CC licensed photo shared by Flickr umbrofootball You may remember what an impact Jermaine had on me at a birthday party I attended not long ago. Well, here I go again at another piñata-driven, little tike’s party (the life of a dad with little kids). This time I want to tell you about my fourth (or fifth or sixth or whatever) cousin Alanna. She’s just started grade 10, is as sharp as a tack, has Drake as her Twitter wallpaper, and is just about the coolest teenager you’ll ever meet. Every time I see her, Alanna has grown taller and more mature. I also see her increasingly immersed in social media environments and, unfortunately, more and more disengaged with schooling. On this day, I noticed her planted in front of my cousin’s iMac for the majority of the party, browsing with three tabs open: Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. I just had to interview her. What are the main social media sites that you use on a regular basis? Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. I used to use Formspring but got tired of it. Which of the three social media sites did you start on? I started on Facebook, and then my friend introduced me to Twitter and Tumblr later on. What’s your favourite thing to do on these sites? I love posting pictures and looking at other people’s pictures. What are the similarities and differences between these tools as you see it? Let’s start with Facebook and Twitter. I just use Facebook to post and look at pictures, and to see what’s going on with my friends. I use Twitter to tweet about stuff that’s happening in my life. It’s kind of like making quotes. Would you say that the people you interact with on Facebook are different to the ones you tweet with on Twitter? Um, ya. I’ve never really thought about that before. Most people on Facebook are people I know, but, on Twitter, some are people I know and others are just random, like celebrities. What’s your favourite thing to do on Twitter? I like tweeting stuff that happens and turn them into, like, sayings. Can you give me an example? Well, say, right now at this party, if something funny happened, like Jackson threw a toy at you and it hit your head? I would tweet that. (Laughs) So you’re sharing funny aspects of living life? Ya. And boy problems and family problems. OK, what about Tumblr? I use Tumblr to share random pictures that I think are cool. Twitter is for typing interesting things, and Tumblr is for showing it in pictures. So, basically, Facebook is for relationships, Twitter is for life, and Tumblr is for pictures. I heard you talking earlier about high school having a lot of drama. Which of the four sites has the most drama on it? Facebook. What kinds of things do you run into? It usually starts with one person calling another something and goes on from there. Are you anonymous or real on these sites? Real. I use my real name and face. OK now that we’ve talked about these tools in your personal life, can we talk a bit about school? Sure. Do you use Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr at school? I use Twitter on my cell phone. Are you allowed to? You have to sneak it in class. Do you have any teachers that use this stuff in the classroom? (Looks dumbfounded) No, they might show us a picture if it’s online or something. What are your thoughts on school? To be honest, I don’t really like it. They just pile stuff on. There’s too much … learning. (Taken aback) I’m guessing you don’t hate all learning, right? Do you mean you don’t like the kind of learning that happens in school? Ya. I like hands-on learning. Not just like ‘Here’s a question, answer it’ type stuff. How would you feel if a teacher took something you love, like Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr and used it for learning in the classroom? (Pauses, again looks like it was never presented as a possibility) What do you mean? Imagine if there was something like a Facebook for school or Twitter for school? I don’t know. It never occurred to you that we could use these for learning in school? No. OK, let’s switch to a common hot topic. Do you think kids should be allowed to use cell phones in schools? I think they should let us because we can use them to connect and share and find information. Like, we’re using them anyway. Thanks so much Alanna. I’d love to just ask you one more question. You were saying before that you weren’t happy with the type of learning happening in schools. If you were the boss of all the schools what would you change first? Instead of making us use paper and pen for everything, I’d want them to use more technology and computers. I just wish they’d give us more freedom.

I use music in my class for all sorts of reasons. One of the main ones is to serve as an audible background for collaborative learning. I tell the students that it’s our Starbucks cafe music, not meant to distract us or be noticed, just to be enjoyed and to help us think and be collaborative. Here are a few things on our playlist: What’s on your classroom playlist?

For those who have been asking, click here for my ongoing list of class iOS apps.

There are few things that exasperate me more than the notion of teachers basing practice on getting students ‘ready for the next grade/high school/university’. It’s not that I find the concept inherently faulty. In fact, on premise alone, it’s a fantastic notion: build prerequisite and fundamental skills so students are prepared for larger challenges in the future. The real problem is that these statements usually signal a defeatist mentality more than anything else. I have to give a lot of homework because that’s what they get in high school. We have to focus only on the three-part essay because that’s what’s demanded in university. We have to take marks off because that’s what Mr. Meaniebobeanie would do in the next grade. These justifications are more often than not excuses for bad pedagogy, and a means to place the blame for it on a mystical bogey man called ‘the next level’. It behooves anyone that is attempting to justify suspect teaching practices to at least own up to them. It’s either important to learn or it isn’t. Please don’t blame the future for bad learning in the present.

CC licensed photo shared by Flickr user Raïssa B We’re trying something different this year. Our class of 11-going-on-12-year-olds is lucky enough to be piloting Google Apps for Ed. for our board/district, but, unlike last year, I’m going to have my students blog anonymously*. Students are going to create ‘alter egos’ of themselves, whether it be a superhero, animal, wizard, pilot, or professional skateboarder, and write in role for the year. They won’t necessarily post from that perspective all the time, but they will represent themselves as somewhat of an alternative identity. As the teacher, I made this executive decision for three main reasons. First, I wanted to respect the awesome community I teach in. I know some families aren’t comfortable (yet) with the idea of self-publication and intentional digital footprinting. I don’t see why I should be making that decision for them. Second, I wanted to incorporate art and design into the learning with social media. I very much am borrowing an idea from my love of teaching drama when I talk about writing in role. Moreover, I’d like to see my students taking considerable control over their graphic design literacy. And third, I want to test the notion of whether you really have to be yourself to learn how to be yourself. Adolescence, of which my students are walking through the doors of, is a time for experimentation and natural identity play. Will their grasp of digital citizenship and autonomy be weaker or stronger for having played Superman before revealing they are Clark Kent? I’ll let you know how it goes. I’d love to hear your feedback on this idea. *Students will not be anonymous to myself or each other, but they will be to the public.

CC licensed photo shared by mr.macnology The wheels were turning so fast and hard in my brain this morning as I read Jeremy Macdonald’s post about the teacher’s role in inquiry based learning. I’m hoping you’ll read it and contribute to the conversation. Here is the blogpost.

My students have been busy setting up and designing their blogs. Here’s something we created to keep us on track.

The other day we were making QR codes of our student blogs. So, one of my students decided to go home and make a real life Lego version of his QR code. You can actually scan the Lego and it works!

Love this story from Jamie Cullum about how the title song of Clint Eastwood‘s Gran Torino was written and recorded. It says so much about inspiration and collaboration.

"Why do we have to learn this stuff, Mr. Lee?" a student asks. "Because we’re trying to become Learning Ninjas," replies Mr. Lee. "Oh, I see." "Don’t you want to be a Ninja?" "Ya," as eyes and mouth widen in revelation, "I do want to be a ninja."