Are you an educator stuck in the 20th Century?
When Did David Warlick Become a Household Name?
by Mary Jo Barry
As a former educator, and a person working in the technology-in-education industry for a substantial amount of time now, I know almost everything. Yeah, right! The following narrative was written following a discovery in my home with my teenager. It prompted me to pose the question…OMG, is David Warlick a household name?
David Warlick, a Household Name?
For teachers eager to actively participate and be a part of creating new frameworks for teaching in the 21st Century, David Warlick is a beacon in the darkness. For students, to whom David refers to as the 'millennials', he is an advocate and a superstar. So how does that make him a household name? Ask your kids.
I recently asked my 17 year-old daughter if she needed me to help her put together her bibliography for a U.S. History paper she was writing. She said, "No, I'm using Citation Machine." I perked up at the sound of that and watched over her shoulder as she used this tool I had not heard of. I immediately saw the Landmark Project logo at the top of the page so I made her scroll down to the bottom of the page. Yep, there it was: Copyright (c) 2006 by David Warlick. I said, "Hey, I know that guy!" I received a half-smile and bit of an eye-roll, "OK mom." I shoved her out of first position behind the keyboard so that I could present my evidence.
I took her to TeacherTube, too and we watched 'Shift Happens'. She had already seen a variation of it but watched intently. By the time I was finished with her I could tell she was impressed, although she didn't say it.
That interaction with my daughter was the impetus for some deeper contemplation on my part. My thinking took two paths—that of a marketer and that of an educator. David's tools, ie., Rubric Builder and Class Blogmeister among others, are quickly catching on in progressive classrooms around the country. His site boasts Citation Machine, the student tool, which captures 500,000 hits a day. Impressive!
I had a million questions. The first one was directed at my daughter and it was, "Who showed you that tool?"
"I don't remember, someone at school."
"A teacher?"
"No, a kid."
How did this happen??
Most of the cool tools our kids use these days are not advertised anywhere—it's all word-of-mouth, and most frequently from peers. As a marketer, that kind of word-of-mouth is my utopia. As an educator, I have some tension. These millenials are leading their own, quiet, revolution. In a lot of ways, they have taken to teaching themselves. They've found, and even created, their own accommodations and identified the learning styles that best suit them. They are brilliant! So how come so many of these brilliant minds struggle to be successful in school? Could it be because they come to a setting where information is conveyed completely contrary to the way they are accustomed to obtaining it? They are, in many instances, not allowed to use their tools, their native "paper and pencils".
I've since had several conversations with my daughter and her friends regarding David Warlick's ideas and concepts. I've asked them to join me in imagining the possibilities—classroom scenarios that include mobile phones, wikis and live chats with students in foreign lands and far out places. Their eyes light up—they are confident there is a better way, a more relevant way to learn, and they know more students would excel if these learning environments were more accessible.
Are you ready for the revolution?
David and other like-minded leaders are helping educators and students carve out some intersecting paths—Don Johnston does this at the TRLD conference and many other education settings and online venues. These visionaries, along with our students, are teaching us how to maximize the technology vehicles we have and are providing us with practical applications for utilizing information technology. They are calling on us to stretch our thinking and reshape our approaches because the alternative—the 20th century approach—is already proving ineffective. These millennials are begging us to participate in their world, their learning arena. Are you ready for the revolution? David Warlick and Don Johnston are—won't you join us?
About Mary Jo Barry:
Mary Jo Barry has a BA Elementary Education degree and is the Don Johnston Incorporated Marketing Manager. Mary Jo has 7 years of Classroom experience with regular education students and 10 years experience working with Special Education experts and educators during her time at Don Johnston.
