A Piece of My Mind

As I reviewed Will Richardson’s archived interview of Clay Shirkey, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, there were a few things that jumped out at me that I noted and wanted to work through.

Clay started off discussing the typical learning/assessment style found in education today:
Individual assignments/individual grades - old school only known environment

He then goes on to discuss one literacy that he feels we are lacking in teaching our students:
“At least one literacy is collaborative literacy.”

These are some notes I made from his talk:

What does it mean to be a good collaborator? Two ways (essential literacies for the 21st century):

1. When you are collaborating, how do you participate in a group that is valuable?
2. How do you participate in a group where you are learning instead of just freewriting?

We want students to have a set of absolute basic skills (the three R’s), beyond that we want them to be able to figure out of all the thinking tools we give them, which ones are best for which kinds of challenges. Big challenge in school system in US is a move to a much more cut and dry measurement system (NCLB driven Testing) which changes the system away from more flexibility towards measurement. However, what we get out of that is the challenge. “A lot of what we want the schools to do can’t be measured in the way we measure them. There is a mismatch between the goals and the measurement.” The assessment is determinant of how we think about the rest of the curriculum. Consider goals and then consider measurement system. Industrial system of measurement is for widgets and creates an industrial style system of curriculum and measurement.

He also shared this: Internet provides basic support for collaborative work.

Funny he mentions that the Internet is the basic support considering all of the posts going on concerning one of the presidential candidates. But, I digress.

What Shirkey said struck a chord with those of us involved in helping educators utilize more technology in the classroom. Many of the so called Web 2.0 tools are built around this collaborative environment. White Oak ISD switched to Google Apps for email and the entire suite of collaborative tools that come with it. Some campuses have taken the lead in that area and utilize Google Docs to schedule student tutoring, detentions, testing windows, and more and share the document campus-wide. This is a great start for them to see the power of these collabroative tools.

The down-side is that schools in general are slow to adopt these tools, meaning that students are not getting the collaborative environment practice they so sorely need for today’s workforce. Take this recent post on the Official Google Blog for instance. Jonathon Rosenberg, Senior VP of Product Management, guest posts giving advice to students. He tells them to “major in learning.”

At the highest level, we are looking for non-routine problem-solving skills. We expect applicants to be able to solve routine problems as a matter of course. After all, that’s what most education is concerned with. But the non-routine problems offer the opportunity to create competitive advantage, and solving those problems requires creative thought and tenacity.

So what does that have to do with collaboration? Well, take a look at the primary factors Google looks for in hiring and evaluations:

… analytical reasoning. Google is a data-driven, analytic company. When an issue arises or a decision needs to be made, we start with data. That means we can talk about what we know, instead of what we think we know.

… communication skills. Marshalling and understanding the available evidence isn’t useful unless you can effectively communicate your conclusions.

… a willingness to experiment. Non-routine problems call for non-routine solutions and there is no formula for success. A well-designed experiment calls for a range of treatments, explicit control groups, and careful post-treatment analysis. Sometimes an experiment kills off a pet theory, so you need a willingness to accept the evidence even if you don’t like it.

… team players. Virtually every project at Google is run by a small team. People need to work well together and perform up to the team’s expectations.

… passion and leadership. This could be professional or in other life experiences: learning languages or saving forests, for example. The main thing, to paraphrase Mr. Drucker, is to be motivated by a sense of importance about what you do.

Pretty powerful stuff, if you ask me. Everyone knows about the great things at Google: unlimited sick days, in-house dining, truly personal spaces for offices, and the one that I like the most - 20% of the work week on job related personal interest research/development.

So the question is begged, can your students operate in that environment? Are they self-directed and self-motivated enough to handle this setting?

These characteristics are not just important in our business, but in every business, as well as in government, philanthropy, and academia. The challenge for the up-and-coming generation is how to acquire them. It’s easy to educate for the routine, and hard to educate for the novel. Keep in mind that many required skills will change…

Rosenberg signs off his letter with perhaps one of the most profound statements we should be drilling into our students (something not tested on the state standardized test, by the way):

And then keep on challenging yourself, because learning doesn’t end with graduation. In fact, in the real world, while the answers to the odd-numbered problems are not in the back of the textbook, the tests are all open book, and your success is inexorably determined by the lessons you glean from the free market. Learning, it turns out, is a lifelong major.

Now, get to thinking about how it affects you as a teacher and lifelong learner. Consider change. Consider sharing your learning processes/struggles/successes with your students to model what being a lifelong learner is all about. Consider what your students and perhaps your own children are heading into once they leave the hallowed walls of your academic setting. What are you going to do about it?

Enough said. Let the conversation begin.

(photo credit: #1 - Me; #2 - Dean Shareski; #3 - Google Blog)

Earlier this week I found a post in my blog reader from Off the Kuff political blog from Houston. Twitter was the topic, and Congress is struggling with its use from the Congressional floor. Here is what was said:

The actual issue is one that we discussed a few months back. Existing House rules actually forbid members of Congress from posting “official communications” on other sites. This was first noticed by a first-term Congressman who was worried that posting videos on YouTube violated this rule. Other Congressional Reps told him to not worry about it as everyone ignored that rule, and no one would get in trouble for using various social media sites such as YouTube. However, that Congressman pushed forward, and eventually got Congress to act. Of course, rather than fixing the real problem (preventing Reps from posting on social media sites), they simply asked YouTube to allow Reps to post videos in a “non-commercial manner.” YouTube agreed, and that was that.

However, the existing rules still stood. Culberson’s complaint stems for a letter (pdf) sent by Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano, suggesting that the rules actually be changed to be loosened to deal with this situation and make it easier to post content on various social media sites. Culberson, however, bizarrely claims that this is the Democrats trying to limit what he can say on Twitter. But that’s actually not at all what the letter states. The problem isn’t this letter, but the existing rules that are already in place. In fact, based on the letter, it would appear that this would make it possible for Congressional Reps to Twitter, so long as their bio made it clear they were Reps.

A bunch of people tried to understand this, and even I asked him to clarify why the problem was with this new letter, as opposed to the existing rules. His response did not address the question at all — but rather was the identical response he sent to dozens of people who questioned his claims. He notes that based on the letter, each Twitter message must meet “existing content rules and regulations.” Indeed, but the problem is that’s already true based on those existing content rules and regulations. The problem isn’t this new effort, but those existing rules and regulations, which mean that his existing Twitter messages violated the rules.

It’s really disappointing to see someone who had embraced the technology use it to try to whip up Twitter users into a frenzy, while misleading them to do so — and then not using the tools to respond to actual criticisms. The problem here is that the existing rules for Reps is problematic. It’s not this new effort to loosen the rules, other than in the fact that the loosening of the rules might not go far enough. That’s not, as Culberson claims, an attempt to censor him on Twitter, but simply an attempt to loosen the rules with a focus on YouTube and (most likely) with an ignorance of the fact that Twitter even exists.

Will Richardson elaborated on it some more today from his blog when he shared this NPR quote:

Given the rules in place, this clash between the old ways of talking to the Congress and the potential new ones may have been inevitable. Noyes says Culberson and Ryan are active users of the Internet. “They have been Twittering all over the place,” he says. “They’ve been Twittering back and forth, engaging one another in debates over politics and policy.” The reporter describes Culberson, in particular, as something of a Web maverick and a poster child for the issue.

Isn’t it ironic that these politicians have taken this tool and used it similarly to what educators have been doing? They realize the potential of the immediate personal learning network. And it is free. Guess that is what really bothers the politicians. They prefer something be used that costs tons of money and has too many channels of bureaucracy to be useful to anyone. At least they all don’t. But the best part of it to me as a political advocate for education is that it limits each side of the debate to 140 characters at a time. Yeah!!! No long winded, topic spinnin’, off-the-topic runnin’ fillibusters. Get to the point, and get there quickly because you only get 140 characters. Can’t you see the timeline for the debate:

Senator 1: @Senator2 We’ve got to consider the fact that schools are only able to handle so many unfunded mandates. At some point funding is required.

Senator 2: @Senator1 They’ve enough money already. Why give more when they just waste it? They buy all the best software, computers, etc. To what rslt?

Senator 1: @Senator2 You mean like the equipment in your office EACH of your staff members use EVERY day? Like the iPhone you are Twittering from?…

Senator 1: @Senator2 All of which is paid for by PUBLIC tax dollars with staff taught in PUBLIC schools to do the work for the PUBLIC?

Senator 3: @Senator2 Burn!

Senator 2: @Senator3 Shut-up! You’re in my party. I’m blocking you!

Or at least it might go something like that. I just wonder how Twitter would handle the public information requests for the Twitter conversations.

Now, let me see if I can get my state senator and representative on board for the next legislative session.

My apologies to Robert Frost. And to be accurate, I actually took two posts marked Unread.

I have had two blog posts saved in my Bloglines account for what seems like eternity. They are too good to mark as read, yet they are blaring at me with each stroll past. I have no idea what to do with them. They make bold statements that educators should hear, yet they can be inflammatory each in its own right without thorough discussion of the context.

So in the spirit of sharing my current thoughts, here are the two things Darren Draper and Sylvia Martinez have published on their blogs that have me pondering:

Darren posts this graphic from Carl Glickman’s Leadership for Learning: How to Help Teachers Succeed-

Sylvia posts this quote from Alan Kay -

“Virtually all learning difficulties that children face are caused
by adults’ inability to set up reasonable environments for them. The
biggest barrier to improving education for children, with or without
computers, is the completely impoverished imaginations of most adults.” - Alan Kay (Scholastic Administrator, April/May 2003)

Both make awesome points and serve to inspire the bendable and tick off the rigid. Which one can you relate to the best?

I realize I have not hashed these two things out very well in this post. My goal was to archive them on my blog so that I would be forced to discuss them with others or at least revisit them together on a regular basis until I get it all organized in my head. If anyone wants to discuss/debate the content and context, comment away. Otherwise, these remain in my head until further notice.

Michael Wesch, creator of the video Visions of Students Today, recently posted on how the digital divide occurs within all cultures. His video had what seemed to be an all-white make-up. While that was not the intent, it was the outcome. Consider his post and the discussion in the comments section. Nobody is pulling the race card here. What they are doing is generating the discussion about access. What are we doing to close the digital divide?

How can we get more technology in the hands of those who cannot afford it? More importantly, consider that the technology use we implement in the classroom may be all some of our students get anywhere. If every educator uses the same amount of technology you do with that student, how well prepared is he/she at the end of the day?

Thank you Michael and Mark for starting the conversation:
Download Video: Posted by markcmarino at TeacherTube.com.

Technorati Tags: scott_s_floyd, wesch, video, digital_divide

While I cannot take notes for sessions as well as Wes, I will still try my best. Ironic his note taking skills are a benchmark and here I am trying to notate his session. This was Wes’s keynote address titled “So the World is Flat. Now What?” Again, all notes/interpretations/reflections/etc are mine:

Wes Fryer Keynote - So the world is flat? Now what?

showed “vision of students” by Wesch @ KSU - audience laughed at 26.5 hours per day of activity (multi-tasking)

played Allentown - No they never taught us what was real (from song): whose responsibility is it to teach them what is real?
Wes is a witness, partial view of incident,
China puts up a new building of 30 or more stories every 6 days.
80% of cranes are in China
(personal note: I am chatting in UStream, Tweeting, and focusing on Wes all at the same time here; gotta love it; I can relate to the 26.5 hour day deal now)
20% of population is from China
Southwest Christian school in Texas is offering Mandarin for a language
Showed Skype pic of conversation with kids from last night
Called out Jakes for Tweeting during presentation, example of multi-tasking
“For those with access, the world is flat” - digital divide is real, and many do not have access
World is Flat book - show of hands
Dan Pink book - show of hands, causes fight or flight amongst people
Read Richard Florida - Creative Class Group
Shared Shanghai trip - K12 Online Conference - 2nd year offered 82 free PD sessions based on tech integration
divers group where common interest is students
superintendents listen to supers, teachers listen to teachers,
showed ClustrMap of K12, cannot see US for all of the red dots; 88,802 visits since 9/16/07
Anyone scared? - wife heard FBI talk to girl scouts about Internet predators - scared, keep eyes open to realities,
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Alan Kay
“Most people try to predict the future by preventing it.” Alan Kay
Change:
focus on creativity - listen to Sir Ken on TEDTalks
my neighbor in session shows concern about assessment of creativity
DaVinci Institute - www.davinciok.org
Wes is worried about creativity in kids, not academics of his kids
AT&T is going through the change - 2 weeks ago AT&T 2.0 - “Connect people with their world everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else” - phone, data services, entertainment,
Miguel & Wes are demoing the unconference - offered to help TCEA start one
30,000 level prescriptions:
time - change the bell schedule - (Note: MS has 80 minute blocks with us)
money - stop paying for seat time
standards - cut back, Robert Garzano “If you take every national standard in Nat. content area and talk them all in the time required, K12 turns into K22.”
recess - do not give it up
assessments - authentic, differentiated, messy (focussed on relationships)
metrics - perfection is not the minimum standard, students are not specifics, wealthy students score well on tests
PD - need more and in whole group settings less, differentiated
leadership - inspired, visionary, change agents, transformational leaders
creativity - 21st century show and tell
open content - open web publishing

differentiated content filtering - shows more trust to teachers than students
learn personal digital tool use: Flickr, Wikipedia, etc.
educators must experience the tool and think about it in their own contexts
NASB - Creating and Connecting Report - we have an opportunity in school to leverage social networking tools in school for learning (Google API recently released) - Look at stats for student usage of Internet tools
Great Book Stories - add to it
Ken Burns’s War - Wes is going to VC live from Pearl Harbor to OK schools to help teach students and document war and interview veterans
Use visual media - mind processes it over 60,000 times faster than text
peer work - easier for students to get involved
minimum expectations for collaboration - one internet based collab project per term per teacher

(Note to self: I did not do this justice since I do not do the Wes Fryer style of notes)

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy and the expression of knowledge - al einstein

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, Wes_Fryer

The following are my few notes from my short meeting with Anita Givens and three other school districts held 11/2007. They are strictly my thoughts/perceptions/views/etc.

tech funding to support LRPT - will be asking for new money every session headed toward 75 to 100 per student

hb 2864 (point person - Richard Lagow) -

• renewal for second year will place priority on first year districts looking at number of students served;
• in other words, if we do 200 this year, we will get first consideration for 200 next year then second consideration with the additional students;
• Anita suggests get in this year, or be prepared to miss out on the money next year due to limitations of renewal money amounts (My note as of 1/10/08 - This grant processing is not going well at TEA due to limited funds and more interest than expected; legislators should fund higher next year)

K12 databases being worked on

sb1788 (point person - Anita Givens) -

• not funded, but what can we do until it is funded;
• creating criteria for dl classes;
• criteria for educators PD and certification;
• look at web-based learning site for progress of this process;
• if student is getting full day’s worth of ADA on a campus, they are going to be eligible to take up to two online course for additional ADA;
• requires teacher to have PD about teaching online before they qualify to teach DL course; taking NCOL to help with standards/criteria for each area (student and faculty);
• these standards must be in place 6 months prior to implementation;
• bill says open program by 08-09, but no funding or time right now to get it all done in time, maybe by mid-year;
• will not lose ADA based on taking online coursework, funding is lost via the network providing the courses;
• districts will have autonomy to create their own VHS networks, rules are permissive to allowing students to take courses from other networks;
• build ADA off kids in private schools and homeschooled;
• “we do not get docked for having a kid fail and repeating a year so why would we get extra money for a kid that succeeded a year early?” (My response was that the doctor does not give me my money back for the visit and/or prescriptions when he does not heal me either.);

Tech Assessment Pilot -

• going out for RFP to figure out costs;
• waiting for this process to take place before proposal hits ISD’s;
• vendor side takin gplace this month, maybe March-May to get it in place;

Notes for after event:

email Richard Lagow about our elementary online coursework

ask about textbook updates for software between adoptions, etc

I would like to thank Mrs. Givens for taking the time our of her schedule to meet with us at that event. It is refreshing to be able to talk to a face instead of a voice mail these days. Her candid answers are exactly what we need to be able to guide us in our planning. Sometimes what is not said is almost as powerful as what is said. Thanks again!

Technorati Tags: scott_s_floyd, tea, edtech

Dan Pink recently posted a short quote from a presidential candidate (from a NY Sun article).

“Education is only a true education if we’re developing both the left and right brain of the student,” Mr. Huckabee told scores of bloggers listening in person and on the phone. “The left brain is great for math and science and all the logical forms of education, but knowing what to do with what a student has learned is as important as what they’ve learned. Music and art, teaching the stimulation of the creative side, is absolutely critical to a total well-rounded education.”

Finally, here is a discussion of substance about education. I was wondering how long we had to go during this election cycle before we heard something more than “We need to fund our education system better” (like we have not heard that before and are still in need of it). While I may or may not agree with everything this candidate is saying during the campaign, he at least is saying the right thing here. And the media needs to listen and promote this. The rest of society needs to understand why their kids “have no common sense” or know the true answer to “What were you thinking?” (when no thinking was really going on during the bad decision). Our students are left with little or no opportunity to explore their creative side once the standardized tests kick in. It’s not fair to them, and it actually takes away a lot of the fun of teaching (remember I went from teaching primary to middle school). So you can imagine how it takes away a lot of the fun of learning.

Then that leads to the entire conversation Dan Pink started with his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future. Even the 2.oh students are talking about it on their blogs. Anthony Chivetta wrote a post about “Teaching the Process of Design” to students. Funny thing is, design is dependent on design:

I would argue that the reason watching student videos can at times be excruciatingly painful is that they lack a cohesive design. Often, they represent a hodgepodge of ideas strewn together with very little thought to creating a unified whole. However, when students begin with picking a thesis, and then work from that thesis, a pattern, a design, begins to emerge. When the question for every single decision is “what supports my thesis?” those awkward transitions, strange cuts, and random transitions begin to make sense.

I have to say I agree here. Much of what is needed to be true designers comes from the ability to organize the design ahead of time. That come in so many fashions from basically every core subject taught in school. Papers make no sense without organization. Math results are wrong with corrupt organization. Science experiments go awry with disjointed organization. History makes no sense with a disorganized presentation of the facts.

Proper design forces abstract thinking. Abstract thinking engages the right brain. Engagement of the right brain generates new ideas, products, manipulation and processing of data, and visions. 

If we just model correct design through curricular creation and delivery, expect the same high levels of design quality from our students through problem based learning, and showcase the products with exemplary design, then maybe, just maybe, others will notice the importance. It may be just a detail in learning. But as they say, the devil is in the details. It separates the winners form the losers. In our students’ futures, it will separate the have’s from the have not’s.

So to go full circle with this somewhat rambling post…..pay attention to the presidential candidates. While we all know Congress holds the real power, we must recognize a true visionary in the White House can lead to a more innovative (some will call it catch-up) vision for education. It is about time.

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, politics, president2008

While we focus on design being important in educating our youth (or their learning), I have begun to pay particular attention in how things look around me. I think that giving our students the opportunity to understand and appreciate the elements of design will allow them to create better finished products to display their learning. Photographs will also allow them to generate tons of writing. Have your students share their photos with the rest of the class. Give them time to create a storyline about what is happening in the photo. Then allow the owner of the picture to divulge the truth. Vote to see which storyline is the favorite. You can even create a bulletin board out of this project. The kids will love it!

While I am at the earliest stages of caring what my photographs look like, I am at least trying to get better. Following the tips of others, I think I will show some improvement over the next year. I am getting to the point where I can visualize what I want the photo to look like. Now I just need to get the skills to adjust the camera accordingly. If I start this post as an annual event, it will give me a little inspiration to get better as well.

I had the opportunity to play with several different digital cameras over the past year. I have many favorites of family members, yet they (the family members) remain shy about Internet exposure. Following the lead of educators such as Dean Shareski, David Warlick, Brian Genier, D’Arcy Norman, Ewan McIntosh, and others, I thought I would join the “sharing” group. So with that being said, here are the photos I have chosen. Feel free to give me suggestions to make them better. I generally use an Olympus E-Volt 500 now.

My son anticipating the waves at Gulf Shores, AL, USA:

My son enjoying the rodeo in Gladewater, TX, USA (my personal favorite of the year):

I took this one at a church camp during a men’s retreat outside of Tyler, TX, USA:

This photo was taken while picking strawberries in Hallsville, TX, USA:

Of my nature photos, this is one I really liked because of the different perspective. Taken in my front yard:

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, photography

A la Dan Pink and his focus on design, Time magazine recently posted an article about students using design to become famous in the Google world we live in. Jamie Wilkinson, educator at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, had an idea. He would teach students how to become famous (or at least their sites) on the Internet. What is the point? Why would these kids care?

As Wilkinson sees it, this is the world in which his students will be competing — a world wide web where almost everyone is “trying to become viral, and constantly confronting savvy online audiences that have razor-sharp b___s___ detectors.”

Software is being used to track the popularity of the student sites. They can even check in on the class blog (Warning: mature language possible) for updates. Wilkinson’s curriculum is designed to give students direction on making their blogs famous and staying on top. But is that enough for the students who are graded basically on how software perceives their popularity? Would they turn that knowledge into a unique design to capture the attention of web users everywhere? When the heat is on and the semester winds down, how much of this new content would come in handy? Or would they just embed a sleazy YouTube video to generate traffic from the work of others?

As Wilkinson goes around the class, asking people to show what digital art they’ve made over the last week, it’s clear these tawdry music videos are the hit of the day. One student reveals that his short video has generated 13,000 views in only a few days. “Wow, talk about selling out,” Wilkinson marvels. “I thought you weren’t going to stoop that low…but you can’t deny the numbers. Look at those page views; that’s amazing!”

Hmmmm. Design? I guess some things never change.  How would the results of this class’s choices change the curriculum next year? Seems like it is an interesting social experiment in itself.  I am thinking some deeper ethics guidelines or morality conversations just might be in order for version 2.  But that’s just me I suppose.

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, ethics, design

This is a new piece of software out to ease animation. Just a test of it to see what I think.  Wonder if my wife would think it romantic to have this dog sing to her?

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, animation