My wife was out of town for the weekend, and a good friend of mine just so happened to be going to DC for the annual American Library Association conference. He had an extra bed in his paid-for by work hotel room and invited me to join him. One bus trip later, and I’m in DC.

Something many people don’t know about me: I was a teenage librarian. In high school I spent a year working after school in my high school’s library, and then two years working in my town’s public library in their children’s department. It was a formative experience that definitely helped set me on my future career path as an educator. Given that, I spent the $25 for the exhibits floor pass.

In a lucky coincidence, I saw that Melissa Techman was going to be in DC on Saturday for the conference. A year ago at NECC, I went down for a day and had lunch with a bunch of special educators and a few other “friends of sped,” Melissa being one of said friends. In some nice symmetry, this year I got to go out to lunch as a friend of libraries with Melissa, Diane Cordell (a long-time Twitter friend that I finally got to meet in person), Gretchen Caserotti, Cathy Jo Nelson, and Kathy Ishizuka. We had plenty of good food and better conversation, as was the case last year.

Kathy is the Technology Editor for the School Library Journal, and later wrote me an e-mail asking for my impressions of the conference. Here’s what I wrote in reply:

It’s funny, this is the second year in a row that I’ve been to the Washington Convention Center and only been able to see the exhibits floor for a conference. The floor is pretty much like the floor of any other large convention: it’s heavy on the free stuff and phony marketing interactions. On the plus side for ALA, this convention didn’t seem to have any strange cult-like booths like the SMART booth at NECC last year.

As a special educator,I was really disappointed on the floor by the assistive technology pavilion, which didn’t seem to really have much in the way of assistive technology at all that I could see. I’d imagine that people with reading difficulties are one of those underserved populations that could stand to have more opportunities for access, and there wasn’t much of that there.

I noticed a definite trend toward making friendlier spaces for the visiting public. Lots of furniture and shelves that look cozy and inviting. I noticed in one booth they were featuring gaming stations to try and get the teenage demographic back into libraries. In the same tone, it was nice to see a good-sized presence of companies that produce comic books and graphic novels there.

On a side note: I’m somewhat surprised by the number of companies that specialize in moving libraries.

Just from the bits and pieces I picked up on from talking to some people and listening in on some others, it’s interesting to see many of the same shared anxieties that teachers and librarians share right now. Increasing technology and decreasing tax revenues are big stressors on both groups, and I very much get the feeling that we’re in the midst of a major reordering of the way the world works for all of us. I think the concern for both groups at the moment is to get out in front of the changes to help guide them in a positive fashion.

I’m honestly surprised they don’t have “cell phones” on there.

My favorite bit is definitely when he wants to save the image, but realizes he doesn’t have a folder to drag it to.  But every single point is spot on when comparing the interactivity of the learning experience when reading hypertext vs. plain text.

Now, I love a good book, as seen here:

But we need to face facts: texbooks are incredibly lame in comparison to hypertext.  I’ve had to attend a lot of reading trainings the past couple of years as my school fights for AYP, and the key point that’s always made is that good readers interact with the text.  The whole point of a hypertext setup is the interaction.

Of course, this doesn’t need to be just on a computer.  Earlier today I read an interesting writeup by Seth Godin in which he describes changes he would make to the Kindle.  Relevant ones for education in particular:

3. Anytime I send someone a book (see #1) or recommend a book, let me (with the other person’s consent) see the comments they write in the margins of the book as they read it. Imagine being able to read a novel this way with your book group, or a sales manual with your department.

6. Demolish the textbook market as soon as possible by publishing open source textbooks for free.

7. Give publishers the ability to insert quizzes or feedback. This creates a certification or continuing ed or textbook opportunity far bigger than a book can deliver.

In particular, #3 is just the kind of thing that would be awesome for a classroom environment.  Teachers could see the notes that students are taking to help them see if the students understand the material, and students can see what everybody else wrote to lead to a richer understanding.  Add the ability to do a quick gogole.wiki search for any word in the text, you have instant, limitless, connected, and relevant knowledge.

I also very much enjoy the idea of destroying the textbook industry.  Having recently listened to the audiobook version of A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (please note: that there is a link to the apparently full text of the book.  For free.  Awesome!) and also being a fan of Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen, I can pretty safely say that, at least when it comes to history, there’s a lot that can be improved there.  Being able to quickly and easily look up more information, possibly from a very different perspective, would be a huge improvement.  Science and Math books need some serious improvement, too, as Dan Meyer likes to point out.

This post started as just me wanting to embed a funny video.  Funny how my brain made all these connections as I worked.  Hyperthoughts!

Word’s breaking out on Twitter that the Pennsylvania General Assembly has recently been presented with House Bill 363.  I will henceforth refer to this as the Luddite Bill.  The Luddite Bill wants to amend the PA Public School Code to say the following:

The possession by students of telephone paging devices, commonly referred to as beepers, cellular telephones and portable electronic devices that record or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other vehicles provided by the school district.  

Needless to say, I have a problem with this.  First, I will let it be known that my school has a ban on cell phones, and, as a faculty member, I have enforced the rule by taking away the cell phones of students who use them during school hours.  That rule is a decision made on the local level, based on the needs and wishes of the building administrators and the school board.  I have no doubt that the rules could change over time or have some added flexibility.  We already provide some of that, as students are now at least free to have their phones and use them after school as needed.  This law would take that flexibility away from us.  According to this law, with few notable emergency exceptions, students would not be allowed to ever bring a phone to school for any reason whatsoever.

A few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought this a big deal, but to take away the option of teachers allowing cell phone use in their classrooms to me now seems ludicrous.  Right now we stand on the brink of a major shift in computing resources available to students in their pockets, with phones as powerful as a computer from only a few years ago.  People who want to ban these tools really need to check out Cell Phones in Learning.  Honestly, if you think we really want you to take away more teaching options from us, you re sorely mistaken.

As a starting point to work to stop this bill, I recommend contacting your legislator and signing this petition.

Update 1: for another perspective, check out Jimbo Lamb’s post here.

Update 2: Jim Gates, Steve Dembo, and Damian Bariexca also have their say.

Update 3: Liz Kolb gets unsurprisingly angry.

Update4: Chris Lehmann and Louise Maine contribute.

Update 5: Jill Machemer uses the word “decapitated” in her piece, and the incredulity to spreads to New York’s Lisa Nielsen and New Zealand’s Greg Carroll.

Update 6: I got mentioned by Techdirt! That got blogs Obsessable and Daily Online Examiner to say something about 363. Thomas Boito and Stefani Hite also chime in.

Update 7: Lisa Thumann tells how she first found out about the bill.

 photo credit: albany_tim

A year ago I didn’t have a PLN.  I took the plunge early this year as I started to check out some more educational blogs and found a lot of good stuff.  Those blogs got me into Twitter.  I had signed up for Twitter back when I first heard about it because it sounded interesting, but, as I would imagine many people do, I hit a brick wall early.  I didn’t know anybody on Twitter, and couldn’t convince anybody to join me.  When I discovered the same people writing the blogs I liked to read also tweeted, I jumped back in, following them.  Then I started following people that they were talking to, so I could understand more.  Things kind of snowballed from there.  

While I still continue to follow blogs, and use diigo groups a little, at the end of the day, Twitter takes the crown as the most important piece of my PLN.  I interact with so many different educators from all around the world, getting links, resources, and advice.  I share my own knowledge as well whenever possible, but I get back so much more than I could possibly give.

Some wonderful things that make Twitter so worth it to me:

• As stated before, talking to educators living quite literally on the other side of the world, like Jeff Utecht in Thailand
• Talking to some great local educators I never would have talked to due to them being in different districts, such as Kristen Hokanson and Diana Laufenberg
• The strange near mind-melds I occasionally get with Damian Bariexca and Chad Brannon
• Talking about students having laptops in the classroom with Jackie Ballarini, Chris Champion, and Karen Janowski.  Should we put them into the IEPs?  Should students bring their own laptops?  Can they check them out?
• Early this morning, thanks to Mr. Tweet, I started following Craig Nansen.  he follows me back, notices I’m asking about DSLRs, and gives me tons of really helpful information as I try to figure out exactly what to ask for on my Christmas list.
• The generally goofy humor that occurs when a bunch of nerdy teachers interact, providing some at times much needed comic relief to my day

So, thank you fellow edutwitters.  You’ve given me so much, and I hope to continue to provide back in kind.  Thanks for giving me new material, for stretching my thinking about a wide variety of topics, and, in essence, helping me to develop into a better, more knowledgeable teacher.  Thank you.

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.” “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

So can my school district please unblock Twitter now?  That would make me happy.

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Among the predictions: Mobile phones in the United States will surpass the popularity of desktops for teens. Only an estimated 20 percent of teens currently own a smartphone such as the iPhone, but mobile phone and content companies are counting on the idea that smartphone adoption will spread fast among teens in middle America and other areas.

Most schools of course, including mine, ban cell phones right now, but the question will increasingly come up as to whether or not this stance is either feasible or pedagogically sound.  I strongly recommend you check out From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning, which is a great blog devoted to ways to use cell phones in the classroom.

• Paperwork (wrapping up IEPs and RRs)
• More paperwork (getting grades ready)
• Tagging things on delicious.  Thanks goodness for setting it up to autosend to the blog, or this place would be a barren wasteland.
• Twittering.
• Going to Wizard World



• Going to the Devon Horse Show



• Taking adorable pictures of kittens



• Did I mention the paperwork? (getting all of my files organized for turning in)

Robots could soon rove Antarctica

I always thought the Apocalypse presented an either/or scenario, as in “either Planet of the Apes or Terminator.”  Little did I suspect that it would be both!