Education Rethink

Content Creation or Communication?

2013-06-18T13:33:00.001-07:00

If social media platforms are about communicating, it seems like the quantitative, gamified elements are harming human connections. However, if social media platforms are about content creation, it feels like a step up to have more interaction, more democracy and more opportunities to express our voice.

And that's the tricky part. We use the term "communicate" when we would never walk around offering a thumbs-up and counting the number of times we like anything. We would never keep our conversations in a ticker-tape archive. And yet, we speak about platforms through a lens of content creation, where terms like "subscribers" or "page views" is perfectly logical.

Social media allows people to see themselves as simply "hanging out" with friends and yet we also see ourselves as reporters, commentators, creators. It's hard sometimes to figure out if we are creating and living in our Truman Show. It's hard to tell whether the need to capture life is encouraging us to be more thoughtful and intentional about making memories or if we're missing the moment because we are treating life as a reality show.

So, that's where I'm left feeling conflicted about social media. I like hanging out. I like communicating. I like writing. And I love the friendships that have developed as a result of this. I look forward to conferences like ISTE, because I'm going to meet these online friends in person.

However, I'm also aware that I can Twitter away an hour and miss the life that's happening around me. If I'm not careful, I can try and capture life instead of letting life roam free. I can go to a forest and imagine what it will look like on Instagram instead of realizing that I'm standing somewhere sacred.

Free Visuals

2013-06-17T10:33:00.002-07:00

People have asked about the sketches, visuals and visual prompts that I've used in trainings, presentations and blog posts. So, in case you're interested, I'm slowly getting all of them onto an Education Rethink Flickr page.

You can view the following sets:

doodles / sketches
eCards
slides
writing prompts (still need to load more)

All of the visuals are Creative Commons licensed, which means you can share them on blog posts, professional development, keynote slides, etc. I just thought I'd let you know about these, if you're a person who does a lot of training or if you're looking for something geeky to add to your blog posts.

The Best Science Classrooms Aren't Classrooms

2013-06-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

My son just came back from a full week of science. He was in a really cool hands-on STEM camp (closer to STEAM or maybe even SHTEAM). He was in a classroom that didn't feel like a classroom. In his off time, he helped take care of the neighbor's horses, ran around the farm and went hiking with his grandpa all around Colorado.

I am often amazed by the science of summer and the spaces outside of classrooms. It's a time of inquiry, observation, hypothesis-making, tweaking data collection through one's own eyes and fuzzy conclusions that often lead to more questions. It happens without ActivBoards or anchor charts or objectives on a wall.

This isn't a slam on science classrooms and certainly not science teachers. Some of my favorite bloggers are science teachers who somehow manage to bring that world from the outside into the classroom and find ways to get the students out of the classroom and into the world.

Five Things I Never Want to Say

2013-06-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

Over the last week, I've run into some interesting people: a steam-punk former Australian with an eclectic taste in art, a Luddite in a tech camp who sees social media as largely destructive, a conservative evangelical church planter.

I enjoyed this group of people largely because of an overall theme from my former mentor: you never know the whole story. I think that sense of never knowing the whole story is what permeates the following advice he gave me years ago.

We were having coffee and I asked him why he didn't act like "an old guy" and I expected something about youth and perspective and an open mind. But instead, he ticked off five things that he promised himself in his youth that he never wanted to say:

"That's a boring person." I challenged him on this and he said, "There are no boring people. Just people who have gotten really good at hiding. So, that's why you ask really hard questions that push people out of boredom." He's right. There's always a story behind the boredom. Always.
"The music is too loud." Brad warned me that I would reach an age where people stop listening to new music and start thinking that the music they enjoyed in their youth was better than the current stuff. "Don't forget that music is someone's craft and dismissing it just because it sounds different is basically saying, 'I don't like art.'"
"The book was better than the movie." He told me this one time when I was talking about the Harry Potter series. He reminded me that it's a different medium, one that is often more visual, emotional and concise. It's more fun to think about the differences, not in terms of good or bad, but in terms of how the message changes as a result. I remember once complaining about books that have movie posters as covers. Again, he challenged me. "What if that becomes the gateway drug to reading?" Yep.
"That's a strange way to dress." Clothes are a method of self-expression. If it looks odd, think of it as a statement about identity and society. It's a chance to open one's mind. This small piece of advice transformed the way I thought not only of how sub-cultures dress, but also about the transgender community. In other words, clothes become a story that someone is telling and often the stranger the clothes, the more interesting the story.
"That's shallow." If I think that sports or fashion or a certain genre of literature seems shallow, chances are, it's because I have only a shallow understanding of them. Instead of labeling it as shallow, it helps if I think about "the shallow" from a more critical lens.

The Real Barrier is Permission

2013-06-15T06:48:00.002-07:00

I spent this last week teaching a workshop on social media for learning at Camp Plug and Play (a really cool Arizona K12 event). We approached it from the perspective of personalized professional development and an integrated aspect of project based learning.

On the first day, I asked people what the barriers were to using social media in the classroom. They mentioned time, lack of know-how and a general sense of irrelevance. A few of them suggested that social media was a waste of time when "real" learning needed to happen.

However, those concerns slowly shifted as we engaged on social media. Suddenly, the time factor wasn't as big of an issue, the know-how took care of itself and participants saw the platforms as relevant and useful.

Two new barriers emerged. The first was the testing culture. Social media everything that a standardized test isn't: relevant, social, interactive, personalized and connective. Teachers weren't worried so much that social media would lead to low test scores, but that the pressure to pass the test would leave them abandoning the PBL framework we had used in a push for a more I do - we do - you do framework.

The second barrier was access. I found teachers calling their tech coordinators and begging for sites to be unblocked, making statements like, "Yes, but we still have a cafeteria even when bullying happens there."

So, we quickly moved from personal to policy barriers. And that's why teachers need to be outspoken about bad policies. If the system keeps them away from potential platforms for student learning, then they have every right to be irate and to lobby hard to change the system.

It used to be that the digital divide was one of money. Schools couldn't afford technology. Now we're seeing that the real digital divide that keeps us away from social media platforms is a series of fear-based policies.

Originally posted yesterday on the Arizona Stories from Schools blog.

Why We Need Skeuomorphism #FlatDesign

2013-06-12T19:57:00.001-07:00

A few friends of mine have tweeted out / posted pictures of iOS 7. Design geeks seem to love the minimalism of it. They praise the lack of skeuomorphism (the non-functional elements that remind us of previous technology). And, in many respects, they're right.

Sometimes skeuomorphism is awful. I can't stand reading an eBook and having a page turn. It feels fake. But I also like a transition (a soft blending, for example). But I don't like to open an app and see fake mahogany staring back at me. It's the digital version of linoleum. I get irritated by a high-gloss, shaded finish on every app.

But there's dark side to it. In the drive to be minimal, the new iOS looks cartoonish. It looks like they were trying to copy Windows 7 (which feels like a clustered mess of bad street signs).

A few thoughts on it

Transitions Matter: We are looking for continuity, for story, for a sense of blurfing between transitions. It's why I like the term "motion pictures," even if it's dated. And I like terms like "site" and "page" and even "book" to describe eBooks. I love the sense of story. I love the echoing voice of the past, still crying out, "I may not seem relevant to you, but I matter."
Vintage Matters: Sometimes vintage is best. I mentioned this in a blog post about vintage versus futuristic ball parks. There is a real danger in chasing novelty and forgetting about sustainability.
Decorative Matters: I think there's a danger in going for things that are purely functional and missing out on the need for the decorative. I don't need a belt to keep my pants up (my increasing waste size has done a great job at that already).
Texture Matters: I see this with logos. Taking away texture makes sense. Take away too much, without enough intentionality to depth of space, and you end up with something that looks like clip art. I like shadows between windows. I like the sense of depth and texture in apps.

So, as I think about the notion of rethinking schools, I hope we take skeuomorphism seriously. I'd love to get rid of rigid times, bells and other elements of the modern, factory model. However, we need to think about the need to keep some of the old. It's not all bad. And my hope is that as we push forward, we not only look at functionality, but also the aesthetic of school. I hope we embrace the concept of the decorative. I hope we don't miss the vintage. I hope we realize that we still need texture, even if it feels out of place in a globalized world.

Cable, Reality TV and Losing Identity

2013-06-11T18:35:00.001-07:00

Somehow auctions on storage spaces have become t.v. worthy

We don't have cable television at home. I don't regret it. It's not for the elitist, t.v. is evil concept. I just get bored with it.

Cable TV should just be renamed Reality TV. I'm watching it and I'm baffled (I don't normally have it). None of them have programming that match their channel names. National Geographic has no geography. The History Channel has no history. There's no discovery happening on the Discovery Channel, no learning on The Learning Channel, no music on MTV, VH1 or CMT, no art on A&E, no actual cooking shows on the Food Network, and no weather on the Weather Channel. AMC is not running any classic movies. And HBO isn't showing movies. They're doing a video version of books on tape.

I'm flipping through and people are arguing over storage spaces.

Yeah, that's what passes as television.

I'm not sure why it happened. I'm not sure if it's what people want. But it has me thinking a lot about digital spaces and the way the medium reshapes the message. It has me thinking about the lack of intentionality that happens when an organization (business, channel, etc.) loses its identity in a goal of chasing the numbers.

photo credit: mharvey.nyc via photopin cc

How Do You Teach Social Media? #azk12

2013-06-10T18:30:00.004-07:00

When Tony Vincent asked me about leading a strand at Camp Plug and Play, I initially had no idea how to plan it. So much of tech training tends to be focussed on tools and strategies. And yet, social media tends to be relational and messy. It has to be. It's connective. It's human.

Initially, I struggle to try to prove that social media is relevant. I point out how it can be used for communicating, connecting, curating, creating and critical thinking. I have a linear outline. I plan it all out, complete with my alliteration and hope to be effecient in what I convey.

But then it hits me this morning. I'm introducing them to an experience. I'm introducing them to a community. So, if the conversations meander or go flat or feel confusing, well . . . that's social media. And my hope is that people embrace the mess, because that mess is a beautiful mess. That community is packed full of teachers who saved my career in my darkest moments.

That's what I want them to see.

I want them to fall in love with the concept of a PLN, because teaching can be lonely and hard and sometimes it's someone in another state or another country or another subject or grade level band who gets me and encourages me and debates me and challenges me in ways that might not happen in a staff lounge.

I have no idea how this week will go. I feel like I talked too much and didn't explain the platforms well enough. However, my hope is this: that they will experience social media and the personal learning network in such a way that they want to experience it even more.

A Cathedral on a Tarmac

2013-06-09T08:36:00.002-07:00

My first thought is that we need music. Live music. We need art in spaces of boredom, in tech-heavy spots like jets, to remind us what really matters. There is something powerful about someone who has honed their craft deciding to demonstrate it, not in a concert hall or a museum, but among us, turning ordinary spaces into cathedrals.

My second thought is that people are missing it. Instead of experiencing the beauty, they are frantically trying to record it. Even at close proximity, they still capture the moment (why do we need to make beauty captive?) and experience it through a screen. They miss it.

And yet . . .

The fact that they miss it is why I got to see the moment secondhand and turn it into a blog post. And that's the power of technology. It's all about compression. It's all about capturing moments, compressing it and then amplifying it.

I'm not sure that it's a good or a bad thing. But it's ultimately the promise of technology.

Fix-It in Five

2013-06-08T10:01:00.003-07:00

When I first started student blogs, I assumed students would enjoy it. After all, we were using technology! It was, at the time, a cutting-edge tool! Unfortunately, I didn’t think ahead of time about the power of blogging as authentic, interactive form of expression. Instead, students wrote posts in isolation. I dicated the topics. Nobody commented. Nobody embedded pictures or multimedia. I even chose the titles for them with clever phrases like "Bell Work, January 17th" or "Exit Ticket May 6th."

In short, they weren’t student blogs at all. They were student notebooks with a slightly digital flair. So, here are five things I did to move student blogging into a more meaningful experience. Please note that these are not meant to be solutions so much as ideas. I realize that teaching is contextual and my five fix-it ideas might not be relevant to you.

Student autonomy. I began with letting students design the physical layout of their blogs and create titles that fit who they were. This might sound superficial, but it was what kind of like letting them decorate their own room. It empowered them to own the space. Next, I encouraged students to find topics based upon their interests. From there, students began to write based upon their own interests. I encourage them to use labels to organize their posts based upon their own connective thinking.
Sometimes students still need ideas. I encourage them to brainstorm topics on a Google Doc. However, I also create visual prompts to help students access ideas and questions. Sometimes I post links that they might want to respond to.
Treat blogging as a genre. Not everything is meant to go on a blog. Some things belong on Google Docs or sites or even e-mails. So, we treat blogging as a type of writing that is deliberately public and interactive. Let them understand how blog feeds, comments and embedded media work. I've learned that students won't add labels, pictures or links unless they see it modeled. For all the talk of Digital Natives, students don't initially get blogging and they aren't quick to go explore it themselves. We view blogs that we enjoy and we use some of those strategies on our student blogs.
Multimedia: Often, blogs fail to take advantage of video, audio and visuals. Blogs became more dynamic when students could use multimedia to convey their voice. Yes, blogging nearly always corresponds to social studies, reading and writing standards. However, when students can be more holistic in their approach, the writing part can feel less intimidating.
I pushed for interactivity. At first, I had to show students some sample discourse questions and stems. However, over time, they learned the art of conversation and the power of blogging to create nuance. Students want an audience. But it’s more than that. They want a conversation. That’s what blogging offers.

When Stadiums Replaced Ballparks

2013-06-06T16:33:00.003-07:00

When I was a kid, I loved watching games at Tiger Stadium, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. I couldn't understand why they were so much more interesting than all the other stadiums of the day. So, I started finding pictures of old ballparks (as opposed to stadiums) and I kept thinking, "Where did we go wrong?"

I fell in love with the skyline and the backdrop of Crosley Field.

I fell in love with the trees and the natural feeling of Forbes Field.

I was intrigued by the strange dimensions of Shibe Park.

Every one of these stadiums had issues when there destroyed. They were too small, too out-of-step with the times, sometimes too run-down. So, the solution in the sixties and seventies was demolition. Blow those ball parks up and re-imagine the space as something more multi-functional, technological and relevant with the times.

People were clamoring for change. They wanted stadiums that were modern enough to reflect the Space Age. Something that was rounded and novel and different from the old clunky, asymmetrical ball parks of the past.

The results? Donut stadiums that all looked the same in their search for being modern, slick and multifunctional. Oh, they had Jumbo Trons and Astro Turf and they could be used for concerts and football and everything else a city needed. Even the true ballparks like Candlestick (formed in the last era of ballparks, around the time of Dodger Stadium) began to transform into multipurpose stadiums. They weren't ballparks.

This is Riverfront. Not that you could tell. It looks the same as Three Rivers or Veteran's Stadium or Busch Stadium or pretty much every other place built in that era.

Then, at some point, people woke up and realized that there was beauty in the vintage. Suddenly, we had places like Camden Yards and AT&T Ballpark that were true ballparks. They had personality. They were deliberately parochial, representing the local community in form and function. But more than anything, they were built, not to be innovative spaces, but to be ballparks. They were all of a sudden intentional again.

I think education reformers on both the corporate side and the progressive education community could learn a thing or two from the failures of the donut stadium era.

Why Do Teachers Cheat?

2013-06-06T10:04:00.002-07:00

A part of me hates the notion of teachers cheating in order to improve test scores. I've seen the "soft" cheating, including using packets, answering "clarifying" questions for students and asking students, "Is this really what you meant?" when collecting tests. But I've also seen "hard" cheating, including teachers who changed bubbles or reviewed the test ahead of time with kids.

I'm not sure how prevalent cheating is. However, it bothers me, because I feel like it cheapens my students' test scores. But it also hurts those who aren't cheating. It's part of why my data looked awful in the third quarter. But I also hate the way it leaves a teacher vulnerable when his or her scores are high. Moreover, it cheapens the entire profession and makes every one of us look bad.

So, there is this part of me that feels enraged at cheating and the lack of professionalism involved. And yet this is exactly what I expect. I blame the teachers only to a certain extent. But I blame the system even more. Currently, our teacher evaluations and our school labels are both based upon test scores. Students are placed in intervention based upon scores.

We can talk all we want about empathy, compassion, collaboration and trust. However, if the policies in place pit teachers against each other in a battle for one's job, are we surprised that teachers cheat, lie and keep information to themselves. It's like asking for Hunger Games participants to share bread and play nice.

Think of any other high-stakes, extrinsic reward, merit-based environment and you'll find cheating. Look at Wall Street, big banks and professional sports. Each of these institutions, run entirely upon economic norms, ended up with huge cheating scandals. We can blame the individuals for their lack of morality. But here's the thing: in the midst of fear, when a job is on the line, cheating is tempting.

It comes down to this. Is school supposed to be governed by social norms or economic norms? If social, then school should be like a family and we should expect learning to be a natural, social phenomenon with the permission to fail.

If economic, we should expect a consumer mentality with merit rewards and micromanagement. However, if we put these systems in place, don’t be shocked when there is a lack of empathy, a failure in ethics and rampant cheating. That’s the byproduct of a consumer mentality. Cheating is simply getting the best bang for your buck in a moral vacuum. I realize that there are corporations that act ethically. However, they are also the ones that value people, that move outside of high-stakes "accountability" and that think long-term.

Go ahead and get morally outraged when teachers cheat. But make sure you get equally outraged at a system that encourages cheating.

photo credit: Fort Worth Squatch via photopin cc

edugeekery: Facebook and Italics

2013-06-05T19:41:00.002-07:00

The Problem with "Should"

2013-06-04T12:36:00.003-07:00

Teachers should really learn code. They don't have to use it all the time, but they should know how it works. And they shouldn't be resisting technology. When they outright refuse to use it, they are doing a disservice to kids growing up in a digital world.

I see that. I really do. Coding is fantastic. Technology is changing our world. And yet . . . one of my favorite high school teachers didn't believe in using computers. He demanded that we write and revise our creative work with paper and pen. "Your hands should hurt and your minds should be exhausted," he would say. He introduced me to Wendell Berry and free verse poetry and the notion that words matter.

Teachers shouldn't lecture.

And yet, some of my favorite teachers led interactive discussions and lectured (sparingly) in ways that were almost theatrical, always thought-provoking and never boring.

Teachers shouldn't use textbooks.

And yet, what is a textbook? Do we abandon all books? All texts? Or just get rid of required reading? I can see the point, but some of my favorite classes "forced" me to read something that I initially hated and later fell in love with (I'm thinking Hemingway in particular).

Every teacher should learn how to use Evernote.

I've done fine without it. Same goes for word walls and honestly, I'd rather not have to do anchor charts.

See, the problem with "should" is that it places all of teaching into rigid, binary, either/or, right/wrong boxes. It takes away the individuality, the autonomy, the creativity and the contextual knowledge required to teach well. Any strategy, any tool, any medium, any resources has benefits and drawbacks. The hard part, the part that requires patience and humility, is learning how to refine our craft as teachers based upon the needs of students.

Note: This was heavily influenced by the words of Dean Shareski. If you don't follow his work, you should probably check it out. He's a wise man.

photo credit: Greg McMullin via photopin cc

edugeekery: Not Literally Literal (Miami Heat Version)

2013-06-04T06:57:00.001-07:00

[Video] The Stages in my Technology Journey

2013-06-03T19:03:00.002-07:00

People are quick to mock teachers who don't "get" technology. However, often it takes a journey through paradigm shifts. Here is a sample of my own journey.

CuriosityCast: Episode One (Canadian Football)

2013-06-03T05:22:00.001-07:00

Jeremy Macdonald just recently started a podcast called CuriosityCast. If you're looking for a distinctly education-related podcast, you'll be disappointed But if you're looking to watch learning in action and geek out with two fellow geeks, this might just be the podcast for you. You can also download/subscribe on iTunes.

photo credit: IcE MaN Photography via photopin cc

I'm Tired of this False Narrative

2013-06-02T15:58:00.001-07:00

In the recent cover story from Time magazine, Rahm Emanuel is depicted as another bold, daring reformer who has come to save the day and fix the broken Chicago schools. Wait, wait, weren't they already fixed in the "Chicago Miracle," that Time often writes about in glowing terms as they toss around softball questions to Arne Duncan?

Apparently not.

Apparently what was really needed was another politician to come in with the support of multinational companies and tell the neighborhoods of Chicago what they need. In the process, Time chastises the people of Chicago for feeling hurt and betrayed by the courageous man who is simply doing his job. (Could it be that the people are also confused by a mayor who claims that they don't have money for schools, but they have money to pay for a private catholic college to get a new basketball arena financed out of the public coffers?)

"Why is he mad when he is fighting both crime and failing schools?" Um, I don't know. Perhaps people are angry because of that word 'fight' right there, as if the cherished public institution that once belonged to the neighborhood is a malignant tumor. I've heard of the War on Poverty. I saw the War on Drugs. Is this now the War on Public Education?

The magazine contains a map of school closures and crime zones. Here, the narrative of high crime and "bad schools" are placed together; this time implying that bad schools are the cause of high crime. It couldn't possibly be poverty. It couldn't possibly be an issue of low test scores resulting from a context where people are struggling to survive. In the worldview of Time magazine, a public school is not a beacon of light in a community plagued by darkness.

Not in the Time narrative. Here, the school is both a symptom and a cause of a broken city and the broken lives of poverty. And so again, it takes a wealthy, idealistic politician to come in and sweep out the dirty, lazy, awful teachers and replace it with something more innovative.

The crazy part is that I'm angry. I'm just sad. Really sad. And convinced that we, as teachers, need to tell a better, more compelling narrative - one of truth, humility and authenticity. Pretty much everything that Time misses in this propaganda piece.

As an aside:
Note that if the article had been written about closing military bases, we would be reading about how the closures will break the local economy. If these had been fire stations of police precincts, we'd be hearing about how public safety is at risk. Instead, teachers are depicted as selfish and lazy, caring more about union contracts than children because we dare to say that these are places worth fighting to keep.

edugeekery: In Solidarity with Pride Month

2013-06-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

Someone on Facebook told me I wasn’t a “real” Christian for posting a #dailydoodle mentioning drag. So my response? This. For all my friends who are still fighting against injustice, because of who they are and who they love.

My only apologies are the two really bad “bee” puns. That might just be the only unforgivable sin.

Junk Drawer in a Box

2013-06-01T10:41:00.001-07:00

this isn't our junk drawer, but you get the idea

It wasn't my idea. I told Christy we should teach the kids to stay out of the junk drawer, because I was tired of losing scissors, tape and rubber band. Her response? "Maybe the kids need their own junk drawer."

And that's where we create Junk Drawer in a Box. Here's how it works, you take the items that your kids would normally want to take from the junk drawer and you cram it into a box and surprise them with it as a gift. Our junk drawer boxes included the following:

Duct tape
Masking tape
Electrical tape
A ream of paper
Paper clips
Rubber bands of all sizes and textures
A spool of string
Scissors - the nice kind that are big (I know, I know, that's probably not safe)
Some random objects, like marbles
Colored pencils
Clothes pins

It didn't cost much and it became their go-to place last summer when they complained that they were bored and it was too blazingly hot outside to play (we live in Phoenix).

Take it or leave it. I rarely say that "this works for all kids," but I have a hunch that this time it just might be true.

photo credit: jeamac via photopin cc

Edugeekery: Dinosaurs and Career Readiness

2013-06-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

We Need Gates

2013-05-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

Google (via their acquisition of Motorola) has two new products under development that may never hit the market. The first is a scannable tattoo that would allow people to avoid entering passwords (while also taking on the mark of the beast). The second is a pill people would swallow that would emit a low frequency signal so that they would have to be present for their Google account to work.

I'm not bothered by this, if it's voluntary. But the tricky side of all things voluntary is that they eventually become accepted practices and then social norms and, if we're not careful, legal policies. We like to think of Big Brother as this distant, evil force that oppresses people. But often, it's a fun, convenient drug, Matrix-style. What's your pill?

You can block people with walls, but you can also distract them with shiny objects. We're not all that different from raccoons that way.

So, it has me thinking about students and their online interactions. I don't believe in walling people off from online spaces. I'm often the teacher advocating for districts to allow blogging, webtools and social media, because I want students to have a positive and meaningful digital footprint. I don't want students to feel that they must be anonymous online, hiding behind masks.

At the same time, I want students to respect the right to privacy. I want them to observe sound echoing off the racquetball courts. I want them to spend time in a forest, where they can't differentiate between a thunderstorm and the wind blowing through the trees. I want students to embrace solitude and know what it means to be alone. Really alone. But in a good way.

It's for this reason that I want gates. (Not the Gates of broken Windows) I want students to value the right to privacy, but I want them to be encouraged to go public and be authentic as well. We need to create spaces of permission where they have gates instead of walls and they can freely decide how public or private they want to be based upon the context and the timing.

I want students to have the permission to say, “I have nothing to hide. But I just want to be alone for awhile, outside the ultra-public lens of social media.” But I also want them to know the beauty of the real relationships that can happen in a connected context.

photo credit: arkiss via photopin cc

Edugeekery: A Childhood Memory

2013-05-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

Note: Yes, I realize that my third grade teacher was oversimplifying Native American culture and hunting techniques.

Science at the Park

2013-05-30T10:34:00.001-07:00

We're hanging out at the park (or, as my red state friends might call it, "the socialized play space.") when Joel notices that there is an echo near the racquetball courts.

"Why does it do that?" he asks. If this were a classroom, I might take draw wavelengths or send them over to a website. But it's not a classroom. It's the park, where learning is totally untested and we have all the time in the world.

We move to the edge of the court and listen again, then step into the court and notice the difference. Brenna runs to the middle of the court and tests her "hello, hello, hello" aiming in different directions. Micah stands at the edge of the second court and yells, "It's echoing in two places."

"I didn't hear your echo," Joel yells back.

And so it begins. The questions. Why does it echo in some places instead of others? Why do the echoes change? Does volume make a difference? Bass? Distance? Would the shape of what you speak into change the sound of the echo?

Most of the questions are left unanswered . . . for now. We may take a few bowls and test volumes on shapes and textures. Joel has a theory about sound, that it is "stuff" that can be absorbed, blocked and bounced. He still doesn't know about waves. I didn't front load the vocabulary and I don't intend to have him write a lab report.

At the park, I get to observe learning instead of measure it.

Edugeekery: Fast Food #badpun

2013-05-30T08:10:00.003-07:00