By this time next year, it is predicted that the scales will tip and over half of the nations’ teenagers will own a smart phone. Just think about that for a second. I remember when my school got a single Commodore PET computer. It didn’t actually do anything in class (by the time a program loaded, class was over). But by God, the future was sitting right there in front of us. Flash forward thirty plus years and most of our classrooms place students in the exact same environment as I faced in my 7th grade class – lectures, textbooks and paper and pencil assignments. The only difference, instead of a having a blinking box in the corner of the classroom that was essentially unusable, our students have supercomputers in their pockets that we choose to render unusable.
I understand that asking teachers to figure out how to integrate a new (and potentially disruptive) tool in the classroom while having to simultaneously manage time, content and students may not be entirely realistic. So here is what I would do. I would assign the following project to my GT students. A. Design an effective way to embed the use of bootleg technology in each content area.
B. Create a training manual and training protocol for teachers and students.
C. Determine appropriate goals to measure the effectiveness of the program.
Then I would take what my students created, polish off the rough edges and run with it.
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 September 30, 2012.
1. Framing the Lesson (Fundamental 5) at work at Sunday School this morning! (By @mike_metz)
2. Students should not walk into a classroom and step back in time. (By @EkCoulson)
3. Saw evidence of success of LYS training in Concordia University graduate students this week. Good work, Sean! Students win! (By @ctxprof)
4. If your warm-up activity lasts longer than 7 minutes, it’s too long.
5. Any system that rates everything as failing, is by definition, flawed. But so is the system that rates everything as exceptional.
6. If you stop at the first sign of adversity, the only direction you are going is backwards.
7. A principal shares a brutal truth: It was so much easier supporting the use of the Fundamental 5 after I actually read the book.
8. The biggest distinction between a gang and a fraternity seems be to the quality of the defense attorney.
9. Tonight on, “And How Was This Not A Waste Of Time?”: A recent study concludes that late night cell phone use is linked to a lack of sleep.
10. Poll: Most Texas voters willing to pay more taxes for education. (By @RudyEngland)
Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn…
- Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
- Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
- Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
- Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
- Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
