I Test, Therefore You Are

A friend of mine, Dr. Jeff who runs the Blog on the Universe, recently posted on twitter {My view- Internet has hammered a nail through the heart of “knowledge is power” & redefined critical thinking as power.} and I retweeted his point. You see, it parallels some things that I have said to my students and other teachers for years. I hate teaching facts. I still remember being handed a CRC in my junior year as I pursued a degree in physics. My physics teacher said to me, “You never have to memorize the equations and constants again. Just use this.”   That is the point when I learned how I use  facts is more important than memorizing them .

The problem is, many consider this to mean that facts are worthless. This could not be farther from the truth.  Many think that the drill and kill of multiplication tables and of the elements of the Periodic Table will lead to useful memories that will enable students to solve complex problems.  The only positive learning this allows is the quick recall later of a specific factoid.  But it also allows for quick and easy multiple choice testing of the students. This, of course is the real reason many force memorization on their students.

But could this be done in a better way?

Sure!

But it would take time for the teaching of critical thinking and time for the testing of critical thinking – And time is something teachers are not allowed to have.

Those forcing these tests down our throats do not really care how students think. They only care about how good a soundbite they can get from the statistics garnered from the tests.  This has to stop. As long as education is controlled by people who’s only goal is to be re-elected, we will be forced to teach students to memorize and memorize only.

Dr. Jeff’s view that the internet has hammered a nail through the idea that “knowledge is power” is very much in line with my old physics professor’s idea that I should stop trying to memorize all of the equations in physics (which no one ever told me during the preceding years.) My memorization had been a dismal failure. Once I knew where to look up the “facts,” I was quickly able to solve the problems from my thermo class and my quantum classes.  By doing these critical thinking problems, the most used equations and facts eventually stuck in my mind. The ones that were not used much I still had to look up but now I knew where to look things up. After learning this, problem solving became easy.  I no longer spent wasted hours trying to memorize.  However, I did end up ‘memorizing” the stuff I used.  The internet is this generation’s CRC handbook.  If we show  students, over and over, how to use the net to find facts, these methods will be second nature to them. This will allow them to use their brains for something really productive - THINKING.

As teachers, we need to adopt this idea that the internet is a tool for our subject. Allow and foster its use in our pedagogy.  It is fast becoming more important than reference books and is quickly becoming a place for realtime classroom connections with people and places from all over the world.  We do our students a disservice  if we don’t teach them how to use what will be the most important collection of facts ever collected.  Facts cannot do anything without the ability to process them.  By encouraging creative thinking we teach our students how to cope with anything they may come across.

And isn’t that why you became a teacher in the first place?

Nothing should please you more than to know that you helped someone solve a problem.

Whether it is a problem that you tested them on or not.

Update: 2/9: I just read a couple of great posts on the same theme. So here they are:

Tech Transformation

Constructing Meaning

Standing Watch

As I said last week, I try to start every class standing at my door greeting my students and others as they walk by. I have tried to do this each day for 24 years. I have felt like the lion on the steps to the library outside untold number of classroom doors and in four different schools.  I started doing it for one reason – I was told to.  Now you could not convince me to stop. I have many reasons for doing it now, but the reason I do it most now is the memory of one student’s comment – but that is the end of this story. Let me talk to you first about the not so insignificant reasons first.

First is the classroom management reasons for being in the hall. This is what got me into the hall during passing periods in the first place – I was told to be there by my first Principal so that the hall maintained a presence of authority (nevermind that this same Principal once transferred a student into my homeroom because my homeroom “did not have a real authority figure in it…” But that is ANOTHER story) Any teacher worth their salary knows that the first and best way to stop problems is to avoid them by being present and aware. New teachers take note! Classroom Management 101 is move around your classroom and be aware of everything. Most potential problems are completely avoided in this way.  And thus, it one reason I like standing in the hall along with my science colleagues  and our hall has few problems. I don’t even think of hallway management issues anymore.

Secondly I like to see the people in the hall.  My school has about 1800 students in it grades 10-12. I teach only a select few of them being a physics and astronomy teacher. I like to say hi to old students,nod to current students and put a face to the 1000+ students who will never take a class of mine.  Oh and be aware that those students do notice you.  I will never forget the uproar about five years ago when I abruptly cut my hair.  I went from a long-haired pony-tailed guy to the clean-cut clippers only at the barber type.  I had so many students that i did not know coming to talk to me that I was speechless.  I did not know what to do.  Many were angry and wanted to know who forced me to cut my hair.  Some were some emotional that I was almost ashamed to admit to them that I did it for safety reasons (it almost fell into a router I was using during woodworking.) So take heed, students notice you – even if they do not talk to you, they know about you and you can still have an effect on them.

One of the big reasons I stand in the hall is that it forces be away from prepping for the upcoming class.  It is too easy to over-prepare.  You are never completely ready for a lesson. So let it drop. If you are a good teacher, your lesson can spare you a few minutes.  Spend the time welcoming students, talking to them. Ask them about their weekend.  It may not help them learn physics but it will help them get to know you. It will help your relationship with them and in the long run it will help your classroom environment. And sometimes you (and they) just need to carry on a conversation that has nothing to do with your class. It lets the stress out.

Lastly, when I stand in the hall, I am reminded of an incident that took place about 8-9 years ago.  I lost about 40 pounds in about 10 weeks.  I was becoming the healthiest I had been in a long time.  My gut had all but disappeared and people everywhere were noticing it and commenting on it.  One morning, during homeroom we talked about my loss of weight.  And just a note about homeroom. Our homeroom was an 8 minute period where announcements came on the speaker and i handed out info to students that I never saw any other time of the day. Many, if not most teachers always complained that it was a waste of time(but again that is another story, lol!) I always used the time to talk with my kids and get to know them as well as I could during that 8 minute a day session for the three years I had those students.  Well, this group of students were getting ready to graduate and we got to talking how everyone had changed during the years we were together.  All the students started telling me how much I changed and how  impressed they were by my effort.  I was pretty happy at their compliments when all of a sudden on girl spoke up and said ” I don’t like it at all!  I like the way he was!”  The group went dead silent until one of the boys turned to her and said “How can you say that?  Look how good he looks!  It took a lot of work to lose that weight!”  I could see that the girl was upset so I started trying to defuse the situation.  You see, she was not an extrovert. I knew it took a lot for her to say what she said. She was the student in your class that never says anything and barely gets noticed. Someone who tries to be forgettable and not attract attention.  My school is an upscale middle-class suburban school and she was from a poor background.  She did not fit in.

But she had stood up to the group to exclaim her controversial feeling to the who group.  The group just looked at her and she continued,

“I liked him the way he was. I looked forward to coming to Homeroom everyday where he would stand at the door with a big smile on his face and his greying beard. Everyday he would say hello and how are you. He made me feel great. Now he looks all different. I miss my Santa.”

No one knew what to say.

Not even me.

We were “saved” by the bell and everyone shuffled out.

I was dumb founded, but I thought about her comment all day and came to realize that I had just been given the best compliment a person could be given. As comparisons go, I don’t think there are many other people I could name that would make me feel any better. Who wouldn’t want to be compared to Santa?

The next day I went over to that student and thanked her. I told her that I was honored that she felt that way. I promised that I would always try to live up to her view of me.

And I have.

That is why I stand in the hall – to make people feel as good as they do at Christmastime.

To Start a Class

Every day I start each class by standing in the hallway greeting students as the walk into or by my classroom. There is important pedagogy with this simple act but I will talk about that in a later post. What I do want to talk about is how my astronomy class starts and I need to paint the picture where my classroom starts – in the hallway. The students pass by me as they enter the room and either say hi or talk to me about something about the class. But after greeting each other the students enter a dark class. Dark enough that my Principal once leaned past me into the class to turn on the lights when he saw students entering the class. He was slightly embarrassed when he was admonished by the students that the lights we supposed to be off.  The classroom is lit only by a video projector onto the screen in the front of the room.  The students cannot help but look at the screen.   And on that screen is the Astronomy Picture of the Day(APOD.) I rarely have it showing the text – just the photo graces the screen.  The reasons for me doing this are many-fold, but it comes down to this one fact – Astronomy is Beautiful.  The students intrinsically know this, that is why they are taking the course. Their parents know this, which is why they consistently tell me that astronomy is the only class their kids talk about at home. It has nothing to do with me. I am just a means to an end. They want to know more about something so beautiful. I just get them to ask the questions by putting up a page that revels in the beauty of space exploration.  I have done this since before I had a video projector. Albeit it was harder to show students the glorious photos back in the old days.

The APOD is a website which has been produced by two professional astronomers, Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, since 1995.  During that time, I have used the APOD as a teaching tool.  The APODs usually are photos taken about a current event in astronomy or space research.  And each photo is meticulously annotated with web resources about the topics discussed in the write up.  You could not ask for a greater teaching (or learning) tool.  I think I have learned almost as much from my APOD research as from any other singular source I have studied.

Almost every day students have questions about the pictures that are on the site.  It becomes a contest among my students to find out as much as possible each day before class about that day’s picture. Many of my (graduated)students have written to tell me that they still use the APOD as their Home Page. The discussions often go places that were no where near my lesson plan. I don’t mind.  And many times I have to say “you don’t know enough yet for me to explain that to you.” And they don’t mind.  My students learn that if I say “We will talk about that topic and answer that question later” – we eventually do.

After the APOD  discussion is over, I many times switch over to the Spaceweather website which compiles many different astronomical current event media.  If the APOD does not strike up a discussion, a movie of the current solar prominence or Aurora Borealis photo usually will.  I cannot tell you the number of conversations I have had over the current extended solar minimum I have had with my students (at their behest!)

If you teach anything about astronomy and space science and you don’t use these sites daily to inspire. You really should think it over.  Yeah, the current event may have nothing to do with your current topic but why are you teaching your course anyway?  Isn’t it to excite and inspire? If your students are excited, they will be motivated to learn and then it will take you only half the time to teach your “lesson plan.”

Oh and BTW, you might even get excited again about the subject.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

What Dreams May Come

Here I sit in the Rochester Airport once again typing another blog post. Sometimes it seems that the only time i get to write on my blog is while I am traveling. Lately, the only time I slow down is when i am waiting for transport or sitting in an office waiting to be called. Otherwise, I can honestly say that I could not fill in another thing. I have started turning down opportunities – something I have never done. It is during these infrequent slow times that i sit and review my life. It’s either that or catch a power nap – and reviewing is much more enjoyable recently. It seems that I am riding a wave, and that wave is taking me places I thought i could only dream about. The past two years has been incredible, and yet it still is getting better. Today I am about to get on a plane to DC where I will take part in the first-ever International Space Station Tweetup. Only 35 people from around the world were asked to come and I am one of them! How do I rate? The real answer is that I don’t. I am an average teacher who is just taking the time to apply for these opportunities. If you are a teacher reading this, realize that you can do these things. All you need to do is set aside a small amount of time each week to try for these things. If you spend a few minutes each week attempting to reach your goals, eventually you will.

A bit of advice though. Start small. Just like an athlete training for the big event, you must start with small goals. Not only do these small goals provide small bursts of pride(I did that?!!) they also show you what your weaknesses are. That way you can fix them and go for the next one. It’s like that with lesson plans. A teacher would never start the year with a major project with all new materials and tasks. They show students what they are capable of over a stretch of time with small tasks, eventually getting to the major project. So do this with yourself. Try for a $500 grant before the $10K grant. Become a local rep for your state organization before trying for the state position. If you pace yourself and learn from your stumbles, you will build your resume and prepare yourself for the bigger and harder challenges. And that is what it is all about. Those dreams you have of talking with astronauts or doing Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre.  Go and do research in your favorite field or do a summer internship with the sports team of your choice. The opportunities are out there and if you don’t do them, someone else will.  The only reason you won’t get the chance is because you won’t put aside a few minutes a week.

Chase your dreams.

And if you don’t have dreams like that, then get some. Why else are you on this Earth if not to dream and chase after them.

That is why you dream at night. Your brain is asking “What if?”

So ask yourself…

“What if?”

Finally Over??

Well here it is two weeks after the MESSENGER Flyby Event that I attended. I have to ask myself if it was all worth it. If you are a teacher, I will ask you something first:

How important would something have to be to take you out of the classroom after only 13 class days into the school year. That something would take you away for 5 class days. That means, in addition to the normal start of the year routines(getting to know your new students, lesson planning, etc) you have to create substitute lesson plans for a sub who might not be from your subject. You also have to help your district find funding to pay for the entire trip. you then have to grade all the missed work when you get back since 5-week grades are due by end of the week.

So what do you say?  Is there anything worth that? I did not think so.  I was wrong. An hour ago I was tweeted(don’t ask if you have to ask) by @cbrannon “I am looking at the NASA MESSENGER program. Are you still enjoying the benefits and satisfied with the program? AND Why?”  I think I may have broken the record for continued tweets in answering him. I won’t bore you with all that i replied.  Let me say that now that I am almost caught up(and on yet another weekend trip as part of my role with STANYS) and overcoming the cold I caught. I can safely say that there is nothing I have done as a science teacher that has helped me bring more excitement to my class and school. The students think the whole experience is awesome. Now they have caught my excitement for all things space related. Cafeteria workers and secretaries and custodians ask me how NASA is.  I get teased all the time by my fellow teachers about when I am going to space – all with love and excitement. People of all ages love having a connection, no matter how many degrees away it is, to NASA.  While I was at the MESSENGER Flyby, I had a conversation with Dr. Jeff Goldstein about how NASA is the only Government Agency that inspires awe and excitement anymore. He kinda agreed with my position but defended a few other agencies and departments. However, I really feel that, in my experience as a common person, nobody gets excited positively about anything government related except for NASA. Some people, like president Obama inspire and excite, but that is the person, not the office. We have lost that excitement for everything the government touches – except NASA.

They tried to tarnish it, but the space lovers at NASA brought it back.

Bit by Bit.

Hubble.       The Rovers.         The Mars Phoenix Mission.       Hubble again!

MESSENGER

The Flyby is over but I can’t say that I will stop doing these events.  Heck, if it was up to me, this would only be the beginning. I want to personally spread the word to everyone in the world. Starting with students and teachers.

Get excited.

Get involved.

I can’t stop and my students don’t want me to.

They won’t want you to either.

Tweeting the Flyby

Here I sit at 11pm on September 29th 2009 in my hotel room in Columbia Maryland.Tired, restless, a bottle of Coke next to my computer, I am still trying to wind down from a crazy day. Since noon today I, along with four other MESSENGER Fellows(“master teachers” from across the US), have been tweeting about the MESSENGER spacecraft as it approached and flew by the planet Mercury. It has been an interesting experience – far different from last year’s low key flyby.  But we were making history today. Never before has there been a group of teachers broadcasting live from Mission Operations Center to anyone anywhere that wanted to know about NASA’s mission to the smallest planet. Just thinking about what happened today gets my stomach going again. Here is a taste of what I experienced…

A crowded room room filled with a large center table. MESSENGER Fellows occupy that table looking at their laptops. People surrounding them eating and talking with each other. The Fellows are introduced to everyone as they come in – and their role in this event is explained.”To broadcast to the world what is happening here at the flyby.” It is interesting  watching the reactions of the people  and listening to their comments – especially when the word “Twitter” was mentioned.  There is the knowing half-smile/smirk and  a quick comment. Never outright negative, comments like these are made by people who don’t yet see the big picture.  Some begin to see it when the Fellows ask questions and then furiously type their  answers to the Twitterverse. You see, no one truly appreciates the power of these social media outlets yet. Even a lot of the people using them.  NASA  wanted us broadcasting however, and so we broadcast. We answer questions from students and others interested in space science. We let everyone know  what is happening as it happens.

The power of what we are doing was intense. The chuckles die down as people watch us answer question after question. They watch over our shoulders as the time of the flyby grows near. They wonder who we are talking to.  Our room is packed with people.   As the time of the flyby grows near, the volume in the room becomes deafening. Suddenly though I realize the room has grown deathly quiet. I have been so absorbed in writing online, that I have not noticed that almost all the scientists have left. Up on the video screen it shows many of them in the actual ops center centered around a computer. I look up at the live doppler data and see that it has disappeared. Something has happened and it is not good.

I tweet throughout this. Several minutes after the drop in signal, MESSENGER goes behind Mercury. For the next 51 minutes there is no way to hear or talk to MESSENGER. People are nervously, and quietly talking to each other. A few minutes into the occultation of the spacecraft Sean Solomon,PI for MESSENGER, walks slowly into our room and tells us that the science team thinks that MESSENGER may have switched antennae for some reason, but the team did not want to try anything before the known blackout.  We have to wait. Sean does not have the great smile on that he did a little while earlier. it is obvious that he was nervous. The Fellows tweet to the world what we are watching. A swollen lump in our stomaches replacing the excited butterflies that we have had all day.

7pm comes way too slowly and suddenly we see that the Live Doppler Shift video suddenly has a signal. No scientists are in the room. they are all in the ops room. we can see them on the tv screen. The fellows are all speculating “Is that it? Do we have a signal?” Sean comes in this time with a quicker step and says “Yes” we have signal. The room suddenly springs a leak as it is filled with the sound of many people letting out their collective breaths. A small cheer goes up. Then furious typing as we tell the world. “YAY we have contact with MESSENGER!!!” I tweet to the world. The part of the world that follows me hears this great news.

Later we find that we lost some of the Doppler data that would have given us more information on Mercury’s gravity. Also that MESSENGER, for some reason, was not in its normal operating mode. the data link is slow and scientists are not sure what is happening. What is known is that data download will be delayed.More will be known tomorrow.

This is science.

This is real life.

I am a teacher who was there and witnessed it.

I will tell the world.

My students will be better for this.

Update: Corrected Sean Solomon’s name. I incorrectly named him last nite since I was so tired.

Living the Dream

Today I am sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Baltimore. I am about to miss a week of class – a point sorely brought home by the exhaustion I feel after a previous week of preparing subplans for the entire previous two weeks, I pulled no fewer than three 12 hour days and two 15 hour days. That is time spent at school doing work – it does not include time spent preparing work stuff at home. Even with all that time spent preparing, I am not happy with the product. I guess I never am. I despise time spent away from my class. I don’t think I would be a good teacher if I did.
So why am I not in class this week?  This week is the final MESSENGER Flyby of Mercury before orbital insertion in 2011. Since I am a MESSENGER Fellow, I was invited to the event and I am going to connect my classes and others from around the country to the science and people surrounding MESSENGER. I could not be happier.

But even saying all that, I still had a niggling sense of doubt in my head about whether i was doing right by my students. That doubt was erased on Friday when I asked my students a question I was asked by a reporter. I was asked”How do your students feel about you going away for a week to do this?” I could not answer this and would not put words in their mouths,so I asked my students this question. I was pleasantly surprised by their responses. It was almost entirely positive.  The only negative reactions were immediately tempered by comments like “While it is not great you will be away – we will eventually get more out of this class because of your personal experience at the MESSENGER Flyby.”  The students comments actually surprised me in some cases. “Being selected to be a part of the Flyby and work with NASA means that you know your stuff. That is important to me!”  This comment was made and followed by many of the students classmates nodding their heads in agreement with the student. When asked why this was important to them, the general response I received was ” teachers who live their subject are better teachers in the long run.” These were the students words, not mine  I was floored by the overwhelming response. Not only did I think they were not as excited by this event, but I never thought that they cared about what I did outside of school. One student said “College professors are required to work in their field. It not only keeps them up to date but it keeps them excited about their subject. High School teachers should also.”

Interesting ideas from interested students.

Definitely something to chew on.

Meanwhile I will go live my dream.

Follow me at the Flyby!

What are you waiting for?

This past weekend I went back to my Alma Mater, Alfred University, for only the third time in 25 years. It was a bittersweet occasion since I was not there for a happy occasion. I was attending the Remembrance for a professor who had recently passed away. The professor, Dr. J. Scott Weaver, had started at Alfred the last couple of years I attend Alfred, but he hada significant impact on me. Luckily, I had a chance to tell him that during the year previously through a recent connection with his wife at a STANYS conference. During the conference, Dr. Weaver’s wife attended a session in which I was presenting on NASA’s MESSENGER mission. I’ll never forget the smile on her face afterwards when she asked me if I remembered her from Alfred. She told me that Dr. Weaver had proudly followed my career and that he would be ecstatic at my recent appointment as a MESSENGER Fellow. We connected many times after that conference. The most important message though was something I felt to my core – my career would have been less without the benefit of teachers like Dr. Weaver and other teachers at Alfred such as Dr. Stull, Dr. Webb, Dr. Mueller, and Dr. Nebel. They taught a wild, young, unfocused student how to focus his energies and passions into a drive that has lasted me 25 years. I may not have been the best student, but they were the best teachers – and not just of physics. They had the patience to wait out my eccentricities and see through the facade I put up. College was a hard time for me since I was using it to escape from my past. Alfred provided me a new home and family I needed to get through each day. These professors were my surrogate family. I cannot think back to my 5 years (and 2 degrees) at Alfred without fondness and a knowledge that if I had teachers with less skill and heart than these, I would not have achieved all that I have.

As a teacher, I cannot tell you how much it means to hear back from your old students. An email arrived this past summer from a student I had over 5 years ago. She was sitting on her deck at 2AM and thought about my astronomy class. She remembered that i told her about astrophotography and she decided to try it. She emailed those pics and thanked me for changing her. I had tears in my eyes reading the email. I recently read a friend’s blog, Dr. Jeff’s Blog on the Universe about contacting teachers, and it says everything I haven’t. The thing that keeps teachers going through the tough times is hearing they made a difference. Can you remember a teacher that helped shape you? One that you can credit for you being where you are? It does not matter if they are K-12 teachers or college profs – It means something if you take your time to contact them and tell them how you feel. There is no excuse in this day of google and social media. It has never been easier.

Do it now…

What are you waiting for?

Twitter:Semantic Web First Edition?

It’s all the rage nowadays to write about Twitter. All the cool kids are doing it so I think I will chime in. It’s been a year since I have been on Twitter and during that year I rode a roller-coaster of feelings about Twitter’s usefulness. But in January I started sensing something emerging from my (relatively) small following or (in eduspeak) my PLN (Personal Learning Network). Twitter was fast replacing Google as my place of choice for finding out stuff. Don’t get me wrong. Google is where I went to find out mere facts, but Twitter was the go-to place to research concepts and ideas.

Remember, I am an Inquiry-Science teacher. I learned in my junior year of college that facts could (and should) be looked up in a CRC(ask your old science teacher what that is). But ideas had to be in your brain if you wanted to succeed @ tests or anything worthwhile(not that i am saying tests are worthwhile). I drive my students batty with my mantra that facts are not as important as concepts. Google is all about facts. Twitter is about concepts and ideas. Perhaps, this is why the media has a problem with Twitter. It used to be their place to transmit ideas through society. When they opted out of being an unbiased sources of ideas, something had to eventually replace them. Transmitting ideas is much more difficult than transmitting facts and it took a while for the Internet to fill the void. I think Twitter has started that replacement.

When listening to the prognosticators of the the web’s future, like Nova Spivak (see his video) ,words like “Singularity” and “Semantic Web” are bandied around. Educators like Karl Fisch(see his video) have used these predictions to wow people with visions of the future. Prediction are cool and get people excited but what about looking at what is currently here, in the present. I don’t think that many of these prognosticators are looking at the current connection between people and the Internet. Twitter has combined the best parts of Internet mainstays like Google and Amazon.com. Google succeeded because it was simple to use. Amazon.com succeeded not because it was simple, it flourished because it provided people with a sense of community at an Internet store. you went to Amazon because you got people’s opinions and ideas – not because it was cheaper or better or easier to use. Twitter has done exactly that with ideas – provided a way to pass along ideas simply, efficiently, and with a sense of fun and community. I feel that it has become the first edition of the Semantic Web.

If you don’t know what Semantic Web means – basically it is a web that understands what you mean – not what you type. Computers cannot understand your meaning without a lot more power and programming (and probably an Artificial intelligence.) But people can understand (usually) the idea behind statements and typos. We are built(aka programmed) to be able to tell the meaning between two seeming similar statements. If nothing else, that is what parents and school are for, aren’t they? However school can only teach you so much about understanding meaning. Meaning comes from the interaction between people and ideas. Twitter has provided just that – an access to a community to help understand and define the meaning between ideas, concepts, events and themselves. While many eschew computers and the internet for degrading relationships, others are finding ways to use it to replace faulty “real-life” communication. I know that the correspondence I have with my Twitter community has helped my teaching pedagogy and knowledge base. Being able to speak daily with members of NASA and other parts of the science community AND bring it into my classroom in real time cannot be compared with any communication I have done in 20+ years of teaching about space and physics.

People who think that the Semantic Web will exist w/o the human socialization are being narrow minded in their view of the web. They want a web AI or artificial intelligence. An AI is not needed though for a social or “hive mind” which is what twitter communities are really becoming with the addition to all the other tools that these communities are adding to their handyman’s belt. Why not think of the interaction of people and the internet as more of a communal mind that harvests the fruit of human endeavor and thought?

So the next time you ask a question or make a comment on Twitter, think about the stream of consciousness that will proceed over the web as others read, interpret, make connections, comment, answer, and even then go into real person to person conversations and then back to the net. It is that dang butterfly causing hurricanes all over again.

Please Mr. Gates, Talk to Me!

Sometimes you get what you ask for.  Having been a TED video evangelist for over a year,  I eagerly waited for this year’s crop of TED news; to the point that I set up Twitter #TED follows and RSS feeds.  Really, I am not a TED stalker– I just think that what happens at TED is important to education. Gee–new ideas and education can be mixed?  Who would have thought?

So, when I heard that Matt Harding was doing a TED talk and then Bill Gates was scheduled on the first day, I could not contain myself.  Who would have put these two people in the same conference?  Matt’s video is one of the most beautiful things on the Internet.  If you have not seen his video, stop right now and watch this:

I hope he makes a new video with the people at TED dancing with him. This video should be shown in every social studies class on earth.  It shows that people everywhere love dance and fun.  How could someone not smile seeing all those children laughing and dancing?

Now for my request.  I need your help. But first I want you to watch Bill Gate’s TED Talk.  The part about the mosquitoes is pure genius.  Listen to the nervous laughter when he <snip> (you’ll know when.)  It made headlines everywhere.  You achieved your PR stunt, good job Bill.  It’s the second half of the video that I am concerned about however.  Watch the whole video here.

The second half of the video has not made headlines anywhere.  Many have viewed the video, those inside the field of education and out.  Teachers in our school saw the video–excellent teachers–and their hearts fell. How could Bill Gates disrespect teachers like that? And at TED? Bill can have any opinion he wants, but the problem lies in the venue at which he decided to shared his ideas. TED talks are filled with the current (and future) movers and shakers of  the world and his opinions may act as the very virulent plague of malaria he is working so hard to destroy. Unfortunately, the good aspects as well as the bad aspects of education will be attacked by those who will use Mr. Gates’ words as a platform to thrust needless changes upon a system already burdened by political and corporate whims.

I am concerned.

Not angry.

Not mad.

Concerned

I need to talk to Mr. Gates and I think you can help me.  I am nervous about asking this because it may seem like I am exploiting you for personal gain.  I am not.  I want one thing.  I want to improve the current state of education in America and I know that Bill and Melinda Gates can and will change education.  I have visited and talked to people at the schools that they have helped.  They are doing the right thing.  The current state of American education is in disrepair.  I agree with him on that.  Something must be done.  I agree with that. We must somehow show teachers best practices.   I agree with that.  Bill is right on point with many of his ideas, but towards about 17 minutes into the video things start going astray.

I want to say at this point that I am not a union stooge.  I think that at times our teacher unions do us a disservice. Like many unions, they may have had their time in the sun.  I don’t believe pay strictly for seniority is correct.  But I don’t think that Bill paid incoming new workers top dollar, no matter how amazing they were.  People with 10 years experience probably made more than the best new recruits.  But something must be done about paying teachers.

Bill, would Windows Millennium have been a better product if you had showed your engineers a video of the best thinkers in your company at work?  So why are cameras in the classroom 24/7 a good idea?

Come on, you can do better than that. And you will–I am sure of that.  You are dedicated.  I have seen the results of your efforts and they are amazing.

But I need to talk to you Mr. Gates.  Seriously.  Face to Face.  For 30 minutes.

I can guarantee you that you will hear something different from me.  If not, I will pay you for your time.  I can’t afford your salary but I will pay you what I make per hour for 30 minutes of you time.  This is not a joke.  You will hear the musings of a dedicated and passionate teacher.  Good teachers don’t have time to complain. They are too busy knocking down the barriers to their teaching.  You will not hear one negative comment from me.  No blaming problems on others.  I will not tell you to change something other than teachers, because I believe that teachers can and will change the system.  With your help, we can do it faster.  If I cannot give you at least one idea that you can and will use immediately then I should not be a teacher.  How about helping the good teachers get their word out in their districts?  Buy them time to personally show their best practices locally, state-wide and nationally?  How about creating an earmarked fund for districts to spend in addition to whatever they are currently spending on professional development? How about grants to teacher education programs that hire the best teachers in each field to help train young new professionals before they are start teaching?  Those three ideas were off the top of my head, brainstorming at this very moment.  Each has some problems but so does every idea.  I promise you much, much more.

So please, meet with me.  You will not regret it.

Teachers, this is where you come in. I need your help to get this message to Bill Gates.  I know in my heart that I can say something to him that will move him.  Please get others to read this and spread the word.  We can have an effect on our profession if we do something proactive.  I know Mr. Gates believes teachers are the answer.  I know that he believes that he can help us.  Let us show him what is needed.  We are the experts and We have the answers.  Now let us help Bill Gates help us make schools better.  No whining or complaining. Let us shine, just as we do in the classroom.

So forward this post.

Retweet it.

Delicious it.

Tell others.

Facebook it

Hey, if you have his number, call him    :^)

In the meantime, write a comment below about ONE thing you would ask Mr. Gates to help you become a better teacher.  I doubt this post will really achieve a face to face meeting with Mr. Gates, but if we can get a positive dialog going about how We can improve ourselves, maybe, just maybe he will read it and he will make your thoughts a reality.  So teachers, say something about how we can improve ourselves (not others).  Go ahead make a comment below, only one rule–no negatives!

WE need to bend Bill’s ear a bit– for 30 minutes

Mr. Gates, you won’t regret it.

Addendum: On February 16th. TED posted another new video by Barry Schwartz. What Mr Schwartz says  about rules is part of what I want to say to Mr Gates.  It is another example of why teachers should take 15 minutes a day to watch one TED talk. What Mr. Schwartz says about teachers is significant and important. Hopefully Bill was watching.

The video is not up on YouTube yet and WordPress does not allow video from TED so just click on this link to see Barry Schwartz’s video.