Liveblogging: EdEvangelist Ian Jukes

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Talking way too fast for me to accurately transcribe, self-described education evangelist Ian Jukes lectures to the final session of the NSBA T+L conference this morning in Nashville.

His message is simple, yet almost indescribably complex: today’s students — everyone 25 and younger — are simply, physically and intellectually different.

It’s rather widely known that various experiences alter the development of neural pathways in the developing brains in children. The digital bombardment of interactive experience with games and computers. The new field of neuroinformatics studies the ways that specific mental processes occur.

In short, they’re finding that today’s students, whom he calls "digital natives," are using measurably different neural pathways to process the same tasks as those who are older. I rather wish that Joel was here to give me some hints about the validity of this research. One of my questions would be, will these same digital natives process information the same when they’re 40 as they do at 16 (when they’re less hormonally handicapped).

One of the findings is that today’s students’ attention is much more strongly drawn to the upper left half of a page, with attention to the lower right half — think about that, and think about the context of a typical web page: where are the menus? Should the producers of educational materials take that into account?

Digital kids think differently, process information differently, than we do.

Our teaching and assessment methods, he says, is completely out of sync with they way they learn. Unlike us, they can process multiple forms of information simultaneously.

Six major changes he proposes are as follows:

  1. It is time for education and educators to catch up, to learn the new digital world.
  2. In the information age, students need to be both producers and consumers of content. We have to move beyond 20th century literacy to 21st century fluency — being able to use technological tools without thinking about it. "Focus on headware, not hardware."
  3. Educators need to shift their instructional approach from director to facilitator, encouraging higher-order thinking skills. After two weeks, students remember 10% of what is read, but 50% of what is seen and heard (simultaneously), and 90% of what they both say and do. He thoerizes that rather than experiencing an epidemic of ADD and ADHD, we’re simply not teaching effectively to the way students learn today. If we want understanding and comprehension, we must teach in a new way.
  4. We need to let students access information natively. Just as calculators were scoffed in the 1960s, social networking is similarly cast aside in schools today — where it needs to be an integral part of learning.
  5. Let kids collaborate
  6. Prepare them for their future, not our past.

Game Over

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A decade and more ago, there was a cute little boy in our neighborhood who spent many an afternoon at our house with Alpha — jumping on the trampoline, tossing a football in the front yard, even having a pie-eating contest once in the front yard. Those were the salad days of childhood, when happiness was a batch of warm cookies and a cold glass of milk.

One afternoon when Hubby was splitting firewood in the yard, this boy and one other watched, fascinated, convinced that they, too, could split a section of Oak with a single crack. Hubby couldn’t resist letting them try… but needless to say, they were unprepared for the weight of the axe or the stubbornness of wood. Nary a dent was made. The two watched in awe as Hubby continued making big logs into small ones, then took up catching fireflies instead.

Those were the salad days… the innocence of childhood.

As a young teen though, the boy moved out of his aunt and uncle’s house on our street, presumably back with his mother in some other part of town. Through middle school, he and Alpha grew apart — about the usual age when kids begin to define their friendships based upon mutual interests rather than geography. As high school approached, I began to hear murmurings that he was getting into trouble.

By the time he was 18, it wasn’t murmurings anymore — it was his name listed in the paper under police reports.

Today, at 20, he’s front-page news: accused of attempted murder. What went so wrong in the space of 10 years? What on earth could cause the young man — who, as a youngster was kind and polite — to steal without remorse, then later, to brutally, horribly, stab and bludgeon a former classmate, leaving him for dead in an alley?

By all accounts, Jon Grider is a nice young man. He did not deserve the fate bestowed upon him early Tuesday morning. My heart aches for him, and for his family, that he had to endure such a horrific night.

One lies in the hospital, fighting for his life. The other, while healthy, is looking at a life that is functionally over — a future of hard prison time, and little else. In Nashville this year, fully 20% of the murders were committed by children 17 and under (all but one of those were shootings). There’s no argument for leniency on my part, but yes, I do admit to sadness that it happened at all.

What is it that turns an adorable child into a cold-blooded killer, within just a few short years?

A Day in Court

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This morning, Judge Blackwood again began hearing motions in the election contest between plaintiff David Stuart and defendants Don Layton and the Election Commission, after the Court of Appeals found the lower court in error and the State Supreme Court declined to hear the defendants’ appeal.  Thus, we’re back sort of where we started, a little more than a year ago.

At a basic level, the issues are as follows:

  1. That a substantial number of voters took longer to vote than the 10 minutes allowed by state law;
  2. That paper ballots were unlawfully issued in at least one precinct, even though the machines were operational;
  3. That voters were not required to provide identification in two precincts.

In an election where the margin of victory was only 119 votes countywide, it’s entirely plausible that these errors may have made the difference in the outcome.  Stuart simply asks for a do-over, and asks that it be held in conjunction with the already-scheduled countywide election on Feb. 5, 2008 (so as to make the cost to the county negligible).

Stuart has issued several interrogatories to the Election Commission’s attorney, to which the defendant has responded "neither affirm nor deny."  In plan language, that means he’s asked some questions and the Election Commission’s reply was "we don’t know, and we haven’t even tried to find out."

Today, Blackwood set deadlines of Nov. 2 for the questions to be answered, and Nov. 8 for the requested records (the names of poll workers at two precincts where no identification was required of voters, I think) to be supplied to Stuart.  A trial date has been set for December 13-14.

It will be interesting to see this unfold in December.

This is just wrong.

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WATE has the story about a fight on a Knox County school bus, but unlike most, where witnesses may or may not talk, this one was caught on tape (by another student).

It’s patently obvious that the victim did not fight back, yet he, too, is out of school until a disciplinary hearing can be held.

The fight happened October 5 on the way home from school. It was filmed by another student who wasn’t involved in the fight. And it was posted on the site my.break.com.

It’s not known what lead up to the fight. But the video shows a 14-year-old boy named Aaron standing up on the bus saying he doesn’t want to fight .

Aaron is heard saying, "I’m not getting in a fight. I’m not going to fight," several times. He says "Let me through! Let me through!"

But as Aaron tries to make his way down the aisle, another student blocks his way, pushes him and starts punching him.

Once Aaron falls to the floor of the school bus, the other student is seen kicking and stomping on him until the bus driver pulls him off.

Amazingly Aaron wasn’t seriously hurt. But his mother, Kimberly Carlisle, is outraged.

As she has every right to be.

When a student is jumped by one or more others seeking a fight, it’s my opinion that the victim should not be punished — even if he or she attempts to defend against the attack.  (By defend, I do not mean revenge, but a shove to create the opportunity to get away should be acceptable).

In this instance, there’s a tape (it’s short — go ahead and see for yourself) that shows unquestionably that the victim did nothing wrong.  No defense at all.  Yet, he’s falling behind in his classes (right at the end of the term, even) because the school system can’t seem to see what’s right there for the whole world to judge.

The victim in this case is doubly harmed: once by the beating, and again by putting his academic success at risk.  It should never happen that way.

City and County

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County
Anderson County Commissioner David Bolling has resumed blogging, with timely posts on a couple of issues that people have been talking about for weeks (or longer): the county’s payment to an insurance broker (who is also a close friend and political contributor to the County Mayor), as well as full disclosure on the issue of moving the Juvenile Court — specifically, discussion about whether to move the Juvenile Court to the Jolley Building, or to move the Clerk and Trustee’s offices across the street and put the Juvenile Court upstairs.

The last paragraph of the most recent post is the one that gives me hope:

**As a disclaimer, I know that the more I talk about this the more I will be accused of petty politics because I may or may not consider running for County Mayor in 2010. To that, I would say that for the next three years at least, I have the responsibility of being a County Commissioner, and the obligation to do what is right by the people who elected me. I hope that doesn’t ever come across as petty.

David is a good guy — no, better than a good guy: he’s the kind of person I would respect and trust as my County Mayor.

City
When City Council appointed a Charter Review Committee in July, I had some concerns based simply on the makeup of the committee.  It’s not that Council chose poorly, but the pool of applicants was rather limited — not at all the kinds of community leaders who had run for and served on the Charter Commission a couple of years ago.

The Charter Commission implemented the charter review committee, to eliminate the months of effort required of them to update and bring the Charter into compliance with state law.  Their intent, clearly stated, was that the charter review committee would not undertake major policy revisions, but simply a periodic housekeeping function.

Early on — perhaps at the very first meeting — some on the committee began talking about major renovations rather than housekeeping.  Fortunately, they were redirected to their mission.  Now, however, these issues have surfaced yet again.

Oak Ridge resident Virginia Jones has asked a city committee to consider recommending that City Council members be elected from districts.

The city’s seven Council members are currently elected to citywide at-large seats.

To his credit, Chairman Tom Normand said that the committee will remain focused on their primary mission of updating the charter before any other issues are discussed.  However, I am disappointed that the option to consider revisions outside the scope of the committee’s purpose may be considered later, when the housekeeping is finished.  I’m further disappointed in other committee members who indicated an interest in "keeping it on the table."

District representation in a city the size of Oak Ridge is a bad idea for two reasons:  one, it artificially limits the talent pool available to the citizens for choosing those who will represent them on City Council and the School Board, and two, that it introduces a much greater potential for bargaining — things like "I’ll vote for an expensive neighborhood revitalization in your district, but only if you vote for an equally expensive new greenway in mine."  Pork-barrel spending, made intensely local.

With the School Board, the problems could be similar.  We are extremely fortunate (and unusual) to have a school system where resources are allocated based upon need, not greed, and in a balanced fashion.  I would like for it to stay that way — we all should, as it is for the overall health and well-being of our city.

Charter Review Committee: please stick to your designated mission.  If you want to make major policy changes, run for the Charter Commission next time so that the voters will have an opportunity to select you (or NOT) based upon your positions.

Quote of the Day

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"Mom, I think we need some new pancake syrup.  The viscosity is too high in this one."
— Delta, age 12

Geez, I had a decent vocabulary at her age, but I doubt I knew what viscosity was until high school — probably about the time I learned how to put oil in my car.

Get Congress out of the Classroom

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Diane Ravitch, Professor of Education at New York University, has an excellent opinion piece in yesterday’s New York Times.  She served as the assistant secretary for education research from 1991-1993, the latter part of the term of George H.W. Bush.

It might be a little surprising, therefore, that she would come out with a rather strongly critical opinion of No Child Left Behind, the flagship legislation of Bush 43:

DESPITE the rosy claims of the Bush administration, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 is fundamentally flawed. The latest national tests, released last week, show that academic gains since 2003 have been modest, less even than those posted in the years before the law was put in place. In eighth-grade reading, there have been no gains at all since 1998.

She also makes a good case for juxtaposing the roles of states and the federal government with regard to education:

No Child Left Behind can, however, be salvaged if policymakers recognize that they need to reverse the roles of the federal government and the states. In our federal system, each level of government should do what it does best. The federal government is good at collecting and disseminating information. The states and school districts, being closer to the schools, teachers and parents than the federal government, are more likely to be flexible and pragmatic about designing reforms to meet the needs of particular schools.

This idea — that the best government is that which is closest to the people — is supposed to be one of the core principles of the Republican Party… but maybe that’s a just relic from the days when the Republican Party embraced "principles" rather than "values."

Her next two paragraphs illustrate some of the flaws  in the current system (other than the absolute impossibility of 100% of children attaining 100% proficiency by 2014):

However, under current law, state education departments have an incentive to show that schools and students are making steady progress, even if they are not. So the results of state tests, which are administered every year, are almost everywhere better than the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the benchmark federal test that is administered every other year.

Many states claim that 80 percent or more of their students are proficient in reading or math at the same time that the federal assessment shows only a minority of students in those states reaching its standard of proficiency. We will never know how well or poorly our students are doing until we have a consistent national testing program in which officials have no vested interest in claiming victory.

(emphasis added)

We know this is true.  We know it’s true in Tennessee — that our own standards are lower than those of the NAEP, and sinking.  But, the NAEP isn’t given to every student, or even taken at every school — it’s a so-called "representative sampling," of which I am somewhat suspicious.  I don’t know the last time that the NAEP was given to students in Oak Ridge, to which students it was given, and whether the "representative sampling" for Tennessee is any decent measure of how our school system is doing.

What would it cost to completely do away with the TCAP, and use the NAEP for all students instead?  If all states did away with their own proprietary tests and used the NAEP instead, would that not achieve some cost savings, in addition to doing away with states’ gaming the system through artificially adjusted performance standards?

On the downside, if it is that, it would mean that all the states would have to align their standards — what subjects they teach at what levels — with the NAEP rather than the state test.  With that comes the possibility of federalizing educational standards, which I don’t think is a good idea.

I’d love to know what you think.

Thought for the Day

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This arrived in my inbox this afternoon, and seems worthy of sharing:

I believe –
. . that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.  And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.

I believe –
. . that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.  Remember that!

I believe –
. . that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.  Even if you think you can’t.

I believe –
. . that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I believe –
. . that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I believe –
. . that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I believe –
. . that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I believe –
. . that you can keep going long after you think you can’t.

I believe –
. . that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I believe –
. . that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe –
. . That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I believe –
. . that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I believe –
. . that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I believe –
. . that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe –
. . that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I believe –
. . that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

I believe –
. . that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I believe –
. . that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

I believe –
. . . that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I believe –
. . that you shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I believe –
. . two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I believe –
. . that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know you or by people that you don’t even know.

I believe –
. . that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you – you will find the strength to help.

I believe –
. . that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I believe –
. . that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.


Cool stuff online

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Educate yourself and others:

Carnegie Mellon University has developed an interactive computer game dubbed Anti-Phishing Phil, which helps teach the player how to discern real websites from fakes. I breezed through the first level, but was surprised to get tripped up by one in the second round. I highly recommend that you check this out, and if you have children in the house who use the internet at all, have them play it too.

I plan to send the link to my parents, as well as to my kids. And my friends. Sure, the graphics are targeted to children, but the lessons are extremely good for all of us.

Then, have some fun:

I do like music — a lot — but I am a little particular about what I listen to. Last week, a good friend (thank you, T.) dropped a fabulous find on me — RadioTracker! Unlike most music subscription-based services I’ve found, this one actually has what I’m looking for.

You can download the software for a free trial first, just to make sure. I think it’s cool.