From Cruft to Useful Stuff

From Cruft to Useful Stuff

As physicists in the 1800s at Harvard worked on projects before the influx of new technology, they began to pile up any old equipment that grew unnecessary and annoying. Imagine a room full of tweed coats and wiry gray hair with piles of equipment grown rusty on the windowsill and you get the picture of what became known as ‘cruft’.

Today, techies and programmers work to remove ‘cruft’ - the unnecessary - by removing crufty annoyances like old code and old software to make your experience of viewing this website, for instance, much better. 

Step out of the techie world and into many schools and cruft has begun to fill the windowsill.

It's cruft that causes teachers, parents, and school leaders to become overwhelmed when new technology is added to the curriculum. To avoid this burnout, school's need to throw out a lot of cruft and focus on one long-term technology integration curriculum that ties in all stakeholders.

It's impossible to try to stay up-to-date with the latest and greatest and it's a bit too exhausting for teachers to try to learn new technology when a school replaces the programs every three years. 

For technology integration to work, all stakeholders in a student's education need to be involved. Think holistic and try to pull motivation from multiple streams to get students, parents, teachers, and school leaders all on board to use the technology.

Think beyond the student. Who else needs to be motivated to use this technology? 

If the ultimate goal is to get students to use the technology to enhance learning, then consider motivating more than just the student. How can the technology help improve the lives of teachers, parents, and school leaders? 

When all of these stakeholders invest time in learning the technology because it helps them, it makes it far easier for them to want to share this helpful technology with the students. Cruft becomes useful stuff. On top of improving the quality of life for parents and teachers, this modeling shows students how the skills we are teaching them are being used in the "real world". 

Consider sharing a few digital literacy tips for students and parents on the school's website. For instance, share a program like Evernote as a super-easy way to help students (and parents, school leaders, and teachers) organize their bookbags. With Evernote, students can search for any notes, including photographs with words, to find anything. It makes that super-messy book bag appear neat and organized even for the most disorganized students. And of course, it's free. 

The goal aims to get as many as possible excited to benefit from the school's technology integration (Tweet this!). Ask yourself, is the community using this? Are businesses using this? Will employers ask students to use this? Will this help students be entrepreneurial?

Think evergreen. Right now, Google is an evergreen example of a digital-literacy platform that students, businesses, and the community use. Many education companies fail to realize this and provide edu-programs to schools that are great for learning, but not necessarily tools that students will be able to use after graduation. 

Consider thinking quality over quantity. It's overwhelming to think that schools are responsible for jamming everything a student will ever need to know into the school curriculum. How silly to think that twelve years of schooling should fill a life’s worth of  education. Instead, successful school leaders think about creating life-long learners - students who will be able to build an engine instead of operate it, find any information when they need it, and have the yearning desire to grow like an evergreen.

For many schools, the products are there. We just have to show how everyone can benefit from using them. 

What do you think? What software or programs do you use that students, parents, and school leaders can all benefit from? 

The Computer and the Librarian

 Over a hundred years ago, the computer was not a machine, but a man who computed. He did what a computer does today, but a lot slower and without the fanciness of Steve Jobs. 

The librarian became a job because of an enormous need to organize the heaping piles of literature spread throughout academia, filling the walls of your school.

The computer became a machine that now fits into your pocket. And with the growing presence of students reading on iPads and Kindles (or the Nook app), what will the librarian do?

The point here is not to let go of librarians. They are brilliant organizers and incredibly highly-skilled team members. You need them. But they may not need to be spending their days anymore rifling through book orders or organizing the shelves. 

Today's newsletter addresses the need for all school faculty to think outside their job description.

Back in the halls of college, we trained to become a certain role. Lead the school, teach a content, or be the librarian. That won't work anymore.

Now, we all need to think like a start-up. That means a hodgepodge of skill-sets. That means intrinsic motivation to innovate. That means trust.

 Hodgepodge of Skill Sets

We all come to our careers with a set of skills based on our particular schooling combined with the events unfolded in our lives. These moments define us and make us unique. They also allow us to innovate. 

You each have the ability to add something extraordinary to the school that only you can bring. Dig deep and reflect on who you are that makes you different. Use this uniqueness to your advantage.

Intrinsic Motivation

We've all heard the cliche, "One man's garbage is another man's treasure". The same principle applies to duties, tasks, or a job description. 

What one team member thinks of as boring and a waste of her talent, another may find it to be the perfect addition to his day. 

So, make this clear to your staff. Let them know that you want them to be in the position where they feel empowered and truly utilized. For instance, is there a 7th grade English teacher who borders on quitting, and would feel far happier teaching 12th grade? 

Yes, it is impossible to make everyone happy. Appeasing to the will of all makes it impossible to run a school system, but you certainly can make it clear that you want everyone to feel needed.

“Creativity is as important as literacy”  - Ken Robinson (Tweet this!) 

Trust

Letting everyone be unique requires you to trust them. That's why Jim Collins said you have to have all the right team members on the bus. Then, you can just make sure you are in the right direction and drive without having to constantly check the mirror. 

Culture is Key and Bigfoot is Real

All people want to feel safe. It's part of our fight or flight mode. So, it comes to no surprise that when one's intellect feels attacked, he/she growls like a tiger and pounces. Trust me, I've seen it. I never knew a 7th grader could punch so hard. And to think he got upset because another student tried to prove that Bigfoot does exist!

In 7th grade, Bigfoot is not something to mess with. 

From day one, do your best to set up a classroom culture that cradles positivity and acceptance. This starts with empowering ice breakers and having students share a part of themselves that others can relate to. 

Here are three activities teachers can use to set up an innovative and accepting class culture:

1. On day one, have students share what superhero power they would have by writing a paragraph that describes where that superpower would be used. This could be used as the anticipatory set to a lesson or as an ice-breaker to introduce each other. Make sure to have students look at each person as they speak, acknowledging their presence in the classroom.

2. On day two, have students write a letter to themselves in the future 10 years from now in a congratulatory way. Ask them to state one or two goals they have accomplished and write as if they were journalling to themselves. What was it like? What struggles did I overcome? What does it feel like that I accomplished my goal? What does my life look like now.

I've had seniors write "Dear Graduating Senior" which they then again read on the last day of classes. It's somewhat magical and tear-jerking. Bring tissues.

Ask students to then underline their favorite line from the free write and share this with the class. 

It may help to mention that students should write "Beat-like" (a la Jack Kerouac style) and not worry about punctuation or grammar.

3. You are highly educated and so are your students. But, we all need reminders. So, here is me reminding you that you are brilliant (Tweet this!). Your turn to tell your students. What? You teach 7th-graders? Well, on a global level these students have learned more than the majority of children worldwide. Daunting, isn't it?

What do you think? Is Bigfoot real? How important is culture when setting up the classroom? What tricks have you learned?