Advice to my friends in the snowy South

Lake Jefferson, LeSueur County, MN November 14, 2010

While it may not seem like it now to those of you south of the Mason-Dixon who are experiencing a little of the white stuff, take it from me, snow is good for you...

1. It builds character.
2. Tests your driving skills.
3. You get back whole days of your life when school is closed.
4. It covers all those leaves in the yard you didn't get raked this fall.
5. Provides a good excuse to drink hot toddies.
6. Get the sled out for cheap thrills.
7. Shoveling provides good exercise right up to the heart attack.
8. Forces you to slow down and smell the antifreeze.
9. Lets you check the tracks in the snow to see what creatures visit you during the night.
10. Did I mention, school closed?

My advice: Enjoy the snow. It may be as close to living here in Minnesota (where it is only a local call to God) as you might get.

You need to borrow a snowblower or a shovel, let me know.

Please, Georgians, get the Atlanta airport back open by Wednesday. I have to transfer there on my way to Dubai.

BFTP: What gets tested, gets taught

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post January 10, 2006. This post was also turned into a column of the same name. The separate vs integrated controversy continues and IT/IL skills still are not given the importance in education they deserve. But then, it's only been 30 years or so ...

Does teaching technology skills as a separate curriculum mean they can't be integrated into the content areas as well? I've addressed this question before regarding information literacy skills in a column called Owning Our Curriculum. I'll try to make the same points about technology literacy here that I did about information literacy in the column. (I have a tough time separating info and tech literacy anymore anyway).

1. Info/tech literacy is a basic skill every student should master. It should be treated with the same importance as the other recognized basic skills  of reading, writing and math.
2. Teaching basic skills as a separate, non-integrated subject is viewed as good educational practice. We have reading, writing and math curricula, teaching materials, courses, teachers and tests.
3. Basic skills should be "integrated" (or perhaps a better word is applied) across the curriculum. We want social studies and science teachers to "teach" writing skills and practice writing, yes?
4. Integrating skills does not eliminate the need for basic skills curricula, teaching materials, courses, teachers and tests.
5. The public expects schools to be accountable for teaching basic skills. The current way of being accountable is through testing. (See more on this below in my response to David Warlick.)
6. What gets tested, gets taught.

I don't see that integration and viewing information/technology as a separate set of skills to be taught are exclusive. If such skills are only integrated, nobody has responsibility for student acquistion of such skills and everybody has the opportunity to pass the responsibility on to someone else.

David Warlick defends the messiness of authentic assessment in More Loose Change on his 2 Cents Worth blog (and in a reply to the Blue Skunk post Loose Change - follow-up):

...although performance/production based assessment is messy, messy is what teachers do. Certainly multiple-choice/true-false assessments have always been a convenient crutch to many teachers. But project-based/product-based teaching, learning, and assessment were much easier to implement before high-stakes testing. The critical change is that communities have lost confidence in their teachers (for no good reason), and education has begun to lose confidence in itself. I think that we need to empower teachers and then turn education back over to them, the experts.

I don't disagree with David, but I would also say there is a place and need for testing* as well as assessment when it comes to I/T skills if they are to me taken seriously by educators. I am huge fan of Rick Stiggins and his Assessment for Learning work. Hell, I offer workshops on authentic assessment of I/T skills myself. Good, messy assessments using well-designed tools are critical to the teaching and learning process. They are good for kids, promoting growth, not simply categorization.

The problem is that we live in a society that believes in testing. And quite honestly, a degree of accountability shown through testing is not all bad. (See Exposing Shameful Little Secrets.) Our problem is that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of testing and the results being used punatively. This is a problem with test expectations and result use, not testing in itself.  And hey, you want something taken seriously by teachers just put it on the next high-stakes test. That is the reality as much as we may not like it.

* I will admit that I have yet to see a very good "objective" test on basic IT skills.

Nominations for the ISTE board open

As a former member, I am always happy to encourage Blue Skunk readers to consider nominating themselves for the ISTE board. I always feel the organization's future is most secure when the board is comprised of a high percentage of librarians and Iowans. Even if you are disadvantaged by being neither, still consider a run for this very interesting voluntary position.

From ISTE on January 7, 2011:

We're building ISTE's next exceptional board of directors, and we need your help!

Board nominations are now open! What an exciting way to start 2011! Today through Monday, February 7, we are accepting nominations for the following open positions, each with a two-year term starting in June 2011:

• Three At-Large Representatives: General members involved in any area of educational technology
• One Computer Science Representative: General member who is a PK—12 or postsecondary education computer science instructor
• One International Representative: General member who is from a country other than the United States who is involved in any area of educational technology
• One PK-12 Schools Representative: General member who is a PK—12, school-based educator (either a classroom teacher or technology coordinator)
• One State Technology Director Representative: General member who is a director of technology for a state education agency

Today through Friday, January 21, we are accepting nominations for the following open positions, each with a two-year term starting in June 2011:

• One Affiliate Representative: A representative of the affiliate members
• One Corporate Member Representative: A representative of the corporate members

Consider nominating yourself or reach out to your ISTE member colleagues throughout the world, who have the leadership skills to serve and encourage them to run for a seat on the board. It is through you, our members who are committed to ISTE's mission of advancing excellence in the field of educational technology, that we can build an exceptional board.

Visit ISTE to view the details about the nomination process, the guiding questions, and board member responsibilities.

We encourage you to take advantage of this excellent opportunity to expand your leadership skills and to build the next exceptional ISTE Board of Directors. The online election begins in March 2011.

Respectfully,

Holly M. Jobe President-Elect, ISTE Chair, Nominations and Appointments Committee	Helen L. Padgett, PhD     President, ISTE

P.S. Don't delay! Nominations close February 7! www.iste.org/elections

Special Interest Group (SIG) Officer Elections are also open!
Check out www.iste.org/sig-elections for more information.