Thing #15 Reflection Pool

This was the most fascinating "Thing!" I watched the video "A Vision of Students Today, " thought about it for a couple of days, and mulled over some of the many comments about the film. Some bloggers thought it was anti-technology; others thought it was totally pro-technology. The students bemoan the fact that they have inherited problems not of their making, but who among us hasn't? Fact of life; get over it. They buy textbooks they never use, they pay tuition but skip class, they bring laptops to class but use them "off task," and they put in over 26 hours in a 24 hour period. How can they do that? They multi-task. For me, one comment kinda summed it up: are we using technology but teaching in the same traditional manner we used to? From the looks of the video classrooms, the answer is, "Yes."



Another comment, from a librarian, asserts that stimulating curiosity is in the domain of the teacher. So true. Questions lead to other questions. For example, if the traditional educational system in the United States is non-productive, and if we need to incorporate technology and teach according to learning style and encourage interaction with the teacher and with classmates, why are traditional educational systems in some other countries graduating scholars, doctors, engineers, and scientists to a greater degree (no pun intended) than is the United States? Everyone has an idea about this; I would like to hear yours.



I just had to laugh at myself when I read Away from the "Icebergs" by Rick Anderson.That is so me! Not only am I dealing with the "Save the world's clutter" here at home, but I am also suffering from it at work! I need to take Anderson's words to heart; a library is not a museum, and I need not save every book "just in case." My mother, from whom I inherited the clutter gene, has purchased a book to help her eliminate the clutter in her home. She, as did the author's parents, lived through the Great Depression and remembers how her own parents saved everything "just in case they needed it." And, the author continues, guess what? They never did need it.



My retired librarian friend, who shares this character flaw, and I have made a pact to get rid of one thing for every new one brought into the house. We don't have it quite right, though, because I give mine to her, and she gives hers to me! :(