Note to Self:
I said the other day that I don't believe in "interactive toys." I should have said "electronic toys." If it beeps and buzzes and lights up, it's not interactive. It's not engaging. It's simply an amusement device. I don't need Leap Frog to teach Joel how to read. We can use flash cards and environmental text instead. Ahh . . . but interactive? How about that washer box that they turned into a fort? Or those sticks that have switched from swords to magic wands to catapults? Or that book (no, not the flat screen iPad, but the one with pictures and pages where they can flip, not virtually, but physically)? Or the whoopie cushion that Joel is playing with to hear all the different kinds of farts he can make. Who knows? I might be screwing them up with my Luddite bent. Perhaps they need to be Digital Natives, but for now I'm happy with them being native in their own back yard. I want connectivity to be not so much bars on a screen, but a mind engaged to one's surroundings.
Sincerely:
John
Monday, July 26, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
terribly
Note to Self:
You often use the word "terribly" to describe things that are far from terrible. Like the other day at the grocery store when you said to the clerk (I'm not sure why they're called clerks instead of employees aside from perhaps the cool connotation of a slightly indie film), "I'm terribly sorry but do you know where I can find the peanut butter." There was nothing terrible about the apology aside from the fact that you really had nothing to be sorry about. I don't get the sense that he was seriously focussed on the task at hand. After all, he was stocking toilet paper not writing a doctoral thesis.
Sincerely:
John
You often use the word "terribly" to describe things that are far from terrible. Like the other day at the grocery store when you said to the clerk (I'm not sure why they're called clerks instead of employees aside from perhaps the cool connotation of a slightly indie film), "I'm terribly sorry but do you know where I can find the peanut butter." There was nothing terrible about the apology aside from the fact that you really had nothing to be sorry about. I don't get the sense that he was seriously focussed on the task at hand. After all, he was stocking toilet paper not writing a doctoral thesis.
Sincerely:
John
practicing
Note to Self:
Sometimes you get really insecure about your faith. I'm not sure why. You believe in Jesus, but that doesn't mean you wear an acronym bracelet or decorate with lighthouses (because nothing says "I love God" like a large industrial building beckoning ships selling cheap plastic crap from China). Sometimes you ask people if they are a "practicing Christian," as if faith requires a person to do some drills at the gym. It's your identity. It's your world view. A person would never say, "I'm an American, but I'm not really practicing. You know, I basically just barbecue on Memorial Day and blow shit up on the Fourth of July and sometimes I wear a WWJD? bracelet (What Would Jefferson Do?) Beyond that, I don't really practice my American identity."
Sincerely:
John
Sometimes you get really insecure about your faith. I'm not sure why. You believe in Jesus, but that doesn't mean you wear an acronym bracelet or decorate with lighthouses (because nothing says "I love God" like a large industrial building beckoning ships selling cheap plastic crap from China). Sometimes you ask people if they are a "practicing Christian," as if faith requires a person to do some drills at the gym. It's your identity. It's your world view. A person would never say, "I'm an American, but I'm not really practicing. You know, I basically just barbecue on Memorial Day and blow shit up on the Fourth of July and sometimes I wear a WWJD? bracelet (What Would Jefferson Do?) Beyond that, I don't really practice my American identity."
Sincerely:
John
Friday, July 23, 2010
that really sucks
Note to Self:
When you heard that the Taylors' son had cancer, the best response would have been to cry with them. If any words were possible, you could have scrounged around your lexicon and found something better than "that really sucks." I know you didn't say it flippantly and perhaps your body language communicated something deeper. But "that really sucks" is a phrase you say when someone drops a smart phone in the toilet or loses a ticket for an important sporting event. When a kid has cancer, the world shatters and it demands something deeper than words - perhaps sobs or groans or an open ear.
Sincerely:
John
When you heard that the Taylors' son had cancer, the best response would have been to cry with them. If any words were possible, you could have scrounged around your lexicon and found something better than "that really sucks." I know you didn't say it flippantly and perhaps your body language communicated something deeper. But "that really sucks" is a phrase you say when someone drops a smart phone in the toilet or loses a ticket for an important sporting event. When a kid has cancer, the world shatters and it demands something deeper than words - perhaps sobs or groans or an open ear.
Sincerely:
John
Scientific Method
This post was inspired by Jerrid Kruse and his amazing blog
Note to Self:
Science isn't a methodology. It's a process, perhaps, but a messy one. Don't let the men in tight pants and whigs nail you down to their mechanical clockwork universe. Science is the art of observation, ping-ponging back and forth between asking questions and observing data and making conclusions (that are often hypothesis). Sometimes the "experiment" is first or last or middle. If science were a narrative, it would be a postmodern one - like Memento. If Joel and Micah have taught you anything, it's that science doesn't have to happen in a lab. It doesn't always require goggles and lab coats. Sometimes it's about
Sincerely:
John
Note to Self:
Science isn't a methodology. It's a process, perhaps, but a messy one. Don't let the men in tight pants and whigs nail you down to their mechanical clockwork universe. Science is the art of observation, ping-ponging back and forth between asking questions and observing data and making conclusions (that are often hypothesis). Sometimes the "experiment" is first or last or middle. If science were a narrative, it would be a postmodern one - like Memento. If Joel and Micah have taught you anything, it's that science doesn't have to happen in a lab. It doesn't always require goggles and lab coats. Sometimes it's about
Sincerely:
John
Friday, July 16, 2010
you know what I mean?
Note to Self:
People know what you mean. You aren't in a foreign country. You aren't a totally opaque, inarticulate communicator. So, when you constantly ask, "you know what I mean?" or "Does that make sense?" you are either insulting your intelligence or the intelligence of others. I've met your friends. They are not too shy to tell you when you are failing to communicate well. Some of them seem to enjoy telling you that. So maybe you can ditch that phrase and just say what you mean.
Sincerely:
John
People know what you mean. You aren't in a foreign country. You aren't a totally opaque, inarticulate communicator. So, when you constantly ask, "you know what I mean?" or "Does that make sense?" you are either insulting your intelligence or the intelligence of others. I've met your friends. They are not too shy to tell you when you are failing to communicate well. Some of them seem to enjoy telling you that. So maybe you can ditch that phrase and just say what you mean.
Sincerely:
John
Sunday, July 4, 2010
jump-start
Note to Self:
A few times yesterday you mentioned that Arizona needs to "jump-start" the economy. Wrong. The economy crashed. No surprise, really. It was the Yugo of all economies, built on a sprawling suburban housing market. What else do we have? A few call centers. They have those in Dubai, too. When something completely crashes you don't try to jump-start it, you redesign it. You rethink it. You create an entirely different system. What's the answer? It's not your decision. You're not an economist. But you know the answer has nothing to do with a quick jump-start.
Sincerely:
John
A few times yesterday you mentioned that Arizona needs to "jump-start" the economy. Wrong. The economy crashed. No surprise, really. It was the Yugo of all economies, built on a sprawling suburban housing market. What else do we have? A few call centers. They have those in Dubai, too. When something completely crashes you don't try to jump-start it, you redesign it. You rethink it. You create an entirely different system. What's the answer? It's not your decision. You're not an economist. But you know the answer has nothing to do with a quick jump-start.
Sincerely:
John
Friday, July 2, 2010
consequences
Note to Self:
Sometimes you use the word "consequence" to justify the remaining elements of behaviorism within you. I hear you say things like, "A kid who tags in school needs a consequence." Wrong. That kid needs a change of heart. But forcing a child to leave school for a few days won't make a kid quit tagging. You know from experience that when a kid tags and is caught, he or she will almost always volunteer to paint over it. But if you force this act, you rob a child of a chance to practice empathy and face the natural results of an action. So can we start calling "consequences" what they really are: bribery and extortion?
Sincerely:
John
Sometimes you use the word "consequence" to justify the remaining elements of behaviorism within you. I hear you say things like, "A kid who tags in school needs a consequence." Wrong. That kid needs a change of heart. But forcing a child to leave school for a few days won't make a kid quit tagging. You know from experience that when a kid tags and is caught, he or she will almost always volunteer to paint over it. But if you force this act, you rob a child of a chance to practice empathy and face the natural results of an action. So can we start calling "consequences" what they really are: bribery and extortion?
Sincerely:
John
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Literacy
Note to Self:
Aaron Eyler is right. Education is addicted to using literacy for everything that is not literacy. Even when it's used, it often doesn't encompass anything that one would use in true literacy. Is a child technological literate if he can write a blog? Not so much. He doesn't know about the character development of blogging and how it's changing us as people. He doesn't think about the setting of digital interaction. He hasn't thought about the themes of blogging and the larger conflict of man vs. machine. It's a misnomer we would never use in other contexts. Who would ever use attention math? It's trite and annoying. Last year, I heard about empathetic literacy, citizenship literacy, global literacy, awareness literacy, 21st century literacy, digital literacy and technological literacy (how that's different from digital literacy, I'm not sure). Why don't we try focusing on how to make students literacy literate instead?
Sincerely:
John
Aaron Eyler is right. Education is addicted to using literacy for everything that is not literacy. Even when it's used, it often doesn't encompass anything that one would use in true literacy. Is a child technological literate if he can write a blog? Not so much. He doesn't know about the character development of blogging and how it's changing us as people. He doesn't think about the setting of digital interaction. He hasn't thought about the themes of blogging and the larger conflict of man vs. machine. It's a misnomer we would never use in other contexts. Who would ever use attention math? It's trite and annoying. Last year, I heard about empathetic literacy, citizenship literacy, global literacy, awareness literacy, 21st century literacy, digital literacy and technological literacy (how that's different from digital literacy, I'm not sure). Why don't we try focusing on how to make students literacy literate instead?
Sincerely:
John
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