Last year, when I purchased my iPhone, I braced myself for the 4-hour online tutorial to learn how to navigate the device.  However, just as I was sitting down to begin the tutorial, my 8 year-old son told me not to waste my time.  He could teach me in 20 minutes, he stated boldly.  All he needed was a little time to "play" with the phone.  Sure enough, he proved to be a better and more entertaining teacher than the online tutorial and I fast learned the basics of iPhone use.  He continues to be my iPhone navigator, updating the phone, looking for "cool" apps to add and explaining the phone to me in clear, easy to understand language. Technology has flipped our roles.  It used to be that parents and teachers taught children.  Now, the reverse is true and the quicker we can grasp this concept, the better equipped we will all be to live in the 21st century.  President Obama knows this.  He has retooled government's approach to communication.  Each week, he uploads his weekly address to YouTube, the White House web site invites viewer interaction and he even found a way to hold onto his BlackBerry.  And, the President has enlisted a chief technology officer to rewire the government's whole technology apparatus.      

Schools need to do the same.  Students are fast growing disenchanted with the snail's pace of change going on in classrooms regarding teaching with technology. Thankfully, some teachers have grabbed the mantle and are taking steps to meet students where they are in the online world.  One talented teacher cooked up an entire 20th century China project on Facebook.  Students adopted the personalities of Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong and Chang Kai-shek and created and updated Facebook pages and profiles, replete with photos and wall postings.  In the words of the teacher:  "This project changed the classroom.  Students were so motivated and put far more hours into their research than they would have done with a traditional project."  The best part about this project was the organic way it developed in the hands of a teacher who listens to her students.  As the class brainstormed the beginning stages of the unit, one of the students simply suggested that the class create Facebook pages for the three leaders and be required to chat, post and debate online.  Instead of balking at this potentially outlandish idea, this teacher jumped at the opportunity.  This is exactly the kind of collaborative learning that the 21st century demands, but it does mean surrendering a bit of curricular control to the students.  For many teachers, letting students "run" the show poses a challenge to the traditional "sage on the stage" model, even in the most progressive of teaching environments.  The time has come to turn the reins over to the students. 

Happy Election Day! Don't forget to VOTE!

Keeping with the theme, I would like to highlight a few videos that have been floating around the internet that show young people engaging in the election and using Project NML skills to boot! (shout out to Nick for showing me two of the links!)

Appropriation - the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content.

Students at Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, GA were recently highlighted on CNN for their remix of the hip-hop star TI's song "Whatever You Like." The students' song, "You Can Vote However You Like," appropriates the background track and melody from the original, but changes the lyrics into a debate between the McCain and Obama camps.

Here's the original performance on CNN:



You can watch an interview with the students here.

Last week, Henry, Erin, Kelly, Deb (who is back as a staff researcher), and I had our very first meeting to talk about our new Teachers' Strategy Guide project, which will be all about mapping...A map of the internet circa 2003 showing the connections between different internet routers, from the Opte Project.

Randall Munroe's 2007 map of the internet, from xkcd.

Because the meeting was so interesting and I'm so excited about this project, I thought I'd blog about it. You know how much we NMLers like to keep everyone updated on our projects at every phase. Sometimes watching things unfold is the coolest part!