Responsive Classroom’s blog has featured a number of posts on bullying recently. The newest one, and the one that I have now reread several times, is focused on whose job it is to stop bullying. It starts by discussing how we often ask children to stand up to the person bullying them. The author, Caltha Crowe, then goes on to explain the problem with this:

The problem with this line of thinking is that it’s unfair and unrealistic to expect children who are being bullied to address the situation on their own. When all the children involved have equal social power, it makes sense to teach them how to resolve conflicts among themselves, but in situations where there’s an imbalance of power, it does not. 

As a teacher I am often so focused on my students’ academic growth that I do not pay enough attention to these sort of issues and concerns. It is something I need to be more aware of and careful about.

However, this bit also struck me as an adult. I know of a number of teachers who have felt bullied in recent months and this paragraph struck me. The imbalance of power is a significant issue and one that is difficult to overcome. Reading this did not give me any answers, but it did give me a new perspective on the issue.

One of the recent assignments in ds106 was to work with a group to create an hour long show for ds106 radio. This was due shortly after we returned from ISTE12 so I was a bit concerned about getting it done. However, two and a half hours one evening and I had created my five minute segment (is that ratio normal?!?). My group chose to create a show called A Tourist’s World. When thinking about being a tourist my mind immediately went to Istanbul, Turkey. (Our show aired tonight. I’ll share a link when it’s available on archives somewhere. There were some fabulous stories there.)

freesound.org was a huge help on this assignment. I began my piece with some soft waves of the Bosphorus River. As my visit to Istanbul was on the cruise ship when I worked on it, I wanted a ship’s horn. Thinking of Istanbul made me think about the song, Istanbul, Not Constantinople which seemed like a fun bit to include here. When I think back to my (brief) time in Istanbul I think of the busy streets, crowded marketplaces, the call to prayer, and the prayers in the mosques. I decided to close with a bit about Turkish baths and the soothing sounds of the Bosphorus again.

I learned about layering the audio tracks, keeping one quiet at times. I didn’t get it totally right, but I am learning. It was fun to plan the segment and to search for just the sounds I wanted.

We also had to create a radio bumper to promote our show.

For this I wanted to create something that immediately suggested travel. I began with the sound of an airplane taking off. Then I snagged the dong sound that happens when an announcement is made on an airplane. I followed that with a bit of the announcements about moving about the cabin and finished up with a bit of the announcement about remaining seated upon landing.

Again, fun to plan and fun to search out the sounds.

I’ve got a few things, post-ISTE, I feel a need to respond to. None of these have to do with the conference, they are all in response to others’ responses to the conference. Sheesh, that’s a bit absurd when I type it.

ISTE always brings out strong feelings from people about technology and its use in the classroom. I get that. Most of the time I enjoy all the debate and discussions about tools vs. pedagogy and how to marry the two successfully. Most of the time I enjoy the thoughts about the value of teaching without technology as well.

However, lately I find myself getting irritated by what feels like superiority and smugness when people write about the negative side of technology and the sheer beauty of life without it. These are people I respect and people who use technology well. It seems like a need to prove something or show they are better than those singing the praises of technology. I don’t think technology is a panacea. I don’t think it should dominate our lives. I think a healthy balance is important. I don’t think life without technology is superior to life with it.

During ISTE I was lucky enough to spend some time chatting with Gary Stager. He’s an educator who pushes my thinking. I don’t always agree with him, but I think he prefers it that way. He wrote about his frustration with cliches, especially ones about how much teachers can learn from their students.

The motivation behind uttering such banalities is likely positive. It acknowledges that children are competent and encourages adults to learn with them.

However, these clichés suggest a power relationship in which all adults (particularly teachers) are resigned to the role of bumbling TV dad while the kids rule the roost. In education, this often serves as a justification for why teachers irrationally fear computers and modernity or appear to have stopped learning.

Here I agree with Gary about 95%. The only place I feel a need to nitpick is that I think children often have a wisdom born from their youth and inexperience from which we adults can learn. They are not yet jaded and cynical in the same ways as adults and, as a result, see things we don’t. When I think of all I have to learn from my first graders, I am thinking of seeing the world from their perspective and learning from that.

Gary also shares a short video clip of Branford Marsalis. I have several of his CDs in my classroom in frequent rotation throughout the day. He is a phenomenal musician. In the clip (worth watching just as Gary’s post is worth reading) Marsalis talks about his students wanting to be told how fabulous they are without putting in the necessary effort.

How do we get kids to put in the effort if they don’t feel some success with it? They need encouragement but they also need to be held to high standards.

Of course, isn’t that true for all of us?