use of the internet with material from the Khan Academy. Which brings me to my experiences of wanting to learn or re-learn something to make me feel better. Now remember, I wasn't feeling very positive about myself at this time. As a teacher I knew that I should do something that had a high success rate. Success breeds success--you have heard that from me over many blogs.
So I elected to tap the Show Me Interactive Whiteboard by Easel app. It came up quickly on my iPad but only in the landscape position. If you hold your iPad in the upright position we call this the portrait position as appose to the landscape position. Just want to be sure all of you are with me on this. Show Me comes up in landscape and gave me a selection of general subject areas starting with Math, science, languages, English, Social Studies and General. Within these general areas are further categories for you to choose. I chose Algebra.
Now why did I do that? I haven't used algebra in years--my last use was in navigational plotting of a sailboat going past a point of land to determine how far off we stood. By the time I calculated the distance we were long past that point of land. But that was a time before GPS. Today I measure the same distance in a moment on my chart screen and think nothing of it. I have to admit I haven't used what knowledge I gained about algebra in years. In this instance I was not smart. But ever onward and upward they say. I picked a lesson in the pre-algebra category entitled "Roots you need to know." It's a quick summary of certain roots one should know before starting into algebra....except I didn't even know my roots either genetically or mathematically. The young voice spoke to me like I knew what she was saying, saying essentially "..there were some roots that I was just going to have to know." And then she went on with the assumption that what she was saying made sense.
I found it interesting after a while to realize my old phobias of arithmetic and mathematics could still take a strong hold on me even at my advanced age. They were familiar tightening of the chest, worried feelings and some sweating of the palms. Didn't know that could still happen. And yet, I was in charge. I could turn off the iPad or better yet, switch to a book that I was enjoying. But let's reflect for the moment. What I needed was a good teacher at that moment. Someone with mathematical knowledge to know where I should start....and it wasn't in "roots you need to know". Somewhere further back, Roman numerals perhaps. In stone.
For kicks I decided to see what advance algebra would look like--maybe roots would look easier. I picked Factorization of Polynomials. The person explaining how to do this algebraic function didn't mention roots at all. Maybe i could skip them if they weren't going to be used in the factorization of whatever.
My point, gentle reader, is that I still need an arithmetic teacher to guide me upon this new learning curve. Where should I start. I scanned the arithmetic page and found a featured teaching lesson on Imaginary numbers. Yes, this might be the right place. Imaginary numbers...
There are several teachers who sometimes follow this thread that are math teachers and I hope they will not feel disrespected in any way. What I am trying to get is that having the Khan Academy or Show Me apps on your ipad or your computer is not the end all in learning. We still need teachers who understand where imaginary numbers or specific roots fit into the landscape of learning.
Good teaching starts with a description of where the learner is to go, what is to be achieved, what the end result will be. For most of us teachers it is called the objective. Perhaps this objective can be divided into tasks that once we mastered those tasks we will have achieve our objective. But good teaching has a third component--an acknowledgement of achievement. A pat on the back.
Look at it this way. (1) Here is what I am going to teach you. (2) Now I am teaching you. (3) This is what you have learned. In the medical profession there is a saying in learning to do an operation that goes like this: See one, do one, teach one. A little scary but perhaps it fits.
If I had a summary point to all what I have just written it would be that we need to know "What Knowledge is of most Worth." What should we teach our children? What do they need to know.
I think we are approaching a significant crossroads in education. There is so much to learn, maybe even too much. Anna Quinden says that so much of what she learned is not true or it is obsolete now. As we approach the end of our lives some of us oldsters are saying, "Now hold on. Is this important to a quality of life?" I think it might behove the Gates Foundation to maybe explore some possible curriculums which might include some of the Khan material. At least it would give school districts some 'objectives' to shoot for. But it will have to be, in the final way, what parents want for their children. We need to pass on the knowledge that is of most importance so they may do more then we did.
It appears this is already happening--there is this kid out there on the internet that know more about 'roots' then I do.
My thanks to my mathematics teachers who must have had their hands full with me. However, I seem to have survived and have used math to solve my problems. Thanks all.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
We Need a New Curriculum
I have been reading a lot these past few weeks, both on my Kindle (2) and my iPad (2). Both devices have their advantageous. I like the feel of the Kindle however, I have a very nice leather cover for it, so that could bias my thoughts, although the Kindle battery lasts much longer. Of course the Kindle does not have color so that is probably why it lasts longer.
But then the iPad is easy to read in low light conditions because of the back lighting--which of course, means that the battery lasts for about ten hours at best. It's okay as long as I remember to plug it in in the evening to be ready the next day. The advantage seems to go to the iPad in that it can do more then be a reading device. But reading is what I do most of the time.
Before I share what I am reading on the devices, you might be interested in knowing that I still buy books, paperbacks and hardcopies. I just bought a book of poetry by Joseph Green, entitled, That Thread Still Connecting Us. Joe is an old friend and a much deeper thinker and observer of life then I am. While I am not a great reader of poetry I do find Joe's poetry thought provoking. He makes me think.
And then I bought a paperback copy of Betty Friedan's The Fountain of Age. The interesting part of this book is that it is signed by the author, Betty, herself. Well, that's not the only interesting thing about this copy--I bought it for one cent. Brand new for one penny. With postage I paid under four bucks. The internet is a fascinating place. Some bookstore wanted to clear some shelves and sold me a book for one cent. I had a hardcopy of this book once upon a time but I must have lent it out to someone. For those who are contemplating retirement, this is a must read. For those having sleeping problems it probably also could be helpful. It's mostly about research and those that prosper in retirement. I couldn't get either of those books on e-books.
But then I was given the book, Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson. I have a fondness for Apple products so I am looking forward to discovering much information about Mr. Jobs. I may report back to you on this reading.
The Steve Jobs book was given to me for a recent birthday--I'm approaching my eighties in age so I went out to learn about growing older by buying the book by Anna Quindlen, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. It is some reflections about growing older and feeling comfortable about oneself. I could use some advice in this area.
Along with these books I am still reading The Dyslexic Advantage and finding it uplifting, valuable and comforting. You mean there are others like me with the same problems? I do wish I had read this book many years ago except it was only recently written. We know so much more about people and kids who have this learning difference. A couple of years ago I would have written, learning problems. Perhaps it is not a learning problem but a teaching problem. How should we teach kids who have dyslexia?
I have given up on several books--I use to think it a sin not to finish a book but in recent years I don't have the time to struggle through and I am feeling better with putting some books aside. The Black Swan. The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I suspect that I am not a good enough philosopher to follow Mr. Taleb's thoughts and have gotten lost too many times even with re-reading of sections so I have put this book aside.
Another book I have decided to forego for the moment is Sherry Turkle's Alone Together. Why we expect more from Technology and Less from Each Other. It is a wonderful book and Ms. Turkle is one of my favorite sociologist but unfortunately for both of us I think the world is changing the goal posts too fast. Her definition of robots may be a bit old and a new definition may be needed. My iPad is a robot of sorts. It does things for me, reminds me of what I need to do each day, keeps track of information that I will need and a host of other things that could be considered robotique behavior. So I have reluctantly put her book down.....well, actually I have swiped it into my iCloud. Isn't that a kick? I now can keep things in a cloud somewhere. To retrieve at a moment's notice, a finger tip retrieval. It just boggles my mind.
Which is why I have titled this blog, We Need A New Curriculum. What we are teaching in the schools in many places is old fashion, knowledge of little worth. I have thought at different times about what I have learned that I don't use anymore or that that knowledge has become archaic. I know how to clean and use Rapidograph pens for graphic work but for my needs present day drawing apps do the job as well.....and I don't have to clean those pen points. I'm a happy man but it is a skill that I have no need for.
I won't bore you with other examples of knowledge that have become obsolete in my mind but I do wonder about the residue of such knowledge--does it change my mind? What happens to all that knowledge that i don't use? Is its only result is to make me feel old? Perhaps. How do we decide what is important to our society and what should we be teaching our kids? I think John Dewey is right--that we have to impart our learnings to the young so that they can continue moving on. But perhaps that is why the young sometimes think that we seniors don't know anything. Anna Quindlen writes about what she wants to impart to her children who already have different values and needs. So... does needs predict the curriculum?
I am raising these questions in my mind just for me but I am asking you for assistance. As I plug along with my ipad I wonder what the kids are using them for. I would like to have some iPads rewired (reprogramed?) so that I could keep track of some young students as to what they use the iPads for, where do they go on the web, how are they using the information instead of learning it?
In a way I have a humorous vision in my head as I remember teaching geography to my fifth grade many years ago. But imagine if you will that my students had the latest iPhone 4S in their pockets at that time. I stand in the front of the room in front of a flip chart map of the United States and I ask the students in my class, "Point out Washington, DC, the other Washington." I can visualize half the class pulling out their phones and saying, "Siri, Where is Washington DC?" and Siri responds by saying, "Here is Washington DC" and a map appears with a pin point sticking out of a map. The fast kids in class will swoosh smaller the map and raise their hand knowing that it is on the east coast. My kids would have done that--it was not cheating, it was knowing how learn something.
So should that be our curriculum? Learning how to Learn? We learn what we need to learn? I can see the American Legion getting upset if we don't learn all the wars? As a teacher can I have the kids Google each war? Or do they have to read about it in the textbook?
As a senior, an elder, I am learning much on my idevisces. I have a new way to check my navigation on my small sailboat. But I can also swipe that chart on my iPad and see things that were not on my paper charts. It's a new day. Some schools are already using the Khan Academy material in their classrooms instead of a textbook. I wish I were teaching again just to try this procedure in my classroom. I bet some kids are moving right alone and having fun at the same time. I can see myself being a learning coach, not a sage on the stage as some see us.
I can imagine a private school where the middle school students all have iPads and the teacher is saying, "Take out your iPads and find the intersection that has the most accidents in our city. Then tweet to your learning partner and discuss how you would improve that intersection to make it safer. When you are happy with your answer, e-mail me your answer with supporting data. Tweet me if you have a problem. Understood? Good."
Oh my, I would love to be in that classroom. I think John Dewey would like it as well.
And thanks to those teachers graduating with teaching certificates that know how to use all the new technology in the classroom. We need you! And thanks for being a teacher.
But then the iPad is easy to read in low light conditions because of the back lighting--which of course, means that the battery lasts for about ten hours at best. It's okay as long as I remember to plug it in in the evening to be ready the next day. The advantage seems to go to the iPad in that it can do more then be a reading device. But reading is what I do most of the time.
Before I share what I am reading on the devices, you might be interested in knowing that I still buy books, paperbacks and hardcopies. I just bought a book of poetry by Joseph Green, entitled, That Thread Still Connecting Us. Joe is an old friend and a much deeper thinker and observer of life then I am. While I am not a great reader of poetry I do find Joe's poetry thought provoking. He makes me think.
And then I bought a paperback copy of Betty Friedan's The Fountain of Age. The interesting part of this book is that it is signed by the author, Betty, herself. Well, that's not the only interesting thing about this copy--I bought it for one cent. Brand new for one penny. With postage I paid under four bucks. The internet is a fascinating place. Some bookstore wanted to clear some shelves and sold me a book for one cent. I had a hardcopy of this book once upon a time but I must have lent it out to someone. For those who are contemplating retirement, this is a must read. For those having sleeping problems it probably also could be helpful. It's mostly about research and those that prosper in retirement. I couldn't get either of those books on e-books.
But then I was given the book, Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson. I have a fondness for Apple products so I am looking forward to discovering much information about Mr. Jobs. I may report back to you on this reading.
The Steve Jobs book was given to me for a recent birthday--I'm approaching my eighties in age so I went out to learn about growing older by buying the book by Anna Quindlen, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. It is some reflections about growing older and feeling comfortable about oneself. I could use some advice in this area.
Along with these books I am still reading The Dyslexic Advantage and finding it uplifting, valuable and comforting. You mean there are others like me with the same problems? I do wish I had read this book many years ago except it was only recently written. We know so much more about people and kids who have this learning difference. A couple of years ago I would have written, learning problems. Perhaps it is not a learning problem but a teaching problem. How should we teach kids who have dyslexia?
I have given up on several books--I use to think it a sin not to finish a book but in recent years I don't have the time to struggle through and I am feeling better with putting some books aside. The Black Swan. The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I suspect that I am not a good enough philosopher to follow Mr. Taleb's thoughts and have gotten lost too many times even with re-reading of sections so I have put this book aside.
Another book I have decided to forego for the moment is Sherry Turkle's Alone Together. Why we expect more from Technology and Less from Each Other. It is a wonderful book and Ms. Turkle is one of my favorite sociologist but unfortunately for both of us I think the world is changing the goal posts too fast. Her definition of robots may be a bit old and a new definition may be needed. My iPad is a robot of sorts. It does things for me, reminds me of what I need to do each day, keeps track of information that I will need and a host of other things that could be considered robotique behavior. So I have reluctantly put her book down.....well, actually I have swiped it into my iCloud. Isn't that a kick? I now can keep things in a cloud somewhere. To retrieve at a moment's notice, a finger tip retrieval. It just boggles my mind.
Which is why I have titled this blog, We Need A New Curriculum. What we are teaching in the schools in many places is old fashion, knowledge of little worth. I have thought at different times about what I have learned that I don't use anymore or that that knowledge has become archaic. I know how to clean and use Rapidograph pens for graphic work but for my needs present day drawing apps do the job as well.....and I don't have to clean those pen points. I'm a happy man but it is a skill that I have no need for.
I won't bore you with other examples of knowledge that have become obsolete in my mind but I do wonder about the residue of such knowledge--does it change my mind? What happens to all that knowledge that i don't use? Is its only result is to make me feel old? Perhaps. How do we decide what is important to our society and what should we be teaching our kids? I think John Dewey is right--that we have to impart our learnings to the young so that they can continue moving on. But perhaps that is why the young sometimes think that we seniors don't know anything. Anna Quindlen writes about what she wants to impart to her children who already have different values and needs. So... does needs predict the curriculum?
I am raising these questions in my mind just for me but I am asking you for assistance. As I plug along with my ipad I wonder what the kids are using them for. I would like to have some iPads rewired (reprogramed?) so that I could keep track of some young students as to what they use the iPads for, where do they go on the web, how are they using the information instead of learning it?
In a way I have a humorous vision in my head as I remember teaching geography to my fifth grade many years ago. But imagine if you will that my students had the latest iPhone 4S in their pockets at that time. I stand in the front of the room in front of a flip chart map of the United States and I ask the students in my class, "Point out Washington, DC, the other Washington." I can visualize half the class pulling out their phones and saying, "Siri, Where is Washington DC?" and Siri responds by saying, "Here is Washington DC" and a map appears with a pin point sticking out of a map. The fast kids in class will swoosh smaller the map and raise their hand knowing that it is on the east coast. My kids would have done that--it was not cheating, it was knowing how learn something.
So should that be our curriculum? Learning how to Learn? We learn what we need to learn? I can see the American Legion getting upset if we don't learn all the wars? As a teacher can I have the kids Google each war? Or do they have to read about it in the textbook?
As a senior, an elder, I am learning much on my idevisces. I have a new way to check my navigation on my small sailboat. But I can also swipe that chart on my iPad and see things that were not on my paper charts. It's a new day. Some schools are already using the Khan Academy material in their classrooms instead of a textbook. I wish I were teaching again just to try this procedure in my classroom. I bet some kids are moving right alone and having fun at the same time. I can see myself being a learning coach, not a sage on the stage as some see us.
I can imagine a private school where the middle school students all have iPads and the teacher is saying, "Take out your iPads and find the intersection that has the most accidents in our city. Then tweet to your learning partner and discuss how you would improve that intersection to make it safer. When you are happy with your answer, e-mail me your answer with supporting data. Tweet me if you have a problem. Understood? Good."
Oh my, I would love to be in that classroom. I think John Dewey would like it as well.
And thanks to those teachers graduating with teaching certificates that know how to use all the new technology in the classroom. We need you! And thanks for being a teacher.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Ready for the downbeat?
As is happening all around this county teachers are being laid off because of budget restraints. The classes keep getting larger and larger. In one city the entire high school faculty were let go for not having improved student scores. It turned out that this high school had only eighty-six students--but it was an alternative school for kids who couldn't exist in a regular high school. "Okay, send in the next squad of teachers." Sad.
However, there was a local story in the news of a teacher who alleged choked a student and hit him in the face. Please note the word "alleged" in that previous sentence. But I found it interesting that all the news outlets had headlines saying 'teacher chokes student'. However, when reading further into the articles...in some cases...you find that the students who observed this altercation didn't see it as a choking, rather a pushing to get two students apart that had been disrupting the class. And once again, this happening happened in an alternative high school for students who have difficulty working in our society. Interesting story--I wonder how it will come out and exactly what is the real story here.
So while I mused (I like the word, 'muse'. It has a nice sound and covers a lot of ground like thinking, contemplating, meditating and reflecting--if you go back to the old English definitions it also includes 'time wasting.' Yes, I like muse and I did a lot of musing about this story. I thought about students who disrupt class and care not a wig for the rest of the people in the class. I've had some of these types of students both in the grade school and in college. And then a thought stuck me--I've never had a disruptive student in band or choir. Interesting.
Okay, some philosophic garble for a moment. One of the most fundamental questions you can ask yourself in philosophy is......Are we an individual or are we a member of a group, society? Can individuals get along by themselves or do we have to work with others to succeed? This question of individual or group is basic to how we think. It directs our basic behavior and thought. So what do you believe? Are we individuals or are we a social animal?
I struggled with this question for many years looking for evidence on both sides of the question. However, I finally came to the conclusion which is satisfactory for me only that we are a social animal. We need each other to survive. But once again I caution you--this is my answer, not yours.
You can see the struggle in our society almost every day. At the moment it is clear to see republicans are in the individual camp while democrats are in the sociality camp. While I taught grade school it was interesting to see how my parents responded to comments about their child. I had some parents who liked what I was doing and would reinforce the same values at home as I was doing in the classroom. We (the parents and I) worked more like a team to help the kids. But there were other parents who thought otherwise about working as a team. I know I wrote already about the father who came to pick up his son (one of my students) to go get a haircut in the middle of the day. Different set of values.
So I suspect you will not be at all surprised that I have been musing about people in our society that shoot other people, who are mad because someone cut them off on the freeway, who refuse to pay taxes for various reasons and some in my own neighborhood that post 'no trespassing' signs.
Now as a teacher I have to respect those that see themselves as individuals. But I also have to teach them how to get along with others so they can be themselves. Does this make sense? Regardless of what we think we have to get along. I have to stop at a stop light, pull over for emergency vehicles, and park between the white lines even if I feel that I am unique and am not dependent upon others. So as a teacher I still have to teach cooperation.
And this is the root of my thinking today. Because of the major emphasis on No Child Left Behind, we (us teachers) have been working hard to improve kids scores on these tests. Not a major problem in the rich and successful communities but a major problem in the low rent districts. But this type of teaching is a bit of a problem. I have to get my kids to learn this material and EACH kid has to know it to score higher on the test. And... the kids can't work together to learn this material because they will be tested individually. Where or what can I teach that will promote working together even for those in the individual camp? And it struck me--this is why we have to teach music in the schools.
When I was teaching Band, I never had a discipline problem. It is rather hard to talk to your neighbor (which was happening that got the teacher accused of choking a student), pass a note, make faces when you are blowing a trumpet..or a clarinet. If the kids that day were being disruptive in band, all I had to do was say, "Okay now, upper left, ready for the downbeat?" and then I'd wave my arms and they would all start playing. Each student is playing his/her part in the music but also listening to the others as to speed, volume, attack (on the notes).
"French Horns, you need to play that part together, same volume with the bells up, you need for your horns to sing. You've got the most beautiful melody at this point--let me hear you sing!"
"Okay, band, once again from the top and listen for the horns." I remember something like this last go around once with a beginners band and to have the kids play the selection properly was not only fun but to listen to the kids when THEY knew they had done it right. The horn players were delighted with themselves but the whole band was happy to have put together something that sounded good. It was a group effort but it took individuals to do it. Music is one subject that we can teach in our schools that provides much more then just learning notes and sounds.
There will be those that say that the same thing can be said about sports. Everyone has to work together to form a team. Yes, I can agree but the problem with sports is that it is competitive. The end result is wining. Work together to win. And I may be rather biased at this point but not all students like to compete. I see too many girls sitting watching the game.
Whereas in bands, choirs, glee clubs students are learning a subject (music) while also learning to work together as a unit. It is a value that is valuable in our society whether you be in the individual camp or the social animal camp.
I'm also delighted to see two shows on television that are honoring music--Glee and Smash. I haven't seen this in a long while--most have been action shows or mystery shows. Nice to see Glee and Smash being popular.
So that is my point--we need to teach music, both instrumental and choral in our schools. Perhaps if we did there would be less violence, less disruptive behavior and more cooperation and understanding of the 'other' whoever they may be.
This is my idea, my theory. Someone needs to do some research and see if those schools who teach music have less negative problems in the schools. Too many other factors that might influence the results but it would be a start.
And to all those music teachers who are still teaching in special school districts, my thanks. You do an amazing job getting beautiful music from kids and teaching them something also valuable. Getting along.
However, there was a local story in the news of a teacher who alleged choked a student and hit him in the face. Please note the word "alleged" in that previous sentence. But I found it interesting that all the news outlets had headlines saying 'teacher chokes student'. However, when reading further into the articles...in some cases...you find that the students who observed this altercation didn't see it as a choking, rather a pushing to get two students apart that had been disrupting the class. And once again, this happening happened in an alternative high school for students who have difficulty working in our society. Interesting story--I wonder how it will come out and exactly what is the real story here.
So while I mused (I like the word, 'muse'. It has a nice sound and covers a lot of ground like thinking, contemplating, meditating and reflecting--if you go back to the old English definitions it also includes 'time wasting.' Yes, I like muse and I did a lot of musing about this story. I thought about students who disrupt class and care not a wig for the rest of the people in the class. I've had some of these types of students both in the grade school and in college. And then a thought stuck me--I've never had a disruptive student in band or choir. Interesting.
Okay, some philosophic garble for a moment. One of the most fundamental questions you can ask yourself in philosophy is......Are we an individual or are we a member of a group, society? Can individuals get along by themselves or do we have to work with others to succeed? This question of individual or group is basic to how we think. It directs our basic behavior and thought. So what do you believe? Are we individuals or are we a social animal?
I struggled with this question for many years looking for evidence on both sides of the question. However, I finally came to the conclusion which is satisfactory for me only that we are a social animal. We need each other to survive. But once again I caution you--this is my answer, not yours.
You can see the struggle in our society almost every day. At the moment it is clear to see republicans are in the individual camp while democrats are in the sociality camp. While I taught grade school it was interesting to see how my parents responded to comments about their child. I had some parents who liked what I was doing and would reinforce the same values at home as I was doing in the classroom. We (the parents and I) worked more like a team to help the kids. But there were other parents who thought otherwise about working as a team. I know I wrote already about the father who came to pick up his son (one of my students) to go get a haircut in the middle of the day. Different set of values.
So I suspect you will not be at all surprised that I have been musing about people in our society that shoot other people, who are mad because someone cut them off on the freeway, who refuse to pay taxes for various reasons and some in my own neighborhood that post 'no trespassing' signs.
Now as a teacher I have to respect those that see themselves as individuals. But I also have to teach them how to get along with others so they can be themselves. Does this make sense? Regardless of what we think we have to get along. I have to stop at a stop light, pull over for emergency vehicles, and park between the white lines even if I feel that I am unique and am not dependent upon others. So as a teacher I still have to teach cooperation.
And this is the root of my thinking today. Because of the major emphasis on No Child Left Behind, we (us teachers) have been working hard to improve kids scores on these tests. Not a major problem in the rich and successful communities but a major problem in the low rent districts. But this type of teaching is a bit of a problem. I have to get my kids to learn this material and EACH kid has to know it to score higher on the test. And... the kids can't work together to learn this material because they will be tested individually. Where or what can I teach that will promote working together even for those in the individual camp? And it struck me--this is why we have to teach music in the schools.
When I was teaching Band, I never had a discipline problem. It is rather hard to talk to your neighbor (which was happening that got the teacher accused of choking a student), pass a note, make faces when you are blowing a trumpet..or a clarinet. If the kids that day were being disruptive in band, all I had to do was say, "Okay now, upper left, ready for the downbeat?" and then I'd wave my arms and they would all start playing. Each student is playing his/her part in the music but also listening to the others as to speed, volume, attack (on the notes).
"French Horns, you need to play that part together, same volume with the bells up, you need for your horns to sing. You've got the most beautiful melody at this point--let me hear you sing!"
"Okay, band, once again from the top and listen for the horns." I remember something like this last go around once with a beginners band and to have the kids play the selection properly was not only fun but to listen to the kids when THEY knew they had done it right. The horn players were delighted with themselves but the whole band was happy to have put together something that sounded good. It was a group effort but it took individuals to do it. Music is one subject that we can teach in our schools that provides much more then just learning notes and sounds.
There will be those that say that the same thing can be said about sports. Everyone has to work together to form a team. Yes, I can agree but the problem with sports is that it is competitive. The end result is wining. Work together to win. And I may be rather biased at this point but not all students like to compete. I see too many girls sitting watching the game.
Whereas in bands, choirs, glee clubs students are learning a subject (music) while also learning to work together as a unit. It is a value that is valuable in our society whether you be in the individual camp or the social animal camp.
I'm also delighted to see two shows on television that are honoring music--Glee and Smash. I haven't seen this in a long while--most have been action shows or mystery shows. Nice to see Glee and Smash being popular.
So that is my point--we need to teach music, both instrumental and choral in our schools. Perhaps if we did there would be less violence, less disruptive behavior and more cooperation and understanding of the 'other' whoever they may be.
This is my idea, my theory. Someone needs to do some research and see if those schools who teach music have less negative problems in the schools. Too many other factors that might influence the results but it would be a start.
And to all those music teachers who are still teaching in special school districts, my thanks. You do an amazing job getting beautiful music from kids and teaching them something also valuable. Getting along.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
'Tis the season to be grumpy....
I thought for awhile that the articles and op-ed pieces against teachers in this nation were diminishing but apparently I was wrong. All of a sudden a number of articles and opinion pieces showed up in newspapers, national magazines and the like. I wondered why all of a sudden and then it dawn on me that legislatures around the country were dealing with budgets. And in some cities, belt tightening was being enforced, particularly those school districts that are run by city councils. Where is there a fair amount of money that can be cut? In Education. The goal is to cut funds, not provide education for our kids.
As if on cue, another blog posted an article about the worst ten cities to be a teacher. I found it interesting and looked to see if I could find some connecting link but for the moment I haven't found one. These ten cities are all over the country in industrial areas as well as agricultural places. You can read the article on the web at: http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/03/26/the-10-worst-u-s-cities-to-be-a-teacher/. Thanks to my friends at OnLine Colleges for the posting.
If that didn't get stuck in my craw, then I went to Amazon.com lately to look for some new books to read. I thought I might skim a few educational textbooks. Heaven's was I mistaken. Textbooks range in price from $14.95 to $268.99 for a chemistry textbook. Aw, come on now--$268.99? But that was the price. I am having problems looking at the prices of textbooks, particularly in the science fields. If we want more science teachers we will have to figure out a way for those wanna-be-teachers to be able to purchase those books. The price of most of the textbooks was high and then something caught my eye--I could RENT one of those textbooks for $32.95. RENT THE TEXTBOOK! Unbelievable.
Perhaps as they say to some politicians I need to get out of my office and see what the real word is like.
So my next spin off in my research was to find out how much school districts pay for classroom textbooks like pre-primers, social studies textbooks, and science textbooks. I didn't look to question what workbooks cost, those newsprint soft copy books for spelling and mathematics, primarily bound work sheets. School Districts are reluctant to give out the cost of these books as they are complicated by the fact that some textbooks last seven years, others are outdated in just a few years, i.e., software programming. However, textbooks are a major part of a school district's budget in some cases right behind wages. So back to the drawing board or in my case, the iPad.
I wondered how much it might cost to publish a textbook on the iPad (forget for the moment about brand specifics, such as APPLE or DELL). According to one web site it would cost me $2.74 to publish my own book that was eight by eleven in size and a hundred pages long. I not sure what they do for that money but it is a bit cheaper then the some of the costs I've seen published.
However, I then review the SMART BOARD which are in many classrooms. I could write my own texts and project on the White Board. BLACKBOARD, a software program that is formulated to allow professors and teachers to provide a basis for print material to a class room of students who have computer access. It is one of my favorite programs. This would certainly cut down on the cost of textbooks for students if they could get the necessary material from the Blackboard.
However, I went a step further and asked APPLE what they could do in this realm
of high costs. They are already ahead of me... Watch the following web site from Apple as to their new textbook idea: http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/ Be sure to watch the video that is to the right of your screen--a small logo.
Be aware that this video includes advertising material favorable to APPLE. But I suspect that MICROSOFT is not far behind if not already pushing a similar product. It is the idea that I want you to consider. Put interactive textbooks on pads and let kids learn. And an interesting point--these interactive textbooks on the pads can be up-dated and up-graded. What a great idea. Just like my computer software and apps now that get free up-grades whenever necessary.
You would think I'd be a happy fool given this idea of interactive textbooks for the iPad but there is a catch. Apple appears to be willing to set the authors up but they will be charging a price. And in reviewing some publishing houses they will be selling these textbooks for one year only. You don't get to keep the books. If this is true I will be very, very unhappy. We have the technology to help students learn but we going to still make them pay.
So what is the answer. I don't have any answers at this point--I'm still looking and pondering. I have downloaded two apps for my iPad and computer, the Khan Academy and TED. However, I haven't made much use of them as yet but I shall. I did skim the Khan Academy and even did several of the learning apps. They are well done but I was overwhelmed by the mathematics selections--literally hundreds of learning programs. "Which Knowledge is of Most Worth?"
I also reviewed a number of apps in the Apple App Store. Lots of games and those that purport to teach something do so with little skill. Once again I have people who write these programs who are not teachers. Sad. And a lot of the apps appear to be games, not a learning lesson. But this will work itself out as the cream rises to the top. I think that is where the Khan Academy has the edge--students have used their programs and have learned.
Some years ago there was a computer program developed by the Learning Company called, "Oregon Trail." It was (and is) and interactive learning program that has student go from St. Louis to Oregon. The student has to make decisions as to how many oxen, how much food, who is to go along, how many bullets for hunting, etc. It was basically well done except in the first edition of this program one had to circle the wagons when indians attacked. My problem with that was that I had student teachers teaching in schools with a high percentage of native Americans. Those students doing the program immediately were on the side of the indians. "Get those white people!" So I told the programmer of Oregon Trails and his response was, "Well, just don't use it." I have always thought this was a teaching moment as to the clash of the two cultures. What an opportunity to teach cultural differences. By the way, you can now by the fifth edition of Oregon Trail for very little on Amazon.
I suspect we'll see more of these problems as the technology develops.
I suspect if I had a point to all of this is that there are too many people who think teachers are costing too much but are overlooking $269.00 textbooks. I am still concerned that people who are just getting by in this society will have poor schools. The rich people will send the kids to private schools. It has been that way for ever, hasn't it.
Thanks to all those teachers who still want to teach, even those in the ten worse cities for teachers. They are indeed a breed apart.
As if on cue, another blog posted an article about the worst ten cities to be a teacher. I found it interesting and looked to see if I could find some connecting link but for the moment I haven't found one. These ten cities are all over the country in industrial areas as well as agricultural places. You can read the article on the web at: http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/03/26/the-10-worst-u-s-cities-to-be-a-teacher/. Thanks to my friends at OnLine Colleges for the posting.
If that didn't get stuck in my craw, then I went to Amazon.com lately to look for some new books to read. I thought I might skim a few educational textbooks. Heaven's was I mistaken. Textbooks range in price from $14.95 to $268.99 for a chemistry textbook. Aw, come on now--$268.99? But that was the price. I am having problems looking at the prices of textbooks, particularly in the science fields. If we want more science teachers we will have to figure out a way for those wanna-be-teachers to be able to purchase those books. The price of most of the textbooks was high and then something caught my eye--I could RENT one of those textbooks for $32.95. RENT THE TEXTBOOK! Unbelievable.
Perhaps as they say to some politicians I need to get out of my office and see what the real word is like.
So my next spin off in my research was to find out how much school districts pay for classroom textbooks like pre-primers, social studies textbooks, and science textbooks. I didn't look to question what workbooks cost, those newsprint soft copy books for spelling and mathematics, primarily bound work sheets. School Districts are reluctant to give out the cost of these books as they are complicated by the fact that some textbooks last seven years, others are outdated in just a few years, i.e., software programming. However, textbooks are a major part of a school district's budget in some cases right behind wages. So back to the drawing board or in my case, the iPad.
I wondered how much it might cost to publish a textbook on the iPad (forget for the moment about brand specifics, such as APPLE or DELL). According to one web site it would cost me $2.74 to publish my own book that was eight by eleven in size and a hundred pages long. I not sure what they do for that money but it is a bit cheaper then the some of the costs I've seen published.
However, I then review the SMART BOARD which are in many classrooms. I could write my own texts and project on the White Board. BLACKBOARD, a software program that is formulated to allow professors and teachers to provide a basis for print material to a class room of students who have computer access. It is one of my favorite programs. This would certainly cut down on the cost of textbooks for students if they could get the necessary material from the Blackboard.
However, I went a step further and asked APPLE what they could do in this realm
of high costs. They are already ahead of me... Watch the following web site from Apple as to their new textbook idea: http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/ Be sure to watch the video that is to the right of your screen--a small logo.
Be aware that this video includes advertising material favorable to APPLE. But I suspect that MICROSOFT is not far behind if not already pushing a similar product. It is the idea that I want you to consider. Put interactive textbooks on pads and let kids learn. And an interesting point--these interactive textbooks on the pads can be up-dated and up-graded. What a great idea. Just like my computer software and apps now that get free up-grades whenever necessary.
You would think I'd be a happy fool given this idea of interactive textbooks for the iPad but there is a catch. Apple appears to be willing to set the authors up but they will be charging a price. And in reviewing some publishing houses they will be selling these textbooks for one year only. You don't get to keep the books. If this is true I will be very, very unhappy. We have the technology to help students learn but we going to still make them pay.
So what is the answer. I don't have any answers at this point--I'm still looking and pondering. I have downloaded two apps for my iPad and computer, the Khan Academy and TED. However, I haven't made much use of them as yet but I shall. I did skim the Khan Academy and even did several of the learning apps. They are well done but I was overwhelmed by the mathematics selections--literally hundreds of learning programs. "Which Knowledge is of Most Worth?"
I also reviewed a number of apps in the Apple App Store. Lots of games and those that purport to teach something do so with little skill. Once again I have people who write these programs who are not teachers. Sad. And a lot of the apps appear to be games, not a learning lesson. But this will work itself out as the cream rises to the top. I think that is where the Khan Academy has the edge--students have used their programs and have learned.
Some years ago there was a computer program developed by the Learning Company called, "Oregon Trail." It was (and is) and interactive learning program that has student go from St. Louis to Oregon. The student has to make decisions as to how many oxen, how much food, who is to go along, how many bullets for hunting, etc. It was basically well done except in the first edition of this program one had to circle the wagons when indians attacked. My problem with that was that I had student teachers teaching in schools with a high percentage of native Americans. Those students doing the program immediately were on the side of the indians. "Get those white people!" So I told the programmer of Oregon Trails and his response was, "Well, just don't use it." I have always thought this was a teaching moment as to the clash of the two cultures. What an opportunity to teach cultural differences. By the way, you can now by the fifth edition of Oregon Trail for very little on Amazon.
I suspect we'll see more of these problems as the technology develops.
I suspect if I had a point to all of this is that there are too many people who think teachers are costing too much but are overlooking $269.00 textbooks. I am still concerned that people who are just getting by in this society will have poor schools. The rich people will send the kids to private schools. It has been that way for ever, hasn't it.
Thanks to all those teachers who still want to teach, even those in the ten worse cities for teachers. They are indeed a breed apart.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
A Potpourri of Thoughts....
"Potpourri" is an interesting word that I always misspell on my first time around wherever I tend to use it. It generally means a "collection" and most frequently it means a collection of dried flowers used for a nice smell. Found in many ladies' drawers. But it can also mean a collection of songs, as in, "a potpourri of melodies." In my use today it means a collection of thoughts about the use of iPads in the schools, as in iPads being used by students to learn....even old students like myself.
I suppose I could have used the word, "Smorgasbord" in place of "Potpourri", both have about the same meaning...collection, and I have trouble spelling both of them. Hmmm.
Many years ago (Once upon a time?) i took an initial course in "research" which included a very good section on how to write about research. One of the assignments in the class was to understand how to use citations and footnotes. I haven't heard the term, footnotes, in years. I'm beginning to understand why. We also learned a fair amount of Latin, as in: opus sit. (as often as necessary) and et al. (and others or and elsewhere) and op cit. (already cited). There are a lot more latin citations that I have totally forgotten. Even the style of citations has changed from the bottom of the page to the end of the chapter to the end of the report or book.
And hence to another changing. But for the moment put this aside. We'll come back to citations in a bit.
Another thought.... I have been reading the three books of the Hunger Games by Susan Collins. You know which book it having been all over the news about the new movie of the same name. I think I wrote on this blog several years ago after reading the first book that I would not read the rest as I dislike violence and this book had been very violent. Why it was a young adult book I had no idea but I did have an idea of why it was popular. Teenagers like things that we adults dislike. And I think many adults who were raised during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War were just plan tired of war. So when we, as teachers, pursued this book we opted to say it wasn't for kids. Somehow the kids picked up on this and all have read it. It is one of the most popular books on the market for young adults.
But given the fact that I write about education of children and young adults and I am as well concerned about what they read, I had to finish the trilogy. I did finish the books with a black heart and a more ugly disposition. My wife wanted to know what was wrong with me. Humph! But as a researcher I still would like to interview a number of young adults and see what they saw in the books.
In an effort to cleanse my mind, I have been also reading another trilogy of books by E.L. James...."Fifty Shades of Gray." It has been cleansing all right. From killing and war (The Hunter Games) to Sex and BDSM in the bedroom (Fifty Shades of Gray). My inner being is saying "no, no," to the former and "yes, yes, to the latter. My brain is reeling. "Good Morning, America" described the "Fifty Shades of Gray" as pornography for the American women. Huffington Post suggests that the book is a new level for Women's Literature. They didn't say whether it was up or down. However, it is one of the hottest properties at the moment for the e-readers.
Permit me if you will to say that I have enjoyed all three books by E. L. James as she is a very talented writer. I have smiled, laughed, groaned and worried as the characters in her book developed within the story. Well done, Ms James. The only biography I could find on her was that she lived in West London and has two children. I seriously suspect that she is a Seattle native as she is very cognizant with this city and the surrounding area of Bellevue, Kirkland and the rest of the Pacific Northwest ( i.e. (more of that Latin) Portland).
While I haven't finished the third book in this series, I am closing in on the final excitement but before I get to it something happened to make me put this book down and write this blog. As you know this blog about "Teachers and Teaching" is a way for me to organize my thoughts, an autobiography of my inner brain on teaching.
This book is considered by most a women's literature genre. Now stick with me...this is going to be some wild leaps of courage in my thinking. Let's go back to Jane Austen, one of my favorite authors who wrote of the landed gentry in the early 1800s. Her novels were widely popular and furthered women in that society. [an aside: for further reading, see books about Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman doctor in the United States, near the end of the 1800s and early 1900s.]
From Jane, lets make a magnum leap to a present day author, Lisa Kleypas, who writes historical romance novels in England at about the late 1800s, again on the status of women in society. She's done her research. Women still do not have equal rights even those who are of the privilege class (watch Downton Abby on PBS as an example).
Now lets jump to the early fifties. The World War (II) has been won and the men have returned to their jobs pushing out the women who have built the tools of war for the past four years. Interesting time. Rona Jaffe wrote, in 1959, "The Best of Everything" which is considered by some to be the beginning of Women's Literature (note I didn't include the word, romance). The movie, Mona Lisa's Smile, depicts that era.
Before we make the final leap, a research book that I have mentioned on this blog was released in 1986 called "Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind", by Mary Field Belenky, et al. I think this is a landmark book on at least half of our society. This book and the "Dyslexia Advantage" should have an impact on our educational system.
So.... the final leap of my dreaming (thinking?). As I mentioned I'm reading E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Gray" in which the trilogy agonizes the beginnings of a relationship and marriage. But for the moment forget that this book is very popular and remember my comments on footnoting earlier in this blog.
On the last page (because I'm reading this on my iPad I can't give you a page number) before chapter nine, there is a FOOTNOTE! Yes! In a romance novel! A honest to god footnote. I was delighted. But here is an important point. The footnote is about a quote in the story by William Shakespeare's King Lear. Ms. James quotes the original source as digitally reprinted by Project Gutenburg. This project is replicating everything that does not still have a copyright note. So James has this footnote about King Lear and because I am reading it on my iPad, I can touch the footnote and it takes me to the work by Shakespeare as he intended it. I don't have to go to the library and get works by Shakespeare and I don't even have to google it. It pops right up for me after I touch it. I can even hold my finger on Shakespeare's name and get a full biographical report on him should I for some reason not know who he was. Amazing.
Finally, my point to all this drivel I believe that the use of iPads (forget brands for the moment) will revolutionize education as we know it. It is already teaching me new things, primarily words, and I'm an old dog. What a total delight to go from a novel to the dictionary to a web site and back to my novel or to other materials in a matter of a "finger pointing." New educational word, "finger point."
"All right, boys and girls, put your finger on the word, "Blood" on your pads and find out how "blood works." "What does it do?" "When you get an idea, tweet me."
Oh my how the world is changing. Science education.
How about this one for the high school? "Using your pads found out who was the first Time Man of the Year that was not a Man?" History come alive. No, I'm not going to tell you the answer. Find you pad (Kindle Fire, Nook or iPad) and find the answer. It has to do with a woman. That's your clue.
To be truthful with you I ought to be able to include links (the new footnote) to all that I'm reading and let you get the answer for yourself. You get the ownership of the learning. I should only be a guide...a coach...a reference in finger pointing. Links in this blog ought be ones that you can touch and get to other places in the new iCloud of learning. But i don't know how to do it yet. But if you are patient, I will continue to try to get this blog up to standards of the young.
And thanks to John Dewey who gave me the framework of thinking to hang my ideas on for this blog. Have you thanked a teacher today? Do so, they will appreciate it.
I suppose I could have used the word, "Smorgasbord" in place of "Potpourri", both have about the same meaning...collection, and I have trouble spelling both of them. Hmmm.
Many years ago (Once upon a time?) i took an initial course in "research" which included a very good section on how to write about research. One of the assignments in the class was to understand how to use citations and footnotes. I haven't heard the term, footnotes, in years. I'm beginning to understand why. We also learned a fair amount of Latin, as in: opus sit. (as often as necessary) and et al. (and others or and elsewhere) and op cit. (already cited). There are a lot more latin citations that I have totally forgotten. Even the style of citations has changed from the bottom of the page to the end of the chapter to the end of the report or book.
And hence to another changing. But for the moment put this aside. We'll come back to citations in a bit.
Another thought.... I have been reading the three books of the Hunger Games by Susan Collins. You know which book it having been all over the news about the new movie of the same name. I think I wrote on this blog several years ago after reading the first book that I would not read the rest as I dislike violence and this book had been very violent. Why it was a young adult book I had no idea but I did have an idea of why it was popular. Teenagers like things that we adults dislike. And I think many adults who were raised during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War were just plan tired of war. So when we, as teachers, pursued this book we opted to say it wasn't for kids. Somehow the kids picked up on this and all have read it. It is one of the most popular books on the market for young adults.
But given the fact that I write about education of children and young adults and I am as well concerned about what they read, I had to finish the trilogy. I did finish the books with a black heart and a more ugly disposition. My wife wanted to know what was wrong with me. Humph! But as a researcher I still would like to interview a number of young adults and see what they saw in the books.
In an effort to cleanse my mind, I have been also reading another trilogy of books by E.L. James...."Fifty Shades of Gray." It has been cleansing all right. From killing and war (The Hunter Games) to Sex and BDSM in the bedroom (Fifty Shades of Gray). My inner being is saying "no, no," to the former and "yes, yes, to the latter. My brain is reeling. "Good Morning, America" described the "Fifty Shades of Gray" as pornography for the American women. Huffington Post suggests that the book is a new level for Women's Literature. They didn't say whether it was up or down. However, it is one of the hottest properties at the moment for the e-readers.
Permit me if you will to say that I have enjoyed all three books by E. L. James as she is a very talented writer. I have smiled, laughed, groaned and worried as the characters in her book developed within the story. Well done, Ms James. The only biography I could find on her was that she lived in West London and has two children. I seriously suspect that she is a Seattle native as she is very cognizant with this city and the surrounding area of Bellevue, Kirkland and the rest of the Pacific Northwest ( i.e. (more of that Latin) Portland).
While I haven't finished the third book in this series, I am closing in on the final excitement but before I get to it something happened to make me put this book down and write this blog. As you know this blog about "Teachers and Teaching" is a way for me to organize my thoughts, an autobiography of my inner brain on teaching.
This book is considered by most a women's literature genre. Now stick with me...this is going to be some wild leaps of courage in my thinking. Let's go back to Jane Austen, one of my favorite authors who wrote of the landed gentry in the early 1800s. Her novels were widely popular and furthered women in that society. [an aside: for further reading, see books about Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman doctor in the United States, near the end of the 1800s and early 1900s.]
From Jane, lets make a magnum leap to a present day author, Lisa Kleypas, who writes historical romance novels in England at about the late 1800s, again on the status of women in society. She's done her research. Women still do not have equal rights even those who are of the privilege class (watch Downton Abby on PBS as an example).
Now lets jump to the early fifties. The World War (II) has been won and the men have returned to their jobs pushing out the women who have built the tools of war for the past four years. Interesting time. Rona Jaffe wrote, in 1959, "The Best of Everything" which is considered by some to be the beginning of Women's Literature (note I didn't include the word, romance). The movie, Mona Lisa's Smile, depicts that era.
Before we make the final leap, a research book that I have mentioned on this blog was released in 1986 called "Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind", by Mary Field Belenky, et al. I think this is a landmark book on at least half of our society. This book and the "Dyslexia Advantage" should have an impact on our educational system.
So.... the final leap of my dreaming (thinking?). As I mentioned I'm reading E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Gray" in which the trilogy agonizes the beginnings of a relationship and marriage. But for the moment forget that this book is very popular and remember my comments on footnoting earlier in this blog.
On the last page (because I'm reading this on my iPad I can't give you a page number) before chapter nine, there is a FOOTNOTE! Yes! In a romance novel! A honest to god footnote. I was delighted. But here is an important point. The footnote is about a quote in the story by William Shakespeare's King Lear. Ms. James quotes the original source as digitally reprinted by Project Gutenburg. This project is replicating everything that does not still have a copyright note. So James has this footnote about King Lear and because I am reading it on my iPad, I can touch the footnote and it takes me to the work by Shakespeare as he intended it. I don't have to go to the library and get works by Shakespeare and I don't even have to google it. It pops right up for me after I touch it. I can even hold my finger on Shakespeare's name and get a full biographical report on him should I for some reason not know who he was. Amazing.
Finally, my point to all this drivel I believe that the use of iPads (forget brands for the moment) will revolutionize education as we know it. It is already teaching me new things, primarily words, and I'm an old dog. What a total delight to go from a novel to the dictionary to a web site and back to my novel or to other materials in a matter of a "finger pointing." New educational word, "finger point."
"All right, boys and girls, put your finger on the word, "Blood" on your pads and find out how "blood works." "What does it do?" "When you get an idea, tweet me."
Oh my how the world is changing. Science education.
How about this one for the high school? "Using your pads found out who was the first Time Man of the Year that was not a Man?" History come alive. No, I'm not going to tell you the answer. Find you pad (Kindle Fire, Nook or iPad) and find the answer. It has to do with a woman. That's your clue.
To be truthful with you I ought to be able to include links (the new footnote) to all that I'm reading and let you get the answer for yourself. You get the ownership of the learning. I should only be a guide...a coach...a reference in finger pointing. Links in this blog ought be ones that you can touch and get to other places in the new iCloud of learning. But i don't know how to do it yet. But if you are patient, I will continue to try to get this blog up to standards of the young.
And thanks to John Dewey who gave me the framework of thinking to hang my ideas on for this blog. Have you thanked a teacher today? Do so, they will appreciate it.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
My New iPhone and iPad
An apology to this group. All the time I've written about smart phones and iPads recently I have been observing friends of mine using the devices. I was happy with my Kindle and I have to admit I have read a lot more in the past two and a half years then I might have just using books in print. But my experience with a smart phone connected to either a Wi-Fi or internet signal was minimum. And I did not have an iPad or any make or model. So how could I make recommendations about a product in the schools that I hadn't used? I couldn't.
So I went out and bought my wife and I two middle grade iPhones. I thought about going to the top of the line for them but my thoughts recently have been on the concept of "cloud" computing. I really don't know much about it except somewhere they are storing all that information in what might be called a "cloud". So the middle iPhone was selected.
But then I also went and bought the top iPad available, Wi-Fi and Verizon wireless. Over the years my home system has been Apple and I wasn't going to change at this juncture. I can and have used Microsoft computers--actually taught on them early on. I like computers, forget about the brands. There are some amazing machines on the market today. What is predicted for the near future is awe inspiring. So I don't want to get into a debate as to which computer, iPhone, or pad is best. I suspect someone is going to see the potential market in the school systems and design and produce a pad that will be beneficial to the kids.... I'm only sorry that I will not be in the classroom when that happens. John Dewey and I will be cheering them on.
So, apology accepted?
But now I am going to make wild statements that have only a few weeks of experience to back them up. THE IPAD WILL REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN. Throw out the curriculum that we have now, it is a new ball game. The No Child Left Behind tests are totally without value now. We need to start all over in designing education. I suspect it must be much like when the automobile was first invented/manufactured. Those that owned stables must have looked down on this device and said it could only run on roads and we have few roads for it to run on. It was a changing time in our society. Well, my friends, it is a changing time in our educational system.
The problem is that changing education is akin to moving a cemetery (many have made this statement so I acknowledge them all). It takes a long, long time. I have been a school board member and even among my board peers there was a certain amount of "in my day we didn't have these things in school" attitude. Our school system moves slowly.
Believe it or not, the slowest part of change in our education system is the colleges and universities. Cambridge and Harvard, in many cases are still teaching the way they did it in the early 1600s. Higher education takes pride in resisting change but they will have to face the future at some time.
Recently in the New York Times, there was an article by Lawrence H. Summers entitled, "What You (Really) Need to Know." (New York Times, January 20, 2012)
Mr. Summers was president of Harvard before becoming Secretary of the Treasurery. He is presently a current contender to become president of the World Bank. While I disagree with Mr. Summers on his analysis of women's intelligence I do believe he has said important things about the future of education. Here are six assumptions (Summers calls them guesses and hopes) that he says will effect education.
1. "Education will be more about how to process and use information and less about imparting it" Sitting in my easy chair holding my iPad, I have more information that I can access then is in the library at my local university. I can find out data instantaneously. I now talk to my iPhone and to Siri and ask, "what is the temperature in Bellingham? And this voice comes back and tells me the precise degree. I can google (now a verb) and ask how many people were killed in world war II and find the answer in nano-seconds. The answers are there before I finish the query. But how to process this information will be the objective of tomorrow's education.
2. "An inevitable consequence of the knowledge explosion is that tasks will be carried out with far more collaboration." YES! I've been saying for years that learning ought to be done in groups. My euphony was when I was teaching fourth grade and put the kids into seating groups of four or five students and LEARNING INCREASED even though I required only one paper from each group. Learning is a process, not a destination and we are a social animal. I see future learning being done on iPhones with Facebook and tweets being the carrier of that knowledge necessary for the learning objective.
3. "New technologies will profoundly alter the way knowledge is conveyed." My new ipad has already altered the way I read. In the technical writing of my present favorite book, "The Dyslexic Advantage" I am constantly holding my finger on a word until the definition is available at the bottom of the screen. It is soooooo easy. I have learned many new words. Yes, I could do that with the mouse on my computer but given the fact that I am comfortable in my easy chair reading it is doubtful that I would get up and go to my computer. If I want to see a diagram or a picture of some device more closely I just double tap the picture and it becomes bigger. I can see kids doing this all the time in the near future. They want to see detail.
4. "Not everyone learns most effectively in the same way." And yet the major type of teaching at Cambridge and Harvard is the lecture method. In many cases students are asked to use the knowledge that they have just acquired. This bothers me. Testing is not the same as "using" the knowledge. Still percolating in my memory bank is that story in "The Dyslexic Advantage" of the student who obtained his degree from Stanford University by listening to all his books--audio books if you will, and listening at a faster rate then normal speech so that he saved time and still learned. We have known that students learn differently but we have not changed our teaching methods to any great degree. It will have to change in the future or the students will by-pass us and learn it somewhere else.
5. "The world is much more open, and events abroad affect the lives of Americans more than ever before." I wonder if we have looked inwards toward ourselves in our curriculum and have become sated. While I have championed the learning of a foreign language in the grade school, Summers thinks that the use of digital translators and the fact that English is becoming world wide makes that point mote. Perhaps. But he does say we need to know more about the world and that our education should mandate our students going to other countries to learn. That i agree.
6. "Courses of study will place much more emphasis on the analysis of data." Interestingly enough in the book, The Dyslexic Advantage one of the advantages is that of dyslexic students being able to see things in data that others could not assertain. Straight facts are not important......if you don't know how to interpret them. Just knowing facts is not intelligence. Making use of those facts is.
I hope this has made you think. Better yet, go back to the New York Times and read Summers' article. Well said and well written. I might not have paid as much attention to it had I not be reading it on my iPad.
Thanks to all those teachers who question what we are teaching and saying to themselves, how can I make this better for my students. Nice job, teacher.
So I went out and bought my wife and I two middle grade iPhones. I thought about going to the top of the line for them but my thoughts recently have been on the concept of "cloud" computing. I really don't know much about it except somewhere they are storing all that information in what might be called a "cloud". So the middle iPhone was selected.
But then I also went and bought the top iPad available, Wi-Fi and Verizon wireless. Over the years my home system has been Apple and I wasn't going to change at this juncture. I can and have used Microsoft computers--actually taught on them early on. I like computers, forget about the brands. There are some amazing machines on the market today. What is predicted for the near future is awe inspiring. So I don't want to get into a debate as to which computer, iPhone, or pad is best. I suspect someone is going to see the potential market in the school systems and design and produce a pad that will be beneficial to the kids.... I'm only sorry that I will not be in the classroom when that happens. John Dewey and I will be cheering them on.
So, apology accepted?
But now I am going to make wild statements that have only a few weeks of experience to back them up. THE IPAD WILL REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN. Throw out the curriculum that we have now, it is a new ball game. The No Child Left Behind tests are totally without value now. We need to start all over in designing education. I suspect it must be much like when the automobile was first invented/manufactured. Those that owned stables must have looked down on this device and said it could only run on roads and we have few roads for it to run on. It was a changing time in our society. Well, my friends, it is a changing time in our educational system.
The problem is that changing education is akin to moving a cemetery (many have made this statement so I acknowledge them all). It takes a long, long time. I have been a school board member and even among my board peers there was a certain amount of "in my day we didn't have these things in school" attitude. Our school system moves slowly.
Believe it or not, the slowest part of change in our education system is the colleges and universities. Cambridge and Harvard, in many cases are still teaching the way they did it in the early 1600s. Higher education takes pride in resisting change but they will have to face the future at some time.
Recently in the New York Times, there was an article by Lawrence H. Summers entitled, "What You (Really) Need to Know." (New York Times, January 20, 2012)
Mr. Summers was president of Harvard before becoming Secretary of the Treasurery. He is presently a current contender to become president of the World Bank. While I disagree with Mr. Summers on his analysis of women's intelligence I do believe he has said important things about the future of education. Here are six assumptions (Summers calls them guesses and hopes) that he says will effect education.
1. "Education will be more about how to process and use information and less about imparting it" Sitting in my easy chair holding my iPad, I have more information that I can access then is in the library at my local university. I can find out data instantaneously. I now talk to my iPhone and to Siri and ask, "what is the temperature in Bellingham? And this voice comes back and tells me the precise degree. I can google (now a verb) and ask how many people were killed in world war II and find the answer in nano-seconds. The answers are there before I finish the query. But how to process this information will be the objective of tomorrow's education.
2. "An inevitable consequence of the knowledge explosion is that tasks will be carried out with far more collaboration." YES! I've been saying for years that learning ought to be done in groups. My euphony was when I was teaching fourth grade and put the kids into seating groups of four or five students and LEARNING INCREASED even though I required only one paper from each group. Learning is a process, not a destination and we are a social animal. I see future learning being done on iPhones with Facebook and tweets being the carrier of that knowledge necessary for the learning objective.
3. "New technologies will profoundly alter the way knowledge is conveyed." My new ipad has already altered the way I read. In the technical writing of my present favorite book, "The Dyslexic Advantage" I am constantly holding my finger on a word until the definition is available at the bottom of the screen. It is soooooo easy. I have learned many new words. Yes, I could do that with the mouse on my computer but given the fact that I am comfortable in my easy chair reading it is doubtful that I would get up and go to my computer. If I want to see a diagram or a picture of some device more closely I just double tap the picture and it becomes bigger. I can see kids doing this all the time in the near future. They want to see detail.
4. "Not everyone learns most effectively in the same way." And yet the major type of teaching at Cambridge and Harvard is the lecture method. In many cases students are asked to use the knowledge that they have just acquired. This bothers me. Testing is not the same as "using" the knowledge. Still percolating in my memory bank is that story in "The Dyslexic Advantage" of the student who obtained his degree from Stanford University by listening to all his books--audio books if you will, and listening at a faster rate then normal speech so that he saved time and still learned. We have known that students learn differently but we have not changed our teaching methods to any great degree. It will have to change in the future or the students will by-pass us and learn it somewhere else.
5. "The world is much more open, and events abroad affect the lives of Americans more than ever before." I wonder if we have looked inwards toward ourselves in our curriculum and have become sated. While I have championed the learning of a foreign language in the grade school, Summers thinks that the use of digital translators and the fact that English is becoming world wide makes that point mote. Perhaps. But he does say we need to know more about the world and that our education should mandate our students going to other countries to learn. That i agree.
6. "Courses of study will place much more emphasis on the analysis of data." Interestingly enough in the book, The Dyslexic Advantage one of the advantages is that of dyslexic students being able to see things in data that others could not assertain. Straight facts are not important......if you don't know how to interpret them. Just knowing facts is not intelligence. Making use of those facts is.
I hope this has made you think. Better yet, go back to the New York Times and read Summers' article. Well said and well written. I might not have paid as much attention to it had I not be reading it on my iPad.
Thanks to all those teachers who question what we are teaching and saying to themselves, how can I make this better for my students. Nice job, teacher.
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