There is lots of research and statistical analysis in Sociology. Here's a quick summary of some personality traits of children within families which have been researched for years.

Beautiful combination of design, geometry, technology and engineering.

In my class, I try my best to make sure students get what they need. In this photo, one student has chosen to take notes on paper while another chooses to thumb away on his iPod.

In order for iPads and iPods to be a normalized tool in the classroom (and not just for iDevice fanboys like myself but also for neophytes), there are going to have to be more apps designed like My First Tangrams. My three-year-old adores this app. What makes it effective? It teaches you about geometry in a closed and open-ended way. You can make tangram designs using a template, and then move on to devising your own. Too many ‘educational’ apps in the store are obsessed with what we often call ‘thin’ not ‘thick’ questions. You are often led through a journey of pats on the back for correct answers, rather than led to explore your own imagination. As developers get better at designing for the latter, more and more people will find this new paradigm of educational technology an indelible part of their classroom program.

Want to know what sometimes happens when students blog? This: Hey, this week I decided to do my weekly blog post on the person I admire the most in the ENTIRE universe. My brother, Evan. Evan, my brother, is the person I most admire in my life because he has the biggest impact on me. Whatever he does, I secretly want to do the same. I always try to impress him so that he can be proud to have me as a sister. I always want to try to be involved in his life because I feel that if I stop trying to get involved, he will stop caring as much about me and I like hanging out with him.He teaches me how to play guitar (acoustic and electric) but only heavy death metal on electric guitar. The only song he taught me on acoustic is Blackbird. When he goes out with his friends I’m always begging him to come with, but only occasionally does he actually let me. The only reason that I want to come is so that I can be with Evan. Without my brother, my life wouldn’t be the same. I’d be lonely, sad, not very smart because he helps me with a lot of my work, and just… very bored. We used to play hockey a lot in the basement and on the road sometimes, but then he turned 13 and i was 9 or 10 and he became too cool for school. When we were little my mom bought us a pair of "Sock ‘em Boppers" which were basically huge foamy things that looked like marshmallows with straps on them that you’d put on your hands, and wrestle. But we went the extreme way. What we did was we put the Sock ‘em Boppers on our feet and kicked each other! Our mom would yell at us like crazy, but we kept going. Then he got me into wrestling. And he got me caught up in wanting to be the next girl version of John Cena. Well, look how well that turned out?! He is an amazing brother and one thing that I will never forget is when I was crossing a busy road, and he stopped me with his arm and looked both ways, then "allowed" me to walk across, but only if I held his hand. When I went to sleep away camp a few years back, I got a really nice letter from him saying how much he missed me and what they did while I was gone, and even though I had gotten a gazillion letters from my parents, and only that one from my brother, I only cried when I read his note. He is my greatest role model in life and I hope to turn out as funny, as nice, and as compassionate as my older brother. Here’s the screenshot version:

I gave my students a one line google survey at the start of the year asking one question. What should every teacher know about you? Here’s what they said: i learn best when the teacher can explain as much as she/he can about the subject in easy words. Or simply if they cant do that draw them in a way that is easy to understand! :) That I am were good in art, math and science!! i like trying new, different things With technology.  It doesn’t have to be very advanced stuff, but advanced enough so the equipment I’m using won’t make me lag behind the rest of the class. visually, i am a visual learner I learn best when the teacher talks and shows what they are talking about at the same time. I learn best when i communicate with peoples so i know more. i learn best on how the teachers teach the classes. I should concentrate and focus on what i do and listen attentively to everybody. i learn best with visuals i like lots of projects and things that involve me using my hands In picture and writing on the board whit others I like to learn when teachers are speaking in class because I can enjoy and understand the lesson more. I mean sure reading helps as well, but the question and exclamation marks just aren’t the same. i learn best when the teachers is positive and give positive feedback/comments too me I learn best through gadgets and games I learn best when I work in a group. I usually take i while to finish my projects so i need at least 2-3 weeks. computers and tech I learn best by experience. In my point of view i think that all teachers should make learning fun and easy ( pretty much like you, you are introduction technology which  most students find "cool" and makes the work more amusing) I’d say that working independently is easier for me but i also like working with other people. by working and having fun at the same time i learn best with others I learn best by getting detailed explanations of the work that will be provided and of me listening I learn best by getting detailed explanations of the work that will be provided and of me listening "I don’t like sarcasm that’s hurtful. I like hands on assignments." I like it when learning is creative or fun. . .If I sit for too long I start to daydream. i learn best when i discuss the subject with someone in my class to help either understand if i don’t really get it, read something that explains it or ask the teacher when I can experience it i learn if they don’t rush threw things so fast they should know how the student is good at working like i am good in small groups and using computers sometimes i like to work hands on and use things and get to learn with my hands I.. love Adam Lambert and… I’m funny and like to play basketball and ringette. Something every teacher should know about me is that LOVE to work in groups. I find other peoples opinions and comments very interesting. Another thing, is that I am a visual learner. I learn best with a patient teacher who explains tasks clearly and doesn’t give too much homework so I can think of what I’m doing clearly. i think that every teacher should know that i understand the unit better if they can use more specific details and drawing pictures ! it helps me understand better of the situation! visually, i am better at learning when people talk and do actions instead of just talking I learn better when I’m doing independent work and when the teacher shows us by example. "I work and brainstorm better when I am in a group with people I enjoy or have experience working with. i need things explained in detail i learn my best when a teacher lets us listen to music or the teacher is fun . I learn best by not overlearning and by having fun lessons. Not to complicated don’t be boring Every teacher should know that I’m funny that I’m a very visual learner like drawing and  really getting in to your work i learn my work better in pairs with a partner. I learn easiest by examples because I imagine myself being the one that’s doing whatever the work is with the example and that help’s me understand it more. I like it when I am being thought in a creative way by not just boring talking like examples, drawings, graphs act. I like to have a little time to think about what the teacher just said. I learn best when i like the subject and I’m interested in it. I learn best by someone showing me how to do the work like an example. That I’m good at arts I think that every teacher should know that students are new to this grade and try to put them in the students place. i learn best by stuff on the board I learn best when teachers explain things instead of leaving that to the textbooks. I learn best by working sometimes independently and sometimes in groups. i learn best when i have examples and ideas or suggestions i don’t know i think that if i have a project i will try to finish it as soon as possible so i can do it work hard and then enjoy the rest of my day or that i try to be very organized i think every teacher should know about how i learn best is i usually have to write notes about what we are learning. you explain well without me to writer notes, we play a game or to do something in a group. Every teacher should know that if mostly their participation active or not, and if they followed the teachers’ instructions. I learn best by reading texts about the subject. more visual Here’s a word cloud of the thoughts:

CC Licenced Flickr Photo by pedrosimoes7 [This is a guest post I wrote for Pernille Ripp's special Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension blog.] I am perhaps the luckiest teacher in the world. The thing that makes me so blessed is that I teach a group of 108 eleven and twelve-year-olds who I learn from on a daily basis. And I don’t mean this in the indirect way, as in, I am learning from my baby by changing their diaper that we all come full circle, or I am learning from my dog that we’re all a bunch of animals that need to be loved. I mean that I literally receive instruction from these kids. They are remarkable. Sometimes I listen to their responses to an open-ended discussion question in class and get floored. Or I read one of their blog posts and tears well up in my eyes. Aha moments? I’ve had a few with them. It was sometime during this past week where I felt that everything went *click* in my four classes. It was like the first month and a half with collaborative discussion, multiple understandings of ‘text’, iPads, blogging, and social networking were all a novelty and then, bam, everyone suddenly realized what the point of it all was. It was as though my mantra of Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Communication suddenly became normalized rather than unique. Preaching to practice. Lesson to living, breathing. This tipping point dawned on me over the span of the week. On Monday I read a post on one of my student’s blogs that levelled me. Then I witnessed the passion spread like wildfire. Seven other students read her post and wrote homage-worthy versions of their own. On Tuesday I had a student approach me after class: "Um, Mr. Lee, I have, like, this idea? You know how we’re, like, working on procedure writing in English and healthy living in Health? We should, like, do a procedural writing thing on how to live healthy!" Guess what their new assignment is? On Wednesday I mentioned to the students how astounded I was to witness their creative use of spelling, punctuation, and grammar on Buzz. I still wasn’t completely sure whether I was alright with them subverting the English language in this manner. Well, wasn’t I surprised when they so eloquently persuaded me that they wrote this way on Buzz because it was a completely different context for writing. One student’s words were: "It’s a place to talk like we really talk. As long as we know not to spell like that in a different situation, like on our blogs, or writing a letter to the principal, it’s OK." On Thursday I had a student ask if he could make a movie on his Mac in lieu of his procedural piece of writing on healthy living. "And don’t worry, I’m still gonna meet the success criteria." After hearing this, another student piped in to ask if they could use Google Docs to pen a collaborative novel. On Friday I was given what I now realize was a gift of a question from another student. "Mr. Lee, can I use my iPod to video our class sometimes?" I didn’t really know how to answer at first. I figured she wanted to make a movie about our class. I just asked her why. "I don’t know. I just wanna be able to watch it at home because it helps me learn." If you expect kids to lead, they often start leading. That’s what I notice. That’s my Aha moment.

Something to Remember by Royan Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at spicylearning.files.wordpress.com.

People talk of the 3Rs. Forget the 3Rs. How ’bout the 4Cs? 4Cs by Royan Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at spicylearning.files.wordpress.com.

Think before you post by Royan Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at spicylearning.files.wordpress.com.

How amazing is the blogosphere? Really, think about it. If you are reading this, you, like me, are probably immersed in this social media stratosphere. But, whoa, take a step back and realize how crazy unbelievable this whole scenario is. I blog, share it with the world. You read, respond, maybe write your own post inspired by it, share with world. Rinse, repeat. For instance, just yesterday my friend @thecleversheep gave me some great feedback on this graphic I created. While giving me props for the work, he also reminded me about the importance of licensing my work with Creative Commons, which I haven’t been doing at all. Why haven’t I? To be honest, I was a little lazy. I simply didn’t care if someone used my work. My thinking was, if someone was going to profit from it in some way, or pass it along as their own, I figured their own karma could deal with it. It took Rod Lucier to remind me that Creative Commons isn’t just about protecting my work, but also about making it easier for others to use it. I am so thankful that Rod took the time to give me this piece of feedback. We should constantly remind ourselves of the wonders of self-publication and content creation. Hopefully, it will mean we never take it for granted.

One of my students made this interesting Goanimation to illustrate something he was thinking about after attending the York Region District School Board’s Quest Conference: http://goanimate.com/go/movie/055UQkxz16nI?utm_source=emailshare&uid=0BZ7RwmO8qRc

I was just cleaning the toilet and got inspired to blurt out a quick post. This has been something on my mind for a while. We need to teach kids not to be boring. Yes, crass, I know. There are more eloquent and persuasive ways to put this, but, as my students would say, whatever. I think one of the biggest crises in education is that we perpetuate boringness at every turn. Boring, as in, in-one-ear-out-the-other. Boring, as in, the second I can flush this from my history of experiences, I shall. From our passing down of the Powerpoint Me To Death to our explicit teaching of standardized responses, there’s soporificness at every turn. We’re not just tacitly supporting it; we’re teaching it. Of course, this in no way implies that we need to make learning cooler or funkier. We don’t need to have an auto-tuned pop version of the national anthem in the morning, or have iPads and cool apps in every kid’s hands. Boring, certainly, is subjective. I’m simply talking about ridding ourselves of all moments where we explicitly and implicitly teach one another to be boring. I’m speaking of those huge ‘projects’ we outsource to students in groups that encourage regurgitation of facts and mindless script reading. I’m pointing at system initiatives delivered by people who don’t like questions being asked. I’m blaring at external accountability measures that essentially denounce dynamic and divergent means of communication. There are too many great books to read, blogs to write, music to dance to, video games to get lost in, for us to spend time being boring.

Thanks so much to @colinjagoe for getting these clips to the web for all of us to share.

My students are teaching me and each other the power of Bitstrips as a writing tool.

As an educator, it fascinates me to watch instructors in non-public schools ply their trade teaching kids to karate chop, kick a spherical ball, or depict a character in a play. Although this can sometimes be a bad thing, there is something illucudating about observing learning environments less encumbered by large ‘p’ Politics. I’ve often said that I feel lucky enough to have had my kids in extracurricular activities with superb educators who do not hold teaching degrees. I consider it a type of PD. Here’s what they do in our municipal swimming classes: Students pass or fail, period. There are no grades. Learners rarely pass the high levels their first time. Everything that happens has feedback and exemplars embedded into the learning process. It is unambiguous, intelligible, and connected directly to success criteria. Classes are not determined by age, but by acquisition level of skills. My daughter was just in a level with kids spanning 7 to 12 years of age. No stickers are used. Not even for the tiny kids like my 3yo Jackson. Teachers and students open up their learning to other classes, parents, supervisors. Everyone literally sees what’s going on. It is the definition of transparency. There are no electronic devices.

It’s weird. As an open classroom, my students and I get a lot of questions about our use of technology, particularly new and emerging ones such as iPads and iPods. The most common are, at times, getting excruciatingly common. Aren’t you afraid of losing them? Who paid for it? What’s your favourite device? How do you stop the kids from getting distracted? The one question we don’t get enough of is: How is this changing the way you learn?

The above clip is of one of my favourite comedians Louis C.K. I find his observations on the world utterly hilarious, and his delivery more precise than a toddler on an iPad. In this instance, however, he is completely wrong. Let me explain why I take demonizations of this most remarkable thing called the Open Internet, and subsequent negativity addressed towards the supposedly spoilt generation it has apparently birthed, so very personally. Here is a taste of the schema I bring to the conversation. My parents were peasants from Korea who immigrated to Canada in the seventies, a time I regard as a kind of golden era of North American immigration. Whenever they tell me about the Korea they left behind, it sounds a little to me like something out of a Zhang Yimou movie: pastoral and impoverished. They had almost zero formal education. My parents, like a lot of immigrants at that time, worked a succession of factory jobs, and struggled through small business ownership. All the while, they learned English on the fly, if at all. My mother, to this day, sounds like she just stepped off a boat, as some of us are wont to say. On my first day of kindergarten as a three-year-old (December baby), I didn’t speak a word of English. The first time I sat on an adult’s lap to have a book read to me was in kindergarten. I didn’t know what a ‘cottage’ was until my twenties. I was one of those kids that acted as an interpreter for my brother’s parent-teacher interviews. Kraft Dinner, to me, was the height of exotic cuisine. From a very young age, I realized that media and technology were going to be important - no, essential - if I was going to learn to be a contributing and active member of the world. I voraciously consumed TV, radio, music, newspapers, video games, cinema, and anything else I could get my hands on. It was my life’s blood. Although I didn’t learn the term ‘cultural capital’ until my university years, I knew its meaning intuitively. As a young child in the eighties, this media was, of course, predominantly mainstream: The Cosby Show, Nintendo, Alyssa Milano. Hence, my twisted and hegemonic romanticization of mainstream society, of which I did not recognize myself a part. As adolescence dawned on my, however, I became almost a fiend for ‘underground’ and ‘alternative’ media, content, and art. One of the closest people in my life, my cousins Diane and Julie, often call my teenage years The Dark Period (I prefer to call it my I Just Realized The World is F***ed Period). In a nutshell, a walked around with Jack Kerouac’s On the Road perpetually at my side, listened to weird 4AD music on my run down Sony walkman which was always and infuriatingly running out of batteries, and skipped school to see Robert Bresson films at the Carlton. I used to save up and literally travel miles just to get the latest edition of NME. And then came The Internet. Turn the page.

Differentiation is not a tactic. It is a way of thinking. It is a mindset, a mindset that comes from observing and absorbing and respecting. Most of all, it is a commitment to engage with people … not in a manner to which they are merely unaccustomed, but in a manner that they will value, respect, and yes, perhaps even celebrate.- Youngme Moon, Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd Books about education often bore me. I have read so many good ones (too many to count), but, like all genres, the majority are soporific. I tend to prefer reading books that are about the contextualization of learning. And if the book has a touch of iconoclasm in it, then all the better. Youngme Moon’s Different, about paradigm shifting in the world of business, is one such book. In it, she contends that most brands are in a foolhardy race to mediocrity and indistinction because of their inability/unwillingness to diverge from creative and competitive norms. Replace the word ‘brands’ with ‘schools’ and ’marketers’ with ‘educators’ and you’re close to the discourse on so-called 21st Century Learning. The main question I asked myself while reading is a question I ponder almost everyday as a teacher and parent of young people: How do we create learning environments that are inherently differentiated and, thus, innovative? I’ll never forget the first time I saw an education publisher put out a (very expensive) resource on ’differentiated instruction’. I knew there was problem. My horror only increased once I noticed how full it was of blackline masters. Differentiation is not a series of events and choices that occur in the process of arriving at a point of convergence. In other words, who cares if everyone is driving different cars if they are still arriving at the same, pre-determined destination at the exact time of day? At some point, there needs to be room for divergence and surprise, does there not? At its core, differentiation, to me, is simply an approach to learning where we provide the tools, space, time, feedback, and release of control for learners to come up with original ideas. It’s more of a climate, a culture. Moreover, this process is completely dependant on the needs presented by the learners in the room. In Different, Moon admonishes us against prescriptive remedies to a lack of innovation in business. She also contends that the most innovative brands and marketing campaigns have usually succeeded by choosing to stop doing certain things rather than just doing more. I would pass along these warnings to any of us that are trying hard to make our learning spaces innovative and differentiated. As Moon says, Difference is deviance. Difference is permutation. Difference is a commitment to the unprecedented, which is another way of saying it is a commitment to letting go. For more inspiration, check out Moon’s video below: My Anti-Creativity Checklist from Youngme Moon on Vimeo.

I always thought The Simpsons were the kings of education satire. I forgot about Peanuts: