Oh my gosh, here we go. Well, Spot, I told you. If I let you off that leash, you'd go and meet someone who'd get us both in trouble. Here he is..."Scotty." Everyone knows Scotty. He's got every gadget under the sun, and of course he likes to bring all his toys to school. Tech decks, game boys, cell phones...oh, Scotty'd bring the kitchen sink if his mom let him. Wait. Scotty would bring the kitchen sink just to see if he could get away with it. Scotty is high maintenance. Don't you go following that Scotty around, Spot. You are a good dog. So just stay. But stop the presses...this just in from The New York Times: Cell phones are coming! We knew this. In fact if cell phones are cheaper and can start to do some things in a way that make kids more productive, I say who cares. The trouble is, Spot, I think it's gonna be a while. The poor teacher in that article said she was managing calls on her own time! WAIT! Whoa, doggie!
I can only speak for myself, but that proposition makes me very nervous. It requires huge amounts of energy to tame all of you wild beasts, to dazzle you and to fill your brains with all kinds of great things all day long. Correcting and giving feedback is the night part of the job that nobody knows, because they don't see the three hours on end of reading. But security guard? I can't handle that too!! Help! I'll be asleep on my desk during the day.
Let's keep an eye and an open mind on this until they really come up with just the right toys that teachers AND parents can manage, and that make the MOST sense to us all. And that friend of yours, Scotty, you know the one that's always biting at the bit? He's a great kid/oops, I mean doggie. He just needs to have a bit of leash (I don't mind if he gets a little ahead of us!) balanced by a lot of hands-on learning. You are a good judge of doggies, there Spot. I like your style. Let's make sure that the industry isn't trying to take advantage too. Prudence is a great virtue and technology is way cool. Just let us study the angles a little bit to be sure, before we hand out the toys.
You know what's absolutely amazing to me? No, nothing to do with politics. It's how much more you folks have to deal with in just the few years since I've been retired. All of my conversations with my friends who are still 'at it' reveal burdens the public can only imagine-if then. How do you do it every day without throwing yourselves in front of a speeding bus?? Behave, Spot. You don't realize it now but these are your best days!!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree, George. We're being encouraged to welcome technology. And I do! The one thing I want to be careful of is the sanity of the child in all of this too. Those of us that really are in the know...get it that there's a bit of a zen to teaching and a zen to learning too. Spot needs down time to digest it all too. As with everything in life, it's all about balance.
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