Outliers

I've just about finished my most recent read, something I don't get to do nearly as much as I would like during the school year but with a long weekend because of our parent/teacher conferences last night I had some time to devote to finishing it up.  It has really spurred my thinking.  The book is called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  If you haven't read any of his stuff, I would highly recommend it.  The book investigates some of the reasons our best and brightest are the best and brightest.  After our parent/teacher conferences last night I keep coming back to a few of the highlights:

1. 10,000 hours.  This is the number concluded as the amount of time one has to put into his or her field in order to be the best of the best, or an outlier.  Whether you are a cellist, athlete, computer programmer, pilot, etc., 10,000 hours of work is required in order to reach the elite level of success.  Not many of us are willing to devote this much time to a single focus.
2. There is a big part of the book devoted to external factors that influence success.  Had Bill Gates been born any time other than he was (to put him right in the middle of the personal computing revolution) it is doubtful that he would be in the position he is.  He had his 10,000 hours in at just the right time.  Although his birth date is a major factor, it is not the ONLY factor; 10,000 hours...
3. The environment in which children are raised plays as big a role as IQ in determining one's eventual success.  He contrasts Oppenheimer and a man named Chris Langan, both of whom possess high IQ's but were raised in very different environments, and where their lives took them.  Along with these men, Gladwell draws from Lewis Terman's psychological studies of intelligence during the early 1900's that reinforce this.  This is a big one for me as I see many of my students being raised in less than ideal home settings.  The thought that saddens me is that these parents don't even realize how much they are handicapping their children by making the choices that they make.
4. Lastly, as a math teacher, I love his take on the stereotype of Asian countries' successful math scores year after year.  He focuses on the fact that these cultures typically have very strong work ethics because of their involvement in rice farming and the difference this makes in the mathematics classroom.  I draw from this with my students frequently when discussing success in my classroom and how much of their success in my classroom is directly related to the amount of work and focus they put into into it.

How can we change our school culture in order to put our students in the best possible position for success.  We as teachers do a lot, but sometimes (maybe after seeing only 20% of my parents at conferences when many of my students are underachieving) it feels like we are fighting an uphill battle against a cultural adversary.  Teaching is easy, but creating a culture that breeds success and where earning an education is important is extremely difficult.  How can we change the culture?

Elementary, my Dear...

With IBM's Watson on 'Jeopardy!,' how trivial is trivia?

I am so excited right now.  In the next hour, two of the greatest Jeopardy contestants of all time will square off against Watson, a computer built by IBM over the past 4+ years just to compete on the show.  Even though I already know the result (the episodes were filmed awhile back) I can't wait to watch on TV.  People keep referring to Deep Blue vs. Kasparov in 1997, but almost unanimously state how much more impressive this machine is.  I sincerely hope that in 15 more years, people are still referring to the impressiveness of Watson vs. Jennings and Rutter.

This article from the Washington Post, though, brings up a great point about the influence of technology on us humans.  As a loyal Jeopardy fan and purveyor of fine trivia knowledge, I was really moved by this article.  We have heard it before, but this is living proof that the ability to recall trivia knowledge is taking a back seat to the ability to locate facts.  I'm guilty of this myself as I sit on my chair in the evenings looking up answers to the questions my wife and I have randomly through our conversation.  I can't tell you how many times I pulled out the smart phone last night while watching the Grammy's to check on things like, "How OLD is Bob Dylan?"  Have I really caved to the laziness mentioned in this article?

The big point for us as teachers, however, lies in Petri's next-to-last paragraph, "But there is a point at which convenience ends and laziness begins. We're freeing up a great deal of mental space - for what?"  For what?  I really hope us teachers can answer that question, or we all may just be in for a bit of a rude awakening.

I love my right-click

Every time I turn around, whether while reading or surfing online, watching TV, or listening to the radio all I seem to see or hear is iPad this, iPhone that, iMac, MacBook, and on and on.  But I have to say that I love my right-click.  Most people are die hard about being a PC or a Mac, and I admit that I am die hard PC, and I don't see any changes to that, so I warn you that this post is pretty biased and strictly my opinion.  My wife uses a Mac laptop for digital video coding for her job, and she constantly tells me that if I use it enough I would change my mind.  I have been using her laptop more and more lately so that I don't have to be at our desktop station while working, and I can tell you that I still don't see it.  I guess I feel a bit more chic with a Mac on my lap, but it just doesn't feel right.  And the more engrossed into educational technology I get, the stronger I feel about my PC bias.
PC just seems so much more intuitive, for one.  It makes more sense to use.  When I work on my wife's MacBook, it always takes me awhile to "find my way around."  I realize that there is a learning curve when switching platforms, but PC just seems like the easier one to learn, and this is big when teaching students how to work with computers.
And with all of the news floating around about the tablet revolution, us PC folks are coming to be known as Android folks.  A few years ago while teaching at an online school in Ohio a coworker of mine had a theory that Google was like Dr. Evil, trying to take over the world.  I chuckled at the moment, and then over these past 6 or 7 years, I gradually succumbed, and I am full-on Google based.  I started by setting Google as my home page because I appreciated the simplicity of their search page.  From there, I created a Gmail account, Google maps replaced Mapquest in my searches for directions, I started checking their news feeds before other sites, I use their RSS reader, calendar, blogger, and so on to the point that my homepage has been replaced by iGoogle where I can see everything all at once.  Then the big one... I bought an Android phone.  Everything I do, either on my phone or computer, is synced and this Android device made my world come together.  While I am sure that Apple has the same capability, I don't think I could ever walk away from my beloved Google.  I must also say that I am very excited to see the progression of Google's Android based tablets that come out this year, and look forward to seeing how they stand up to the iPad. 
Further, the interconnectedness that Google affords is a big reason that I think, when these tablets invade our schools (as they most certainly will), it will be Android that comes out on top.  There is a lot of talk going around about iPads in the classroom, but we don't hear much about Galaxy Tabs in schools!  I only hope to see some news about Motorola's Xoom or LG's G-Slate in classrooms later this year.  As we gradually move toward incorporating Web 2.0 tools in our classrooms, Google's tools are a great asset; I know they have been for me as I work my way through this current course.  I just hope this evolution happens before I am finished with my teaching career.

Some Optimistic News

FCC Pushes For Universal Broadband Access

This news story aired on NPR's All Things Considered on February 9, 2011.

I heard this story on the radio yesterday afternoon, then it repeated again this morning, and I must say I got really excited of the prospect of universal broadband internet access.  I'm sure there are districts where access isn't really an issue, but teaching in a rural district with many families living without a broadband (or any) internet connection has limited the extent to which I can force technology into my curriculum.  I have to book the computer lab and allow plenty of work time during my class for many assignments and projects that could be completed outside of the classroom if everyone had access.  The subsidies worked so well for building telephone infrastructure that it is unheard of to not have a home telephone; broadband internet is the obvious next step.  I realize that this wouldn't happen overnight, but I still can't help be excited about the prospect of universal broadband access.  Let's get this going!  With the access available, we can take one more excuse off the table for parents and students to use for not fully participating fully in their education.

8 Jules Verne Inventions That Came True (Pictures)

8 Jules Verne Inventions That Came True (Pictures)

Jules Verne was born 183 years ago today, and oh how much has changed. This is a nice little entertaining summary of some gadgets we take for granted today that Verne had the foresight to think of long before their time. It kind of makes you wonder, what types of "science fiction" gadgets from today will be everyday items in 150 years or so? And also, we keep saying how fast technology is advancing today and wondering how far it can go, but don't you think they probably said the same thing in the mid-nineteenth Century?

And one more thing, if you missed the Google Doodle today, you might want to kick yourself. If you read this before it's removed, it's worth a trip to Google. If it's too late, cross your fingers and hope they have a fully interactive version saved in the Doodles Archive.

Audacity: More Than Just Podcasts! (?)

A couple of months ago an instructional aide who works with our autistic children approached me about the possibility of finding a program that would allow her to create "books on tape" for some of our special education students who are at very low reading levels.  I told her what I knew about at the time and that I would keep my eye out for anything that might work better.  As I was completing a podcasting assignment this week using Audacity, it suddenly occurred to me that this program might work great for this.  My concern with what we had available at school was file size and format.  Even just a small chapter of a book would be a huge .wav file, and .wav's aren't as versatile as far as playback is concerned.  Because Audacity can export to .mp3, students could consume these files in a number of different ways, and .mp3's are compressed enough that they wouldn't take up a ridiculous amount of disk space.  Since every kid under the sun (it seems) has some sort of digital media device, they could listen to their textbooks on their music players, files could be uploaded to our school's website (abiding by copyright law of course), or audio CD's could be burnt so that non- or low-readers could have an excellent resource available to help them read.

I shared this information with our principal and special education teachers, and they seemed eager to give this a closer look.  One special education teacher who works predominantly with our Jr. High students seemed very excited about the prospect and even brought up the idea of creating these audio resources to accompany textbooks from other classes, i.e. Social Studies, that involve a lot of reading.

This little experience has opened up my eyes a bit.  As a regular education teacher who is constantly experimenting with new technology tools, it is really easy to get excited and think, "Me, me, me.  How can I use this?"  But to step back for a second or two and look at the big picture, there are some absolutely fantastic, and amazingly obvious, uses for these tools that others may see more naturally than me that could be a great benefit to a number of students.

St. Baldrick's Foundation

I know it's a bit off topic, but for the past 5 years I've organized a St. Baldrick's Day event at my school, and we are just now gearing up for this year's event in late March.  St. Baldrick's a great foundation that raises funds and awareness for childhood cancer.  Please take a look, and if you are in a generous mood I encourage you to look into either donating or organizing an event at your school.  Sorry about the boldface promotion, but I truly believe it's worth it.