"Uh, Miss, is that on the test?" - The Death of "Why?"

From The Death of "Why?": The Decline of Questioning and the Future of Democracy by Andrea Batista Schlesinger (Kindle Edition)

Our schools send the message to children that the answer is all that counts.  We test students to death, conveying the idea that correctly filling in the bubbles is the same as learning. Our classrooms become dedicated to the cause of test preparation, as science and its guiding philosophy - that we must discover, ask questions, accumulate evidence, make determinations - become optional.

This addiction to answers affects our democracy, too. We have the mistaken belief that even the most pressing challenges facing our country...are problems to be "fixed" once and for all, if only we can find the right solution and the right person to implement them.

Could this be why our political leaders in Washington, DC, and state capitols can't work out solutions to some of our biggest problems? Are they too busy "filling in the bubbles" instead of spending time working together to ask the critical questions, explore the evidence, and discover new solutions? Is their narrow focus only on a pre-determined solution, the so-called "right answer?" Have we finally created a culture that only values the "correct result?"

If we continue the emphasis on bubble-like testing, are we doomed?  Is it too late to change?  Are any of these questions on the test?

Technology, not test scores, will point students toward the future... #edreform

For most children, the key to success will continue to be sharp critical skills, strong connections, effective communication and the nerve to be creative and entrepreneurial. The difference is that we are living at a time in which all of those skills are defined by one's proficiency in connected media. Furthermore, for students facing poverty, violence and disability, online learning networks can provide empowering educational experiences that transcend the circumstances of the classroom.

In Digital Age, schools that succeed are schools that connect 

By Shelly Blake-Plock

The Baltimore Sun, July 12, 2011 

Lee Middle School Teachers Learn this Summer

Teachers at Lee Middle School took a short break from their summer recess to learn how to use technology in the classroom, and how to make use of creative learning spaces to better engage their students.  Godfrey-Lee's own Sarah Wood, technology integration specialist, and Kelly McGee, media specialist, planned and led the sessions that began this morning.

The training is part of our district's vision for 1:1 technology that emphasizes an "anytime, anywhere, any device" culture of teaching and learning.  It also demonstrates that to effectively utilize a vast array of technology tools in the classroom, teachers must be learners, too.

Godfrey-Lee is entering the second year of our five-year plan to provide 1:1 technology in grades 6-12 and make mobile learning carts along with other devices available to grades K-5.  Students entering our 6th Grade Campus at Lee Middle & High School receive a mobile digital device (this year they will again be Dell 2100 netbooks) they'll use throughout their experience at Lee.  When the new school year begins, our middle school will be approximately 80% equipped with mobile technology.  Next year, we'll complete the implementation at the middle school level and include the 9th grade at Lee High School.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Westley Field and the Future of Schooling - #ISTE11

It appears that I saved the best for the last. Westley Field spoke on the Future of Schooling Wednesday afternoon and although my brain had about all it could take from this fantastic conference in Philadelphia, I was certainly glad I hung around to the finish.

Westley is Director of Online Learning and IT Manager for the MLC School in Sydney, Australia.  A private school for girls in grades K-12, MLC is a future-focused school utilizing 1:1 technology tools for blended learning and collaboration.  The school's website proclaims that "...students need to be able to learn in teams, collaboratively, as a class, a section, a whole community or alone...in the city, in the outback and around the world,...anywhere and anytime."  Westley is one of the key leaders in making that happen and his philosophy of 21st century learning is out front in transforming K-12 education.

Last fall, Westley made a trip to San Diego where he presented to a group of technology directors from that area. The 99-minute video of that presentation mirrored what he had to say to us at ISTE this summer.  Titled: Emerging Technologies to Transform Learning in School, it's well-worth watching by school leaders and teachers everywhere.

Westley's philosophy of technology in education can be summed up by a response he makes to a frequently asked question:  Is this (1:1 technology) an integral part of the whole teaching process?

Absolutely. We are preparing students for both their working lives and their personal lives. Many current vocations include the integrated use of technology and it could be argued that technology has become integral to everyday communication. Restricting access to technology would be creating a false environment limiting the development of those skills required for 21st century living and learning. The technology is not as significant as the skills of communication, collaboration, research, independent learning, networking etc.

He also has a great response for those who might question technology in the classroom as a negative change that risks inappropriate behavior or wasting of time by students:

This is not a technology question it is a behavioral question. We have one rule for the use of technology in the school - it must be used to improve your educational outcomes. If students choose to use it in other ways then we regard that as a behavior issue not a technology issue. Limiting access to technology reduces the students skills in learning how to keep safe when using technology.

While much of his presentation focused on the steps schools and districts should take when implementing (or deciding to implement) a 1:1 tech plan and his school's Broken Hill and other real-world learning experiences, I found Westley's down-to-earth philosophy about 21st century learning both entertaining and inspiring. My favorite take-away was a simple yet profound statement of advice: Question everything. Is it helping move toward the future? If not, get rid of it.

Right on, mate!

Third Michigan at Gettysburg

One hundred-forty-eight years ago, the Third Michigan, made up of men primarily from the Grand Rapids and surrounding areas, marched into Gettysburg on July 2 deploying as skirmishers, holding the line from the Peach Orchard to east of the woods.  Colonel Byron R. Pierce was in command but was wounded below the left knee that day and replaced by his brother, Lieutenant Colone Edwin S. Pierce.  The Third eventually took up a position in the Peach Orchard.

Colonel De Trobriand positioned the 5th Michigan and 110th Pennsylvania on the southern edge of a wooded ridge just west of the Wheatfield, with the 3rd Michigan on his western front, the right portion of the regiment being extended to the Peach Orchard, and deployed as a skirmish line at the Emmitsburg Road, connecting with the skirmish line of the 5th Michigan near the Rose house, a little east of the road. The 40th New York and 17th Maine, also in the same woods, De Trobriand held as a second line of reserve, with the 40th on the left and the 17th had its right at the northern edge of the woods about one hundred yards from the Peach Orchard, in the rear of the 3rd Michigan. At about 3:00 a.m. the Third Michigan broke camp and marched off, passing through Emmitsburg and crossing into Pennsylvania at 6:00 a.m. The distance, noted Colonel De Trobriand, was only seven or eight miles, but it had rained, and the roads were terrible.

The Third Michigan came up to the front at the line of battle near Gettysburg sometime between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. joining the rest of Birney’s First Division. The regiment rested briefly in the Third Corps area, somewhere along the slope of the high ground near Little Round Top. The Michiganders found Birney’s division with its left near Little Round Top and its right in a direct line toward the cemetery, “connecting on the right with the 2nd division of this corps.” The division’s “picket line was in the Emmitsburg road, with sharpshooters some 300 yards in advance.” By mid-afternoon, the Union line of defense ran roughly along the eastern side of the Emmitsburg Road to the Peach Orchard, where Birney’s First division held the line.

At about 2:00 p.m. De Trobriand’s “woefully under strength” Third Brigade, consisting of the 3rd and 5th Michigan regiments, “both small but of the best kind,” and the 17th Maine, the 40th New York, “the largest in the brigade,” and the 110th Pennsylvania, which was the smallest in the brigade with only six companies, was put in the fight.

Expecting an attack on the left General Birney assigned De Trobriand’s Third Brigade to a wooded area at the edge of the “Wheatfield,” in the center of his division’s line.

Source: http://thirdmichigan.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-peach-orchard-at-gettysburg-july-2.html 

Years later, on June 12, 1889, a delegation of Michigan soldiers and political leaders gathered at Gettysburg to dedicate monuments to the Michigan regiments, including the old Third. General Byron R. Pierce led the delegation honoring the Third.  A.S. Shattuck delivered the address which can and should be read at http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924030924736#page/76/mode/2up.