I would consider this one of the most language-difficult places I've visited. A very low percentage of signs are in English as well as Japanese (better in the tourist areas) and I found very few fluent English speaking natives, even in the service industries. Although I am sure I had much better luck in this regard than any hapless tourist who tries to find a Japanese speaker in Minnesota. 

Despite feeling totally illiterate for about a week (perhaps a good empathy builder), I found the place fascinating. A few photos and observations below...

Yes, my nightmares about public transit were well founded. The board above greeted me on arrival at Haneda airport - the "close and convenient" airport. Overconfident after a conversation with my seat mate on the flight, I decided to jump into the mass transit system instead of taking a taxi to my hotel. After one nice lady actually got off the train car and walked me to the correct platform, I made it to the Shinjuku train station before the trains stopped running around midnight. At the station, I gave up and took a taxi to the hotel. My only taxi ride of my stay. By the end of the week, I was feeling pretty good about using the trains and subways - but I still gave myself an extra hour to get lost each trip.

This is a city of walkers. Millions of fast walkers, heads straight ahead or staring at phones, nearly everyone in salaryman's black. Individual buildings are tough to find since they are not numbered sequentially, but by chronological order of construction - the first building gets the lowest number. One guide asserted the streets were intentionally designed as a maze to protect the emperor. I can believe it. The GPS helped - a little.

The Meiji Shrine was one of the first stops on the first of several tours I took. Most Japanese are both Shinto and Buddist. They like to marry as Shintoists and die as Buddhists, since Buddhists believe in reincarnation. Very practical.

I've never seen a place with so many shops - giant department stores down to hole-in-the-wall stalls. And it's tchotchke heaven. Shop outside Asakusa Temple.

So having incense smoke blow in your face makes you attractive and in your hair makes you clever according to Japanese lore. 

However smoking is not allowed on the street. Most restaurants have smoking areas though. Go figure.

The city at night from the top of a building in Roppongi. The ASIJ high school librarian, Linda, took me out for supper, supplied me with a metro pass, and showed me this great view. The Tokyo Tower built in the late 50s is the tall lighted building.

Rush hour on the Odeo line, the newest and deepest subway in the city. Protocol demands you face out if standing and if the car is crowded you back in. Not up to Mumbai standards of sardine-ity, but a close runner up. In some cases such as at Shinjuku, finding one's way in the stations themselves was more of an ordeal than finding which line to take.  And once one sorted the subway lines from the train lines, the system worked really well.

The world's largest fish market is Tsukiji. It employees over 65,000 people and sells wholesale everything from gianormous tunas to baby sardines. Not bad smelling for a fish market, surprisingly. Gotta watch out for the very rushed guys driving propane propelled carts.

The artificial island of Odaiba was a great place to cycle. On my day-long tour on the Great Tokyo Cycling Tour (I highly recommend it), we rode on back streets, on major streets, on a lot of sidewalks, playing dodge the pedestrians absorbed in their phones, and through park areas like this.

I get the sense my son and grandsons would have appreciated the modern elements of Tokyo more than I would have. Manga comics and cartoons were never part of my childhood, but my boys all love them. This isn't Pokemon, I was told. Gundam Statue on Odiaba Island. Oh, he's the big one.

I was moved at this site near a temple (not remembering which one). Each of these small statues is a memorial to a miscarried child. There were thousands, many with fresh flowers.

The highlight of my visit just may have been attending a sumo tournament with Wouter, the elementary librarian at ASIJ. He's a sumo fan and thoughtfully described the rituals and rules of the sport. In the 2 1/2 hours we were there, I'm guessing we saw 15 minutes of fighting, but the pageantry, the butt-slapping, leg-stomping showmanship was fascinating. The sport is in decline with no Japanese top ranked wrestlers and no attempt to modernize this tradition with strong religious ties.

Mt. Fuji was clear during my tour there. Iconic is all I can say. I want to climb it, but it can really only be done during July or August. The 8 hours up and 3 down are one long queue, I understand. The trip by bus to the area took two hours. The trip back to Tokyo took 30 minutes on the Shinkansen - the bullet train. I'd have gotten a picture but by the time these trains screamed through the station, I was still getting my phone out of my shirt pocket. It's like flying on the ground.

A view of Lake Ashi from the Komagatake Ropeway. We took a short cruise on the lake in a traditional ship. A lady who looked to be in her sixties with what sounded like a British accent complained vociferously that tour brochure promised a ride on one of the pirate ships that also cruised the lake. I really wanted to go up to her and say "What are you, six years old?" Tourists!

The photo of this street scene near Shinjuku station simply doesn't do the lighting justice - or the crowds. I was amazed by the safe feeling, the cleanliness (not a scrap of litter), and the youth out and about both day and night on the streets. 

The tall structure in the back is the Tokyo SkyTree, a communications tower that replaced the Tokyo Tower, only half its height. Supposedly this was needed as buildings grew taller and television became digital. The gold building with the white top in the center of the photo is the Asahi beer building. And yes, it was designed to look like a glass of beer. The gold sweet potato is supposed to be a flame.

Sushi for breakfast? Yup. I don't care for fish so opted for the vegetarian plate. Others got huge slabs of raw fish. My red face is a result of my day-long bike ride earlier in the week, not the wasabi sauce.

At a temple one could pay a Y100 to draw a stick from a can that matched with a drawer that contained a fortune. As you can tell, mine was all bad. However, one can take this slip of paper and tie it to a small frame at the temple, thus leaving all your bad luck behind. Must have worked since I found my way back to the hotel on the subway.

The modern rickshaws were fun to ride. One does not tip in Japan for service so when a guide or rickshaw puller is effusive or helpful, it's genuine love of what they do - not a ploy for more money. I liked that a lot. While Tokyo was somewhat spendy, you weren't nickeled and dimed to death through tips, pay toilets, or the need for bottled water. 

The Akihabara District in Tokyo, home to all things geeky and electronic. 

On nearly every corner of the Akihabara District, appear these cute girls in French maid costumes touting for their "maid cafes" where one can be served coffee and get your ears cleaned (I am not making this up), by submissive, innocent-looking girls - the physical manifestation of a stock manga character. Personally, I'll take IHOP any day.

The ubiquitous vending machine dispenses both hot and cold drinks from every street corner. One piece of technology there that I could figure out. 

I enjoyed my week in Tokyo very much and always feel blessed to be able to experiences places like this. The very size of the city - both in population and physical area - made this a challenging trip for me. You have to work pretty hard as a tourist there. And as an administrator, I am just not accustomed to working that much.

Next visit, I hit museums, Kyoto, and get my ears cleaned.

Vending machines here are ubiquitous and wonderfully easy to use since any currency under the value of Y10,000 ($10) is a coin. I loved that coffee was readily available, but I was surprised when I found this can of was served hot instead of cold. How nice and how practical. Such a simple twist to the very old technology of the vending machine. Made me wonder how many old devices could surprise us with new uses if we just thought a little differently about them?

I've never seen a more connected city. My guess is 90% of the people I saw on the streets and subways were plugged into some device - 100% of those under age 30 - with many using two devices simultaneously. For a society that is reserved anyway, I never saw anyone strike up a conversation with a fellow passenger. Well, except for me when I sometimes in panic mode asked for directions. I've never felt so keenly the fear that technology is isolating rather than socializing.

These are the controls for my "Tokyo toilet." The icons are fairly self-descriptive. While I am sure my 7-year old grandson would find great fun with such a contraption, I don't know how many would sell in the US. My guess is that two things may explain why they are so popular here. (I did not see a toilet that did not offer these features.) First, culture. The Japanese value cleanliness and personal hygiene and have for centuries. But they also face a challenge: the lack of physical space. This is a small country geographically but has a very large population which results extremely small rooms that make the most of any space. Even vertically - many door frames are only 6 feet high and I have the bumps on my head to prove it.

To me this is an interesting way to look at any technology implementation. First look at the culture of your school and then examine its challenges. Any technology that does not consider both is doomed to failure.

"Oh good," she said, "I have tech problem you might be able to help me with." (I shuddered since my department worries when I try to fix hardware.) She held out an iPad with a program running on it.

"How do I get this off my screen?"

"Just push the big button on the bottom," I sagely suggested.

"I tried, but screen stays the same but I just get a row of icons on the bottom."

She was double clicking the button, of course, instead just hitting it once. Quick lesson - click just once. Problem solved. (Boy, was I proud of myself!)

Just the day before my tech integration specialists were talking about how with a big influx of iPads into our schools next year (I estimate 900), that paras in special ed, Title 1, and other areas will need to know how to operate these devices. Given our already full plate of training needs for teachers on the horizon, I sort of shrugged the comment off.

Until I met Laurie.

Paras fall into the category I call the lost souls of technology training - those folks who need basic tech skills, but don't get much attention from our department. We do a pretty good job with kids, teachers, and even the teachable administrators, but some groups have just been left to wander in technology limbo.

I started to notice this a couple years ago when GoogleApps become the preferred method of communication by most of our teaching staff and building secretaries struggled with Docs, the calendar, and such. We started adding GoogleApps training at the regular secretarial meeting where it had usually been student information and finance systems uses that were taught. 

Then we added special training sessions for district secretaries - those who serve HR, the superintendent, the business manager, the sped director, etc.  We found out that about three quarters of our cooks did not know how to use e-mail when the HR department tried to contact them that way. Our custodial and maintenance staff is expected to read and respond to e-mail requests for work. Really, who doesn't need at least some familiarity with the basic communication systems in your schools? The crossing guards?

Are there pockets of lost souls who need some tech help in your district? If so, how are you releasing them from their digital purgatory?

Dear Doug,

The Indispensable Librarian: Surviving and Thriving in School Libraries in the Information Age, Second Edition published today, May 9th, 2013.

Please reply to this message with your current mailing address to ensure timely delivery of your complimentary copies. 

Once you have verified your address, allow 4-6 weeks for processing and delivery of your complimentary copies. 

Thank you, 
Jenn ...
Project Coordinator
ABC-CLIO

4-6 weeks is timely? No wonder the print business is having problems. According to my records, I sent the manuscript in almost exactly a year ago. Sigh... My understanding is the there will be e-book versions, but I don't know when.

For those interested, here is the Table of Contents. In 4-6 weeks I can check to see if is still accurate.

It's the subway map of Tokyo where I will spending next week - first playing tourist, then doing a couple days of workshops for an international school in the 'burbs.

I'm not quite sure why this map so intimidates me. I've conquered the transit systems of Rome, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Sydney, Rio, Bangkok, Mumbai, Istanbul, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC. etc. Oh, and the single line in Minneapolis. (I am far too cheap to take taxis whenever can take public transportation.) Maybe it just the complexity of the whole thing...

According to Wikipedia, the Tokyo subway is the most used system in the world with 3.1 BILLION users in 2011 - about 6.5 million people each day (few who speak English?). Platform attendants push people into the cars. It has nine lines and 179 separate stations. It connects to another subway operator TOEI and a bunch of railways, a monorail, and probably Charon's ferry. Toyko is the largest metropolitan area in the world with about 32 million people and measures almost 60 miles east to west. 

I have been practicing my Japanese by watching the miniseries Shogun again. I can say

• Koni-che-wa, Toranaga-sama.
• Hai, Toranaga-sama
• Dozo, Toranaga-sama.

Which will all come in very handy if I meet someone named Toranaga, I'm sure.

I've downloaded a Japanese language app that pronounces words at two speeds - regular and Minnesotan - Minnesota speed has a little turtle icon. I've downloaded off-line street maps and subway maps for the iPhone which I am confident will work fine so long as there are no tall buildings in Tokyo and I am never indoors or underground. 

I'm signed up for tours each of the four free days I am in Tokyo including a bike trip, a walking tour, and a bullet train trip to Mt. Fuji. If I can find the meeting point. I have two gracious hosts coming from the American School in Japan to show me around a couple evenings as well.

Keep me in your thoughts... But not at 3 AM. 

OGDEN, Utah – Twenty librarians in the Ogden School District could be out of a job.

The twenty Library Media Specialists were called to a mandatory meeting on Friday morning where they were told that their contracts won’t be renewed and their positions will no longer exist starting July 1.

According to the superintendent, Ogden School District entered the 2012-2013 school year with a $2.7 million deficit. He said they’ve avoided cutbacks in past years, but they finally have to do it this year.

“We’ve just come through the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. Our school district over the past 5 years, we’ve not reduced staff, we’ve not reduced personnel, we’ve not cut programs, we’ve not increased class sizes, we’ve not furloughed students or teachers and we’ve also not increased taxes,” said Brad Smith, superintendent.

But members of Utah’s chapter of the American Federation of Teachers say the cost-saving measure is only hurting children.

The school board still has to approve the cuts in June. If approved, the district plans to replace the positions with part-time staff working 3.5-hour shifts and have two licensed media specialists working at the district level. - Fox13 News, April 26, 2013.

This weekend I received a call from a very concerned former state library consultant who wanted some advice on how to reverse the decision the Ogden, Utah school district administration made to cut its professional librarians.

I didn't have much to offer or felt I could be very encouraging. Once a recommendation has been made to the board on any budget issue, it's nearly impossible to reverse such decision.

Back in 2004 when Minnesota was experiencing one of its regular round of educational austerity programs, I got involved in a couple efforts to convince school boards to keep a professional library position slated for termination. I didn't have much success.  

Yes, there are things we can do, including communicating the impact of cuts on students and staff (not on us) and building a coalition of parents and teachers willing to speak on our behalf. (And such efforts are underway already in Ogden.)

Nor does it seem many efforts like this have been successful according to a study by NCES showing school library positions nationwide declined by 8 percent from 2007-08 to 2010-11.

So perhaps another (yes, I do drone on about this) reminder is due. The best cure for this problem of job loss is to prevent it in the first place ....

Prevention (from the Indispensable Librarian, 2nd edition)

Of course, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Ongoing efforts can make your library media program less likely to be the target of budget reductions. Make sure you are already doing the things below, many which have already been discussed in greater detail in other chapters of this book:

1. Build and maintain a library media program that teaches critical information and technology literacy skills, improves student literacy rates, and supports all classrooms and curricular areas.
2. Serve the needs of your teaching and administrative staff through instructional collaboration, technology training and support, and filling requests for professional materials.
3. Establish a school library media program advisory board comprised of a wide range of stakeholders, especially parents, that meets on a regular basis to discuss goals, policies, and budgets.
4. Create long-term goals and annual objectives that are supported by the principal and teachers and are tied directly to your building’s goals. Enacting long-range plans and multi-year strategies or projects makes it difficult to change horses in midstream.
5. Build a mutually supportive relationship with your principal.
6. Track and report to your administrator the use of your library media program, especially units of teaching, collaborations, and specific skills you, yourself, teach.
7. Communicate regularly and formally with administrators, teachers, students, parents and the community about what happens in your library program, through newsletters, websites, and e-mail. Communicate to individuals on "I thought you'd like to know about this..." topics. Present to your school board whenever you get the chance.
8. Have an ongoing involvement with your parent-teacher organizations.
9. Serve on leadership, curriculum, technology and staff development teams in your building and district.
10. Be active in your professional teacher organization and remind officers that as a dues-paying member, you deserve as much support as the classroom teacher.
11. Be involved in the extra-curricular life of the school, attending school plays, sporting events, award ceremonies etc. Be visible! (I think it helps to be an active member of the community belonging to a church or other religious organization, community service group, and/or volunteer groups. It’s harder to fire a friend and neighbor than a stranger.)
12. Be active in your state school library association by attending conferences and regional events, reading its publications, volunteering for positions in the organization, and attending its legislative functions.

You, as a school library media specialist, are too important to too many children to let budget reductions that affect your program just “happen.” Get active and heed the words of Dylan Thomas – “Do not go gentle into that good night.”

Expecting a "deus ex machina" salvation by outside powers to recind a proposed budget cut is wishful thinking. Until every school librarian owns the job of creating an invaluable program, jobs will be at risk. 

I hope the Ogden administration will come to understand how harmful cutting professional librarians will be to its students and staff. Good school library programs are more important than ever in the "information age" when no one can be successful without both good information literacy, reading, and technology skills. 

If not... Well, perhaps such a move will serve as (another) wake-up call to the rest of us.

Hey Doug,

My name is Steven Weldler and I work for the Kars4Kids car donation charity (of radio jingle fame/infamy :) )

May 7th, this Tuesday, is National Teacher Day.

As you used to teach and now write about teaching and education, I thought you'd be interested in this fascinating survey we've just completed.

We discovered that among other things: 

• Even though around 75% say that a past teacher had a direct impact on their future success, only 25% of respondents have ever sent a gift or thank you card to a teacher
• A stunning 70.7% say that they would want their children to have the same teachers they had.
• An overwhelming 61.5% of respondents say that their high school teachers had more impact on them than their elementary or middle school teachers

The full survey can be found here http://www.kars4kids.org/blog/national-teacher-day-survey/.... 

I can be reached at steven@kars4kids.org.

It's a bit late for me to thank my teachers, having graduated from high school over 40 years ago. If not dead, I suspect most of them are senile or in protective custody from former students. I do know my mother shared many of my articles and books with one my former HS English teachers, Mary Farmer, from Sac City, Iowa. I don't think exposing a teacher to such shocks is very kind, personally.

I am blessed to have spent my career working with teachers. In perhaps no other profession is one's personality so closely aligned with one's success - or lack there of. While architects, lawyers, pediatricians, firefighters, and sales managers certainly might benefit from being patient, caring, humble, and funny (combined with a great appreciation for the ironic), I don't know that their vocational success depends on these attributes. And how hard it is on everyone - students, fellow teachers and administrators - when any of these dispositions start to go missing.

While belated, thank you teachers. I've learned because of you, both as a student and as a co-worker.

Image source: You Can't Scare Me, I'm a Teacher 

"Given this year's learning in the areas of technology integration, what might be one or two concrete goals that you will set for yourself heading into next year?" - end of year assignment for an administrative technology leadership class

As assignments go, the one above isn't too bad. But (doing some Monday morning quarterbacking) could it be improved? What if read:

Select one or two major problems or challenges you expect to face next year and apply technology uses to help solve or meet them.

I know, I know, for many solving a problem or meeting an educational need with technology is implied in the first assignment. But for too many educators, technology application is still about starting with a solution and running about looking for problems to solve. 

In rather vague ways, when most educators think about the why's of integrating technology into education we consider motivation, engagement, technology skill practice, reading and math remediation, higher-level thinking, improved communication, collaborative learning global citizenship, problem-solving, yada, yada, yada. All lovely and important aspirations for the productive use of these fun devices, large and small, that beep, buzz and take batteries.

But we have to do a better job of getting down in the weeds, tackling real and specific problems with technology that are rooted in the day-to-day educational problems that can't very well be solved by traditional practices...

• How do I help students build the level of concern for the quality of their writing? 
• How can I help my current ESL students master double-digit multiplication?
• What might make my unit on the Civil War/the water cycle/nutrition more meaningful?
• How can I better connect with my students' parents?
• How do I make my staff meetings more productive?
• How do I provide non-fiction, high-interest reading materials for elementary students helping them meet the new ELA standards?

My long standing advice to teachers has always been to begin integrating technology into one's worst units -  the ones neither you nor your students much like. I would extend this to all educators and suggest we all start looking for technology solutions to our most difficult problems - those which seem intractable.

Most educator will need exposure to the basic functionality and possibilities of new technologies. But once exposed, the direction should be toward problems, not generic or idealistic technology use. 

Graphic source