Backwards Is Better

Mutemath is one of my favorite bands. These guys are quirky showmen, but they have a ton of heart behind their music. The videos they have released for some of their songs illustrate their odd sense of humor. I think this video for their song "Typical" (released back in 2007) might be the best example I can provide. It's worth the four minutes to watch:

A Technology Sabbath

I.

I was camping with my family this weekend. Actually, with quite a few of my wife's relatives. Which is great, really. (My in-laws are pretty fantastic.)

By design, I left my iPad and laptop at home.

This was, I confess, a challenge for me.

Misconceptions: A Jumping-Off Point for Understanding

I taught middle school science for quite a few years, and I've been teaching a science methods course for half a dozen. It's definitely true that students hold a great many misconceptions. And, frankly, it's often their teachers' fault that they develop these misconceptions. (Pointing the finger at myself here. Guilty as charged...)

The good news: misconceptions can be a great jumping off point for developing understanding! The bad news: it's fiendishly difficult to change people's minds once they have learned something wrong.

An example: Heavy things do not fall faster than light things.

Education Is About Learning

Sir Ken Robinson is brilliant. I love the way he explains things--he's hilariously deadpan, but he gets you thinking about very important things. The TED Talk below is a great example. It's full of great ideas, challenging ideas. But at the heart of his message, there is a very simple truth:

Education is about learning.

If there is no learning going on, there is no education going on.

People can spend an awful lot of time discussing education without ever discussing learning.

I highly encourage you to watch the whole talk, especially if you are a teacher, or if you have kids who are currently in school. Imagine what education would be like if schools would put the ideas he's dreaming up here into practice!

This is What School Should be Like!

I'm teaching a couple of courses for a summer camp this week. Every summer, the college where I teach hosts a camp for middle schoolers. Great experience for the campers: they get a sort-of feeling for college life (staying in the dorms, eating in the dining hall, etc.) and it's a great social opportunity as well. And, hopefully, they learn something too.

I teach a course called "Geek Squad." The kids sign up for the courses they are most interested in before coming to camp, so the dozen or so I had in this course are self-identifying as "geeks," which is interesting in and of itself. Yes, we played with computers. Yes, we did some science and engineering. Yes...we talked about comic books and sci-fi movies and argued whether Star Trek is actually superior to Star Wars. (C'mon...that's not even an argument! Wait...showing my geeky hand here...) In it's essence, though, the course is about exploring, and trying stuff, and collaborating, and celebrating successes. We built all sorts of contraptions: paper gliders, tiny straw rockets, marshmallow shooters, desktop catapults, junk robots with tiny motors to make the buzz across the floor, marble runs, and we captured video of the whole thing to edit and share online.

Resistance is Futile

The forward march of technology is relentless. When I think of educational technology, it sort of reminds me of the Borg from Star Trek: "Resistance is futile...you will be assimilated..."

Image from Wikipedia

7th Grade Police Officer

I ran into a former student last night. He was in my 7th grade homeroom 12 years ago. Sharp kid: smart, hard-working, great sense of humor; he was the sort of student that makes teaching a joy. I was leaving the grocery store and he was on his way in...wearing his uniform.

He's now a 25-year-old, and serves as a police officer here in town.

He smiled as soon as he saw me: "Hi, Mr. Mulder!" with a wave.

I said my hello in return, and got into my van with my peanut butter and aluminum foil and potato chips and memories of this former student.

And this realization: he still calls me "Mr. Mulder."

I haven't been his teacher for more than a decade, but I'm still "Mr. Mulder" to him.

That was a bit of an eye-opening experience for me. I wonder what would happen sometime if I rolled through a stop sign, and he happened to pull me over? Clearly, he would have authority in that place, and I would surely get the ticket I deserved.

But this was a good reminder for me of the Office of the Teacher. Teachers have a high calling; we have a tremendous impact--for good or ill--on the lives of the students we encounter each year, each day, each class period. And for distinctively Christian teachers, this takes on an even deeper role, perhaps: are we being Christ to our students? Maybe this is why James admonishes the church: "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." (James 3:1)

Teachers, remember your Office!