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What not to do at ISTE

In just a few days, the largest EdTech conference in the country (or is it the world?) will be taking place.  I’m not sure exactly how many I’ve been to, but I think I’m approaching my 10th ISTE.  While I know there are many that can say that they’ve got double my experience, I believe I have enough notches on my belt to make a few suggestions.  Where in the past I might have been prone to recommend things to do for newbies, I think I’d like to go a different route here.

I hate to admit this, but I’ve seen some people really make some awful decisions at ISTE.  Between mob mentality, one ups-manship, and conference over-saturation, I’ve seen some really despicable stuff happen.  This is an absolutely fantastic event, with thousands of passionate educators attending.  Here’s some suggestions for not making a mess of it.

1) Don’t be a XXXXXXXX.  There’s a few select words that I’ve chosen not to use on this blog that I think you can use to complete that sentence.  I’m all for criticism.  I think it makes people stronger and I’ve often disparaged the fact that so many people are ‘too nice.’  But that said, there’s a difference between civil discourse and just being a XXXXXXXX.  It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there and speak at ISTE.  I’ve only seen a few people really blow off the privilege, most pour their heart and soul into it.  If you disagree, that’s fine, but there’s a line between criticizing someone and delving back into middle school bullying tactics.  Be a critic, be a strong critic, but at least be respectful.

2) Don’t grow roots. One of my favorite places is the Bloggers Cafe.  And there’s a definite appeal of just hanging out there and waiting for people to show up that you already know, or are going to meet for the first time.  However, there’s SO many good presentations, workshops, poster sessions and activities going on.  Schedule your Bloggers Cafe time like you would a session.  Set an alarm if you need to.  Spend time hanging out, but if you aren’t careful you could find yourself planted in one spot for the entire day.  Breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner, and the evenings/parties are great times to get your socialization time in.  Believe me, I won’t be avoiding the Bloggers Cafe.  But neither will I be moving in.

3) Don’t confine yourself to sessions from your friends and favorites. Have I mentioned how many great sessions there are?  It’s easy to just go to ‘safe’ sessions, presenters that you KNOW are great and that confirm your ideas/beliefs.  However, if you don’t take a few chances, you may miss out on some fantastic material.  Let’s face it, some of the best content in the world is presented by mediocre presenters.  Man up and get over it.  Just because someone doesn’t sing and dance doesn’t mean their content isn’t solid.  Pick a topic that you’re interested in and attend sessions on it regardless of whether you’ve heard of the presenter.  And if you don’t like their presentation style, try to see what you can learn IN SPITE of that.  Consider it a challenge, a hill to climb, the outer shell you need to work through to get to the fruit inside. If you want to be entertained, go to the Improv.  You’re at ISTE to learn.

4) Don’t be an end node. Most likely you have a blog, a FLIP cam, a Twitter account, a digital camera, Facebook, an iPad, a netbook, a Palm Pilot and a telegraph in your bag.  If you aren’t sharing at least a few things each day, then you’re doing the education community a major disservice.  I don’t care how many sessions you’re presenting, take the time to at least share a few highlights or thoughts from the day.  Even better, give a full report, share some notes, create a backchannel for a session and so on.  But if you can’t, no worries.  Do what you can.  Whatever you do, don’t just be a sponge that doesn’t give anything back.  Pay it forward for the people that can’t be there.

5) Don’t go to everything.  You can’t.  There’s just too much going on and only a few nights to do it all in.  Make some decisions, move forward and no regrets.  I don’t care which party/reception you go to, or none at all.  Whatever you do, make the most of it.  The reality is, there will be friends and favorites at EVERY event.  Don’t lament the people that aren’t there, enjoy the time with the people that ARE there.  On Tuesday night, there’s a Simple K12 reception, a TechSmith reception, an Edmodo Meetup and EdTech Karoake….  and they are all going on at basically the same time.  So which do you go to?  It doesn’t matter.  You’ll have a great time regardless.  Make your choice and don’t second guess.

6) Don’t be shy. It’s your first ISTE.  You look across the hallway and see the woman who keynoted your state conference last year.  You’ve read her blog for 5 years, follow her on Twitter, and have bought multiple copies of her book (to pass on to friends).  What do you do????  You walk up to her and say, “Hi, I’m Steve and I’m a fan.”  Let the conversation commence.  The reality is we’re all educators.  We’re passionate about what we do and love talking to other people who are just as passionate.  I have yet to meet anybody at a conference that was ‘too big to chat.’  They might be in a hurry or trying to find their next room, so obviously be respectful if they do have to leave, but you don’t need to stress out about whether a presenter is approachable.  They are.  Trust me on this one.

7) Don’t let the time slip away. I’m shy.  Seriously, I am.  My natural inclination is to eat by myself, to sneak off to my room and enjoy quiet time and such.  And at ISTE, my inclination is WRONG.  You only have a few days with these people.  This is the time to ask a ‘twitter-friend’ if they want to grab lunch together.  To schedule a drink with that buddy you only see once per year.  Don’t squander your time, as it will be gone way too quickly.  Breakfast and lunch are fantastic times to make connections.  Don’t have any friends at your hotel?  Pick a coffee shop near the conference center.  Announce on Twitter and Facebook that you’ll be grabbing breakfast in half an hour and encourage them to meet up.  You’ll be surprised by how many people will take you up on it.  As I said, I’m shy.  But this is one of those times to break through that and make the most of each moment.

8 ) Don’t be an ostrich. You’re at a conference.  You’re with tens of thousands of other educators.  Many of them will be in the room with you, at the table with you, or in a chair next to you.  Put. The. Phone. Away.  Believe me, I understand about checking in and the need to do it periodically.  But for the most part, put the phone IN your pocket/purse and focus on the people in front of you.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at a dinner where 3/4 of the people are there physically, but their heads are stuck in the ground, frantically checking Twitter to see what they’re ‘missing’.  Whatever you’re missing, will still be there when you leave.  Face to face time is rare.  Don’t squander it by burying your face in the screen.

9) Don’t ignore the vendors.  While many can argue over whether there’s anything good on the floor, or whether it’s all just the same old stuff… the fact is that vendor floor pays for most of the conference.  And if the vendors don’t feel like they’re getting a return on the investment, they won’t be there, and the conference will suffer for it.  The fact is, there’s A LOT of great stuff going on down there.  From mini-workshops and presentations, to demonstrations of new technologies, there’s plenty of reasons to walk the floor.  But the best reason is to actually chat with the vendors themselves.  Have a favorite?  Reconnect with them.  Find out what they have coming down the pipe, or what things they’ve put out that you might not have heard of.  Swag is all well and good, but don’t forget that every free blinking light has a price.  At least be polite and find out what they’re about.  If it isn’t  your thing, you aren’t being rude by telling them.  Don’t waste their time either pretending to be interested if you aren’t.  But be civil and give them a shot, even if you haven’t heard of them before.

10) Don’t forget to have a good time!  ISTE is the ice cream sundae after a long year’s work.  Enjoy the experience.  Plan well, stay in the moment, and make the most of every minute you have there.  Balance the learning with the social time and make the most of both.  Work hard, play hard, and maximize your time.  You can always sleep on the ride home :)

Did I miss any tips?  Share your own below!

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6/21/2011 75 Comments Short URL
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EdCampChicago – Recap, Review and Reflect

I’ve sat at the keyboard for the last five minutes trying to figure out the proper way to start this post.  You see, I’m not an events guy.  I mean, I love events, and I’m never short on ideas for events.  But I’m not the most organized person in the world, and putting together something like an EdCamp was more than just a little stressful to me.  However, now that the event has come and gone, I can take a step back and really appreciate just how incredible the day was.  And before too much time has elapsed, I wanted to share some thoughts on the entire experience.

First of all, a few thank yous.  Chad Lehman (@imcguy) was the co-organizer of the event.  I’d say he volunteered, but that wouldn’t be quite factual.   Way back on October 11th, I mentioned that I was thinking it’d be nice to have an education uncoference in the midwest.  Chad replied that he’d be interested, to which I said “Thanks for volunteering!  What date is it going to be?”  And then I hounded him until he actually agreed to be the co-organizer (sucker).  Time and again, we would chat on the phone, create a list of things that needed to be done, and then take the lion’s share of making sure they happened.  The event wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for his leadership, so for that I give him major props.

I also have to thank our volunteer crew.  Not only did they raise their hands and say that they wanted to help, they took on a role and RAN with it.  Naomi Harm not only volunteered to handle the livestreams from the event, she organized a small crew (including her husband) and had the archives up on the site within 24 hours.  Brendan Murphy created the name badges, including QR codes and setting out a ton of materials for people to add their own little personal tweaks to them.  Jodi Greenspan created and kept up with our Featured Attendee posts leading up to the event. Nancy Stewart made the connection at EdCampPhilly, which was happening the same day. Debbie Gleason gathered together all the materials we needed for the agenda board (including the sticky notes that everybody commented on).  Anne Truger not only hounded companies for door prizes, but organized all the prizes on site as well.  Stuart Ciske who also brought in a plethora of prizes to give away.  Erica Roberts sacrificed some of her first session to get the agenda online right away.  And last but certainly not least, Jim Gubbins, who tracked down door prizes, created the kick-butt QR code challenge, and archived very single tweet that was posted from the event… by hand.   If I missed anybody, I humbly apologize.  There were a ton of others that helped put up signs, check people in, set up food and so on.  Every little bit was appreciated, believe me.

I also have to thank the good folks at Lenovo.  We had a ton of sponsors that put up door prizes, but Lenovo picked up the bill for the site itself, provided breakfast and lunch for all attendees, and even gave away a ThinkCentre M90z (congrats @taml17!), the same computer I’ve written about and am using with Aiden.  They were fantastic to work with, and are demonstrating a real commitment to educators by hosting days like this.  Big ups for making this event happen!

The day itself was a blast, from top to bottom.  Some personal highlights were watching that agenda board fill up, and having exactly the number of sessions that we had rooms for.  Karma?  Walking around during that first session and seeing such a huge variety of types of conversations going on was a real treat.  The iOS apps session was packed and the list of apps shared would take people weeks to work through.  Other rooms had far less people, but some incredibly passionate conversations were taking place.  Five of us left the school building to do a quick round of GeoCaching, and wound up finding both caches we sought out!  Upon returning, I jumped into a conversation about social bookmarking, and am now being forced to reconsider whether I should stick with Delicious or not.  Finally, I saw that an impromptu “smackdown” was taking place in the atrium, which I sat in on for about 10 minutes.  Heard about plenty of old favorites, as well as some new sites that I’m going to need to make time to explore.

There’s quite a bit I’d like to share about the process itself, what worked, what I think could have been done differently, but this post is going on long enough as it is.  So I’ll wrap things up with some links to a few blog posts that stemmed from the event.  I was a little surprised, and quite thrilled, at how many people told me this was their first unconference. It really demonstrated yet again how important it is that we keep reaching out and giving people opportunities to experience these life changing events for themselves.  It’s still a new idea to the majority of educators out there.

A huge thank you to everybody that attended the event.  It’s a leap of faith to give up a Saturday for an event that doesn’t have any speakers, session titles, or agenda set in advance.  I appreciate your taking that chance, and hope it provided you with a learning experience that not only met your needs, but provided you with inspiration that you could take back to your own buildings.  Just remember, being inspired can make a difference in your classroom.  But sharing that inspiration with others can make a difference in hundreds of classrooms.

SO…. who’s volunteering to organize the next one?

5/23/2011 31 Comments Short URL
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EdCampChicago is coming!

I’ve wanted to host an unconfernece for quite a while, but the stars never quite aligned.  Well, this spring they seem to have done just that!  On May 21st, I’m pleased to share that the greater Chicagoland area will be hosting its first EdCamp.

What’s EdCamp?  EdCamp is based on Bar Camp, which in turn is based on Open Space.  I attended my first Open Space event back in 2005 and have been a huge fan of the format ever since.  In fact, we used it at the DEN Leadership Council Symposium this past summer and it went incredibly well.  Basically it boils down to this: the agenda is set by the attendees during the event itself.  When you go to conference, you know what you’re interested in.  Perhaps you have a driving question that you’re really looking to get an answer to, or have been struggling with some issue and are looking for new ideas.  This format gives you the chance to establish a time and place to talk about that topic, and other people with the same interest can join in.

It may seem a bit chaotic, but it works incredibly well.  And to be honest, it can be far more valuable than a traditional conference because you have a far greater degree of control over the experience.  If the right session doesn’t exist, it’s your responsibility to create it.  If the conversation you’re in isn’t pertinent to you, it’s your responsibility to move to a different conversation.  It’s not considered rude, it’s expected.  Your job is to make sure you’re having a great experience and are in the right conversations.

With things as busy as they are (job, baby, life, Game of Thrones on HBO) I knew that I would need a partner and Chad Lehman has done more than step in.  We’re co-organizing the event together, which means that I blab on about different ideas and he takes off and runs with them!  He’s the one who invited Angela Maiers to the event to help kick things off.  Traditionally Open Space events don’t have any formal sessions or keynotes, but we agreed that it would be nice to invite her to come in and sort of set the tone for the day.  It’s not just because she’s a fantastic speaker, but rather because she does so much to start and drive conversations.  I’m really excited to have her get the day started on the right foot.

It’s going to be a phenomenal day and I hope that if you’re in the area, you’ll join us for it.

Where: Adlai E Stevenson High School, 1 Stevenson Drive, Lincolnshire, IL 60069
When: May 21, 2011
Cost: FREE!

And thanks to the good folks at Lenovo, we’ll be providing breakfast and lunch on the house, as well as giving away a ThinkCentre M90z!

Registration is open right now!

You can also let people know you’re attending by joining the conference site on Lanyrd.

And if you have any interest in volunteering, add your name to the list here.

Want to learn a bit more about EdCamp?  Watch the video below from EdCampPhilly!

Ed Camp from True Life Media on Vimeo.

4/18/2011 5 Comments Short URL
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ISTE 2010 Wrapup

Blue Bear Meets Blue Bear
Image by katerha via Flickr

This was a busy ISTE to say the least! While normally I make a point to hit at least a few sessions, this year it was all work. 3 presentations, 1 workshop, combined with booth time and a Wilkes grad course wrapping up made for a crazy hectic week. The one thing I refused to sacrifice though was face time with my network. It was an absolute pleasure seeing so many of you. Even 30 seconds face to face makes all those 140 character communications so much richer. As always, I wish I could have spent more time in the Blogger’s Cafe hanging out, but such is life. On the whole, it was a fantastic conference, and major Kudos to ISTE for organizing yet another incredibly well run event. Unlike many tech-conferences, bandwidth was never even a topic of conversation. The wireless was stellar, and the wired connections for presenters was the fastest I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t have been happier as an attendee and as a presenter.

Overall, the sessions went incredibly well. The big surprise to me was that the Policies presentation packed the room. Typically it’s a small, dedicated, hardcore group of people attending that one. This year, it filled the room up. Does this mean that we’re finally starting to turn the corner when it comes to making our policies fit the practice we know in our hearts is right? I’m starting to get cautiously optimistic!

For some reason, I seem to have Presenter Upload Deficiency Syndrome. Even when I have everything done in time, I always seem to screw up URL’s, preventing people from getting to my resources quickly. So here’s the links to the sessions I did at ISTE. Hope they help in a small part. I believe the Perpetual Learning Machine and Extreme Makeover presentations were recorded too. If I find them, I’ll link them up later.

Enjoy!

The Perpetual Learning Machine - ISTE/TIE Leadership Bootcamp
Policies Safety and Social Networking
Extreme Makeover – Education Edition (Note, this is a simplistic ‘deck’. Mostly live demo’s done during presentation)

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7/2/2010 10 Comments
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If you Tweet, will anybody hear it?

Electronic red megaphone on stand.
Image via Wikipedia

I think that many people (myself included) that share sites like Twitter at conferences inadvertently do our attendees a disservice. In the effort of attempting to demonstrate how wonderful, simple, powerful and dynamic it is, we make it seem much more effortless than it really is.

For example… How many times per day do you see somebody say, “Give a shout out to the people in Nepal who are attending my presentation about social networks about using the Luge to teach physics!” And then 30-40 people reply with a hearty “Hello”. So attendees believe all it takes it to toss a tweet out there, and dozens of responses will pour in.

What isn’t necessarily shown, or may just be glossed over, is the fact that it takes TIME and EFFORT to gain a few hundred followers. And without having a critical mass of people to message out to, your odds of getting a response from a general tweet are VERY small. If you have 40 followers, more than likely none of them are actually online at the same time as you. And even if they are, who knows if they’re checking Twitter? And even if they are, who knows if they’ll see your tweet? And if they do, how many people will see it and ignore it, versus will see it and respond?

For example, if I send out a “Please give these folks a shout out” tweet, I expect maybe about 30-40 responses on a typical school day during normal hours. If it’s a weekend, or in the evening, you can cut that number in half. I currently have about 5000 followers. So at best, that’s less than 1%. At that rate, if you have 100 followers, could you realistically expect an instant response from even a single person? I’m not sure… It depends on who is following you.

That’s not to say that everyone should run out and get more followers. My point is simply, things aren’t necessarily as rosy and simple as we may make them seem during presentations.

I can’t tell you how many times I see a Twitter newbie who has under 50 followers throw out a request like, “I’m trying to find schools that have updated their AUP this year. If you know someone, please tell me.” Then when they don’t get any responses, they get frustrated and may wind up quitting. While I can’t address what may be an issue with persistence, I do think that person has set themselves up for failure.

I really do think you need to follow/be followed by about 100 people at the least for Twitter to begin to be valuable. If you have a dedicated, highly focused group, that number may be smaller, but in general I think that’s a fair ballpark. If you have less than that, you need to be much more aggressive to get responses.

A few suggestions for people who are new to Twitter or have relatively small audiences right now.

1) Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with putting a message out there multiple times. If you’re worried about looking like a spammer, reword it. Mention that your STILL looking for information. But it’s entirely possible that people didn’t see your message. So give them another chance. And yet another.

2) Ask some people directly to respond. If you send a tweet that includes @TheirUsername, more than likely they will see it. It may take a day or two before they look for personal replies, but most people WILL see it. Unless they have fairly strict privacy settings, it should work. So if there’s someone you think might be able to help you out, send it directly to them by using this feature.

3) Reach out to the hubs in your network. Let’s face it, some people have more followers than others. Maybe they do a lot of conferences, maybe they just have too much time on their hands. Regardless, they may have a longer reach than you do. So contact them directly and ask them to retweet it for you! I’m extremely grateful to have the audience that I do, and I’m happy to share them whenever someone asks. By doing this, you maybe be able to ensure that your request has been seen by a few thousand people instead of a few dozen. Doesn’t guarantee a response, but it does give you better odds.

Of course, the best solution in the long term is to build up your own community. The only real way to do that is to maintain your own presence, to reach out to others, and to follow people and give them the chance to follow you.

For those of you that do present sessions including Twitter, do you see the same thing happening? Is it just me or is this something you’ve experienced yourself? And if so, how do you address it?

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10/20/2009 103 Comments
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WAVE to the ITEC conference

Not sure if this is going to work, but going to try to embed in a Google Wave for following the ITEC conference.

Unfortunately, yes you do need to already have a Wave account to see it, but them’s the breaks.

Looks like it works!


If you can’t see it, I apologize. But these are the eggs we’re cracking to learn how to make an omlette!

10/12/2009 5 Comments
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Use the Force to combat ADHD

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to try out an alternative to medication in the treatment of ADD/ADHD. The idea is that ADD causes some people to generate brainwaves in an abnormal pattern.

When a normal child tries to read or concentrate, he increases the amount of beta waves in certain parts of his brain. ADHD children don’t do this. Instead of increasing beta waves, they increase theta waves, the daydreaming brain wave. That means that where other children are concentrating harder to complete a certain task, ADHD children are drifting off. (source)

The machine I was hooked up to measured my brain waves and presented me with a video screen with an airplane on it. When I was concentrating well and producing beta waves, the plane would go faster. If I lost focus, the plane would slow down. I marveled at the idea and wondered whether someone could simply exercise their brain until they were no longer prone to ADD type behaviors. Of course the equipment involved made it difficult to find a location that could provide this sort of treatment, and the costs were rather higher.

Interestingly, now it seems to be available as a home game. With a Star Wars theme.

Yes I’m serious.

ThinkGeek.com has put up for sale the Star Wars Force Trainer, for about $120. As a Star Wars fan, I felt obligated to check it out. I stopped dead in my tracks when I got midway through the description.

Using dry sensor technology, the Force Trainer can determine the differences between the alpha, beta, gamma and delta waves present in your brain. You can control these different brain ‘states’ by using your ability to focus and to concentrate. A micro-chip inside the Force Trainer then uses an algorithm to figure out which brain state you are in and then decides how to raise or lower the ball based on that state.

Sound familiar? I don’t know for certain what makes the ball go up or down, but if it’s keying in on beta waves, then isn’t it doing the exact same thing that I tried out in at the SMART workshop?? And if that’s the case… could this actually be a home version that ADD students could use to help train them to focus their concentration on demand?

I know it sounds crazy, but this just might be the most valuable toy a parent could buy for their ADD inclined student.

Now… when will we see a Bluetooth version that hooks into an iPhone?

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8/21/2009 9 Comments
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Top 10 FREE Web 2.0 Sites for Educators: NECC Edition

I’ve had several requests via email for my Top 10 presentation from NECC, and realized that I should probably post it here. Of course, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing!

So here’s a link to the presentation slides, such as they are. Most of the presentation is live demonstrations, so they’re only of limited value by themselves.

Here’s a link to the ISTE broadcast of the session. Video looks and sounds great, but they didn’t record what I was doing on the screen until 20 minutes in.

Then there’s my own personal broadcast of it using Procaster and Livestream. It has what’s happening on my screen throughout the entire presentation. However, the camera angle isn’t exactly the most flattering one I could have chosen :)

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7/20/2009 162 Comments
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What to do with a dog tag

A picture I took of myself wearing dog tags I ...
Image via Wikipedia

ArtsCow.com is doing a sale right now on their custom Dog Tags. Using their designer, you can upload your own images and have them printed out on a dog tag. Normally, they cost 8.99, but through August 16th, they have a sale going on. If you use the coupon code 199DOGTAG, you can get a two sided dog tag with free shipping for $1.99. I don’t ordinarily post deals like this, but I think this could be a lot of fun for educators and it’s a pretty darn reasonable price.

So what can you do with a $1.99 dog tag?

  • Create one for each of your students that has your School, Class Name, School contact info, and then their name and/or photo on the back. Be great for field trips, and early learners can use it to help learn how to spell/write their name.
  • Random student grouping. Mix and match pictures and colors on each side, so you can use them for random grouping. For example, if you want to be able to do groups of 3, 4, 5, or 6 at different parts of the day, put 5 different animals on 3 different color backgrounds on one side, and then put 6 different shapes on 4 different colors on the other side. Then you can give each child a tag when they walk in, and call out groups as you need it. “All squares, come to the writing table.” “Yellow tags, go to music, green tags, stay with me.” You get the idea.
  • Extension activities/centers. When students finish their assignment, they can pick an extension activity out of the bucket. Only put in as many tags in there as you can have at that activity or center. They were it as they play, and then put it back and pick a new one when they’re done.
  • Job chart. List their jobs on the tags, and they can wear the tag to remind them what their job is until they do it. Then they just hang it up.
  • Create permanent versions of Kevin Honeycutt’s Web2.0 keychain. A website on one side, a tip and a mentor’s email on the other.
  • Bathroom passes, hall passes, Star of the day necklace, create yourself a cool keychain, etc. Hey, for 1.99, why not?
  • Rewards for other teachers at your school. Create your own, Technology Teacher of the Month award! Give your colleagues a pat on the back for doing innovative things with technology in their classrooms. For $24 you could create one for every month this year.
  • If you’re a geocacher, this would make a fantastic travel bug!

That’s about it off the top of my head. So let me toss the ball to you. What might you create custom dog tags for?

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7/20/2009 8 Comments
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Tribute to a teacher, Marvin Martin

used books
Image by babblingdweeb via Flickr

Several months ago, I received a Facebook message asking me to to join a group. Surprisingly, it was a group organized to pay tribute to a Junior High teacher from Glencoe, IL named Marvin Martin.

I joined the group and then leaned back in my chair. People were posting stories and memories that they had of his class and I wanted to do the same… but I couldn’t. The reason I was unable to, was that it wouldn’t do him justice for me to just whip off a paragraph in ten minutes and toss it into cyberspace. More than likely he has no idea just how much of an influence he had on me, but he just may have been the most valuable teacher I ever had.

Mr. Martin taught me to read.

I don’t mean that he taught me phonics, that happened many grades earlier. I don’t mean that he taught me to draw meaning from the written word, that too happened a a much younger age.

He taught me to read with passion. With hunger. With love. With hate. He taught me to read a song and the songwriter as well. He taught me that reading was both a gift and a curse. A new friend that becomes an old friend just a few chapters later. He planted the sapling that has grown within me all these years, and now provides shade as I read with my son.

Before I journey too far along the highway of metaphors, let me explain a few things. If I remember correctly, I had Mr. Martin as a literature teacher in sixth grade at Central School, in Glencoe, Illinois. Prior to that class, I can say definitively that I did not read. Of course, I read for class, and I could read a menu and such, but I rarely if ever, picked up a book for pleasure.

Mr. Martin established a very simple system for dealing with students like me. He created a structure where you could get extra credit in his class by choosing a book off of his list, reading it, and passing a comprehension test. Every test you passed earned you a few percentage points. My first time out, I skimmed through a book and took the test. I failed miserably. You see, he ensured that he asked questions that you couldn’t answer by reading the cliff notes. He made you think about what you had read and prove that not only did you read it, that you understood it. I don’t take failure well, so I went back, re-read it for the first time, and this time I passed the test. Sensing a way to get an easy “A”, I grabbed another book. And then another.

I believe I completed that class with 192%.

An uncut book after bookbinding from folded pa...
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The books on his list were a mix of classics as well as contemporary literature. They weren’t just geared to middle school students either. You see, he made a promise to his students. If there was a book that wasn’t on his that they wanted to read, they just had to submit the title of it to him and he would read it and add it. At any given time, he had a queue of about 15-20 books. Which might seem daunting, if he didn’t read a few books every day. It seemed to me that he simply devoured books, and every day new choices were available. And I took advantage.

I began to read every night. I would get so into the books that I kept reading late into the night. When my parents finally put their foot down, I began keeping a small flashlight next to my bed that I could use to continue reading with as soon as they’d gone to sleep. I began carrying a book with me, so whenever I had a minute of down time, I could break it out and burn through a few more pages. It got to the point that I was unable to go to sleep if I didn’t read at least for ten or fifteen minutes.

That habit is still with me today. I am never without a book to read, and I read every single night before turning in. If I don’t have a new book, I grab an old favorite. Another habit I can attribute to Mr. Martin. No matter how many times you’ve read a book before, there are still new things to be discovered within those well worn pages. I can honestly say that I have read some of my favorite books more than a dozen times.

The funny thing is that everything I have discussed so far… was simply the icing to his classroom. This was a layer on top of the actual teaching and learning, an optional component that most students participated in. The class time itself was a different type of journey.

I won’t pretend to say that I remember every class period, or that I looked forward to going every day. But here’s a few things that have stuck with me.

I remember that he was never satisfied with half an effort. When you read aloud, you read with expression. He made sure that you thought about what you were reading, considered the point of view of the characters as well as the author, and read it so that everyone else in the room could feel it.

I remember studying the words of Simon and Garfunkel. In particular, the 59th Street Bridge Song and the Sounds of Silence. I remember him leading us to discover what they meant by phrases like “the words of the prophets are written on subway walls and tenement halls.” And I also remember him challenging us to bring in lyrics to our own favorite music at the time and to see what we could learn from them. If my memory serves me, we wound up studying a song off of U2′s Joshua Tree album and a couple John Lennon songs, all by request.

I remember that while he was always a passionate teacher, there was only one time that he was genuinely angry. Somebody requested that he read Flowers in the Attic and add it to the list of books that could be read for extra credit. He was furious over the incestuous themes throughout the story, and refused to add it to the list. I had never seen someone get so upset and emotional over a book before. Looking back on it now, I think one of the reasons he was so upset was that in some sense, the book defeated him. He couldn’t in good conscience ‘encourage’ students to read that book by adding it to his list. And yet students were interested in it, all the more so because he was so upset by it. I think more students eventually read that book because of his refusal than would ever have read it had he accepted it. And while seeing him discuss the lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel showed us how high he could get discussing the written word, his reaction to Flowers in the Attic showed us just how deep those passions ran.

I would be remiss if I didn’t share one other aspect of Marvin Martin. Teaching was his life. And while I feel that I have met thousands of educators who are passionate teachers, few of them kept a sleeper sofa and refrigerator in a small office next to their classroom. Rumors run wild amongst six graders, so take this paragraph with a grain of salt, but so far as we knew he spent most of his evenings reading and sleeping in his office. There was a house in Glencoe that I’d been told belonged to him. It seemed like it could have fit in the garage of most of the houses neighboring it. While most other teachers shared stories of what they did over the weekend or while on vacation, Mr. Martin shared what books he had read. Teaching was his sunrise and his sunset. He dedicated every moment of his time to his students.

According to the Facebook group, after teaching in Glencoe for forty years, he retired in 1996. I’d always thought about going back and visiting him to let him know how profound an influence he had on me, but I never did. I’m hoping that through the magic of Facebook I’ll be able to reconnect with him and pass along a link to this blog post. Even better, perhaps have the chance to tell him in person.

So let this stand as a tribute to a wonderful teacher… from a student who didn’t know enough to thank him at time and doesn’t have enough words to do a proper job of it now.

Thank you, Marvin Martin.

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5/28/2009 17 Comments
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