During my childhood my friends and I met at the park to shoot hoops, wrote letters to pen pals, and occasionally chatted over a good old fashion phone. My cousin lived 100 miles away. To keep in touch we created mix tapes. I'd spend hours recording short clips of our favorite music combined with our investigative reporting of our mysterious neighbor whom we nicknamed Mr. Jolly Rancher or a nighttime journey deep into the Green Mist of Chino Hills. Those tapes took a long time to make and took awhile to deliver. Due to the cost of postage we usually waited till we saw each other during the holidays to exchange tapes.
Today technology is ubiquitous. As I write this blog my daughter is Facetimig with her cousin. An instant connection. Facetime and other videotelephony technologies provide an instant connection with the world around us. In business, meeting room reservations are no longer needed, coordinating around travel time and other hassles are eliminated. These technologies bring many opportunities, but also many challenges. Our students and staff need to develop new skills to navigate this digital world.
This graphic, commonly referred to as the "Turtle" is an excellent visualization of how the California English Language Development Standards and the California Common Core State Standards are integrated and interdependent. The visual also speaks to the importance of us as educators to develop the 21st century communication skills of our students. Guiding our students to make meaning, effective expression are essential skills for college, career and civic life in our global society must be our passion if we are to survive as a society.
In "The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity" George Curos uses O2 video (below) to illustrate how a decision can lead to innovation. A line from the video states "look at the world it's amazing. We have the world at outlet fingertips, the ability to connect and create with people around the world through so many different mediums." Curos contrasts schools who make the choice to focus on all the things students can't do with technology: cyber bullying and digital safety instead of all the things are students can do with technology (connect the world).
What is the culture of your school or district? What decisions will you make tomorrow that will impact lives and change futures for years to come?
