Left Lane Ends

It is a scary world out there. Corners are sharp, potholes are dangerous and pencils can kill. With all of the dangers that are lurking in and under every object imaginable, it is important to remember how inept the teacher teaching next to you just might be. In fact, some school districts north of ours may have just hit the nail on the head when they implemented forced, structured curriculum. A message needs to be sent, and they ‘get it’. They had an ‘ah-ha’ moment and the light bulb clicked on.

Let me be clear - trusting any given teacher to be a professional and make their own decisions in the classroom is a danger that should cause us all to shake in our boots as if George W. Bush were about to be re-elected president. They might open a door for a child that we do not want opened. They may get ‘all creative’ and fall behind the scope and sequence for all we know! They might, just maybe, even forget that there is a high-stakes test looming out there for a day or two… and THAT, my friends, would NOT be good.

How can anyone believe that we should do anything BUT make teachers follow central command more than ever, remove choice from their lives and/or make decisions for themselves???? Preposterous.

Beware. If treated like professionals, the world around you WILL fall apart. Ain’t no ‘lane ends’ about it.

It’s true. Hell froze over and it happened last night. It snowed in Dallas and technically dropped below freezing! So, I shouldn’t REALLY be surprised that my vote actually matters for once in Texas.
I just stood in the longest voting line I have ever had to wait in (primary/general elections) and it was the most diverse line I have ever seen voting. I cast my vote next to a Muslim woman and heard all different classes of people talking about coming back for Caucusing later tonight. It is an amazing time to vote. Standing amidst community members of many ethnicity’s, religions, social classes and beliefs allowed me to feel the most patriotic that I have ever felt in my life. This is what America is. This is what America should be. We were all united towards a common hope, a hope for change and a hope for a better country.

I know it will be different in the general election (and not separate/apparent), but I couldn’t help but chuckle at the empty Republican table, sitting and waiting for customers.

A few weeks back at TCEA, I went to get a Jamba Juice for lunch. It’s just a smoothie - nothing spectacular or complex. However, when my smoothie-maker finished her mixing and blending, she walked to counter with nervous look on her face saying, “This is the first one that I’ve made right today!” Granted, this wasn’t a huge, earth shattering accomplishment - but it was easy to see that this small achievment meant something to her. With a big smile and a warm “very nice!”, I started to wonder how often we miss those opportunities in the classroom or with our coworkers. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own day, in our own perspective, and overlook the small achievements of those around us. Since that time, I know I have passed up many opportunities to recognize the achievements of those around me, but I know that when I take the time, it makes a difference. After all, I know how much I appreciate the same from others - don’t you?

So, life happens. Once again, I’ve taken a leave of absence from my blog. Its been a rough year. I’m divorced… Again. But, I can’t attribute my lack of motivation to write publicly to just that. Honestly, I’ve let myself get weighed down with putting out fires at work and allowed that mentality to control too much of my motivation. On the bright side, I have a couple of opportunities to pause: one this week at a work related conference; and one next weekend personally. The great thing is that I have some projects in my scope that will give me the opportunity to jump out of this ring of fire… As long as I so choose. ;)Oh! And I have pink eye!! Who gets pink eye?!?

I was triggered by Audrey’s comment on Miguel’s post about her original blog entry related to ’scope and sequence’. Confused yet? Let me step through it…

Miguel called Audrey out on her original post:

If higher standards are the answer, Audrey, then how do we raise them?

She responded in a comment to Miguel’s post with things like:

1) reestablish the basic skill set and put them in place from the very beginning… including grammar, rhetoric, historical method, computational skills, etc.

2) Create scope and sequence across the grades starting with kindergarten and going up through 12th grade… there is no magic…

(continued further in her response linked above)

I am a firm believer that we need to work on instruction as a primary focus when looking at effective technology integration in any given classroom. I love Audrey’s specifics: Start with a foundation, create a systemic scope and sequence across the district, use clear language that allows for creativity/flexibility, work on it every year, work in both heterogeneous AND ability grouping practices, embed technology in the scope and sequence, and when it IS embedded - make sure the content is driving the technology use.

THAT, friends, sets the bar pretty darn high. I love it. It puts instruction first, creates a vision for systemic use and says that the technology must have a purpose. Coming from a district that has a systemic, online curriculum that is modified annually with embedded technology resources, here are the biggest challenges that came to my mind as soon I read this exchange between Miguel and Audrey.

1. No guarantees = need for low risk: In a state of constant pressure, even with a systemic, effective curriculum/scope and sequence, the temptation to remove creativity and flexibility from a teacher’s hands is great. I know of a neighboring district that has had what is close to a scripted curriculum for a few years. I would go NUTS in that kind of environment and am realizing that as the pressure related to performance continues to rise, the pressure to force teachers to only teach what is on the test is rising with it. How can a school board, a principal or a district leader resist knowing that all of their teachers (and many of which are no longer veterans for a lot of us) will be teaching the same thing? It guarantees a constant rise in test scores from year-to-year (which happens any time a new test is implemented) with little risk to step outside the box and challenge our students with the education that they really need. Honestly, when faced with 1) constant gain/low risk vs. 2) no guarantees/high risk - what do you think the choice will be? Sure, I can find isolated teachers that are willing to take that risk for their students, but it just ain’t easy finding an organization with that mentality.
2. Providing the necessary means: When I tell people I work in ‘Instructional Technology’, they immediately think ‘IT’. I’m the computer guy, the tech monkey (oh, I have a badge in my office!). I want to take a calm breathe and just say… “no, instruction, curriculum, teaching, learning.” I don’t do what I do because I like gadgets (although I DO like gadgets), I do it because I truly believe that integrating technology into a classroom is ALL about shifting/growing ones concept of teaching. I could care less about the newest Web 2.0 site if it doesn’t bring curriculum to life for students. I could care less for making videos that spit out report style information. We need to teach with a purpose and technology is an absolutely amazing vehicle to do that. My point, friends, is that technology can and does play a role in that shift. Miguel noted:
   

   Waiting for that [school/instructional] reformation may leave us […] in the same position of Moses…preaching the Promised Land but destined to die before entering.

   He went on to talk about how the process of integration happens too slowly and how social pressure will eventually push the need technology tools into our classrooms in the future. While I know that Miguel’s thoughts on the matter are much more complex than that single line, I am conversely convinced that technology opens doors for teachers to shift their conceptual structures about instruction. We can not just sit and wait for social pressure to bring the tools we need now into our classrooms tomorrow.

   In a recent training I did on Audacity sound software, I saw eyes grow big when teachers realized that a single student could recreate a story (or even better, the student’s own writing!) into an engaging audio book complete with sound effects, background music and different ‘voices’ (Here’s a clip of what I’m talking about). They started to see how students have to fully understand the concepts related to voice, emphasis, summarization, etc., and started to see what technology added to a classroom activity that they have done for years.

   The challenge here is not just to push the cohesive vision of technology integration within relevant content, but to have the means necessary to accomplish these lessons/activities. That means there will be a sacrifice - there will be laptops unused, there will be money spent that didn’t reach its full potential. But why is that such a difficult concept for so many when the same happens with huge, one-shot, district-wide staff development programs? The same happens with a position that is created for one year on a campus that went unused. I do NOT say that we should justify the waste, but I also do not feel that we can continue making steps forward without taking that chance.

Considering Audrey’s specific suggestions, I would be remiss not to list my own suggestions in response to the challenges that I noted above. They’re simple (ha!)

• Push for allowing creativity and flexibility in our classrooms. This may be in small ways or this may be in big ways, but we can fight for that in a myriad of ways.
• Find ways to provide the necessary means. This may mean working to continue a laptop program, working on a more effective way to provide staff development or doing a training that opens up one more pair of eyes.

Sure, those are general, but they can be focused on daily. After all, easy answers aren’t worth the sacrifice that comes with them.

I guess, in short, I’m OK with being like Moses. Sure, he may not have reached the promised land, but he had a vision for his people and they eventually worked their way through their journey. One might even argue that they never really reached the promised land, but that the journey still continues - guided not just by Moses’ vision for the future, but a more complex set of people willing to take a risk for creativity and providing the necessary means to move towards a better future.

Do you think Moses was out where the left lane ends…?

I’m back at my adopted coffee shop. I bought a mug and the coffee is on the house… why don’t others care as much!? Time to learn…

…BUT - before I do, I have to share a thought I had during my run on the Town Lake trail this morning. Coming down the elevator to exit the hotel (and minding my own business I might add), there was a man and bell hop taking his stuff down to check out. He was built, aged and dressed in a suit like you might expect Ross Perot to be and they were talking politely about the weather. As I was about to step off the elevator, suit man said, “I always say that the weather is like a woman in menopause - you never know what your going to get!” Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle. I cocked my head, glared with my meanest teacher look (and ask my wife, I have a pretty mean teacher look) and walked off the elevator. I wanted to say back, “I always say the weather is like an old, white-haired [XXblankety-blankXX] - easy to predict because they’re always showing you what an idiot they are. (or something to that effect).

So, then I had the thought - with the advancement of GPS enabled social networks, what if we had human tagging?!?! This would be great, because then I could add some choice tags to this guys profile (that floats above his head in my imagination) so that the next woman he encountered that was going through that part of her well deserved life would know how this chauvinist SOB really feels about her. Enter tags here: ____ , ____ , ____ , ____ .

Then I started wondering what my tags would be…

So I am ‘using’ my blog. The annual TCEA robotics competition is approaching and I want to provide some assistance to teams this year as they prepare for the competition. You’ll see some robotics related posts, as well as a guest author from now through February. Maybe this will get me back to writing after my hiatus…. hmmm… maybe…

Screen plays/scripts always provide context at the beginning of the document, a way for the reader to mentally adjust to the environment of the piece of writing as well as the purpose. Well, here’s some context:

Ms. Stephens, who writes Musings from the Academy, asked why I hadn’t posted for a while. In response, I felt forced with my last writing (a review of the ASCD conference) and have been busy with class work, work and work. So, the writing bug just hasn’t hit me. THEN, she sends me this article by Lowell W. Monke from ‘Educational Leadership’ (a publication from the very ASCD organization itself) - ‘I think you should read the attached article and write about it on your blog.’

Ok, I’ll bite.

I’ve gotta tell ya’ - I am plain tired of the ‘techno-ego-centric, ‘they don’t know anything but’, ‘teenage biobots with super human text-message capable thumbs’ line. In fact, any time an educator refers to ‘them’, ‘they’ or ‘those kids’ - I shudder.

Now, normally, I would respond to this kind of article by laying out the good points and contrasting those with the bad points - but I’ve done too much of that for courses this semester and do not care to add to my list of pointless dead-end ‘publications’. This article, printed in a well respected publication, is harmful to education, primarily to those that look for pandering to one-sided perspectives in the development of national requirements, and even more importantly, budgets.

Nearly everything children do today involves technologies that distance them from direct contact with the living world.

Hmmm. ‘They’ are in trouble. ‘Those kids’ need to stop watching junk and learn. I just don’t understand ‘them’ - how can they isolate ‘them’selves like that? Oh….don’t even get me started - as if the adult political world is THAT much more connected to the ‘living world’?!?!

I heard a line recently that described how adults view text messaging compared to kids. Adults view it as very impersonal, even lacking ‘direct contact with the living world’. Interestingly enough, kids view text messaging as hyper-personal. They feel more in touch and more able to develop relationships. It seems that this may simply be an inability to see things from another Point of View (POV). I’ll come back to that.

With that in mind, lets move on to the real meat - the needed message. It is time that we stop looking at technology solely as an independent variable. Let me say that again.

IT IS TIME THAT WE STOP LOOKING AT TECHNOLOGY SOLELY AS AN INDEPENDENT VARIABLE.

Being the ‘Tech Monkey’ that I am (that is how we sometimes feel in Instructional Technology), this is a familiar concept to me. Study after study indicates the effect that computer integration has on test scores, on student thinking and every other possible dependent variable out there. It is as if one were to simply add the presence of computers (suspended from the ceiling, even!) to a classroom, that something will change. Test scores will get better or worse. Students will become more or less engaged. ‘Those’ kids will pay more attention or be more distracted. Don’t get me wrong - I am a firm believer in research, but where does research meet culture? When do we understand that these are real kids? When do we realize that it isn’t the technology that impacts the classroom, but THE TEACHING? When do we accept the fact that technology is merely an accelerant? Let’s run with that.

I read the book ‘Good to Great’ a while back and one of the last chapters struck me heavily. So much so, in fact, that I wrote the following (and previously unpublished) thoughts in March of 2003. Technology is merely an accelerant. It acts as a catalyst and makes things happen faster. However, not only does it make your communication quicker and your location of information speedier, it makes a good teacher better - faster. An effective teacher who uses current strategies to engage her students simply has more resources at her fingertips to utilize when designing/implementing a lesson. On the flip, and scarier side, technology also makes a poor teacher worse - faster. Have you heard stories about the management issues? Students being off task and not engaged? Do you really think that it is the technology that is the problem? This should be a HUGE red flag to the education world: If this is the case (technology as an accelerant), where, then, should our concern lie? NOT with the type of equipment; NOT with how well a teacher knows basic technology skills; NOT even with how technology is integrated into the curriculum. It is IMPERATIVE that our concern lie with, and HEAVILY with, the effectiveness of a teacher according to today’s definition of an effective teacher. If we do not place this concern as a priority, we are CREATING less effective teachers in our schools - FASTER. Don’t you see - it isn’t technology that is the problem, it is how we develop and embrace effective teaching.

What should we be doing? Teaching our kids through the use of POV. Getting our kids involved in the local, national and international community through the power of technology. Developing school systems that support and develop effective teachers. It is true, technology is their life - so let’s embrace that fact and find ways to help OUR kids think more effectively within that environment.

Technology is NOT the problem. Lousy policies, a national administration with a lack of vision and a lack of a balanced POV, AND a lack of vision within the educational environment - these are the problems.

If nothing else, Monke’s article is merely munitions to cut a budget that has already been proposed for elimination. After all, it seems that the policy makers and the budget creators seem to only look for bits-and-pieces that support their own POV. Please, don’t give them the quick quotes that they are looking for.

So, I was working on some stats stuff this afternoon/tonight, looking for some kind of decent conclusion to be made between a control campus w/out 1:1 laptops and one with 1:1 laptops (middle school). WHAT I was doing with these statistics didn’t strike me as much as HOW I was doing it.

(I’ll tell you up front that this is an opinion piece rather than a connected/hyperlinked piece…read at your own risk!)

I started my work with some data analysis software (SPSS, for all those stats fiends out there(ok, I lied, there will be some links!)) that I am just learning. My first resource came in the form of a phone call to the person that collected the data, Gerald Knezek at UNT. He had the same software on his computer and we walked through a number of different ways to analyze the different variables. It amazed me how quickly I was able to pick up the use of this software, even though neither of us could see the other’s screen! Language, in regards to software and technology, has leveled out to the point where we can do that.

Later that evening, I was meeting with a colleague to continue work on said project. As we were meeting in person (with 2 PPT screens open, 2 SPSS windows, Firefox with WHO knows HOW many tabs running and email up and going), I noticed my father was on Messenger. “What are you doing?,” I asked. “Grading Statistics papers,” he replied! Sweet…live help! (He teaches Stats, among other things at Sterling College in KS.)

So, while working live with my colleague (who had his own laptop going), I was messaging my father to get valuable information about how to run some new and very functional reports (thanks, Dad), working on my computer, pulling data off of the web, jumping back-and-forth between PPT and SPSS and even managed to message a friend to let him know what I was up to (who could’ve cared less that I was playing with statistics).

It struck me. THIS is how it’s being done now! THIS is what kids need to be doing in AND OUTSIDE of school in an effective 1:1 implementation. It seems so random and attention deficit, but yet it works so well!

Another great illustration of this came through the Mac interface this past weekend as we went to relax to some live music at Standard and Pours, a Dallas coffee shop/local music scene. We were listening to one of the openers and I noticed a college aged girl sitting in front of us working on her PowerBook. That wonderful Mac interface demonstrated this concept SO fluidly, it was almost poetic! (we’re a windows shop here in Irving.) She was dancing back and forth between writing a paper of some sort, researching online, talking to two friends, browsing personal interest web sites, playing a game (which would pop up when the other player, apparently located somewhere else in cyber land, would make a move) AND actively listening to the performer on stage! A keystroke would move her around between the different windows, and when selected, would zoom that window to a larger work size - you know how Mac windows zip around the screen playfully… Then her friend would IM her, and that window would zip into view. After a quick response, she would flow back over to her paper and write a half a sentence more! My thought was how I would just love to see the flow of that writing! I couldn’t believe that it would be connected or fluid at all. BUT I WAS DOING THE SAME THING EARLIER TONIGHT!

Now, you may be thinking: “Well, Jerram, just look at your spastic writing - you’ve been A.D.D.’ing whilst writing THIS piece (which I HAVE been, by the way).” So what’s the point??!!

The point is, we give kids laptops and spend SO much time blocking, inhibiting, impeding, limiting and preventing them from connecting, despite the FACT that they should be connecting, flowing, working without limits and relating to the world - their world.

Well, it was Miguel’s note:

Discussions among technology directors focus, not on the best ways to use such technologies, but how to best block access to those technologies.

that got me started on this whole thing. I didn’t think I would bring it to the fore tonight, but out it came…

Sometimes, when you see the ‘real’ world compared to the real education world, you just wanna ask ‘WHY?’.

Dean Shareski writes about geography lesson ideas on his blog and says:

So there’s the challenge. Get your kids to dig into these tools and their value and post the findings.

Here’s one…Sam Farsaii, Director of Instructional Technology for Irving ISD, presented a way to use Google Earth the other day. Google Earth has a built in measurment tool. Why not locate a local landmark and compare its length/size/area to another well known landmark - a sphinx, for instance. Not only do students compare the two objects, but they almost literally fly around the world and develop concepts about global locations, continents and worldly perspective as they do so. This one little tool has so many great applications and is only a slice of the limitless application of Google Earth.

…just don’t tell your networking department about it’s constant bandwith consumption…

Oh, and if anyone can find a Left Lane Ends sign - mark it and send me the latitude/longitude so I can pull it up. People have found fly cars - someone’s GOT to be looknig for where the left lane ends…