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| Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash |
Happy New Year! It is the year 2019, the year or time in the far off future that so many classic novels & writings were set in. Looking back on the literature and media of my childhood, it is interesting to reflect on the predictions of technology and life they held for the future. In 1968, Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: Space Odyssey” he predicted that news would become immediate for consumption. In addition, he wrote about the imaginary technology that people would read the news on. He said, “One by one he would conjure up the world’s major electronic papers…Switching to the display unit’s short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him.” Wow, does that not sound an awful lot like how many of us spend our free time, searching through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or our news Apps on our smartphones!?! How about how Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” written in 1953, where he described the modern ‘earbuds’. He described a 3D movie-like experience as well as predicting a tech toy most cannot live without, headphones.
In “The Senator’s Daughter” written in 1879, all the characters owned printers in their homes which allowed them access to print current articles and information. Mitchell described the printers as “an endless strip of printed paper, about three feet wide, slowly issuing from between noiseless rollers and falling in neat folds into a willow basket placed on the floor”. Eerily accurate to the early printers. In 1910, Ambrose Beirce predicted today’s modern artificial intelligence and smart computer programs. He wrote about an invincible, chess-playing robot. Did he know that someday I.B.M. Would create Watson the super-computer that was first able to win on Jeopardy? Finally, video-chatting, from “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster. In 1909 Forster wrote “but it was fully fifteen seconds before the round plate that she held in her hands began glowing. A faint blue light shot across it, darkening to purple, and presently she could see the image of her son, who lived on the other side of the Earth, and he could see her.” Skype or FaceTime was imaginable as far back as 1909.
Thinking about some of our favorite television and movies of the past, we imagined riding around on hover boards with Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. In Star Trek, their communicators functioned very much like today’s cellphones. The list goes on and the point of my sharing my thoughts on it today are two fold. First, we need to make certain that while we are accountable to meet the demands of high stakes assessments mandated by State and Federal Departments of Education, we never create students who fail to dream big.
Sir Kenneth Robinson, education expert, states in his TedTalk that there is one overwhelming statistic that we as a Nation should concern ourselves with. That is that students beginning in kindergarten and successfully traveling through and graduating from our high schools have one major thing in common. Each began kindergarten full of creativity, curiosity, and natural wonder to learn and those traits decline steadily the longer they are enrolled in school. This is the result of high demands to cover standards and material imposed on us by policy makers. Starting certain standards for example in mathematics like algebraic thinking in early elementary school while adding standards in each grade forces educators who fear having students not perform well on standardized assessments to go rapidly through. Covering a great deal of information but only at an inch of depth and understanding.
There is not time to let students ponder a particular standard and daydream about what might be possible because we need to move to what comes next. That is not enough though to just go fast and cover everything, we need to speed up and standardize how students demonstrate their learning. So we tell them exactly what they need to know and be able to do and exactly how to show us they know it. We remove all responsibility for creating or developing new outcomes that show learning mastery. We do so with the best intentions. We need to make sure we are aware of this potential for killing creativity and work in time to let students dream about the world around them.
In closing, I want to share an experience I had while teaching an undergraduate course. The course was education in the 21st Century and it was an elective. I enjoyed the freedom to be able to create the course syllabus so long as students were exposed to certain concepts and could demonstrate understanding. This class of students were not interested in becoming teachers nor did they really have any interest in education – I mean they were all freshman in college and could not imagine having children of their own or any real reason to learn about public school education in the current century. That said, they were great kids. All were good students in their high schools and grade schools most likely. They knew how to ‘do’ school really well. By ‘do’ school, I mean if I were to tell them exactly the concepts and material that was important, create a multiple choice or essay assessment they would all likely have done well.
I decided to shake it up and instead apply a bit of creativity. The students were all responsible for creating their own project of study. They had various choices and I did provide guidance, rubrics etc… but largely, they needed to design, development, and create a unique project that demonstrated understanding of the major concepts. They hated it – and I would go so far as to say, many began hating me. The frustration levels because I refused to simply ‘just tell them what I wanted them to do for their project’ was visible. In the end, they survived and all but one created interesting projects. My takeaway from that experience solidified my belief that we are spending too much time regimenting learning and in the process of doing so hurting our chances that the future technology may look like today’s because we lose the ability to create new and exciting ideas. We won’t let that happen. I wonder what 2040 will look like???
I am confident, however, that the MPS staff understands the importance of fostering creativity while also meeting the demands imposed on us. Keep up the great work!
SHOUT-OUTS
"A BIG shout out and thank you to Cindy Ciocco and Kathleen Cody for all the organization, parental contact and delivery service to make the holidays special for more than 45 of our families. An extended shout out to all of the CFC present and retired staff for making the huge undertaking possible. Our families truly appreciate your concern and generosity."
~JoAnn Burns, Principal
"A shout out to Sue Whilden for all the data runs she completes to assist in determining special education student needs and the framework of the program. I appreciate it!"
~Vanessa Strassner, Supervisor
"Shout Out to Ryan Malone and Bill Emberger for great work on the Attendance and Tardy reports they created for both Memorial and Senior High School. These reports have helped to reduce the workload on the attendance offices."
"To the entire Technology Support Services team for stepping in and covering during other team members absences. Very much appreciated!"
~Dan Wright, Chief Information Office
"A shout out goes out to the Silver Run Staff for all that they do to make this a great place for students to learn and grow. From the nurturing environments to the creative and engaging lessons our students are lucky to have remarkable teachers like you!"
"A sincere and heartfelt thank you goes out to Tammy Haley, whose retirement in January closed the book on a storied career. Secretary to the Principal is no easy job, but you did it as well as anyone. I will be forever grateful for the assistance you provided and wish you all the best in your retirement."
~Eric Reissek, Principal
"A shout out to April Pang for her spirit and positive attitude. She truly dove in head first in our student activities and has an huge role in making our school a positive place."
"Shout out to my secretarial staff at Memorial and Senior High. They have a tremendous task of keeping me straight throughout this experience. They always point me in the right direction and are handling so many tasks when I am not at their school. They also re-direct so much, so that families and students are supported in my absence. They truly don't know how much I appreciate their input and support. Without them I would be lost."
~Stephanie DeRose, Principal
"The Three King's Day Bilingual Celebration was a success largely due to the students, the parents, the teachers and everyone involved. A very special heartfelt thank you goes to Dr. Brian Robinson, Danette Boone, Vidalina Rodriguez, Lori Carapelli, Jackie Brescia, Daphne Bruno, Freddy Velez, Alex Lively, and Melissa Colon. for all their time and dedication in making the event a memorable one. The highlight of the program was Eric Paulson, Robert Trivellini and Sebastian Mendez (9th grade student) who played the role of the Three Wise Men."
~Maggie Colina, Supervisor
"A shout out to Krystle Ammann, Derek Clarke, and Bill Branin, three World History teachers at Memorial High School, for their dedication and hard work writing common benchmarks. These three jumped right in with little notice and last minute changes to their location and gave 110% towards the completion of this project."
~Pat Wulk, Supervisor
"Beth DeForest is such an asset to our school district, students, and their families. She provides counseling for students in all of our elementary schools including Lakeside. She is full of positive energy, always optimistic, and a team player. Her main focus and priority is helping children. It is an absolute pleasure to have her part of our team. Thanks Beth!"
~Steve Matusz, Executive Director Special Services
Have a great weekend!
Regards,
Dr. G.
Dr. David N. Gentile
Superintendent of Schools
“Lead Learner”
@drgentile_mps (Twitter)
856-327-6001
#MPSWC (MPS World Class)
#greatdaytobeabolt
Published by Spike Cook, Millville, NJ
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