The Challenge

I spent $10 on an iTunes giftcard and put out a mass email: First one to tell me who said this and in what year wins an iTunes session with me and the card. It was answered in under 2 minutes. Within 5 minutes I had 15 answers. Throughout the day I would have more than 25 answers and more than 3 "off-topic" conversations. More on the unperceived value of this challenge later, let me tackle my initial concept.

Here's the first quote pertaining to how we learn:
"...the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself. Through these demands he is stimulated to act as a member of a unity, to emerge from his original narrowness of action and feeling and to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the welfare of the group to which he belongs." 

What is the first thing you think of after reading this? Someone recent started ranting why IT should open the firewall back up on Facebook, right? This person must be talking about social media in the classroom.

What if I told you this was John Dewey in 1897? If you are still rolling your eyes at the quote then it would be akin to a physicist rolling his eyes at Einstein or Newton.

Dewey makes an example shortly after this quote about how a baby learns to speak. They start babbling but soon learn to control those babbles and form them into more precise sounds as their social surrounding dictate until they are able to form the sound "daddy" and connect that to their father turning around and giving them attention enough times that "Daddy" becomes the name of the father.

So... If our social demands and language is changing (again back to my mission as a tech specialist - what I'm constantly telling you) and our learning is based on "stimulation of powers by the demands of social situations" then how important is it to be involved and working within the demands of that social climate? Essentially, there is a younger generation that is beginning to speak a completely separate language that is more rich than you can keep up with and they are - in all reality - with out the ability to speak the language of the other generation.

But why is that important? Shouldn't they just tone it down and zone in and "if they want a grade then they'll listen up"? My mission is to get you to understand that this is not a fad or a use of toys and entertainment devices, this is an evolving language!

If I still haven't gotten your attention, then I want you to sit down in a classroom to learn something you have no idea about, and the teacher will ONLY speak a Shakespearean English. You will be required to listen up and follow along. You know every single word, none of those words are non-English, I mean, Shakespeare had about a third of the vocabulary you have, so you should be able to follow along.

Something I've learned from this is the reverse. I'm speaking a hyper language and expecting a lot of you to run to my videos and even this blog and learn and run with it. But you aren't speaking this language. So what did I do about it?

Well, jumping off of my last blog, I used a classic marketing technique. I gave away a free iTunes card and created a buzz. The buzz was about two separate things:
1.) it might be worth it to open Jacob's email immediately - it will have good and quick info anyway; and
2.) Who said that and when did they say that?
-- Which inevitably leads to a.) you having some buy-in to read my blog based on your previous interest and how easily you were able to come up with the info (so many more people participated since it was easy to just copy and paste the quote into google without even reading - you wouldn't have if you would have had to look it up in the library) and;
b.) wondering what the heck I was getting at with a quote from John Dewey in 1897.

What can you learn from my Challenge in its delivery method? How could you apply that? Have I gotten you interested in looking at social media as not a toy yet?

***Next blogs: 1.) affects of the challenge and the "off-topic" conversations
2.) At least a third of the people who answered gave the guilty confession "but don't count me, I used Google." .... wwwhhhhaaaaaaaaat?!?!

Oh! And here was the other quote from John Dewey in the challenge:

"...these interests are neither to be humored nor repressed. To repress interest is to substitute the adult for the child, and so to weaken intellectual curiosity and alertness, to suppress initiative, and to deaden interest."

What's that make you think?

No computers / not enough computers / We don't need computers in our classroom.

Problem: No computers / not enough computers / We don't need computers in our classroom.

The third of those is the one that's not like the other. I shake my smirk at you. We'll address it in turn.

Remember when I asked you to take a moment to consider what textbooks cost in terms of money? Laptops and desktops are dropping in price and getting very close if not cheaper than a textbook. Take a look at a notebook computer at retail price (try Walmart/Sams). You think you can't get those for cheaper at wholesale bulk pricing?

If you have no computers in the classroom... give me a name and number and I'll make a call. And DO!, use this as motivation to get out there and tell your administrator you need computers. Then do some homework on the costs and where you might find grants (or not in that order if you are intimidated by the pertinent person.)

If you have a computer in the classroom then you can always group students together and make sure that they not only take turns typing in search terms, but that they also all grab sources individually. Collaboration when it comes to computer skills is NOT AT ALL a bad thing. It doesn't even cheapen the experience. Engaged as the skill is modeled is a met objective in this case.

Why is typing in searching terms important? Who finds more and better information faster? Someone who knows how to advanced search? Or someone who knows alphebetical order? The second person - by the way - has to also be near a library and needing the information while the library is open. How far behind are those that don't know how to Google? And riddle me this: What's the driving force in learning/processing? ANSWER: It's feedback. QUESTIONS: Doesn't feedback often lead to more questions? And if it leads to more questions, then: How much more important is it to have feedback quickly? Especially in these times when, who has the time / concentration to keep up with all your questions? Technology and the innerwebs provide Instant Feedback, and drives learnng. Not just for the big questions, but for the tiny things you just want to find out more about. And doesn't that, in turn, fuel and drive a love of learning? And isn't that the greatest gift you could give your students?

But really, why care? Why be so passionate? What is at stake here? Our students are going in to college or into the workforce where computer skills are a must to be successful. Even those in technical trades could greatly improve their socio-economic impact by knowing how to use the internet to market themselves at low to no cost, how to get the most up to date info in their trade, and how to problem solve more quickly. Even the skill of networking, keeping up contacts, findingg subject matter experts, man the list goes on and on. AND: Once a person understands alphabetical order, there is no higher order skill in searching through a book to research. So what is the point of forcing that when they've got the skill if they needed it? How applicable is it to their lives and does it impact them at all? It's practically a dead practice. SO HERE'S A WHOLE 'NOTHER BLOG: How much would you have learned in American History if the teacher refused to speak English and would only speak Latin?

Here's a big point I'll steal from my wife: Not all students have the opportunity of technology and internet access at home, and they will never get it unless you do something about it. If you are in a rural area, it's even more important you provide them that opportunity. This is the actual POINT of public education.

Challenge your students at every turn. And make that impact you already make even larger.

Thoughts? Comments? Let me have it...

TextBook Terminator: The T100 Model

Problem: Textbooks

Solution: The Internet

So, I'm anti textbook. We don't have to get into the specificities of being green because I'm okay with supporting the tree harvest industry. But the problem really is that our society is moving away from reading from a book. And this is where the traditionalist (and maybe my wife who's the best reading specialist around) will say "You have to be able to read from a book." Well, I agree, and I'm not against reading the printed word.

So what's my problem? Like I briefly mentioned, we don't communicate and we don't get our entertainment from typed/printed material anymore - so what happens? Evolution my friends. As we continue to move more on line with communication, we are beginning to lose the need for something to be printed - it takes too long to travel (and frankly, printers have yet to catch up to the "it just works" side of the computer age). Making a choice between writing a letter and typing a message into Facebook becomes a decision that works exactly like how my high school biology teacher explained "Natural Selection". It's just a better choice - like a giraffe picking a mate by the longest neck, that one's going to get the most food at the top of the tree, so maybe your kids will too. And the simple genetics of the giraffe gradually lengthens the neck over time.

In the communication model, there is send-receive-feedback and back again. So what's the point of writing using envelopes and stamps waiting for the mail, waiting for the mail, waiting for the mail, receive... repeat (and this includes interoffice mail)... you get the picture.

So keeping that in mind, how up to date is your science textbook? How up to date is that info by the time the latest addition gets to you? How much new science is understood every day? How many of you know the model for evolution (monkey to man) is an outdated evolutional model? Yeah, look it up (and by "look it up" - an outdated phrase referring to text books - I mean google it. Or, I don't care, if you want to go to the library and search the Dewey Decimal system for the latest info be my guest. I'll bet you won't do it -first of all- and then you'll never know and how will that shape your thought process as a person? ). I mean, forget the debate to teach the theory evolution as theory - we are even teaching the wrong theory! Because we are using textbooks we haven't elevated our argument yet. This slows our educational process down, it slows our evolution of thought/acceptance down.

How much has forensic science shaped our thoughts on history? Look up (meaning google) the gunfight at OK Corral. You'll be hard pressed to find anything closer to the facts than the accounts that use the latest crime scene investigations. And how has outdated info shaped our thoughts on cowboys - even the word cowboys? How about law enforcement?

And let's not get started on the cutthroat industry of textbook publishing... this means you too super intendants and principals. I mean, *sarcasm* I wonder why the publishing company won't send a representative to you? Oh, why would they want to fly you to Hawaii to meet them when their offices are in Minnesota?"

Take a moment to look at what it costs -just in terms of money- every year per student to buy a textbook. Take a moment then to consider the damage and loss, the amount of updating and how outdated information is. Think about the loss of skills when a student turns a text book in at the end of the year, what does that tell them about History? It told me I was done with History, that the dates and mostly events no longer apply to my life. I won't need the information ever again and if I did how would I look it up anyway? I'd probably not bother. And what was that quote about history and "doomed to repeat"? You get my idea.

Solution Time: Google Search.

"Oh! We can't let our kids search Google! You can't control what they might find!"

-FALSE-

-BESIDES- Wouldn't you and your parents rather the students run across offensive materials in a learning environment where things can be pointed out and corrected immediately? Rather them finding it by themselves, alone in a dark room? And you know they will find it, it may take them being in a college dorm room one day but it will pop up and will they know how to handle it? The stuff that is out there is traumatizing the first time you see it no matter what your age is or how mature you might be.

You can filter what they might find! And still give them the freedom to personalize and thus internalize process more effectively the most up to date information.

"How?"

Why, Google Advanced Search, silly. If you are a science teacher, you can find all the science sites you could ever approve of out there on the interwebs, load them into what is called a Google Custom Search Engine (you can even customize the look and feel of your search engine) and turn your students loose. Having them write an essay using internet sources is much more "trackable". This also eliminates them running into sites where students trade papers on certain topics. It also gives you a way to use the custom search engine to type their best phrases in, and search with quotes to see how badly they may or may not have plagiarized!

Terminate the text book! It's a crutch for the traditionalist living in fear. And you may be a traditionalist, but I've just given you a workout routine that will let you burn the crutch! So get to it. Right now, before you think about it, RIGHT CLICK on http://www.google.com/cse/  and select "Open in New Tab" (or "Window" if you prefer) When you're done reading here you'll have the page to look at so you won't forget or think it's going to be some huge ordeal > Click on "Create Custom Search Engine" on the right > Fill in the blanks > Get searching. (you may need a Google Account and if you don't have one you should get one now. All that is required is an email address from any email provider.)

IDEAS that came to mind while typing this:

If they are able to type, let them take notes on google docs so they can access it at home and/or print their individual notes. Maybe instead of an essay you have them all find different sources and share to the group.You could have them copy and paste notes and pictures and even videos into a google slideshow and then they would be presenting organized thoughts (which is close to the writing process) and using visuals to emphasize that organization (a skill that is above the writing process). It provides a quick solution to stretching an assignment out over a long period of time because you're waiting on them to write / type.

OTHER IDEAS? Please post them!

FEEDBACK? Please comment!

DID YOU TRY THIS OUT? Let me know what happened!