When teachers used to say, “You’ll need this in the real world,” my response was almost always, “then what kind of fantasy land is this?”

Nearly every time it led to laughter.

I learned that my most earnest questions would be laughed at.

Then I learned to be silent.

 We're sitting at a conference trying to differentiate between hipsters and people who enjoy all things vintage.

"Do you think hipsters are into records and typewriters and knitting for the irony?" a woman asks.

"I don't think so.  I think we're at a place where it's all instant.  It's all efficient and now we are waking up for the whiplash of a techno-world and saying, 'Holy crap, what did we miss?'  So, people are drawn to handwriting or knitting or snail mail, because we lost something."

"People are starting to recognize that quality takes time.  Sometimes slower is better," someone comments.

"I've been recognizing that with this whole Living Facebook deal.  Yeah, I can send a message, but a handwritten letter is more powerful.  I can snap a ton of pictures and forget what it means to take the time to really think through the story a picture is telling."

*     *     *

Today I made salsa.  I had to buy the cilantro and the peppers, but the tomatoes and onions were from our back yard.  Here's how I made it:

1. Get two big bowls of tomatoes.  Cut up one bowlful and toss it (literally - it's more fun if tomatoes are flying) into a large pan.  
2. Take the seeds and juice out of the remaining tomatoes and then cut them into small pieces.  Toss the remaining tomato guts in the large plan.  Places the pieces into the two original bowls.  They will now be the spicy and the mild salsa bowls. 
3. Separate out the peppers into three piles: those that will be cooked, those that will go into the mild and those that will go into the hot sauce.  I like to go with ten jalapenos, six poblanos, two habeneros, six green chilis and six seranos.  Sometimes more.  
4. Take the vein and seeds from the peppers in the pile you intend to cook and then toss the veins and seeds into the spicy salsa bowl.  Then chop the peppers that you intend to cook.  (Note: I like to wear gloves for this, because the acid will burn your hands for about a day) 
5. Do the same process above with the peppers for the mild bowl. 
6. Chop up the last pile of peppers and place them in the spicy bowl.
7. Chop up two packs (not sure what term to use for it) of cilantro and add one to the spicy bowl and one to the mild bowl. 
8. Chop up a decent-sized onion and smash up two cloves of garlic and place them in the pan. Add a little olive oil and drizzle on some balsamic vinegar.  
9. Cook the peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes on high.  Let it burn the veggies a bit.  It's a good thing.  It adds flavor to the salsa.  Trust me, it works. 
10. Once the veggies are cooked, add half of the pan to the mild bowl and half to the spicy bowl. 
11. Sprinkle some garlic salt into both bowls. 
12. Squeeze two limes into both bowls. 
13. Use a hand blender to mush up the salsa in both bowls.  
14. Stir both bowls. 
15. You can create a medium bowl by adding some of the other two bowls.    

Or you could buy it at the store.  It won't taste as good and you won't experience the magic of turning your garden into happiness incarnated.  But then again, there's limited time and we have to make decisions about what part of our lives we automate and what part we create.  

The salsa directions I just wrote might be the most practical thing you read in this blog all year and not because it changes your pedagogy, but because, on a quiet desert afternoon I become convinced that good salsa is as important as good teaching.

Crazy.

Today I'm thankful for salsa.  Not so much the dance as much as the sauce. I'm also thankful for the way salsa reminds me to slow down.  Call me crazy, but I think salsa-making makes me a better teacher. Not only that, but I need salsa to remind me what matters.

An operating system used to be device-specific.  However, as we move further toward a completely cloud-based, mobile experience, the definition of an operating system becomes somewhat elusive.  Windows lost in its failure to capture the smart phone, tablet and netbook market. Now the war shifts toward a Google versus Apple dual.

Case in point: Apple recently created iCloud while Google introduced Google Music (which I'm loving, by the way) and the Chrome netbook-laptop-or-whatever-you-want-to-call-it.   Meanwhile the smart phone market has shifted almost entirely toward Android versus the iPhone.

While it might seem like a simple rivalry between two software giants, both companies offer a very different vision for our online multimedia experience. Apple sells content while Google sells advertising. Apple is betting on a model akin to a movie theater experience where consumers will pay more for quality and convenience.  Google is betting on a model akin to cable television where consumers will prefer freedom and value.

Apple wants to customize the hardware and software to be as user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing as possible.  It's why an iPhone on AT&T and Verizon look nearly identical and why that same operating system runs seamlessly with an iPod and an iPad. Apple needs people to buy multimedia products - whether this is a two dollar app, a dollar song, a three dollar ebook or an annual service that allows consumers to house what they buy on multiple devices.

Google wants to offer a customized service that runs quickly.  It's why Android looks different on various phones and why the Chrome OS is entirely different than the Android.  Whether it's a piece of software, an operating system or even the laptop itself, Google needs access to consumer data so that advertisers have access to one's multimedia experience.  This is why ultimately Google might want to buy Pandora as an end-route into getting Google music on all the iCandy.  

What does this mean for education?  

If we, as educators, support a bring-your-own-device approach, to what extent are we allowing these two very distinct business models to shape how out students learn? 

Are we okay allowing iEducation to monopolize our purchases and limit our flexibility in learning tools?  

Are we okay allowing Google to stream endless advertising into our classrooms? 

My grocery store has a sign asking me to follow them on Twitter. What in the world could they possibly tell me? I'm not sure, but here are a few ideas:

TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE DOING:

• Hey, I’m selling food right now. You should come buy some. #hungry #food
• Did I mention that we have food? Thought you should try it. #food #hungry #eat
• Just sitting here full of food.  Just got stocked.  Damn I'm full.  #food

INVITE ME

• Hey guys, I have a ton of food and an endless supply of Celine Dion music. #adultcontemporary #food #party
• Party at my place. Everyone is in line.  No one is line dancing.  #lamestpartyever #party #food

CHAT

• There's a #grocerchat in twelve minutes.
• So apparently all food is ethnic food (even white people food). So do I call it Hispanic, Latino or Latin? #grocerchat
• Really? But Latin just sounds like singing monks? #grocerchat
• RT @Kroger "Wal-Mart is such a selfish blowhard.  I hope he chokes on the vomit from eating up all the little guys." 

APOLOGIZE

• Sorry for the confusion. Supermarkets are for all people, not exclusively superheroes. #apology #food
• I'm sorry for referring to myself as the "anchor store." @kay'sbeautysupplies - U R muy importante to me, girlfriend
• Sorry for referring to @kay'sbeautysupplies as "girlfriend." #crossedalineonthatone

SHARE

• @Safeway - You want a link? We got tons of sausage at our site.  
• @Safeway - Wrong link? :( You want a link to an article?  I've got a whole magazine rack.  #checkoutthatrack #supermaketinnuendo

If you're wondering why I haven't been posting as much here, it's because I've been writing about our Living Facebook Experiment.  If you haven't checked it out, you might want to stop by the blog.  It's been a blast working on a project like this with Christy.

Click to see an enlarged version:

Tonight I helped the kids pick tomatoes and onions in the garden. We had dreams of salsa, but we were soon lost in the present, forgetting why we were there.  I taught them how to find ripe vegetables. They taught me how to find joy in smelling a fresh tomato. The tomatoes are exploding in red. The onions are hiding behind the dwindling death of their of their flowers.  The poblanos are eager to be picked.

Salsa.

A garden dance.

Grace.

I didn’t do anything beyond adding some water. For much of the garden, we didn't even plant the tomato seeds. What came from compost? What came from rotting plant? I haven't the slightest idea.

I need tangible moments like this as a reminder that God is real. No, it’s not that. I believe he’s real. I need moments like this as a tangible reminder that God is good and that what I believe is not crazy. Or maybe I am crazy. Maybe I'm much too spiritually conservative for many of the readers of this blog. But my thoughts are both incredibly empirical and incredibly intuitive when I'm in the garden and quite honestly, in the moment, I'm not the least bit inclined to apologize for being spiritual or for being unorthodox.  I'm just glad.

Blame it on the evening sunlight or the cooling evening temperatures (and by cool, I mean ninety degrees), but it felt magical. It felt like a slice of heaven, hand-delivered when I least expected it.

And here’s the thing: as amazing as the tomatoes and garlic and onion were, the real gift was the joy I saw on my children’s faces.  Brenna clapped her hands when she found a red tomato.  If I didn't know any better, I'd think the whole garden was laughing with her.

Grace.

I didn't earn it.

In a very secular sense, I don't trust leaders who don't get grace. I wonder how many gardens Bill Gates, Arne Duncan or members of the Khan or Kipp or any other academy keep. I wonder if they can tell me where their food comes from. I wonder if they've ever made salsa from their own backyard.  I wonder if they throw around words like "growth" without having the slightest clue as to what that metaphor actually means.

We live in a globalized world.  Due to technological developments, cultural changes, economic changes (and the rise of the transnational corporation) and political upheaval, we now live in a world that is experiencing a distinct weakening of the nation-state.  

This is an era when Google has the power to re-organize global information and where the biggest threat to Iranian theocracy isn't the U.S. so much as it is Diet Coke and MTV.  This is time when most of my "corporate world" friends work on projects with co-workers throughout the globe while I interact on Twitter with teachers from places like New Zealand or Indonesia.  It's a world where BP gets a green card after an oil spill, because nobody truly has the power to regulate them.  So, it's a world that can be both peaceful and tumultuous; and both collaborative and combative. It's a place where we can connect and experience amazing a new level of cross-culture appreciation and yet it's also the force that leads to a loss of local culture in a monolithic society.

Simple concept, really.  My eighth graders can grasp the notion of a globalized society.  I have them wrestle with these ideas in a scenario where they have to redefine Maryvale in light of globalization.  Students have an easy time seeing it locally.  They know people who watched jobs move overseas.  They live in an economic ghost town.  And yet they've also seen the struggles of transnational identity and the embrace of social media.  They get it.  On a deep, visceral level, they get it.  

It's always shocking then to watch the news media miss the role of globalization in the Arab Spring.  When looked at through the lens of democracy and nationalism, Westerners have an easy time seeing it as a sort-of American Revolution 2.0 with Jefferson on Twitter.  What if we have it all wrong?  What if what we see is an alliance of transnational movements (both the democratic groups and the religious extremists) and micro-national movements (sectarian groups claiming nationhood) fighting against the hyper-nationalism of totalitarian regimes?  

Consider Egypt and its micro-nationalism.  While a group like the Muslim Brotherhood might seem like a distinctly national group,  the truth is that they have operated largely as a micro-national group.  For fifty years, they have pushed both a political and cultural structure that exists outside of the Egyptian mainstream.  Similarly, groups like the Coptic Christians have argued for a level of self-governance out of a fear that the electoral process will turn them into an oppressed minority.   We've already seen examples of sectarian violence post-Mubarak.  It wouldn't shock me if we see a further fissure like we've seen in Iraq, where the Kurds essentially define themselves as a separate nation, stuck within what they perceive as the artificial boundaries of Iraq and Turkey. 

On the transnational side, we see the use of social media and the larger democratic movements that helped to spur the revolution.  From its inception, the organizers in Egypt (and for that matter Tunisia) used YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, not only to win the hearts of their own people, but the hearts of the people throughout the world.  Interestingly, they won the battle culturally and socially before they could gain the political support of NATO or the UN.  At the same time, transnational extremists such as Al-Qaeda used the revolution as a chance to recruit for their global cause as well.  

I get it.  I'm not an expert.  I'm an eighth grade social studies teacher.  However, the existence of transnationalism and micro-nationalism are both so glaringly obvious that I would expect the news media to pick up on it.  Okay, so the medium is limited.  Cable news has only, what, twenty-four hours to explain these ideas and even then we have to take breaks for denture cream ads.  

However, I am not seeing these concepts brought up in the print media, either.  It's as if the New York Times has said, let Tommy Friedman take care of globalization.  It's his deal.  Maybe we should buy Anderson Cooper a copy of Jihad vs. McWorld or Globalization and Its Discontents.   Maybe in All Things Considered, NPR could consider talking about the role of globalization (and not simply social media in particular) in the current conflicts within northern Africa and the middle east. 

Christy and I are hanging out with Julia when Joel asks, "Could this grape turn into a raisin?" Joel asks.  I could send him to Google.  I could show him a YouTube clip, perhaps.  However, I want him to see for himself.

"What's your hypothesis?"

"I think it could turn into a raisin," he says.

"Any other possibilities?" Julia asks.

"It could turn moldy."

"What are some of the variables that can affect it?" she asks.

"How hot it is," he says.

"Or how much moisture is in the air," she explains.

We'll see how it turns out.  It's an impromptu science lesson in our backyard.

*     *     *

"Can we build a story?" Micah asks.

"Sure, do you want to start it?" I ask.

"Once upon a time . . . no, let's try a different start.  One day Manny the Monkey was sitting at home . . ."

Impromptu language arts lesson.

*     *     *

"I want to play the 'how do you get to' number game," Joel tells me.

"Can you give me a way to get to fifteen?" I ask.

"You could take five three times," he says.

"Like, five and five and five?" I ask.

"Yes."

"How else?" I ask.

"You could half thirty," he explains.  "Or you could do eight plus eight and seven plus seven and then put them together."

Impromptu math lesson.

*     *     *

"Did you have iPads when you were little?" Micah asks me. 

"No."  

"Did you have Angry Birds?" 

"Nope.  We had Intellivision.  But that was it."  

"Was it like Little House on the Prairie?" he asks.

"No, but it was a time without cell phones and very few computers."  

His eyes light up.  To him, I'm ancient.  It's an impromptu history lesson.

"Dad, I heard that in some places kids don't have food.  Is that true?" Joel cuts in. 

"Yeah, it's true."  

"Then why do we have an iPad?" he asks.  

Impromptu social studies lesson. 

*     *     *

I'm a big fan of public education.  It's why I send my school to a place where an expert in the content and the teaching strategies will give them a structured learning experience.  I believe in authentic learning and I recognize that there is authenticity in structure.  Life isn't always sandboxes and dandelions. 

I'm also a fan of unschooling, which is why their summers are filled with science experiments and verbal math games and story-telling and Legos and magical mud and dragons.  I want my kids to shake off the layers of industrial-strength indoctrination and get mentally messy. 

I'm a big fan of paradox and nuance.  I'm a big fan connections.    It's why I embrace paper and paperless, schooling and unschooling, specific and thematic instruction.  

BEFORE

#1 - Critical Thinking
Description: Students answer critical thinking questions such as, "Are numbers neutral?" or "When are decimals less accurate than fractions?" The goal here is for students to go deeper into thinking conceptually about the math they use.  For additional ELD support, I've found that definitions work well here as well as digital sentence strips to help scaffold the vocabulary.
Grouping: This can work individually or in groups.  One allows for more introspection while the other creates a greater sense of dialogue.
Tech Tools:  blog, form, shared document

#2 - Vocabulary

Description: When introducing new words, I like to have students keep a vocabulary blog, where they can list the vocabulary word, find a picture (either draw one and take a picture of it or find one online), use it in a sentence and then use the labels for synonyms. Later, I have students answer critical thinking questions that require them to use this math language.  Or they can create a short podcast using their vocabulary blog as an additional support.

Grouping:  This can work in pairs or small groups, but the blog should be individual.

Optional Tech Tools: blog   

#3 - Find the Pseudo-Context

Description: This one works best for older grades.  However, it's a great chance to teach students how to construct quality, realistic word problems.  I show them a sample word problem and have students analyze it with questions such as, "Is this realistic?  Would someone do this in real-life?  Is there a better example you could find?" 

Grouping:  This works well in the math blog, but also as a discussion question on a class blog or a small group analysis with a shared document

Optional Tech Tools: blog, shared document, Evernote   

#4 - Create a Metaphor

Description:  Students develop a metaphor for a particular math concept.  For example, they want to think about division, decimal, percent and fractions being a similar process with a different way of displaying it and thus they use the metaphor of someone who is multilingual or someone who uses the same actions in different sports (different rules, different names, same action).  Students then have to explain their metaphor.   

Grouping:  This works well individually or in pairs (if you want the students to compare the metaphors) where you might compile it into one presentation

Optional Tech Tools: blog, shared document, drawing, photo editing, podcast, presentation, comic-style photo editing   

#5 - Prove It

Description: I start with a statement and students have to prove whether it is wrong or right.  It might be something like, "There are no vertical lines on a graph."  It then forces them to think through vocabulary like linear equation and function and prove whether my statement is true or false.  I ask them to prove it visually, orally or in written form.

Grouping:  This can work well individually or in a small group

Optional Tech Tools:  A shared document or wiki, blog, e-mail (to get quick responses), form, photo with annotation (do it by paper and then use an annotation program to add to it), audio/podcast or video    

DURING

#6 - Mental Math

Description: Students answer a simple math question and then follow this up by sharing their process.  The goal here is to get them to think through the process and engage in discourse.  I might show them a bill and ask them to find the tip.  As I walk around, I'll hear, "Why would you divide it by five instead of moving it one decimal over and doubling it?"  

Grouping:  This should start individually and then move to partners or small groups

Optional Tech Tools: podcast / audio recording, photo and description in a blog or on smaller blogs like Posterous or on Evernote   

#7 - Word Problems

Description: Students struggle with word problems.  Sometimes this is a vocabulary issue.  Other times, they can't visualize it.  So I have students use a few strategies.  First, they copy the text to a Google Document and highlight it according to the elements of literature (the conflict, the characters, etc.) or using a word problem analysis process (find critical details, take out extraneous details, etc.)

Grouping:  individual, pairs or small group

Optional Tech Tools: shared document   

#8 - Multimedia Inquiry

Description: I might have students look at Google Maps, a photograph I've taken, a video or a few websites and then ask a math-related question based upon what they see.  It might be a snapshot of a batter with the stats below, a jar full of jelly beans or a list of services and prices for Dish Network and Cox Cable.  The goal here is for students to look at a situation and develop a math problem that interests them and fits their level.

Grouping:  individual and whole class

Optional Tech Tools: blog with response, Posterous, social media (Twitter works well for this one), Evernote   

#9 - Concept Connections

Description: Sometimes students struggle to see how various concepts connect.  One non-techie strategy that works is to get them to physically connect the concepts with yarn and a verbal description.  However, a concept map works really well for this, too, because they can change the colors, use multiple arrows and figure out their own style of organizing the information.  

Grouping:  individual or partners

Optional Tech Tools: concept map    

#10 - Name It, Claim It

Description: The idea here to get students out into their world and finding examples of their current math concepts.  They can shoot video or take pictures and then annotate it, present it or download it. This works well as a challenge, such as, "See how many acute angles you can find at our school," or "Interview five adults who have used fractions in the last month."  

Grouping:  Small group works well for this. 

Optional Tech Tools: Students can use a photo editing program (such as instagram) label it comic-book style or they could annotate it verbally using presentation or podcast software.  They could also shoot a video and edit it with labels.  

ENDING / ASSESSMENT

#11 - Life Connections

Description: Similar to number ten above, I might ask students to write or audio-record a reflection about how they see a particular math concept connect to life.  I don't buy into the theory of math for math  sake.  Nor do I want them reaching to far and getting into pseudo-context.  Students need to see that math is around them.  So, I challenge them with something like, "give me an example of a linear relationship in your world."  

Grouping:  This can work individually or in groups (to get a higher level of discourse) both orally or on a blog

Optional Tech Tools: blog, podcast, shared document, social media (creating a hashtag for it and then seeing the examples)    

#12 - Reflection

Description: Sometimes I ask students to describe a process they used.  Other times, it's simply a description of what they know, don't know and want to know more about. This helps me figure out potential intervention and it helps the students articulate their own strengths and weaknesses.  

Grouping:  I prefer to go individual with this one.

Optional Tech Tools: blog, podcast, video (to actually show the difficult part visually)   

#13 - Student-generated Tutorials

Description: This works best as an enrichment activity.  Students might solve an algorithm and show the steps with a t-chart (hyperlinking the vocabulary).  Or they might show an example and give a verbal tutorial, taking pictures of each step along the way.  Finally, they might show it on the board and video-tape it.   

Grouping:  Small group works well here, because it gets the entire group talking about the process and how to communicate it

Optional Tech Tools: You can use video, audio, presentation or photo editing software here.   

#14 - Self-Assessment

Description: Students take a self-assessment of skills once a week in my class.  This doesn't tell me where students are at (that's what authentic assessments are for) but it lets me know how they feel about their learning.  I then meet three students a day and go over the data and their shared document as we plan future math goals. 

Grouping:  This works well individually. 

Optional Tech Tools: I use Google Forms for this one.   

#15 - Conference Document

Description: The conference document is a shared document that has a chart (with the standard written as a student-friendly objective, the progress, my input, student input and any notes), a list of goals and a written record of our one-one-one conferences. Here's a sample of what a math report card looks like for my students:Math Report Card

Grouping:  Individual with teacher

Optional Tech Tools: shared document   

It's eight o'clock and neither Joel nor Micah will quiet down.  My boys seem more easily governed by the light than by the clock. Though it's irritating, I think they're on to something.  Although I often hear the theme man vs. machine or man vs. nature, I'm seeing again the conflict of machine vs. nature.   And tonight the machine just feels like one large electric loser.

When I read the Bible, I am struck by the often extreme nature of Jesus.  Unlike the Aristotilian notion of a moderate center, I see Jesus as extreme on both ends, walking a constant paradox.  Mercy and Justice.  Clarity and Confusion.  Action and Reflection.  

I write this question earnestly.  Tonight I'm hoping for a dialogue.  Not cynical or sarcastic remarks, either.  Nor am I looking for a theological treatise.  Just a few thoughts on how Jesus would teach.