I have absolutely no idea where this came from… somewhere in England, I think… I may have used it in my teaching there, or I may have just carried it around with me, who knows?.....

Sad students are full of promises and good intentions.  Their favourite expression is, “I’ll do it tomorrow.”  Each day is to be a new beginning but always seems to have the same ending.  For the sad student, “tomorrow” never comes!

Like the fly wandering into the spider’s web, the sad student falls into a pattern of time wasting and self-deception.

First of all, there is the “getting started” phase.  Having decided that tonight’s the night to revise that topic that was postponed from a couple of nights ago, the student gets himself ready to work.  This means making sure that everything is in exactly the right place before he starts.  A good idea in principle, but after five to ten minutes finding things and tidying his desk, he decides to sharpen all his pencils…

Just as he is about to sit down and begin, he remembers that he was going to telephone his girlfriend and knows that if he doesn’t ring her he won’t be able to concentrate during his revision.  The “quick call” takes 20 minutes, not the couple he intended (well, “it’s good to talk” as the adverts tell us!).

The student returns to his desk, opens his file of notes and is just about to start.  A glance at his watch to check the time makes him remember that “Glee” is on in ten minutes!  As it is obviously not worth starting yet, he goes downstairs again, switches on the television and relaxes for a few minutes “channel surfing” then watching the weather forecast until it’s the time that all Gleeks have been waiting all Summer for!

The programme ends and it featured a song that he loves and hadn’t heard in a while.  He feels the need to hear it once more – this time whilst following along with the lyrics.  Forty minutes and one playlist later, he is met with silence and the student is suddenly feeling guilty.  This makes him realize that he is a little hungry and needs a snack of some sort…

His snack attack lasts twenty minutes – ten minutes to prepare, ten to eat while reading the sports page of the newspaper (again) to avoid having to think about what he promised himself he should be studying tonight.

At ten o’clock he trudges back up to his bedroom to begin at last.  After a few minutes reading his notes he starts to feel the effects of his snack and becomes a little drowsy.  This causes him to move to a more comfortable spot where he can put his feet up – his bed…

A noise jolts him awake at quarter to twelve.  He finds the sad debris of his good intentions – his creased and crumpled notes.

A wave of guilt rises up inside.

At this point, the sad student can make a choice.  He can stay up all night or DEFINITELY get the revision done TOMORROW.  Yes, he’ll feel like studying tomorrow!

(Author Unknown)

You could use this in the classroom, for sure!

To think about…

• What do you suppose will happen tomorrow?
• Does this sound at all familiar?
• Suppose this student was your friend.  
• What is some advice you would give your friend in this situation?
  

Here is a tremendous gift that has been passed from somebody’s parents to their child upon embarking upon his future:

Whenever you have to make a tough decision or you are in a challenging predicament, read this list of words. Then close your eyes, be quiet and something amazing will happen. One of these words will jump out and steer you in the right direction…
Prepare
Listen
Smile
Care
Choose
Focus
Believe
Relax
Act
Forgive
Pray
Trust
Change
Persist
Accept
Risk
Wait

Now, I am passing the Magic of these words to you:)

(Original Author Unknown)

Technology has great potential to “level the playing field”.  It also has great potential to divide it even more.

Unfortunately, it may be the latter statement that is true in many cases.  I am speaking from the point of view of an occasional teacher who goes into different schools across a large city.  I am not a consultant or an expert, and thus, this blog is simply my humble opinion.

There are a lot of great teachers doing great things with technology in their classrooms.  That is Truth.  I’ve seen it; they share it; the students love it and they are engaged.  These are all facts.  And, this is all very Awesome.

But, what about all of those teachers who would love to get in on all of this only to find that the school they teach at does not have the technological resources available to do so?  What about the students who do not get to build an application for an iPad because their school does not have even one iPad?  What about the schools with no Smart Boards, or classrooms without one computer, never mind a pod?  What about the school without digital cameras or the means to create a Podcast, or to Skype professionals around the world? What about those schools where the main concern is the Food Programs because the students are not coming to school with enough food?

Sure, you don’t NEED technology to teach.  We’ve been doing it without forever, but wouldn’t these students benefit from the experience gained and the engagement that technology can provide?

I am not at all suggesting that any teachers stop what they are doing with technology in their classrooms, but something needs to be done.  It seems that education is all about, “No Child Left Behind” and “Every Child Matters” and similar such Sentiments.  It is being said by Boards and Provinces, but is it really being reflected?  Not all the time.  It comes down to money.  It always comes down to money.  Technology seems to be furthering the divide between the “Haves” and the “Have-Nots”, perpetuating the cycle.  Some of our young people will be fluent in Digital Literacies and others will not be.  I wonder who will have a better chance at getting into higher education, and then better-paid careers?  Who will be more likely to remain engaged in their learning and stay in school?

(*Just something I’ve been pondering this week.)

BUMP IT UP – Do Better to Be Better!

I have recently come across this article by Marc Prensky, 2009, in which he 'examines ways in which existing technologies and future developments in the digital world could facilitate the development of wisdom and wise decison making.'  http://www.wisdompage.com/Prensky01.html

In other word's, digital technologies are allowing us to think in whole new ways.  Further, the speed in which these technologies are being created and changing keeps us on our toes.  To our students, this is second-nature them.  They do not get the problems that their older teachers and parents may be having with all of this.  Basically, it is change and it is coming at us faster than ever.  Change in Education has always been met with resistance, but, now, instead of the Evolution of Education, we have a Revolution of Education.

To understand some of the resistance, we can look at the purpose, or function, of Education.  But, of course, it depends who you ask, and do we mean, "What should the purpose of education be?" versus, "What is the purpose of our present education system?"

Of course rote and memorization and facts and 'only one right answer' is all very measurable.   But, critical thinking skills and creativity - how on Earth do you quantify that?  You can, however, see the results of this new thinking by looking at what our students are producing; by listening to what they are saying; by looking at the jobs the first of the Digital Natives are doing.  We are beginning to be able to see what the effects on our world are that Digital Technologies are enabling.

"Kids have it too easy, nowadays.  They don't have to find anything.  It makes them lazy.  When I went to school, if I wanted to know something, I had to physically look for the answers in books, such as encyclopedias, maybe even in the library.  Kids, today, just use Google and the answer comes up.  They can just be lazy.  Plus, they can't even add without using calculators!"

Albert Einstein recognized that, "the problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them."

The same person got into a discussion about the state of politics in our city, which is the same in most places, I believe.  Everybody complains about the idiocy of government, but instead of taking the chance to elect an all-new council, only 3 out of 15 were new, and the Mayor was similar in age and beliefs as the last bunch of mayors.  Thus, the grumbling and complaining persists.

Digital Natives are those who grew up with digital technology from birth, whereas Digital Immigrants are those who were already socialized in predigital ways when digital technology arrived on the scene. For more information, see Prensky (2001).

Our students are Digital Natives, myself and many of my colleagues are Digital Immigrants, but many people are just Analogue, I guess.

If I knew then what I know know.....Le sigh.  It's a cliche, I know, but geez, it's so very true!  I really wish I was more interested in History and Politics when I was in school… now, I am interested… and isn’t that a fundamental issue of education? So much of what we try to teach our students do not interest them at present, and no young person believes it when adults say, “Believe me, I felt exactly as you did when I was your age…” I know I didn’t believe them, and I smile slightly when I find myself using that same line with young people today, secretly believing that I may actually get through to them, as I’m sure the teacher saying it to my class secretly believed exactly that.

So, the question is, “How do we reach young people, so that they realize that History and Politics do affect them?” Maybe, just maybe, most young peoples’ brains are just not ready to grasp these concepts. They are dealing with their own dramatic worlds as they grow up and figure out how to be adults. I am not being sarcastic or belittling in any way. I believe that being a teenager is a naturally egocentric time. A lot of stuff is going on, so how do we reach young people?

Here is a comment I found on Facebook, expressing this sentiment: “I have a question – our 5 daughters and their spouses aged 20 – 26 all refuse to vote as doesn’t make any difference. Even when we stress that voting is a privilege they don’t care. Is this normal? How do we stop the apathy? I am embarrassed and wonder how we missed teaching them this lesson. It perturbs me a lot.” 

And, just to be clear, I am not blaming anyone – not the parents, not the teachers, nor even the youth – Blame is not going to help. What is clear, is that we need to find solutions.

Rick Mercer has tried to do this…

Raffi has a campaign to catch the “Beluga” generation as adults with the voting message…

http://www.childhonouring.org

Perhaps, we need to do more of this sort of thing… and who better to do it? Who better to show they actually care about the citizens of the very Country they want to Lead, than Politicians? Nobody! Perhaps, instead of wasting so much money on those sleazy slanderous campaigns full of lies and blame and belittling and creative story-telling, maybe they should spend money on ads informing the public HOW OUR ELECTORAL SYSTEM WORKS, WHY IT IS A RIGHT AND A DUTY and definitely A PRIVILEGE, and HOW ONE PERSON CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE. They need to encourage people to vote. And, if they aren’t willing to do this, then perhaps they don’t really want people to vote… (Oh, I get it.)

Come on, Politicians, Bump It Up – You gotta DO Better to BE BETTER!

INFOWHELM…. too much info!!!  There is a lot, like virtually an infinite amount, of information available to us at any given moment....

So, what can we do?  We simply educate ourselves and our families and friends — everybody, really! There are countless articles and videos available on the Web.  I've pointed out just a few to get you started.

NOTE! — It is important to realize that (once you know how) the actual mechanics of checking the credibility of information only takes a few seconds of clicking, copying & pasting, searching, and judging for yourself.  THE PART THAT TAKES THE MOST WORK IS LEARNING TO DO YOUR OWN JUDGING!!!!! - And it is vital that we teach our students about safe-gaurding themselves. 

While “surfin’ the Net”, whether it be for fun & folly, or for work or school,  ensure you have your ‘Crap-Detectors’ out – “Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him.”
—Ernest Hemingway, 1954

A good question to ask yourself, particularly if asked to download anything, is: “Might someone be trying to put one over on me?” — This could be anything from actual cash, to the more common phishing spam, going after your personal info.

For example, there is one going around Facebook about a horrific roller coaster accident… Never click on a link from a friend if you think it is not something they would normally send, post, or say.  Also, if you see numerous posts with the exact same comment, it is probably suspect. 
Here is a wonderful article explaining how these types of spam work, as well as what to do if you’ve clicked one of these:
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/04/10/theme-park-accident-video-used-as-bait-by-facebook-viral-scammers/

Howard Rheingold has written some excellent guidelines about basic information literacy that everybody should become familiar with, plus some lesson plan ideas to use in the classroom (if you are a teacher):
http://newstrust.net/guides/crap-detection-101
(He also provide many informative links.)
This website, too, has some great information for lessons… http://globaldigitalcitizen.org

Here are 2 videos about spam!

Happy Judging, Questioning & Critical Thinking, everyone!!


And, don’t forget to BUMP IT UP — DO BETTER TO BE BETTER:)

Everybody likes to know that they’ve done good work and what they do is appreciated. I’m not saying we need banners and sky-writers after every wonderful thing we do, but an acknowledgement is appreciated.  Today was one of those days for me, and I only worked for the morning!

“You know what, Mrs Schneider?  You’re my favourite supply teacher!” (boy, 4th grade)

“It’s Mrs Schneider, What a great day!” (Grade 8 boy, and I’m just going to pretend it wasn’t because he perceived it to mean he could slack off!)

“Mrs Schneider is awesome!”  (overheard 2 grade 6 girls in conversation in the hallway)

“You know, the kids really enjoy having you in the classroom!”  (A teacher whose room I was recently in for the day)

Knowing the staff and students is definitely a benefit to working in a school on a regular basis.  Sometimes as an occasional teacher, we do not have the opportunity to build such a rapport.  While it is great to work in many schools to gain experience in many different settings, there are some definite advantages to having a “main” school.  These benefits are evident to everyone:

Students get to know me and I get to know them.  I am able to greet most of them by name as they exit the bus, or enter the classroom, or as I pass them in the hallways.  I tend to know more of them by name than some of the staff, as I teach in across all the grades and subjects.

Teachers and other staff also come to know me, and I them.  This means I learn about the teaching styles of many teachers and become familiar with their classroom routines and expectations.  Teachers also do not mind leaving less-detailed lesson plans.  Sometimes we can connect, previous to an assignment, to go over the day in person.  Or, if they were not expecting to be away and know I will be in, they are comforted by the fact that I know the routines and where supplies are and the students’ names, personalities and quirks.

I become familiar with the school’s procedures, rules, routines and expectations.  This makes everybody’s lives easier.

Even parents come to know me.  Knowing their child’s anxiety is less than when they have to meet a stranger is helpful, in some cases more than others.  Who are we kidding, in some cases, it may ease parents’ anxiety more than their childrens’.

When I go to those familiar schools, I believe it is often a more productive and comfortable day for a lot of the people involved in the school.

And, when everyone is happy, we can get on with happily learning.

We can BUMP IT UP – DO BETTER TO BE BETTER!

Games are FUN, and when the mechanics are appropriate, a high level of ENGAGEMENT is born.  Thus, ACHIEVEMENT is sure to follow.  So, why wouldn’t we take some of these aspects and incorporate them into education?  I’m not talking about our students playing video games all day at school (though in small doses and used appropriately, they can be beneficial).

So many students “tune out” at school, or they just go through the motions; doing the bare minimum to get by until they are released into the real world.  The question remains, are we adequately preparing them for their roles when they get there?  Probably not, though I can say with certainty that a lot of great teachers are trying – my Twitter PLN is testiment to that!

What are the elements of video games that make players sit in front of a screen, focused for hours on end, and how can we transfer them into the classroom?

I am totally into the ‘Gamification’ of the stuff that we should do in our lives but aren’t always motivated to do.  Let me give an example… In January, I came across an amazing site called, Daily Challenge from YouMe Health (challenge.meyouhealth.com).  It is a health-focused social game.

Daily Challenge sends players simple tasks for them to complete on a daily basis, and the game encourages them to share their results with their Facebook cronies, who can provide encouragement and (ideally) participate in the game themselves. 
If players do something healthy—such as taking a walk, eating a vegetable-rich salad, or wearing lip balm that provides ample sun protection—they hit a “Done” button and gain points, earn health badges, and progress toward higher levels of the game. 
(It’d be easy to cheat in this game since there’s no mechanism to prove that a challenge has been done, but then players would really only be wasting their time and, potentially, misleading their friends.)  
I have so far completed 50 challenges, and feel a great sense of accomplishment.  Now, I just need a House Cleaning game!

I found myself thinking about the school experience as a game one night, instead of sleeping.  Here is my vision… I call it, “School as a Role-Play Game” and the role is student (a role our youth already play, but now, they are more engaged).  Projects and tests could be quests, and lessons and activities could be the mini-challenges along the way to allow students multiple chances to succeed, thereby keeping them engaged and motivated.  The harder goals will strengthen students’ perseverance.  Collaboration and cooperation would be key for some of the quests.  Along the way, the ‘player’ has the opportunity to train and strengthen different skill sets such as critical thinking, literacy strategies, specific curriculum subjects, problem solving, creativity, etc.  There would be mini-games, as well, which are a chance to earn achievement badges or points.  These would be the various sports teams, clubs, and intra-murals.  Teachers would be like the wise sage character whom students go to for guidance; they also give out the quests; and the rewards/feedback.  They could also interact with Experts out in the world from their physical school.  Ideally, students would form cross-level, multiple strength groups to aid them in reaching the goals, like in Farmville and other such social games, benefiting both the beginners and the experts.

Sounds quite similar to some of the things we already do, doesn’t it?  It’s just kind of tying the bits together, and thinking of it and presenting it to the students as a game.  A variation could be, “Super Teacher”…

Real-Life Example:
Quest to Learn is a New York City public school, a school that uses “game-like learning” as a way to empower and engage students from all walks of life. Quest to Learn (Q2L) is specific in its focus on connecting rigorous student learning to the demands of the 21st century, supporting young people in their learning across digital networks, peer communities, content, careers, and media.

From the Site’s Overview…
Mission critical at Quest is a translation of the underlying form of games into a powerful pedagogical model for its 6-12th graders. Games work as rule-based learning systems, creating worlds in which players actively participate, use strategic thinking to make choices, solve complex problems, seek content knowledge, receive constant feedback, and consider the point of view of others. As is the case with many of the games played by young people today, Quest is designed to enable students to “take on” the identities and behaviors of explorers, mathematicians, historians, writers, and evolutionary biologists as they work through a dynamic, challenge-based curriculum with content-rich questing to learn at its core.

It’s important to note that Quest is not a school whose curriculum is made up of the play of commercial videogames, but rather a school that uses the underlying design principles of games to create highly immersive, game-like learning experiences. Games and other forms of digital media serve another useful purpose at Quest: they serve to model the complexity and promise of “systems.” Understanding and accounting for this complexity is a fundamental literacy of the 21st century.

The brainchild of Quest To Learn is a professional game designer named Katie Salen. Salen, like many people interested in education, has spent a lot of time thinking about whether there is a way to make learning feel simultaneously more relevant to students and more connected to the world beyond school.  And the answer, as she sees it, lies in games.

She believes that going to school can and should be more like playing a game, which is to say it could be made more participatory, more immersive and also, well, fun. Nearly every aspect of life at Quest to Learn is thus designed to be gamelike, even when it doesn’t involve using a computer. Students don’t receive grades but rather achieve levels of expertise, denoted on their report cards as “pre-novice,” “novice,” “apprentice,” “senior” and “master.” They are enlisted to do things like defeat villains and lend a hand to struggling aliens, mostly by working in groups to overcome multifaceted challenges, all created by a collection of behind-the-scenes game designers. The principles are similar to those used in problem-based learning, a more established educational method in which students collaborate to tackle broad, open-ended problems, with a teacher providing guidance though not necessarily a lot of instruction. But at Quest to Learn, the problems have been expertly aerated with fantasy.

Once it has been worked over by game designers, a lesson doesn’t look like a lesson anymore. It is now a quest. And while students at the school are put through the usual rigors of studying pre-algebra, basic physics, ancient civilizations and writing, they do it inside interdisciplinary classes with names like Codeworlds — a hybrid of math and English class — where the quests blend skills from different subject areas. Students have been called upon to balance the budget and brainstorm business ideas for an imaginary community called Creepytown, for example, and to design architectural blueprints for a village of bumbling little creatures called the Troggles. There are elements of the school’s curriculum that look familiar — nightly independent reading assignments, weekly reading-comprehension packets and plenty of work with pencils and paper — and others that don’t. Quest to Learn students record podcasts, film and edit videos, play video games, blog avidly and occasionally receive video messages from aliens.

They also spend significant time building their own games.

Here is a magazine article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html?_r=2&ref=education&pagewanted=all

How very fascinating!  I want to work at that school!  Ideally, we could just open up more of these schools, but, realistically, it is not going to happen.  So, what parts of this can we use in our schools?

Look at the offices of present times and into the future!  No body is over 30!  What will the rest of us do?!

Look at our students’ future jobs…   Do schools prepare our students for that?  It certainly doesn’t look like any office I’ve ever worked in!

Just sayin.

My colleague, @HeidiSiwak has written yet another wonderful blog, in which she has posed some of the many questions that we all have as Educators in the 21st Century, 
http://heidisiwak.blogspot.com/2011/03/questions-i-have-lots-of-questions.html.

Since, I have also been grappling with some of these issues myself and have been trying figuring out the best way to Blog about them, so I thought I’d take some of Heidi’s Questions, as she asks them, and pair them with my musings.  (Notice, I did not say answers, because those will only come with collaboration of Educators.  As far as I can tell,  the pace of all this change is causing many of the challenges we face today… it’s happening faster than policies can be created.) 

“How are teachers who aren’t exploring these new ideas going to cope when thistsunami of change hits?  It’s bubbling just below the surface, but is about to explode.  What will they do?” I guess, as teachers, you are either on board or you walk the plank – either by choice or not.  The fact is that Education IS changing and it is changing at a very fast face; a whirlwind of change, if you will!  If we do not embrace technology, then we are not ensuring the success of our students, thus we are not adequately teaching them.

“If a student is following my class online at home, or at the mall or in the car on the way to Florida, do I still mark him or her as absent?”
Yes, as it is a ‘policy-issue’.  But, I suspect you are actually questioning if this is indeed justified, as students can accomplish the exact same thing no matter where they are, and, they can also receive guidance and support from the teacher, wherever they are.  As we remove geographic boundaries, the possibilities for enriching learning are endless.   Since our students need to be well-versed in these technologies, and, at present time, they are required by law to physically be in the school building, then it is imperative that teachers teach them these skills.  It is our job.  It doesn’t matter if we are learning right along with the students.

“If I am learning every day from my students, can you still call me the teacher?”
Erm, you mean warden… just kidding.  I think upon reflection of our new roles we would be better known as Learning Guides or Collaborators, but these types of titles really do not get across the necessity for knowledgeable professionals, i.e., teachers to have these jobs. I am certainly NOT suggesting teachers are no longer necessary.  Perhaps, we just need to change the definition and role description of teacher to more accurately define our new roles.  Research has already shown that when you teach, you consolidate learning, so instead of teacher-at-the-head, both teachers and students learn together.  Sometimes students may teach the teacher; and sometimes the teachers learns first, then will teach the students, who in all likelihood, will pick up the new skill or concept quickly and then discover something beyond the teacher’s knowledge and then teach the teacher.  You see that we have a more collaborative learning process occurring.

Another thing that confounds the issues is that we are in a unique spot in history.  Many of today’s teacher’s are not well-versed in technology, but the newer teachers are, and it will be common-place for future teachers.  I think that because this is a transition stage – we are moving from a relatively slow-moving  Evolution of Education to a fast-paced Revolution of Education.

Since our world is a technological one, we can only:  Embrace It.   Explore It.  Collaborate In It.  And, most importantly, Have Fun With It.  Start small, take baby steps and ask for help.  (It is actually easier to get help online than in real-life, you know!) It’s okay to be fearful, but just do it.  Am infinite number of doors will open up for you and you will be transformed by the wonder of it all!

Bump It Up – Do Better to Be Better!

Future Blog topics (because they are BIG topics)…

• “What kinds of people will emerge once we’ve allowed self-directed learning to take hold? Will we unleash an unprecedented creative force such as the world has never seen?”

• Here’s another question, how do I create a balance between @funtasticteachr, or nicolaschneider.com, and Nikki in real-life??