BFTP: 12 tips for getting kids to hate technology

This generation of students, by nature it seems, loves technology. Too much perhaps. With faces in phones, they text, talk, research, read, game, photograph, and buy - having great fun in the process. Humph.

But of course truly dedicated educators know that education should not be fun and allowing enjoyment of technology in school is antithetical to best practices. (I am positive there is a university study somewhere about this.) If it doesn't hurt, it probably isn't doing one much good in learning as in exercise..

Here then are a few tips for sucking the pleasure right out of those iPads and Chromebooks that your school may have issued to kids:

1. Block all games (or try).
2. Block all social media (or try).
3. Install classroom control features that lock students into a single application.
4. Block chat in all programs.
5. Create complicated login procedures and demand complex passwords that need to changed often.
6. Use "digital citizenship" lessons to scare the snot out of kids about predators and privacy instead of discussing common sense practices.
7. Give lots and lots of online assessments - pre, post and during. No reading without a following quiz.
8. Block all streaming media including YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify.
9. Send reports to parents on a regular basis about students' browsing habits.
10. Discourage using applications for creativity and problem-solving. Stress following instructions!
11. Find ways to shame students who might damage their devices.
12. Eliminate or restrict reading choices, online as well as off.

Come on, folks, let's get creative here! I brainstormed these in only a few short minutes. Add your most effective techniques for draining the joy from computing right out of school. Kids will realize in the future we were only doing it in their best interest.

Original post 12/4/18

A bajillion words you are using wrongly

"No matter how brilliant your ideas," I would tell my students, "you will not be taken seriously if you have poor grammar."

That was the "why" I tried to impress on my usually unimpressable sixteen-year-olds. Whether I convinced anyone that it was enough reason to do the odd numbered exercises on pronoun-antecedent agreement in the Warriner's grammar text, I do not know. But I, myself, believed it. And still do.

In the past week, I have stumbled upon two articles that made me reflect on how we use words. The first was one of those click-bait links to an article that was titled "12 most commonly confused words in the English language." I am a real sucker for testing my own knowledge on lists like these. I did OK. But the second article was shocking. On the front page of a local newspaper, the article's writer used the word "enthused" - a term I had always be taught was verboten. Not only the professional writer viewed it as acceptable, but so must have the copy editor.

Google the phrase "common words used incorrectly" and you will get a very long list of scolds regarding how people abuse the English language. Among the ones that are fingers on the chalkboard to me (now there's a dated expression) are:

• enthused, rather than enthusiastic
• nauseated rather than nauseous 
• irregardless rather than regardless
• pronouncing the "t" in often
• using the pronoun "I" as the object of a preposition
• using literally when figuratively is accurate

I am by no means making the claim I know all the rules of grammar nor have mastered all the definitions of words. Some words refuse to stay clear in my weak mind - assure or ensure or insure, jealousy or envy, infer or imply. And for 60 plus years, I have had to think hard about whether to use lie or lay and about their respective spellings in the past and future tenses.

I admit that I pass judgement too harshly on people based on what I view as the correct use of language. It's a form of bigotry, I am sure. And I wonder how many people's reluctance to share their thoughts and ideas may be out of fear of making a language faux pas? Who exactly sets the standards for word usage anyway? 

I need to continue to remind myself that language is dynamic rather than static. And that I must be both a tolerant and continuous learner myself.

Please feel free to point out writing errors I have made in this post in the comment section below. I promise not to delete them.

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BFTP: 10 time savers for library and tech professionals

I had the undeserved reputation of being a hard worker. My schools' technology departments ran as smoothly as one can expect these things to run. I managed to get a few things written and published each year and to take an active part in several professional and community organizations. I took all my vacation time, watched too many movies, socialized, and got in a bit of exercise. But I was (and still am) at heart, a very lazy individual.

As media and technology professionals we are asked to do an increasing number of tasks that are often increasingly complex. As schools reduce “support” personnel, those remaining  pick up the slack. It behooves us all to think about our time management skills and strategies. May I share a few of mine?

1. Never do something you can foist on to someone else. (Oops, I mean delegate.) If you have support staff, use them to the maximum. It’s surprising how talented and creative people can be when you ask it of them. On the flip side, insist that anyone you supervise does not put in unpaid overtime. Period.

2. Examine whether work that takes up your time is worthwhile. Some tasks are simply not worth doing or not worth doing very well. For many reports and inventories, if you can be 90% accurate that’s good enough. A job not worth doing is not worth doing well.

3. Examine whether the work is really yours. I have never liked the whine “It’s not my job.” but sometimes we really aren’t the right person for some jobs we are asked to do. I never reviewed and recommended curricular software. That was no more my job than reviewing textbooks – it should be done by content area curriculum writers. Be careful about this one through. If a job is mission critical, it can add to your job security.

4. Some projects just need to be dumped, losses cut. I don't to do this often, but every once in a while it's about all you can do.

5. Never save anything that you know somebody else keeps. You can always get it from the other person. I only had one small file drawer and I probably only looked at half a dozen folders in it. A good filing system for saved files on your computer is a real time saver. Get a scanner for your desk.

6. Toss ALL junk mail and just skim journals and magazines. I read one article out of fifty, but still felt fairly in the know.

7. Use the e-mail delete key early and often. Set your e-mail filter to eliminate as much spam as possible and to direct messages from listservs into their own folders. Read listserv subject headings and mass delete those of little relevance. Only check your e-mail a couple times a day.

8. Spend the last hour of each week just getting the top of your desk cleared off. The illusion of control is important and a neat desk is a good way to start any week. Spend a morning twice a year to clean and organize your office. A few minutes organizing saves lots of time in the long run. (Great task when the network is down.)

9. Learn to take breaks when needed. Nothing slows me down like a brain-clog – a task that is seemingly impossible to complete. Get away from it, take a walk, get a fresh cup of coffee, and then come back to it.

10. Like what you do. If you are miserable in your job, find a different line of work. If you have a passion for your work, it’s not really work at all.

All these suggestions are easy to make, but difficult to practice. But it is important to our patrons, our organizations, and to ourselves that on a daily basis we consciously evaluate how we direct our energies. As Annie Dillard reminds us, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

Original post 10/24/18