This book chronicles the trials and tribulations of a young forward-thinking teacher by the name of Tom Johnson. It is set in the 1890's when pencils were being used in the work-place, but not in schools. Tom's goal was for every student to have a pencil and use it in a meaningful way because, at that time, pencils were the way of the future. Tom's older and pencil-immigrant colleagues were not fond of his teaching style at first, but they eventually warmed up to this new form of education.
John T. Spencer uses the pencil as a metaphor for the computer. Re-read the above paragraph. Change the date to 2012 and every time you see the word pencil, substitute it for computer. The book is really about integrating technology in the classroom. It has nothing to do with the transition from slate to pencil and everything to do with education moving from pencils and factory settings to computers and more meaningful learning. The point of the book is to highlight how education is always going to change and every change is going to be met with resistance. Although these changes can bring about problems, the pros immensely out weigh the cons.
I found this book funny, interesting and motivational. I liked the way Spencer took a step back and wrote about technology 100 years ago. By doing this, he was able to comically communicate his thoughts to the reader without sounding like he was lecturing them on what was best for the classroom. Additionally, by using the pencil/computer metaphor, Spencer calls attention to the fact that schools have transitioned multiple times. From one room school houses to larger schools as well as from slates to pencils and education has not come crumbling down because of these changes. Soon, schools will make the transition from pencils to computers and books to e-readers and again, education will not collapse. In approximately 100 years, education will change from computers to ________. And when this huge change comes, there will be resistance but hopefully some leaders will look back on the change from pencils to computers and say, "you know, that change was a no-brainer and this is too."
I would recommend this book to any educator, no matter what age or subject they teach. This book drives home the fact that as teachers, we must constantly change our teaching style to make our class relevant. Technology is the way of the future so jump on board. I am going to leave you with a few of my favorite excerpts from the book. Hope you enjoy.
"The district office classroom visitors...take notes on whether I use my SmartChart or how many students have pencils and whether or not they keep the pencils well sharpened. I want to scream at them, 'It's not the chart that makes them smart! It's not the pencils even! Yes, I love pencils, but it's their minds. Stop for a minute and observe. Really observe. Set your papers down and listen to the conversation. It's beautiful, folks. Ad you can't see it, because you suffer from the same technophilia tunnel vision that I slip into when I'm not careful.'" page 38-39
"'Welcome to the edu-factory,' he responds. 'It's a model forged by factory reform. We're running a faster society where some day a family of five will have to earn two incomes to fill their homes up with cheap plastic crap make by kids like you,' he says" page 52
"Yet, as long as we limit the thinking to simply 'pass the test,' we miss out on the power of the human mind" page 80
No comments:
Post a Comment