Flat World Reflection

After finishing Friedman's The World Is Flat and viewing the video from the open course ware at MIT, I find myself encountering some very mixed emotions. In fact, many of my reactions to Globalization 3.o are almost diametrically opposed. I am simultaneously excited and fearful, empowered and constricted by many of the viewpoints presented. One such example of this is the author's first iron rule of business on a horizontal platform: "Whatever can be done, will be done." Unleashing the power of individual imaginations will undoubtedly result in unlimited potential gains to the business world, and yet, as Friedman points out, an individual's--or perhaps and entire country's--willingness to both accept and to participate in this flattening process will determine whether what is done "will be by you or to you." While I can certainly see the validity, necessity, and the educational benefits of teaching our kids how to operate on the horizontal platform of collaboration, I am also reminded daily of the harsh reality of Friedman's Indian engineer's indictment of America's preparedness(or lack there of) to do so. I certainly know this is true in at least my little part of America. So, as an educational leader with somewhat of a black and white viewpoint of the world, if I accept the premises set forth both in this book and by others such as Bill Daggett's educational reform organization, I find myself again faced with two options : Bury my head in the sand and accept the inevitable dominance of America by other countries or shout to the rooftops the immediate need for radical change in American education. I pray for the courage to do the latter.

Other parts of the book also elicited this same optimistic/pessimistic debate within me. I found the identification of the historical flatteners to be very enlightening. The levels and magnitude of the services being outsourced, while mind boggling, left me very encouraged that good old American ingenuity was indeed alive and well (who else knew what UPS was involved with?). The chapter entitled "the quiet crisis", however, was very discouraging. While I was already aware of the data involving the shortage of graduates in math and science, I was particularly alarmed by some of the other "dirty little secrets." As a practicing educator, I do not believe that the existence of the gaps in ambition and funding between American education and that of other countries is a secret, but seeing the differences enumerated in print was unsettling. I was truly blindsided by the knowledge that America is lacking in broadband penetration. While not surprised, I sincerely hope that I am moved to react to the damning indictment of American culture and education found in the statements concerning Bill Gates: "In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears --and that is our problem."

Finally, I must candidly admit to some very personal internal clashes stimulated not only by the specific reading of this book, but by the undertaking of many of the assignments throughout this course in general. What started as an assignment --a task that needed to be completed--has become a true enlightening (I'll let you know later if it rises to the level of life-changing) experience. While writing these blog entries, I came to the realization that I was not just writing for a professor or for my colleagues, but for ANYONE in the world who chose to read them. In the early 1970's as an elementary school student, I was motivated by my teachers' genuine beliefs that anyone could grow up to be President in the U.S. As an adult and a realist, I find it difficult to motivate impoverished, sometimes homeless children who must deal with generations of learned helplessness with this same belief. But in a flat world, one does not have to aspire to the presidency to be a leader or to impact lasting change in the world. Any individual with a PC and the ability to motivate --whether in a cave in Afghanistan or at a desk in Morristown, TN--can change the world. I remain conflicted: What a wonderfully empowering motivational ideal for American educators, but what an awesome responsibility as well.

Review of Texas Instruments TI-Nspire

As my final project, I chose to review the new line of handhelds (do I dare call them calculators?) by Texas Instruments. Having been a TI man for over 20 years now, I was intrigued by the amount of interest in the educational community surrounding this next-generation tool. While I must admit to at least some scepticism --far too often I have found the tools that companies introduce as truly new and innovative turn out to be merely older versions with flashier window dressing-- the TI-Nspire line seems to be the real deal. My primary interest in this particular tool is the search for technology that will allow us to change the way we teach math and science --a task that I believe is vital if we are to have any chance of meeting the new ACT benchmarks, particularly in science. Reaching the benchmarks in the other areas will be difficult, but finding a way to raise students' science scores to a 24 will require a major curricular change. We must find a way to transition from the vocabulary based standards of the Gateway test to the more reasoning based processes tested on the ACT. In short, we must teach our students to think and to problem solve. While the new family of TI handhelds will not change our curriculum, it does offer some options that will make this change more efficient and more fun for both the students and the teachers. A second motivating factor is that our school has been awarded a technology grant from a local sponsor, so there just might be enough funds to nicely equip a classroom.

The TI-Nspire family consists of three different options: the basic handheld with TI-84 compatibility, the handheld with a Computer Algebra System(CAS), and software for both Windows and Mac users. The basic version can be used on all national tests, including the ACT, and the snap-in TI-84 keypad makes it look and operate like a calculator that most of our students are already familiar with. While the CAS model cannot be used on the ACT, it is allowable on all AP tests and the algebra system allows for the solving of much more complex problems. The software allows the teacher to use a computer to emulate the calculator screen, and, with additional connectivity software, share documents with the entire class.

There are four major features of the TI-Nspire that I believe make it truly innovative. First, the ability to efficiently represent data in several ways sets this calculator apart from earlier versions. Our math department has known for years that teaching students to analyze data graphically, tabularly, and notationally was crucial in building true understanding of concepts, and TI has been a leader in supplying tools with these capabilities. The TI-Npire is the first to allow the editing of all representations from one screen. Another feature that I find very intriguing is the ability to connect probes directly to the handheld without the need to purchase an interface. This would allow our physics and math departments to collect and analyze real-world data for a multitude of motion and temperature projects. Thirdly, the TI-Nspire tools have a Push to Test feature that allows documents and programming capabilities to be locked for testing security. Finally, the TI-Nspire family of tools brings with it entire communities of educators that have already written and published many lesson plans and and activities for use in the classroom. By following just one community link, I was able to "borrow" several activities from a teacher in a private school in California that I know will be useful in our AP Calculus class. Yep, its easier to get to CA in a FLAT WORLD!

While I have not yet gotten my hands on any version of the TI-Nspire family, I am attempting to get a free trial version of the software, and will be attending a workshop presented by TI later next month. If even part of TI's and teachers' claims are true, then this technological tool will be awesome. At a price of around $140 it could even be a reality.

Review of Knowledge Works Map

I found the Knowledge Works Foundations map of forces predicted to affect education in the future to be very interesting, insightful, and perhaps a bit unsettling. The sheer volume of information gathered was almost mind boggling. Reviewing many of the trends, hot spots, and dilemmas left me with a personal dilemma: become overwhelmed with the magnitude of what faces education and bury my head in the sand, or use the information as an educational leader to help deal with the many serious issues we face as we move forward in education. While I must candidly admit that there are times that I truly prefer the former choice, I pray I will be able to have the courage to choose the latter.

Perhaps it is my background in mathematical analysis (or perhaps, as my wife might suggest, it is just my morbidly pessimistic attitude) I found myself drawn to the dilemmas section of the map. I was particularly interested in two of the dilemmas located within the Strong Opinions Driver: Achieving Standards and Personalization and Supporting Teachers' Rights and Changing Teacher's Roles. In my role as administrator, I am faced with these two intertwined issues --and I would agree that they are indeed both dilemmas--on an almost daily basis. It is extremely difficult to meet the legislated demands of our current standards-based reforms while meeting the needs of individual children. While I am a strong proponent of "raising the bar" in terms of our expectations for American students, I am not totally convinced that asking a special needs child to acquire a score of 24 on the science portion of the ACT -- a benchmark standard established by the newly adopted Diploma Project -- constitutes the also legally mandated meeting of the child's individual needs. When effective research-based strategies are identified to help with this issue, we must then deal with the second. How do we ask teachers to change the curriculum, change the method of delivery by introducing technological advancements, and by the way, make meaningful relationships with students, when we have not provided them with the training or necessary equipment to do so? As a servant leader, I believe I am charged to be an advocate of the teacher. As a visionary, I cannot deny that major changes in teacher roles must occur.

To address these dilemmas, I believe we must have at least a two pronged plan of action. We must increase the rigor of our academic programs. We will indeed need to examine the standards we teach, but I advocate making certain we have adopted the correct standards. It appears that legislators have bought into the Diploma Project's connection to ACT standards because these standards are nationally recognized and easily assessed. No one, at least it seems, has bothered to asked if the mastery of these standards are truly what our children need to know to be successful in THEIR futures. Increasing rigor in the classroom will also need to be coupled with the identifying and training of our teachers in the use of effective strategies of differentiating instruction ( like those in the Thoughtful Classroom) to achieve the marriage between personalization and standards-based education.

We must also address the funding of education in these increasingly difficult economic times. I believe we can accomplish both parts of my proposed action plan by a merger of private enterprise and public education. Private companies need a viable work force and are currently spending millions of dollars in the retraining of employees. I believe strongly that, if given a voice in the development of educational standards, these companies would gladly spend these training dollars in our classrooms. In return, teachers receive funding for the tools and training necessary to help the children acquire the skills they need. The results are a more relevant curriculum, more motivated children, and, hopefully, a better tomorrow.

Think.com review and potential project(s)

After reviewing Think.com, I am very excited about the potential this tool brings to the educational process. I am particularly impressed with the security of knowing that only educators and students can utilize the site. I was so excited with what I saw that I could not limit myself to only one utilization plan. Instead, I offer 4 different ways I intend to use the tool.

1) Elementary School Reading Program
Our school recently began a reading program with our feeder elementary schools. Weekly, members of our varsity football team visit the elementary schools and read to the students. I see some real gains if these students could post written communications and web pages through think.com. We could even do video links which could expand the program to more students and at greater frequencies. Potentially, we could even eliminate the need to transport the players. Hmm, better, cheaper, safer--Win-Win-Win.

2) Physics Class
When a certain former math teacher left the classroom for an administrative role, our school was left without a certified physics teacher. While we have a very competent chemistry teacher in place, I believe we could use think.com to supplement instruction. I can see us using some canned lectures on video and generating student designed lessons similar to those already existing in the Library section of think.com.

3) The Zephyr
Our creative writing class produces an annual literary magazine --the Zephyr-- which contains some excellent student and faculty creative works. When financing allows, they bind the magazine and offer it for public sale. Think.com could allow global exposure for these would be writers, poets, and artists and could perhaps even allow for an electronic version of the Zephyr to be produced.

4) Staff development
Over 2/3 of our staff have less than 4 years experience. We have tried to develop small learning communities which would allow us to help mentor our staff, but we are finding this to be increasingly difficult. Think.com could provide a very efficient conduit to sources of proven classroom strategies for our newer and struggling teachers.

Skype Reflection

I must admit that I found the experience of "Skyping"(is this an appropriate word?) to be very interesting and exciting. I had never heard of the process, but found it very easy to install and to use. I was even able to use my computer's built -in web cam by simply clicking on the appropriate tab within the Skype website. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I had not previously attempted to use the cam out of fear that the process would be too difficult for the technologically challenged. The six member group of Hamblen County was successful in setting up a conference call and engaged in a very enlightening discussion of the first part of Friedman's The World is Flat.

Like my colleagues, I was very surprised at the level of outsourcing of tasks occurring today. I think all of us were cognizant that outsourcing to China and to India existed, but the sheer number and types of tasks being done left us feeling a little uneasy. I thought the idea of having your McDonald's order taken by someone in Colorado was almost mind-boggling --that is, until I visited my local McDonald's and waited over ten minutes at the drive -through window to be served an incorrect order! When one considers the importance that volume and efficiency plays in the success of a business like McDonald's, this use of technology becomes much easier to accept and to understand. Still, the magnitude of the changes occurring is a bit unsettling and seemed to occur with me, as it did with the author, while I was sleeping.

As I continue to read through the Flatteners, I find myself agreeing more and more with Friedman's choices of occurrences that are contributing to the flattening of our world. With each new Flattener, I am convinced he has found the root cause of the changes in our world. There is one premise supported by Friedman, however, that I must challenge. Early in the book, he writes that Communism is a "top-down" system that leaves its people "equally poor" while Capitalism promotes an "unequally rich" citizenry. I would argue that Friedman has fallen into a very common trap of confusing Communism --an economic system that was founded on the very premise of support of the workers --with the totalitarian governments with which it has been associated. As a firm believer in searching for the Win-Win, I wonder if there is not some way to find some economic system that would allow for an equally supportive and supported citizenry. But enough of this political harangue, let's get back to the book.

In my readings thus far, the one statement in the book that I find most applicable to the situation in which we as Tennessee educators find ourselves is the one made regarding the open source software available to the public today. The chairman of Novell writes: "Commercial software companies have to start operating further up the stack to differentiate themselves." It is my belief that this is precisely where education finds itself today, and is the reason Tennessee educators and students find themselves facing the toughening of classroom standards. I believe that teachers must start operating "further up the stack" to allow our students the opportunities to differentiate themselves. Perhaps we should stop teaching the rote memorization of multiplication facts --we could outsource this to a calculator -- and begin teaching kids sophisticated problem solving strategies that are applicaple to their real and ever changing world.

ELPA Podcast

The Hamblen County faction of the ELPA Program decided to publish this group podcast. It was a very enjoyable and, more importantly, a very enlightening introduction to a process that I believe will prove to be very useful to me in the future.

Review of ISTE/NETS(A)

Who could argue with the standards set forth for the advancement of technology, and the roles of administration in accomplishing these? Unfortunately, at my school and district, I believe we are woefully behind in meeting these standards. Don't misunderstand me, I believe our intentions are good and noble -- I think we sincerely want to move forward in the area of technology --but we seem to to lack full understanding of the old adage "one man with a hammer can do more than a thousand with good intentions."



While I do believe our system's leadership has embraced the ideals set forth in the six standards, I believe that we are most lacking in meeting standard IV involving support, management, and operations. Specifically, we have not met the essential conditions of technical support, and, to a lesser degree, professional development. As I reflect further, perhaps our real problem is that the citizens of Hamblen County --or at least those who are their elected representatives-- have not fully supported the implementation of technology in our schools.



So as not to appear completely negative, I do believe our system has made strides in meeting the essential conditions of a shared vision, content standards, and assessment.