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Here’s a “joke” I found in my email the other day:
Q: What do you call a person who keeps talking when no one is interested?
A: A teacher.
I know this was meant to be in fun, but call me humorless. In a profession whose members are not typically regarded as “professional,” we really don’t need to be perpetuating stereotypes. Instead, we should be promoting each others’ expertise, building our leadership capacities, and recruiting the best and the brightest to fill the vacancies left by those who leave the classrooms.
Yes, there are always the few who count the days until retirement or resist change and perpetuate the “sort and select” classroom of the early 20th century. Every profession has members that make poor choices. Call it malpractice, if you will. I would hazard to say, however, that the vast majority of teachers are sincere in their attempt to change the world (because that is what we do on a daily basis). When we sing with our students, read aloud a piece of literature that moves us, guide fingers and minds to the web to research current events, and have conversations that empower students to take action, we toss a pebble into that proverbial pond.
At any rate, I apologize for the rant. And we cannot object to something without providing what we deem to be an acceptable alternative. I propose that when we receive such well-intentioned email “jokes,” that rather than forwarding them mindlessly, we replace them with cartoons and images that empower educators. Here are just a few taken from Susan Ohanian’s Cartoon Collection to get you started.
Happy forwarding…
My 7 year old has been in school for over half his lifetime. Never did I imagine the kind of heartache this would cause for us. After all, we read together daily, talked and shared our experiences, enjoyed outings to the zoo and the beach and the aquarium.
Being my first child, he went to activities such as Gymboree and Keiki Sports, all meticulously recorded for posterity. With typical parent over-confidence, I was positive that I had given him everything needed to insure that school would be the right mixture of challenge and creativity guaranteed to stimulate mind, body, and spirit.
Then reality struck.
Nightly homework, long commutes, and early mornings combined with a difficulty decoding text, “poor” penmanship, and letter reversals added up to near disaster. As an educator, I began researching strategies and systematically applying them, but as a parent, I despaired. Not because I needed a child that would be “perfect,” but because I hated to see what was happening to him. Someone who rattles off scientific facts (especially those pertaining to dinosaurs!), sings songs word for word after hearing them once, and spends enormous amounts of time building and rebuilding Legos and Bionicles without instructions, puts on a brave face every morning and counts the days until the weekend.
By no means do I blame his teachers or even the school he attends. But, I do wish that our school system would allow for the kind of learner I know my child is. Somehow, I don’t think that the completion of a worksheet will ever bring that same glow and satisfaction that the Lego city which spans our living room floor does. Not a day goes by that I don’t worry and hope and pray that something will click, and my son will be able to approach school learning with the same enthusiasm that he does his own pursuits. So when I read Who/What is Smart? on a blog that I follow, I saw my son and his struggles reflected in that post. It was a call to recognize different kinds of learners, and I’d like to add my voice, and my son’s, to that call.
Just the other morning, as he worked through his first chapter book, he told me, “You know, Mom, I kind of like it when there aren’t any pictures, that way, I don’t have to think like the author thinks.”
Out of the mouths of babes. Lessons for us all.
Approximately 3 months ago, David Warlick asked people around the world to “say hello” to a conference room full of educators in Hawaii. I was amazed at how quickly people responded and connected. Well, in reference to an oft quoted movie, he “had me at hello.” This was my first introduction to Twitter.
Since then, I’ve grown addicted to this micro-blogging tool with the cute name. Cute…but powerful. Not only am I able to keep up with friends that I don’t see on a daily basis, but I’ve managed to connect with new ones who share the same interests. Maybe not all of these connections will be lifetime ones, but they are fun and fulfilling while they last! The Olympics, for example, has set me to exchanging stats and updates with a number of new people. I doubt many of these interchanges will last beyond the closing ceremonies, but perhaps I’ll see a few familiar “tweets” during the 2012 games in London.
On another note, I’m also following the conversations of experts such as Alec Couros, Wes Fryer, and Angela Maiers. I’ve learned about incredible PD opportunities, links, and websites from a number of other education experts, perhaps not as well known, but definitely as well-versed in their own arenas, right here in Hawaii. In a few short weeks, Twitter has become an indispensable source of information.
And yet, because of Twinkle, I’ve seen a whole different side of Twitter that has left me shocked (though I shouldn’t be) and feeling a need to respond (which I should).
Twinkle allows you to add your current location to your tweets, as well as seeing who else who is nearby. You are able to see the tweets of anyone on Twinkle within a certain distance from your location regardless of whether or not you follow them or they follow you. While this has allowed me access to a number of interesting conversations, it has also been similar to stepping into a nightclub atmosphere! This in itself does not bother me. I know these conversations are not meant for me, and I can choose to read them or not. What did bother me were some aggressive words, threatening violence towards another Twitter user.
Cyberbullying is by no means a new problem. Countless headlines have demonstrated an abuse of power, power given to individuals by the internet and its tools. But sometimes we fail to see that this power can also result in incredible positives when channeled properly. Hence, this is what we as educators and parents must do. We must give students the tools to use this power wisely and with good purpose; to participate in the global community with compassion and empathy. Just as cyberbullying is not a new problem, neither is a teacher’s charge to instill and inspire good citizenship in his or her students. We simply need to further the reach of our teaching and learning to include cyberspace.
I’ve been following, with great interest, an outreach for resources on digital citizenship on the internet the past few days. Ironically, this conversation happened on Twitter. Two sides of the same coin. Let’s open our conversations to include digital citizenship more frequently and with greater urgency, especially at the beginning of the new school year when building community is a staple. These tools are here for us to show our students the world and to help them shape it into the place they want it to be. Rather than ignoring their existence, use them frequently, and use them well.
My most valuable communication tool so far this year as a teacher…definitely my iPhone. Oh, I’ve had fun introducing my students to blogs; they’re slowly making their way into the blogosphere with their class blog about reading. I know this will grow over the year as their baby steps become stronger and more confident. I’ve also found a VERY helpful site called LibraryThing.com which has made organizing the classroom library and keeping track of books much simpler. Yet, as I’ve detailed in an earlier post, communication with parents is key! We’ve set up a website for parents to keep in touch with us and feel informed about what is going on in the classroom. And as that old cliche goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
The iPhone, which had been previously relegated to the depths of my purse, is now out and about with me. When the students are working with their math manipulatives, or sharing a writing piece, or conferring up close with a friend, these previously unrecorded moments are captured, emailed to Flickr, and instantly posted on the website. Voila! Learning is happening, and it’s visible.
If a student were to respond typically to the question, “What did you learn today” with the inevitable grunt, all mom or dad, or grandma or grandpa, or auntie or uncle, has to do is ask about the picture clearly shown on the screen. Better yet, they can ask about the picture first! No beating around the bush, no pulling teeth.
An article in Midweek this past June summarized the results of a survey done on Wirefly.com regarding cell phone camera usage. Unsurprisingly, cell phone cameras are the “camera of choice” for young adults. To my mind, my cell phone is always available (I never leave the house without it), I can easily upload pictures to Flickr, email them to friends and family, and I don’t have to carry another gadget with me nor wait to get home to share my pictures with others. In fact, the reason I love Twinkle so much is because the picture option is so easily integrated into the text. It provides the ability to tell a story and share it instantaneously.
One of the big stories the past couple of days in Hawaii has been the arrival and subsequent vacation of Democratic nominee Barrack Obama. Now love ‘im or leave ‘im, there has definitely been buzz about town as people try to get a glimpse of him, not just for themselves, but to chronicle and share with others. What I found truly telling and a sign of the times was a cartoon in the Star Bulletin. Decidedly not the paparazzi, but a whole different breed, with a whole new tool, and a whole different purpose.
The Obama Watch
Telling stories and sharing them with others, in this case, perhaps one about a potential future president.
Don’t get me wrong. There are deeper issues in education. Ones that we address quietly, on our own, in our classrooms everyday. But perhaps that’s where the potential for change lies. We can’t address them alone. We need to take these issues outside, connect with others whose ed-views and world-views lie within the same or overlapping spheres. Let’s tell these stories…and tell them together.
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