30 things we need less or more of

A principal's riddle: What's the difference between a teacher and a puppy? The puppy STOPS whining when you let it in the door.

Tony Schwartz in 30 Things We Need - and 30 Things We Don't (Harvard Business Review, March 8, 2011 - via For Whom the Bell Told than MA Bell!) composes the following list:

WE NEED LESS:	WE NEED MORE:
Information	Wisdom
Shallow billionaires	Passionate teachers
Self-promotion	Self-awareness
Multitasking	Control of our attention
Inequality	Fairness
Sugar	Lean protein
Action	Reflection
Super sizes	Smaller portions
Private jets	High-speed trains
Calculation	Passion
Experts	Learners
Blaming	Taking responsibility
Judgment	Discernment
Texting	Reading
Anger	Empathy
Output	Depth
Constructive criticism	Thank-you notes
Possessions	Meaning
Righteousness	Doing the right thing
Answers	Curiosity
Long hours	Longer sleep
Complaining	Gratitude
Sitting	Moving
Selling	Authenticity
Cynicism	Realistic optimism
Self-indulgence	Self-control
Speed	Renewal
Emails	Conversations
Winning	Win-win
Immediate gratification	Sacrifice

What would be on your We Need Less / We Need More libraries and education list? Here are a few of mine:

We Need Less / We Need More

1. Testing / Context
2. Right answers / Good questions
3. Attention on teachers / Attention on students
4. New technology / Well-used technology
5. Hardware / Staff development
6. Whining / Problem-solving
7. Entertainment / Engagement
8. Whole group / Individualization
9. Reading-listening / Making - doing
10. Focus on failures / Focus on successes
11. Basal readers / Children's-YA lit
12. Required classes / Electives
13. Pundits / Research
14. Helicopter parents / Involved parents
15. Disengaged parents / Involved parents
16. Data / Diagnostics
17. Leaders / Managers
18. Filtering on the network / Filtering between the ears
19. 21st Century Skills / Skills
20. Memorization of facts / Development of dispositions
21. Textbooks / Bandwidth
22. Worksheets / Games
23. Restrictions / Responsibility
24. Lists / Essays
25. Labs / Personal student devices
26. Standards / Relevance
27. Competition / Social learning
28. Evaluations / Encouragement
29. FRP Lunches / Living wage jobs
30. Polarization / Balance

 Your turn.

When your phone is smarter than you are

Last winter I purchased my first cell phone. It worked fine in the telephone company office when I bought it. I took it home and it stopped working. I took it back to the telephone company and it worked fine. I took it home and it stopped working. So I did the logical thing and left it sitting on my desk for a couple of months. 

But the second bill I received for services I wasn’t using made me mad enough to go back yet again to the telephone company where the 20-something young lady looked at it, dialed a number with it, and sat back rather smugly as the phone on her desk rang.

“Wait,” I said. “Give me that.” She handed it to me and I tried to dial. Nothing happened. “See!” I cried and handed it back to her, happily knowing it was my turn to be smug.

It didn’t last long. The lady actually stole one of my favorite lines and said, “Works better when you turn it on. Press this button first.”

“Look, I push that button till the cows come home. It still doesn’t work,” said I.

“Try holding it down for a two-count like the directions say,” said she. It worked and I left her office feeling dumber than dirt. Intelligence Deficit Syndrome, Head for the Edge, November 2000.

I used a Palm Treo 650 "smartphone" for six months about five or six years ago. It was both a crappy PDA and a crappy phone. It still sits in my drawer of unused toys as another sad reminder that wonderful concepts often become disappointing realities. A $29 dumb cellphone with prepaid service was my usually forgotten communicationd device of choice until about a week ago when I once again took the smartphone plunge - this time with an iPhone 4. (I went with AT&T since the Verizon phone doesn't work outside the U.S.)

And now, after reading Pogue's Missing User Manual, synching with iTunes, and doing the Subservience Dance to the Omnipotent Technology Gods, I think I am almost ready to place a call. 

Actually, I am finding the phone fun to use. It's enough like my iPod Touch and iPad that the whole "app" thing and iTunes sych has been easy. I love the GPS that works like the one in my iPad. I like the MoblleMe "Find, Lock and Wipe" features if the phone ever goes missing. Pogue's book was great - buy it if you get one of these devices. It's playing nicely with my personal Google account with and GoogleApps for Education's e-mail, calendar and contacts. The wifi connects easily. What's not to like?

I suspect the iPod Touch will go to the grandsons. The iPad will be used a little less. I don't see reading books on this although the Kindle App is installed. Looking forward to figuring out the latest trendy QR Code phenomena. 

But best of all, my new toy addiction has been satisfied for a while. 

Taking a picture of myself taking a picture of taking myself taking a picture...

Below, Paul Musegades from Apple -the subject of the first photo taken with my phone. Appropriate, I thought, since he's been my longest running associate with Apple.

BFTP: Flattening world

I received these two e-mails less than a week apart in March 2006:

respected sir,

we are organising a small book fair at pathsala, a
little village in india. we are publishing your
article 'The Future of Books' from the website in the
souvenir as we saw that "permission to use this column
for non-profit use is freely given". This letter is
for your kind intimation about it.

congratulating you for writing such a beautifull
article and your ideas which are expressed so
vividly.

for editorial board,
UDAYAN BOOK FAIR (Original post)

and

Dear Mr Johnson, Please can you kindly allow me to use the 'Internet Prayer' on your website?
I edit a law library newsletter, the OSALL (Organisation of South African Law Libraries) Newsletter, and our readers would enjoy this prayer, as we use the internet a lot. I would acknowledge the source.
I have attached the last newsletter, for your interest.
Yours sincerely,
_______________________________
Fiona
Assistant Librarian
DENEYS REITZ INC
SANDTON 2146 SOUTH AFRICA (Original post)

I need to do a better job remembering that I have an international audience and am a citizen of not just Minnesota, of not just the United States, but of the world, when I write. As e-mails like this remind me. And as the Clustmaps data (shown in the graphic on the left side of the blog's homepage) indicates.*

When I was a little boy growing up on the Iowa prairie in the 50s, exotic vacations involved other states or the wilds of Canada and its fishing lake, not other countries. I was 32 years old when I first flew internationally - and that was to work, not study or vacation. Multi-culturalism in my hometown mean that we Swedes had to respect the Germans, Norwegians and Irish living among us.

But this weekend I am happily preparing to work with South American educators at the AASSA conference in Campinas, Brazil, the end of this month. And I am really excited! A new country, a new language, and new POV about schools and libraries. Make the world flat as a pancake or tortilla or lefse or chapati or whatever as far as I'm concerned.

* Current Country Totals From 8 Jan 2011 to 7 Mar 2011

United States (US)	19,287
Canada (CA)	1,629
United Kingdom (GB)	1,621
India (IN)	1,434
Australia (AU)	616
Philippines (PH)	481
Pakistan (PK)	354
Germany (DE)	316
France (FR)	267
Netherlands (NL)	172
Malaysia (MY)	167
Singapore (SG)	156
Spain (ES)	131
Greece (GR)	120
Indonesia (ID)	119
Italy (IT)	112
China (CN)	109
United Arab Emirates (AE)	109
South Africa (ZA)	105
New Zealand (NZ)	105
Mexico (MX)	92
Taiwan (TW)	91
Sweden (SE)	85
Poland (PL)	84
Japan (JP)	82
Romania (RO)	81
Sri Lanka (LK)	81
Brazil (BR)	80
Ireland (IE)	79
Korea, Republic of (KR)	76
Turkey (TR)	74
Hong Kong (HK)	64
Norway (NO)	64
Thailand (TH)	64
Israel (IL)	62
Egypt (EG)	60
Finland (FI)	58
Saudi Arabia (SA)	58
Belgium (BE)	57
Portugal (PT)	56
Hungary (HU)	52
Serbia (RS)	51
Czech Republic (CZ)	51
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)	49
Bulgaria (BG)	47
Denmark (DK)	46
Slovakia (SK)	42
Russian Federation (RU)	41
Colombia (CO)	41
Croatia (HR)	39
Europe (EU)	38
Ukraine (UA)	38
Latvia (LV)	35
Trinidad and Tobago (TT)	32
Austria (AT)	32
Slovenia (SI)	31
Switzerland (CH)	31
Argentina (AR)	29
Vietnam (VN)	28
Estonia (EE)	27
Kenya (KE)	26
Iceland (IS)	26
Bangladesh (BD)	26
Lithuania (LT)	25
Lebanon (LB)	24
Jordan (JO)	23
Malta (MT)	22
Kuwait (KW)	21
Nigeria (NG)	20
Maldives (MV)	20
Georgia (GE)	18
Puerto Rico (PR)	18
Jamaica (JM)	17
Costa Rica (CR)	15
Bahrain (BH)	15
Mauritius (MU)	15
Chile (CL)	15
Tunisia (TN)	15
Cyprus (CY)	14
Cambodia (KH)	14
Qatar (QA)	13
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA)	13
Albania (AL)	12
Morocco (MA)	11
Macedonia (MK)	11
Algeria (DZ)	11
Venezuela (VE)	11
Oman (OM)	9
Honduras (HN)	9
Brunei Darussalam (BN)	8
Peru (PE)	8
Moldova, Republic of (MD)	8
Belarus (BY)	7
Tanzania, United Republic of (TZ)	7
Senegal (SN)	7
Dominican Republic (DO)	7
Palestinian Territory (PS)	7
Ecuador (EC)	7
Namibia (NA)	6
El Salvador (SV)	6
Panama (PA)	6
Ethiopia (ET)	6
Guatemala (GT)	6
Syrian Arab Republic (SY)	6
Azerbaijan (AZ)	5
Armenia (AM)	5
Iraq (IQ)	5
Botswana (BW)	4
Uganda (UG)	4
Barbados (BB)	4
Guam (GU)	4
Monaco (MC)	4
Bahamas (BS)	4
Luxembourg (LU)	4
Kazakstan (KZ)	4
Sudan (SD)	4
Ghana (GH)	4
Isle of Man (IM)	3
Virgin Islands, U.S. (VI)	3
Nepal (NP)	3
Guyana (GY)	3
Papua New Guinea (PG)	3
Asia/Pacific Region (AP)	3
Montenegro (ME)	3
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (LY)	3
Afghanistan (AF)	3
Saint Kitts and Nevis (KN)	2
Mongolia (MN)	2 (Hi, Jeri!)
Northern Mariana Islands (MP)	2
Guernsey (GG)	2
Bolivia (BO)	2
Bermuda (BM)	2
Yemen (YE)	2
Reunion (RE)	2
Dominica (DM)	2
New Caledonia (NC)	2
Guadeloupe (GP)	2
Anguilla (AI)	1
Seychelles (SC)	1
Cayman Islands (KY)	1
Macau (MO)	1
Cote D'Ivoire (CI)	1
Belize (BZ)	1
Suriname (SR)	1
Uzbekistan (UZ)	1
Jersey (JE)	1
Netherlands Antilles (AN)	1
Nicaragua (NI)	1
Burkina Faso (BF)	1
Aruba (AW)	1
Saint Lucia (LC)	1
Guinea (GN)	1
Micronesia, Federated States of (FM)	1
Malawi (MW)	1
Mozambique (MZ)	1
Benin (BJ)	1