Day 8: The Element

I've been reading The Element by Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D.  Most people have heard of his work through his speech at TED.  (I like the RSA Animate version better)  The book is reminding me a lot of some of my other favorites, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, and just about any book by Rafe Esquith.  I think the fundamental message behind each of these books is the same...  Everyone is unique and deserves to be treated with respect and appreciation for individual talents.

I was thinking today that I've tried to work hard in my career to treat my students with appreciation for their uniqueness.  Now, I find myself in the role of primarily working with adults.  I think it is even more important to remember those principles.  To that end, I pledge to avoid, as much as possible, the following...

• One size fits all technology training.
• Show up, listen up training.
• One size fits all technology implementation and use in classrooms.
• Directives for what 'must' be done.

I pledge to encourage, as much as possible, the following...

• Opportunities for differentiated technology training available at flexible times.
• Multiple opportunities to 'try' technology at variable levels in classrooms.
• Suggestions for what would be 'good.'

Day 7: Connections

Civilization grew in the beginning from the minute that we had communication -- particularly communication by sea that enabled people to get inspiration and ideas from each other and to exchange basic raw materials.  - Thor Heyerdahl

My favorite thing is to connect to great people and great ideas.  I've had that opportunity many times in my career.  Edith Bowen and Center for Open and Sustainable Learning (COSL) being the most recent.  What I find when you fill a room with outstanding people is that great ideas follow.

A big thanks for the opportunity to be in the same room and share ideas with Dan Johnson often over the last few days.  Another big thanks to Dan for letting me bring the very talented Casey Elliot from ThereNow into the office.  Here's to some great ideas turning into great projects leading to great results.

Day 6: (and a day late)

Why a day late. Not procrastination. Not lack of interest. More of depth of TO DO list. It's the start of week two and things are starting to roll. My TO DO list reads like a list of good ideas not implemented. Unfortunately, when there is a bunch of good ideas, it takes time to prioritize. Good, Better, Best. Not easy decisions to make.

Each teacher with a TO DO on my list has a great idea. Not only that, but their idea is important to them. Most of them involve the need for me to do some footwork to find information about a product, idea, software to be implemented in the classroom. In most of these cases I have made Diigo my best friend.

For those of you not aware, Diigo is a social bookmarking website. You sign up with an account. Mark webpages you like. Assign 'tags' to the pages you've bookmarked. You can share with others, make groups of people, compare with other's bookmarks, and tons of other social features. It's all kept online. Very convenient. So convenient, in fact, I cannot remember the last time I created a bookmark on my computer's web browser.

If you want to take a look at my bookmarks, go ahead. They're public (except for the ones I don't want you to see).

• My main page: http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu
• Web pages I recommended to the USU ScEd 6270 class http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu/USUSCED6270
• Stuff I like having to do with history http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu/history
• Want to see the websites a 4th grade teacher may want to consider using for creating online timelines? http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu/timeline
  

You get the idea. Go ahead. Browse my tags. I update them daily, adding web gems I like.

Day 5: Relevence

This afternoon, my wife and I drove by a new furniture store in S. Logan. The space use to be occupied by a Hollywood Video franchise. In fact, I remember when the building was built and the grand opening for Hollywood Video. It was a big event. It was a happening place on a Friday night. My wife made an insightful comment today. She said that

"video stores are a trend that we have seen come and go in our lifetime."

Now, I'm not terribly old, but it was shocking to realize that the age of video rental stores is over. No more browsing through shelves of empty vhs covers to find the perfect movie for the evening. No more $1.99 new releases, 99 cent everything else rentals. No more filling out a membership application at the grocery store, Hastings, Hollwood Video, Blockbuster, and The Book Table. No more visits to the video store at 1 in the afternoon in the hopes that the new release we've been dying to see would have been returned, re shelved, and still on the shelf.

Sure, fashions come and go. But, this was a whole industry come and gone. Replaced by Netflix, Redbox, Hulu, and thousands of other online video services.

This has made me reflect (and appreciate even more) the importance of making technology integration decisions on what is best for learning, not the technology. Equipment will become antiquated. Learning will not. So, the question to ponder over the weekend is...

Are you focusing on what is MOST important in the big picture?

Day 4: Hurry up and wait

There are times where all you can do is wait. Today was one of those days. Sure, I could have started manipulating student data and creating user accounts for the 4-5 software systems students log into. Yeah, it wold be great to start collecting data with students working on individualized learning software. However, Why duplicate work and take the chance of getting it wrong.

Here at Edith Bowen there are several networked and online systems that allow students to log into a personal account and for teachers to track progress. Pearson Successnet, FasttMath, Type to Learn, Spelling City. It's nice to have these tools available. It would be really nice to have an open directory system or a 'connect to Facebook' option that all these products and company use. However, just like in real life, you must create and manage passwords for EACH and EVERY web site that requires a username. You know how it is. Cool web site. Create a user account. Try to remember the username and password for every account. If you are lucky, you will be able to always use the same username and password. I hope you are luckier than me.

So, back to waiting. I am waiting for our fabulous tech support staff to create user accounts and passwords on our school's server. It will make my life much easier when they are able to send me a file of those accounts. I can manipulate that data to import into all the other systems I need to create student accounts in. So much easier than typing (or mistyping) the data over and over again. So much easier than generating usernames and passwords only to discover some of them don't match what was created on the server. Let's face it. With 7 year olds, this is a big issue. The same username and password make life sooooooo much easier.

There were plenty of other busy work tasks that occupied my day. Sure, they weren't as important as getting the user accounts up and running. But, sometimes it's good to wait. Today is one of those days.

Day 3: Shift

Our school is going through a fundamental philosophical shift regarding technology. I can see it and wonder how many others are consciously aware.

In the past the emphasis was technology as a topic with a sprinkling of a tool aspect here and there. MEANING... Student were taught technology, either intentionally in keyboarding and media time or indirectly through projects in the classrooms. The focus was on learning technology as a topic. Learning podcasts, learning iMovie, learning PowerPoint, etc. I'm not saying that this is completely bad. There is a necessary amount of skills and fundamental knowledge needed to use technology effectively. I am saying, however, that this approach does not help unlock the true potential technology has to improve the teaching-learning process.

I am hoping, in light of discussions around school the last few days, that our new philosophical approach to technology is about the curriculum. MEANING... Technology is used as a tool in the natural teaching-learning process. The emphasis is on how this tool improves learning. Thus, learning how to use the technology is secondary to the primary objective, the curricular objectives. In that light teachers don't say, "I want a set of iPods" or "I want students to learn to make a blog." Instead they say, "I want ways to improve reading fluency" and "I feel my students need more feedback on their writing to help them learn how to revise.". In the context of those latter questions, the purpose is to improve student performance in quantifiable curricular area. It is not about the acquisition of a skill set alone.

The idea comes first. A great read before I elaborate more.

Great ideas online aren't about creating a technology. They are about solving a fundamental problem or improving a needed process. Twitter did not come from someone wanting to make a fun little tool. It came from a need for a small group of people to communicate faster and more directly. The tool was designed to meet a need, to improve a process. Facebook... Help connect people better. Wikipedia... Build a free, online encyclopedia. When the idea of highly qualified, peer review took too long, adapt the idea.

Here is to the hope that the 'tool' philosophy wins out and that learning always is the primary focus.

Day 2: Getting into the flow

Today was a clarifying. It's good to have a job. It's even better when your job is defined and with purpose. A big thanks goes out to Dan Johnson for providing both a definition and a purpose. I feel I am being set up for success rather than being left to linger in the murky waters of unspoken expectation.

On a related topic, I spent the day finding a to do system that works for me. After all, I spend most of my time working with many different machines and I really need to keep my life organized. I've decided the iPad is my best friend because it loves the cloud so much. Email, synced. Calendars, synced. Documents, synced. I have been using my iPad so much that if there is a case that would allow me to velcro it to my hip, I think I would find it quite useful. It goes with me to the classrooms, faculty room, lunch, and anywhere else that I might actually talk to someone. Why? Because being with people usually entails a sentence with the phrase, "could you...?" It is so nice to write those down rather than forgetting them in the walk down the hallway. Not quite sure what I mean? Just read Patrick McManus' story about puttering around town on errands.

After playing around with multiple apps that sync with Google tasks, reacquainting myself with Evernote, and trying to find a way to integrate with USU's Exchange server, I've decided to give Wunderlist a chance to win my allegiance. So far, so good. Let the lists begin. (and go away faster than they are created)

Day 1: the right reasons

And so it begins. I was thinking about my 18 years in the teaching profession. I have two tendencies for how I handle the end of a day. Either I am completely enthralled in finishing my list of never ending to do's OR I sit in my room doing nothing more than being completely aimless. Either way, I was wasting my time. One, by being aimless. As productive as it is getting tons of little things done that have been haunting me from the top of my desk, I was missing out the pleasure of ending a work day and being able to focus on being with my family at home. Either way, I wonder if I was focusing on what's most important.

I've decided,this year to end each day with some reflection. It will be the last thing I do before walking out the door. It will happen despite numerous things I could finish that will still be on my to do list when I arrive the following morning. I he iT will be a way for me to finalize my work day, allowing me some down time until the sun rises.

Today's reflection is taken up with creating this blog. I was impressed that I actually came up with a clever name, a name worthy of reflection. Also very clever is me creating the blog and posting this entry entirely on my iPad. Amazing where technology has taken us over the last 18 years. My first classroom... 1 Apple Classic II computer. Lemmings was the big game my 6th graders fought to play. Half way through the year, the miracle that was a color screen. No more gray screen. I think I should have saved that first computer and made a fish tank from it. Oh well. Lost opportunities.

Let this year begin with hope of many exciting changes to brightness my days and the proper perspective to see that technology, despite how cool, has not replaced the human element.