If "Necessity, who is the mother of invention."

Plato, The Republic
Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)

Then our youth are more likely to invent ways to escape their parents than anything useful.

I was frustrated by a parent today who not only micromanaged his own children's behavior, but my son's. You don't have to be a constructivist to believe that children need a chance to make mistakes.

All too often in our abundant times (yes, even not with economic troubles) we misuse our time and money giving to our children inappropriately, driving necessity from their lives. We waist time instructing our children on the seriousness of doing things properly when it is rarely that serious. We spend far too much on toys and gadgets for them, regardless of the amount of clutter created by their existing collection.

Even as one of seven children, a carpenter's son who at times ate food from the church's food pantry, I often forgot about the large bag of toys that were confiscated for two weeks by my parents due to our lack of desire to clean up. I would only come across the overflowing bag months later as I worked on a project in my dad's basement workshop.

For want of the money too buy another copy, a good friend of mine at the age of 12 learned how to restitch the binding of a gaming book. Over the past few days I have found pleasure and purpose in building upon the spark that his necessity offered me. As I develop my book binding technique into a learn activity for students, I hope to offer the same spark to students.

These are the lessons we should wish for our children. Spend less on toys, instead give to charity's and not to forget to spend time doing charitable work also. While we are at it, we can save a little more and pass on some of the toys and convenience items that we purchase for ourselves. After all, modeling is the best method of teaching. There are some great ideas on how to work on our values as they relate to money and how to communicate those values at http://www.sharesavespend.com .

Give them the time and space to play without adult interruption, trusting them to make their own choices does wonders for self confidence and independence. Then spend time with them as they share their ideas. You will be amazed by what they come up with.

Let them be need, give them the chance to entertain themselves, to explore their world, to discover what they can build...

to find themselves

Thaughts of the day

Just got home from my first a church council meeting. I went because I am interested in the direction of the church website... it looks like it will have some of the newer interactive functions. I also learned about our troubled finances.
---
I think that I need to tell more of my story about teaching, and try to make quicker posts about what is on my mind instead of waiting for the biggest ideas to post... hopefully the flow ideas would lead to a more consistent habit.

Blog Ideas

Categories:
Technology
Service to others
Values, Morals, Beliefs
Life
Growing Up (what I learned from my childhood)
Education

• Math
• Reading and Writing
• Making a difference
  

DYI, Gardening, Crafting, Recycling
Gaming (Magic, MMOs)

Entries:
Magic the Gathering, the values of offering a Magic Club
MMOs, What I have learned
How to: Blog + Wiki
My NOLA experiences
Maslow and Human Potential
Why I would rather have a file
Building a classroom community
Alfie Kohn: "Why don't you Blog?"
My constructionist upbringing
Big Ideas (a list of things that I would like to work towards)
My struggles as a student teacher

Blogs, Wikis and Education

As I have ponder my dream school (as I would hope that all educators do), I have considered the importance of having a way for the teachers and the stakeholders to a shared a vision. Many of my ideas on this topic come from my studies of communication theory and human resources. Another path of inspiration started years ago a friend and educational technology mentor of mine started me on the journey of discovering the power of collaborative technologies. That planted seed has started to show buds as I have a purpose in using these technologies to improve the communities I am part of and to teach students.

In his article "Learning with Blogs and Wikis by Bill Ferriter" in Educational Leadership, Bill Ferriter offers rational for the use of Blogs and Wikis, offering support and guidance for what I have only theorized were useful educational tools. This article could not have been more timely as I seek to understand and apply these technologies more.

These collaborative technologies have embeded values that are important to me. They say " I am interested in what you think", "you are an expert", "you are a writer" and so much more. Coincendently these are much the same things that we want to say to children as they learn to write and as they grow in self confidence.

Using them in an educational setting whether with teachers or students requires trust as we give the author the power of voice. Likewise the author must trust that the audience will be kind and helpful with their feedback. I believe that this level of trust will lead to more open conversations that could otherwise be had.

Netbook

I spent $140 dollars today on a filling cabinet and spent thirty minutes looking at $200-250 dollar netbooks. I am all too aware of how much I like to think up new things and that much more on how long they last. Top on my list of things that fill this description is the palm that I bought about 8 years ago. It didn't end up fitting into my life the way I thought it would. Contrary to my leanings, the Dell's keyboard feels better than the Acer's. However the Linux on the Acer was smoother and easier to use that I had imagined. The discovery that MS Works that comes installed on the Dell is Office 97, the same program that I have been installing happily since then, only drives me away from the Dell with it's choice of operating systems. I am hoping that regardless of my choice I adopt this digital switch, the same one that inspired this blog. Another happy reflection from this trip is that I don't think that a student will see any substantial difference between Linux and Microsoft and that adults will likely find that any loss in familiarity will be replaced in ease of use. While only time will tell, I am glad that the price and the possibility that this computer could become a student resource if it does prove to be a gadget will prove the impending purchase worth while.

What you can learn from a banana

My favorite lesson that I learned about teaching from working with BB was the banana lesson. After BB learned that I would be there when he really needed him, (secure attachment; I hope to write some other time about how this was important as I began working with BB) I began to look for opportunities to leave him to solve simple problems. While looking back I write about this as something that I understand clearly as the next step, at the time it was part intuition and partly inspired by a fellow scout leader's mention of Baden Powell's affirmation that you should not do anything for an 11 year old that he can do himself.

At that time BB had just started picking a place to eat lunch with students of his choice with little assistance from me. I always asked him what he needed as we went through the lunch line and as we checked out I asked him if he needed anything else. After he selected a spot to sit, I would ask him if he needed me to do anything for him, then I would circulate around the lunch room. From nearly the beginning of the year I tried to encourage him to ask me to help him with anything he needed. While I am quite capable of waiting on him, anticipating all his needs much as I had perfected in my years of waiting on tables, I increasingly encouraged and on this day required him to ask explicitly for the assistance that he needed from me. So on this day as I walked away, I figuratively rubbed my hands as my trap was set... he was left with an unopened banana. I glowed as a father does while his sun rides away, training wheels on the ground and watched from afar while discussing my plot with a fellow teacher. I watched him as he took on the challenge and tried to withhold how pleased I was as I casually mentioned the banana as we left for class.

Reflecting on Baden Powell's words offered me a clearer way of differentiating my approach to working with students than I had been able to articulate up to that point. Before this experience the best I could do was to say that I was nurturing in a male way in contrast to the way I had seen some female teachers fulfill student's immediate needs (much like the waiter) the way an infant should be nurtured. This analogy was inadequate because I saw many male teachers following more of a military "break-remake" approach and I saw many female teachers who did not nurture this way. As I tested and learned how to apply this concept to encourage BB to discover his abilities despite his disabilities, the banana became my analogy. In time I began to share the analogy with BB, describing tasks as bananas, ones that I would leave him to do without me looking over his shoulder.

When I met BB he was a wheelchair bound sixth grader who did not know that he could open a banana. In the last five months we learned so much from each other, as I presented him with bananas to open and he discovered his potential to open them.

From the day I learned about this job opportunity, I began thinking of BB as the student he will be as he finishes high school and begins to move out into the world on his own. As a teacher who believes that teaching is a lifetime commitment, my only regret is that I did tell him how to contact me when he needs advice or inspiration. Today I started a blog (link) so he can open that banana when he needs it. Hopefully he will find it when he needs it.

Please keep BB and everyone who surrounds these events in your thoughts and prays as they begin a new chapter in their lives.

Till we meet again,