Tinkerings

Over the years, I’ve learned a few lessons on work ethic from people who have led me.  I’ve been running these lessons over and over in my head through the last few days, so naturally they have found their way to this blog post.  They have been unrelentingly playing in my mind like one of those ear worm songs that just won’t go away.  I’m hoping by writing them down i can allow my mind to think about other things soon.

Do Something Even If Its Wrong. This is a lesson I learned in high school from my grandfather.  He was a retired contractor and was working to help my dad, uncle, and me build our house in Arkansas.  I knew nothing about building, and occasionally he would find me standing around looking lost.  I cannot tell you how many times I heard, “Tim, do something even if its wrong, but don’t let me catch you just standing around.”  This has been, perhaps, the most defining piece of information that has guided my own work ethic.  In most cases, it has caused me to excel in the workplace.  Other times it has gotten me into trouble.  But I have always tried to let it guide me.  And I try to instill this thought into the heads of my students as well.

Sometimes You Get A Plaque. Years ago a State Youth Director with the Church of God told me the story of a secretary in his state office.  She had been there for years.  She thought she ran the office, and she would not be retrained.  At a state campmeeting they gave her a plaque and retired her with their thanks for her years of service.  That story, although perhaps apocryphal, has stuck with me through the years.  Without a good work ethic, sometimes people just need a plaque.

Never Stop Just Because You Hit A Wall. I learned this lesson from my dad.  We moved to Arkansas when I was about to begin my junior year in high school.  He had an idea to use injection molding machines to make replacement gaskets for a piece of equipment he used when he was in the wire and cable industry.  We worked together at night using someone else’s equipment.  The problem was he couldn’t sell it.  He was out of work and living on his savings.  He went to a local company and found something different he could make for them based on his knowledge from his prior employment.  That idea took off quickly, and soon we were making a profit and living comfortably.  As I worked with him over nearly 8 years, I saw him break down walls over and over again.  Nothing stopped him.  Today, I have become known as the guy who can “get ‘r done” (to quote a modern philosopher).  I owe that to him.

Your Work Is Your Reputation. Again, my dad taught me this.  In our family owned business, nothing went out the door without him approving it, or approving the person who approved it.  Every box of color additives, every sheet of pressed rubber for shoe soles, every shrink wrapped pallet was a reflection of my dad’s character and reputation.  It wasn’t just the outer appearance, but the fact that everything was done with quality, even down to the way we placed pallets on the trucks.  Today, I would stack my work up against anyone.  Like Will Sonnett used to say, “No brag.  Just fact.”

Think Broad, Not Narrow. I was raised in a conservative Pentecostal denomination.  During my younger years I was inundated with sermons that tried to narrow my focus as to who is accepted in the Body of Christ and who isn’t.  Easy litmus tests were used: clothing, smoking, drinking, attending movie theaters, etc.  Later, when I finished Lee University and later moved to Scotland and England, I realized it was better to view the world as broad rather than narrow.  My time at RAF Mildenhall serving as both the Protestant and Catholic Parish Christian Education Coordinator was hugely beneficial for me to realize that we simply do not all have to agree to be right.  While I still often believe that my ideas are better than most everyone else’s (OK, that’s a tongue-in-cheek statement for those that can’t see the smile on my face as I type), my ideas don’t have to be the ones implemented.  But once a plan is in place, all the other work ethic details listed above come into play.

There are other great lessons I’ve learned about work ethic over the years.  These are just a few that have been burrowing a hole in my head the last few days.  What kinds of work ethic details do you deal with in your life?

Teachers get a bum rap in a lot of ways.  Low pay.  Blamed for all low performance results on standardized tests.  Caught between parents and students.  The list is long.  But, we do get summers off.  Believe me, that’s huge.

But there’s one other way teachers get a bum rap.  We get to make two sets of resolutions each year: One on January 1st and another sometime in August or September depending on what state in which one teaches.

Of course, not wanting to be an underachiever, I also set myself up for resolutions at the end of the last school year.

Like all good resolutions, we mean well.  We honestly intent to do things differently.  Sometimes we even succeed.  Other times we learn to tweak the resolutions so they are easy to complete.  Like this one from last New Year’s for me:

I will begin the process of losing 40 pounds.

And I did.  Several times.  In fact, I’m beginning that process again next week.  (Hey, we’re teachers.  We’re smart).

Here are just a few of the resolutions I’ve set for myself this school year.

1. Delegate more of my work among my team members.  I am one of those people that like to do my work and the work of thirteen other people.  It is time to give it up.
2. Learn all of my students’ names in the first three weeks of school.  I am horrible with names.  I think the only way I learned mine was from my mom writing it on the inside labels of my clothes when I went to church camp.
3. Find a working phone number for every student before the semester is over.  I’m giving myself a little more time here, but those of you who don’t teach would be surprised at the number of kids who don’t know a phone number for their parents.  Or a street address for their house.  Or what a pencil looks like.
4. Only grade what matters.  No more extra credit for bringing hand sanitizer.  Or getting a form signed.  Or staying awake in class.  (You can’t make this stuff up).
5. Refuse to allow a single student to leave my class without learning the things I intended for them to learn.

OK, I really only wrote all those to get to that last one.  It is this dogged determination to see kids learn that keeps us coming back to the classroom every year.

I will let the teachers, admins, school board members, and other members of PLN that read this blog hold me accountable to these resolutions.  Feel free to ask anytime how I’m doing.  If my answer starts with, “Ummmmm….” just shake your head and walk away.  Ask again on a good day.

What resolutions have you made this year?

A lot has been said, argued over, and voted on in recent years concerning funding for schools.  Our own school system has cut about everything they can without having to cut personnel.  However, at one of their recent meetings it was made clear that if the economy doesn’t improve, personnel cuts are inevitable.

And yet, there is money on the table.  We just overlook it way too often.  And by “we” I mean “me.”

Our local paper recently published a story that one and only mall in our town was sold in a foreclosure.  It seems we can never keep stores solvent in that place.  I rarely go there.  Even the stores I like don’t carry things I want.

Yesterday I discovered an article where a local restaurant had closed its doors on Wednesday.  Oliver’s hadn’t been in business that long, but the Shoney’s that closed up shop a few months ago was the place to eat when I got here in 1976.  A landmark is gone.

We passed a referendum last year increasing our county tax in order to fund schools at a higher rate.  It costs me $.01 more to buy a tall Pike Place from Starbucks locally than it does to purchase it in Hamilton County.  Everything is now a little more expensive in our town.  But people were flocking to our neighboring county even for all those years when it cost more to do so.

Why?  The easy answer is that its the economy.  Businesses are hurting everywhere.  And yet there is a more difficult answer we often don’t want to hear.

We don’t shop or eat in Bradley County.

For years, I have made the trek to Hamilton Place Mall 20 miles down the road to go shopping.  I’ve even started getting my haircut there.  And while you’re shopping, it is just easier to eat there, too.  And the movie theater is more comfortable.  Even the popcorn sometimes tastes better in Hamilton County.

We had a long fight over liquor by the drink in our county.  The biggest argument for approving the change was that it would bring in more businesses.  And it did.  Chili’s is now here.  The Outback showed up.  And yet people are still heard complaining because we don’t have a Red Lobster.  Hamilton County does, of course.

Here’s the bottom line: Every dollar we spend outside of Bradley County reduces the funding we provide our local schools.

Can we purchase everything we need locally?  Maybe. Can we purchase everything we want locally? No.  We will spend money elsewhere.  I will spend money elsewhere.

But I promise you this.  I will think long and hard about whether I really need to drive the 40 mile round trip to get a steak that is available to me within five miles of my house.

So, in my new found patriotic fervor, I had breakfast at the Rebel this morning.  And I’m writing this post while enjoying my tall Pike Place at Starbucks.  Our school district’s CFO can thank me later.  In the meantime, I’ll hold my head a little higher when I walk into my classroom this year.

I’m learning to support myself.

I received a round of interview questions recently with regard to an assistant principal opening in another district.  While most of the questions were pretty straightforward with regard to my opinions about the role of APs, discipline, management style, and such, the first question was extremely interesting.  It was much more philosophical (the kinds of questions I love to grapple with for days, weeks, or even years….don’t get me started on Walter Brueggemann’s Israel’s Praise again).

The question asked for my ideas regarding the purpose of a public school education in the life of a middle school student.  After writing my answer, I posed that question on my Facebook wall and asked my friends to give me their ideas.  Their responses were somewhat close to my own in some ways.

Here is what I wrote:

Middle school is the most interesting part of education.  Our school is grades 6 to 8, and it is really more three schools than just one.  Students change so much in each year, so middle school has to take on several roles as well.

First, middle school is a time of exploration.  Middle school students are exploring relationships, extra-curricular interests, academic strengths, boundaries put in place by anyone in authority, and a lot about themselves.  Middle school should be a place where the exploration has meaning.  Students learn how to act in society, how to be kind and giving (sometimes they learn this by experiencing the opposite), how to organize, study, and a host of other lessons aimed at making them more productive students and citizens.

Second, middle school is a time of preparation.  The changes from self-contained classrooms to changing teachers every period, from cubbies to lockers, from no dress code to some form of dress code, and more, help students create a slow, deliberate readiness to life in high school and beyond.  Middle school is a place that helps foster this readiness for life.

Third, middle school is a time of decision-making.  Students begin to decide who they are in the world.  They also decide if they like school or not or if they are good at it or not.  Some research indicates many decide in middle school whether or not to even stay in school.  As such, middle school takes on an even greater role in engaging students in academics (learning in general), exploring career choices (discovering what they like and what they are good at), socialization (how to treat others as well as deciding how they want to be treated), and aiding in the formulation of a beneficial world view (citizenship, family, friends, etc).

I would love for you to leave me some comments as to your own thoughts.  What did I get wrong?  What did I leave out?  Or better yet, what did I get right?

I went hiking yesterday.  I don’t hike.  But yesterday, with the invitation of a good friend from Florida, I wound up driving 90 minutes to Pigeon Forge, TN, and taking a 6 hour hike over a total of 8 grueling miles.  I really didn’t think that much about it…until about hour 4.  That was when I started to hit “the wall.”  It was really only through shear determination (and the refusal to be the only one in our group to say, “I don’t want to walk anymore”) that I made it back to the car.

The walk was beautiful.  And hard.  I got to see some gorgeous mountains to the right and left of me as I trekked up the hill.  None of us really knew what the trail was like since we had never been there before.  Oh sure, one of us had looked at it on a map, but that really didn’t do it justice.  Each of us had a pre-conceived idea of the hike ahead and each of us, it turned out, were wrong.

You see, I thought starting at out 5,050 feet was pretty high.  I sort of envisioned a trail meandering around the tip of the mountain tops with a few uphill and a few downhill slopes.  I thought the entire trail would be like the beginning: flat and wide with steps braced by fallen logs.  Someone had gone to great lengths to make the beginning of my journey as easy as possible.

As we went along the trail, rising to over 6,100 feet, the trail began to change.  Suddenly it was more wild with rocks and water and foliage hanging over the sides.  It was more narrow and much more difficult to maneuver.  I had strategically placed myself 3rd in a line of 3.  At first that was so I didn’t have to set the pace.  But later I realized it was better to follow someone along the trail and watch how they proceed.  I could see steps that were difficult and make minor changes in direction from the leader so that my walk was somehow easier than his.

When we hit 6,100 feet we thought we were fairly near our goal, which was a large outcrop of rock on the knob of a mountain top called Charlie’s Bunion.  We were wrong.  We began a fairly fast descent back down to 5,500 feet over another 1.5 miles.  I realized that going downhill so fast was just as difficult as the climb, but for different reasons.  On the climb my legs were tired from stepping up and up and up.  My calves and quads were feeling the burn.  On the downward slope my legs felt better, but not my feet and knees hurt.  The angle of the slope made my feet slide into the front end of the inside of my tennis shoes.  My toes were hurting and that caused my entire foot to ache.  The change in the angle of my ankles caused extra pressure on my knees.  I was reminded of a talk I had with a runner a week earlier and how people who train for marathons find that training to run downhill is just as important and training to climb hills.  More injuries occur on the downward slopes where we think the hike or run is easier.  In reality, it is equally hard to climb the hill as it is to go down the hill.  But hard in different ways.

We enjoyed Charlie’s Bunion for about 30 minutes.  The views were spectacular.  We met a few other hikers there.  Everyone was resting and eating something.  It was a welcome break.

Most people on this trail never make it to Charlie’s Bunion.  For many it wasn’t their goal in the first place.  They walk in enough to get some beautiful views and walk back out again.  How did I know this?  Because the last mile toward our destination was the roughest, most underused portion of the trail.  It was very narrow and wet and covered over with brush.  I suddenly began quoting “The Road Less Traveled” in my head.  Going all the way to this small bald rock really was making all the difference for me.

Then it was time for the return.

The 2nd half of a long hike can be brutal.  Your body is already tired.  Your muscles are calling you a wimp.  And you know they are right.  And then it hit us.  That fast downward slope that felt so good on some of our leg muscles had just done an about face and was now the steepest part of the mountain to climb.  Our tired legs, breathless lungs, and weary minds stopped often. Yet on we trudged.  This was no place to stop and quit.

After reaching the 6,100 feet level again, we started the 2.5 mile decline into hell.  One thing I learned about hiking started to really become a concrete reality in my head: Take care of your feet.  My feet hurt.  And now my toes were forced back into the front of my shoes.  My knees hated every time we met a stair step that had to be traversed in reverse.

It was on this leg of the journey that I hit “the wall.”  I realized then and there that most of my life can be summed up as a quitter.  If I hit the wall on a treadmill, I just hit stop and go do something else.  I even joked that it might be worth it to fall down and break my leg and just wait to get airlifted to a hospital.  But I kept most of my thoughts of quitting to myself.  I wondered if I was the only one feeling this way.

It was about 1.5 miles away from our car that I realized part of my problem.  I had established the wrong goal from the beginning.  My goal was to get to Charlie’s Bunion.  In reality, my goal should have been to get back to the car.  This became crystal clear as a young man in his early twenties came running down the trail behind us.  Yes, I said running.  He was skipping from rock to rock and jumping over things that jutted out in his way.  We gladly stopped to let him by, but he stopped for a minute with us and asked if any of us had a map of the trail.  You see, he knew there was one particular trail that went off from ours, but he couldn’t remember the name of it.  He wanted to add about 5 miles to his hike that day, and thought that would be a good plan.  Luckily, he wasn’t standing close enough to me to deck him.  But then, I was probably too tired to take the swing anyway.

I love metaphors.  And this hike has given me many to ponder.  Here are a few:

• Make sure you are headed toward the right goal in life.  If you are, the entire journey will be enjoyable.  If not, the journey will hurt every step of the way.
• There is no map that can accurately prepare you for the journey.  Watch those in front of you.  Do what works.  Change what doesn’t.
• Hike your own Hike.  OK, this is not original to me.  One of the guys we met that has hiked for 25 years gave us this quote.  He meant every hiker should wear what they want, hike where they want, carry what they want, and don’t be conformed to what they think a hiker should do.  I translate to be “Live your own life and not someone else’s.”
• It really is all about your mindset.  Your mind is more powerful than your body.  It can sit your body down, or it can pick your body up.  Be determined.  Don’t quit.  Its just pain.
• Travel with a buddy or two.  The Bible makes this point in a couple of ways.  First, if one falls down and he has a partner there is someone to help pick him back up (words of wisdom on a long hike).  Second, anyone can break a cord of just one string.  Some can even break a cord of 2 strings.  But a cord made out of 3 strings is not easily broken.  We all agreed that if we had been alone, we would have turned around before we got to Charlie’s Bunion.
• When you think the journey is over…its not.  Charlie’s Bunion wasn’t the end.  Even making it back to the car wasn’t the end.  I’ve still got more journey today.

What about you?  Do you have a metaphor you would like to share?  Or is there a life lesson from this post that you found and I didn’t mention?  Leave me and the rest of the world a comment!

I read this blog from Cool Cat Teacher with great interest this morning.  She makes valid points about both the upside and the downside to using an e-reader in school.  I suggest you take a look at (but wait until you’re done here please).

Personally, I think the Kindle is a step in the right direction, but will ultimately turn out to be an expensive step that can be avoided.  I understand why the Kindle would sound so good today.  Amazon just announced that for the first time ever e-books outsold hardcover books on their website.

While there will always be a demand for books, there won’t always be a demand for $100 textbooks that wear out or become obsolete faster than districts can cycle back around to get more.  In fact, with Amazon’s newer lower pricing, the Kindle is not cheaper than most textbooks.

Imagine what it would mean for a student to have all of his or her books in one, small, lightweight, easy to carry e-book reader.  The savings in chiropractic care alone should make parents do the dance of joy!

For me, I’m skipping over the Kindle and other e-book readers for a shot at using an iPad or a future, as-yet-unseen competitor that allows kids to do so much more.

Simply putting text in an electronic format is not the answer.  Putting text, images, videos, games, assessments, word processing, spreadsheets, picture and video editing tools, and more into the hands of kids is the answer.  At least for now.  Who knows what it will look like in 5 years.  Or 10. (View a video of how the iPad works here)

What is the drawback to the iPad in education?  Cost.  And Apple does not have a history of lowering costs just to get into the education market.  Why should they?  People are falling all over themselves to get an iPad, an iPhone 4, a Mac Pro, an iPod, and any other device Steve Jobs and company can think up.

What are your thoughts about the future of textbooks?

Once again, we will Cover-It-Live at the regularly scheduled school board meeting today, July 8, at 5:30 PM.

Click Here

Tonight’s agenda:

1. Call to Order
2. Invocation
3. Pledge to the Flag
4. Approval of Consent Agenda
5. Director of Schools Report
6. Update on Construction Projects
7. Ratification of Executive Approval for Set-Up of Portable at GOAL Academy
8. Policy Review – Policy 6.312 – Use of Personal Communication and Electronic Devices
9. Ethics Policy Revision
10. Ethics Committee Report
11. Bus Route for Park View Elementary (new school)
12. Adjournment

When I was finally able to board the first plan of 4 on my way to and from Denver for ISTE 2010, I was immediately struck by the differences between the majority of us and the select few in the boarding line.  You know what I’m talking about.  You sit there in the airport longer than some, much longer than most, and yet when they make that call for First Class and Zone 1 passengers, the ones that have been there the least get up to board.

It was the same in security.  There is a shorter line for those with a better status than the average traveler.

I sat there in this little podunk airport in Chattanooga (beautiful, but small) and attempted to analyze my feelings as I watched the chosen few marching onto the plane.  They even had their own side of the line to enter through the exact same door as everyone else.  They weren’t really any different than me.  I could rationalize that in my head pretty easily.  And yet, for some reason, I thought I glimpsed a look of smugness on their faces as they sought diligently to ignore all other passengers save for their own kind.

Immediately, I wondered what the majority of students at my school feel when they walk past those kids that are in the “advanced” classes.  Those thoughts stayed with  me as I boarded the plane and walked through the midst of First Class and Zone 1 passengers like so much cattle through a shoot leading to slaughter.  Those already seated would not look at the rest of us.  We were like flies buzzing around their world.  Necessary, but annoying.  I’m sure that was all in my head, but it was there nonetheless.

When we elevate one group of students to “advanced” status, by default we are telling all the rest they don’t quite measure up.

No one knows the simple truth of that statement more than me.

When I moved to Wynne, AR, at the beginning of my 11th grade year, the local high school was divided into three groups of students: H (advanced), M (middle), and K (low).  Each of these groups had classes together, and they were never mixed in an academic setting.  As a new student, I was placed in the M section by default in the 11th grade.  I had two cousins in the H group, so I never saw them at school.  In fact, there were about 25 to 30 students in the H group, and they had pretty much been together since kindergarten.  I wasn’t really a part of that group.

In my senior year I was promoted to the H group.  My teachers felt I needed to be challenged more.  However, most of the kids in the H group didn’t really accept me into the inner sanctum.  And the kids I knew in the M group thought I was now better than them in some way and stopped talking to me.  It was a very lonely year.

All those feelings came rushing back to me as I boarded that plane for ISTE.  I knew I should be past it all.  I’m 51 years old for goodness sakes.  Painful high school memories shouldn’t haunt me now.  But they do.

And they will for the students we have today as well, unless we find a way to make all students feel welcome, valued, and equal.  That is the lesson for teachers, administrators, and parents.  And the airlines as well.

Our local school board has scheduled a meeting with our system’s attorney to discuss questions pertaining to our new code of ethics policy passed back in February.  You will recall from previous posts on this blog that all team members (teachers, administrators, and other personnel) were asked to sign a form in May so that our district office would have a signature on file as prescribed in the code of ethics policy itself.  That request for  a signature sparked a lot of debate and questions.

As a result of a certain amount of uneasiness pertaining to the policy and the request for a signature, we were asked to submit questions to the secretary for the Director of Schools.  The meeting is open to the public, but it is not a public forum.  In other words, those of us who have questions will not be allowed to ask them personally.  I don’t have a problem with that plan.  It is probably the only way to keep order and to be finished with the meeting sometime on the same day it starts (which is Tuesday, July 6).

I sent my questions in early on.  My email is copied below:

Let me say up front that I support the ethics policy and have already signed my paperwork to be added to my personnel file.  However, I do have some questions for clarification related to the new ethics policy.

Question #1: Section B. General Subpoint 1 states, “In fulfillment of these guiding principles, it is imperative and should be remembered that All teachers, staff members, volunteers and those associated with Bradley County Schools, are part of our Educational Team; and as such, team members are bound by these Ethical statements and considerations.”  The policy states that ALL team members will submit a signed and dated copy of the ethics policy.  Since “volunteers” are part of the Educational Team, does this mean that all parents that volunteer in the classroom, on field trips, at fund raisers, and more will also be required to submit a signed copy?

Question #2: Section B. General Subpoints 5, 6, and 7 relate specifically to board members.  Would these be better placed in a separate section labeled for board members rather than a general section for all Team Members?

Question #3: Section C. Principle 1 (lines 43,44) states, “The Team member deals considerately and justly with each student, and seeks to resolve problems, including discipline, according to law and school policy.”  The Policy 6.314 states, “Any principal, assistant principal or full-time teacher may use corporal punishment in a reasonable manner against any student for good cause in order to maintain discipline and order within the public schools.”  Mr. McDaniel has requested that no teacher administer corporal punishment.  With the ethics policy in place, does the school board plan to amend policy 6.314?

Question #4: Section D. Principle II (line 21) uses the term “social prudence.”  How does the board define this term?

Question #5: Section D. Principle II (lines 26, 27) states, “The Team member complies with written local school policies, applicable laws and regulations that are not in conflict with this code of ethics.”  This appears to state that if there is a conflict between an “applicable law” and the code of ethics that the ethics policy must be followed.  Is this what is meant, or is this a misprint?

If you choose to use any of these questions, I ask that they be used in their entirety and not be edited.

Thank you.  I look forward to the meeting on Tuesday, and to supporting the board in their decision to create this document.

After some consideration, there is another question I would like answered, but I haven’t sent it in yet.  That question is this:

Since the TN legislature codified a code of ethics for teachers, why didn’t the board use that code of ethics as the main body for the section pertaining to all team members?

I plan to be at the meeting on July 6 to listen to the debate and lend my support to the board for passing this policy.  Will I see you there?

This morning I wandered over to the TED site to see what new talks might interest me, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a talk by David Byrne of Talk Heads fame doing a talk on how architecture has impacted the evolution of music.  I have always been drawn to “off the wall” music types that can demonstrate a truly educated mind.  Personally, I think David Byrne may be a genius on many levels.  But  I digress.

Byrne talked about how music changed through the centuries as the architecture used to house listeners also changed.  He covered the gambit from small store-front bars like those on Music Row in Nashville or Beale Street in Memphis to grand opera houses, concert halls, and stadiums.  In each of those settings, the creation of music changed to fit the audience, acoustics, technology, and more.  Store-front bars have little reverberation, so the music has to be played loud to get over the drinking crowd.  Stadiums have lots of echo, so rock bands started slowing things down and writing rock ballads in order for the music to come through more clearly.

Although he didn’t mention them, my mind thought back to the Beatles in the early 60’s and the frustration they had trying to play their music in places like Shea Stadium.  The technology of the time was simply not enough to boost their sound over the screams of ecstatic fans.  As a result, the Beatles stopped touring and moved all their music to the studio.  They had originally created music that would sound good on the radio and plastic albums.  It couldn’t be recreated in a stadium.  In the mid to late 60s they no longer cared about the radio as much.  Stadiums were out of the picture.  Their music took several new twists and turns and demonstrated their true music genius over and over.  You can hear this most eloquently in a YouTube video shared by a friend of mine on Facebook.

Near the end of his talk, Byrne moved his argument to nature.  Birds that sing in the canopies of forests have a much different, higher pitched call than those that sing on the floor of a forest, or even those that sing in the open fields.  Each has a call acoustically adapted to its environment.

This naturally gave me the leap to the classroom.  How does the architecture and technology of our classrooms change the way we teach?  I think we are all familiar with the industrial model of the classroom with a black or white board in front of nice straight rows of desks.  The teacher stands at the front of the class and writes notes that children copy into their notebooks.  All is quiet and orderly.  This model is the perfect description of the classes I attended from 1st grade through most of my college education.  Teacher control worked.

Today, our students have been brought up in a different environment.  Our classrooms no longer look like their world.  They are wired to cell phones, iPods, PCs, TVs, and more.  They listen to one thing while they read something else.  All the while images are on the TV with the sound muted.  In fact, this is quickly becoming my life at home.  NCIS is playing on the TV with no sound.  I don’t need it because it is the 4th time I’ve seen this episode.  Music is playing over iTunes, Slacker, or YouTube while I read the latest news online.

These kids won’t….maybe can’t….sit in straight rows and listen to our engaging lectures one more day.  They check out.  They are bored.  They act up.  And they constantly reach for the technology we deprive them of in our classrooms.

Interactive White Boards will only make a difference if lessons are designed for kids to come and work at the board.  PCs in the back of the room will only matter if kids are able to use them to find things that interest them.  The technology of our world has re-wired the brains of our students.

How is that evolving your instruction?  Your classroom layout?  Your management techniques?  Your assessment strategies?