InfoTeacher

Everyone should read this post at the Dangerously Irrelevant Blog (the title of the post is “10 Questions About Books, Libraries, Librarians, and Schools” (great blog to read, by the way — oh, I forgot, I mean btw).

The cell phone. It’s now a source of information.  Sure, I could buy an iphone or a Blackberry, but I’m a guy on a budget.  So, I’m talking about the simple cell phone (with unlimited texting — I found that to be indispensable with two teenage daughters, one away at school. We text more than we talk).

Well, text for information. Two sites (that I know of)

1. Text Cha-Cha (spell it, 242-242). Text your question and get an answer. It’s free.
2. Google (of Course!! – spell this one, too 466-453). Send your question and get an answer; also free.

I tried to ask both for the definition of pusillanimous (but I spelled it wrong). I texted “define pussilamous.” From Cha-Cha I got two responses. First, they told me it’s not in dictionary. I tried a different (still wrong) spelling and got the answer, still not in the dictionary, but it seems to mean . . .” followed by a somewhat accurate, but clearly kind of made up definition. 

From Google (sendng the exact same mis-spelling), I got a corrected spelling, “did you mean pussillanimous?” followed by a dictionary definition. Then Google followed with a second text (limited characters allowed in phone texting, you know). The second texttold me the definition came from wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn.

I find Google especially to be pretty handy. The “human” response of Cha-Cha might also be handy at times. I’m told you can ask current scores of games, what’s on TV, etc. (limited only by your imagination; trying to ask for a definition was just a way to try it out). Although I don’t know how I would cite that definition, I don’t see using this in a paper so much as just needing on the spot information. I can use this for a lot more than asking for definitions. 

 I added both Cha-Cha and Google to my phone’s address book.  Isn’t the age of instant information exciting? I have my computer with me a lot (though I don’t have mobile broadband), but I have my phone almost all the time.

Kathryn Greenhill from librariansmatter.com – a librarian from Australia posts this on Slide Share.  Really having trouble with the embed, so here is the link.  (I’m not that happy with WordPress’ format – chose it and Edublogs so my district wouldn’t block it; gotta say – Blogger is MUCH easier!!)

In my district, even those of us who TALK quite a bit about these technologies are not DOING them enough. Quite a few more as asking “why bother?” – this show says a lot about why we should bother, though it only touches the broad range of what’s new – no details. In the end, a push to at least try one. (I especially like slide 137 — “No offense, future man, but is everyone in your time retarded?”). Very creative, broad encompassing and interesting.
 

Last night President Obama gave his first major presidential speech. With our nation’s current economic situation, it really is a big speech. He spoke one easy-to-miss line about public school about which I want to comment.  But, first, an aside (forgive the rant). . . .

I am an Evangelical Christian (in the classic sense of Evangelicalism – really I hate the term as it is used today). In 2009, Evangelicals are almost synonymous in the public mind with Fundamentalists. I went through a Fundamentalist war in my denomination a few years back (one of the reasons I changed careers), and the Fundamentalists won (which means the denomination [and the cause of Christ] lost. In the classic sense, Evangelicals emphasize the Gospel. Today’s Evangelical emphasizes Politics (Pat Buchanan’s term is “The Culture War”). I grew up in church where Gospel was everything, and Gospel was how we were to change our world. When we emphasized Gospel, our manipulative invitations (and other peculiarities) were an exception to the way things were done, and they didn’t do as much damage to the cause of Christ. But in the late 1970s, everything began to change. Evangelicals discovered political activity, and they have done great damage to the cause of Christ (some time later they discovered Rush Limbaugh and even though politically I am in agreement with much of conservative philosophy, Limbaugh and his ilk have done much more damage as the GOP and Evangelicalism have become fused (see this book and this one). I feel I must lead with this rant because in some circles anyone reading this post will equate my reference to any speech by Obama as the thoughts of a “liberal public school teacher.”  I am anything but. I am a conservative, though I am a conservative who laments the death of thinking conservatives now that Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are our de facto leaders (what a vacuum of leadership we must have!).  Please read this post from the Internet Monk about how Christians should be careful about how we speak about our president even when we disagree – note, we (Christians/Evangelicals) did damage to our reputation by violating these principles during the Clinton administation. We accelerated the downward slide of our ability to speak Gospel to our world and be heard (see this link and this one on why conservatism is “dead,” though I choose to think it’s not dead but in dire straights until we can find another leader to pull our diverse elements together into a positive whole as Reagan did — NOT that Reagan was an Evangelical or even a Classic Christian [many forget history], but he was a great conservative). OK, this Rant is finished, so I can now post the comments I received from another teacher  who, in turn, just passed along what she reveived from another teacher.  I have taken the liberty of highlighting some sentences.  Along with the original writer of the post, I have MUCH that I disagree with from our president and his politics, but he is our president (and the republic will not come to an end just because the GOP does not win every time). 

Last night, during President Obama’s speech before congress, I was inspired by something he said. “Dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country — and this country needs and values the talents of every American.”  Though I may not have agreed with most of the President’s solutions, I feel that the sentiment of this line needs to become a clarion call to our students. Education is not just about them. It is a call to the very heart of this country. It is every student’s patriotic duty to become educated.  We as teachers assume a patriotic duty to teach our students. It is this attitude that can rejuvenate our hearts and maybe rise up the next “greatest generation.”  

President Obama committed last night to a goal of making our nation the most educated nation in the world by the year 2020.  Today, as you teach your students, realize that your job is equipping these students to make our nation stronger. Communicate to your students that their responsibility to their country, to the freedoms they have, is to learn. Whether it is to write, to do math, to use a computer, to understand economics, to contribute through the arts, to become civically minded, or whatever educational endeavor they are participating, all will contribute to the milieu that will make America the greatest nation in world.  

I hope you don’t mind my sending these thoughts to you, but as one who has served in the military and loves his country I am inspired this morning. We as educators have a great calling and responsibility. Hold your head up with honor and pride, for you too are defending and strengthening your country.

The point is well made. I have very little to add. As a Christian (Evangelical Christian) who is proud to teach in a public school (a giant contradiction in many Fundagelical’s minds), I find these words encouraging, and they serve to call me to renw my committment to the heart of my calling as a teacher.  May all teachers view their career as a calling — we don’t just have a job, we serve in a vocation. 

Mike Shatzkin is founder and CEO of The Idea Logical Co. (IdeaLog.com). He has been involved in “digital change issues” in the book publishing business. Here is his informed imagination about what the book publishing business will look like in ten years. 

Some highlights:

The robust e-book market—more than 50 percent of the sales of many titles (also a bit more than 10 years off)—will have been fueled by features built into e-books that can’t be replicated in print versions. For example, e-books will frequently use moving images as illustrations, rather than stills. And, of course, e-books all will have links, which will be consistently listed as the No. 1 deficiency responsible for the rapid abandonment of paper books.

One can only imagine how these radical changes will affect libraries, the teaching of technology and information skills, and teaching in general. We had better be prepared for more and more change, fast-paced change, and doing things in new ways. The library as the central book collection headquarters for the school is already an old paradigm. If the library (and the meda center, computer lab, etc.) is to maintain its place as a central hub of the school, it had better become a place where teaching occurs and students come not just to access information but to synthesize and build a project around all of the information that they access in various places.