BFTP: When to be creative

Our district office building was often full of teachers learning how to teach in a prescribed fashion that suits a particular reading series - something that happens in thousands of districts around the world.

Yet at the same time, these same teachers hear the message from educational reformers that both they and their students need to exercise creativity - that it will be the creative people who, in an economy beset by automation and outsourcing, will thrive.

Teach exactly like this - and be creative.

The question is not whether to go by the book or to try new things, but when to go by the book and when to try new things. In my experience, even the best teaching method, best resources, and best intentions never work with every student. It is for the kid you've told a thousand times and still doesn't get it, as the quote above describes, that you need to get creative, ignoring the best practices and school-supplied texts.

When I am in the dentist's chair, I am reassured knowing the professional who has the power to cause great pain or great pain relief is following recommended procedures. But I also would like to think that the dentist, when it is called for, can find a creative solution to a unique toothy problem. It's not if creativity should be used - but when - when needed.

Don't value creativity for creativity's sake. Value it because it can solve problems and create opportunities that standard practices cannot.

Original post 8/17/17

BFTP: Personal, professional, political: the social media quagmire

I have always been, and remain, a reluctant Twitter user.* And lately Twitter is conspiring to make me even less of a fan. Along with other social media forums.

To the extent possible, I have attempted to keep my political, personal, and professional lives somewhat separate on social media. Reading blogs and Twitter satisfied my FOMO by linking me to the best thinkers and newest publications in education and technology. Facebook let me keep up with friends and relatives, providing as well an endless supply of wit, humor. and mindless trivia. And well, those old fashioned things called newspaper and magazines, both online and in print, were my source of reasoned political opinion from both the left and the right.

While there has always been some overlap in social media, I felt I had been able to keep communication spheres somewhat distinct. But the lines over the past few years have blurred.

Politics has wedged its way into both my personal and professional communication arenas. While education has always had a political element (I was the state school library organization's legislative chair for many years), tweets and posts have become more about national politics in general. Friends and relatives now share more political diatribes, satire, and outrage than they do photos of entrees and grandchildren. Just how sad is that? And our mainstream media has become more overtly polarized as well.

It is the satire and outrage that I find most distressing. Both sides of the political spectrum have been sinking to ever lower levels of communication. Do I really need to see one more Photoshopped version of President Trump as a pumpkin? Do I need to see any more posters that question the intelligence of mask wearing (pro or con)? I really wish the level of our political discourse would rise to the level of polite debate rather than hurled insults with all the depth of a bumper sticker.

Perhaps the spaces between personal, political, and professional spheres of communication have always been an illusion. And maybe I am the only person who needs the occasional respite from the loudly banging drums and blaring trumpets of political screed. Or maybe I am too far into geezerdom to "get" social media.

But thank you my friends and colleagues for keeping politics from your tweets and posts to the extent your conscience allows. 

* Discussion via bumper sticker, The 140 character discussion, Poster Power on Twitter, 10 useful Twitter alerts, I killed my Twitter account, etc.

Original post 8/21/17

What inventions have had the biggest impact on your life?

Last June, I wrote a bit on a gift my children gave me for Father's Day - a subscription to StoryWorth. This week's question was a great deal of fun, so I thought I'd share it...

What inventions have had the biggest impact on your day-to-day life?
StoryWorth, Week Twenty-one
November 9, 2020

OK, OK, the most obvious answer is the computer, smart phone, and the Internet. Impactful on my day-to-day life? You betcha. But I believe there are other gizmos that have improved my retired existence even more. And I would not give them up even if it meant losing my digital devices.

The recliner. I spend approximately 99% of my waking hours in my old brown leather recliner. It is my office, my theater seat, my dining room, and my library space. All my writing is done in the recliner, including this story. My parents had matching gold fabric recliners when I was growing up. My siblings and I were relegated to the sofa where we could fight over territory. They say sitting isn’t good for you - that’s why I recline instead.

The remote control. Given the warm embrace of the recliner, it is a terrible ordeal to have to leave it in order to change a TV station, adjust music volume, or pause a DVD. I like remote controls so much, I actually have a “bowl-o-remotes” on my coffee table. I suppose I could replace them with one of those voice-activated devices (“Alexa, turn that damn thing down!”) But for now, I will keep my remotes even if I don’t know what 90% of the buttons on them actually do.

The microwave. While I love to cook from scratch for family and friends, I despise having to cook for myself. Thankfully, the microwave and Marie Callender have made my life ever so much nicer. Pot pies and microwave popcorn now mean that even though I have to leave my recliner to get food, it doesn’t have to be for very long. If I remember, my aunt bought me my first microwave oven in about 1982. Microwave popcorn was one thing I regularly smuggled back to Saudi Arabia after visiting home each year. 

The automatic light timer, motion sensor and Clapper. Each morning as I make my way downstairs to my recliner, my path is lit by an end table lamp that comes on at 5:30, turns off a couple hours later, and then does so again at 7:30 each evening. On the landing of my stairs, there is a nightlight that comes on when it senses movement - which I am certain will help me whack any home invaders who may be after the priceless treasures in my house. While I don’t have a Clapper (clap on, clap off!) yet, I’ll someday find a use for one. Or again, I could just say “Alexa, turn the damn light on.”

The electronic fireplace. No, it doesn’t really look like a real fireplace. It doesn’t even look like a gas fireplace. But it does provide warmth, especially to my feet as they extend out from my recliner. As anyone who has had a wood burning fireplace will attest, they are a big pain in the butt - chopping wood, splitting it, getting it lit, treating your burns after using gasoline to get it lit after other attempts fail, clearing out the ashes, the chimney, and changing bandages. I may well wind up in debtors’ prison due to my electric bills from this fireplace, but I’ve heard you can bring a recliner into your cell. Oh, my fireplace has a remote!

The automatic garage door opener. Now and again, even old retired guys must leave the comfort of the recliner to go grocery shopping and have their teeth cleaned. When those tasks are imminent, I become extremely grateful for my garage door opener. Not only does the opener save me from the physical effort of actually lifting the door, I do not have to exit the car after leaving the garage to shut it again. If only the driver’s seat felt a bit more like a recliner, I’d go out more.

The ice cube maker and dishwasher. I will admit I almost never use either of these. The icemaker in the fridge makes a terrible racket as the cubes fall into the big plastic bin that holds them until they become a huge frozen unusable mass. The sound is not something you want to jolt you when engrossed reading a thriller at night at home alone in the recliner. I use so few dishes that by the time I run the dishwasher, food remnants are pretty much permanently welded to the plate, fork tine, etc. which means getting out the steel wool and removing the icky bits with much vigorous rubbing. It’s impactful to recognize that not all labor-saving devices are all that labor-saving.

The birdbath heater. I love the birds and squirrels and bunnies and chipmunks that make their home in back of my house. In the spring, summer and fall, my pond provides all the water they may need to drink or bath in. But in the winter, the pond freezes and the creatures still need moisture. Hence, a heated birdbath. When I moved into my house, it did not have an outside 110 outlet where I could plug in the heater so I jerry-rigged a solution using a socket adapter and added a motion detector just for fun. It looked pretty ugly.  I recently bought an outdoor light fixture that actually has a couple 110 plug-ins built right in. I did my own installation, including electrical. Surprisingly, the house has not yet burnt down due to my wiring job. The only negative about the birdbath is that it is difficult to see from the recliner.

The keyless door lock. The 2020 pandemic restrictions on travel and recreational opportunities like plays, movies, skydiving, stock car races, etc. has meant that I have had more discretionary money and time than I might have had normally. So, throwing fiscal prudence aside, I purchased a door lock with a keypad. And throwing common sense aside, installed it myself. I’ve loved its convenience each of the three times I’ve left my house (and recliner) since installing it in August. On my way to the garage, I am usually balancing a cup of coffee along with my gym bag, dead body, or whatever else I am hauling. So it’s nice not having to dig out a key to lock the door (just one push of the button) or reopen the door (just four pushes of the buttons). You know what would be really nice? A push-button that would lift the foot rest of my recliner. Perhaps using garage door opener principles? One can dream.

The book. Paper or electronic, the invention that has most impacted my life, if it can be called an invention, is, of course, the book. I owe my love of reading to my grandparents (and mother) who read to me as a very young child - often while sitting in a recliner. Growing up on a farm, the Hardy Boys and Robinson Crusoe and Tarzan showed me other worlds than the flat corn fields outside my window. My career as a English teacher and librarian was driven by a desire to share my love of reading with others. I read few paper-format books anymore, choosing the convenience of my iPad, Kindle, or phone. But an evening spent in my recliner with Travis McGee, Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, or some new fictional friend is always a pleasant one. Unless the icemaker was turned on accidentally.

Oh, there are certainly other inventions that make my life better - the cordless drill, the electric toothbrush, the alarm clock that shines a readout of the time on my bedroom ceiling. But if I keep droning on, I may miss my nap time.