Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Retirement
Today was my first day of retirement. I slept late, got my son off to school, did some chores, took a 4 hour afternoon nap, watched some English football, and had a great dinner at Craft. All in all I highly recommend retirement.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Rebranding Teachers
Finally a positive assessment of Teachers.
Read more and hear the show at this link to the segment on the Brian Lehrer Show.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Digits Not Atoms
We have known since we started using computers that digital learning is always been liberating for all concerned as recently written about by Michael Horn.
Essentially it is about the digits and not the atoms. The physical activity of handing out paper, collecting paper, opening books, notebooks, and grading are all more efficiently done in digital form rather than atomically. When the daily chores are done digitally, students do more and teachers accomplish more with the same effort. In addition, with the digits, teachers can alter and distribute the work more quickly and the students always have access. The dog can now eat better. Students have constant access and with email can communicate with the teachers. Digits will always make learning better.
When it comes to those administrative chores, teachers can be more efficient with basic software used for grading, contacting parents, creating lesson plans and worksheets, and assessing their students. The syllabus and other classroom business should be online. In addition, administrative work will always be better digitally, easy to distribute and easy to access in meetings.
Teachers who keep digital folders are more efficient and productive.
When one becomes digital and loses the atoms, teachers will find they have more time in class for the students and have more efficient time out of class. In the end the students will benefit and succeed more regularly because their teachers are digital.
Atoms just take more time and time is key in improving education without destroying the teachers and burying them in atoms. It's about the digits, not the atoms just for the simplest of chores, imagine when we begin to develop more complex digital lessons.
Essentially it is about the digits and not the atoms. The physical activity of handing out paper, collecting paper, opening books, notebooks, and grading are all more efficiently done in digital form rather than atomically. When the daily chores are done digitally, students do more and teachers accomplish more with the same effort. In addition, with the digits, teachers can alter and distribute the work more quickly and the students always have access. The dog can now eat better. Students have constant access and with email can communicate with the teachers. Digits will always make learning better.
When it comes to those administrative chores, teachers can be more efficient with basic software used for grading, contacting parents, creating lesson plans and worksheets, and assessing their students. The syllabus and other classroom business should be online. In addition, administrative work will always be better digitally, easy to distribute and easy to access in meetings.
Teachers who keep digital folders are more efficient and productive.
When one becomes digital and loses the atoms, teachers will find they have more time in class for the students and have more efficient time out of class. In the end the students will benefit and succeed more regularly because their teachers are digital.
Atoms just take more time and time is key in improving education without destroying the teachers and burying them in atoms. It's about the digits, not the atoms just for the simplest of chores, imagine when we begin to develop more complex digital lessons.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
CyberEnglish is brain surgery
The Jensen book supports CyberEnglish.
I've always said, CyberEnglish is as close to brain surgery as a teacher can get. Because we are in computer rooms we have access to the technology that let's us watch our scholars create, edit, and produce work. Beyond that, the curriculum of CE is project based. In project based lessons, the scholars must collaborate and use all their skills to complete a project. It is more than any multiple choice test can provide. What concerns me is that those in charge have been hoodwinked by big business into thinking that a test based curriculum is the way to go. Of course it is easy and the public sees and believes what it is told by politicians, advertisers, and big business. Since we a market economy we are driven by the flim flam of business and not by the intelligence of educators. Americans are very ignorant about education as witnessed by where we are today and by the politicians they have put in charge of this very important facet of American life. We do not follow our brain, instead we follow our politicians and that is a huge mistake because they are led by the lobbyists. Education is big bucks, in fact it is the second largest industry in America. The military is number one. So common sense and intelligent choices will not be made since "there is gold in them thar schools." Big business only cares about the bottom line and making money, not about doing the right or even intelligent thing. Multiple choice tests are economically more profitable than any project based curriculum, so we have MC tests to do our assessment. People are too lazy to do it the right way, so we do it the bad way.
We know when we choose a doctor, a contractor, or an employee; we want to see a portfolio of their work. We don't give them multiple choice tests. We want to see what they have done. We want to critique their work, before we choose them to work for us. So why don't we do this in education? The Jensen book outlines some very specific reasons why we need to take more care in our classrooms and why we should. And yet, we always ignore common sense in education and replace it with the misguided money grubbing ways of big business. The folks in charge of creating the tests are not educators. They do not consider the science of pedagogy, and they certainly don't reflect on brain research. In fact they work in a bubble. They do not consult with the teachers in the classroom about the contents of the tests they make, they don't share the results and they destroy the tests after they have scored them. When they make a mistake it is horrendous and there are no ramifications except the students suffer and the company still keeps the contract. And the American public accepts this without question. Politicians support it because those companies give money to the politicians, who send their children to private schools because of the donations. It is a vicious circle, a very, very, vicious circle with most Americans completely out of the loop to what is happening to them.
We are witnessing the dumbing down of America and we don't even see it. Consider how we see some politicians revel in their ignorance. Most notably, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Joe Biden. It is embarrassing. America's problems are not the result of bad education, yet, it is the result of bad business decisions and the acquiescing of educational policy to big business instead of the teachers. That is America's problem, big business rules and the people suffer and are the victims.
In yet another article about the perils of the current tests, the suggestion is,
I've always said, CyberEnglish is as close to brain surgery as a teacher can get. Because we are in computer rooms we have access to the technology that let's us watch our scholars create, edit, and produce work. Beyond that, the curriculum of CE is project based. In project based lessons, the scholars must collaborate and use all their skills to complete a project. It is more than any multiple choice test can provide. What concerns me is that those in charge have been hoodwinked by big business into thinking that a test based curriculum is the way to go. Of course it is easy and the public sees and believes what it is told by politicians, advertisers, and big business. Since we a market economy we are driven by the flim flam of business and not by the intelligence of educators. Americans are very ignorant about education as witnessed by where we are today and by the politicians they have put in charge of this very important facet of American life. We do not follow our brain, instead we follow our politicians and that is a huge mistake because they are led by the lobbyists. Education is big bucks, in fact it is the second largest industry in America. The military is number one. So common sense and intelligent choices will not be made since "there is gold in them thar schools." Big business only cares about the bottom line and making money, not about doing the right or even intelligent thing. Multiple choice tests are economically more profitable than any project based curriculum, so we have MC tests to do our assessment. People are too lazy to do it the right way, so we do it the bad way.
We know when we choose a doctor, a contractor, or an employee; we want to see a portfolio of their work. We don't give them multiple choice tests. We want to see what they have done. We want to critique their work, before we choose them to work for us. So why don't we do this in education? The Jensen book outlines some very specific reasons why we need to take more care in our classrooms and why we should. And yet, we always ignore common sense in education and replace it with the misguided money grubbing ways of big business. The folks in charge of creating the tests are not educators. They do not consider the science of pedagogy, and they certainly don't reflect on brain research. In fact they work in a bubble. They do not consult with the teachers in the classroom about the contents of the tests they make, they don't share the results and they destroy the tests after they have scored them. When they make a mistake it is horrendous and there are no ramifications except the students suffer and the company still keeps the contract. And the American public accepts this without question. Politicians support it because those companies give money to the politicians, who send their children to private schools because of the donations. It is a vicious circle, a very, very, vicious circle with most Americans completely out of the loop to what is happening to them.
We are witnessing the dumbing down of America and we don't even see it. Consider how we see some politicians revel in their ignorance. Most notably, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Joe Biden. It is embarrassing. America's problems are not the result of bad education, yet, it is the result of bad business decisions and the acquiescing of educational policy to big business instead of the teachers. That is America's problem, big business rules and the people suffer and are the victims.
In yet another article about the perils of the current tests, the suggestion is,
Both groups will create tests using technology in both administering and scoring and will measure “performance-based tasks, designed to designed to mirror complex, real-world situations,” according to the New York Times.Sorry this won't work. We need humans involved. The best way to assess our scholars is for our scholars to publish their work, as we do in CyberEnglish, and then let teachers and anyone who wants to to look at the work and to write their findings. The problem of course is that this is labor intensive or too labor intensive for big business because it is not cost effective. Education shouldn't be led by accountants, it should be led by educators. We just don't get it. We keep hearing about blended schools without too much of an explanation, but CyberEnglish was doing blended school in the 90's and is still doing it today.
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