Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

"I'm really good at multitasking."
No. No you are not.

I am convinced the "ban cell phones in school" efforts are the right thing to do, but returning to "telling and testing" is not.

At the start of the school year, I am reminded that the "it's in the syllabus" folks are the same folks who call IT/ administrative assistants/ others rather than looking it up on their own.

It seems the primary lesson taught in leaders school is "deny all failures."

In my observations of narcissists (largely school leaders), I know thye will turn on each other eventualy, and it is delightful to watch.

One thing I learned during 35 years in education: If students feel they have no control, they will take it, and make adults miserable.

When offered a microphone, use it.

There is no assurance that a lesson in which the educators intends to teach (for example) how to solve quadratic equations will actually result in students being able to solve them, recognize them in their contexts, and be able to solve them on other contexts.

There is no way to be sure “the standards” actually reflect the skills and knowledge one needs to be successful.

Brains are embodied. Why do we think we can make the artificially in silicon?

“Single facts almost never slay worldviews, at least not right away.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

Humans use technology to see, hear, remember, and do things we can't otherwise.

I used to respond to the "what if you don't have a calculator?" folks with "make an estimate until you do get a calculator." Now I can just say, "use your phone."

I work in educational technology. I spend many hours listening to folks complain about the existing technology and explaining why the replacement is worse than what they have now.

"Banning technology" rarely works.

It isn't unfairness that leads me to ignore your wacky idea, it is the fact that you are unreasonable.

"Most predictions are wrong, so we should ignore them all" seems bad advice. Maybe we evaluate them, question the assumptions, check the reasoning, and validate the data rather than ignoring.

Improve instruction by improving the efficiency of information delivery misses the point.

Throughout the industrial age and into the information age, most of the knowledge and skills necessary to be literate and numerate were relatively known and stable. That has changed in the last generation.

Students often learn something much different from what teachers intend.