Every time I think we are making progress on the understanding of how critical it is to embrace the power and potential of Bootleg Technology (see the post from 1/22/2012), I will see something that reminds me how far we still have to go. I’ll give you two quick examples. Recently, I was visiting a campus were staff were on a hunt for student cell phones. When they found a student with a phone, they would confiscate it. Afterwards the staff joked about practice, calling it “fund raising.” It seems that the fines paid by parents to get the phone returned had turned into a steady revenue stream. That visit was followed by a visit to another campus where there was an enforced “no cell phone” policy for students. Yet teachers had no problem leaving the ringers on their personal phones and indiscriminately using the phones for numerous personal tasks at any time during the day. I keep forgetting that for most adults, the “Golden Rule” is actually “Do as I say, not as I do.” Right now, in the pockets of our students is more computing speed and power than any hardware owned by the campus. At their fingers, available in mere seconds, is access to the depth and breadth of human knowledge. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the majority of educators make the use of this tool a criminal (from a discipline code standpoint) activity. It makes as much sense as outlawing the use of books in the classroom. Which considering how little I observe students reading in class, may already be the case. A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us. To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of January 29, 2012, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse. 1. I don’t plan on waiting for the bureaucrats to fix public education. We have ‘pockets’ of innovation NOW… We will grow those. (By @tlonganecker) 2. I actually had to explain to a House candidate that there were school funding lawsuits. She said she would look into the issue. (By @DrJerryRBurkett) 3. Why are you buying a “STAAR Aligned Assessment” when no one had seen the STAAR? Save your money. Teach and assess the TEKS at the appropriate rigor.4. Even in adversity there is possibility. 5. In practical terms, the only way to ensure that high instructional rigor is the norm is to embed critical writing in every class, every day. 6. If the angry adult is making the student discipline decision, your discipline program is built on a foundation of revenge. 7. If you think the use of extrinsic rewards for students is wrong, then give up your paycheck for a week and then check your motivation. 8. Good data is like looking in the mirror. If you aren’t happy with what you see, do something different to change the image. 9. “Filtered wireless”… where we need to be headed. (By @tlonganecker) 10. Check out the promo video for the LYS keynote presentation at the Region 16 Leadership Conference http://tinyurl.com/82pvqa6 Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn…