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Space, the Final Frontier

Posted in Administrator, Assessment, Education, Leadership, Literacy, PLN, Reform, Social Media, Teacher, Teacher assessment, Teachmeet, Technology, Thought Provoking, Truth, Twitter on January 20, 2011| 17 Comments »

I recently involved myself in a discussion I have been engaging people in since the mid 1970’s. The Topic: Is it one space or two after a period when word-processing? The topic resurfaced after @smartinez, a highly respected educator and Tweeter, sent out a link to a post explaining the rule. http://www.slate.com/id/2281146/ According to Farhad Manjoo, Old-fashioned typewriters used monospaced type, which produced a lot of white space between characters and words, so using two spaces after a period made the text easier to read, but as of the 1970s, monospaced type went out of style. Electric typewriters and computers now both use proportional fonts, eliminating the need for the extra space. This fact prompted this statement, “Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.”

Now for what happened after I re-tweeted that link to the post that validated the very position I have taken since the 1970’s. A number of people stepped up questioning, if that was important, or if anybody really cared. Some said that they had always done two spaces and will continue to do so. That was the attitude that set me off. I would like to say that it matters not to me whether one uses one or two spaces. Of course my experience and prejudices affect my impressions of things. I guess ultimately it does matter to me, for I will form an opinion of a writer somewhat based on my perception of their punctuation mistakes, however, I do see a larger topic here.

It should be evident to any thinking person that our society, or more accurately, our culture is greatly affected by technology. Tech is developing and moving forward each and every day. At almost any age any person can think back this or her past and recollect some piece of technology that has ceased to exist, or was replaced by another form or piece of technology. That is the way of our world. Technology has changed the way we all deal with information. Consider how we access, create, communicate, and collaborate and ultimately think about information in our culture. There is no going back in the way tech affects everything. The bigger picture however, is not solely the tech itself, but how we interact with that technology.

The reason why we have one space instead of two after a period is because the technology has developed to a point where the two spaces are unnecessary. Some people may want to hang on to the old way as a revolt against the machine, but that makes no sense. In their revolt, do they choose to take a Conestoga wagon to travel across a continent, or do they take a 747? How much rebellion is convenient or comfortable?

Now, I hope to get to my point. At the risk of sounding arrogant myself, I hate the arrogance of some educators, who actually believe that they can teach children today with absolutely no regard for technology, or its influence on our culture. It is true that a good teacher can teach with a dirt floor and a stick with the stick being optional. A good teacher with technology however, can offer more relevance to students in a world that will require them to constantly interact with technology. A good teacher with technology can be better. As our tools change, our methods for teaching need to change accordingly. We cannot ignore the fact that our society will require the use of technology and it is no longer the choice of the educator to teach with it or not. We are moving beyond accepting handwritten or even typewritten reports in our society. Therefore, we need to employ those rules which are required by the tool which we require people to use.

If we as educators are teaching children to function within a technological society that is constantly changing, we must educate our children to use those tools. We must also strive to teach and model the ability to adapt, since those same tools will continue to develop and change. A big problem we as educators, have is that we do not even understand what specific skills are going to be required of our students, because in many cases, the jobs they will have, do not yet exist. Without knowing of the jobs, how do we address the skills needed to fill those jobs? We as educators need to at least be relevant to our students if we stand a chance of giving them what they will need. We have a responsibility to assess what we do and how we do it. We no longer have the luxury of choosing what or how we remain comfortable teaching. We have a greater responsibility to our students that goes beyond our personal comfort level. We need to adapt our teaching skills and methods to address our students’ needs.

We have a responsibility to develop professionally. What we learned before we got our degrees and licenses has changed and continues to do so. We need to stay relevant in order to move our students forward. The amount of information is daunting. Not addressing it and not trying to get a handle on it does not keep technology from moving forward. The longer it takes educators to accept it, the further down the road it will move and the mountain of what we need to know will continue to grow.

In the world of today’s educator, he or she may choose to put two spaces after a period. In the world that will exist for their students however, there will be a different set of rules, determined by technology, requiring one space after a period. We must teach them for their needs and not ours. Yes, every educator has the right to choose to live in a cave. They do not have the right to drag their students in there with them.

Okay educators, your choice, one space or two after a period?

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Edu Conferences and the Twitter Effect

Posted in Administrator, Blog, conference, Edcamp, EdChat, Education, ISTE, Leadership, Linkedin, Ning, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teachmeet, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Truth, Twitter, unconference on January 16, 2011| 10 Comments »

As a blogger for only a year now, I have tried not to revisit topics and be repetitive. There are some things however, that need to be revisited at certain times of the year. Just as: Thanksgiving brings on articles of thankfulness, Christmas brings on articles of Peace and Love, and New Years brings on articles of recent loss and future resolutions, this time of year brings on articles about Education Conferences. I guess that is because plans are being made to attend the largest conferences of the year. There does seem to be a change in the approach to connections, as well as anticipation and expectations of these conferences much of which may be attributed to Social Media.

As a classroom teacher I was very fortunate to serve for many years on the Board of Directors of NYSCATE, the Educational Technology group for New York educators. For the most part many Professional Education Organizations are run by administrators. I find nothing wrong with that, because running these organizations requires a certain skill set, as well as time commitment that fits the abilities of administrators better than those of classroom teachers. I understand that. I also understand that as much as any of these groups will deny it, there is a perspective or a focus of these conferences that leans more toward administrators than classroom teachers. That is fitting, since a majority of the attendees are administrators. With budgets as they are, it is reasonable that district should get more bang for their buck by sending their technology leaders as opposed to the technology users. This all makes sense in a world of top down management in education.

Of course these organizations will point out that a many of the workshops are done by classroom teachers, and that is true. The workshops and the Keynotes are all selected and approved by the organization leadership. This is not an attack on any organization. This seems to be how it has been done for years and that is the way it worked best. The need for me to explain all of this will enable me to point out the difference that Social Media is making in the process.

The development and broadening effects of Personal Learning Networks are giving educators facts and insights in education that were never before so readily available to them. Twitter, Twitter Chats, Nings, and Blogs are providing teachers with information in greater quantities and personally delivered to them. The direct contact and connections between educators is promoting more awareness, collaboration, and reflection on topics that concern them and their students directly. All of this prepares educators for dealing with conferences as they have not been able to do before.

Ironically, the social aspects of Social Media, in regard to teachers, are often overlooked. I know from experience that I have personal connections with many educators from around the world. When I think of what is meant by “colleagues”, I am no longer limited to the people I work with in a building. These global connections are real and in many instances, very strong connections. If I was traveling, I know I could call upon many of my PLN members for a place to stay if needed. I can’t say that about most people with whom I work.

If I attend a conference, I may very well have had personal contact with many of the attendees, as well as possibly the Keynote Speaker. This is an experience I have had on several occasions at conferences over the past year. At a recent conference, I entered an auditorium to listen to a Keynote speech a few minutes after it began. I entered the auditorium at the back and the seats were all filled to see a great presentation on Blogging as Educators. It was standing room only, and that is what I did at the back of the big room. It was after a minute or so, that the speaker saw me at the back, stopped the speech, and said hello to me. Lisa Nielsen, a great blogger, speaker and wonderful person has been connected with me for quite a while through our PLN’s. Her Blog is The Innovative Educator, http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/ . This never would have happened without the Social Media connection. This is an experience that, to some degree, is common to many Twitter-Using Educators as they attend conferences. This more solid the connection with educators, whose ideas we are familiar with, and whose lives have in some part been shared, make for a more meaningful conference experience.

A greater effect that Social Media is having on Professional Organization Conferences is the whole Edcamp movement. More and more Edcamps, or Teachmeets are cropping up all over the country, or more accurately the world. These conferences are free to participants. Teachers step up and volunteer to present a workshop or a discussion in a certain time slot. Any educator interested in attending all or any part of that workshop may do so. These are organized and publicized using Social Media. I call it a movement because of the number and frequency that I am observing as these pop up around the world. In addition, to Edcamps, we are seeing more and more Free Webinars for teachers being presented through Ning and Wiki sites.

All of this exchange of ideas and collaboration prepares educators to know what they need as individuals from these conferences. It also enables them to knowledgeably tweet out comments from workshops and Keynotes to the twitter stream engaging educators who are unable to personally attend. This ”Backchanneling” holds presenters accountable to be prepared and relevant. All of these factors are enabling Social Media to give a face lift to Professional Organization Conferences.

Finally, I love meeting my PLN members at conferences. I have a problem recognizing them in person and I realize that we all have that problem. I have created my Twitter name tag to address this issue. I used my Twitter Profile Pic, and @tomwhitby on a second name tag that I wear to all conferences. The Hawaiian Shirt may also help identify me.

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A Butcher, A Baker, A Content Maker

Posted in Administrator, Education, Literacy, PLN, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Truth, Twitter on January 9, 2011| 4 Comments »

Although I talk about the use of technology in education all of the time, in truth I am far from being a “Techie”. If I have a need to use technology for a specific purpose in teaching or in learning, then I will learn what I need to in order to make that happen. As technology continues to advance at its present rate however, the learning of new technology is less of a choice and more of an attempt to stay relevant. I do not believe any specific application or device is THE essential tool, because my experience with technology is that everything changes, evolves, or disappears. If you believe in the big technology in education picture, you will always find a better tool. It usually takes six months or so.

My latest challenge is learning how to use the IPad. I have found it to be very intuitive as many of the Apple devices. That is a big plus for someone like me with a limited amount of technology intuition to begin with. I think what I like best about the IPad is that many of its applications make me forget I am viewing a computer. One application in particular, Flipboard, lets me view content as if it was in the form of a magazine. An electronic magazine which allows me to read glitzy text and view a related video with the touch of a finger.

The whole idea of using a computer and not seeing it as technology is a big deal. I hesitate to use a butcher analogy, but it serves this idea well. A butcher has a job that many of us would not be able to do for many reasons. A butcher however, makes food for the meat-eaters among us look appetizing. It is actually presented in a form that enables us to separate what we are seeing, from where we know it really came from. The same can be said of bakers. That which delights our senses in a bakery would not be so delightful in its raw form.

The magic of Flipboard is that it will take a feed like the Twitterstream of Twitter and convert the tweets to appear as magazine articles. Instead of viewing links in a 140 character text block, Flipboard shows the actual post, article, or video to which that tweet refers. You can touch the post to take you to the Blog site.. You can touch the video to view and enlarge it. When you are ready just use your finger to turn the page. It’s a magazine. It does this even more dramatically with an RSS feed. If you develop an RSS feed devoted to a subject of interest, the latest posts will appear on your magazine as they are published.

If there is one thing that holds teachers back from engaging technology more it is a lack of comfort with that technology. This Flipboard is a dream come true if you have colleagues who do not know what they are looking at when you show them a Twitterstream or your list of Blogposts from Google Reader. Those colleagues do understand magazines. Your Twitterstream and Google Reader posts now will have meaning to those colleagues. The content has been turned into a non-techie format, so they might accept it more readily. Ironically, we use technology to hide the technology. Maybe that explains the unfulfilled promise of flying cars. People are comfortable with cars, but they are unfamiliar and uncomfortable with airplane stuff. Hence, no Flying cars!

I see the way technology is manipulating the content to be more familiar to people as a good thing. One of the big stumbling blocks with involving all teachers with technology is a lack of comfort with the unfamiliar on the part of many teachers. Converting RSS feeds to a magazine format creates a familiar platform as well as up to the minute content for consideration and reflection. Maybe one day it will come to the screen on the dashboard of our Flying Cars.

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What’s Our Stake in High Stakes Testing?

Posted in Administrator, Assessment, EdChat, Education, Leadership, Mentoring, PLN, Reform, Seniority, Skills, Social Media, Student teaching, Teacher, Teacher assessment, Teched, Technology, Tenure, Thought Provoking, Truth on January 7, 2011| 15 Comments »

If you are not familiar with #Edchat, it is a Twitter discussion on specific topics held every Tuesday at Noon and 7 PM EST. A full explanation may be found at this Link: https://tomwhitby.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/edchat-revisited/. I am revealing in this post that I am the one who makes up a bulk of the #Edchat Topic choices. We do get some outside contributions, but each week I try to lift relevant topics from the Twitterstream and current Educational Blogs to explore further in an #Edchat discussion. It has been a successful formula thus far. My dilemma however, is always when is it a good time to revisit a topic. I recently received a comment from an educator that stated he always found the topic choices very interesting, but eventually we would need to discuss Standardized Testing or High Stakes Testing as a topic. Actually, #Edchat has discussed this topic in the past. The problem I have however is that in trying to keep the pulse of education concerns, Standardized Testing is the one topic that has an overwhelming majority of educators mentioning their opposition on a daily basis. Educators seem to be in agreement that Standardized Testing is a major roadblock to Education Reform. One growing opinion seems to be that the emphasis has become the tests and not the education.

Assessment has been and always will be part of education. A simple explanation: As educators we use Formative assessment to make sure we are succeeding with our students as we go. Do they get it? This allows for adjustments along the way. The Summative assessment tells educators how successful the complete endeavor was. After all is said and done, have the students gotten it? Educators do this to determine the next step, so they may continue to build on this education. This is the teacher’s assessment of learning for the purpose of the determining of what comes next. The curriculum is the roadmap of where to go. The assessments tell the teacher if the students are there yet. Teachers can always take students beyond the original destination.

Now we should look at High stakes testing. Its purpose is to accumulate data on education. Data requires simple, objective answers that are easily converted to numbers for analysis. As a former English teacher, I often envied Math teachers whose test answers were either right or wrong. As an English teacher I was always trying to figure out shades of right or wrong with essays. That oversimplification of math testing is less true of Math today with the changes that have been made requiring more of an explanation of reasoning. I hope no math teachers were offended.

The purpose of High Stakes testing seems to be changing. If it was originally intended to assess where we were with student learning in order to offer directions for places to improve, we may have strayed from that goal. It is now used to: determine funding, determine remediation, determine school closings, determine careers, and as a stretch, determine elections. These reasons have little to do with what educators use testing for.

Of course there is a simple solution; Teach to the test. That would give everyone what was needed. A problem with this however is that it will not work. It will not work because it does not consider all of the other factors involved in a student’s education; poverty, environment, culture, and even family relationships. How do we ask questions for the purpose of converting these factors into data in order to take all of this into account? Of course a more obvious reason teaching to the test won’t work is that it is not educating any one. Teaching to the test is preparing kids for a Jeopardy round, not life.

Now here is where I begin to sound like a conspiracy theorist. I, along with almost everyone in America, recognize that we are in a dire economic period. I understand we need to cut costs and increase revenue, and we will all need to sacrifice. One of our greatest expenses is education. Education has been highlighted as a political concern. It is apparent to some of us that the call for education Reform is code for cut taxes. The high stakes tests are not being used to examine and address changes in methods and curriculum as much as to vilify teachers. This call for reform by some is not a call for education reform, but rather a call for labor reform. It is a call to do away with Unions and due process for teachers. These tests are not being used to free teachers to innovate, but rather to begin to dismantle public education for the purpose of privatization for profit.

How can so many educators on every level be so opposed to high stakes testing and still it thrives? How can the mixed to dismal results of a Charter School movement still allow politicians to call for more Charter Schools? How can the influence on education by Poverty, Race, Environment, and Family go unrecognized as factors in need of reform?

We do need to reform education, but we need a better understanding of what changes will have a meaningful effect. There are many things that unions and teachers can do to affect change, but the greater changes however need to be made in methods and focus of curriculum. The emphasis of needed skills for a growing technology-driven society will be another game changer.

Assessment is needed and has a purpose in education. We need to focus assessments on the learning and not the Labor. The vast majority of educators are intelligent, dedicated, people-oriented, sharers. They may need to be given guidance and professional development in the latest methods and technologies, but they are the best source we have to support our education system. Firing teachers, closing schools, busting unions, and dismantling Public Education may be Reform to some, but to many others this is a destructive path. We need educational leaders to stand up and be heard on this. Voices of education need to be heard over those voices of business and politics and vocal disgruntled taxpayers. ( We are probably all disgruntled about taxes.)

Now I have to put up an #Edchat Topic dealing with High Stakes Testing. Your comments are welcomed here.

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My PLN Blueprint in 5 parts

Posted in Administrator, Blog, EdChat, Education, Filtering, Leadership, Linkedin, Literacy, Ning, PLN, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking on December 21, 2010| 15 Comments »

Shelly Terrell and Ken Royal are two friends who encouraged me to blog. Both are bloggers and saw something in me and my ability to communicate that I didn’t recognize. Through their encouragement, coaxing and hand holding, I did guest blogs for each of them. I was the Reluctant Blogger. This was one of my early posts explaining how I became involved in Social Media and the idea of a Personal Learning Network.It seems to be a topic that needs to be continually explained because of the growing number of educators who continue to enter the world of social media for educators.

Part 1

One of today’s educational buzzwords, or fad terms is the PLN. For my purposes it stands for Personal Learning Network. Others call it a Professional Learning Network or Community or even Environment. That would be PLN, PLN, PLC, or PLE. Many educators today are involved understanding and developing their own PLN’s. Everyone has one, and each is different and as unique as a fingerprint. Some employ technology, and others dwell in faculty rooms across the country and around the world.

The history of my PLN began back in the late 70’s. It was formed not through the technology of the computer, but rather about the technology of a 27 foot sailing vessel. It was merely a sailboat, but in my mind, being my first boat, it was truly a vessel.

I live on Long Island in New York. It is a place where boating thrives for about five to six months a year, beginning in June and ending in October. As I grew up, I always went on others’ boats, but never owned my own. Working in a school district of a community on the shore of an island, I found many of my faculty friends were avid boaters. More specifically they were sail boaters , or more accurately, sailors. It was at this time of my life that I made a big decision to become a boat owner. I purchased a brand new 27 foot O’Day sailboat. There was only one small drawback to this major purchase and commitment, I had no idea how to sail.

I took a Coast Guard Course and read a bunch of books. I ordered several catalogues and every sailing Magazine subscription I could get delivered. As my purchase was being readied for delivery, I determined that my preparation might be lacking. That is when I developed a plan out of desperation. This was to be my first organized development of a Personal Learning Network.

The plan was simple and bordered on genius. It was based on knowing that sailors are a breed of boaters who love to sail at every opportunity. I informed the Yacht dealer that I wanted to take delivery of my vessel in the water and ready to sail in April. This was unheard of, since boating season did not really get going until June. That, however, was the genius part. I had two months before all of the sailors that I knew would have their own boats in the water. I on the other hand had a spanking-new Sailing vessel at their “Beck and call”. They only needed to take the owner along for the sail. I had about ten experienced sailors teaching me all that they knew in my Personal Learning Network. I was golden.

I also recognized that I stumbled upon a real plan for personal learning. I did not want to make any other major purchases to test my assumptions, but I did pay close attention to what I had accomplished and how I did it. I took note of what I needed to know and how I gather those who knew it around me. With the advent of the Internet I have expanded my reach for those who know what I need to know. I have developed a PLN beyond the faculty room and to Educational experts literally around the world.

Part 2

My early entry into the digital Personal Learning Network world came through necessity and dumb luck. This may have started out as a whim, but now it takes up serious time during the day. It is a challenge. This is the history of the development for the first level of my PLN and it provides a depth in discussion and collaboration that is often needed to accomplish success.

I am a retired secondary English teacher. I started working as an Adjunct Education professor at St. Joseph’s College in New York. Going from secondary to higher education was a little intimidating and very different. After 34 years of teaching English, I thought I could walk on in and teach students everything they needed to be successful teachers. In fact I was the one who needed the education.

I have an MS in Educational Technology from 1991 and I did not know what I did not know. I was emailing and Googling and I had mastered PowerPoint. I was even able to get by in Blackboard, but beyond that, I had a million questions as to what to do and how to do it.

Faculty members are usually tech savvy, or tech shy. Since I was new to the staff, I was still learning names with little regard as to who knew what about technology. It was at that time that I was getting involved with Linkedin. Before I knew it, I had a number of Education Connections. Since these people were on a social network, they had at least a modicum of tech savvy, so I began asking questions of them. I had more questions than sources, so I determined that I needed more sources, but I had a limited network.

I thought that if I started a group of technology-using professors, I would have a virtual cornucopia of sources. Not only would I have my own posse, but, if I was selective, they would be really smart sources. My goal was to involve only Higher Ed professors at any level. After all, I was only a lowly adjunct and I did not want to create a group that would exclude me. I was only interested in the opinions of those who are really teaching people. Vendors and consultants serve a different audience, so I limited the membership to educators only. It was totally self-serving, my group, my rules.

The restrictions took up more time than I imagined. Profiles vary so much in job descriptions and institutions that it is sometimes hard to tell what someone does or for whom they work. Another consideration was that Email on Linkedin costs money, so I needed a cheaper way to contact people. Messages from member to member of groups are free. Learning that, I started joining groups. I recruited twenty-five members on my first sweep through the groups. At that time I only belonged to about five groups, so after soliciting membership from those groups twice, I needed to join more groups to hit other people. Any group where one could find professors was a group I targeted. It did not take long to belong to 30 groups.

As people joined I sent them a welcoming message. I had become a “group-joining expert” by this time and determined that most groups sent nothing. Others sent me a do’s and don’ts do list. I wanted to be more welcoming. After all, these people were to be my personal group of technology advisers, my Personal Learning Network. It was easy to develop personal relationships.

As a child, when I sent away for free stuff, I checked for the mailman every day until the stuff arrived. As an adult, I found myself checking my computer constantly for new arrivals to the group. The best part about my group was that the people involved are already intellectually curious and damned smart. Since they are educators, most have a sharing quality built into their personality It always helps to personally thank those members who continually add to thoughtful and provocative discussions.

Taking toll of my Linkedin connections or the Linkedin segment of my PLN I find that I have 230 direct connections. I founded seven groups and one subgroup. I have joined over 60 other groups and I have maintained membership in 46 of them. The Technology-Using Professors Group now numbers over 1,500 members. I have direct messaging capability to thousands of educators.

The discussion within the groups started to be sprinkled with funny looking links which lead to additional sources. My curiosity got the best of me and I began inquiring as to what these were and where they were coming from. TWITTER was the answer. That led me to a digital journey which took me to the second tier of my Personal Learning Network and the subject of my next post.

Part 3

Like many people my entry into Twitter was at the invitation of a friend. Like many people I was connected to a few folks who were recommended upon my registration. Like many people I tweeted out nonsense, got no response, and left the application not to return for several weeks. Unlike many People I returned determined to figure out what Twitter was. I knew from my Linkedin connections that folks were getting funny looking abbreviated links to very helpful blogs, posts, wikis, Videos, audio files, PowerPoint presentations, and websites. Twitter by appearances held a virtual Treasure Trove of educational information and I needed the map to get to it.

I used my Linkedin connections to find out who was Twitter connected. I quickly followed those who I knew and trusted as serious educators. After that source was exhausted the process became simple. I looked at who each of those folks were following and I ripped them off. I followed everyone who even looked like an educator. However, the call of celebrity was a little too much, as I began to follow Regis Philbin. I was sorely disappointed in Regis’s tweets. They were non-existent. Regis does not get computers. With this devastating discovery Regis taught me that someone who has nothing to offer in education was not part of the goal that I had in mind. I refocused on Educators. If there was nothing educational in someone’s Twitter bio I did not follow. Since I needed information provided to me I realized that, who I followed was more important than, who followed me. The people I followed were the information providers. It is not possible to even see what followers tweet. Thanks Reg.

With my focus clear following became second nature. Now I moved on to the next thing. What do I tweet? I learned very quickly that RT meant Retweet. This was a key discovery. All I needed to do was recognize a tweet with value to an educator and I could pass it along to others. This is the neat part. Not only does the original Tweeter get credit, but so did I. I couldn’t believe it. Other very smart people could make me look smart on twitter and I did not have to go back to school to accomplish this. I could be an expert on the backs of others. It was imperative to RT the right stuff if I was to pull this off. I started looking at every tweet with promise before I RTed it (that is Twitter talk). I built a whole reputation as a great educational tweeter based on other’s tweets. This was my kinda media.

Now came the challenge, what do I do if someone asks a question? This is considered an original tweet. As I looked at my followers list I discover that I had over 500 followers. I could not believe it. I put a few thoughts together and carefully worded them heeding the 140 character limit. It is very much like writing fortunes for cookies or facts for Snapple caps.

I sent out a few things about technology in education and much to my surprise, I received many tweets of agreement with my opinions. My educational philosophy was being taken seriously by other educators. After 34 years of teaching and saying this stuff, I now find people who agree. This was fun. What I came to realize over time was that I developed this PLN and many of its members are forward thinking educators who are all seeking the same sources that I am seeking. That fact makes them different from many educators in the system today. It is like preaching to the choir. That doesn’t mean that what I had to say was not accurate and noteworthy, but it is important to keep a perspective. The same arguments would be lost on educators who do not even understand the discussion.

Now I have all of this information flowing. I have educators listening to me and even hanging on my words. Questions are coming over the Twitter Timeline for me to answer every day. I have 1,500 followers. In addition I have my Linkedin connections discussing and collaborating. It is time to develop a plan to use and coordinate all that is the digital social network for my Personal Learning Network. The plan begins its formation in PLN Blueprint PT 3.

Part 4

One thing that I never considered in all of this was the personal relationships that are developed along the way. One very cool thing occurred as I attended an Educational Technology Conference, something I had done for so many years previous. This time, however, it was different. I was different. At the conclusion of a panel discussion containing some educational luminaries, I approached the stage and, as I mentioned my name to one member, my name and I were instantly recognized by other panel members. I was talking and joking with the President ofISTE on a first name basis. I felt great and, much to my surprise; the panelists felt great for meeting me. After being together virtually on the PLN, we were now all connected in the real world. One needs to experience this to understand it.

The personal connections come from all directions and take many forms: questions, answers, requests for advice, or requests for help. Collaboration starts with inquiries and progresses to full discussions using Linkedin, Skype, or a dozen other methods of connection. With each connection there is a new lesson learned. It is the need to collaborate and communicate that prompts the learning. I had no idea what most of this stuff was when I started out on this journey.

I am an educator and definitely not a Techie. My guiding question was where does this fit in the classroom? My dilemma was that I could no longer live with my definition of classroom. Most of my learning through this entire process was done when my school was on summer break. My classroom was the couch in the den. It was just me, my laptop, and my dog, who always wanted to play. He is not a techie either. If an old guy like me can get as much as I have gotten on my own, what could brighter, younger students with proper guidance accomplish?

The constraints of time and space that once defined our process were no longer relevant. In an ideal world, a classroom might one day become a place for guidance, reflection, and redirection from the teacher. Learning could be going on elsewhere at a more individualized rate and time-shifted for convenience. That is Flash Gordon stuff for some, Star Trek stuff for others, a real stretch of reality. It is technologically possible but the mindset for support is far from even being close. Many need to hold on to that sense of history for comfort. I digress and must refocus.

The Power of what I had created in my Personal Learning Network came upon me in the form of a tweet that I sent out. There had been a buzz on the timeline (twitter talk). Many people tweeting about the lack of educational technology support from administrators. Much of this was prompted and spurred on from discussions that I started. Feeling a responsibility for starting this little brush fire, I proposed a simple solution, a gift idea.

I knew how long it took to develop a working PLN. I also knew its value and its ability to support advancement of technology in education. I also have a firsthand knowledge of how many education administrators are so time-pressed with administrative duties that they could not have time to develop a proper PLN. My tweet was a gift idea for Administrators. Give an administrator a twitter account with an established PLN on it and show them how to use it. The value would be soon recognized by forward-thinking administrators.

The next day the internet was atwitter with RT’s and reactions. Everyone had something to say. It was mentioned in a dozen educational blogs. I was interviewed by a national magazine. I wrote guest Blogs. I arrived as a member of the group that is looked up to for educational reform. I was a player. I was silently laughing to myself as my family looked on and questioned why anyone would listen to me. I had the same concerns as my family. A retired teacher who is now an adjunct professor of Education being listened to by thousands of educators. How do I keep my feet on the ground with my head in the clouds? It was at this point that I was reminded of a cartoon of two dogs at a computer. The one dog at the keyboard turned to the other dog and said, “They don’t know you are a dog on the internet”.

This called for serious reflection. What the heck could I be saying that all these people find of value. I began to go over much of what I had tweeted. I looked over the blogs. I gathered as much of what I had put out as possible. I examined my digital footprint. I realized that my thoughts did have value. They did not come from any one thing that I had read. Much of what I talk about is using technology for learning. I also talk about sharing and collaboration in the form of a Personal Learning Network. On those topics I am an authority of sorts. I have been pitching the same arguments for Technology in education and also collegial collaboration since 1971. It is funny how the same discussions continue today. Reform is not that new a concept in the world of education.

With the advent of the internet and the melding with social media the PLN is powerful. People will connect and ideas will be exchanged. Learning will go beyond the limitations of a single teacher. Learning will be an ongoing collaboration. My thoughts on how to organize all of this in the next Part.

Part 5

My final reflection for the purpose of this series takes stock in what I have learned from the Personal Learning Network and what should I do with it as an educator. Through the use of social media and several internet tools, I was transformed from an educational technology advocate, to an educational technology power user. Educators who use their age as an excuse not to use technology should take note that my involvement at this level came four years after my retirement from a 34-year career. I am an old dog learning new tricks. That would be a very old dog and very new tricks.

I am not holding myself up as the model educator by which all should rule and guide their lives. Most of my former colleagues would have a great laugh if that were the case. I am, however an educator who sees the value of technology and has a vision for its use as an educational tool. This belief or a similar one should be something that all educators have.

The relevancy of all education lies in the education system’s ability to stay relevant. To exclude access to information in an educational environment goes a long way in insuring irrelevancy. Our efforts should be focusing on the proper way to access real information and passing it on to other learners. We need not fan the fires of fear with phrases like “safety from the internet” as an excuse for banning and filtering not only student learners, but also their adult educators. This is a practice that occurs in too many districts around the country. We cannot expect innovation to help our society dig its way out of economic disaster if we block our best hope for that innovation from that which has already been innovated. We cannot expect learning to grow with our youth if we practice blocking and filtering the best tool to promote that learning.

The power of the PLN needs to be supported by educators. If students were encouraged by educators to develop their own PLN’s many educators would have to do the same to keep up with the learning. This is a double-edged sword. It is a challenge to some and a threat to others. Those who would be threatened need to be gently brought into the fold. Students should not be bound by their teachers’ limitations.

I recognize a trait in my personality that forces me to immerse myself in projects that I am drawn to. I realize that everyone is not like this and that I cannot expect everyone to jump onboard my train. I do however have a belief that when people are presented with a strategy that will improve their ability to accomplish their goals, they will support it. Of course I also recognize that educators being who they are will find a need to pick apart and analyze every aspect of this simple proposal before anyone but me will support it. Is the Personal Learning Network using social media and other internet tools a worthwhile endeavor for educators. This is a discussion that educators need to have. Let the debate begin.

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Let’s Go To The Videotape

Posted in Administrator, Assessment, Education, Leadership, Mentoring, Observation, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Student teaching, Teacher, Teacher assessment, Teched, Technology, Tenure, Thought Provoking, Video taping on December 9, 2010| 20 Comments »

I recently read how Bill Gates is pushing for video-taping teachers as part of an assessment process during the observation of lessons. His goal is to include videotaping of all teachers in the process of their evaluations. On the surface this sounds workable and even helpful; after all it does work for athletes. For many years now, coaches and recruiters alike all said, ”Let’s go to the Video Tape” it will show us the way. Of course the media has changed and gone digital, so actual video tape is being replaced by other technologies, nevertheless we call it videotaping.

I have had myself videotaped at times during my career to objectively view what I looked like, and how I delivered a specific lesson to my students. It was my choice of class, my choice of lesson, and my choice to view and use. I knew what I was looking for in my lesson. I did find it to be helpful, but it was my choice to use it as a tool, and I chose how to do it. I have used videotaping with students doing oral presentations. It enabled them to see what the audience saw as the presentation unfolded. I think under the right conditions videotaping can be a useful tool to improve presentation skills.

I have also seen videotaping used to record the lessons of perspective teachers as they applied for positions. The video tape was then played back before the hiring committee. This was far better than the alternative of having the entire hiring committee sitting in the back of the class during the lesson. All in all I am not averse to using videotaping as a tool for assessment.

One problem with videotaping all teachers for assessment is that all lessons do not lend themselves to the videotaping process. Direct instruction or a lecture may be the best forms of lessons to be videotaped. We all love TED Talks. However, there are other types of lessons that may be considered “controlled chaos” that would not play well on the big screen, but they do promote learning. The teacher is not always the focal point of the lesson. Talking is not necessarily teaching. Some lessons like simulations, group work, or projects extend several days before yielding results. A single period videotape would not capture the results of the efforts of the teacher.

Another consideration is the introduction of the camera to the class. Once the discovery of the camera runs through the classroom, some students may exhibit different behavior. It also must be said, that not all teachers will be themselves when the camera starts rolling for the big production. With a room of thirty individuals in a classroom the introduction of a video camera must have an impact on behavior and performance of some. It has the potential of changing the dynamic of a class.

The idea to use this method for assessing all teachers may be well-intentioned, but that intention only works if it is to benefit the teacher. It is a great tool under the right conditions for specific lessons to assist the teacher in honing communication skills. However, here is the rub: some may see this video-taped observation not as an assessment tool to help the teacher, but a tool to remove the teacher from the class. Even if that is not the case, it will be the view of many teachers. With that view, teachers will begin to give to the camera what the camera views best. Lessons will be tailored for the camera, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”. Administrators will fill their video libraries with direct instruction lessons.

Teachers are not athletes who can adjust their physical skills to enhance performance. This is not to say that some things may not be improved by a videotaped intervention, as long as the teacher is open to it and the conditions are right. Their relationship with their classes is difficult to capture on a 40 minute video. How does the camera capture learning as it happens? It will certainly not be viewed on the face of the teacher. The focus of the camera might be more telling, if it was trained on the faces of the students. Video-taping as a tool for improvement with everyone’s cooperation and willingness to use it for that goal can work. Using it as a tool to bludgeon a teacher in a year-end review should not be the intent.

My real problem in this is that it would seem that education is being guided by the vision of the likes of Bill Gates. His view of education is to have all teachers lecturing like TED-Talk lecturers in five years. I do not agree with his vision, but what do I know? I am but a lowly educator.

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To Be Better Teachers, We Need To Be Better Learners.

Posted in Administrator, Blog, conference, EdChat, Education, ISTE, Leadership, Literacy, Mentoring, Ning, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Truth, Twitter, unconference on December 7, 2010| 22 Comments »

This past weekend I attended an unconference in New York City called EdcampNYC. For those unfamiliar with the term, an unconference is a very informal conference of volunteer speakers talking in small groups about areas in which that they may have some expertise. It enables the classroom teacher to be exposed to other educators who may be doing things differently or employing different tools to help kids learn. These unconferences are beginning to spring up all over the country. Participants in each group have the ability to leave any session at any time and join another. The speakers are volunteers and the conference is Free.

I attended this unconference to volunteer what I have learned about developing and maintaining a Personal Learning Network, a PLN. I was a bit hesitant at first thinking to myself that this is a subject which has been beaten to death on Twitter and in Blogs, so why would anyone have an interest. I have come to realize however, that it is my very involvement in Twitter, Linkedin, Delicious, Diigo, Ning, Skype, Webinars, and all of the other components of my PLN that set me apart from a majority of educators, who are not involved with learning through technology. My connection with like-minded educators has insulated me from the fact that most educators are not so involved. I think it is safe to say that when it comes to 21^st century skills, many educators don’t know what they don’t know. If technology skills for media literacy require more than just awareness, many of our educators would probably be considered illiterate.

Education, as an institution, seems, to me, to be quite conservative and not quickly accepting of change. The problem with that is that change today is profoundly affected by technology. Whereas, the institution of education limits change, technology turns it loose or even speeds it up exponentially. As a result, technology is creating tools for Information gathering, communication, collaboration, and creation at a much faster rate than the educators can absorb. The very skills educators strive to teach are not being utilized in ways that they were originally intended. Publishing is no longer a process of trying for acceptance from a publisher; it is instantaneous. Access to information is instantaneous and always at hand. Because of this fast paced media-frenzied society, we now have a greater need for reflection and critical thinking.

In this technologically based, information-driven society, how do educators keep pace with what they need to know? How do educators remain relevant? Do they even understand the need to do so? Is the professional development offered in schools meeting the need? Is it acceptable to teach using 19^th Century methods with 20^th Century tools to prepare kids for their 21^st Century even after we have gobbled up that Century’s first decade?

I earned a Master’s degree in Educational Technology back in the late 80’s. Back then, I was a state-of-the-art educator. I did not however, work in a state-of-the-art-School. I did not have access to state-of-the-art tools. I did not have state-of-the-art colleagues. I did however have a belief in the concept of teaching with technology, and I searched for ways to do it. Back then it was all a matter of money and training, both difficult to come by. Today WEB2.0 tools are readily available and most are free or inexpensive. Training now comes in the form of free tutorials, webinars, or conferences delivered to a computer in an environment of choice. Usually, I choose my Den.

In a society that now goes to the internet to search for products, restaurants, celebrity news, weather, news, companionship, or any of the other hundreds of things we use it for; why not use it for information about our profession? What is holding Educators back? It is not a generational thing. Many educators that I connect with every day are in their 60’s as am I. It is not an intellectual thing many people, as clueless as I, have learned from technology. It is not an access thing. Libraries offer tech access to anyone. It’s not a device thing. More and more smart phones, Ipods or Ipads are available each day. They are connected computers. As a matter of fact mobile devices are the primary source for accessing the internet, surpassing desktop computers.

Educators need to get over their fears and give up on this resistance to technology. We need to support more unconferences and the movement that drives them. We need to teach Educators how to know what they don’t know, and learn it. We need them to buy into the concepts and adapt to the tools, for the tools will continually change and develop. We need to connect teachers through their own Personal Learning Networks using social media for professional Development. Collaboration outside of our classrooms will take us beyond our personal limitations and allow us to learn continually and globally. As an added advantage, we will also be able to take our students with us.

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Disservice to Pre-service Teaching

Posted in Administrator, cooperating Teacher, Education, Leadership, Mentoring, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Seniority, Student teaching, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking on November 26, 2010| 11 Comments »

I recently read in the Washington Post that the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education issued a report recommending that students preparing for a career in teaching should spend less time in course work and more time in real classrooms for clinical practice. According to the article, the report states that this would be more in the model used for medical Doctors. The report advocates less coursework and more practical experience for pre-service teachers. Of course the overriding theme of this article implies that the failure of our system is with the failure of the teachers, so it must be the failure of the way that teachers are prepared.

I see an additional problem in that the report in the recommendation for evaluating the student teacher on the performance of their assigned students on standardized tests.

“All programs held to same standards; data-driven accountability based on measures of candidate performance and student achievement, including gains in standardized test scores. Data drives reform and continuous improvement.”

This however, will require the attention of a second Post at another time.

Before any committee recommends less time in course work and expanding time in the classroom experience for teacher candidates, it should explore the in-school experience as it exists in today’s model. I do not know what other schools require for their student teacher programs. I do know what is required for my students. It is fair to say that my entire opinion on this subject is based on that background and may not necessarily apply to other student teacher programs or programs in other states.

Students seeking a career in education are not required to master one area of content, but two. They need to be experts in their subject area and they need to be experts in the area of education. To accomplish that, a reduction in course work might be counter-productive. The in-class experience might best be improved in quality as opposed to quantity. The way it is set up now is a “crap shoot” for student teachers, and the colleges have little control over the student-teacher experience.

The college controls the courses candidates are required to take. They are also responsible for holding candidates accountable for 100 hours of class observations of real classes as an eligibility requirement for student teaching. Once the student begins student-teaching the bulk of that experience is in the hands of the Cooperating teacher. That would be the teacher to whom the student is assigned for the student-teacher assignment. On the secondary level that would be half of their time in a middle school setting and half on the high school level with separate cooperating teachers. The college is connected to the student teacher through the weekly seminar class to deal with the reflection of experiences and guidance through day-to-day problems.

The weak link in the chain of the student-teacher’s experience often lies in the relationship with the cooperating teacher. Most cooperating teachers are well-intentioned and want to do their best in their role as a mentor for an aspiring teacher. However, this is not true of all cooperating teachers. The flaw in the system seems to be more in the selection process of the cooperating teacher as well as the training for cooperating teachers.

The idea of student-teaching is to place a student with a working teacher as an apprentice. The student teacher is expected to teach classes as a teacher from the onset of the assignment. This takes place over the length of a college semester. The student teacher is responsible for teaching and assessing students under the guidance of the cooperating teacher. This all works well, if: the student is prepared, the teacher is prepared, the student is receptive, the teacher is giving, the student is professional, the teacher is flexible. This is a short list of the many “ifs” required for a successful student teaching experience. Little of this is controllable by the college.

Teachers are not trained to be cooperating teachers and it is not an ability that one is born with. They are volunteers or in many cases they are volunteered. They are not compensated by the school district and the compensation from the college usually comes in the bartering of course credits or small monetary stipends. Cooperating teachers are required to turn over the duties of teaching to a student teacher while still having the responsibility for their own students’ success. In today’s climate that may impact their own assessment for maintaining their position (job), if the successful performance of their students is not indicated on standardized tests.

To further complicate the situation we must ask: Are the philosophies and experiences of the student teacher and cooperating teacher a match? Do they see eye to eye on the integration of technology in education? Do they agree the needs and use of formative and summative assessment? Has the cooperating teacher remained relevant in the world of education? Is the student teacher given respect from the cooperating teacher or viewed as a teaching assistant? Will the student teacher be allowed to create original lessons or will he/she be required to teach lessons of the cooperating teacher?

Colleges try to offer guidelines for cooperating teachers on most of these concerns, but the primary goal of a cooperating teacher does not lie in the interest of the student teacher, but rather with the students of their own classes. I do realize and I do explain to my students that it is how one handles the experience that benefits one’s education. I do believe that, but even I need to question things when students relate some of the experiences they endured under less enlightened cooperating teachers.

Now, I must address the recommendation of the enlightened committee. If I understand this, they are recommending fewer courses to master two areas of expertise. They are promoting placing students into a mentoring environment with cooperating teachers who are not trained, not screened, not adequately compensated, and being held personally responsible for the effect that student teacher has on the assessment outcomes of their students. Is this the model our medical profession trains physicians with? Maybe we should consider quality of the program instead of quantity. More hours of a flawed system of mentorship does not necessarily create better teachers or physicians.

Most Cooperating teachers do the best job they can to help and mentor their student teachers, but there are many improvements which would help them in this noble endeavor.

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Who needs Relevance and Literacy?

Posted in Administrator, Blog, conference, EdChat, Education, ISTE, Literacy, Ning, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Twitter on November 11, 2010| 8 Comments »

Relevance enables professionals to rise above mediocrity. When I go to a professional for advice or service I have certain expectations. If I go to a Doctor I expect that person would be up to date on the latest procedures in their specific area of medicine. If I go to a lawyer, I expect that person is up to date on all of the recent laws that will affect my issue. If I go to an architect, I expect that person is up to date on all of the building codes, new materials and latest methods of construction. If I go to an accountant I expect that person to be up to date on the latest tax implications that will affect my investments.

There are several ways that professionals can keep up with the details of their professions. They may read journals; they may attend workshops; they may network at conferences; they may join and network in professional groups; they may attend lectures; they may give lectures; they may write articles, and some may even choose to write blogs. All of these efforts are taken and are continued long after a degree is earned and a license is secured for that professional’s position. Any profession that relies on ever-changing information must keep up with those changes in order to be effective. I think of this as professional relevance. However, not all professionals employ these methods to maintain relevance. Some professionals see the degree and the license as the means to secure a position and that becomes the final goal. All of the learning and work involved by some professionals was for the sole purpose of attaining that position, and now, with that position secured, the learning and work can ease-up. Taking the easy and comfortable path of non-involvement leads to being mediocre and irrelevant in competitive professions. Of course this is a generality, and there are exceptions.

Literacy has come to mean more than just the ability to read and write. Living on an island I often go to the ocean for metaphors. Watching the ocean every day, one learns how to read it. In order to engage the ocean in some way, one needs to read the conditions to determine how to participate. Body surfing is always a first option, but beyond that choice, there is boogey boarding, skim boarding, surf-boarding, kayaking, or just swimming. Each choice requires different conditions and success depends on the ability to correctly interpret that information. I guess this might be considered ocean literacy. Information about ocean conditions changes on a minute-to-minute basis, so an ocean-literate person must assess and reassess the conditions continually in order to maximize the experience, as well as avoid dangers.

Since Gutenberg evolved information from the scrolls and manuscripts of the dark ages to the media of mass-produced, printed text, the introduction of the digital age has taken us further in information delivery. Accessing, analyzing, understanding, creating and communicating information using the tools of our digital age has become the 21^st century literacy. A major drawback to this new literacy is that the tools, or apps (applications) that deliver the information keep evolving, or changing altogether. This requires that in order to stay literate people need to stay relevant.

Now, you may ask, when is he going to mention teachers or education? That takes me to a tweet that I sent out this week. During a recent #Edchat discussion on Twitter, we discussed if class blogs, student blogs, or even teacher blogs have a place in our education system. For those of you who are unaware, #Edchat is a weekly discussion on Twitter which spotlights different topics concerning education, or educators. The discussion was quite informative as many offered their opinions based on personal experiences with blogging in education. I tweeted out something to the effect that it was unfortunate that we could not share this discussion with more educators. When I consider the thousands of educators that I am in direct contact with through social media, I understand that it is only a tiny fractional percentage of all of the educators in the world today. Why are not more educators involved?

I am not saying that all educators need to involve themselves with #Edchat. It is not for everyone, and as all social media tools, its time will pass as it is replaced by some other digital delivery system. That is the nature of using technology. The bigger picture however, is educators’ involvement with any social media as a means to be relevant using the tools of 21^st Century, literacy tools.

More important than teaching content is the task of using content to teach learning. The content of those scrolls and manuscripts may still be relevant today, but we do not get that content by unrolling the fragile scrolls and allowing students to approach one at a time to read them. For year’s we counted on the Gutenberg method, using printed text in textbooks. Today and tomorrow however, the new literacy will depend on additional tools. Tools of a digital world will be used more and more to deliver content. Take note of all of the businesses and media programming tagging their ads with Social media icons of Facebook, google and Twitter to contact for added information. Take note of all of the print media icons that have gone away, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report. Blogs are replacing printed media.

As professional educators we do not heal illnesses, advise on the laws, provide blueprints, or arrange investments. We teach others how to learn the very skills needed to accomplish those things in their chosen professions. Professional educators model and teach lifelong learning. How do we as educators stay relevant and literate? Are we reading Blogs, engaging in collaboration with other educators through Social Media,and teaching with tools that our students will need to use in order to be relevant in their world? Or,are we as educators saying to Gutenberg, I like the feel and smell of scrolls and manuscripts, it gives me comfort, so I will stick with them.

This Link from the Educator’s PLN provides a Prezi presentation by Joshua Coupal connecting Bloom’s Taxonomy in Digital terms to combine Relevance and media Literacy in Education: http://edupln.com/video/blooms-digital-taxonomy-prezi

Your comments are welcome.

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Is Innovation a Destination?

Posted in Administrator, Education, Leadership, Skills, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking on November 4, 2010| 7 Comments »

Many years ago I attended an education Conference in upstate New York and saw, as I remember, a Keynote speaker who was a superintendent of an upstate district. He told the audience of an experience he had with a business owner in his region. The businessman told the superintendent that the students being graduated were not coming to him with the skills needed for his industry. He invited the superintendent to visit his plant and see the problem he faced matching the needed skills with the skills being taught. He then told the superintendent that he couldn’t even hire Lathe operators from the high school graduates.

The Superintendent visited the industrial arts teacher the next day, and asked if the proper use of the lathe was taught in his class. The superintendent even looked over the lathe that students used to do their work. It was an impressive piece of equipment and it all seemed in order. The students seemed to be doing a fine job with the lathe. This superintendent was ready to face the businessman in his plant assured that the school district’s students were certainly prepared with the skills to operate a lathe.

The next day after the social amenities were exchanged between the superintendent and the plant executives, they all took a walking tour of the plant ending up in the area of the plant where the lathes and the lathe operators did their work. To the superintendent’s surprise it looked nothing like the lathe area of the school’s shop. The touring group entered a closed-in, air-conditioned area. In that area the superintendent was introduced to a young woman in a white lab coat as she operated a computer that made all of the needed adjustments to operate the plant’s lathes. The superintendent was educated at that moment about relevance in education.

Now we are hearing from many of our leaders that in order for our country to recapture and secure its prominent position in our new global economy, we need to be innovative. Innovation will drive us to where we need to be. It was, after all, innovation that put our country in its position of prominence in the world initially.

When our public education system started out, we were way ahead of so many other countries with unlimited resources to work with; it is no wonder that we were successful. We may have conceived of the public education system to provide workers for the country’s workforce, but that, as a goal, was surpassed by many, as opportunity and innovation offered a path to security and wealth.

How do we now, in our present system, promote innovative thinking in order to produce innovation? When we look at the lathes that we are using in education, do they look like the lathes of today’s industry? Can we continue to use yesterday’s methodology to create today’s thinkers? Are we creating workers for industry, or are we creating leaders of industry?

If we continue to assess students who find no relevance in a mandatory education that they are not interested in, we should not be surprised at the failing results. Should we not consider other factors of poverty, race and language gaps as possible reasons for failure? Is the blame to be placed on the teachers who teach it, or should we look at the methodology and the goals of education? Could it be that the system is failing the teachers and not the other way around?

We need to assess what skills our children will need in their world, for it will be very different from ours. We need to provide them the opportunities to develop those skills. We need to promote innovative thinking in order to promote innovation. We need to be more innovative with education in order to move it from where it is, to where it should be going. We need not look back at what we had, but rather support teachers who are innovators and moving us forward. We need to support teachers with best practices, professional development, and encourage and support those teachers who do more than just ask students to be lifelong learners. The best teachers are learners themselves. They practice and model lifelong learning. They are education innovators, finding new ways to learn and teach in relevant terms, providing opportunities for their students to do the same. The successes of these educators can be more than models for others; they can be inspirational as the successes of the students are shared with teachers who have yet to become innovative.

Skills of acquiring information, communicating, critically thinking, and creating are the skills of innovation. To pull out an old chestnut, you don’t get that through osmosis, it must be taught. Our students need more than a lecture about the use of a lathe in a shop class. We need them to understand the world in which they will live.