There Is Nothing On The Internet That Is Not In Your Heart

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I want to keep this post as short and simple as I can. I have something that has been bugging me lately, and I want to get it off my chest. I want to denounce the notion that Social Networks are a Petri dish of perversion, danger, and now as paths to suicide. Yes it is true that there are perverted and dangerous elements on the web, but this is because there are elements of danger and perversion within the human psyche. We are what is damaged not the tool that merely reflects our most base illnesses. We cannot continue to blame the tool that does nothing more than broadcasts who we are.

Yes there are people who use social networks to belittle and injure the insecure and most damaged among us, but some of us use these tools for so many other amazing things. Let me make a quick raw list of what else these networks can look like:

  • I am currently involved in working with a teacher in Japan, to  share my experiences of online branding and digital footprints. Her students have been researching my brand, Intrepid, to see who I am by what I share. They have emailed me their findings and the results are remarkable. I will Skype into their class next week and discuss their findings further. I will write a post about the whole experience when it is done.
  • I am working with Alec Courosa, a professor I deeply admire and who I met for the first time in Shanghai a few weeks ago, by acting as a mentor for his graduate class of pre-service teachers. By sharing my knowledge I am  also learning from the experience.
  • Last week I had a Skype interview with Dean Shareski, another influential educator in the field. He wanted my thoughts for his K-12 Conference keynote after he read about my daughter’s story that was nominated for an Edublog award.
  • I  have meaningful conversations anytime of the day with hundreds of people worldwide through Twitter. They are constantly sharing their ideas about art, religion, politics, education and more.
  • I have made great friends who I have never met. I know I have over fifty places I can stay anywhere in the world based on these relationships. I have contacts at over 30 international schools, which I look to for advice, contacts and more.
  • I stay in touch with old friends through pictures, blogs, and Facebook. There is no such thing as goodbye anymore in the digital age.
  • I have an audience of people who respect and listen to what I say. They put up with my rants and dare I say admire my voice

There are many other stories I could share, but I promised to keep this brief. In short, I am connected to a fluid diverse cyberworld of knowledge. Never before have we had the ability to be in so many places at once. Never before have we been allowed to share and communicate so easily. Never before have we had so much contact with so many people in so many places. We are truly moving toward a global community based on shared interests and a need to learn and grow.

Yes, there are those amongst us using these tools to spread insecurity and attack people’s need for acceptance, but that is an issue with humanity not the Internet.  If we want people to stop killing themselves because they have been humiliated, then we need to look more closely at why being gay should be humiliating and celebrated.  We need to teach people about civility and camaraderie and citizenship. The Internet is everything we are and nothing more. Each one of us is mere pixel in a much large picture. Instead of dismissing the entire image, we need to, each one of us, manage who we are and how we spread that voice. We need our voice to help and heal and connect. we need to find the voices that are acting differently and work to quiet them. This is nothing new. We have been dealing with the voices of shame, anger for far too long. I will leave you with this:

Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to
them, “A fight is going on inside me… it is a terrible fight and it is
between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow,
regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,
…lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.””This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too”, he added. The Grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”The old Cherokee simply replied… “The one you feed.”

This is the same fight we see on the Internet. Which wolf will you feed?

20,000/ 2000 My Voice Matters And So Should Yours

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Numbers don’t matter. That’s what we say right? But then in the same breath we sing the virtues of helping students create authentic audiences. Well if numbers don’t matter than who is sitting in the seats?

I hit a bit of a bizarre synergistic milestone today. I reached 2000 followers on Twitter and the exact same time I sent out my 20,000 Tweet.

So what? First off, I am a bit weird about numbers and how they line up. I don’t like the maths but I like symmetry in numbers. There seems to be some kind of secret to the universe or an explanation of chaos when numbers randomly fall into step and align.

So I was excited when  a few week ago, I saw that there was a good chance I could make my 2’s connect. Adrienne Michetti even went so far as to publicly mock me for my OCD tendencies, but we are tight like that and I took it in stride.

I will admit that when both numbers were in the high 19’s I did curb a few tweets to make sure that the numbers would sink, but that seems like a tiny step considering I have sent out 20,000 Tweets in a few years and somehow 2000 people seem to care or at least tolerate the random things I seem to spew out endlessly. I have tried to keep the numbers authentic by blocking spam followers, but I am sure that the number of people actively listening is much lower then 2000, but what ever the number maybe it is higher than the 10 or 15 I started with.

And that matters! At least to me. Because that is my audience. These are the people, sorry, you are the people I have painstakingly culled from the entire world and convinced that what I have to say matters and is important. You are the people who read my words, give me advice, and yes often validation, but more importantly you are the people who have chosen to listen, and no matter what we try tell ourselves the larger that audience is the better. If we believe what we teach kids about how their voices matter, and that the new digital age is fantastic because it allows them to articulate, express and share that voice with a global audience, then I feel we too should find our voice and help it grow.

Now, I am not so vain to think that all 2000 people are hanging on my every word, and I would agree that  I only truly have close authentic interactions with maybe 50 of you, but as my audience grows there is more of a chance that I will meet a few more kindred spirits who will connect me to a few more and so on and so on. This isn’t about fame or popularity, this is about using the power of a network to help us find our tribes and build communities working toward change. There are many much more intellectual voices out there who can write about the science behind networks and collectivism, I am just writing how I see it, in my own simple way. The more people who care about and listen to what I have to say, the stronger and more attuned our tribe.

A few years ago I had a personal blog my mom read, now I have several blogs, a youtube channel, and many other places online  where I spread out my life to share with as many people as I can. I have created remarkable relationships with people all over the world, and have created an authentic audience for my voice. Isn’t that what we are teaching our students to do?

The best part is, I haven’t followed any scripts of what “good” blogging should be, or changed my style or ideas in anyways. I have been honest, open and passionate, and apparently 2000 of you think that is a good thing.

In closing, let me say- Thanks for all the support and energy you spend keeping up with my grammatically error ridden ramblings and for paying attention and caring about what the world looks like through my eyes. Here is to the next 20,000 Tweets and 2000 followers. See you soon at 40,000 and 4000! Bring your friends.

Oh and I must thank Kim Cofino for introducing me to this world of connectivity and offering me advice and guidance whether I wanted it or not. I’ve come a long way since she was my first and only follower. Thanks Kim.

Broken Record, or School is Not a Path to Wealth

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I feel like a broken record, but I have to say it again: when education is being discussed we should refrain from focusing on  words like: grades, academics, work, success, and achievement. I think it best to frame our conversations around words like: growth, change, reflection, understanding, honesty, curiosity, and yes love.

As a middle school teacher, I work with students who are still quite fresh and just put into the oven. They are dealing with identity creation, understanding of social norms and expectations; in short they are messed up. I know because when I was thirteen I felt no one understood me, and now 23 years later I am still trying to recover.

I feel this is a critical stage in helping kids understand how to express themselves and feel comfortable in their own skin. This pastoral care guides much of what and how I teach.  For the second time in a week, I have been reminded how right I am, and to be honest the validation feels great!

A few students from my old school in Doha  are still blogging. I know because I have stayed subscribed to their blogs and continue to get updates. I think it is so amazing that  these kids have found a voice and use their blogs for more than completing homework. Anyway, I opened this post from Nadia today and was moved to tears:

Two special people kept me calm and happy. One was my old English teacher. He was an amazing, inspiring person. He helped us to express our emotions, put them on to paper. He reminded me that lots of others have it much worse than we do, and we should be happy about what we have, everyday of our lives. He left us last year but I wish he could have stayed. He helped me become a better person and express myself, I wish he was here to help me now.

Education has a much bigger impact when we are focused more on creating kind beautiful people than  collage applicants and corporate job seekers. For the  record, I can “teach” a mean set of skills and convey large amounts of content and knowledge when needed. Go on and leave Nadia some advice…show that she has many teachers who care.

I Want The World To Know

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At the end of every year, I select five students who I have had a profound connection to and give them a copy of Letters To A Young Poet by Rilke. I know the book is over most of their heads, as I usually teach Middle School; I didn’t discover the book myself  until I was well into my twenties, but there is something about the simple passages that I feel resonate with the big ideas I try to convey in my classes. If you are not familiar with the book, here is what Wikipedia has to say:

The letters were originally written to Franz Kappus, a 19-year-old student at the Military Academy of Vienna, of which Rilke was an alumnus. Discouraged by the prospect of military life, Kappus began to send his poetry to the 27-year-old Rilke, seeking both literary criticism and career advice. Their correspondence lasted from 1902 to 1908. In 1929, three years after Rilke’s death, Kappus assembled and published the ten letters.

I share this book with the five kids who have shown some appreciation for art, learning, and living life to the fullest. They are not necessarily the “best” students or the most academically successful, but they get “it.” I think it takes a special person to understand passages like this:

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.”

I woke up today to a very pleasant email. One of the students who received a book from me last year was James. James is an interesting story. Let’s just say he had/has a difficult time being a “good” student. He reads well beyond his grade level and can contribute some of the most insightful ideas I have ever heard at his age in class discussions, but ask him to sit still, write something down, work on one thing for a long period of time, or to simply calm down-forget about it. He is all over the place, off the wall; if you are into letter clarifications he probably has a few A’s, D’s and H’s somewhere in his file.

At the beginning of last year, I saw something in James. I saw that he was smart, curious, and hungry to learn. His problem was that school was not the place where he could do these things. I knew instantly that his inability to play the school game would be a challenge for him and his teachers. I sat him down early and talked to him about what the year might look like.

Throughout the year James would come into my room to chat during break, we sometimes had lunch; he would tell me personal details about his life and what he was thinking. In short, we built a relationship based on trust and respect.

I was open, honest and frank when it came to my frustrations when he got in a fight over a girl, but I also commended him on getting the lead in the school play. James had a fantastic year in my class. But what did that mean?

Did he score well on assessments? Not really, he continued to skate by with mediocre work. Did he learn a list of skills and new knowledge? Maybe, but nothing compared to how some of his peers performed throughout the year. So how I can I claim he had a great year? Because he went from being a socially awkward seventh grader who couldn’t care less about school or grades to a person who wrote me this:

Hi Sir,

First week of school is done and i am ready to go on holiday. You know that book that you gave me last year i have fingered out what “it” is. Well to start “it” is different in every person. So “it” is the driving force of life your soul your DNA the molecules the seed that starts your life. “it” is with you your whole life even after and before life. You will never find out what “it” is. “it” can hide itself in you forever in your body. But “it” will be somewhere so simple you will just look over it. Now i know that this is a very simple description but i am going to find where “it” is and what “it” is and tell you cause i see this as a mission, a mission that i will complete whatever it takes. this is cause i want to know i want the world to know. And most of all cause you gave me the idea and i am thankful to every thing that you gave me last year and will give me in later on in my life.

Buy for now hope to hear from you soon.

You may be asking yourself, who this kid’s English teacher was. Sure the paragraph could use some love and editing. Yes it would score very low on a rubric, but my point is that sometimes school should be a place to ignite the lingering passion in young people. So many times we extinguish every ounce of excitement these kids have with our curriculum and assessments and grades, when all they really want is for someone to listen to them, respect who they are, and help them find “it.”

I have shared this post with James, and want to ask him at this time- if you are here and reading James, let me say thank you. I am so glad that you are here and alive and connected and curious and searching. That was the whole point of the book, my class, my life. Life is beautiful and perfect and always looking for people like you to join and move the parade forward. Please remember that, I am an email or a blog post away. Let me know how else I can help you. The classroom is not the only place we can learn from each other; we have the whole world. Have a great year and keep in touch. How is our garden doing by the way? You may need to start a new plot! Do it now before it gets too hot. There is interest, but ideas need leaders, and there is no reason why that can’t be you.

School Should Not Be Considered Work

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Last night wmchamberlain sent out a link to an exemplar student blog about learning. I agree with Wilt that commenting on student writing is an important practice for teachers who preach the powers of blogging, and I was about to comment on the post, when I stopped myself and felt the need to hash out my ideas out on my bog first, tone them down a bit, and then perhaps, send off the filtered version for this young writer.

I know her intentions are in the right place, but reading her points, I felt that she was missing the entire point of her “school” experience. She is not alone. Many students, teachers, and parents are still caught up in the “success/ achievement” model of school. I  wanted to shed some light on other possible models.

I will write as if I am commenting on her blog, but I did not publish these thoughts there  for fear of confusing her. I will allow her teacher to share these ides should he so wish.

I Promise to be a better learner by starting to dedicate more of my free time to school-related things.

What are these school related things? Are they subjects? Are they ideas? Do you like them? Do they excite you? Are you curious? Will forcing yourself to spend more of your precious free time on math exercises making you a better learner? How about you spend more of your school time on free time related things.  Search for what interests you at school and do it on your own. Ask questions. Explore. Are you interested in art, dance, science? How can you use your time away from the classroom to further learn about these topics? Learning can and should be done all the time. Do not separate free time and school time. Try to learn about what interests you all the time.

By doing so, I could get a better chance of actually fully understanding what they’re teaching me at school than by not making any use of what I’m being taught if I don’t really understand the material.

Don’t worry so much about material but focus on ideas. Your school is not trying to teach you material, but help you find out how to learn about what you love.

I Promise to be a better learner by having a more one on one relationship with my teachers. This way, when I have a question over my school work or need some help, I could have the confidence to ask one of my teachers for help instead of being afraid, and not ask at all, which could cause me to not understand what I’m learning and probably fail in that class.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Make use of your teachers. Let them help you. You should never be afraid to ask questions. That is what teachers want. We live off of questions.

I Promise to be a better learner by taking school a little more seriously. Using this strategy, I could have a way better chance of being successful in the future than by wasting my free time messing around an not caring that much over school, knowing I could give a little more effort in my school work for a better future.

Here is a suggestion: Let’s not think about the future and how school will help you down the road. Let’s think about right now. Your life! Will taking school more seriously help you right now? If not? Why not? How can we make a plan to have what you learn in school be important to your daily life now? That way you have no choice but to take school seriously. You will love what you learn, because you see it effect your life now, not in some distant future shaded with ideas of college and success.

I Promise to be a better learner by really making an effort to actually understand the material I’m learning in every class. This way, I could actually get something out of what my teachers are teaching me, and I could use that knowledge later on in life when I actually need to use it.

Again, you can use that knowledge now! Ask your teachers why learning biology will help you now! If they don’t have an answer, keep pushing them. You should come up with an answer together. Don’t let them tell you that you will need it in college; that is not good enough.

I Promise to be a better learner by getting more involved in class activities. I will participate in class activities so not only could I share what I learned on the subject, but so I could also hear the other different ways that the same question was answered and that way maybe I could change my way of thinking on that particular question.

There you go! You got it now! Use your friends and classmates and tools for your learning. Share what you learn. Do science experiments at home, design maps write books, create a magazine, make films…bring your school “work” home and make it play, share what you find and you will see that you are learning more than you ever knew possible.

I will leave it to wmchamberlain to see if he wants to share this post with the writer. I don’t want to over step my bounds, but we need to start guiding kids away from “school work” and learning. They are two very different things. In my humble opinion.Let me end by saying great assignment. I love the idea of metacognitive  view of learning, and I thinking allowing kids to be reflective learners is crucial to their growth.