So Much Information, So Little Time

Lat week I was training some teachers in Web 2.0 tools. We were creating blogs and talking about using social media like Facebook and Twitter as professional tools. One of the teachers predictably (since teacher are a sharp group) pointed out the elephant in the room - how do you find the time? My answer, was, in all truthfulness, I don't. I haven't posted to this blog in weeks. I haven't checked my RSS feeds in two weeks, and boy the rest of the world has been busy. I haven't checked Facebook in weeks. There's no telling what my friends have been up to in my absence! I've only been on Twitter as a lurker, except for a brief post last week. I am, in summary, doing Web 2.0 badly.

So, how do we do it well? Well, I think it takes discipline (something I've been known to lack). I also think it takes using the limited time in each day more effectively. I could, for example, be tweeting from my iPhone while commuting, but this might be unwise (unless my husband was driving). I could be online instead of reading or watching Mad Men or Dirty Jobs, but then it would be too much like a job.

No, I think the answer is balance in all things. You have to blog when you can, check up on your friends on Facebook when you have chance, Tweet when you've got something important to share. And, you have to accept the fact that you're not perfect. Isn't that the way with most of life? I think it is.

So Many Books, So Little Time

Okay, so I finished The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown last week and passed it on to my husband. Although it took a while to grab my interest, once it did it was as much of a page-turner as his other Robert Langdon books. I particularly liked the message of this one.

Then, I took the time to finish Neil Gaiman's the Graveyard Book (which I had dropped to read the new Dan Brown). It is really a marvelous book. No wonder it's won so many awards.

I'm now almost through another laugh-out-loud funny Dixie Cash book about those indomitable hair dresser/detectives from Salt Lick, Texas. I actually had to read this next since it was due back to the libary last week.

So, here's my conundrum. Next up could be Going Bovine, a young adult novel by Libba Bray that's been getting rave reviews, or Audrey Niffenegger's (author of the Time Traveller's Wife) new book Her Fearful Symmetry, also getting rave reviews. Such a decision! If only I could read all day every day!

The Simpsons and the 21st Century Classroom

On last night's episode of the Simpsons, Bart and his friends pulled a typical Bart prank which ended up getting his teacher, Mrs. Crabapple, fired. The replacement teacher was a newly-minted M.Ed. named Zac with lots of new ideas for teaching. He had the kids texting, using Twitter, and using Facebook. He was sending them self-created videos to teach them their multiplication facts. The kids thought he was awesome, but they wanted old, traditional Mrs. Crabapple back.

So, were they trying to say that the use of technology isn't important to kids in the classroom? Were they saying that the 21st century classroom we keep reading about will be a failure? I don't think so.

I believe that they were saying something we've known all along about education. Teaching and learning is an interpersonal process. It involves the personal interaction of the teacher with each and every one of his or her students. It is this "personal touch" that Bart and his friends wanted. They were not plotting to get Mrs. Crabapple back so that they could go back to worksheets and rote memorization; they were plotting to get back their teacher who cared about them.

For education to truly be successful teaching this new "digital" generation, we need teachers who are a mixture of Mrs. Crabapple and Zac. Technology can be a powerful tool for motivating and challenging today's students. But without that caring teacher, the technology will not have the impact we want.

Teachers are as important as ever, maybe even more important in the digital classroom. It's only the role of the teacher that is changing. The teacher has to learn to be that "guide on the side" instead of the "sage on the stage". And that "guide" has to possess all of the caring, compassion, and creativity that teachers have always had.

So, is that what the creators of the Simpsons were really trying to express? Probably not, but that's what it said to me. I hope that's the message many viewers got. Teachers are awesome!

(Check out the episode on Hulu. It's called Bart Gets a Z. http://www.hulu.com/popular/episodes/today