Teaching Climate Change

What is often portrayed as a debate is, and always has been, no debate at all. There are not two legitimate sides on the issue of climate change. There is the truth and there are people that want to ignore the truth. I have not yet heard an argument that refutes human caused climate change that stands up to scientific scrutiny.

I wonder what people are so scared of in admitting there is a problem, and then working towards solutions. I just happen to be glad that those people are not teaching science classes here in Alberta, at least they had better not be.

Here is a nice breakdown of the actual science behind the theory of human caused climate change called the Climate Change Skeptic Comic.

If a comic about climate change isn't good enough for you then please read on for a variety of sources on the  reality of human caused climate change.


I want to challenge teachers to teach the theory of human caused climate change in their classrooms. Not as a debate with two equally legitimate sides, but as the best understanding that science has to offer. The equivalent would be teaching in the sixties about the civil rights movement in the U.S. and segregation and placing the Ku Klux Klan as an equal and valid argument next to the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.





There were many many people aligned with the guy on the right making strong arguments in favour of their point of view, but they were bloody wrong, and I don't think teachers working in critical thinking classes should have been presenting both points of view as equally legitimate out of some misplaced sense of being balanced and allowing students to "think for themselves" or to "tolerate conflicting points of view."

Take a look at what the deniers of human caused climate change are saying (these are arguments that people  have made to me in person, you have heard most of them, and my response to those arguments):

1. The Scientists are in it for themselves - This argument should be stricken as utterly ridiculous as soon as it is heard. The idea that there is some kind of global conspiracy where Al Gore has the IPCC and other independent climatologists in his back pocket is downright absurd. Sure there are political opportunists, and some people trying to make money, but the reality is, if there is any kind of payout to  scientists to distribute non-truths it is not coming from climate change scientists. The possibility of conspiracy is definitely there, but it is big oil paying PR firms to legitimize the skeptics. When Exxon Mobil pays authors to write that climate change isn't real then there is a conspiracy to prevent the truth from coming to light, "nine of the ten most prolific authors cited have links to organisations funded by ExxonMobil"



If you aren't convinced, then ask your self this simple questions. What  exactly do the overwhelming majority of climate change scientists have to gain from publishing their findings? How do the scientists benefit from "lying" about human caused climate change? Is Al Gore sending them a check? Is Greenpeace so powerful an organization that it can manipulate the scholastic fortitude of top universities around the world? The argument is profoundly absurd.

2. The Climate is always changing - That is true, but it has not been this warm in over 650,000 years. The evidence from NASA's (NASA isn't exactly a liberal media tool) site on climate change is overwhelming. If we were cooling and entering another mini-ice age it could easily be argued that the climate is behaving normally, but there isn't evidence of this kind of global warming in any geophysical historical record. NASA - Climate Change Evidence. The science states: "In the last 650,000 years there has been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat. Most of these changes were due to small shifts in the Earth's orbit.... the evidence for rapid climate change in modern times is compelling." The best argument that I like to use to counter this ignorance is the FACT that even the U.S. Navy is planning how to navigate and control the arctic sea once the ice there is gone. By around 2030 the US NAVY is planning to have an arctic free of ice.

The signature at the bottom of this actual report about how the US NAVY will handle climate change is J.W. Greenert Admiral in the U.S. Navy

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3. The Economy will be hurt - Only if we are not smart about this, yes there will be risks to changing from a fossil fuel economy to one that is driven by alternative energy, but the economy, or the society, that steps up first will be able to make money in the transition. There will be jobs, there will be energy exports, and we, as a species, are intelligent enough to continue finding work are experiencing prosperity without fossil fuels. Will manufacturing disappear? Will resource extraction and refinement be completely dismantled? Of course not. The new information economy will grow and develop, creative efforts will find new economic space, and the innovation sector will allow for growth, opportunity and prosperity. The truth of the matter is that ignoring climate change will be more costly than anything else in human history. This NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) report paints a bleak, but all too real warning about, The Cost of Climate Change. Granted they are an interest group, but their findings are well referenced and properly researched. Warnings that we have all heard, but choose to ignore are reported on. From the impact on agriculture - a sector that has built and continues to maintain both North American and European global economic superiority - to the cost of rising sea levels and a look at playing catch-up in the global energy market.

How much will losing our agricultural strength hurt our economy? 

Teachers, it is your duty to educate students on the truth behind Human Caused Climate Change. I hope the ideas, arguments and links above will help you to fulfill that moral and ethical responsibility. This is not a debate, in the same way that slavery was never a debate, and that segregation was never really a debate and that women's equality was never really a debate. There is truth and there is ignorance, it is your duty to help reveal the truth and expose the ignorance.

Isaac Asimov on Education and Learning

I am finding more and more informal mentors in my professional growth and learning. There are people that have done things and learned things and have great ideas around me all of the time. When I ask them questions and look to them for guidance they become and informal mentor to me. I draw on their experience and knowledge to help guide my own ideas and practice.

There are a few people in EPSB that I consider my informal mentors. I have encountered them in various Ed. Tech. training sessions and particularly at the Goolge Apps. info and sharing seminars. One of my informal mentors, Rick Stiles-Oldring, recently pointed me to a video interview of Isaac Asimov that is truly astounding.

Rick blogs at Heeding Thamus and he can be counted on to provide challenging, insightful and occasionally annoying ideas, both on his blog and in person. The reason I say annoying is because some of his ed. tech. ideas end up challenging my core assumptions about technology and learning. When a "core" assumption is challenged it means I have to re-examine and also alter most of my thinking. I have always assumed that a schools network infrastructure should stay platform neutral, any system can be supported. That is until Rick comes along with an idea that has been nagging at me for a week now. Isn't there value in platform equity? Shouldn't schools provide, especially considering the rapid decline in cost, the same platform for each student? Don't schools already have the resources to provide every student with a cheap and identical network tool? Like say a tablet or a chrome book?

I have spent the last two years thinking that the future of ed. tech. in the classroom was to increase student owned devices, now I am not so sure... thanks Rick!

This was supposed to be a post about Asimov. Watch the video below:
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Key Ideas

1. Lifelong learning is not just for the young - especially with the internet and open access to learning. Free education at Stanford!!
2. Everyone can become creative - we were able to teach reading and writing to all youth, why not creative thinking?
3. The teacher can be eliminated. Everyone now has their own personal teacher (source of knowledge and information) at their fingertips.
4. Interactions with other students and teachers is still needed. School has a role to play, but not the same one as before. What is that role?
5. If you follow your own bent, and aren't told what to learn then learning will increase. This one is key!!! Let students find their own interests and follow it for real learning, and find your own. Be the sole dictator of what you learn, and allow your students to be the dictators of what they learn.

Thanks for sharing this video Rick.

Who is Protecting Whom?

I have to put this out there as much as possible.

I remember hearing the president of the U.S. as being referred to as, "the leader of the free world."
I don't know if we can still call the U.S. a member of the free world.

Pepper Spraying at UC Davis on Friday

This is one image among many that are revealing police brutality in response to Occupy movements across America.

Here is the video of an Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran being needlessly beaten by police in Oakland

...and of course, this 84 year old grandmother was such a threat to public safety in Seattle that she had to be pepper sprayed.

Exactly who and what are these police protecting?????

Keep Your "Opinion" to Yourself

Maybe it is written into my professional code of conduct, or maybe it is just common practice, but wherever it comes from I am tired of keeping my "opinion" to myself.

To be honest, I don't actually mind keeping my mouth shut on issues, controversial or not, because it makes the students think for themselves, and that is what this whole thing is about, but there are one or two ideas that I fervently support in my own life which I am having a hard time keeping to myself.

Image taken from google without permission

I'm not going to beat around the bush today. I am going to jump out and say it. These two ideas that follow are supposed to be kept to myself. I do such a good job of this I doubt if my students this year would even be able to tell you how I actually feel (do you see, I am beating around the bush even though I said I wouldn't, and that somehow counts as being clever at 11:00 p.m. on a school night). 

My first "opinon" that I try so desperately not to poison my students with is that, I am an environmentalist.

This is first image in a google image search
 of environmentalist - lazy or making a point?

What being an environmentalist means is something that I will talk about at the end of this post (if I remember), but there is the bigger issue that I as a role model to students am supposed to keep my mouth shut about this idea. A professional should not have an opinion??? I can still present the industrialist argument  with some degree of merit, but why shouldn't an informed citizen model what being an informed citizen actually looks like? 

My editorial confession #2, I am also the 99%,and I support the major tenets of the occupy movement, and of course there are major tenets. Just because many of the confused anarchists in the movement can't adequately express why many people are making valid complaints about the current power and wealth structure does not mean there isn't a focus or clear reason to the protest.

I see the world in a certain way, and I will make a professional guarantee that I will never force, coerce or unfairly persuade a student to see the world from my point of view, but that does not mean I will not present my own view of the world. The argument runs that as a trusted teacher I will have undue influence on a child's point of view. I counter, that is only the case if that is my intent. When the issue is contestable then my opinion or worldview needs to be presented as valuable, but also deeply flawed. It is our responsibility to have an informed opinion, but to present it as only that, one person's opinion. 

So what about when the issue is so completely clear? Even though some still consider it a debate?

For example, What Goldman Sachs did was wrong, and we should be able to discuss the economy without blind allegiance to the free market, talk about preaching an "opinion" as if it were truth. Here is Elizabeth May on the topic, “Excuse me, but are the lunatics running the asylum? Can’t we have a healthy economy, and yes, even capitalism and corporate profits, that serves the interests of communities and that accepts its marching orders from democratically elected governments?”

Okay I need to focus.

The main point I want to make (which I haven't even done a mildly adequate job in alluding to up to this point) is that according to every valid source that I read is pointing to the fact that human caused climate change is a reality, one that is having and will continue to have devastating effects on humanity and life on Earth in general, so why the hell am I teaching the topic as if it is a debate between environmentalists and industrialists?

Professional Growth Plan

Like everything in teaching, if you want your students to do it you should be able to do it. Also, if I truly believe in the changing nature of knowledge transmission and the shift to a visually based on demand style of expression then why would I write the same old two-page Professional Growth Plan..

Those Darn Infographics are tough work. btw the last slide is supposed to be an infographic.

This Year I Break the Cycle

I will not get stressed out this October!

According to some research. October is when the reality of my job assignment comes crashing down on me and fuels the depressing burning mess that was all of my unmet goals and ambitions that have been building up over the last two to three months.

This is What I Have Felt in the Past and What I Refuse to Feel  This Year.

Apparently Teachers tend to set high expectations and lofty goals for their career and their classroom over the summer months. These ideals then meet their opposition in underfunded classrooms populated by apathetic creatures that honestly could not care any less than they already don't. This sounds familiar, and it may even be what I am feeling this exact second, but I will not follow this well-worn cycle of anticipation and defeat.

There are a couple of things I will do to steel myself against the onslaught of reality.

1. I will be aware that it is coming and I will not be another teacher trapped in this cycle.
2. I will start by establishing clear routines.
3. I will Stay Fit. I will continue my own personal fitness and family goals and give them equal priority alongside my classroom and career goals.
4. I will achieve my goals anyway - yes the membership in the media group will drop after excitement wears down, but even if there are only four kids that is still four kids learning skills after-school.
5. I will destroy disillusionment. Even in the face of all of my goals being unmet I will not allow disillusionment
6. I will treat myself often. New York City Here I Come!!
7. I will reflect through blogging all year.
8. I will be mean to myself in June!

What Should a Blog Post Look Like??

A Good Blog Post should contain a number of elements.
The first important element is the TITLE!!!

What is the title of this blog post. The title should draw me in and get me interested. Mr. Greene's blog post is NOT a good title.

The second important element I will call the Language Arts element. Every Blog Post needs to have

• paragraphs
• complete sentences
• Correct Spelling and Grammar

Third, a blog post needs great information. I should learn something from your blog, and I should be intellectually challenged. Say something interesting. Give me your opinion, your view, your voice. Why did you choose this topic? What did you already know? What did you learn? What questions do you have?

Lastly, a good blog post should have:

1. Links
2. Images
3. Video (if possible)

Waiting for Extinction

Something happened at a summer trainging session yesterday. I was in a classroom with other teachers, and I heard a senior high English teacher say, "I don't let students use the internet in my classroom."

We have to wait for the dinosaurs to retire because we aren't going to change their minds. 

Really, is this still happening? The same teacher rationalized her approach by accusing students of cheating when they have open-access. Through the same fear of cheating the students in this particular classroom could not take their written work home because then they could get help from their parents. 

There are, of course, several problems with this rationale. 1) What you call cheating, I call collaboration. If students or parents or tutors are helping other people write then learning is taking place, and the student is becoming a better writer. 2) How does one have an authentic audience if everything is written on paper for the teacher's eyes only? 3) No internet allowed in my classroom?!? serious... Do I even have to comment.

If one classroom like this exists in an Alberta high school I would guarantee that more classrooms like this exist. Education is barely even the same in my classroom and a classroom where, "the internet isn't allowed."

Billings Beta

Jac de Haan posted this about me, and we all know how self-absorbed I can be (get it, we all know, as if anyone actually knows hardly anything about me, but the self-absorbed part of me thinks that of course everyone knows and cares..... nevermind)
http://www.technologywithintention.com/2011/05/steven-greene/#more

Also check out the Billings Beta blog - always inspirational and informative.

The Medium is the May Long

May Long Weekend in Alberta

Maria Bustillos, author of Dorkismo and Act Like A Gentleman, Think Like A Woman, both books that I have never read, has written an interesting post for The Awl titled Wikipedia and the Death of the Expert. This is my response/summary to the article and the ideas I am taking from it. I can tell it is a long weekend because I a) have time to catch up on articles from the Awl that I have been meaning to read and b) I also have time to blog about it. 

Holy McLuhan, it is time to revisit the original in the Gutenberg Galaxy and maybe even the revamped in the The Medium and the Messenger. I've already placed a hold on these at Edmonton Public Libraries, so you will have to wait your turn. In the meantime try this out the medium is the message. 


Such big ideas, and I have to try to condense them into something short and appealing in order to build and maintain readership, but like anything experienced in this summarizing and refelctive practice, at least I get to learn something, whether I am read or not.

The premise of the article can probably be guessed from the title, but what it came down to was this, "if I wanted to understand the significance of wikipedia, I should read Marshall McLuhan." Alright no problem, go and do that. Go to your libraries website and search up the Gutenberg Galaxy or the Medium is the Massage or even just McLuhan and place a hold (Do you see what I am doing here?)

The reason we should all read McLuhan, and also the reason why we should understand Wikipedia is because of the massive shift away from the need for authrotative knowledge and the shift towards colllaborative knolwedge. We don't need an expert to tell us something interesting. Anyone can be intelligent and thought provoking and interesting, that is the big shift. Hence wikipedia is completely valid and the change is relevant for everyone, especially educators.

I may have posted about it before (May 2nd actually), but compare how people (me) reacted to the recent news items i) Canadian federal election ii) death of Osama. For both event I was involved in creating content and meaning. Interest and conversation was happening in a whole variety of media, and the most effective was the one in which I could play an active role. I, in turn, learned more about my political views from some non-authority on twitter that was challenging my position on issues. Thank you @susanfelicity for being ignorant and mean enough to teach me many things (there I did it again.)

The point is, the collaborative nature of knowledge in the internet mediated realm of communication and thought is fundamentally different than the individual expert based approach of the print controlled era that preceded it! NOW HOW DOES EDUCATION DEAL WITH THIS NEW REALITY?


It looks like the head in the sand approach is the most commonplace reaction. Message to teachers - stop being scared, it is not that hard to do. Trust me, you will catch on, and if you aren't willing to try, then think about changing jobs. 


I said I would sometimes be controversial, but it is not fair to the students that you are not able to do it. Neither was I, it only took a few months for my practice to change, and I am still growing because of that willingness. 


Time for a random interesting quotation from Maria's article:

Go back and study the shift in human communication, what McLuhan called 'the shift to print,'" he said. "The place where an idea could be owned by a single person. One of McLuhan's genius insights was his understanding of how the shift from an oral culture to one based on print gave rise to our modern notion of the individual as the originaator and owner of particular ideas."

I'm not quite done, but I will try to be nicer. Here,

According to McLuhan, Bob explained, "the ownership of an idea" was made inevitable by the invention of printing; it is this era that we are outgrowing, as McLuhan foresaw. "If the printing press empowered the individual, the digital world empowers collaboration."

That's right, empower collaboration! My school can't afford to have the 1 computer per student scenario, but everytime students look to each other for support, interest, knolwedge, understanding, or an answer to their questions, instead of you as the teacher that is winning. 

Empowering collaboration means the answer is not in the textbook or in the teacher's head. Hell, it may not even be online. The answer is the question, the thoughtfulness, the ability to find out from others and then to give back to that knowledge community with your own ideas. 

I clearly don't fully understand - please comment (there it is again, but no really, can you be the first person to comment on my blog?)

Back to the article:

McLuhan's chief insights centered around the idea that technology strongly affects not only the content of culture, but the mind that creates and consumes that culture. He maintained that technology alters cognition itself, all the way down to its deepest, most elemental processes.

BTW - confirmed by current understanding of neurology. We are talking about a change in how our brain works and navigates information, understanding, itself and other people.

The article that I read, and this blog post are not necessarily cheerleaders for technology. I am in fact a little frightened about where this path will take our species, especially if you are following this guy, who I happen to consider a prophet, if there is such a thing for our age he would be it. We are not saying "this is so great, now buy-in." We are simply saying, this is the world, we all have to navigate it. As teachers we have to show students how to navigate this world. Not the post-printing press world, but the post-internet world (last time I will do that thing I have been doing).

I want to close with a quote that does paint this idea in a positive light because with the openness of information creation, the breakdown of "expert knowledge" as the only legitimate source of knowledge is that it turns us all into potential poets, constructive creators, media mediators, technological teachers, innovative inventors, and economically energetic entrepreneurs (sorry). 


Here is that quote I was talking about, think of it as a palate cleanser for your mind after that last paragraph, "we are all of us becoming scientists in this way, entering into a democracy of the intellect."

I've never read this book .

and really what is better than democracy?

Completely Connected or In Praise of Twitter

I was more engaged with the election last night than I have ever been in the past. My increased connectivity is due completely to Twitter.

Before writing this post I was going to talk about how connected I was last night for election coverage: watching CTV news on the television, following the polls on my netbook on CBC, and tweeting and reading tweets on my android phone, but then I realized that wouldn't be very honest.

Indeed I did start the night with all three devices running and plugged in, but both the television and the netbook became unnecessary, even boring. Twitter ruled them all. The riding by riding updates were coming from the people I follow, and the commentary from the citizens on twitter was much more interesting than the political pundits and guest speakers on the news channels.

The most important reason I was engaged, however, was the fact that I was adding to and actively taking part in the conversation. When I had thoughts I wanted to share I put them out there into the twitterverse. Not many people read them, but I know some did. My friends did, some random followers of mine did, and a few people that were able to keep up with #elxn41 also read my tweets.

When the network I follow came to a lull I was able to look in on #elxn41 and find more people to follow and comment with. I have never been so engaged, it was exciting. At one point my wife and I sat out on the patio in my backyard and I would read her the tweets as they were coming in, it led to some fantastic discussion. I was able to connect with my brother (@bangsht) in Victoria (@elizabethmay's riding), and he ended up calling me for the first time in months because he wanted to discuss my tweets further.

There were so many ultra-negative comments about the impending gestapo state led by the evil Mr. Harper who had been elected by stupid Canadians. I even got involved in a twitter war with a particularly rude and insulting woman.

I only have this left to say to @susanfelicity, I cannot believe your disdain for your fellow Canadians. You must accept that in a democracy you will not always be happy with the results. Many intelligent Canadians voted Conservative for valid and legitimate reasons. Calling people that don't agree with you ignorant, stupid, and idiot simply because they do not share your views is inherently anti-democratic, and quite frankly, it is exactly that kind of closed-minded combative attitude that is responsible for the election of a conservative majority.

Last word for @steven_greene in that twitter war.

Twitter is changing politics and current events. Look at the news for Osama bin Laden and the Canadian election as the justification for creating student twitter accounts and promoting the use of twitter in the classroom.

The Best Lists to List

I have to admit that I am an avid list creator. I know I am not the only one, but my wife always bugs me on Saturday morning.

"Another list dear?" she will ask.
"Why yes it is" I reply

(how's that for gripping dialogue?)

So I list and she doesn't. It got me thinking I need to list at least one list in my blog.

Does anyone out there follow Larry Ferlazzo? He is a great sharer of resources and an insane lister. I mean look at this page of lists for a second. He calls it his best of series. Each link on that page is a link to another list. I love what he is putting out there, and I follow him and his posts, but calm down with the lists just a little.

So I compromise. Here is my very short list of the top three products that students should be creating:

1. Digital Stories. Simple, create a story or re-tell a story and illustrate it. The students create the pictures that form the story. There are several ways to do this - voice thread, prezi, good 'ol powerpoint, and my favorite google presentations. They can also expand into movie maker or other multimedia pieces. You absolutely cannot work alone on this project. Storytelling can and should be a group effort. One person can tell the story sure, but it takes many to work together in building the story. Can you animate the characters? Is there narration? Music? Sound Effects? Make sure you practice the storytelling at least twice before you present to the class. 
2. Multimedia Projects. Not a whole lot different than the digital stories, but this time the students themselves are the moving objects and the voices. Ideas can include - reenacting scenes or original pieces and filming them, creating stop-motion animations, creating movie or book trailers, green-screen filming, make commercials. The main criteria for in the classroom is a) moving objects b) sound/music c) image rich. 
3. Infographics: I am still working on this. Google Docs seems to work well for this, but I am convinced there are other tools that will work even better. The basic idea for infographics is to present research findings visually. Here are a couple of examples.

Students should be able to create all three of the above products. They should do it often and they should always express meaning and student understanding. All three can be applied to all subjects and all content. I would love to hear from anyone regarding what tools they are using to make professional infographics.

Thanks for reading - listicle

Confucius For The Win

I often thought that the popular acronym FTW meant something else entirely than the urban dictionary definition. Urban dictionary states that it means For the Win. Interesting, and much more appropriate than what I always thought it meant. You can use your imagination when trying to decide what I thought FTW did mean (it had a swear word in it).


But what does any of this have to do with Confucius?


Listening to some of his lessons there is some timeless wisdom on what teaching is and how a teacher should be. A central lesson from the Master is that a teacher can create justice and value by being upright and noble. Further, a teacher's primary role is to model exactly what a noble and upright individual is for his/her students.

Think about whether or not you are upright and noble in your classroom, your hallway, your extra-curricular club or team?

Think about how often students today see a person in their lives that is upright and noble.

I used to believe that if I let the s. word drop by mistake or on purpose in my classroom that it was no big deal, they say things much worse all the time, it's a new generation right? I would often sink to their level in order to "connect" at the expense of my character. I was wrong to behave like this. Students today rarely see what an upright and moral person looks like.

I am not trying to preach being holier than thou, or above everything that happens in the classroom and pop. culture, but I am trying to advocate being the person students can think of when questioning their own values.

More than anything our students need someone to model for them kindness, respect, intellectual rigour, involvement in the world, environmental stewardship... anything that you believe is essential to being an upright and noble individual.

The original teacher has some still very relevant lessons for 21st century teachers.
CONFUCIUS FTW!

Time to Unplug?

There were some very interesting ideas in this article, "What Happens When Mom Unplugs Teens for Six Months?" It is not as if I am going to buy her book, but there is something important contained in this radical Mom's ideas.

I think about what would happen if I unplugged myself and I get a little bit frightened. My second thought is okay, maybe I could do it on like a Tuesday when I wasn't going to be up to a whole lot anyway, you know read a book, go for a walk, cook dinner and conversation, no problem, but certainly never on a Sunday. Are you mad? Sunday is the wired day. I religiously look forward to having a good hour and a half to two hours in the morning to catch up on my RSS aggregator. Then maybe some video games, music while I do housework, podcast or online lecture while I am working in the yard. Some actual time for twitter after the gym. Then in the evening it's time for a blog post and some school work. Hopefully there is time for a movie on netflix or downloaded the latest FXG rip and watch in bed. No way am I unplugging on a Sunday.

Now I take a look back at the list I just put down and think about my jr. high self. Yes, I was listening to my discman and watching a VHS or playing SNES with a friend, but all of that other stuff wasn't around was it?

You know what it doesn't matter. I was wired then, and I am wired now. McLuhan had it right when he described all electrical signals as an extension of our central nervous system, and that is the issue the really popped out of this article for me. It's not the hand-held devices or the internet that is the new generation of disconnect it's the stuff my parents were already immmersed in. The electrically induced artificial reality that we are wholly and completely 100% dependent upon that is the real message. Here is the idea that matters as it is expressed in the article,

Maushart began The Experiment with a drastic measure: She turned off the electricity completely for a few weeks — candles instead of electric lights, no hot showers, food stored in a cooler of ice. When blackout boot camp ended, Maushart hoped the "electricity is awesome!" reaction would soften the kids' transition to life without Google and cell phones.

Maybe the newly and more complexly wired generation can help us all solve the real problem and original disconnect associated with all electricity. Environment, accelerated and accelerating capacity to kill people in modern warfare, increased communication.

It all changed back then, we are just speeding up right now. That idea should unite the generations that think they are divided along technological lines. We were all born into the electric age and we can all help face those problems together.

I would love it if you would comment on any of this.

Open House

Okay I probably shouldn't blog from school, but it is a reflective practice, and why the hell not. Tonight is open house, and I just finished frantically putting up a bulletin board out in the hallway. I have to say I am not much for bulletin boards mostly because I don't have very much physical work of students to show off. Makes me think we should unplug and get down to drawing.


Compare this, yesterday I had a formal evaluation, and I worked my butt off to make sure it went well. Result - I  become a better teacher, I have another fantastic lesson in my arsenal and the extension of that is a better learning environment for the students.

Today I am preparing to sell the school to parents. I see what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong, what is worth showing off and what is fodder as far as student work goes... all of this is a reflective practice on my instruction... I'm becoming a better educator for my work and effort.

The logic that work (any work) equals positive results is almost universally true. For example, I am blogging for a non-existent audience but I am a) reflecting on my teaching and b) becoming a better writer for it.

Steve.

On the Creation of Intelligence

This post is a summary of the article "You can increase your intelligence: 5 ways to maximize your cognitive potential" written by Andrea Kuszewski and published as a guest blog in Scientific American. You can read the full article here.

Can we make this brain grow and become smarter

So let's try to keep this short. Andrea is basically saying that yes you can create intelligence. The statement that really grabbed my attention was around the idea of I.Q. Andrea works or worked with kids with autism/aspergers spectrum disorder. She claimed that through the right kind of techniques she was able to increase one person's I.Q. from 80 to 100. I.Q. was one of those things that I have always been led to believe is static. It doesn't really change to much. The method for increasing intelligence should not come as a surprise to most teachers. 

The author defines intelligence as the cognitive ability. Cognitive ability can be improved is the central claim of this article and this is how: 

1. Seek Novelty
2. Challenge Yourself
3. Think Creatively
4. Do things the hard way
5. Network

To increase intelligence you should, in our case our classes should, do ALL 5 as often as possible.

Seek Novelty

The idea that those who are open to new experiences, new tools for learning, new ways of seeing and interacting with the world are the most intelligent is, I believe, something that can be taught. As soon as a student is able to experience the intrisic reward of learning a new skill or learning a new way of seeing something they are not only becoming more intelligent, but they are also becoming someone that is more OPEN to becoming intelligent. Teach students to embrace and love novelty because, as Andrea writes, "Novel Activity—>triggers dopamine—>creates a higher motivational state—>which fuels engagement and primes neurons—>neurogenesis can take place + increase in synaptic plasticity."

Challenge Yourself

The classroom is not the marketplace and as far as learning and intelligence is concerned, "efficiency is not your friend." Being more efficient at something means that your brain has already learned what it needs to know and has become lazy. This reminds me of the stuff I am reading about weight training and muscle growth. When working out I will have the most gain in strength and growth in muscle when the activity is new and difficult. It is the challenge that leads to the growth for the body and the brain.

Think Creatively

Andrea describes this as creative cognition itself. To me that idea means the act of creating an idea. Anytime there is a new thought in the learner they have "created" an idea in their brain, that is learning. Andrea describes what this should look like in a learner, 

It involves recruitment from both halves of your brain, not just the right. Creative cognition involves divergent thinking (a wide range of topics/subjects), making remote associations between ideas, switching back and forth between conventional and unconventional thinking (cognitive flexibility), and generating original, novel ideas that are also appropriate to the activity you are doing. In order to do this well, you need both right and left hemispheres working in conjunction with each other.

How often do we allow students to create their own ideas?

Do Things the Hard Way
Andrea cautions us to not become too dependent on technology that makes our learning and our lives easier. I always knew that the challenge of doing research without a computer was still valuable. Anyone against spell check take note Andrea agrees that it does harm to the brain (I disagree, but that's okay). I do agree that making the learning easier on the student does them a disservice. Think about it, which of our students are provided with the most extra help and shortcuts to learning? Are we taking away their chance to learn and grow by making it easier?

Network
Getting exposed to others and their ideas is key. As much as students generally loathe working with peers that aren't their friends there is some powerful learning that could take place. Most of us know that having another student explain something is often more effective than explaining it again. Students can learn more from other students, it's that simple.

I know most teachers are already doing these five things, good job, but it helps to be reminded why we are doing it this way instead of the direct instruction. Two parting thoughts 1) Nowhere in any of the studies I have read and Andrea has reported on does it say: memorization of facts can increase intelligence. Using memorization for the novelty and challenge of it yes, but as a continual tool no. 2) The teacher standing at the front of the room controlling things, runs counter to most of the findings in this study. Note taking and direct instruction ought to become novelty in all of our classes.

The Bottom Line

Let's get down to why we are all here. In the world of business the bottom line is almost always  profit. How can  we increase sales in order to increase profit? How can we increase customer satisfaction to increase loyalty and increase profit? How can we make that for cheaper and care less for the environment or worker's rights to increase profit.... just kidding capitalism you know we love you.

Getting to Education's Bottom Line

But what about in the world of education? More specifically what about education at a less than rich junior high school on the west end of Edmonton? What is the bottom line here?

Don't worry you don't have to think too much about it because I have the answers for you. We are here to do one thing (and it is not pass the P.A.T. sorry). We are hear to help make the future life of students more positive, fulfilling and successful.The reason we do this is to meet our bottom line - CREATE A BETTER SOCIETY.

Once we acknowledge that the millions of dollars invested in education is to fulfill that singular purpose it helps eliminate all the other bullshit that we think we are doing at school. That is what we are being paid to do, create a better society. Luckily what a better society looks like and how we get there is not exactly decided upon.

Some would say a better society includes a citizenry that is smart enough to fill the jobs, create businesses, and lead the economy. The economists have a good point. If we are not creating a citizenry that is ready to keep our economy moving then we are not creating a better society.

We must Educate for a Practical and Pragmatic Future, It's Part of our Bottom Line.

Others would argue that a better society would include a citizenry of healthy, whole, human beings that are in touch with their academic, athletic, spiritual, emotional and sexual self. These citizens care about their bodies and make smart decisions. They balance work and play, leisure and productivity, fun and games (ha). These people are also right. The number of medicated students coming from self-medicating families all destined to tax the public health care system to death is not conducive to a better society (that sounds meaner than it is supposed to sound. I love the families and the children, but repeating a cycle of destruction is poison to society).

Not sure what they are doing, but they may have learned it in school. 

A third arm of educators, let's call them the activist arm, believes a better society is populated by citizens that are actively involved in their social world. This involvement happens in the political/democratic realm, the community/local environment and also in the global n.g.o.ish sphere. I tend to agree with these people, because seriously, what's the point of all this education nonsense if we are creating a society that cares less about the world, less about one another and is less able to do anything to help their fellow human than the society before them. All the power to this group too.

I really wanted to post a picture of anonymous for this part.

The bottom line on the bottom line is that, we need all of these people and all of these visions of a new society for schools to do their job properly.

I suppose someone could argue that passing standardized tests could help our economy because large post-secondary institutions still use standardized tests to determine who can do what, but please,  is that really what we are doing? Preparing students for a test they may or may not write six years from now? Does that meet our Educational Bottom Line?

Thank you for reading my summary of why we are here. Personally I think screw all of it, let's just teach kids how to be kind to one another, to love themselves and to love learning. Bingo - society just got better.

Jon Stewart on education

Too bad I can't get the embed code, maybe I'll try adding a screen shot with my new awesome screenshot google extension,

Clip One Link on Comedy Central

This is for all of us Canadians that cannot have access to comedy central. The US edblogs are all abuzz over the March 3rd Jon Stewart monologue on the "teachers vs. the Ultra-right wing" scene that is occurring in the U.S.

Here is the Canadian Comedy Network link so that we can enjoy the appropriately timed defence of teachers and their salaries. I think the comments are especially relevant in business friendly Alberta. Don't get me wrong I certainly support the private sector, but there are some things that should be kept public and receive public support.

In Defense of the Unplanned Teacher

I did not "plan" on teaching Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, but then I found these amazing resources. The first video is of a three year old child that is reciting Litany by Billy Collins. This will turn into a lesson where students themselves will memorize a poem.


Plus this fantasticness from the always amazing Richard Byrne: Interactive Comic for the Pit and the Pendulum

Now I will jam all of this greatness somewhere into my grade 8 class. I found it while reading my RSS aggregator on the weekend, and now I will use it.

That is two classes, at least, that popped out of nowhere. These days teachers should remain a little bit unplanned. The flow of information is so insanely fast that teachers should leave a majority of space, that's right a majority, open to the new ideas that arrive online every single day.

Information is becoming increasingly asynchronous, thus the well-planned teacher is going to miss the most relevant movement that is happening with the flow of knowledge.

In defense of the unplanned teacher. Look around, and don't plan too much.

Where is the Love?

Now that I have started using positive media clips to start my classes I don't think I am going to stop.

My A.P. gave the staff an article about focusing on the positive in our teaching practice and reflecting on the reason why we arrived in this profession in the first place.

The three ideas here are perfectly connected. When I start the class with a little love or with a little laughter or a little joy, that is what I get in return. The entire day is impacted by the positive message, and the students themselves become more positive.

Really that is why we started this thing anyway. To make this world a better place, and the best way to do that is to spread some love around. God I love my job.

My First Blog Post

My website randomness for nobody was not really doing the trick with trying to be a contributing member of the interwebs, so I thought - start a blog. I want my students to blog and I should really get into the habit of practicing what I preach. Here I will do a few things: 1)share resources 2)talk about education 3)reflect on my experience as a teacher.

My talk about education could get a little snide, we will see. For example a topic that I would like to discuss is this business of long-term sick leave. How can teachers get away with taking a month (usually much more) off of work because they are "stressed"?

I know I can get in trouble for this, but shouldn't long-term leave be reserved for those with real problems like cancer treatment or a terrible accident. How can professionals be okay with taking a month off of work? The job is hard, deal with it or quit.

How's that for setting the tone. There is some comfort in the anonymity that writing a blog that no one will ever read brings. Oh yes, it is out there, but I doubt anyone will see it.

No for something valuable:
Richard Byrne at Free Tech. For Teachers is an ed. tech. blogger internet pwning professional role model. I should really take this 7 billion people in the world lesson and go with it already. tik tok Steve,maybe sometime before 8 billion whadya say? A party for seven billion.

Another site I have seriously under utilized by not using it a lick - Khan academy. I won't bother linking direct to it because really - you should know about it already. Here is how it could work in the classroom from Journey in Technology.

And finally, let's hope my simple whole wheat bread turns out today. Is it possible to be nostalgic for a time without the internet while it continues to dominate my life. Have a great day.