The Independent Educator's Creed

I believe in following the student. I believe in listening, not lecturing. If you pull 100 teachers, principals and union representatives into a room, no more than ten will want to stand with me. I believe that my ultimate boss is the parent, the person who can remove a student from my school, and the taxpayer (not the principal, not the school board); I believe my responsibility is less to do with the contents of a textbook and more to do with what's in the student's heart; I believe that there is great value in social media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Orkut) and the use of email in teaching randomly. Electronic books are generally more flexible than textbooks -- and the money saved by using materials in the public domain can be shifted to other learning opportunities.

The topic today is the responsible use of online communities like Facebook. I have accounts on hyves.net, orkut, cyworld.com, sonico, tuenti, LinkedIn, Xing and others, but the richest way to interact is inside Facebook. I spend time in this community because research shows that students listen more closely to peers and near-peers than to adults. Since I'm over 50 and I have information that I'd like to convey in an edu-taining way, I find students who are in their 20s to help me share information with my teen-aged students in the US.

Let me give you an example of how I "troll" for interesting mentors in other countries (by using Facebook) for my U.S. high school students:

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hi from steve in florida. I teach math to teenagers and I hope that I can introduce them to you. Your comment about a math problem made me think, "That is clever fellow." I hope that many US people can reduce their worries by learning from people in other countries. Can my students send questions to you? my email address is freeenglishlessons@gmail.com what is your email address?

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What have I done with this message? I signal to the recipient that (1) I am not the stereotypical U.S. xenophobe, (2) I am a teacher who believes he can learn from others, (3) I am hip, because I use lowercase for much of the message, (4) I am ready to communicate efficiently (by providing my email address instead of waiting for a reply through Facebook) and (5) I value the opinions of people on Facebook.

How do I check the "goodness" of the person on the social media? If I found the person on a chatroom or interest group, I look at the person's comments to others. Does the person treat others in a respectful way? I visit the person's profile to see if the person receives thoughtful messages from other people (this feature is available in orkut, since you can view messages that others have posted).

In short, I put the target (a potential mentor) through a number of tests before I introduce him to my students. If my students are below the age of 18, I filter the first communications through my email account, checking that the students send appropriate questions and that the online mentor responds politely and appropriately.

For educators who are fixed on the idea of teaching through a curriculum and a textbook, you might find it helpful to read an article about "concrete/abstract, random/sequential" (use those search terms at floatingneutrinos.com). The learning styles described by Dr. Gregorc helped me see that learning takes place on social media sites and that I can surprise students by making course material more "relevant" when it is filtered through Facebook.

For more ideas about how to use the Internet in an edu-taining way, go to FreeEnglishLessons.com and scroll down to "Articles to Improve Our Teaching." I become a better teacher by listening to parents and students, so send me your comments.

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BIO at the bottom of the article

The Independent Educator is a teacher at a language school in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He tutors online (Skype: SteveEnglishTeacher) and gives seminars to teenagers about how to build a digital portfolio to get accepted into a great university. SteveMcCrea.com is his portal to his blogs about education and other websites. You can reach him at VisualAndActive@gmail.com (954-646-8246).

Steve McCrea Online SAT Tutor $20/hr

201 ebooks on one CD (free), I evaluate home

schools, VisualAndActive.com

Skype: SteveEnglishTeacher +1 954.646.8246

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The Independent Educator's Creed

I believe in following the student. I believe in listening, not lecturing. I believe that my ultimate boss is the parent (the person who can remove a student from my school) and the taxpayer (not the principal, not the school board). I believe my responsibility is less to do with the contents of a textbook and more to do with what's in the student's heart. I believe that there is great value in social media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Orkut) and the use of email in teaching randomly.

I believe that spelling tests celebrate a skill that can be found in spellcheckers, and we should give more time and accolades to students who create something new or who memorize facts and connections related to geography, geology and the sciences, especially if they connect and document their studies to their passions. We should focus on projects, not the contents of textbooks. Passing a written test does not always demonstrate mastery; failing a written test does not always indicate a lack of mastery.

I believe in narratives, portfolios and alternative forms of assessment (exhibitions and stand-ups). I believe that schools should have walls of quotations to fill blank walls and many of those quotes could come from the Pink Team: Hetland, Postman, Steiner, Montessori, Dan Pink (danpink.com), Thomas Friedman, John Corlette (JohnCorlette.com), Dennis Littky (BigPicture.org), Dennis Yuzenas (WhatDoYaKnow.com), Gardner, Thomas Hoerr (newcityschool.org) and others found on VisualAndActive.com.

I believe that Rocks for Jocks, Physics for Poets and Literature for Rocket Scientists are courses that will be more valuable to most students because these courses are integrated and show connections that many students find fascinating. James Burke, the presenter and creator of the TV show Connections, ought to be my advisor in charge of curricula. A copy of Littky's book could be on the doorstep of every parent of a tweenager, with extracts fed to Twitter or Facebook walls from the time the parent has a two-year-old.

I believe more voters and politicians should read Abe Fischler's blog, The Student is the Class; more people would enjoy history if they started with Dennis Yuzenas' site (WhatDoYaKnow.com) and listened to the lectures of Timothy C. F. Stunt. More students will learn from youtube.com/freeenglishlessons and MentorsOnVideo.org than from lectures and textbooks.

I recruit mentors as teachers and I arrange Learning Through Internships. I don't want to be a lecturer or teacher, but rather an advisor and facilitator. I seek opportunities to "transfer responsibility for learning to our students gradually" (Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey).

I recommend this article:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Releasing_Responsibility.aspx

Releasing Responsibility

by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey

"We must transfer responsibility for learning to our students gradually—and offer support at every step."

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXJG4vvoPwk In case you want to see a video on Youtube about alternatives to gasoline...

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I invite you to visit IndependentEducator.com and to find venues for these observations. Yes, you, the reader, know some magazine or newsletter where this column could appear once a month. Become an agent of change and send a short message: (1+ 954) 646.8246 or VisualAndActive@gmail.com

Steve McCrea SteveMcCrea.com

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