Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Is Anybody Asking The Kids?
Since last week's two Oprah shows related to the "Waiting for Superman" movie, there has been a social media firestorm largely bashing teachers and methodologies. I'm not certain that everyone who is participating actually saw the show, but the conversation is definitely polarizing, and I'm thrilled that it's being talked about with such passion.
This is a conversation we NEED to be having. We can't, as Heidi Hayes Jacobs says in her Curriculum 21 book, continue to educate the kids who will graduate in 2025 with methods and curriculum designed for 1975!
Oprah called this the civil rights moment of our time. I think she's right.
Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, said, "Sedentary Agitation won't work. We can't sit on our couches and be mad about something. We have to get up and actually work towards solutions."
But there's where the problem is. We have so many folks talking about the problems and nobody talking about solutions. And nobody has mentioned what the kids think about all of this.
We continue to identify something that has already been identified but what we really need to be doing is figuring out creative ways to solve the problem. So I'd like to propose that we be innovative from the beginning.
Let's ask the kids.
If you are reading this, ask your students the following questions, either IN THIS GOOGLE SPREADSHEET or as a comment on this blog:
- What is working in education right now?
- If you could make only one change at school right now, what would you change?
- What else would you like to see change at school?
- How do you like to learn?
- Where, in general, do you go to school? City School, Suburban School, Regional School, Private School, Home School, or other type of school?
If we are really going to effect change, let's ask the stakeholders who matter the most: the kids.
After a week or so of collecting responses, I'll blog about the results.
We can do great things. We just have to stop arguing about it and get going with the changes and growth!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Instructors as Resources Podcast
I recorded a podcast episode today. (First time in a long time that I made an actual podcast episode that didn't involve audioboo or some mobile technology app!)
It's just an overview of my observations about the nursing staff of a local hospital here in Buffalo and how their methods could be applied to classroom instruction.
Access the episode HERE on "Pod-O-Matic"
You can also search iTunes for "MIKEFISHER821" and subscribe to my channel.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Champions of Ubiquity!
And We’re Off and Running!
Many of my colleagues and friends are starting school tomorrow here in the Northeast, and some of you have started already! I thought I would create a “Back 2 School” Blog Post with an idea for starting the year off on the right foot.
I’d like to first have you consider whether technology itself is worthy of being a set of “skills” that we must develop. The usage of “21st Century Skills” is quickly becoming a banal phrase and only carries as much meaning as the person who says it is committed to its meaning…and there are multiple meanings and interpretations!
That said, isn’t technology so infused for our students now that saying that we’re going to use it is like saying the movie we are going to go and see is “in color?” Isn’t it a given? (At least for the kids?)
So, I’d like to ask you to commit to being a “Champion of Ubiquity” this coming year. Assume the technology is a framework for everything you do or everything you offer to your students. Let your teaching methodologies and student assessment products be menu items rather than set in stone artifacts and modalities.
Give your students opportunities to design their own instruction based on their experiences, based on their own readiness and interest, or any other platform from which you might consider differentiating yourself. (You know this stuff…why should you be doing all the work?!?!? Let the kids be tired at the end of the day from their hard work—not you!)
Make a difference this year by becoming the teacher you wish you had, or by making instructional design choices that truly benefit the 21st Century Learner (including yourself!) The “21st Century” isn’t about the transference of information – it’s about the sharing of information and the collective creation of something new from that. It doesn’t matter what the label is on the learner…whether they are the teacher or the student or the administrator or anyone who wants to be in the process! Everybody is a learner now—that’s really what the 21st Century is all about!
Here's to a great year!
CC image from SXC.HU user: samlevan
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Monday, September 6, 2010
New Web Stuff 09/07/2010
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Cool tool that randomly selects a place on the planet. Would be a neat way to invigorate geography class - students could pick 1 of 5 places chosen by computer to investigate, rather than canned, traditional things...perhaps one of the places could serve as a point of contact with other students to develop a collaborative project?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Techie Drama with Prima Donnas!
As we get started with the new school year, more and more teachers are gearing up to bring technology tools into their classrooms. However, even the most willing teachers often hit a wall of access issues, otherwise known as the Technology Director—the person who is in charge of and controls all aspects of internet access in a school. This is sometimes just one person, but that one person can make life very frustrating for the tech-enthused teacher!
Trying to keep this on the light side, I thought I would write a quick 10 step “TEST” to determine if YOU are dealing with a “Techie Prima Donna.”
1. Your Internet access is dependent on sucking up, brownies, and endless stream of diet Pepsi and/or coffee.
2. Your tech person spends hours pouring through reports to see if a staff member tried to access eBay.
3. There’s a sign hanging in your tech person’s office that reads, “BLOCKED – By Me!”
4. Your tech person believes that YouTube and Wikipedia will ultimately cause Armageddon.
5. Words like “router,” “network infrastructure,” “server diagnostics,” or “parallel ports” are the most common answers to the question, “Can I do this?”
6. Your tech person wears a t-shirt that says, “I’m the King of the World.”
7. You stopped attending technology workshops because everything you learn will be blocked.
8. You fear that your computer could be taken hostage at any moment, with explanations that involve words similar to #5 or in response to you asking “too many questions.”
9. Your tech person knows how to write code in COBOL, but has never heard of a Smartboard, Audience Response System, or an iPad. (And doesn’t see the need for them in the classroom…)
10. While you can’t prove it, there’s a good chance that your tech person can physically plug themselves into the network firewall.
Now, laughter aside, let’s look at the real issues:
· Is the Internet too slow and the issues are over bandwidth? Beef it up. We are too far into the 21st Century for this to continue to be a problem.
· Is the issue over the chance that students might find something inappropriate? TEACH THEM WHAT TO DO when they encounter such things! (Who else is going to?)
· Is the issue of access related to having just one person in charge who believes that everything on the internet is potentially evil? Perhaps their control issues would be better served in an elected position in another state…
· Is it really a good idea to have that one person in charge of all technology decisions? Doesn’t a committee make better sense, one that includes multiple stakeholders?
· Are instructional decisions being made by those that don’t have an instructional background? Might need to restructure the requirements for the position…
I think that there needs to be an understanding that we are an entire decade into the 21st Century. We are not at the point of “beginning” to need technology, we are already well-ensconced. Technology, at this point, needs to be ubiquitous. It needs to be like air or water. We don’t limit access to the air we breathe, but if it’s not just right, we do make others aware. (Air Quality Indexes, Signs on Mountain Tops about breathing…you know what I’m saying…) Same is true for water. We don’t avoid either one just because there might be some unhealthy air or water somewhere in the vastness of the world. We prepare and respond.
We have bigger fish to fry: learning how to communicate and collaborate globally; learning how to think critically and creatively; learning how to problem solve; learning how to work with a team. Technology enhances all of those things, and it is a necessary framework through which all of these new 21st Century fluencies will be developed.
If you’re a technology prima donna reading this, I encourage you to read it over one more time. The seeds of humor are usually rooted in truth…
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
An Open Letter to the College Student I met today...
To the Young Man I met at Niagara County Community College today,
You impressed me.
You told me you were there to take an entrance exam to get into the college, and that it was your fourth time trying. You told me that you were unable to take the exam because you had previously failed it three times.
I asked you why you kept failing and you said you were dumb. I don’t think you are.
I watched you compliment at least three people when I was in your presence. I listened as you conversed with another student about your future plans. I was impressed that you were able to articulate your plans to me about what you wanted to take classes for and what you hoped to become.
You are not a failure.
The only thing you need to be successful, you already have: a willingness to learn. You WANT to be in college, and you are doing whatever it takes to get there.
You also have the gift of tenacity. The fact that you were there to take the test for the fourth time says a lot about your character and work ethic.
The test you are trying to pass is worth passing, if only to open up the doors of opportunity for the future you deserve. You will have many tests in your life, and this is just one. Passing them opens more doors, but the tests themselves are irrelevant to the fact that you are willing to get through the test to get to whatever is better on the other side of it. (Whatever the test may be…)
You are just 18 years old. You are at the beginning of everything.
Do not give up. Do not get down. Do not underestimate yourself or the gifts you have.
Keep being nice to others. Maintain your place on the path you have laid out for yourself. Keep trying.
Believe that you can, and you will.
I believe in you.
You are not a failure.
You impressed me.
You told me you were there to take an entrance exam to get into the college, and that it was your fourth time trying. You told me that you were unable to take the exam because you had previously failed it three times.
I asked you why you kept failing and you said you were dumb. I don’t think you are.
I watched you compliment at least three people when I was in your presence. I listened as you conversed with another student about your future plans. I was impressed that you were able to articulate your plans to me about what you wanted to take classes for and what you hoped to become.
You are not a failure.
The only thing you need to be successful, you already have: a willingness to learn. You WANT to be in college, and you are doing whatever it takes to get there.
You also have the gift of tenacity. The fact that you were there to take the test for the fourth time says a lot about your character and work ethic.
The test you are trying to pass is worth passing, if only to open up the doors of opportunity for the future you deserve. You will have many tests in your life, and this is just one. Passing them opens more doors, but the tests themselves are irrelevant to the fact that you are willing to get through the test to get to whatever is better on the other side of it. (Whatever the test may be…)
You are just 18 years old. You are at the beginning of everything.
Do not give up. Do not get down. Do not underestimate yourself or the gifts you have.
Keep being nice to others. Maintain your place on the path you have laid out for yourself. Keep trying.
Believe that you can, and you will.
I believe in you.
You are not a failure.
Monday, August 23, 2010
New Web Stuff 08/24/2010
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Live Binder of iPad resources for schools.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
iPad Resources for Schools
I put together a Live Binder of resources for iPad implementations going on in schools this Fall. I am working with several school systems around using iPads for instructional purposes, and thought I would share the resources I collected with everyone!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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