Even if my recent “Politics Around the Web” posts have turned you off, I hope you noticed that they are a model of a very simple activity for any number of classes - current events, politics, science and math news, more - that want students to read and exhibit critical thinking about what they read. I say “simple” because all it takes is a Google News account, a Diigo account, and a blog.

This screencast shows you how it works, compliments of screencast-o-matic and Blip.tv:

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If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

7 Comments

• At October 19, 2008, M. Walker wrote:

  Clay,

  Very nice! I'm speaking to some student bloggers on Tuesday, reading from a blog and sharing my thoughts, and I may have to share this with them. I'm thinking of using some of the Michelle Bachman material coming out of Minnesota...can you say Joe McCarthy?

  Mike

  M. Walkers last blog post..Wordle

• At October 19, 2008, Seadey Says 10/18/2008 « Seadey Says wrote:

  [...] Creating Critical Readers: A Too-Easy Diigo-Google News-Student Blog Assignment | Beyond School - Annotated [...]

• At October 19, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  Did you see VandenHeuven's reply / debate after that interview?

  You're right, it's the perfect current event to connect to McCarthyism. Ooh, and she's from your state, isn't she?

• At October 19, 2008, Louise Maine wrote:

  I would never characterize what you present as wacky ideas as you continue to stretch our minds on the possibilities. As my students are working with another class on animal classification and research into an endangered or exotic animal on a wiki, the natural extension would be on threats to biodiversity. Generally, they would prepare a statement as to their thoughts on the subject. Your approach would show reasoning on both sides that led to the students decision and is a great way to show and demonstrate critical thinking. As always, The true gain is in your thoughts and generosity in showing the process despite the issue.

  Louise Maines last blog post..NEBSA Source for Learning challenge

• At October 20, 2008, M. Walker wrote:

  Yes, she came out of our state legislature, where she led the charge against gay marriage and other "anti-American" activities. Famous for molesting Bush after a State of the Union Address...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqSjtIivjnQ

  Mike

  M. Walkers last blog post..Wordle

• At October 21, 2008, Maggie wrote:

  Great idea, Clay! A great way to entice students to stay engaged with current events and cultivate research and critical thinking skills!

• At October 22, 2008, Creating Critical Readers: A Too-Easy Diigo-Google News-Student Blogging Project | Beyond School wrote:

  [...] is a cached version of http://beyond-school.org/2008/10/18/diigo-blogging-current-events. Diigo.com has no relation to the [...]

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Update 1: Wikispaces recorded the webinar as a movie, and will send me the link when it’s up. I’ll post it here. I took the last half-hour of the 1-hour show to discuss 2 history wiki projects, and 2 language arts projects. Highly caffeinated and well-run good time (for me, anyway ).

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If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

4 Comments

• At October 17, 2008, Michael Doyle wrote:

  Dang it, it's October 16th, late, I have a lab to design, tests to grade, I'm just setting up a wiki for my low level freshman, and NOW (another 98 hour week near its end) I see this.

  And I don't even know what a "webinar" is.

  I can learn (and I will), but geez, Clay, the old folks reading this need a day or two's wort of notice.

  [End of harangue.]

  Michael Doyles last blog post..Titrate until comfortable

• At October 17, 2008, Michael Doyle wrote:

  For whatever reason, I can' edit--I was going to fix "wort"--but given the meaning of the typo, it almost makes sense.

  So I will steal from myself.

  "A day's wort of notice...."

  Michael Doyles last blog post..Titrate until comfortable

• At October 17, 2008, Robert wrote:

  Is there any chance that you will post the recording of the webinar at this site? Or somewhere else perhaps. I would be interested in hearing what you discussed.

  Best,

  Robert

  Roberts last blog post..Mid-term Honor Roll

• At October 17, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  Hi Robert,

  Yes, Wikispaces recorded the webinar and will give me the link to post when it's up. My presentation started 30 minutes in, after they introduced new users to how to drive a wiki, and I covered four different projects (2 history, 2 English).

  I think it went okay. I had fun, anyway :)

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A little while back, Terry Freedman wrote an excellent analysis of the NotK12Online situation. I agree with him on many of his points and concerns, and have had similar discussions with other members of our committee as well as other colleagues. Better yet, he models quite nicely the kind of constructive critique that I wish I saw more of online.

I get the sense that folks have made their minds up about what we hope to do with NotK12Online, which is pretty frustrating, because the little bit of information that’s out there doesn’t really match up with, or support, people’s assumptions.

But you know what they say about assumptions, don’t you?

In an attempt to set the “record” straight, as well as to push our thinking and open ourselves up to some feedback and constructive criticism, I thought I’d share some unofficial thinking about some of my and my committee’s plans and hopes for what NotK12Online might look like.

To begin with, NotK12Online is, ahem, not a conference for rejects. I regret that it was even mentioned in the letters that went out to K12 proposal submitters, and I understand the feelings of folks who took that mention to be a statement of intent or purpose. That said, if you believe your ideas to be worth sharing, I hope you’ll share them, whether or not you do so via NotK12Online.

NotK12 isn’t a separate conference, either. It’s an attempt to host an unconference-ish extension to the main event that continues, extends, and further problematizes the entire metaphor of an online conference. In addition, I hope it will serve as a scaffold for folks who need one to help them begin to share their learning online. For those who don’t need such a scaffold, I hope it will provide a needed push to publish good work that would otherwise not get shared, as well as a channel or two of compelling content.  For still others, it’ll be a distraction.  That’s okay.  Feel free to exercise your filter.

I don’t need to tell many of the readers of this blog that such a scaffold or structure is completely unnecessary and contradictory.  What I feel I do need to say, though, is that in my work with other teachers, some folks would find value in such a structure; they may well need a stepping stone into online reading, writing and thinking.

So what will NotK12Online look like? Well, it’s pretty much an aggregator populated by user submissions. If you have a piece of content that you think matches our guidelines, then you’ll publish it elsewhere, perhaps via your own blog, perhaps somewhere else, depending on the kind of content you’ve produced, and come to the NotK12Online site and tell us about it. If it fits our criteria, published on the site, it gets shared. Folks who want to respond to the content will be directed back to the original site of publication. Content shared via our site will be available via RSS. That’s pretty much it. (For now.  But we’re always interested in suggestions and ideas about making it more useful.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.)

We’re supporting two types of content at NotK12 so far this year, presentations and critiques. Any material that fits into the categories of the conference is fair game for the presentation channel. The critique channel is the one, though, that I am most excited, and worried, about.

One of my biggest complaints about conferences and online conversation in general is that most of the dialogue is usually cheerleaderish in nature or completely inflammatory. It’s too easy to just ignore or write off ideas and people with which or whom we disagree. My hope for the critique channel of NotK12Online is that we can help promote the idea that we can and should all attempt to be, at least from time to time, critical friends for someone. (Terry, by the way, modeled this quite nicely in his post.  So, too, has Sharon Peters - with Terry - in a recent podcast conversation about NotK12Online. )  Critics of events like K12Online have valuable points. K12Online presenters are not the be-all end-all experts on the content of their presentations.  Can we mix it up a little and productively extend the conversations of and about the conference in a way that’s useful?

I believe we can.  And maybe NotK12Online can be a piece of that progression.  Then again, maybe it won’t be.  But it’s worth it to try.

I enjoyed reading this article, Connecting informal and formal learning: Experiences in the age of participatory media, by Bull, et al. (2008) from CITE -- a journal that focuses on technology and teacher education.

While it is true, schools and teachers are limited by a number of factors associated with an academic enterprise, the gist of the authors' argument can be boiled down to this key sentence:

Gen-Y teacher education students who are developing pedagogical and content knowledge can serve as collaborators in determining methods for adapting emergent social media and communications technologies to classroom use.

The authors of this editorial suggest that in working with teacher education students who are more familiar with social media, today's teacher educators can become better equipped to meet the demands of a media-rich participatory culture.They conclude with the following statement:

The informal learning that occurs in the context of participatory media offers significant opportunities for increased student engagement in formal learning settings. The experience with communication technologies that teenagers today possess must be tapped by educators and connected to pedagogy and content, however, in order to address learning objectives in schools. Teacher education faculty members are experienced in this arena. We are currently at a moment in time in which the current and next generation of educators each can make a genuine contribution by working together." (Bull, et al, 2008).

I found this paragraph to be both awkwardly worded and perhaps easily taken out of context. I agree with the way the authors start by noting that students' background knowledge of social media is a great resource to tap to build new knowledge and understanding. My problem comes with the statement:

Teacher education faculty members are experienced in this arena.

I would like to see the research to back this up. Are the authors referring to educational technology professors when they say "teacher education faculty members?" Based on my experience working in a college of education and with teacher education professionals from other institutes, corporations, colleges and universities, the number of teacher education faculty members experienced in collaborating with their students using technology is perhaps a tenth of a percent of the number of teacher educators practicing today. That is to say, use and affordances of social media are clearly documented in the literature and on the Web, but the question remains: are teacher educators and pre-service teachers facile with this knowledge and content?

More than simply using Internet and communication technologies in the classroom because (a) they are a part of education standards and (b) because the kids are using them, it is more critical for educators to understand not only what should be taught, why is it important, and how should this knowledge be organized, but also

• How does learning connect to what goes on outside the classroom?
• What kinds of things and people might learners want to be in contact with in order to learn?
• And how can students, teachers, parents see if learning is effective?

I guess from my position as a teacher educator I am concerned about some of the ways I still see and hear how technology is still considered a disruption in the negative, resource-soaked sense, rather than as a disruption that allows us to re-think what we are doing as educators. Not that the Bull, et al. (2008) article paints integrating technology in a negative sense; I guess it saddens me that the Bull article still needs to be written in the first place, reminding many of us that the train (to use an historical and paradoxically-charged metaphor) has left the station and that you still have an opportunity to hop on board. I suppose this trend in teacher education and technology integration articles will continue for some generations. And I suppose there will always be people like me asking similar questions hoping that one day we'll all get a little closer to where need to be.

References:

Article:
Bull, G., Thompson, A., Searson, M., Garofalo, J., Park, J., Young, C., & Lee, J (2008). Connecting informal and formal learning: Experiences in the age of participatory media. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 8(2). Retrieved 23 September 2008 from http://www.citejournal.org/vol8/iss2/editorial/article1.cfm

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top- via http://designyoutrust.com
bottom- http://www.artofmarkbryan.com

Call For Essays

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I’m back. After traveling to South Africa and Kenya with Teachers Without Borders - Canada , I am filled with so many emotions that it’s difficult to put it all into words. That’s why I’ve been putting this off - I initially planned to start reflecting right after my return from Africa, but I think I needed some time to digest all of the experiences, to think about not only what I did in Africa with an amazing team of Canadian educators but also about what Africa did to me. It made me a better teacher, yes, without a doubt, because it stayed with me - the experiences, the images, the conversations are now part of who I am.

Let’s start with South Africa, a country that is incomparably richer than Kenya, a country where quite often, apart from the times we spent in the townships, we felt like we were still in North America. It is a country of many contrasts and I feel privileged that I was able to get a glimpse into the part of South Africa that does not appear on postcards or in travel brochures. The part I’m referring to has been described by Robert Cohen in the latest issue of the Inroads magazine as one where

there is still a huge gap between the halves and the have-nots. Only now there are starting to be Blacks on the have side. Unemployment remains stuck at 25 per cent, not including people who have given up looking for work. An underclass is trapped in the “second economy” of subsistence agriculture, hawking, begging and crime […]

Moreover, about 5.5 million South Africans are living with HIV … This includes 18.8 per cent of adults aged 15 to 49. With 1000 deaths a day, South Africa is home to the largest number of infected people on the whole planet. Among 15- to 24-year-old pregnant women, figures from antenatal clinics show rates around 30 per cent. A whole generation of orphans is being raised by grandparents, their parents dead of AIDS (Cohen, 2008).

Of course, this side of South Africa is not always very clear to those who visit the country to enjoy many of its breathtaking tourist attractions. Our team, however, worked in the townships outside of Cape Town where we soon became very well acquainted with the side of South Africa that tourists don’t often get to see. John Ehinger, my TWB colleague, explained this world of South African townships very well in his reflection posted on the TWB-Canada Ning site:

The two schools I worked in were in the Mitchell’s Plains and Guguletu Townships. As I learned, “Townships” are the shanty-town neighbourhoods of the black and coloured peoples in the country of South Africa. They are basically poor suburbs with shack-like homes composed of wood and tin (currently being ever-so-slowly upgraded to brick/stucco). The townships are usually within a long bus or train-ride of the major South African cities, where many of the inhabitants find work in the service and manufacturing sectors. The terms “black and coloured” still linger from the separateness that was legislated by the Apartheid Regime of the National Party in 1950 (lasting until 1994), and Apartheid still leaves its mark on the poor of this country, as there remains a distinction between being “white”, “coloured” or “black”.

[…]

But in 2008, times are slowly changing – improvements are being made, mostly due to the unshakable spirit of the people living in these neighbourhoods. Townships are being re-built by local families in conjunction with international NGOs such as Habitat For Humanity. Schools, while challenged by extremely large class-sizes and a host of other issues, are providing better and better education. Clean and safe drinking water and food are more readily available for those who have the money, and there is a burgeoning spirit of entrepreneurship that reminds me of home. Don’t get me wrong - the poverty here is palpable, and the crime-rate is alarming – but there is hope and energy.

We conducted two workshops with South African teachers - one in the township of Mitchell’s Plain (Glendale Secondary ) and one in the township of Gugulethu (Fezeka High School ). Here’s a summary of the workshops by the President of Teachers Without Borders - Canada , Noble Kelly :

Though some of these educators had had some exposure and workshops on computer use, they have not really made the transition into integrating technology across the curriculum or looked at the big picture of an implementation/use plan. As the workshops progressed, the teachers were excited to try many of the new Web 2.0 technologies and had productive discussions on developing a school wide plan for implementation as well as department and lesson level integration ideas.

An important outcome of the workshops was to get participants connected with other educators from South Africa and other countries to collaborate and grow. To that end, those who did not have emails were walked through the process and then we looked at creating an online professional development community with the use of wikis and blogs.

In other words, we focused on basic computer literacy skills (Microsoft Office, browsing, file and email management, editing images). In our other sessions, we focused on more advanced topics, such as blogging, wikis, and even Moodle. We concluded both workshops by focusing on teacher professional development.

As the member of the TWB team responsible for the professional development session , I wanted to focus on initiating and sustaining conversations that extend beyond school walls. Throughout the workshops, the South African teachers showed a lot of interest not just in expanding their ICT literacy and integration skills but also in learning about what teaching and learning are like in the developed world. They seemed very interested in getting a glimpse into what our classrooms are like and how we use Web 2.0 tools to engage students.

So, the focus of my session was on connecting with other teachers - those working outside of South Africa but also those who work in the same school or the same district. I wanted the teachers to see that the networks they can create locally can be just as meaningful, supportive, and valuable as conversations with people around the world. So, we shared with them some of the tools and platforms that we use to connect with each other . The response to this session was very enthusiastic. In fact, our surveys done at the end of our workshops show clearly that the teachers enjoyed and benefited from every one of our sessions - the ones on file management and the more advanced ones on Moodle and blogging.

In short, we have a lot to be proud of. And yet, I know that a lot still needs to be done. During my recent Skype conversation with Swallow Khume , a history teacher and ICT Coordinator at Fezeka High School , I found out that, in his opinion, the enthusiasm for ICT integration has fizzled out. He admitted that teachers have benefited immensely from our workshops and that many still feel empowered by what they have learned. So, we brainstormed how we can continue to encourage and support the teachers in his school and his district. We plan to offer some live professional development sessions (Swallow suggested Skype) - opportunities for teachers to connect, exchange ideas, and develop partnerships. It was good to hear that our workshops have made a difference - Swallow sees the potential at his school for a big shift and I am committed (and I know the other TWB members are too) to helping him support his teachers and build on the foundations that we have laid with our workshops in July.

But this will not be an easy task. While at Fezeka, I learned that access to technology is a challenge. The teachers were enthusiastic and very committed to their own professional development, but they all made it clear to us that ICT integration is not easy when the school has only 43 computers for its 1700 students and over 50 teachers. Using Web 2.0 tools is a challenge when Internet use at school is capped at, on average, 7 gigabytes per month. When this limit is reached in two weeks, the school has no Internet access for the rest of the month.

So, challenges do exist, but the work we have done in South Africa provided an important foundation and demystified teaching with technology. The school’s principal is committed to working out a computer lab schedule to ensure that more teachers and more classes have access to the lab. He is also thinking of raising enough funding to put one computer in most of the classrooms. He also wants to have a computer with an Internet connection in the staffroom. “The key,” he said to me at the end of our workshop, “is to ensure that teachers have easy access to the technology. If they do, they will feel more comfortable using it in their teaching.” I agree with him and am comforted by the fact that two organizations that were instrumental to our success in Cape Town, Edunova and Khanya , will continue to support the school in the area of ICT integration. I hope that they will also continue to provide Teachers Without Borders - Canada with their insights gained from working with local schools, administrators, and teachers.

When Noble Kelly reflected on the South African workshops , he said:

Overall, the workshops were well received and the participants were very excited to start using their newly acquired skills. They realize what a great resource they have and wanted to start using it to assist in engaging their students and enhancing learning and their own professional development. From our survey, 100% of participants indicated that they increased at least one level of proficiency in their skills and knowledge (a majority jumped at least two levels) and that they would like to see more of these types of workshops and for a longer duration.

I think our challenge now lies in ensuring that the support we provide does not end when the TWB team leaves the schools. I plan to be in close contact with the schools, the teachers, Edunova, and Khanya to ensure that there is a kind of networked support coming from a variety of nodes - teachers outside of South Africa, TWB members, and local organizations.

Whenever I think back on our South African workshops, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a teacher at Fezeka High School. When I asked if she found the workshop helpful, she said:

This workshop gave us a chance to focus on the technology for one week without any distractions. We’ve had computer training before, after school, but we had to also teach, so we couldn’t devote all our attention to this. This is very helpful. I hope we can have the time to continue to practice and that we have enough computers.

It is that sense of hope, a positive attitude, and a very strong belief that “education is key” that drive the country forward. Certainly, the teachers that we worked with all embody that attitude. I think they would all agree with the words of Robert Cohen when he writes that South Africa is

a new nation that is promising yet vulnerable, always inspirational but at time outrageous and almost maddening, impressive in the solidarity in its efforts to improve the lot of the people yet driven by the demons of its history. The challenges it will face are many and daunting. Yet on balance, as a work in progress, South Africa remains a beacon to the world. It has proven equal if not superior to comparable countries in its ability to resolve conflicts and manage its economy (Cohen, 2008).

I have seen those “demons of its history,” and I’ve seen the promise and the potential. What we have started this past summer is a work in progress. The focus now is to continue to build capacity by maintaining meaningful connections and raising funds and awareness to ensure that TWB-Canada can continue its vision of closing the education divide through teacher professional development and community education .

_________

References:

[See here for Part 1: On the Death of Genius for the Sake of College]

The fact is that human beings come into the world with a passion for control, they go out of the world the same way, and research suggests that if they lost their ability to control things at any point between their entrance and their exit, they become unhappy, helpless, hopeless and depressed.
–Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness, p. 21

No Control

Psychologist Gilbert cites in this section an experiment in which two groups of seniors in a nursing home were given plants for their rooms.  The first group was given the responsibility for watering and keeping the plants alive; the second group was denied any control over the plants’ care, which was the responsibility of the nursing home’s staff.

Six months later, 30% of the seniors with no control over the plants had died; only 15% of the group with control died in the same period.

They did a follow-up study with the same “control” variable to study the roles of control and autonomy in fostering mental and physical health. In this study, youth volunteers began a weekly visitation program to seniors in two groups. The first group was given the autonomy to schedule the visits and decide their durations themselves; the second group had no choice: the young visitors came on a schedule prescribed by the nursing home administration (in cahoots with the experimenters).

Again, two months later, the group with control and autonomy was healthier, taking fewer medications, and showing various other symptoms of increased well-being compared to their state at the beginning of the experiment.

That’s interesting enough¹ - but the more interesting thing happened next, and was completely unexpected:  when the visitation experiment was over, the visits stopped - and so did the exercise of autonomy and control enjoyed by the “happier” seniors.  And within a few months, “a disproportionate number of [seniors] in the high-control group had died.”

Gilbert concludes:

Only in retrospect did the cause of this tragedy seem clear. The residents who had been given control, and who had benefited measurably from that control while they had it, were inadvertently robbed of control when the study ended. Apparently, gaining control can have a positive impact on one’s health and well-being, but losing control can be worse than never having had any control at all (21-2).

Implications for Schools

It should be obvious, but more and more I learn that the obvious should never be taken for granted.  So here goes:

1. Students given some control over the content and demonstration of their learning are happier.

This is an old saw in education, but it doesn’t hurt to support it with psychological research.

2. The basic structure of schools - prescribed course selection, prescribed schedules and durations, prescribed timetables for learning and moving on - are innately “depressing” for students.

In other words, even those students given the freedom, in this or that class, to choose their content and design their own projects to demonstrate learning, are still stuck within a larger system of no control.  For these students, the autonomous classroom is an anomalous blip on the screen of a much larger matrix of no choice, no autonomy, no “passionate control.”

3. If not the norm in schools, student experience of autonomous learning under one teacher may do more harm than good.

Graham Wegner and I touched on this in an exchange a while back², and it bears repeating here: Graham told of hallway talks with students to whom he had given this autonomy the previous year, students now back in the passive mode in their current classrooms. And the students were predictably uniform, if memory serves, in their doldrums. Like the seniors after the visitation scheduling was taken away from them, the students who had control and lost it may have been worse off for that brief moment of learners’ happiness.

The Law of the Fall

Let’s call it the Law of the Fall:  the higher you climb, the harder the fall - especially if you’re pushed from that height.  And the pushers here are the teachers who keep control of everything that happens in their students’ experiences in their classrooms.

The bigger pushers, though - aren’t they the administrators?  I don’t mean to admin-bash here, but only to ask the obvious question: if autonomous learning is the miniscule exception in a school instead of the norm, who is ultimately responsible for that, if not principals?

Conversely, if the loss of autonomy is more damaging than the benefits of its brief possession, might that not mean that administrators have to make a choice? Namely, the choice between requiring all teachers to provide autonomy, or else, paradoxically, requiring that no teachers do?

–

Photo: Waiting by RebelBlueAngel

Bonus: TED Talk with Daniel Gilbert

Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness is my kind of scholarship: witty, playful, devoid of the constipated, jargon-stuffed voice of most academics. Reading it, you laugh as you think along.  Here’s a TED talk for those of you interested in learning more about this guy:

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If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

1. and you statisticians and scientists are welcome to weigh in with criticisms of the experiments, because I can only trust the authority of a Harvard professor’s citation of it here
2. and Graham, if you can give me the link to that, I’d appreciate. I searched but did not find

13 Comments

• At August 24, 2008, Your page is now on StumbleUpon! wrote:

  [...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]

• At August 24, 2008, M wrote:

  And yet another thing to worry about. I am one of "those" teachers. The ones who do away with as much schooliness as possible as we try to move forward in the school environment. The one who kind of sticks out as different.

  So, do I need to change my teaching style back to stifling in order to prevent my kids from crashing back down next year?

  Ugh!

• At August 24, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  @M, Instead of worrying, maybe share the findings with admin and your department?

  I wouldn't sweat it that much. More of a question than anything. And maybe the long-term benefits of the taste of freedom you provide benefit the students in other ways than "happiness."

  Hm. I should point that out in the post.

• At August 25, 2008, Jon Becker wrote:

  Other bodies of research demonstrate that the vast majority of the variance in teaching practices is within-schools and not between-schools. Some might argue that this is a good thing; teachers should be free to be creative professionals, yada, yada, yada...

  Are you suggesting that all schools should become Summerhill schools? Wouldn't that be interesting...

• At August 29, 2008, Kent Chesnut wrote:

  Clay,

  Great article!

  What a deal! One of the things I want most for my kids... an educational setting that provides the freedom to allow their intrinsic motivation and love of learning to flourish will make them depressed when that is taken away.

  I totally agree that this is true... and have seen it in one of my own children. After a school with some really good experiences, the next year was pretty pathetic.

  However, I view the good experience as a good thing... my child now knows what it is like to really enjoy learning. She may not get to enjoy it right at this moment, but she knows that given the right environment she will! She also seems to have a better understanding of what is going on when classes are not any fun... she doesn't blame herself anyway.

  Just my 2 cents... keep up the great articles.

  Kent

• At August 29, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  Hi Kent,

  Good points, and I agree. The article was flawed by point three being put too simply. You added the complexity that was missing with your comment :)

  Thanks for the kind words and keep enjoying fatherhood. Sounds like your daughter is lucky to have you.

  Clay

• At August 29, 2008, SchoolFinder Blog wrote:

  [...] Being told to sit and listen is not only difficult, but it could be down right deadly. [...]

• At September 7, 2008, LearningForward » What can we do to help our kids thrive? wrote:

  [...] I read and commented on Clay Burrell’s post “How Freedom Can Depress Students“.   Clay discusses research that indicates that “good” school experiences [...]

• At September 10, 2008, Graham Wegner wrote:

  Clay, I'm sorry that I am so late to this post - probably shows that my head has been in other places of late. I know the conversation you are referring to but I don't think that I blogged about it. I think I shared that anecdote with you during a Skype call late last year.

  The thumbnail version of the story was when I visited the computing lab where a bunch of Year Sevens were working on their "personal research projects". A number of them had been Year Sixes in my 2006 class and I just wanted to see what they were up to. To my surprise one of my brightest and most receptive (to self initiated inquiry learning methods) ex-students was cutting and pasting slabs of text out of Wikipedia into a powerpoint. I expressed my surprise that he would choose to construct his project in a manner that seemed regressive from his 06 work and he just said to me quietly (paraphrased and subject to faulty recall) so his current teacher wouldn't overhear, "Mr. Wegner, I like what we did last year and I liked having so much say over how I did things. Believe me, if I had my own way, I'd like to be still using those ideas and skills. But it's easier and less hassle to do what the teacher wants, in their style, instead of trying to do things my way."

  Graham Wegners last blog post..Just Add Technology And Mix For Instant Engagement

• At September 14, 2008, Charlie A. Roy wrote:

  As one of those administrators mentioned above it works from the other way as well. I often find myself pushing staff to be more creative and give more freedoms to their students. Sometimes the mule stuck in the rut isn't the pencil pusher stuck in the office.

  Another great post!

  Charlie A. Roys last blog post..The Debate on Drug Testing

• At September 15, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  Charlie, your point (as usual) is well-taken.

  And I don't know why I'm adding this, other than that it's true: I think I'll regret never working in a school you lead. That's not smoke, either.

• At September 15, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  No worries, Graham. Hope you're well. Life here is too full too.

  Thanks for telling the story.

• At September 22, 2008, speroni wrote:

  I'm just at the tail end of my education "career", I'm finishing up my masters in mechanical engineering while I am working full time as a ME designer for a rather large company.

  I pretty much hated all of school. I was a bright kid, but I also had a knack for picking up on what it was the teacher wanted. I'd sit through class hours at a time diligently taking notes. I'd pick out the key points of what the teacher was looking for and had a pretty good idea of what was on the test. Just a matter of memorizing a few key points and some methodology for problem solving. Nothing out of the box mind you, all problem solving in a school environment has a specific method. I have to admit I really disliked it when a teacher gave us a project that was too open ended, or where we had to come up with too much of our own content. It became impossible to figure out what they wanted. All I wanted was to keep my head down follow the 80-20 rule, get good grades and get the heck out of there. I understood I wasn't really learning, I'm just going through the motions to get a shiny degree so I can land an equally stifling job where I make the big bucks.

  I do keep up on my own education outside of school. Where I can decide whats interesting and work on constructing my world-view as best as I can. I spend a lot of time trying to separate objective reality and my subjective experiences and piecing them together and trying to figure out whats going on in this world. Most of my personal education simply comes from reading a large cross section of books and working hard to keep an open mind. This site does seem to do a good job of lending some ideas, and proposing some interesting reading material. I'll comment often, I look forward to your replies.

  One thing I've learned so far is that it seems most conducive to give the person who assigns your grade or the person who signs your pay check whatever it is that they want. Keep a nice shell of "good" student and "good" worker, with a rather strong core of the real self. Then search far and wide for people who do appreciate the real self.

  speronis last blog post..Spore

A permanent present - what a haunting phrase. How bizarre and surreal it must be to serve a life sentence in the prison of the moment, trapped forever in the perpetual now, a world without end, a time without later.  — Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness, p. 14

Call me crazy, but I couldn’t help but think of students when I read this earlier tonight.  A particular kind of student, anyway.  The Korean kind, for sure, and possibly, from what I read, more and more American ones too.

I mean the ones who are so over-scheduled with schoolwork, homework, SAT test-prep cram schools, and all the other madness that keeps them focused on memorizing the data and pounding out the grunt-work, one assignment and one GPA-increment at a time, year in and year out - from what, grade 9? Or is that too late to begin worrying these days? - that they rarely have time to pull back and reflect on anything at all. ¹

“A permanent present.” Isn’t that what the overload of content, testing, homework, and extra-curricular bullet-gaming for college applications is creating for our young?  It makes me wonder if school itself is not the cause of “A.D.D.”: when attention is constantly hurried in seven different disciplines from unit to unit, no option to pull the cord and get off the train, is it any wonder attention is deficient and understanding is, to quote an old Bowie line, a series of “one-inch thoughts”?

Maybe I’m wrong. I know I am with some teachers, bless ‘em. The ones that choose thought over coverage, choice over prescription.

That permanent present, by the way?  It’s a description of people who have had lobotomies or other traumas to the frontal lobe.

*     *     *

American college students expect to live longer, stay married longer and travel to Europe more often than average. They believe they are more likely to have a gifted child, to own their own home and to appear in the newspaper, and less likely to have a heart attack, venereal disease, a drinking problem, an auto accident, a broken bone  or gum disease.  Ibid., p. 18

Kids, I hate to break it to you, but my experience of you college-bound grade-junkies is one, overall - again, let’s bless the exceptions - of pity and disappointment.  You’ve got great grades, yes, but so little else. No driving passion for anything unique or original, no budding genius.  It’s more schools’ fault than yours, but you’re not completely free of blame.  You’re the ones allowing yourselves to be turned into carbon copies of “competitive college applicants.”  You can choose else-wise.

I hate to break this to you too:  the college of your dreams is no guarantee of happiness. You may already be decreasing your chances of future happiness by your daily compromises to get into those schools.  It’s hard to have a soulful life, if you sold your soul before graduating high school.  Souls are hard things to buy back.

*     *     *

Genius Defined (It’s not what you think):

Let’s take a quick detour into the meaning and origins of that word, “genius.”  Most of us don’t know what it means when we use it. Apple’s dictionary gives us a good etymology:

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin, ‘attendant spirit present from one’s birth, innate ability or inclination,’ from the root of gignere ‘beget.’ The original sense [tutelary spirit attendant on a person] gave rise to a sense [a person's characteristic disposition] (late 16th cent.), which led to a sense [a person's natural ability,] and finally [exceptional natural ability] (mid 17th cent.).

Wikipedia gives us a little more:

In Ancient Rome, the genius was the guiding or “tutelary” spirit of a person. . . .

In Roman mythology, every man had a genius and every woman a juno. . . .

Originally, the genii and junones were ancestors who guarded over their descendants. Over time, they turned into personal guardian spirits, granting intellectual prowess.

Wikipedia closes with this intriguing gem:

Sacrifices were made to one’s genius or juno on one’s birthday.

And that gem strikes me as crushingly ironic today, because today, we don’t sacrifice to our genius at all; instead, we sacrifice that genius itself  - to our schools.

Look at the emphasized words in the passages above, and tell me if I’m wrong when I say: the essence of genius is precisely what schools exclude.  What does that essence consist of?

1. Individual Inclination, Innate Ability

Note the root “gen” in “genius.”  Genius is present in our origin (same root), our genes, our genesis - our nature.  These shape and determine our individuality.  In this sense, “genius” is not about being brilliant, but about having a cognitive-emotional-creative fingerprint that is entirely unique from the moment we’re born.  To get homespun for a second, it’s just that thing that makes us tick, that piques our individual interest or curiosity.

Sir Ken Robinson tells the sad tale of the researchers asking six-year-olds if they were artists, and all of them saying yes; but asked four years later, deep into the assembly line of generic curriculum and one-size-fits-all learning, only a fraction of hands go up; and by adolescence, almost none do.  You may quibble with the difference between artists and geniuses, but to me they’re deeply related in this simple fact: artists pursue their own “individual inclinations and innate abilities” - their own genius.

2. Genius as “Tutelary Spirit”

More fun with definitions and etymologies: “tutelary,” defined: “serving as a protector, guardian, or patron.”  Its etymology: “from Latin tutela ‘keeping’ (from tut- ‘watched,’).”

So to the ancients, our individually innate inclinations and abilities, our”genius,” was that thing that protected us, guarded us, “kept” us, “watched” us and, most interestingly - playing with the sense of “patron” - fathered us.

To be clearer, to the ancients, the only teacher you needed was your own “genius,” your own curiosity and drive to satisfy it - whatever “it” is, which depends on who you are.

Quit reading if you’re not into this line of thought, because I want to follow it down another linguistic byroad to the obvious and, today, ubiquitous derivative of the old world “tutelage”: you guessed it - “tutor.”  It’s another crushing irony: though derived from “tutelage,” the deep old word associated with letting our genius be our teacher, the word “tutor” today has nothing to do with inborn genius, and everything to do with its opposite: school-manufactured uniformity and anti-individualism, anti-genius.  Again, the dictionary is my witness:

tutor |ˈt(y)oōtər|
noun
a private teacher, typically one who teaches a single student or a very small group.
• chiefly Brit. a university or college teacher responsible for the teaching and supervision of assigned students.
• an assistant lecturer in a college or university. [emphasis added]

Goodbye, genius; hello, schooliness.  Gone is the language of spirit, of nature, of self-tutelage now, and in its place is the lexicon of schools: “teacher, student, university, college, responsible for, supervision, assigned, lecturer.”  Genius, the once-”tutelary guardian, protector, and patron” of “natural, innate inclination and disposition” is overthrown, and in its place now is the academic teacher, the master of a classroom, stuffing the headpieces of the young with the straw that will be transformed into golden grades.  To hell with your genes, your nature, your curiosity.  My job as a tutor is to help you advance to the front of whatever class you are forced to take.²

The Why of this Rant: To Students

flowers, drowning

College will not make you successful.  A degree that gets you a good job will not make you happy.  Unless: you remember your genius (if any has survived your schooling), and let it drive your educational choices.

I can’t tell you how many well-heeled parents I’ve spoken with at length in parent conferences over the years, parents wealthy, attractive, full of status and prestige and awash in luxury, who have nonetheless left me, again, feeling little more than pity and disappointment.  The sparkle in their rings and watches did not extend into their conversation, their wit, their eyes.  They had succeeded at the college game, made buckets of money, but with all of that success, had failed to find happiness.

The exceptions? Bless them, they seemed to choose an education in line with their genius - not their parents’ or their society’s wishes.

And all of this comes from a few pages from a book on that wonderful new field of psychology, “happiness studies,” and its wonderful news that, when it comes to making choices that steer us to happy futures, we’re our own worst enemies.  Check it out. It’s a good read - and hey, it will also impress your SAT essay reader, since it’s by a Harvard professor.

–

Photo credits: Progress by ~BostonBill~ ; Roses by Tio

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If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

1. I read recently that the ETS is now floating a PSAT clone for the middle school years.  Great work, bastards. Rob even more living and learning from childhood by making them obsess on indelible test scores even earlier in their childhoods.  Pocket more profits from your stupifying study guides for tests that kill curiosity and implant the quest for the safe, right answer.
2. And let me tell you: my tutoring experience so far has been fun, but shocking too. The parents are generally indifferent to the growth of any passion or wisdom or skill in their children that is not related to helping them ace this or that class or test.  They seem no more concerned, in other words, with the genius of their children than schools are.

21 Comments

• At August 22, 2008, Andrea Hernandez wrote:

  I teach in a private school where I am also a parent and can tell you firsthand the pressure to have academically gifted children who are also talented at sports and music and fluently multilingual. Why? Parental ego? Wishes and hopes for child's future happiness? Complete delusion?

  I have to believe that the motivation for this craziness is love of one's children and a belief in education as the key to a rich and fulfilling life.

  I completely agree with your assertion that happiness comes through knowing yourself and following your genius. If only it were so simple. By that I mean, if only our schools and society recognized that genius comes in many packages, that everyone's path is not supposed to be the same. As for schools (and schooliness, of course!), I have long been a believer that if schools would do a better job of acknowledging and teaching to different talents, overall academic performance would improve as a result. Who wants to be beaten over the head with more and more academics when your true love and talent is music (or art or p.e. or....). But, as high-stakes testing becomes more high-stakes, schools respond by taking away art and music. Vicious cycle.

  Andrea Hernandezs last blog post..As Real as Gravity

• At August 22, 2008, Andrea Hernandez wrote:

  related article you might find interesting here-

  http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=402674&encCode...

  Andrea Hernandezs last blog post..As Real as Gravity

• At August 22, 2008, Bill Fitzgerald wrote:

  Hello, Clay,

  The Middle School PSAT is being rolled out in 2010 -- I read about it on August 8th in the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-test8-2008aug08,0,1941799.story

  On a related note, the Princeton Review, one of the test prep companies raking in cash fueled by parental fear, recently posted the private information of over 100,000 students on their web site for 7 weeks. The story was in the NY Times this week; I blogged about it a couple days ago, and I'm truly amazed that no one seems to care. Those interested can google this string to read more: Princeton Review leaks student data

  Sure makes me wish some crazy person would advocate for an entire graduating class to boycott the SAT, and deprive the test of any pretense of statistical validity, and force colleges to figure out another way of admitting students, as colleges couldn't survive without tuition revenue.

  FWIW, you've been on a tear as of late. Thanks for the thought-provoking reading.

  Cheers,

  Bill

• At August 22, 2008, Charlie A. Roy wrote:

  I spent yesterday at Freshmen orientation explaining to our children that the mission of Catholic education is to educate the whole person to fulfill their God given dignity in line with their unique gifts. Then I attended a curriculum meeting and had the aching thought that we pay much more lip service to this mission than actually fulfilling it as i listened to a self study be denied because of what it would do to the whole GPA game amongst our seniors.

  I'm thinking about returning to commodity trading to make enough money to open my own school and see if it can't be done a better way.

  Charlie A. Roys last blog post..Finding Balance

• At August 22, 2008, KarenJan wrote:

  Clay,

  This is such a timely post for me to read. I discouraged my son from taking the PSAT and the SAT. (a little less money in the pockets of the ETS! I have joked about starting an organization called, "Mothers Against the SAT") I also encouraged him to pursue something other than the traditional college route as it is not what interests him or what he is skilled at.

  He had one teacher who recognized he was good at something in HS - she validated his digital photography skills - his eye for visual detail and visual composition.

  Now, all his peers are leaving for college and he is not. He is still figuring out what is ahead for him. The world is still his but I am feeling guilty that I limited his options by encouraging him to pursue alternatives that did not include applying to a four year college or university.

  I know I didn't, but the pressure to do the "schooliness" route is intense not just K-12 but beyond.

  (We live in Massachusetts, the pressure is great).

  Thank you for helping me remember what is important.

  KarenJans last blog post..Got Architectural Barriers?

• At August 22, 2008, Michael Doyle wrote:

  Once again you have my head buzzing--I'm going to throw out a few (incomplete) thoughts. Your post was incredibly powerful--it gets to the heart of education (to life, really).

  Every now and then a good discussion breaks out in the faculty lounge. Really. They often end badly, with someone ranting about "these kids!" or "this administration!" or "you don't understand!" which is why a place like Beyond School matters.

  What's the point of education? The question often comes up when we discuss curriculum, which we do a lot in our department.

  I think American public education exists for two primary reasons, and I continue to teach with these reasons in mind.

  1)To prepare our children for an active role as responsible citizens in our democratic society.

  2) To enable children to pursue happiness

  The first reason doesn't get much flack--who's going to argue with Thomas Jefferson? If the conversation drifts to what I mean by "responsible citizens", a few folks get a little upset that it doesn't jive with "compliant, docile consumer" (though I think they use the words "good American"), but I'll save my long-windedness on that for another day.

  I will say that I have a beautiful copy of the Bill of Rights that I will post to a wall as soon as I get a permanent classroom; it beats a headshot of whoever happens to be our current monarch.

  The second part, the pursuit of happiness, doesn't get too far in discussion. It is a dangerous idea to bandy about in unhappy places, especially in a culture that is confused about what happiness means (or rather, how to know happiness).

  Quite frankly, the idea of using education to help child pursue happiness pisses off a lot of people I talk to. Apparently our job is not to create happy citizens, but rather to prepare them for college. (They're not, of course, mutually exclusive, but neither are they interdependent.)

  Again, I am not talking about "Whoopee! I won the lottery, let's all go out and get smashed!" happy, and neither was Jefferson (there's that name again) when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

  What makes others happy?

  None of my business as a public school teacher, I guess, but I think we do just that when we insist that students do such-and-such to get to college to get a degree, make money, so...they can be happy.

  What makes me happy?

  Sitting outside as the sun sets, knowing I did some worthwhile work (not 14 hours of "some", but some), sharing songs with others I love, ideally with an instrument one or two of us can play, eating food that tastes good, sitting on chairs someone I know built, sharing true (if not factual) stories.

  My tastes are not universal, and I dare not impose them on students, but at least I have an idea of what makes me happy, and most of what makes me happy makes others happy as well.

  Relaxing with people we love, sharing stories we people we love, breaking bread with stories we love, creating things with people we love. (Yeah, I know, sounds like the Ann Arbor Hash Bash, and people are quick to dismiss these ideas--but I suspect they're universal.)

  How do I get children to a point where they can pursue happiness?

  Provide them with practical tools to get them there.

  How does a science teacher do this?

  Teach them to separate observations from delusions, show them how to critically question what they know, and just as important, how to critically dissect what others tell them.

  Oh, yes, one more thing--to show them how complex and large the universe is. Show them. And allow them to realize they are part of something larger.

  The title "science teacher" subtly belies a much bigger problem--we compartmentalize schooling. If someone asks me what I do for a living, I say I teach, not "I'm a science teacher."

  Probably the best way to help children become happy citizens is to surround them with happy adults. This often happens in the home, less often in school.

  Too many teachers are counting the days to retirement.

  I think the next best way to enable children to pursue the good life is to give them practical life skills, skills that allow independent living as well as independent thinking.

  Ideally this happens at home--kids should learn how to build, fix, read, sew, grind, plant, change a tire, set a toilet, shingle a roof.

  Sorry to ramble, but you touched a big nerve with a high voltage line.

  Michael Doyles last blog post..What's matter?

• At August 22, 2008, Michael Doyle wrote:

  I didn't even get to a "permanent present"--if you are in a state of general happiness, I bet you're in some sort of permanent present as well.

  Shoot, the permanent present is all we really have. The problem is too many people are striving for an imagine future or trying to recapture some rapturous past.

  I'd argue that the reason we find acknowledging the permanent present so frightening is that many of us are not happy.

  But I'd best read the book--I think I might be comparing apples and oranges.

  (I may eventually drag parts of your discussion over to my blog, with accreditation, of course. Typing in these tiny comment boxes without a chance to edit after the fact is contributing to my rapid loss of hair. I cringe when I reread parts of my posts after hitting the submit button.)

  Michael Doyles last blog post..What's matter?

• At August 23, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  @Doyle: Your "about" sidebar's image of children "confounding" education by playing in ponds was in the mental ether when I wrote this post. (And you can always submit a corrected comment and ask me to delete the first draft.)

  @Andrea: Vicious. @KarenJan's "fantasy" of starting a "parents against the SAT" should be re-categorized as a project. Shirky's Here Comes Everybody is full of ideas of how to do that.

  @Charlie: It must be hard to be an administrator. As I commented on your site recently, you've opened my eyes to just how hard that job must be for administrators who really do want to make changes against the grain.

  @Bill: That's the second time you've mentioned that boycott, and I know you think it implausible (and I agree). But I can't help but think in this age we have the tools to raise a high-decibel ruckus to put these charlatans in the spotlight. FairTest.org is trying. A professor at MIT is also doing a good job. And SAT-optional schools are increasing. Again, I think of Shirky. When life stabilizes, it's something to tinker with.

  @KarenJan again: I think you did the right thing. You can always tell which people followed their genius (Joseph Campbell called genius "bliss") - there's a there there.

• At August 23, 2008, Paul C wrote:

  Hi Clay,

  Brilliant post. Great to see that your blog site is a fertile garden for cultivating your own intellectual fruits and vegetables - all organic.

  I spent a day with Will Richardson at a workshop this past week. Just think if our student savants had the opportunity to receive quality instruction about establishing their own blogs and were empowered to develop their literacies.

  I recently read an excellent article about "The Essence of Understanding" which fits in well with this discussion - engaging the intellectual fire.

  An overview can be read at:

  http://quoteflections.blogspot.com/2008/08/dimensions-of-understanding.h...

  Paul Cs last blog post..Music to Bring One to Tears

• At August 23, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  Okay, Doyle, we aim to please. I sought and found an "edit comments" WordPress plugin. Commenters now have five minutes to edit after submitting.

  Let's see how it feels.

  It's butt-ugly, but that's okay, I guess.

  [Edited update: Works spiffingly.]

• At August 23, 2008, Bill Farren wrote:

  I enjoyed this post (and comments!) immensely. In this season of motivational dog-and-pony shows aimed at kicking off a successful year of grade-grubbing, we'd all be better off simply foregoing the pre-fab prof-dev and instead, read this post aimed at preventing more soul detachments.

  I'm definitely all over the SAT boycott thing. I think it's an interesting idea with much potential. My concern is: if a boycott were undertaken and large amounts of people participated, would some other equally heinous metric take the SAT's place? Humans seem to like to be able to compare each other in very objective ways.

  I don't know. There's a lot to think about here.

  Bill Farrens last blog post..Aerial Viewing

• At August 23, 2008, The Death of Genius in the Name of College wrote:

  [...] http://beyond-school.org/2008/08/22/death-of-genius/ attitude, post-secondary system, success [...]

• At August 23, 2008, Your page is now on StumbleUpon! wrote:

  [...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]

• At August 24, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  @Andrea, thanks for that link, by the way. A good read.

• At August 24, 2008, How Freedom Can Depress Students: More from Happiness Studies | Beyond School wrote:

  [...] here for Part 1: On the Death of Genius for the Sake of College] The fact is that human beings come into the world with a passion for control, they go out of the [...]

• At August 25, 2008, Clay Burell wrote:

  Andrea, I'm both testing a new "threaded comment" plugin I just installed with you as the 'guinea pig' (and did I spell "guinea" right, he wondered perfectly in line with Andrea's latest post), and also by choice - just to say I like "as real as gravity" as a blog title because it goes beyond "tech" and "work," and into directions my mind loves.

  And while I'm at it, let me add that I've enjoyed the comments and the tweets, and enjoy your writing in them and on your blog.

  Check out BS post (god i love that abbreviation) to see how the plugin looks. (And by the way, I can't highly enough recommend taking the plunge into self-hosting a WP blog early instead of late. The longer you stay on blogger, the more dead links you'll have when you jump ship to WP - and the longer you'll go without the tinkerer's fun of self-hosting. Presumptuous of me, I know, but I started on blogger too.)

  Clay Burells last blog post..How Freedom Can Depress Students: More from Happiness Studies

• At August 26, 2008, John Larkin wrote:

  Enjoyed navigating the textual pathways presented by your well hewn words Clay. Your readers have expressed my thoughts. I have arrived late. Yet I need to share an anecdote that I feel illustrates the fact the system is not nurturing innate ability.

  Attended a professional development day not long back. All but one component was largely irrelevant. Some attendees were reflecting on it after the event and remarked that perhaps the day was designed to give the teachers present an insight into the boredom experienced by the students that attend their schools each day. Was going to blog this anecdote myself but it feels more at home here.

  "Tell you who you are if you nail me to your car"

  Cheers, John

  PS. Clay, the link to Ken Robonson's site is broken. ^_^

• At August 26, 2008, John Larkin wrote:

  I remember! I have been racking my brains as I knew that something I had heard today was relevant for this post. It just popped into my head.

  A Year 10 student uttered one of those great observations in history during lesson one today. I was sketching a diagram on the board. It employed stick figures.

  She said, "Whoever invented stick figures was a genius".

  That was such a revelatory moment for her and also for me.

  Cheers,

  John

• At August 26, 2008, Whoever invented stick figures was a genius wrote:

  [...] was a revelatory moment for her and also for me. That person was a genius. addthis_url = [...]

• At August 28, 2008, Whoever invented stick figures was a genius! wrote:

  [...] It was a revelatory moment for her and also for me. That person was a genius. [...]

• At August 30, 2008, Science teacher: Beyond School wrote:

  [...] means he's going to throw quality stuff past you at high velocity.I'll be dwelling on one--say, "On the Death of Genius for College"--and he'll throw 3 straight fastballs past me while I'm still gawking.I start school in a week. I [...]

I’ve been back to work for a week and many of our faculty will be back next week.  My staff has been hard at work all summer setting up new machines and reimaging old ones.  We’ve rolled out 50 new desktop computers in two computer labs and classrooms.  We are in the process of rolling out 30 new faculty laptops and servicing the other 40 that are already deployed to faculty.  This includes service packs, an Outlook upgrade, and SmartNotebook 10.  As we do these laptop upgrades, we’re requiring faculty to participate in a 30-45 minute training session when they pick up their laptops.  During this training session, we’re reviewing basic laptop maintenance, spending a few minutes training the faculty on Outlook, and making sure our backup script works. 

In addition to the nuts and bolts above here are some of the projects that I’m working on for the school year (Thanks to Jim Heynderickx for the inspiration here):

Outlook Training: During the first month of school we have to make sure to provide enough support to faculty, staff and students so we can complete our transition from FirstClass to Outlook.  So far, so good as our transition over the summer was completed with only a few minor issues and with a positive reaction from the community.  Change is hard, so I don’t expect that September will be a cake walk, but with appropriate communication and preemptive training and support, we’ll be in a good place in October. 

Continued Professional Development including New Faculty and Student Orientation,  Collegiate Connect (our SIS and communication hub for school constituents), Gradebook, Smartboards, and Moodle.  This is a big one. 

• New Faculty Orientation is a big one as we need to bring our faculty in, show them what we have to offer and how to find resources about technology at the school.  Luckily, we have two one hour sessions with the new faculty this year and that will allow us to do a nuts and bolts session: file sharing, printing, Outlook email, and Collegiate Connect (SIS).  The second session will be a technology scavenger hunt that our Academic Dean and Lower School Assistant Head are putting together.  This is going to be a fun exercise to see if new faculty can use the training and FAQ material we’ve posted on our department web site to get the scavenger hunt done. 
• New Student Orientation includes much of the above, plus a heavy dose of Acceptable Use in 20 minutes.  Any ideas? 
• Collegiate Connect training is usually done in conjunction with division meetings as it consists of specific administrative responsibilities of the faculty in each division.    We’re creating lots of documentation in the form of FAQs on our Technology web site for this.
• Gradebook, Smartboard and Moodle training.  None of these tools are  required so we’ll be providing as needed support on them in September and then rolling each out via targeted monthly themes with professional development and communication with the faculty during those periods. 

Powerful Learning Practice — This is very exciting.  Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson are running this professional development program for five of our faculty/administrators.  Here’s how they describe it:

Powerful Learning Practice offers a unique opportunity for educators to participate in a long-term, job-embedded professional development program that immerses them in 21st Century learning environments.

Day one of this is September 8th.  I’m psyched. 

Website Upgrade — Yes, we’re upgrading our web site.  This collaborative process has taken longer than I planned, but we’re on track for a January launch providing us a much better look and feel and more integration between our site and Collegiate Connect. 

And a few smaller ones —

Faculty Professional Development Reports — Last year we did these in a DrupalEd environment.  This year, they will be in Moodle.   Just waiting for MoodleRooms to finish up our Moodle config and we’ll be rocking and rolling. 

New Media Gallery Training – Whipplehill just released the new version of their Media Gallery which is a Flickr like upgrade to their photo galleries but also includes a slick video and audio player.  Tagging and all sorts of web 2.0 goodies available.  We’re starting with our archived digital photos from 2001 to the present.  Our archivist has two parent volunteers who will be working on this all year.  Very exciting!

Oh, yeah — On the personal front we’re a few weeks away from a working kitchen — you can check out some of the pics here.  Feels like I have two 10 hour a day jobs lately. 

arvind and I will be webcasting again over at EdTechTalk in the next few weeks.  Just need to wait for his teaching schedule to get going. 

I’ve also decided not to subscribe to all of the listserv’s I traditional participate in and concentrate on Twitter, the ISENet Ning and my Blogroll this year.  See you all there. 

I’m sure there is lots more, but that’s it in a nut shell right now.  See you all on the other side!

In this podcast, recorded Friday, I talk a little bit about NotK12Online, th