A New Accountability-Digitize Me!

 My school has been thoughtfully discussing the uses of electronic or digital portfolios. The purpose would be twofold: to have a living, reflective authentic assessment of student work and to demonstrate growth tied to a student's individual learning plan over time. A worthy goal, right? Why aren't more schools doing this? While researching digital portfolios, I came across examples that seemed to fall into either a"fancy digital file cabinet of student work" or simply a photo gallery of "this is what we did". No reflection from the student. No comment from a teacher or peers. Just because you put student work in a folder online does not make it a digital portfolio. What was the purpose?  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a portfolio is defined as "a selection of a student's work (as papers and tests) compiled over a period of time and used for assessing performance or progress."


With so much emphasis on standardized test grades, providing parents (and someday college admissions officers and/or future employers) with a fuller, richer picture of one's academic achievement and growth should be our goal. With today's technology, it is not the burden it once was. One could use Evernote, Wordpress, or Google Apps for FREE to create such a living repository. Or there are wonderful companies out there like Digication (which actually handles the portfolios for free if you are a Google Apps school). Dr. Helen Barrett (I like to think of her as the Megamind of E-Portfolios) has a wealth of resources available, all which underscore that it doesn't take much to capture a child's growth in a variety of subjects.


Facebook recently introduced a totally new format, the timeline. Why? Well, according to Mark Zuckerburg, 

“Millions and millions of people have spent years curating the stories of their lives, and there’s no way to share them,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

Perhaps Mr. Zuckerburg is on to something. I believe that in this digital world, people do like to curate their lives. The time is ripe to do the same with our students. Collectively, teachers have spent millions of hours curating their students' lives. Many teachers, especially elementary teachers, spend considerable time curating each of their student's works into boxes or folders or the like, only to be sent home at the end of the year. Perhaps parents look at them. Maybe they get put in boxes to be saved and cherished. Maybe someday in the future they will be opened and the former student will glance at the work with fond remembrance? 


I think we can do better. Let's not curate without reflection. Let the curation be purposeful. Let's encourage our students to be reflective, to be "noticers", to take ownership of their learning, and to understand that a standardized test score is only a snapshot.

How did Social Media get so Unsocial? (or Where have all the manners gone?)

I always thought manners were more than just protocol or etiquette, but an expression of how you cared about someone else's feelings. A demonstration of consideration. I posted just last week about the need to educate our students on how to communicate in social media so that they understand how best to express their ideas in a clear and concise manner. I believe I fell short in my call to action. We need to do more. Recent events underscore the need to teach our students (and model ourselves) how to communicate socially in social media. 

Several weeks earlier an article by Sharon Noguchi, Educators Combat Crude Culture of Social Networks, popped up in many re-postings. In short, the article refers to the rampant profanity and crude behavior exhibited on social media by students, especially on Facebook and the steps that the legislature and educators are taking to combat this trend. 

     But now, as kids head back to school, they may find more adults are paying attention. Educators increasingly are joining in to challenge the crude culture of social networks, which they fear unleashes cyberbullying and sexting, heightens the social drama of puberty and teaches the wrong values.
     Even though Facebook flaming usually originates off campus, more schools are teaching "digital citizenship," how to care for online profiles, deal with bullies and speak up for what's right—a critical skill because teens often don't take problems to adults.

Several weeks earlier there was a great article in the New York Times, Teaching Kids How to Break Up Nicely By Benoit Denizet-Lewis. Mr. Denizet-Lewis reported on efforts to teach students how to responsibly handle ending relationships, to "face it, not facebook it".

      “When I’m done with a relationship, I’m not going to wait a day, an hour or even 10 minutes to update my status,” Roberto told the group. “When it’s over, it’s over. I’m done with you.”
      “The key word here is ‘racing,’ ” another girl replied with all the condescension she could muster. “Is that really healthy? Breaking up shouldn’t be a competition!”
      The group’s adult facilitator — who wore a blue “Face It, Don’t Facebook It” pin, in a reference to the apparently troubling trend of young people breaking up with one another via social media — nodded in agreement and suggested that Roberto consider taking a “technology timeout” the next time he felt compelled to race home and publicly declare his singlehood. Roberto reluctantly agreed to consider it.

A technology time-out? Ummm, I think we can do better. Are we really teaching our students to hide behind social media. When are we teaching them to be brave and responsible in our dealings with others? I think back to my parents' lessons and all my wonderful teachers' lessons and how they consistently modeled how to do the right thing. Whether it was "sharing is caring" or "if you can't say something nice about someone . . ." Have we educators been so overwhelmed by teaching to the test that we forgot to model some values along the way? Is it a failure by parents to actually parent? Or is the lure of destroying someone anonymously so great, that we cannot combat this trend? Good grief, there are even articles helping you choose which social media is best for you to use to break up!

How did social media get so unsocial?

When Carol Bartz, former chief executive officer,  was fired from Yahoo she turned to her IPad and vented to her staff:

To all,
I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.
Carol

Fantastic. short, sweet and to the point. Fired over the phone? Not a very classy job, Yahoo. Whatever happened to your manners? Whatever happened to building relationships? Of course since Ms. Bartz called Yahoo Board out for their lack of class, I expected to see her act the opposite way. Umm, not so much.

In a defiant, often profane interview with Fortune, Ms. Bartz said she intended to remain on Yahoo’s board. If so, it would make for some uncomfortable meetings because, in the same interview, she also called her fellow board members “doofuses.”

Ugh. Ms. Bartz, where have your manners gone? Where have all the manners gone? If you find them, please let me know. 

 

Are We Putting All Our Lessons in One Basket?

     Two tweets crossed paths this morning on my feed and inspired this post asking if we are failing students by not teaching them how to communicate in social media? Are we putting all our writing lessons in one basket?

     The first spark was a tweet from @willrich45 about Digital Outcasts. Will discusses Nishant Shaha's definition of  a digital outcast as ". . . not somebody who doesn’t have access to the technologies; s/he is somebody who, after the access has been granted, fails to actualise the transformative potentials of technologies for the self or for others." Will suggests that we need to teach students not only how to use media properly, but how to employ it in the service of others. Really interesting point and as I was chewing on the implications of where Will's post was leading me, a tweet came into my feed from @DanielPink about how Columbia Business School is asking for 200-character admission essays. Here is an excerpt from the post:

Earlier this summer the University of Iowa's Tippie School of Management made headlines by ditching the traditional essay in favor of allowing would-be students to use Twitter to write a 140-character application. Now Columbia Business School is following suit by asking applicants, "What is your post-M.B.A. professional goal?" and limiting responses to just 200-characters—not words, characters.

     Good grief! A 200-character or less response to what is your goal? Of course the response would have to be incredibly focused and fresh to get the attention of the admissions committee. A great challenge but are our students up for it? 

     Daniel Pink's tweet reminded me of one of my least favorite doctoral classes. It was a required technology class and we had weekly assignments where the professor would post a question on one of the assigned readings and we needed to respond in a blog in 25 words or less. Not bad, right? Well the kicker was that your response had to be completely original. You could not repeat the thoughts of any previous poster. Of course, I would  sit impatiently by my computer near posting time so as to try and get my post in first, for the more time (and the more posts submitted) that went by, the more difficult it was to respond in 25 words or less with an original response. At the time, I cursed that class and that professor, but now I think he was genius. I read those weekly readings very carefully in light of how I might be required to respond any one of them. I tried to anticipate how others might respond. The professor's point was that it was not all about how you responded to the reading but understanding how others felt too, and by incorporating those communal thoughts,  perhaps you might change your perspective and respond with a fresh perspective.He required rapid, clear, and concise responses. It was great training for current communication practices.

     So, what do you think? Are we missing the boat in putting all our eggs in the basket of long essays and literary analysis? Should we be teaching our students how to properly provide a critical response to a blog, how to properly tweet, how to truly listen (read) to other responses and respond back in a thoughtful and concise manner? Wouldn't our students benefit from a laser like focus on their analysis and writing? And more importantly, why are we not taking the next step and teaching our students how to use these technologies to change the world for the better? 

     Let me know what you think   . . in 140 characters or less. :)

I Love You, Matt Damon!

Tony Wagner, please move over and make room on my hero shelf for the Mighty Mr. Matt Damon.I still have mad love for you Tony--not to worry, my love for Matt is pure. In case you were in a coma, in WiFi hell, or waiting for COMCAST to fix your Internet service (again!), you might have missed one of my favorite all time moments this year, Matt Damon's extraordinarily lucid speech at the SOS Rally in Washington, D.C. Boy oh boy, that man can SELL a message. My favorite part of his speech was Mighty Matt's slam on testing:"And none of these qualities that I’ve just mentioned — none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success — none of these qualities that make me who I am ... can be tested."

Damon was in fine company including the usual folks: Jonathan Kozol, Diane Ravitch, and Linda Darling-Hammond. However stellar the company Matt, you outshined them all with your heartfelt message. I admit it, I cried. So, I have posted your speech below to anyone who missed it (although I am sure you can find it on YouTube too and then you have the added benefit of hearing Matt deliver these wonderful words). Will Matt's fine words fell the Testing Ogre? I fear not. But, more importantly, he has given me hope, and sometimes all it takes is a liitle hope to save the world.

I flew overnight from Vancouver to be with you today. I landed in New York a few hours ago and caught a flight down here because I needed to tell you all in person that I think you’re awesome.
I was raised by a teacher. My mother is a professor of early childhood education. And from the time I went to kindergarten through my senior year in high school, I went to public schools. I wouldn’t trade that education and experience for anything.
I had incredible teachers. As I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself — my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity — all come from how I was parented and taught.
And none of these qualities that I’ve just mentioned — none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success — none of these qualities that make me who I am ... can be tested.
I said before that I had incredible teachers. And that’s true. But it’s more than that. My teachers were EMPOWERED to teach me. Their time wasn’t taken up with a bunch of test prep — this silly drill and kill nonsense that any serious person knows doesn’t promote real learning. No, my teachers were free to approach me and every other kid in that classroom like an individual puzzle. They took so much care in figuring out who we were and how to best make the lessons resonate with each of us. They were empowered to unlock our potential. They were allowed to be teachers.
Now don’t get me wrong. I did have a brush with standardized tests at one point. I remember because my mom went to the principal’s office and said, ‘My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.’ That was in the ’70s when you could talk like that.
I shudder to think that these tests are being used today to control where funding goes.
I don’t know where I would be today if my teachers’ job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test. If their very survival as teachers was based on whether I actually fell in love with the process of learning but rather if I could fill in the right bubble on a test. If they had to spend most of their time desperately drilling us and less time encouraging creativity and original ideas; less time knowing who we were, seeing our strengths and helping us realize our talents.
I honestly don’t know where I’d be today if that was the type of education I had. I sure as hell wouldn’t be here. I do know that.
This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.
So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything. ... Please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.

THANK YOU MATT DAMON!!!