I've always heard I must be careful what I wish for. Right now I'm all pumped up after watching the documentary "Inside Job" -- a great view of how the financial collapse of 2009-2010 came about. This "excitement" makes me wish I could teach an economics course with a firm ethical infrastructure to elementary and middle school kids. After watching, I think it's essential to our future. Have you seen the documentary "Inside Job?" If not, take a look at the website and then rent the DVD.
http://bit.ly/9GplYy
I watched it a second time hoping thatI'd be able to get some help sorting out the mess it presents. Unfortunately the second look made me feel even more helpless.
The documentary makes me feel as if there is little anyone can do to convince a billionaire that he or she is making too much money or is doing anything wrong in amassing such fortunes. One part of that documentary seems to make a very strong argument that these extremely wealthy people want even more. Much more.
But the worst part isn't even clearly detailed in the documentary, but became clearer to me as I watched. For me, the worst part is the realization that the filthy rich can only get that way because of my own deeply rooted desire to consume things. This documentary simply confirmed my belief that it is my own desires combined with the individual desires of everyone just like me who buy their stuff -- I "buy" their cars (actually borrow money to use their cars), borrow money to live in their houses, and I even borrow money to eat (by telling myself I deserve to go out and add $100 to the credit card so I can take a family of four to eat $10 worth of food at a fancy restaurant. I never really feel like I "own" anything.
Sometimes I want to blame others -- leaders I used to have faith in like Obama, but this article ( http://huff.to/cCxtrq ) in the Huffington Post tags the dashed hopes many of us once held high -- those are gone. We believed he'd help fix at least some of the financial problems, but he did not. We were wrong. According to the documentary "Inside Job" Obama put the same people responsible for the financial collapse in charge of his financial team. These same people have been in powerful positions for decades and making the same mistakes over and over again. Maybe it is impossible to fight against the monopoly the financial leaders who control billions of dollars. Maybe Obama is on the take, or too ignorant to understand this complex problem, or too busy to spend time trying to resolve this minor issue. Regardless, I don't get the feeling that any of these "leaders" actually care about us or our labels ("poor," "middle-class," "wealthy," or whatever) -- as long as we just keep on consuming. Buy more Coke, buy more Pepsi, buy more beer, download more songs and apps, order stuff online, just keep buying.
So what can we do? Encourage more regulation? Who will help with this? Obama and his clan? If not, in whom can we have faith? "Inside Job" lists some ideas about how to take action. ( http://on.fb.me/gloIQ8 ) but after spending 15 minutes with the list, I'm overwhelmed. I don't know where to start. Let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Building a Vision - Integrating Technology into the Classroom
What is "MY" vision for integrating technology into the curriculum? What is the "RIGHT" view for the Foote School?
Does my view work for my peers, administrators, faculty, students and others in the community? Is my vision strong enough to allow me to dive in with them no matter how rough the waters might be initially and swim the length they have to initially swim in order to generate some enthusiasm and build momentum? One thing I definitely believe is that I need to be right out front with them. If I'm not willing to try these tools out in front of a class or in front of my peers, how is it fair to expect them to do it?
I have a collection of great tools. (I think they are great.) I love using them. I get excited when anticipate how much others will appreciate these tools. Some are genuinely jazzed. Others are reluctant. I'm hoping to I share these with my friends, hoping they find the same joy and excitement when they try them out. But I need external validation. Even if I see it with my own eyes, I need others to tell me which tools work, which ones are fun and how easy they are for kids to access and use anywhere.
My first goal is to explore the following list of 21st Century Skills. Here are the 12 mentioned in ((the Walden University Article)) (( I wrote about )) recently.
21st Century Skills listed in the article:
1) accountability
2) collaboration
3) communication
4) creativity
5) critical thinking
6) ethics
7) global awareness
8) innovation
9) leadership
10) problem solving
11) productivity
12) self-direction
How complete is this list? Are any skills missing? How serious are the omissions? And which Web 2.0 tools support "sharpen the saw" as Stephen Covey puts it? Which do the best job of developing and enhancing 21st Century Skills?
As I thought about this, my mind drifted (luckily) to a related topic. I thought about connecting each of my favorite web 2.0 tools to the 21st Century Skills list. I imagined it might be fun to take a small sample of the tools love to use and jot down the numbers 1-12 from the list above next to each tool on my list so I could see which tool helped hone the most skills.
A) Khan Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, .... 10, . 12)
B) TED - w/ conversations. (1-, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
C) Google Apps. (2, 3, 4, 8-, 9?, 10, 11, 12)
D) Live Mocha. (1, 2, 3, . 5, . 7, . 9, 10, . 12)
Starting out, it was a lot of fun. Some snags began to make it more tedious.
E) Blogs (1, 2, 3, 4? . 10, . 12) 4? does everything provide an opportunity for "creativity?" "critical thinking?" ... It seems like a slippery slope leading to the claim that "any" web 2.0 tool with a good coach allows you to develop virtually any 21st Century Skill.
E) Blogs w/ coach (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ?, 12)
F) Twitter. w/ coach (same as E)
G) Texting. w/ coach (same as E)
H) Online Surveys.
I) Online purchasing.
J) Voice Thread (fun, 1, 2, 3, 4->
K) Scratch (...)
L) Online Brainstorming (...)
M) Animoto (fun?)
I As I add more of these tools to this list and think about how they align with these skills, I am getting less and less value out of the exercise. As a teacher, I could get just about any tool to help students improve their 21st Century Skills. Some of the skills seem redundant (collaboration & communication -- how can we collaborate without communicating?). Productivity -- couldn't I prove that almost any of these tools increases my productivity?)
How do we measure things like "global awareness?" Does immersion count more than in-depth research? Does in-depth research and immersion into one culture have more weight than an introduction to three different cultures?
Does my view work for my peers, administrators, faculty, students and others in the community? Is my vision strong enough to allow me to dive in with them no matter how rough the waters might be initially and swim the length they have to initially swim in order to generate some enthusiasm and build momentum? One thing I definitely believe is that I need to be right out front with them. If I'm not willing to try these tools out in front of a class or in front of my peers, how is it fair to expect them to do it?
I have a collection of great tools. (I think they are great.) I love using them. I get excited when anticipate how much others will appreciate these tools. Some are genuinely jazzed. Others are reluctant. I'm hoping to I share these with my friends, hoping they find the same joy and excitement when they try them out. But I need external validation. Even if I see it with my own eyes, I need others to tell me which tools work, which ones are fun and how easy they are for kids to access and use anywhere.
My first goal is to explore the following list of 21st Century Skills. Here are the 12 mentioned in ((the Walden University Article)) (( I wrote about )) recently.
21st Century Skills listed in the article:
1) accountability
2) collaboration
3) communication
4) creativity
5) critical thinking
6) ethics
7) global awareness
8) innovation
9) leadership
10) problem solving
11) productivity
12) self-direction
How complete is this list? Are any skills missing? How serious are the omissions? And which Web 2.0 tools support "sharpen the saw" as Stephen Covey puts it? Which do the best job of developing and enhancing 21st Century Skills?
As I thought about this, my mind drifted (luckily) to a related topic. I thought about connecting each of my favorite web 2.0 tools to the 21st Century Skills list. I imagined it might be fun to take a small sample of the tools love to use and jot down the numbers 1-12 from the list above next to each tool on my list so I could see which tool helped hone the most skills.
A) Khan Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, .... 10, . 12)
B) TED - w/ conversations. (1-, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
C) Google Apps. (2, 3, 4, 8-, 9?, 10, 11, 12)
D) Live Mocha. (1, 2, 3, . 5, . 7, . 9, 10, . 12)
Starting out, it was a lot of fun. Some snags began to make it more tedious.
E) Blogs (1, 2, 3, 4? . 10, . 12) 4? does everything provide an opportunity for "creativity?" "critical thinking?" ... It seems like a slippery slope leading to the claim that "any" web 2.0 tool with a good coach allows you to develop virtually any 21st Century Skill.
E) Blogs w/ coach (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ?, 12)
F) Twitter. w/ coach (same as E)
G) Texting. w/ coach (same as E)
H) Online Surveys.
I) Online purchasing.
J) Voice Thread (fun, 1, 2, 3, 4->
K) Scratch (...)
L) Online Brainstorming (...)
M) Animoto (fun?)
I As I add more of these tools to this list and think about how they align with these skills, I am getting less and less value out of the exercise. As a teacher, I could get just about any tool to help students improve their 21st Century Skills. Some of the skills seem redundant (collaboration & communication -- how can we collaborate without communicating?). Productivity -- couldn't I prove that almost any of these tools increases my productivity?)
How do we measure things like "global awareness?" Does immersion count more than in-depth research? Does in-depth research and immersion into one culture have more weight than an introduction to three different cultures?
Blogging from the iPhone.
Blogging from the iPhone.
Last night I tried to keep up with the #isedchat on twitter. Slow but not completely shut down, I got a few comments in @mikemccabe29 and felt good about being able to participate while riding in the car from Chicago to Louisville. This has been a "family vacation" during which I'm trying to stay as professionally connected as possible without missing any major family events. Typing this into the iPhone notes and then emailing it directly to the blog seems like a great way to take notes, journal, and document using photos as well. The more I think about it, the more I want to try a lab pack of iTouch iPods or even iPads, connect them to a teachers portable cellular wireless access device, and take these activities outside.
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