In this day and age, I can’t believe I find myself posing this
question. Where do I get my
information? Online, of
course! Google it, right?
I can’t remember the last time I picked up a reference book to search
for anything. As I pack to move to
South Carolina, I find myself donating dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases,
reference books, and almanacs to the Salvation Army, doubtful that I will have
any use for any of them, unless of course the Internet goes down. In that case, the world would have to
shut down anyway. (Have you seen
that South Park episode?)
So
why this post? As I was walking
through my school library today, I observed my Media Specialist teaching a
lesson on using print resources materials, posing questions such as, “Which
reference book would you look in to find the population of the United States?”
Really? Do you mean the population
in 2011 (or even earlier when the book was published), or the real time population
today? If I had a question about population, it would be much more interesting like looking at
demographic trends over time in cities, regions or counties in my state or country. Can you enter these types of variables into
your reference book and then resort the data? Don’t get me wrong.
I love books. I’m old. But come on. Why are we teaching kids to access static print resources
when the world is at their fingertips?
And therein lies the rub and one of the reasons I am looking to lead in a less
static environment. Parents are entrusting me to
take care of their children's education when they are away from them. They don't need their parent's education, most of which is, or soon will be, obsolete. The world is dynamic.
Too many of my colleagues and our schools are not.
I want to be able to live and work and explore in the here and now (and the
future). If something needs to
change because it doesn’t make sense, I want to be able to do it, without focus
groups, curriculum review committees, pilots, let’s wait until next
year, and that’s not how we have always done it. I wish I had made this
big move earlier in my career. But
then again, maybe I would not have appreciated it as much as I do today?
Make a difference, especially if you are mired in one of the those thousands of bureaucracies across the country known as school systems. Create change. If not you, who?
In my mind I’m going to Carolina….
