Technological Fluency

Pat Bassett, the President of the National Association of Independent Schools recently wrote about the need for students to master three fluencies in order to communicate effectively in the 21^st Century.[1]  These are fluency with technology, writing and speaking.

Today I want to focus on Technological Fluency.  

I regularly see students with powerful smart phones in their hands.  Talk about connected!  Phone, email, texts, Facebook and Twitter, plus the ability to touch any hyperlink or look up any topic or word, at the dinner table!  (I don’t recommend excessive phone use during meals.  As my wife Pru reminds me, it’s important to be present with your dinner companions.) The powerful upside of fingertip access to Internet access at any time is that you no longer need to argue incessantly about things no one present can prove without an outside resource.  Simply look up the answer!

So, if our kids are already digital natives, where does school come in?  Well, in the digital world it is possible to leave a “long tail” of compromising posts, tweets, photos, etc.  Some kids seem determined to do this, because – well - they are kids.  Sadly so do adults, and Pat cites former Congressman Weiner as an example.  Developing and tending your digital footprint is a necessity in this world.  It is your calling card.  Similarly, almost all knowledge and information, or close to it, is now available online.  Yet there are false sources out there.   Good critical skills thinking for finding it and discerning its accuracy and weight are priceless.

The online world will test our student’s character, critical thinking, and creativity, as much or more as the part of the world they inhabit off-line.  I’ll come back to Pat’s thinking about writing and speaking in future blogs, but students today will get hired for jobs tomorrow based on their digital portfolios.  This may include Power Point presentations, short, or long, videos, Prezis, and so on.  (Look up Prezi on your smart phone if you’ve never made or seen one!)  You could also ask T. Joseph to share an 8^th Grader’s Power Point portfolio project with you if you want to see what the beginnings of a digital portfolio can look like.

While Friends School will continue to focus incessantly on developing student strength in written and verbal communication we are also increasing our focus on technological fluency.  That’s why next year we will have in place a 1:1 iPad program for all Middle School students and teachers.  Each student will have an iPad available throughout the day to use in a myriad of ways across the curriculum.  This way our work with students in this important realm will mirror their experiences in real life, and we can work to offer appropriate experiences for each of them to learn how to tend to their own digital footprint, shape their own digital portfolio, and gather accurate information at the touch of their fingers on the screen of a handheld device.  I’ll report more on what this will look like later this spring.

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[1] Bassett, Patrick F., Bassett Blog – On Communication, Feb. 7, 2012, updated, Feb. 9, 2012, http://www.nais.org/about/article.cfm?ItemNumber=156192&sn.ItemNumber=4181&tn.ItemNumber=147271

"Physical" Education

At Friends School educating the whole child means creating a strong program for development of the mind, spirit and body.   Last week I missed the boat.  I got a "0" in Phys. Ed. because I forgot my sneakers and shorts so I could not play basketball with teachers and parents against the Middle School boys' and girls' basketball teams.  I missed out on the fun. This annual ritual is the capstone to our MS basketball season.  The kids, teachers, and Jessica Coleman still had a great time.  


On Saturday, we held our previously annual 3–on–3 Basketball Tournament.   We had teams from some of our youngest students, through Middle School, plus young alumni and adults!  I hope were able to see the action if you didn't get to play yourself.  I mean, what’s not to like? A chance to play basketball with young people!

It seems easy to list the reasons we include inter-scholastic competitive sports as part of our program.  Kids learn to practice teamwork, persistence, drive, humility and leadership, just to name a few things.  They learn lifelong skills, like doing your best and winning and losing with equal grace.  This becomes real, however, when you watch the tenacious defense of the girls' basketball team.  They trigger a LOT of jump balls just contesting disputed possessions.  Size is irrelevant.  Even the physically smallest members of the team have learned to contest and play large.  And throughout the game, as toughly contested as it may be, they cheer their teammates and consistently show respect to their opponents.

We are also working on fun ways to build teamwork, collaboration and empathy that are less competitive.  T. Shaner has done a lot of research during the last year on “Adventure Learning.”  Think physical group and individual challenges on a low “ropes” or “challenge” course in the school’s wooded lot behind the houses across from the main campus on High Street.  The school has already invested in the first three elements and the 8th Grade students spent a big part of their February Service Day clearing the ground for the course and a path to the course.  Here teams of students will face seemingly insurmountable challenges, which, when tackled together creatively, are simply fun obstacles!  This year the “Paddle Raise” at the Spring Auction will fund additional elements for the course, to be ready for the fall.

So, get outside with your students and children.  Run, jump, play games.  You’ve probably noticed, but may have forgotten, that the word “recreation,” when broken down, contains within it “re-creation.”  Make yourself new again.  Help your child learn how to make themselves “new” again too.    Get out, use your body, play a game and have fun!