Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs. In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year. Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home. I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms that are
I really like cereal. When I was a kid, I used to come home from school everyday and have a bowl of cereal. I was a big fan of Cookie Crisp, Cap’n Crunch, Franken Berry (never Count Chocula), and Lucky Charms. While Cookie and Cap’n are fairly homogeneous. With Lucky Charms, it was a mix of lame cereal pieces and marshmallows. I mean come on, I can have marshmallows as food! I would sit in front of the TV watching GI Joe and eat a bowl (no milk just munching). Of course, I would eat the nasty oat cereal pieces first and save the marshmallows for last.
Back when they were first introduced, Lucky Charms only had 4 marshmallow shapes: pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers. As time has passed, more have been introduced. I specifically remember the addition of purple horseshoes. Shapes have come and gone, but they don’t taste much different and those oat based cereal pieces have stayed relatively unchanged.
Listening to the latest episode of the IMMOOC podcast, I was struck by a track the conversation took. Katie, AJ, John, and Brianna Hodges talked about how we can’t just keep adding new tech and call it innovation. As a tech loving teacher, I am the one who is always looking for that new piece of technology to bring into my classroom. Too often though, most of those pieces become a one and done thing. They don’t last. They become one of the many app loaded on our classroom iPads that haven’t been opened since I spent an hour loading them onto each iPad (I’m looking at you Screen Chomp.)
What makes a tool last goes beyond novelty of the new? I was so excited about those purple horseshoes when they came along and was so disappointed by that first bite. Just like I am for all the new tech tools I learn about when I go to a session at a conference. I could try to pretend that purple marshmallow tasted different, but I’d just be fooling myself. It was the same old cereal. Like that purple horseshoe, most of those tech tools I think look awesome never find a place in my classroom. One of the great mantras of the Innovator’s Mindset is that new is not always better. In the case of all the tools I’ve tried (or purple horseshoes), that is mos def the case. Many are just lateral moves and many more just add steps that obscure the learning goal. Just because an app can do X,Y, and Z doesn’t mean you need it to go from A to B.
I’ve discovered that students are great at self-selecting the tools that work best for their learning if given the choice and voice. This requires asking learners what is working for them and acting on that feedback. What worked 3 years ago may not work this year. So while it’s great to keep introducing new tools into the classroom, the best tools are the ones that students find help their learning and communication of learning.
We were clearing out the physics shelves after school today and we came across a stack of laminated paper cards for students to simulate the design and construction of electric circuits. Time have changed when we have HTML5 simulations that students can use on their smartphones to build complex circuits. That is innovation on the tool side of things.
But, there still need to be consideration as to the how the tool is being used. New simulation tools like this leave space for students to explore and design their own experiments with accurate results that can be analyzed. But again a tool is in service of learning. So, I need to be better about letting tech open the door to exploration rather than efficiency and time savings in the ability to complete a lab worksheet.
As Lucky Charms look to add new unicorn marshmallows, they’ll be exciting until you take that first bite and realize that you’re still eating the same cereal. It’s been a long time since I’ve had Lucky Charms as I’m a Cheerios guy now. Cheerios are still oat pieces of cereal made by General Mills, more whole grain with less sugar. The biggest change I’ve made is actually in the milk I add to my cereal. I’m all about almond milk in my cereal. But, that’s a whole other story of innovation.
So when you think about bringing the next change to your classroom, are you just changing out your marshmallows? Or, are you really changing the cereal?
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