You Betcha I want to say Yes!

Dan Meyer of dy/dan fame picked up one of my rants a while back.  I just found it now.  Here is what he said:

Just Say Yes?

Gary Ball, edtechnophile:

I want to be a Yes Man. I want to be a Lets Find a Way Man. I want my job to be finding ways to say yes to educators requests. Educator: "Can I do/have (insert random skill/technology/tool)?" Me: "Heck ya - that sounds awesome. I am not sure how but lets find a way!"

Mark Weston, Dell's educational strategist:

Asking the question, "Does technology improve student learning?" is the wrong question. The question should be, "Does technology support the practices that improve student learning?"

After reading the comments and thinking about it for a while I wrote this reply.  I figured that I should share it here.

Dean Shareski has the essence of what the post was actually about. You are quoting me a bit out of context.

No division could afford to keep me (or any good teacher) fully stocked up with all of my (our) whims. There has to be some sort of system of checks and balances to see that funds are truly spent on technology that supports students learning (and the practices that improve it). However I was not ranting about whims. Any conversation that starts out with a NO probably won’t get far. I want to be heard out and considered before I get a no (and please leave out the capital letters and the exclamation mark).

Innovation and creativity (which we need more of) sometimes involves picking up something new and asking “What can I do with this?” It involves playing with the new shiny thing and finding interesting ways it is useful.

I do agree that we need to have the conversation about how things will improve or support student learning. Anything that does not in some way improve student learning is money wasted. I don’t advocate blindly saying yes. I do advocate for innovation, creativity, and the conversations that should come with them.

As I have said before - I enjoy when people disagree with me or challenge me (as long as they do it intelligently.)

Related Posts

I Want a New Job

The Saddest Sound in the World

The Laptops are Coming, The Laptops are Coming!!!

I feel a little bit like Chicken Little. This just arrived.

Now we have not been told anything about the laptop lab yet but the big bulky cart is a good sign. It is all sorts of rolling power bar happiness.

One problem - it is a great, awesome, amazing, and practical solution - for another school. Here is our problem.

And here is the rest of our problem. All of our highschool classrooms are not accessable by the rolling lump of laptop happiness.

I am not sure what to do about it. We need to find a solution that works with stairs. I am going to email the head of our tech support and see what we can do. (I am going to try the collaborative approach.) I would like some sort of tub that we can carry up the stairs with one person. Anybody have any suggestions?

Could This Work?

So I had an idea the other day. Now usually when I get an idea it either is expensive or gets me into trouble (or both). I don't think that this is either.

We are having bandwidth issues at school. Not a secret to any of you who are in the same division as me. One of the culprits is YouTube. YouTube is a wonderful teaching tool - but it is also a great big bandwidth pig. Lots of our students run it in the backgroud so they can listen to music as they work (and many just use that as an excuse to get out of trouble). If it truly is just for music then the video is wasted bandwidth. We should be pushing internet radio stations instead. If I am not mistaken internet radio should use less bandwidth - it only has the audio part of the stream.

Ok - the problem isn't solved yet but wait until I get to phase two of my idea. I remember a conversation I had with a buddy of mine (who used to be a network tech for another division). Their office was in the same building as one of the schools. All of the office staff (about 7-8 people) listened to internet radio stations. During working hours those 7-8 machines running internet radio where enough to slow the entire school down.

Phase two - How do we provide music to the entire school without slowing everyone down? What about streaming music from our server at school? Only one machine would need to be downloading the internet radio and then distribute it out to the workstations. We should be able handle the traffic within our local network. One machine streaming music vs a bunch plugging the pipe? Sounds like a solution that gives the students what they want and helps us get more work done.

A side benefit of us streaming the music in is that we have some control over whether the music is appropriate or not. (There I go thinking like a teacher again!)

There would be a couple of technical details that would need to be worked out but isn't that what we have a Tech Department for?

So could it work or is there a big ole flaw in the plan?

An Interactive Whiteboard on the Cheap (Like $100 Cheap)!!!!!!!

Wow. A Wii remote hacked into a DIY interactive whiteboard. It even works to turn your regular monitor into a tablet!

All that you need is a projector, a Wii remote, a laptop with Bluetooth, and some sort of IR light source (an easy DIY project) - oh and some open source downloads.

Thanks to Vicki Davis (CoolCatTeacher) who pointed this out in her blog and Johnny Chung Lee (the creator).

Time to start rolling my loose change to buy the parts for one.

Talk Hard

I just finished watching Christian Slater in the movie Pump Up the Volume. For those of you who live under a rock it is about a teenager with a voice - a voice that the adult establishment doesn't really want heard. He speaks his mind through illegal pirate radio. While there is a lot of fear and misunderstanding amoungst the adults he really strikes up a chord with his peers.

"You hear about some kid who did something stupid, something desperate; what possessed him? How could he do such a terrible thing? Well, it's really quite simple, actually. Consider the life of a teenager - you have parents, teachers telling you what to do, you have movies, magazines and TV telling you what to do, but you know what you have to do. Your job, your purpose is to get accepted, get a cute girlfriend, think up something great to do with the rest of your life. What if you're confused and can't imagine a career? What if you're funny looking and can't get a girlfriend? You see, no-one wants to hear it. But the terrible secret is that being young is sometimes less fun than being dead. ."
- Hard Harry

There are lots of parrallels to today's bloggers. Pirate radio was free, uncensored (albiet illegal) media. Today blogs are the more accessable (and legal) alternative. Hard Harry would be sending out his subversive ideas over the internet and would be able to reach a much wider audience than with his basement transmitter.

Just think of the freedoms that voices like Harry's have now. Without an intimite knowledge of RadioShack he never would have been able to air his voice. Now the internet with its push button publishing makes it easier for anyone to have their say. Just let Pricipal Creswood try and silence these voices today (almost 20 years after this movie first hit the theaters).

Jim Gates (a blogger I read regularly) posted about a student with an interesting voice. The boy was easily able to voice his critizism of his educational system. Read the students comment. Then I will tell you that he is only in Grade 5. Do we really want to miss voices like these?

Until next time.......

"Talk hard, I like that. It's like a dirty thought in a nice clean mind. "
- Hard Harry

A Little Too Strong Methinks

I just came across a blog post titled Rite of Refusal written by Scott McLeod.

can anyone else think of an employment sector other than K-12 and postsecondary education where employees have the right to refuse to use technology?

He raises an interesting point but he comes on a little too strong.

a grocery store checker doesn't get to say 'No thanks, I don't think I'll
use a register.' A stockbroker doesn't get to say, 'No thanks, I don't think
I'll use a computer.' An architect doesn't get to say, 'No thanks, I don't
think I'll use AutoCAD.' But in education, we plead and implore and
incentivize but we never seem to require.

Actually, I think that he is wrong here. What did those industries look like when the new technologies first came out? When AutoCAD first came out I bet that not everybody jumped on the bandwagon right away. At first only the progressive architects and engineers used it. Then slowly as it was proven to be useful more groups started drafting with CAD programs. Now, 26 years later everybody uses it. 26 years! How long has the internet been a major presence in our schools? Long enough that some teachers should be using Web 2.0 tools to teach but not everyone has tried it. Give it time and don't force it.

Teaching involves a very wide range of styles, methods, and tools. It also involves a certain amount of autonomy in our classrooms. I like being able to pick and choose what ways I teach and what tools I use to teach with. That way I can fit the curriculum content in best with my strengths and with how I feel my students will learn best. I am quite sure that other teachers do the same. Technology or no technology, student learning comes first. Sometimes a wiki is the best tool sometimes a chalkboard is. Please count on me to choose wisely.