Perspective...maybe?

I don't know what to call it exactly. I have seen it. It doesn't just happen in teachers. It happens in many people. Maybe in most.

When I was young, I remember going to the doctor's office and seeing the Highlights Magazine. It was a staple of waiting areas everywhere. Still is. Often on the back cover or on an inside page you would find a collection of 4 or 5 pictures. Pictures that were taken at such close range that it was hard impossible to tell exactly what you were looking at. Sometimes it was a fly's leg, the edge of a quarter, or once the bottom end of an apple where there is just a remnant left of the flower it starts out as.

This happens to teachers. It happens to many people. Maybe most.

We become so involved and so close up to what we are doing that we no longer recognize what we are looking at. But this doesn't really tell the whole story. I saw a man who could play the saw. You know one of those old timey cowboy grub places. He was great. He could play that saw in ways that were simply amazing. He had picked an instrument and could make it do things that I would not have ever imagined. But the reality is: He was still playing the saw. We can become amazing at getting our chosen tool to play amazing tunes, but sometimes it is time to change the instrument. For example: I am a PowerPoint power user. I can get PowerPoint to do some amazing things. I use it as a photo editor, I create interactive stand-alone activities and quizzes, I even know how to get a video to play over multiple slides so different questions show up at different points along the video. The reality is though, that just like the old saying goes. To a hammer everything looks like a nail. I am guilty of this. To me the tool that I use has so influenced how I teach that when I sit down to consider what I need to do I always ask myself…What PowerPoints will I need? I think it's perspective....maybe? I am so close to the subject that I fail to recognize one concept.

What if I don't need PowerPoint?

This is a challenge for education. We have a lot of teachers who have become virtuoso's in the chosen method of teaching. Cooperative learning, literature circles, lecture, even worksheets. But the challenge with that is teaching like this would be as dangerous as a doctor who prescribed varying amounts and types of antibiotics for all diseases. It simply wouldn't cure everything.

I worry that many of us as educators and especially as tech educators see tech as the solution. The solution is education. Tech is just a tool.

Smarts!

This month Edutopia has had an emphasis on Multiple intelligences from Howard Gardner. I like his work and have always been interested in learning styles and creating curriculum that allows students to explore the content along with different ways of learning the content.

One of the smarts that I haven't seen is technosmart. It exists, I am proof, so are all the unofficial tech support teachers that are always there to answer the questions about computers, vcrs, video, how to hook up the sound system, or why isn't the projector working. Teaching tech classes for 4 years also taught me that this was the case with learners. Some students just got it. All students could learn and most did learn technology skills in my class, like file management, multimedia creation, CAD, but some of them truly shined. I could throw any new program at them and they would master it within the week we worked on it.

In the video below, there is one statement too that speaks to what I have said before regarding extended adolescence. With 1:36 remaining one girl refers to the fact that they get to act like adults and take responsibility. This kind of relevance for students is what make learning real. they are learning to be not preparing to be. I would love it if my children could be in a class and school like this.

Take the intelligence quiz!

Edutopia is focusing on Multiple Intelligences this month. Take the quiz to find out which smart you are!: http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz

Here are my results

Response to "Fresh out of College, But can't land Work"

Normally, I ride the bus to and from work so it is mostly podcasts or books that are my companions. But earlier this week I drove and it was my old friend NPR. I heard several good stories and it reminded me of why I donate to Public Radio. One of the reports angered me so much I had to write about it.

The report titled "Fresh out of College, But can't Land Work" really frustrated me. I feel for the young lady in the report. As she states it, "I played by the rules" She stayed in school. Got good grades, chose a good field, all the stuff that is supposed to mean you will be a success. There were two failures from my perspective.

One, extended adolescence. I have written about this before, but it still seems supremely relevant. This girl was 23 and from the tone of the report I got the impression that she was striking out on her first job hunt. WHAT???? When I was in college, I held down several different jobs. Now, maybe she did too but they were University or Work Study programs that end when you are no longer a student. But still WHAT??? Why would our system fail this young lady by not providing real world actual paying job experience as part of her education. Again, I got the impression that she had gotten all the way to 23 and through college without society or her parents actually expecting her to take responsibility for herself. The message seems to be:

• Finish College
• Enjoy life
• Find yourself
• explore the world
• BEFORE you start to be an adult

Why do we devalue our youth by teaching them they must wait until they are done with college before they can start to work on their life and try to make a difference?

Wouldn't it be so much more effective if as students were progressing along their skill continuum they suddenly subtly started doing the actual work. What if they didn't even notice they graduated. What if the shift from "learning" and "doing" the job was so gentle that students became employed almost without awareness. I am so frustrated with the delineations and demarcations we have. Why can't a 13 year old do the work rather than prepare for the work? Why must they wait? Why are we extending adolescence into the midlate-20's. We force so many to wait to live their lives because they aren't old enough yet? Why? I am not advocating a return to the negative and almost slavelike conditions of the apprentice system, but rather the positive aspects of learning alongside the hands of a master while actually doing the work coupled with time to study and learn about other things students may not know exist. I am convinced that the vital role of work as part of the formative adolescent years is being abandoned. The best way to get authentic student achievement is to facilitate opportunities for them to do authentic work.

The very last quote from the report was what really got me:

This isn't at all what she imagined 23 would be like. She was supposed to be working toward the next big thing: dazzling her family and friends with her accomplishments, on her way to becoming a successful adult. (emphasis added)

WHAT??? On her way to... legally she has been an adult for 5 years and emotionally, cognitively and physically for something probably more like 8 to possibly 10 years. Granted at 13 she was not experienced enough nor does research support the idea that 13 years olds are completely matured cognitively or emotionally, but they are well on their way and could certainly start to really work and not wait until 23 to start becoming an adult.

Citation Nods:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101647874
Dr. Tim Tyson's UCET 2009 Keynote address (7 March 2009 held in Taylorsville, Utah)

Memory and Learning

We spend a lot time as educator helping people learn. What we are really trying to get them to do is remember stuff. Remember to turn in their assignments, remember the times tables, remember to put their name on their paper, and even more important things. We focus our efforts on pedagogy, effective strategies, best practices and enriching learning experiences. I have often said (with full credit to Dr. Harry Wong whom I am paraphrasing) that educators are doing brain surgery without scalpels.

Recent developments in the field of epigenetics actually confirm this and give worthwhile insights to good teaching practices. In Scientific American Mind June/July 2008 an article entitled Unmasking Memory Genes by Amir Levine details recent research that points to external events changing the expression of genes and altering Memory abilities. Various studies in mice and sea slugs show that certain chemicals and environments can actually stimulate the memory. Enriching, interesting and novel environments for mice with memory disorders allowed them to improve their ability to remember (especially negative events such as being shocked)

Fascinating article and it encouraged me to think about the type of environment I am building with and for learners.

Preview the article here