Teaching Digital Natives

I’m glad I grew up when I did.

I was an Iowa farm boy during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, although the violence and unrest seemed to be distant problems for other people, the newspapers were filled with accounts of bloodshed, police dogs and civil disobedience. Israel fought for national survival and the war in

Vietnam raged on as protests against continued US involvement enveloped most college campuses – Cornell College was even the site of anti-war protests.

The pre-digital world seemed to come to a stop when noteworthy events occurred. Church bells rang and factory whistles blew when Doctor Jonas Salk finally cured polio. Rockets launched from Cape Canaveral were a source of national pride and a giant leap for mankind, a cause for widespread celebration.

 

Many of our toys mirrored the technological marvels of the era rather than the fantasy-heavy (but non-sexist, non-racist, and inclusive) choices of today - and none of them had a reset button!

There were late-breaking stories that interrupted family staples of Flipper and Mr. Ed. News icons like Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley disrupted our quiet, bucolic life with reports of a President being assassinated in Dallas, a march in Selma that turned into a bloody rout for peaceful protestors by overzealous and bigoted police and Kent State, where overwhelmed and undertrained National Guard soldiers fired on demonstrators.

A news junkie from a very young age, I clipped important news articles from the paper and watched the daily news almost every day at 5:00 PM and again at 10:00 (if my parents allowed it). I began with a child’s understanding of terrorism as it began taking center stage in the world theater - an understanding that spurred further study throughout my adulthood. I knew the difference between the ANC and NVA and I knew where in the world they were focused. I wasn’t a very good student academically, but when given a chance, my passions erupted. The turbulent times we lived in demanded that you paid attention instead of remaining complacent - regardless of your political leanings.

Kids today aren’t so lucky. Despite the ongoing war on terror and widespread upheavals they don’t/can’t engage with the reality of life. They are consumed by the Kardashians and American Pickers. Apartheid and Nelson Mandela are ancient history; Vietnam is as relevant to them as the Peloponnesian War. Few teenagers have even a prosaic understanding of what civil disobedience is and how effective it can be to change unjust laws – Oh; they can regurgitate the story about Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, but only vaguely. The scary part is that they don’t really care! They would much rather play on their cell phones than actually examine a historical event even for a grade.

24/7 infotainment substitutes for real news and inundates viewers with repetitive images and hyperbole to the point that viewers frequently can't separate fact for opinion. Online "news" isn't much better with everyone trying to be the first with the most titillating headline, accuracy be damned.

From my observations, despite being “Digital Natives,” few of students know enough about computers or the Internet to get beyond Google to find something of substance. They’d much rather dawdle on Pandora or YouTube than actually do an assignment. They’d much rather tweet than read (fill in the blank).

When I first started substituting, when I still held onto the belief that I might actually get a job as a real teacher I built a very impressive “Sub box,” it contained alternate lesson plans separated by developmental level and subject matter, “sponge” activities used to help fill up the inevitable time between end of the lesson and the end of the period as well as the usual supplies that I would need during the school day – I quit carrying that years ago. I discovered much to my chagrin, that students, especially high school students, were not interested in ANYTHING that did not guarantee points for their GPA. Since I couldn’t guarantee their regular teacher would give them points – and to avoid giving the regular teacher extra work, I quit carrying them and began following the regular teacher’s suggestion of letting students talk during any extra time. Sigh.

Once, I was filling in for a social studies teacher at a 4A high school, as I was giving the assignment, a flurry of hands shot up when I got to the part about when the work was due. Every one of the questions was about getting an extension! They hadn’t even started working on the assignment and they wanted an allowance to turn the project in late!

Another troubling trend is that many students go out of their way to defy authority at every turn, but rarely when it is of importance. Although there are occasional reports of students actually taking a stand for a worthwhile cause – even some I might not agree with, it is the exception rather than the rule. They don’t like being told to sit down, in a chair, facing the front, in their chair, awake, off the phone, close the computer, stop talking, no you may not go to the bathroom, sit down, put your phone away, listen up, open your textbook, etc. Like casting pearls before swine it's usually wasted effort. But, as I’ve said on more than one occasion, “It’s your grade not mine.”

But grading seems to have become a thing of the past, too. Teachers will even “cook the books” in order to maintain a better than par average of passing students. Extra credit seems to be the order of the day, something to drag that dismal F up to a D- and the mediocre C up to a B+. I get it. It’s self-preservation, but it’s giving up because Little Johnny’s parental unit will give you no rest until you treat him “properly.” Parents don’t seem to give a shit whether their offspring can actually enter the workforce someday, only that their name appears on the honor roll and that they get to participate in the myriad of other activities that keep them out of their parents’ hair – that is IF there are two parents! Usually, it seems, it’s a single parent trying to get by and the fewer problems they have to deal with the better. We had televisions, they have the internet.

 Smart phones, computers and the internet are technological marvels that we could only dream of and by all rights should be a breakthrough in education, however, they tend more distracting than beneficial. Disinterested, disengaged, lethargic, dull, lifeless are words that I use more often than interested, engaged, energized, alert, involved when asked about many students. A good first step might be to ban cell phones from the classroom, limit online use to only what is needed and monitor their access. You might even require at least a few hard copy references for research projects.

Then there is the whole sexting thing!

  

Much like our generation wanted our MTV, “kids today” want instant (and continual) gratification in the form of digital entertainment. I’m writing this rant after two very distressing and depressing days “teaching” at the same 4A high school previously mentioned. I was covering for a different teacher who had three preps (taught three different classes) and I got to see a fairly broad cross section of the student body and what I saw didn’t impress me very much. The vast majority of students were obsessing on their cell phones and a large percentage of them had ear buds either continually stuck in their skulls or ready to be inserted at a moment’s notice. I’ve had to tell students that they could not listen to music while they take a test, nor could they have their phone on their desk while testing.

I’m sure some of you reading this blog are wondering “so what?” and what's the big deal? It’s troubling on many different levels, at its most basic, if students have their face buried in their phone or other device, they aren’t likely paying attention to instructions and invariably will have to have the instructions repeated to them again, and again. Multiply that times the number of students in a classroom you can quickly see how time consuming that would be. Once again, I’ll toss this education obstacle at the feet of its biggest sponsor – the parent(s). Even levelheaded and cogent adults seem to turn a blind eye to the problems they unwittingly condone with their insistence that they have instant contact with their progeny. Many parents don’t think twice about texting or phoning their little darlings during class to pass on even the most mundane of messages – messages that certainly could be delivered by the front office during passing time.

Parents and guardians can help their children by not demanding instant communication, reminding them of priorities and that extra effort on their part will benefit them farther on down the line. Although you should make sure they know they are important and they do have rights, their importance and rights to not usurp their obligation to not disrupt the classroom, get an education and to allow other students to get their education too. 

However, occasionally, and just often enough to refresh my desire to teach, I will have a student – or two become engaged, ask probing questions, take notes and generally pay attention. Until something better comes along, I’ll keep at it and hope for the best. I will keep up my end of the bargain but will you? Will they?

The Stanley Cup comes to Iowa

Here is a story I wrote in 2006 about the time the Stanley Cup came to Iowa. I had been instructed to write this story for potential inclusion in a DHS periodical, however, the Jayster decided he didn't like the story. 

Nonetheless, here it is.

When United flight 1114 from Calgary developed a problem enroute to Chicago on 25 August 2006, the Eastern Iowa airport was nearest airport where they could safely divert.  After an uneventful landing, a quick once over by airport fire and rescue, passengers were offloaded so the airplane to be towed to the maintenance hanger for inspection.

With no clear idea of when or if they would be able to re-board, some passengers sought other means to get to their destination – a few rented cars, some decided to stick it out in the terminal and a few opted to transfer to another airline. One of those passengers was Mr. Mike Bolt who as it turns out, works for the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada. Mike was especially concerned about getting to his final destination because of the precious cargo he was entrusted with – The Stanley Cup. 

For those folks who aren’t familiar with this NHL icon, it is annually awarded to the best professional national hockey team and Bolt, officially known as a “Stanley Cup Escort” had to get his cup to Lansing, Michigan ASAP. Bolt is one of three Hockey Hall of Fame employees who transport and protect the Stanley Cup as it travels almost year-round to be displayed at hospitals, charity fundraisers, NHL arenas, local hockey rinks, players' hometowns and other venues.  The traveling security unit was created in 1995 to efficiently display and safeguard the Cup.

          Prior to discovering Mike’s mission, I had happened to chat with him in the concourse as he commented that he had to get to his destination. After directing him to the United ticket counter he disappeared into the throng of travelers. 

Later, I saw Mr. Bolt in the lobby and asked him how things were going. He replied that United and Northwest were taking care of him and it was during this conversation that he revealed his responsibility. He added that he would be happy to pull “The Cup” out of its shipping container for anyone who might be interested in seeing it although Mike admitted that he wasn’t even sure there were any hockey fans in Iowa! I assured him that there were and shortly afterward, 

Soon, a large blue container was wheeled out into the lobby, from which Mike pulled the four-foot tall, silver cup from its protective container. Almost immediately there was a large crowd of passengers, airline workers, and a few TSA employees who gathered around to see and touch the fabled award.  To his absolute credit, Mike stood patiently off to the side as people posed for pictures, strained to see the inscriptions covering the trophy and a few even took a moment to touch the polished silver in hopes of getting some of its “mojo.” Cell phone cameras were stretched to their limits as passengers abandoned the airline check-in queues for a snap shot. As we stood there, the crew from the grounded plane came out from behind the counter and Bolt thanked the pilot and crew for getting him and hockey’s icon safely to the ground.

Soon it was time for Mr. Bolt to pack up “The Cup” to check-in at Northwest, and of course to be re-screened. After thanking Mr. Bolt for his patience and good humor about displaying The Stanley Cup for everyone to get a look at, he had profuse thanks for all the TSA, airline, and airport personnel who helped him get his precious cargo on to his destination. Considering that this might have been the only time in its 114-year history of the Stanley Cup visited Iowa, it certainly was an exciting moment for all of us who got to witness it.

Two Internet links of interest:

http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/history/cup/index.html

http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/history/cup/cupkeeper_mcgourty.html

A little Midwinter Motivation

Post by Josiah Mizukami.

Enemies of Mankind

Hostis humani generis: Literally an enemy of mankind. A nearly archaic-term from admiralty law that held pirates in utter contempt. Similar to the common law concept of “Outlawry” that described those people who operated outside the extent of the King’s law so that these seaborne marauders would be eradicated. Moreover, it was not just allowed, but expected that all nations abide by this decree whether or not they had been attacked.

I cannot think of any other groups that so deserve of this title than the evil that is ISIS, al-quada and the taliban. 

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Some time ago while wasting time on Facebook, I came upon a video on my timeline that started playing automatically – a feature that I detest by the way – I like making the decision whether or not to watch something.  But that is a rant for another day.

Anyway, it was a film clip showing some sort of fuzzy animal inside a small cage with a guy standing next to it holding a container of some sort. With a desert background and squiggly lined captioned it was obviously something from the Middle East. I should have known better, but I kept watching as the man poured the contents of the container over the fuzzy animal and then lit it on fire.

With no way to escape its prison the animal was soon engulfed in flames and frantically thrashed around, slamming itself against the bars in a vain attempt to escape its cruel fate. After a few seconds it slumped down in a quivering mass of burning flesh and soon stopped moving.

As the flames died down the man lifted the cage and nudged the charred remains with his foot as the video faded to black, the animal was most assuredly dead for whatever morbid reason. I quickly closed the screen and wondered what kind of sick bastard would do something so cruel. Then I felt guilty for watching the video. Why didn’t I shut it off before the inevitable? I’m not a sadist. I don’t like inflicting pain – especially on defenseless animals.  How dirty and ashamed I felt for having seen such an atrocity.

Atrocity? Maybe that wasn’t the right word in this case. An atrocity is when something like this happens to a human being such as Jordanian air force pilot that ISIS just murdered. Like the animal I mentioned, Muath al-Kaseasbeh was locked inside a cage and doused with a flammable liquid before his captors immolated him because of Jordan’s part in our loosely knitted alliance. Their claim to legitimacy is that this “eye-for-an-eye” justice was in retaliation for civilian deaths by Jordanian and allied airstrikes.

But, that rationale doesn't explain the beheadings of the numerous aid workers they have murdered. If they are trying to spread terror they seem to be doing it, the number of people willing to put their lives in danger to help the helpless has dwindled to almost nothing. If it is part of their plan to displace vast numbers of people and allow them to die a slow death then they have succeeded.

While any death in combat is a horrible thing, this terrorist group claiming the moral high ground would be laughable if it wasn’t so depraved. This group thinks nothing of tossing a gay man off a seven-story building, hacking off the heads of whomever they please or meting out 12^th century punishment on victims of sexual assault! Their only nod to modernity is to video record the event to be posted on the Internet.

You can’t even call ISIS or the Taliban animals because animals don’t torture their prey – at least not to this debauched extent. How a group of people can become so desensitized to another being’s suffering is incomprehensible and no matter how you try to spin it, these creatures must be eradicated. They must be expunged from the face of the earth using every tool, trick and weapon at our disposal. They won’t be satisfied until the entire world is held in thrall to their twisted religion.  

I haven’t watched the video of Lieutenant al-Kaseasbeh’s execution; I’ve seen enough stills that I don’t think I can bring myself to watch. Seeing him thrash about while his captors shriek and laugh like spectators at a soccer match isn’t something that I’d like to see.

Adolf Hitler only wanted to conquer the world, these degenerates want to conquer both the world AND heaven, forcibly converting all people to their version of islam or be put to death.In some cases conversion hasn't even saved their victims. By all accounts, the former army ranger Peter Kassig had had his own conversion and returned to the Middle East to assist with the massive influx of refuges brought on by the continued and escalating fighting.

It would seem that fellow Muslims have borne the brunt of their violence. Rape, murder and torture is the order of the day with no one safe from the violence. Case in point is Lieutenant al-Kaseasbeh.

The question of his guilt or innocence of war crimes is moot; it was made irrelevant as soon as he was paraded around in that orange jumpsuit. Did he bomb innocent civilians? We shall never know.  The one thing I do know is that he is no longer in the excruciating pain that ended his life. He is at rest and has been made whole again. His war is over and peace reigns where he is now.

He most certainly is not in hell; he’s already been there.