A prediction come true - sadly

In The Digital Gap Between Rich and Poor Kids Is Not What We Expected, Nellie Bowles writes:

It wasn’t long ago that the worry was that rich students would have access to the internet earlier, gaining tech skills and creating a digital divide. Schools ask students to do homework online, while only about two-thirds of people in the U.S. have broadband internet service. But now, as Silicon Valley’s parents increasingly panic over the impact screens have on their children and move toward screen-free lifestyles, worries over a new digital divide are rising. It could happen that the children of poorer and middle-class parents will be raised by screens, while the children of Silicon Valley’s elite will be going back to wooden toys and the luxury of human interaction.

I am glad the mass media is becoming increasingly aware of how schools (and families) treat the children of affluence and the children of poverty when it comes to educational technology use.

Remembering an old article from the early 90s, I wrote a blog post When tech is a cheap substitute, Blue Skunk blog, June 1, 2015. It included:

The 1990 Technology & Learning article above tries to predict the future of educational technology. One memorable call-out was this one by Tom Snyder:

Hmmm, the poor kids will have computers and the rich kids will have human teachers? ...

As I see more and more "tier 2" and "tier 3" interventions becoming digital, it's pretty easy to detect how some kids will be receiving instruction via technology while other kids get human teachers. In the long run silicon is cheap; people are expensive. Putting kids in front of computer screens in lieu of putting them with human, caring, and skillful "warmware" is a tragedy. When tech is a cheap substitute, Blue Skunk blog, June 1, 2105.

How we use technology in schools varies widely, of course. It can be used for enrichment, for fostering the C's of Creativity, Communications, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking, for personalizing subjects and activities to make them more relevant to our students. I hope every child gets both empowering uses of technology and plenty of human interaction as well - not just those from well-to-do families.

BFTP: Librarians - collaborate to lead

80% of success is just showing up. 
                                             Woody Allen

The booklet School Library Research Summarized (Kachel, Mansfield University, 2013) analyzes 20 years of the impact of school library programs on student achievement. In summary:

... it has been shown that incremental increases in the following [library program attributes] can result in incremental gains in student learning:

• increased hours of access for both individual student visits and group visits by classes; 
• larger collections of print and electronic resources with access at school and from home; 
• up-to-date technology with connectivity to databases and automated collections; 
• instruction implemented in collaboration with teachers that is integrated with classroom curriculum and allows students to learn and practice 21st century skills, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication of ideas and information; 
• increased student usage of school library services; 
• higher total library expenditures; and 
• leadership activities by the librarian in providing professional development for teachers, serving on key committees, and meeting regularly with the principal. [emphasis mine] 

While collaboration with individual teachers is important to a successful library program, collaboration with school leaders and membership on school leadership teams is critical - and too few building librarians recognize this. Librarians tend to focus on working with individual teachers, rather than the entities who give those teachers their direction.

Not only does working with other leaders help librarians stay informed about their building's and district's goals and priorities, it also gives them a voice in helping create those goals and priorities - allowing librarians to lead. As the old saying goes, if you aren't at the table, you are probably on the menu.

Given the division in philosophies about how to best teach reading, how to best measure student "achievement," what priorities should be given to higher order thinking skills and creativity; and, indeed, even what the purpose of education itself should be, no conscientious educator can remain mute - or simply grumble to peers.

Librarians, you can and should be serving on at least one, if not more, of these teams (in addition to meeting regularly with your building principal):

• Building/site leadership team
• Curriculum teams
• Assessment committees
• Strategic planning initiatives
• Technology advisory committees
• New facility planning task forces
• Parent-teacher organization
• Accreditation/program review teams

By virtue of training and experience, we in the library profession hold unique and valuable insights into the way children learn, what creates a positive school climate, and what students need to know and be able to do to be successful adults. As Woody remarks above, just showing up gets one a long way. But I would advise that the final 20% consists of being persuasive when participating on committees, teams, and task forces. This means having research, expert opinion, and studies to back up one's views and values. Know the research that supports voluntary free reading; understand why creativity and higher order thinking skills, not just test-taking skills, are critical to student success; and know what studies show make an impactful library program.

In a climate in which children's futures are being sold for political points or few dollars of extra profits by educational corporations, to remain silent is unprofessional, even unethical.

Show up. Speak up. Collaborate. Lead. Librarians, make this your goal for this school year - and every year thereafter.

See also "Starting Off on the Right Foot"

Original post Aug 14 2013  A column based on this post can be found here.

10 time savers for library and tech professionals

I have the undeserved reputation of being a hard worker. Our school’s technology department runs as smoothly as one can expect these things to run. I manage to get a few things written and published each year and take an active part in several professional and community organizations. I take all my vacation time, watch too many movies, socialize, and get in a bit of exercise. But I am truly at heart, a very lazy individual.

As media and technology professionals we are being asked to do an increasing number of tasks that are often increasingly complex. As schools reduce “support” personnel, those of us remaining are picking up the slack. It behooves us all to thing about our time management skills. 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 no longer review and recommend curricular software. That is 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 awhile 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 have one small file drawer and I probably only look at half a dozen folders in it. A good filing system for saved files on your computer is a real time saver.

6. Toss ALL junk mail and just skim journals and magazines. I read one article out of fifty, but still feel 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 get 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 if 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 short 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."