I’m reading the MAKE Kids’ section this morning, trying to find the best entry point for my nephew Bren (who at 11 started substantial projects like helping renovate his Grandma’s bathroom), who I imagine is quite primed for building robots and playing with electronics – and I came across this fantastic and inspiring article about basic tech skills that all kids should learn before finishing school. Some of them have a whiff of survivalism – how to purify water, how to build a lean-to – but that whiff is only rank because of the armageddon-freaks who usually focus on them. (I suppose if society does collapse, it’d be best to not have to rely on the woods-militia for the basics, actually.) Of the 16 recommended things, I have only a passing acquaintance with maybe 8, and don’t think I could teach more than a couple of them to kids. How fun is that? One of the best things about teaching is the opportunity to learn new things – and pretty much everything at MAKE is intriguing and useful.

The other brilliant thing about this is that anytime you veer from the curriculum, you get to simultaneously veer away from the control mechanisms that kill school, subjects and minds – ie. standardized testing, reporting, etc. So get through the boring shit quickly (you’ll have to ditch that crappy textbook and really teach the stuff – the important, non-trivial stuff) and get your class into the interesting stuff. (I get the impression that this is more difficult in the States, but I know from experience that it can be done in Ontario, if you’re willing to write your own courses.) Like talking about ethics, or discussing the _current_ wars, or making little dancing robots, or learning how to tie a knot.

Check this out for another reason to share this with your kids.

He started yelling the word “crocodiles” in a strange falsetto. Another kid grabbed a guitar I have in the class, and this song evolved.

crocodiles

It’s great on its own, but a magnifying bit of coolness is the clear example of honest integration that happens when we encourage it. Nobody was laughing at the boy with autism, but they weren’t pretending it wasn’t crazy to yell crocodiles all day long. They were free to enjoy it.

Children have their own culture, as do teens, as does everybody, really – and who is to say which ones are right and wrong? Just as every curmudgeon over 20 wants to declare their music “real” and the music of younger people “trash”, the Banning Things habit among schools is simply mean-spirited and unimaginative, and teaches kids to do the same later on. I may not have understood or enjoyed Limp Bizkit when my kids played it for me, but who gives a shit? They’re not trying to turn me onto it. They’re just enjoying it. It’s theirs.

Same for the Pogs and the Gameboys and the 3DS’s. Maybe I don’t like them, but so what? Is it my job as a teacher to tell people what to like? I think a lot of people think so – but there’s no evidence to validate the practice. Rock and Roll stood up to cries of “jungle music” just the same as Ragtime did. Videogames and computers turn out to be no less social than any other sort of pastime. Pogs – well, I don’t know what those were. But they didn’t destroy civilization, or even have an impact on it. The resistance of older people to younger people’s interests may be completely natural – but so what? Coercion – every instance of it – has to be justifiable, and the practice of reflexive banning isn’t.

Those upset by the news, please keep your heads on. A relaxation of the ban doesn’t limit or change how you run your class.  I’m not letting cell phones into my classroom. I teach grade 8, and my kids are very distractable, and I believe there’s a place for zones of quiet. But I’ll be pleased to not have to pretend to care if kids talk or text on their phones in the halls. And I’m VERY impressed that the TDSB was so quick in making this change – a welcome change from the glacial approach to change that schools and teachers generally show.

You can have a cell phone, that’s okay, but not me by Jonathan Richman

Last year I took my students (junior high) down to the music room and just let them have at it: they could do whatever they wanted, with no concern about making “real” music or playing a familiar instrument. And it went really well. They collaborated sort of naturally – it was a small group of girls, who got along, so maybe that helped. After the first great session I decided to throw exercises at them, or experiments. For example, play a heartbeat and see where it goes. Or start with the piano instead of the drum, and see where it goes.

It was really great. They played and played without talking (much) and took the sound where it went for almost ten minutes. One kid broke out into a sung song, a sweet, high, old fashioned sort of voice, if only you could make it out. One sat and did nothing, interested but unable to dive in. We continued this for a couple of weeks.

I just discovered the recording again, and share it here. (The students are uncredited because I did not ask their permission to post this. They did agree to be recorded.)

music class recording 01 20092010

from the true adventures of jepcomix

http://www.geek.com/articles/games/game-developer-david-braben-creates-a-usb-stick-pc-for-25-2011055/

These two podcasts are good reflections on techmology in da classroom. First one’s by a guy who’s used smartphones; second one’s a rebuttal of sorts.

The guy who’s being interviewed in the second one – Anthony Marco – is exactly, precisely why I wouldn’t want to work in the school boards. He’s tongue-tied with fear of liability; despite seeming like a cool enough guy, he can’t help but sound like a Ministry of Education clone. Good convo – but for the record, that’s why I would rather stop teaching than teach for a public school.

Class, turn on your cellphones

Class, turn OFF your cellphones

This year I incorporated comics into my 8 english class – the Beth Cooper rebels – as an independent study that allowed them to choose between about 8 books and then respond to the book in a few ways including a presentation. It was a success – I had an avowed non-reader go through and enjoy Persepolis, which isn’t an easy book, and kids reading each other’s choices and debating their merits. Very good classes. The books were as follows, fyi: Persepolis, Spiral Bound, Pride of Baghdad, Astronauts of the Future, Tales from the Farm, Superman: Red Son, and American Born Chinese. More on them later.

I mentioned this project in an end-of-year staff meeting, and to my surprise, some pretty conservative teachers were very keen on doing similar things. They’d seen the grades 5/6 kids devour Scholastic choices like Bone as well as older comics (Archie) and strips (Garfield and Calvin), and wanted to harness this in classes, and wanted help! So this summer I’m prepping a schwack of units on various comics: reading a bunch, trying to figure out approaches at different levels, etc.

Shortly after that I found out that a high school (my school teaches all grades) English teacher was going to use Shaun Tan’s The Arrival in a unit on Immigration. That got conversation flying, and it looks like I’ve convinced the grade 9 teacher to teach the Essex County trilogy by Jeff Lemire.

Which all led to my being green-lighted to build a comics section in the school library. Which is wicked. I am excited and having fun.

I’ll continue to share what I come up with here – lessons and units etc, since I’m doing it already. More soon.