Just Teach

I've been away for a while, but it was for good reason.

I was teaching.

As prolific as I can be, one must have priorities. Although some days I am an advocate, and some days I'm a presenter, some days I'm a blogger, and some days I am just tired- one must remember that when all is said and done, I am still a teacher. And I love that.

Almost a year ago I was doing research for a final project in my masters program, and I talked with a former teacher. This former teacher had grown into a pretty formidable person in the ed tech world, and we had a conversation. I talked about my love for technology and Web 2.0, and how I was integrating that into my science class. I said how I wanted to go further with technology.

I was asked where I thought I'd be in five years or something, and I didn't have an answer. I was so new to the teaching profession (2 years) that I never really thought beyond my classroom. All I knew at the moment, was that I was extremely on fire for what a teacher could do with technology in the classroom.

Seizing the moment, I remember asking, "do you have any advice? I really want to dive into this Web 2.0 stuff, I really want to be involved in tech at a higher level."

And then I heard those important words.

Sometimes (come on- most of the time) people tell you stuff, and you nod your head and smile and you don't really listen to them. Well this time, my former teacher told me something that I can't forget.

"I know you're passionate about technology, and you're trying some progressive stuff in your classroom, but technology aside, the best advice I can give is just- be a good teacher."

Technology aside? What's more important than technology? I'm just about to try out a new Online Learning Environment! I just started a new Google for Ed account and I'm going to get all my students email addresses! I just signed up for Voicethread and we're doing some digital storytelling! Technology aside? I just went to three technology conferences, and spent every Sunday listening to Ed Tech Talk Live! I worked all year to build my Twitter network and am getting ready to pass 300 followers and sent almost 2000 tweets! Technology aside? I joined Classroom 2.0, started some forums there and...huff...puff....etc.

And in reading that paragraph, I hope you get it. Because I do. I really do.

Technology does not make a good teacher, nor does it make me good. I still have to motivate my kids with exciting projects. I still have to differentiate. I still have to organize. I still have to use best practices- regardless if the agenda is written on the whiteboard or the interactive whiteboard.

Be a good teacher. That's my focus.

Be a good teacher. Thy will be done.

Thanks ;-)

Breaking the Door Down: Netbooks- The Tipping Point for The Cloud

Image from akashgoyal on flickr

If this next quote is to be believed, the question is: are we ready?

"Netbooks prove that the “cloud” is no longer just hype. It is now reasonable to design computers that outsource the difficult work somewhere else. The cloud tail is wagging the hardware dog." - from Wired's Clive Thompson via Wes Fryer's Speed of Creativity

I wholeheartedly believe that Miguel Guhlin's fears are valid, when it comes to security and keeping student information safe in The Cloud. He reminds us in his last post that:

"there are complicated, though not complex, processes in place in every school district to protect that data. "

If you're in the position of acquiring tools for student information, then building your own in-house tool, like a Moodle, can be a worthy solution. That is--- if you have the funds and the time. What is wrong with using that solution? Nothing at all. Just hope you have someone on staff that knows how to use Cascading Style Sheets.

Unfortunately, most underfunded public schools aren't in that position. The Netbook, though, will stir the pot. Read the following scenario and decide what you most likely think will happen (and I'm not saying both are immediately great).

A district or a school, suddenly finds that buying 30 Netbooks is well within a reasonable budget (vs. 30 expensive Macbooks) to add for the next school year. Great! This school now has the ability for some 1-1 computing initiatives!

So they:
1. Begin using "walled garden" apps like Wordpress, Moodle, and Gallery2?

2. Go into The Cloud to use some wonderful Web 2.0 apps like wikispaces, Voicethread, Edu20.org, edublogs and more.

What is most likely to happen, is that most of these schools, many of them poorer, will jump into The Cloud. Teachers, seeking fast and easy tools are going to begin using these Web 2.0 tools without any training or PD, and they will put student information at risk. Districts are going to find themselves in a bind because they haven't developed AUPs that cover these new emerging tools, and they haven't set any standards in place as to how they are going to deal with student IDs and username/passwords.

In many ways, it's going to be a mess. For districts that have had the money and the resources- they have built their "walled garden" years ago with their mini Moodle world. Pat those districts on the back. From this mess, though- something wonderful is going to happen.

Teaching in The Cloud will hit the tipping point.

Then -what are we going to see?
1. More users.
2. More users = more security.
3. More security = more districts are going to be willing to put student info in The Cloud. (In fact- mark my words- there will be a day where parents will demand this because the most progressive, high-tech education tools and apps, will available in The Cloud)
4. More elaborate AUPs that give districts more freedom with The Cloud and student information. In fact, parents, at that point, will have so much of their own data in The Cloud, that the litigation issue will, most likely, be a misnomer.

The Cloud, for better or for worse, is about to get much more crowded because of the Netbook. Fortunately, the security that will come out of it will make a transparent education a reality.

Now, as educators, we all hope to get to a point where education is free for all, and the same tools are available to everyone. Or do we? Or do some districts hope to create a competitive environment where some of their tools are only available within their own Walls? Is a transparent education actually feared? In Miguel's last post he states,

"Web 2.0 technologies allow educators to rebel against the status quo and to incite our students to do so as well."

Is he saying teachers are to be feared because of Web 2.0? Have they gained too much influence in the classroom and their students? Should teachers be feared now because districts cannot control how they communicate? Are Walled Gardens built as a means of controlling the community- students and teachers alike?

As an educator, I feel we all want the same things for our students. I have to believe that. So- it's important to have this debate. Right now, we're in an arms race of sorts. There are going to be benefits and consequences on both sides. One thing I think is important though, and that's that we are all trying very hard to do the best for our students. We're using wikis and Skype to collaborate with other students, we're creating all-inclusive global projects, we're building our own in-house tools to serve our community- we're pushing the envelope for what can be imagined. And many of us are following standards that ensure student safety. We are working with a system that is both flattening on one hand, and trying to remain hierarchical on the other (hello oxymoron?). We'll either meet somewhere in the middle, or the educational system will, somehow, bust.

In this reach for computing and educating freedom, I remember a quote I had hanging on my door all throughout high school:

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.- Henry David Thoreau

Image from Michael Dawes on flickr

For every teacher I run into these days on Twitter, at a conference, on my blog, there's very few of them that don't have the gleam of these words in their eye. I truly believe that we're in this for the same reasons. Our students.

My wonder is that when The Cloud becomes the norm and many of us are sitting around Walden Pond, will some districts' Walled Gardens have turned into gates?