Content vs Stuff that actually matters

Is it important to know stuff?

Of course it is but how does knowing stuff help when looking through thousands of lines of computer code because a program crashes without any error messages? How can knowing stuff help you manage a financial crisis at your company? If I read Shakespeare, will that allow me to work effectively in a team to brainstorm ideas to improve productivity of my company's manufacturing line? By the way, two of the members live in China and one lives in Europe and we collaborate using the latest Web 2.0 technologies. If I can factor a polynomial using the complete the square technique or be able to simplify a trigonometric expression using the identities, will I be able to sift through tons of information on the internet to make an informed decision on who I should vote for in the next presidential election?

Now, I have nothing against the old Bard or trigonometry but it seems that in education we believe that if all children are given the same content, somehow that creates equal opportunity. For the sake of the argument, let’s assume that all children are well fed and never abused. Let's take those children and put them in the same classroom in the same school with the same curriculum and give them the same tests and then graduate with the same piece of paper. Consistency must be the vehicle of opportunity...or is it? What about the child that sees the world with color and shape but has no art class? What about the child that can solve any logic puzzle but can't find the speed of train A traveling at 50mph? And more importantly, what about the child that just isn't interested in poetry but loves to read and write science fiction?

Consistency seems to be our society's rationalization for being too apathetic or preoccupied to think about the education problem. The pitfall is that it actually is important to know stuff…but it's pointless to teach STUFF without the context. To give the context you must start with the thinking. And to inspire critical thought, you must engage. Out of all those, content is the only measurable criteria. Unfortunately, educators are trained in such a way that they must be a master of their content and they must inspire their students to be as enthusiastic about their content as they are. I don't know about you but there are some things that just don't interest me (poetry, classical literature, advanced mathematics). There is nothing a teacher can do to inspire me to be a poet or read Charles Dickens. If we are to be sincerely empathetic we need to understand that young people have similar feelings toward content. However, whenever I say things like, "Do they really need algebra 2 right now?" it's heresy among mathematics teachers, and yet I have never come across a problem using matrices or determinants.

My point is this...if we want to build the School of the Future, we need to ask ourselves fundamental questions about what education is as an abstract, philosophical idea and what it means to manifest that idea in a classroom. There must be a veil of ignorance when answering the question, how should we educate young people? We must forget what and how we learned and also what and how we learned how to teach.

Knowledge is the cornerstone to an intelligent, well-rounded citizen, but it is only a cornerstone to a structure that is large and never complete. To use content to drive education is like watering a plant without soil. It might grow for a while but it will never reach its potential unless it is potted first. Content is almost incidental to the real vehicles of education. Without an initial focus on leadership, ethics and critical thinking, education is nothing more than a really expensive game of trivial pursuit.

Classroom Observation

I am currently at my table observing my class while they do independent work. What I am seeing is a representation of my failure to teach in an engaging and innovative way. I am struggling to create engaging lessons because of my current lack of curriculum and resources. Also, I have a lot of trouble with short term planning (day to day).

Here is what i see:
M is playing games. He always plays games no matter how much he is told not to.
K is sleeping. He is a nonpresence in the classroom.
V's laptop is at the help desk and is currently not doing anything.
K, T and J are half on task, completing their assignment and asking questions.
---After a walk through...
D is an advanced learner that I cannot reach no matter what I do; he is currently asleep.
---I need to start teach how I want to teach and stop messing around.
T is very bright but constantly gets frustrated when she doesn't understand math.
F and D have attendance issues and are so far behind that supporting them becomes a huge challenge.
There is a group that sits together and constantly misbehaves in very subtle ways. Even when split up their communication over IM or email detracts from their progress.
M surprised me by completing an online quiz with a 90% while playing a game the whole time.
K finally awoke with a grumpy look on his face at the end of class.

This section struggles the most with behavior and the content. They struggle with managing basic behaviors such as keeping their laptops closed during a modeling lesson. They also exhibit extreme apathy when it comes to actively engaging in the material. They are the section with the most "Not on the Radars" and "Novices".

I guess I was inspired to blog about this because I am tired of being unsuccessful. People always tell me that even when I don't feel successful I am always reaching some kids. I know this is true but I also know how much more successful I can be if I were more experienced, had more resources (state of the art technology doesn't count), were given feedback about my performance or just not have to worry about such extreme issues that accompany our struggle to build this school.

It seems as though, at this point, I need to focus all of my energy on my day to day planning and try to present the content in a meaningful and engaging way. As hard as that may be without a curriculum, it is absolutely necessary to be successful. I should try to outline a short term scope and sequence and then come up with activities as I go.

Observations and Reflections 2.0

I need to get back into this...and there is no better time.

To give readers of my blog updates of all my trials and tribulations while working at the School of the Future up until now would not only be impossible in any reasonable amount of time but extremely traumatic for me to relive all my frustrations. You might be wondering (if i have talked to you about my experiences) why I say things like "I wouldn't want to be doing anything else..." if I have these negative views. My only answer is this...no great accomplishment is ever easy but I know that someday, through all the mud and muck I will have been apart of accomplishing something that will be called great. With that said, I hope to re-introduce you to my experience of this roller coast ride called progressive education.

I recently attended EduCon 2.0 which is obviously an educational conference dedicated to the future of education. All weekend I attended workshops which presented ideas and strategies for innovative schools around the country. At first it was incredibly depressing because many of the topics being presented were things that my staff wanted to do at SOTF but have failed thus far. Just talking to my staff during the conference made me realize that we all have such intense passion but are slowly dying because of the constant obstacles we face every day. Maybe I can only speak for myself but I know that I was not doing or even trying to do what I got into teaching to do. But something happened to me at this conference...

During the last presentation on one of the days, this guy was speaking about how to teach with laptops in the classroom. It ended up being more about student engagement than anything else but he represented many of the same arguments that I believe. Whenever around educators in the past, these arguments usually led to a barrage of criticisms. So, just by listening, this guy put me in a state of mind that is very dangerous and yet incredibly powerful. I say this because when my passion takes over I don't have much of a filter on what I say or even do. To make a long story short, he took questions at the end and being the very last question, I lost complete control and expressed my frustration of the obstacles I face, desire to become better and passion for being innovative. He seemed a little surprised and didn't really know how to respond but what happened after he was done was one of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences of my life.

People started to approach me as if I showed something unique or extraordinary. I know I definitely showed my passion while I was speaking but to have other educators (and even the speaker) come up to you and tell you how much they appreciated what was said was so validating. I went on to meet other like minded educators dedicated to innovative teaching and learning. i walked away from the conference with contact information, new teaching ideas and resources, positive affirmation and hopefully a few friends.

Needless to say...I am back to where I need to be!