What Girl Volleyball taught Me about EdTech

I am visiting my mother in Israel for a few days. Sitting around the table were some family and friends that came to say hi. My aunt was telling us about her granddaughter who is just over 15 and already 6'2". My first thought was, does she play volleyball? This is what I perceive to be a Nebraska question. After 14 years in Nebraska, I think like a Nebraskan. It is unusual for a girl who is tall not to be involved in sports. Einat, a long time friend, and an athlete, chimed in does she play basketball? The answer was No, she does not do any sport. Instead, she is modeling. My aunt explained that there were no opportunities afforded to her in sports.
Einat, who is a former pro athlete, lamented the status of women's sports at all levels. The opportunities aren't there, and there is very slow change.

I started thinking about what made the situation in Nebraska and the US different. While the status of women in the US is somewhat better than Israel, it is not dramatically different. Israelis love sports. While speaking, I realized that the main difference was schools and extracurriculars. I have to admit that I have an ambivalence towards high school sports. But through this discussion, I realized how the structure of extracurricular activities allows schools to open opportunities across ethnicity, income, and gender lines. The fact that it is a school sanctioned activity allows students who might never find such a home to "try out" new selves. In this case to try out their identity as athletes. This would not happen for many students unless schools offered the activity. In popular culture, I am reminded of the path that Jesminder 'Jess' Kaur Bhamra took in Bend It like Beckham. I am convinced that the road would open to many more girls and minority women when it is a school activity.

So what does that have to do with EdTech? Quite a bit. I hear calls to limit the use of technology in
schools or even not teach with devices. Teach thinking, basics, writing. I believe that much of this argument is coming from a middle-class belief that students will eventually get there. I make this point often about my kids. If their school fails to teach them about digital citizenship, search, or tools, I will show them. The problem is that this approach leaves too many capable students behind. Students who will not find a guide that would help them explore if they are interested in science, programming or gaming. Without schools affording to expose all students to these areas we are reproducing gap and losing some of our most talented future creators. We should teach science, technology, and making to ALL in school right NOW.

Tim Gunn, Premiere League, Grammarly, and Metacognition

Photo from www.lukeford.net
[CC BY-SA 2.5]
via Wikimedia Commons

1. As part of my summer reading, I have been reading Tim Gunn's book The Natty Professor. I have been introduced to Tim Gunn by watching Project Runway, a favorite of my significant other. In one section of the book, Gunn describes listening in on museum visits. He reflects on open-ended questions and being purposeful about presenting ideas and artists. He is essentially calling on teachers to make conscious choices about invoking ideas and creating authentic learning events that focus on things that matter not esoterics like shapes in the picture or dates in history (I am not saying they are not important I am just saying they are not the key ideas).

2. In a recent blog post by Mr Parkinson (in the UK), he suggests bringing the Premiere League into the classroom as a way of creating fun and different learning events. In the short post, he describes how teachers can create a fantasy league in a way that provides learning opportunities in reading and math. It is a way to discuss budgeting, making economic choices, and discussing statistics.

3. Grammarly is my new favorite tool for writing. Since I do a lot of writing a tool that helps correct the small and larger errors is welcome. I have found Grammarly to be incredibly useful (though not perfect) as I write. There are critical voices out there about Grammarly e.g. this post but the my point here is not really about the tool. I fell in love with Grammarly, not because it is an excellent tool to correct your writing (it does help). I fell in love because it gives clear explanations of why it marks what it presumes is less than optimal writing, allowing me to make decisions about what I want to change and what I do not. Further, over time it decreases my errors since I have learned the reasoning behind the correction and avoid common errors.
See more about Grammarly here.

All of these disparate thoughts connect to one central point. The value of using authentic learning experiences is in the kind of metacognition it can produce. Going to the museum is great, but the real benefit comes from the explicit thinking about process and observation that is scaffolded by a knowledgeable and capable teacher. Bringing a sports fantasy league (or a mock stock portfolio) into your classroom can be fun. Again, the real value comes from discussing the decisions people make and the learning from real world results. Without the metacognitive discussion, it becomes a competition for points where learners may be winning but still missing the central point. It is the same using a tool like Grammarly; it pays dividends when you read the explanation and think through writing patterns.

The bottom line is that learning always benefits the learners much more when they understand the why and how of learning leading them to more general understanding and a growing capacity to direct and own their learning.