Every time I walk into a library I think to myself, “Self, you don’t come to the library enough.” Such was the case yesterday when I went into my local branch of the LAPL.

Walking in for the first time in a while, I was so struck that I had to conscientiously try to step back and see the forest for the trees. Oh, how our country takes for granted all of the amazing-ness being offered by our public libraries FREE of charge.

There are book clubs. There are community awareness events. There are computers, periodicals, movies, exhibits, well-informed people, and on and on. Oh yeah, there are books, books, books, too.

Want a free workshop oh how to better manage your money? The library offers it. Want to see a short film fest of movies made by local teenagers? The library offers it. Want to learn how to read so you can actually take better advantage of all the goodies the library so generously gives out? The library offers it.

Do the bozos who want to cut funding from our public libraries realize the national treasure being pillaged by their short-sightedness?

I only checked out 5 books yesterday. Yes, I said “only”. Why? Because I wanted to force myself to need to go back. Just walking into a library makes me feel like I’ve done something good for myself. And as crowded as my branch was, well… it’s not like these are empty buildings the public isn’t using.

Libraries = good stuff. Keep on keepin’ on y’all.

There’s a part of me that feels as if the discussion I raised the other day about how using technology in way that simply adds up to “digitalizing worksheets” devolved to a place where I feel I wasn’t quite paying heed to the idea that I really do recognize the potential — if not obvious — merits of technology. I have seen Smartboards, airliners, wikis, webquests, nings and the such used in a manner that absolutely legitimizes the credibility of the argument for 21rst century skills in the classroom… and I am a fan.

I’m sold!

However, everything I’ve seen that I greatly admire has a foundation in real human thought and deep student thinking.

Technology allows students to probe deeper and wider with more expediency and more efficiency (to name but a few of the benefits). Wielded properly, the case for utilizing 21rst century technology tools is virtually inarguable. The stuff rocks.

However… well, the however category might be the biggest technology hurdle out there — and the one that so few are addressing by name. Bigger than the expenditure, the PD needed, the retrofitting of all our current institutions and the investment we are going to need to make on a zillion other fronts is the “However category”.

The “However” category relates to fundamentally asking ourselves, “What is the goal of classroom education?” If technology is not meta-cognitively implemented with an eye on reflectively asking ourselves “what is the learning goal that this tool better empowers me to achieve” then we will quickly find ourselves losing the forest for the trees.

After all, if we do not ask the right questions there is a very low likelihood that we are going to stumble into the right answers.

I know the past few years of NCLB has seen an almost manic mandate to have teachers — especially new teachers — put the day’s “academic objective on the board at the front of the room”. (As if learning is a widget to be easily stamped; today we will be persuasive argument writers, tomorrow precise gerund users, Thursday will see us read Langston Hughes for subtext and Friday will see us master split infinitives. Oh, the buffoonery.)

However, with technology, having a clear, well thought-out student learning objective really is the compass by which one can navigate the use of technology. Now, I don’t want to double dip and plagiarize from myself (can one even be guilty of this?) because I talk address this issue in depth in my Scholastic book Teaching Teens and Reaping Results in Wi-Fi, Hip-Hop, Where Has All the Sanity Gone World, yet, the fact is, when you bring project-based learning into the classroom, you need to know what intellectual goal you are pursuing before you even begin — and you better tenaciously pursue that clear and focused aim because all the bells and whistles available in tech today are like a Siren Temptress of the Sea which can easily lead a teachers onto the calamitous rocks of classroom lesson implosion.

Tech needs a litmus test to justify its incorporation into a classroom. Know your objective and then, think like Einstein who often said, “Simplify, simplify simplify.”

If the tech shoe doesn’t fit, why force it?

Midterm exams. The school year is halfway over. So much I still want to do yet still, so much that I know will not get done.

So far we have read 6 novels — I am a bit behind my typical pace. Usually, I like to tackle 14 books a year but we’ve been doing more intense Project Based Learning, 21rst century, collaborative, high level projects than ever before in my class and the learning curve for both myself and my students has been steep.

However, being that it’s always good to reflect and see where you are as a teacher at times like these (because it’s easy to lose the forest for the trees in the day-to-day barrage that teaching can be), I’d have to say I am quite happy with the way the year has gone thus far. Plus, as far as tackling the standards, they are coming more quickly than ever as a result of all the PBL. Truly, my kids are just drinking the knowledge down. My best guess is that since they are being forced to apply their learning in a tangible manner, they are commensurately being forced to learn more — and learn about these things more deeply and quickly — than most of them have ever been challenged to do.

And what have I found? That my kids have stepped up. I mean I have scores of kids who had never done any sort of projects in the world of digital literacy who are now virtual maestros on computers. Really, kids are just sponges and if you give them an opportunity they will reveal talents which many other educators who do not challenge their kids in this way never get to see.

American education is changing. I see it. And that’s a good thing. And while people moan about how complicated changing our schools can be, how difficult the challenges are and blah, blah, blah, what it really boils down to is a simple willingness to adapt. For educators who are open to learning, open to growing, open to realizing that they don’t always have to be the “holder of all wisdom” in the classroom, the world of schooling is a spectacular oyster: fun, surprising, innovative, challenging and supremely beneficial to the kids.

It’s a new world out there and any teacher who is still doing things they way that they did them even as recently as 5 years ago needs to, in my opinion, think about freshening up their approach and reflecting on the types of skills which have become more valuable for the next generation of learner. Spelling used to be so important. Nowadays, I think spelling is unquestionably trumped by the need for kids to be able to discern fact from opinion. (We have Spell Check — how long before google or Microsoft comes up with Fact Check and, with a click of a mouse, will highlight all the bullshit on the internet posing as credible information? Now that’s an invention society can really use!!)

Of course I’ve stumbled thus far this year as well. It’s inevitable. But I’ve also expanded my practice and tried new things which are steeped in educational value for 21rst century students. For this, I feel good.

However, being that I am pausing to reflect I realize, I do need to step it up. More reading. More reading. More reading. Considering that I have a chest full of tools at my disposal to elevate their reading comprehension as well as their academic performance — not to mention their writing skills — I need to step on the gas to make sure I get through a bunch more of it. The first half of the year has vanished in a blink of an eye and the second half will, I am sure, do the same.

Watch out kids! If you thought we were moving at a demanding pace first semester, it’s time for Mr. Alan to step on the gas!