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.

All Things Social

Are you @ the party?

It is now the end of a weekend that found me flat on my back all day Saturday and still sick today (Sunday.) I had planned on grading this weekend but my head and body had other plans.  With that said, I ended up learning a lot this weekend. As I lay sick in bed, I had my laptop near me with the social networking tool Twitter running.  While I did not feel up to net surfing or doing much thinking whatsoever I was always aware of what the people in my Twitterverse were up to.  And they were up to a lot – from the group that was at Educon, to the group that was chatting with Thomas Friedman, and so forth.  Some were just at home with their families.  I was living vicariously through and with them while I lay in bed coughing up a lung.

I planned on writing my next post on social media and this weekend proved to me how important it was becoming.  I actively (while I was awake that is) following people as they were attending conferences and living vicariously through them.  This was an entirely new usage of the social networking software that I had been using during the past year.  Normally when I am sick, I do the typical guy thing and groan and grunt and watch TV for hours.  This time people were sending me links to live video feeds from Educon and the audio feed of Thomas Friedman as he talked about education and a flat earth.  I was not just a slug.

For those new to social medial and networking in education, it is a daunting thing – one that does not have an immediately obvious educational purpose.  Or so I thought.  I now think about the time I wasted a year ago as I lurked some of the sites (lurking is a web verb for checking out social web things like blogs and never participating.)  I had a few blogs that I read regularly but never added my own thoughts – and I had plenty of thoughts, I am VERY opinionated.  I just felt uncomfortable doing anything.  That all changed last year when I became a NASA MESSENGER Fellow. Here was a group of people I wanted to stay in touch with.  One of the fellows and I talked about a web tool called Twitter.  I had been using it to follow the Mars polar Lander and thought the tool was great.  Little did I know its power or lure.  We exchanged user names and started following each other.  Then came the opportunity of a lifetime, as I was invited to attend the Mercury flyby of the MESSENGER spacecraft at the mission SOC, along with the other MESSENGER Fellows.  I needed a way for people to follow me live and social media came to the rescue.  Twitter is like texting but anyone who follows you gets each message.  Some call it micro-blogging since you are limited to 140 characters.  I had k-12 students following me as well as teachers and staff and administrators.  I had found a great way to reach a lot of people – and have them comment back.  A dialogue was started.  Then I learned about Ustream with its interactive video capabilities and was able to answer elementary students questions live with scientists at MESSENGER headquarters.  The results were amazing as children heard me answer their questions live on “TV.”

I thought I had learned all there was to learn about how useful Twitter and other social media tools were when one day as a I was checking my email, someone “tweeted” (sent a message through Twitter” NASA-Colab meeting in Second Life at 4pm.”  I had heard about 2nd life but never considered it useful, but I had a few minutes and so I checked it out.  I was able to attend the meeting and add knowledge that I had to the discussion.  Now things are getting interesting.

Within the past month, I went from about 30 people following me on Twitter to 160 and growing.  How did that happen?  I stopped being a wallflower and “lurking.”  I started putting my opinion out there. I started posting sites that I thought were interesting.  I started making myself open to criticism and judgment.  And you know what happened?  People liked me!  They really liked me! (Shades of Sally Field, anyone?)  Like anything worth doing, you have to take a risk to get anything of value back.  That is what every social networking tool is about.  If you don’t add anything, you are not worth anything to anyone.  Don’t lurk and just watch. Don’t be a leech and just take what is offered. Throw something out into the group and see what people say.  Join the Party.  The water is warm.

I was going to post a bunch of stuff that I do online but I thought I would let you tell others what you do.  Please comment on this post and tell us one way you use social media in education.

I use Twitter to connect with my Personal Learning Network

I use Delicious to send/receive the best links with my PLN

I use Facebook to keep track of NASA and space science media and events

I use Youtube videos to teach physics and astronomy

I use Flickr to have my students show off their work and activity

I use a wiki for teaching, student work, labs, and student collaborative projects

Etc.

What do you do with social media?  Add a comment with how you use social media in your classroom.

Addendum: TEACHMEET INFO: As of February 1st, @AngelaStockman @Turrean and I have decided to try to have Western New York’s first TeachMeet.  A TeachMeet is an “unconference” where teacher can get together and build relationships and learn a little more. “A little more what?” You may ask.  A little more of whatever anyone has to offer.  Each session is either 7 or 2 minutes long. No Power Points allowed and everyone is wired to the net.  This is a developing new social event for teachers which started in Britain.  Goto TeachMeet to find out more.  The tentative date is in May, so stay tuned!