Digital Communication, Part I

For anyone who is in education, it’s impossible to avoid references to the “six Cs” of 21^st century education. In case you’re not familiar, the “6 Cs” refers to the skills and knowledge that educators and business leaders have deemed necessary for the future success of our children in the world marketplace. The 6 Cs are:

1.     Collaboration,

2.     Communication,

3.     Creativity,

4.     Critical Thinking,

5.     Cross-Cultural Competency, and

6.     Character

For this blog post, I want to focus on communication. Lately, I’ve been think a good bit about how we communicate in today’s digital world, how that communication has changed since I was in school, and how we best go about teaching communication to students who are “digital natives.”

To start with, I think there are some very good things about our connected, digital world of communication. Social media certainly has its utility. For example, I have 1,989 “friends” on Facebook. Through Facebook, I’ve been able to reconnect with former students, friends and acquaintances from high school, and relatives who live in other parts of the country. I’ve also met people online who have common interests I never would have met, otherwise. Here at HA, we have Skyped with job candidates and hired teachers from as far away California, Minnesota, Utah, China, and Latin America. My children still keep up with their friends from Tennessee, where we lived five years ago. 

Furthermore, I have almost unbelievable access to information. When I first graduated from college, I subscribed to a half-dozen magazines in order to get my news. I don’t subscribe to ANY magazines anymore; I read them on my tablet and phone. In fact, my cell phone gives me access to more information more quickly than I could have EVER imagined when I first started teaching. Additionally, the novel I just finished reading was on Apple’s iBooks. I didn’t have to go to the bookstore or even order it online. I wanted to read it, and POOF, it was on my iPad AND my phone. I could have bought it at the bookstore, or I could have ordered it on Amazon for much less money, but I didn’t want to have to wait for the actual book to arrive. After all, I now live in a world where I demand and receive instant gratification.  

Similarly, I can give feedback to students and parents almost immediately through email and through my web-based Google Classroom. My students in my AP Economics class have a free, online textbook, with links to relevant primary sources and websites, and I can post announcements and changes to my students in real-time, after they leave my classroom. I have to say, as a teacher, it’s pretty awesome.

So, I suppose all of this is good – or at least it’s not bad. But I can’t help but think that in the history of mankind, we have never been so connected, yet, so disconnected. I find myself asking the question: “Is the communication in which our children are engaged authentic.” For example, have you noticed that when you go on vacation that our kids don’t seem to miss each other?

I can remember that when my family went on vacation, I missed my girlfriend and my buddies. I couldn’t wait to see them when I came home. Plus, my girlfriend and I would spend hours and hours on the phone, actually talking.

Not anymore. 

After we returned from fall break this year, I asked my kids if they wanted to get together with their friends, and the response was condescending. “DAAAD!”, they snarled (with a hint of an eye-roll), “We’ve been TALKING the entire time we’ve been gone!” There was no sense of urgency to see their friends. In fact, they told me stories about some of the funny things that went on during break in the cyber-world of Instagram. It actually occurred to me that the kids tell stories of happenings on the internet in a way that resembles the stories I’ve told about my fraternity days. But the kids’ stories aren’t about wearing a goofy costume to a date party or swimming in the campus fountain. Their stories are about clever memes or “LOL” retorts.

Moreover, it’s not just the fact that our children are communicating online, but the amount of time they are spending “plugged in” is worrisome to me. A 2015 Pew Research Center report indicates some not-so-shocking data about teenage social media and electronic usage. 92% of teens (aged 12-17) go online, daily, and 24% report being online “almost constantly” (Lenhart, 2015). Still further, 88% of all teens have cell phones or smartphones at their disposal (Lenhart, 2015), and according to the Common Sense Media, teens spend an average of nine hours per day using media online (Tsukayama, 2015).

So, I’m posing the question, to which I honestly don’t know the answer. Is today’s communication real or even healthy?  To me, something seems very wrong, but maybe it’s just a bad idea whose time has come? Maybe I am just old-fashioned? Maybe, I’m like my grandparents who thought rock and roll (and Elvis Presley, in particular) was the source of all evil in society? I mean, to our children, Snapchat IS authentic communication. Our children DO feel connected and DO feel they are engaging in genuine dialogue. Just because I don’t think it’s authentic doesn’t mean it isn’t. 

In my next blog post, I’ll delve into some of the research on social media and screen time, and also talk about some of the ways we can use online tools to our educational advantage.

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It's Showtime!

When I first arrived at Houston Academy in 2012 someone told me, “We’re not an arts school.” First of all, that wasn’t true. We already had an incredible band, a fine chorus, a vibrant lower school music program, an award-winning visual arts program, and a talented dance team. What we lacked was a theater program. Secondly, though, that statement angered me. Why wouldn’t we want to be known as an “arts school”? Very few offerings in a school can more positively impact students’ competency in the 6 Cs[1] than participation in the arts. Moreover, people acted like it was a zero-sum game – that we could be good at the arts or we could be good in athletics, but you couldn’t do both. Frankly, that’s nonsense.  Given the caliber of our student body, we can and should be good at everything we do, and our students should have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of activities.

Well, my message to you today is that we have reached a point where our theater program is first rate. This year, we have already put on our 4^th – 6^th grade play. If you missed our production of Aladdin, you really missed an outstanding performance. It was not just “cute;” it was excellent. Plus, it’s worth pointing out that each performance we have done in each of the the last three years has been more difficult and has had a higher production value than the previous one. Additionally, our participation rate has been consistently high. This year, 44 students participated in the play, which constitutes 43% of the student body in grades 4-6.

Tomorrow night, (Tuesday, November 8^th) at 6:30 PM in Dunning Hall, the Arts Department will be presenting its Fall Showcase. Admission is free, and you will get a chance to hear our jazz band, chorus, and the extracurricular chorus. Furthermore, the drama class will be putting on Café Murder, a family-friendly murder mystery that only YOU can help solve. Admission is free, and having seen the rehearsals, it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Finally, the 7^th -12^th grade students will be putting on a performance of Singin’ In the Rain. This will be an endeavor the likes of which we have never attempted at Houston Academy. It is full of intricate choreography and difficult numbers. From what I’ve seen in rehearsals, it should be outstanding. Singin’ in the Rain is a really entertaining and funny show, and it would be well worth your time to come see it. It will be performed in Dunning Hall at 7:00 PM from Tuesday, November 15^th to Thursday, November 17^th.

In short, in just three years, we have gone from having no drama program, to having one in which approximately 90 students are participating. Moreover, our program is of high quality, despite our lack of a facility. I should also note that our band has 54 members, our show choir has 13 members, our upper school chorus has 20 members, our extracurricular chorus has 20 members, and our dance team has 17 members. These students are not only doing outstanding work, but they are collaborating and learning in ways they would not do in any other environment. When we talk about 21^st Century Learning, this is what it’s all about.

See you on Tuesday!

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[1] Much attention has been paid in the educational literature and in the media to what has been termed “21^st Century Education.” Generally speaking, educators and business leaders have identified the competencies that our students will have to master to be successful in the workplace. Pat Bassett, former head of the National Association of Independent schools referred to these skills as the “5C’s plus 1.”[1] I’ve just started calling them the “6 Cs.” These 6 Cs are:

1.     Collaboration,

2.     Communication,

3.     Creativity,

4.     Critical thinking,

5.     Cross-cultural competence, and

6.     Character.

The Best Way to Predict the Future Is to Invent It: Harnessing Technology in Schools

While perusing social media, I revisited an article I had read earlier this summer Independent School magazine:

The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent It: Harnessing Technology in Schools

Here is the quote that I believe is particularly apropos to HA:

Just as the hybrid gas-electric motor represents a key to our energy future, hybrid thinking can take us farther down productive educational paths. Instead of the either-or debates that have characterized so much of education reform (phonics vs. whole language, computational skills vs. mathematical thinking, face-to-face instruction vs. online courses), it’s time we take a both-and approach — weave the best traditional elements of teaching with inventive digital learning to create a truly fresh approach to education.  

This blended approach integrating digital learning with the power of face-to-face relationships, between teachers and students and among students as peer tutors, is proving more effective than either alone. 

I watched Mrs. Snell's 5th grade class today. They had used their MacBooks to type a story in which they had to integrate their vocabulary words throughout the story. Now, certainly, this same assignment could have been done with pencil and paper, but by using their MacBooks, the students were able to integrate some practical, real-world technology skills into their assignment. First, they utilized keyboarding skills; second, they used a word processing program; third, they used their grammar check to make sure they were using appropriate grammar and punctuation.  One student actually noted that they had originally used incorrect grammar, but they were able to correct their mistake before completing the assignment. In a sense, the student was getting instant feedback without having to wait for a teacher to provide it.

At the same time, the students were exhibiting a number of 21st century learning skills.  They were using creativity to write the story, they were presenting their stories to each other (communication), and they were critically reacting to each other's work and evaluating ways that they integrated the vocabulary (critical thinking and collaboration). Of course, too, by actually using the vocabulary (as opposed to just memorizing a definition), research tells us that these 5th graders in Mrs. Snell's class will be much more likely to remember and use their new vocabulary words in the future (higher ACT scores!). Moreover, they had FUN doing the activity, and they were proud to share their stories with me.

THIS, is what you are getting at HA that I believe you won't get anywhere else in the Wiregrass -- technology and 21st century learning.  It doesn't get any better than that.

HA and 21st Century Learning

George Washington, so the story goes, wakes up one morning and finds himself magically transported to the year 2013.  President Washington wanders out of Mt. Vernon and sees a row of large, metal boxes on wheels, and he’s amazed! He asks a tourist about these strange contraptions, and the tourist explains, “Oh, those are buses. You can go inside one of those, and they will take you to other places – way faster than horses could back in your day.” 

“Wow,” exclaims President Washington, “That’s amazing!”

So our 1^st President gleefully hops onto a bus with the intention of  discovering how his country has changed.  He travels around Washington, DC, the city that bears his name, and he is overwhelmed by the airplanes, computers, cell phones, televisions, highways, and all the other trappings of modern society.

Finally, President Washington comes across a local school.  He walks inside the school, and is stunned to see a big screen television in the foyer and a media center full of all kinds of contraptions that he does not understand.  

Inside a classroom he sees pupils quietly sitting in rows taking notes, while the teacher sits at his desk and delivers his lecture. With relief, Washington exclaims, “Thank goodness, there’s something that hasn’t changed!”

While this joke is funny, it’s also poignant. The world has changed, but in many important ways, education has not. Education is a field that has been particularly adept at resisting change. To this point, I recently read a quote from a Vice President of McDonald’s corporation: “The difference between your industry [education] and mine is that in my industry, we have to change before we need to, while, in your industry, you won’t change even when it’s clear that you must.”

By taking the bold step of initiating a 1:1 laptop initiative, we are already ahead of other educational institutions in the Wiregrass. As daunting (and expensive) as that move was, putting wireless technology in hands of our students and teachers was the easy part. Now comes the hard work of using that technology to transform education as we know it at Houston Academy.

If you look back at my blog post in December of 2012, I reference the verity that giving students computers means very little if it does not change educational practice.   

In my mind, technology is not necessarily an end; technology is a tool for our students to engage in 21^st Century Learning. In case you’re not familiar with this now ubiquitous term, “21^st Century Learning” is the buzzword in today’s educational vernacular. Researchers and business leaders have identified six key competencies ("the 6 C's) that students must possess in order to be successful in the world and in the workforce.  Those six competencies are (in no particular order):

• Collaboration

• Communication

• Creativity  

• Critical thinking

• Cross-cultural competency

• Character

I will expound on these competencies in future blog posts, but for now, suffice to say that the educational literature suggests that we can significantly impact student learning in competencies 1-5 through our 1:1 laptop program.  However, we have a tremendous amount of work to do in order make effective use of our technology.

The truth is, however, we must change the way we educate our children, and we must do it now. The Houston Academy Board of Trustees has laid out an ambition strategic plan, which calls for nothing less than transforming way we approach education here in the Wiregrass. Using technology as a tool to give our students the 21^st century skills they need to be responsible citizens in a competitive, global workplace should be a proverbial “game changer.” As far as I can tell, we are the ONLY school in our region that has embarked upon this arduous task. I hope you are as excited as the teachers and faculty are about the educational journey upon which we are about to embark.

I can’t wait for the school year to start!