Recent articles you may have missed

Here are some recent articles I published in District Administration Magazine...

Enjoy!

Keep the Wish List Short

Giving parents a laundry list of supplies to buy is lousy public relations and exacerbates economic hardships.

Published in the July 2008 issue of District Administration

What's a Computer For? Part II
Computer science is the new basic skill.
Published in the July 2008 issue of District Administration

What's a Computer For? Part 1
It all depends on your educational philosophy.
Published in the June 2008 issue of District Administration

Online Videoconferencing
Web tools such as uStream make video broadcasting accessible.
Published in the June 2008 issue of District Administration

Keeping Up with the Future
Consider these suggestions for staying informed and inspired.
Published in the May 2008 issue of District Administration

The Games Teachers Play
We are cheating our students by turning reading into a game of dodgeball.
Published in the April 2008 issue of District Administration

Public Schools?
Be wary of a gift that might squash the benefits of public education.

Published in the April 2008 issue of District Administration

Vote for Me!

Click here for an important announcement.

Vote early and often!

My 22nd NECC!

Just landing in San Antonio where I'll speak at my 22nd NECC and host
the 2nd Annual Constructivist Celebration.

I imagine that I've made approximately 60 presentations at NECC since
the mid-80s.

Hope to see you around the conference!

Sent from my iPhone

Hooray for Bill Gates!

OK, even I never thought I'd utter those words aloud, but check out this interview with Tom Brokaw.



Gates displays a sense of humor when asked if he has an iPod and he provides a reasoned mature answer to the question about concerns over children being harmed by computers.

This stands in stark contrast to the fear and loathing displayed by popular edubloggers who regale us with the virtues of their technology-free cleansing retreats and the micromanagement of their children.

Hooray for Bill Gates! Who would have thunk it?

PS: This news report about Gates' last day at Microsoft reminiscences is quite charming and well worth a read.

What Good is Free Wifi if the Net is Not Free?

Free wireless Internet in downtown Beijing

...and while I'm thinking about it, why does Panera block access to Howardstern.com and why does Wikipedia block editing to computers using the Wifi at Panera? Are those yummy cinnamon crunch bagels made by the Chinese government?

The Banned Collection - Issue 3

I've been writing for magazines for about a decade and on occasion the publisher or Editor-in-Chief objected to the content of a column and refused to publish it. On other occasions I would not make changes I felt would dilute my argument or insult the intelligence of the reader.

My 2008 column, The Children’s Machine - It’s time to turn the network upside down was inspired by thinking about the potential of the XO, aka: the "$100 Laptop."

Emerging technology, universal wireless Internet access and best educational practices will cause increasing conflict with the job security of many I.T. employees. How will your district respond?

The Banned Collection - Issue 2

I've been writing for magazines for about a decade and on occasion the publisher or Editor-in-Chief objected to the content of a column and refused to publish it. On other occasions I would not make changes I felt would dilute my argument or insult the intelligence of the reader.

Education’s Most Dangerous Idea: Curriculum (from 2006) takes the controversial view that the notion of curriculum is at the root of many education problems.

A friend called a few months back and asked me to tell him my most dangerous idea. What a great question I thought! My answer, “Curriculum is bad.”

Allow me to make the case.

I can turn to almost any page in a textbook, article or website and find an outlandish, inaccurate or confusing idea some curriculum writer thought was brilliant. Even the most well-intentioned efforts at relevance or context stretch credulity, often in a hilarious fashion.

The Banned Collection - Issue 1

I've been writing for magazines for about a decade and on occasion the publisher or Editor-in-Chief objected to the content of a column and refused to punish it. On other occasions I would not make changes I felt would dilute my argument or insult the intelligence of the reader.

It seems like the blogosphere is a good place to share these "controversial" articles.

Think Different - Lose the Cart was an open letter I wrote to Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2002 imploring the company to stop selling laptop carts.

The magazine thought that Apple might be offended. I stand behind the article six years later at at time when schools are inexplicably tethering laptops to desks.

The Funniest Education Article in Ages

This recent newspaper article, Top students show little gain from 'No Child' efforts, is among the funniest education coverage I've read in a long time. It also points out the absolute insanity of standardized testing and the higher tougher meaner standards crowd.

Students who scored in the 90th percentile and above are making the least progress on national standardized tests.

A Blog Netiquette Question

I seem to run a foul of secret blogger rules of conduct with regularity. An experience six weeks ago has stayed with me and I'd love to read your thoughts on the matter.

On May 6, I wrote, Isn't It Ironic?, in this blog. I asked why edubloggers, particularly edtech edubloggers, don't discuss fundamental educational issues, like the fraud and miseducative practice associated with the US Federal Government's national reading policy.

Many of the most popular, hired and prolific members of the EduBlogosphere (particularly the edtech bloggers) spend a great deal of time, word count and airplane mileage talking about the importance of literacy - old literacy, new literacy, media literacy, superdooper 21st Century Web 2.0 literacy and "literacies" yet to be invented.

Literacy dominates my esteemed colleague's thoughts about education. Therefore, I find it shocking that there is so little [read: none] discussion of the news that the federal Department of Education has concluded that Reading First, the $6 billion shock and awe approach to literacy education at the core of No Child Left Behind, has FAILED to improve the reading comprehension of American students.

Why the silence among EduBloggers? Is this issue unimportant? Should we ignore the calamity created by Reading First just because it doesn't mention Twitter, Apture, Ning or other made-up words?

I was criticizing the absence of outrage among the edubloggers I read and wound up incurring the wrath of the blogosphere instead. Non-Americans were defensive in their comments when I was clearly not talking about them. Independent school teachers and educators from affluent school districts protested that they are not affected by Reading First - unless of course you count them as citizens who pay taxes or care for their neighbors.

In the spirit of civility, I did not name the specific bloggers and pundits who were curiously silent on important matters of policy and pedagogy.

I'm wondering if that was a mistake?

My attempt at discretion apparently led to widespread confusion. For that I apologize.

Should I have called out the specific educators with a gap between rhetoric and action?

You Know Him, You Love Him, You Can't Live Without Him!

In addition to hosting The Constructivist Celebration, I will be part of the following sessions during NECC:

Student-Centered Laptop Integration into the Classroom

Ron Canuel, Eastern Townships School Board (Canada) with Susan Einhorn, Sylvia Martinez, Scott Parker and Gary Stager

Monday, 6/30/2008, 2:00pm–3:00pm; HGCC 211

Successful integration of laptop technology into the classroom focuses on having students be active participants in the solution-building process.

What Effective Computer-Using Educators Know about Teaching: An International Perspective

Geoff Powell, St Hilda's School (Australia) with Peter Skillen and Gary S. Stager

Tuesday, 7/1/2008, 11:00am–12:00pm; Grand Hyatt Lone Star Ballroom E

While focusing on increasing their technical fluency, we run the risk of assuming that all teachers understand foundational learning theory and child-centered classroom practice.

Transforming Technology Projects from Good to Great

Melinda Kolk, Tech4Learning, Inc. with Sylvia Martinez, Peter Reynolds, Adam Smith and Gary Stager

Wednesday, 7/2/2008, 12:00pm–1:00pm; Grand Hyatt Lone Star Ballroom E

This panel discusses strategies educators can use during project design, implementation, and evaluation to help ensure that student technology use inspires creativity and improves achievement.

With any luck, these discussions will be Web 2.0 free zones :-)

Others Wrestle with Intellectual Property Issues Too

While I'm being criticized for not understanding fair-use and intellectual property law, Tim Berry in The Huffington Post offers the following food for thought - Ebooks, Copyright, Piracy.

I'm personally fond of what he calls the "Slashdot Argument."

David Pogue's articles and music videos (links included) are also worthy of your time.

Really Scary!

Here is a terrible news story about a working-class Massachusetts community in which high school girls may have made a pact to get pregnant.

The girls, the "fathers" and the babies are about to have their lives ruined.

I know that educators can't solve every social pathology in the world, but I can't help think that a little more interaction with a caring adult might avert similar disasters.

Should I Attend Edubloggercon?

I love conferences. I've attended and spoken at hundreds of them. I relish the opportunity to spend time exchanges ideas and catching-up with old friends while meeting new ones. I welcome any opportunity to discuss powerful ideas with colleagues.

A large part of me would like to attend the upcoming Edubloggercon before NECC. I know that I am welcome there, but are my ideas?

The problem is that although I understand and use Web 2.0 tools, I am less sanguine about their potential to revolutionize education. I believe that the emphasis on using computers as information appliances represents a tiny portion of the computer's power.

This and other important issues are worthy of debate, but I am not sure that Edubloggercon is the right venue for questioning the educational assumptions held by a good number of participants. Some colleagues identify so closely with the ethos of the blogosphere that any criticism of the software tools or classroom applications is interpreted as a personal attack. One educator wrote the following about me today,

I just believe the criticism, even if justified, was not done in the spirit and manner of a what I was taught an educator should do.

Really?

I respect Steve Hargadon and his efforts on behalf of Edubloggercon too much to generate unwanted dissent or be the skunk at the Edugarden party.

The Possibility of Doing Good AND Doing Well

The recent Sturm and Drang over the Associated Press' concern about their stories being excerpted in blogs and on web sites without compensation has been continued in blogs [1] [2] by Will Richardson.

Some well-fed fully-employed bloggers long for a Utopian world where all intellectual capital is free. They use the technical breakthroughs of the Web as evidence that expertise and intellectual capital are devalued in a world in which "content" can be had by the barrel at no cost.

Such a view ignores the value of art, culture and civil traditions while viewing the world entirely through the eyes of economists. The answer to runaway capitalism is not Marxism.

I just read a terrific new article about how good old fashioned hard work, competent management, respect for artists and emerging technology is being used to make opera more profitable and accessible.

New York's famed Metropolitan Opera Company is improving the bottom line and increasing its relevance without defaming, devaluing or disrespecting their employees or compromising the quality of their "product." In fact, they are honoring hundreds of years worth of artistic tradition and its importance to Western culture, by building upon those traditions and reaching new audiences.

Surely, there are some lessons here for education.

I Love this Article!

Last December, New York Magazine published an article The Littlest Hustler: Portrait of a New York childhood, in the extreme. The article tells the story of "tween" Alex Goldberg who through grit, perseverance and force of personality views the world as his kingdom. I've thought about this terrific article over the past six months and my graduate students debated it.

Alex’s adventure ended hours later, at Nobu, where the pool crowd had migrated to feast on junket sushi. He had been chatting up Venus and Serena Williams at a nearby table, and mugging for cameras with a cigar hanging from his lips while eating a bowl of ice cream. Then the faces at his table went blank. Alex looked up and saw what they saw. His mother.

But Alex isn’t like other boys his age. He’s had free rein over the streets of Nolita since before he can remember, and he quickly learned the rules of that playground, turning his relationships with the neighborhood’s shop owners into access to free gourmet meals and designer clothes and trendy sneakers, then turning those freebies into even better stuff (like courtside Knicks tickets), and leveraging those perks into even more valuable things, like connections to athletes, rappers, nightclub owners, and so on.

This article is a reminder that long before Web 2.0 there were kids kids who were competent, clever, resourceful, responsible and eager to learn.

I wish I was as cool as Alex! I love that kid!

What do you think?

Video from the OLPC Country Workshop

I'm delighted to be a member of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation's Learning Team. The learning philosophy of OLPC and its computer, the XO, are an exciting manifestation of my 25 years worth of teaching Logo to kids and teachers as well as my work with "laptop schools" since 1990.

On May 20th, hundreds of educators, government officials and thought leaders from dozens of countries descended on the MIT Media Lab for a global summit organized by OLPC. Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of OLPC, gave a "State of OLPC" presentation in which he reviewed the organization's amazing accomplishments and presented XO 2.0. He also explained how the success of the Give One, Get One program made the XO cost $100 in developing countries.

Several leaders from countries using the XO (the "$100 laptop") spoke about the need for the XO in their countries, the implementation issues and the obstacles they have overcome. Oscar Becera's presentation, "The Starfish on the Beach: Why OLPC for the Poorest and Most Remote? and How?" was particularly interesting. Many children in Peru live a 4 day walk from Internet access.

My old friend and colleagues, David Cavallo and Mitchel Resnick spoke about learning and computing, while the father of the personal computer, Alan Kay, finished the day with another thought provoking discussion of the computer's unrealized potential in education. Dr. Kay's talk is highly recommended.

Best of all, these videos are all available for you to watch online here

The videos are up to an hour in length and available in Flash and OGG formats. The OGG files are easier on the eyes and larger. If you don't have software capable of playing OGG files, try VLC. VLC is GNU free and cross-platform. VLC the Swiss Army Knife of video players. It seems to play anything, including DVDs encoded for another region!

A Crime Against Humanity

At the risk of being (rightly) labeled a pampered American wimp, I wish to expose one of the most critical issues of our time.

Passionfruit ice tea.

An international tribunal should be convened in the Hague to try the inventor of this loathsome libation. There is no punishment too cruel or unusual. I demand soft-drink justice!

Who likes this stuff? Why do restaurants insist on serving a beverage that tastes like "Curious-Perfume by Britney Spears?"

For the love of all that we hold sacred, please stop polluting my ice tea!

...and you're out!

Hey, Guess what? The Supreme Court ruled properly on an intellectual property case.

Sensing a way to make even more money than it already does, Major League Baseball has tried to force people to start paying for their fandom by imposing licensing fees on “fantasy” baseball leagues to use major league players’ names and statistics. Happily for fans and free speech, Major League Baseball was tossed out of the game this week in the Supreme Court.

Read the entire NY Times article.

An "Old School" Journalist Schools a New Media Hack

Bill Moyers is ambushed by a "reporter" for The O'Reilly Factor, and turns the tables on him with the help of a gaggle of reporters surrounding the guy. The end of the video is fantastic as the O'Reilly warrior is chased down by reporters asking questions about his journalistic ethics.


Try not to cringe!

Another Lesson in Leadership from President G.W. Bush

If you ever need to fire your hot-headed confidante, do it in church!

Is History History in History Class?

During last night's coverage of the final Democratic primaries in Montana and South Dakota, NBC's Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert remarked, "I would love to teach an American History class in an inner-city high school tomorrow morning." (paraphrase)

Read the rest of my blog, Is History History in History Class?

Stager (like Cher) the one word Movie Star

I spent part of today being interviewed and filmed in for a new documentary by the Director of the recent film, "Imagine It!"

The film was shot in high-def.

(Yikes! Nobody should have to see that! I apologize in advance)

The blockbuster should be released in November. Get your tickets now!

Powerful Ideas from Constructing Modern Knowledge

I've created Constructing Modern Knowledge, a minds-on institute this July 28-31 in Manchester, NH to provide an environment where educators can learn with computers, explore powerful ideas and raise their game.

In addition to personal and collaborative learning environments, the Constructing Modern Knowledge faculty and guest speakers represent some of the most creative educators in the field. Bob Tinker and Cynthia Solomon invented many of the technologies and methodologies we now take for granted. Nobody embodies creativity quite like Pete Reynolds and Alfie Kohn is one of the most prolific and fearless educational advocates alive today.

Go to www.constructingmodernknowledge.com/resources to read articles by our stellar faculty or visit their web sites.

Click here for more information on registering for Constructing Modern Knowledge!

Why Do You Want My Slides?

Read my latest article Why Do You Want My Slides? in The Pulse: Education's Place for Debate.

Each year I make dozens of presentations at educational events around the world. Nearly every presentation is followed by an audience member asking, “Can I have a copy of your PowerPoint?” Sometimes, they hand me a USB drive...

What do attendees intend to do with my slides?

New Keynote, Workshop & Presentation Topics

I've updated the page describing the keynote addresses, workshops and presentations I offer to schools, districts and conferences. Check out the list of sessions and descriptions here.

Potential clients may also download The Stager Difference, a PDF document outlining the services I offer plus endorsements from colleagues and clients.