I just had the opportunity to interview a prospective teacher. It's such a joy to listen to enthusiasm and perspective from those that are starting down the teaching path. But I paused briefly when this individual said "technology is a tool."  We should all pause when we hear this.

It wasn't that many years ago that some technology training would start with the idea that just like a pencil, the computer is a tool for learning. That was a way to get buy-in from teachers because they all could understand how necessary a pencil was. I'm sorry to all of you that used this analogy but you did some damage. I did too. Technology is NOT a tool.

I'm also concerned that so many teachers are refusing to teach technology concepts simply because it is only a tool. Their argument is somewhat in the vein of "I don't need to teach how a pencil is made either." Yet we teach about the human body and how it uses food for energy, healthy food choices, even table manners. All information that isn't needed to eat what is put in front of us.

If you have read George Curous Principals of Change blog, you may remember long ago he addressed this relationship of what is technology to education. "Technology is More than a Tool" compared our integration to that of a drop of red dye in a glass of water where the whole glass of water changes color. It's an ecological change.

But I want to specify why educators need to stop referring to it as a tool and see technology as so much more. Because it lessens the importance or even the urgency of how we live, in a very human way, through technology. I don't think any educator would argue that young children need to play on a playground. It is a learning environment so vital to development of physical and social skills. They also live in the technology environment, learning along the way, consuming it's products, shaping the social world in a very profound way. Ignoring that human role in the development of the world and it's interactions with technology can be detrimental.

But here is perhaps the first time in history that the teachers have even more of a disadvantage than ever before. There is a good percentage of teachers that did not experience learning in a internet immersed class. They have not seen expert teachers seamlessly weave digital concepts with curriculum. Therefore, it is very difficult for current educators to know what this looks like, let alone perfect this skill. This year, the state of Virginia has attempted to add knowledge of the digital classroom to the licensure process for everyone, even teachers renewing their license. This knowledge base is called the Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel. Every teacher seeking licensure must demonstrate that they can effectively weave their own curriculum with that of the complex internet connected technology that student's use. It's definitely a step in the right direction and I applaud the Virginia Department of Education for making the change. Every teacher should be observed rather than just turning in paperwork to fulfill this requirement. It is something as valuable as observing a student holding a pencil for the first time.

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Tech Terms is to combine learning new techy vocabulary with other course curriculum, particularly the core subjects of math, English, social studies and science. I hope you enjoy the mix of lesson ideas with technology vocabulary.

We have just experienced Cyber Monday, cyber deals, and there is no end to the fear of cyber attacks and need for cyber security. So where did this word “cyber” originate and what exactly does it mean? You won’t see a mention of the word cyber until the 1940s with a scientist's use of “cybernetics” to mean mechanisms to replace humans. The sci-fi authors had a heyday with that and used the term for years to scare us with robots and cyborgs.  Our current definition, which more or less means anything to do with the internet, comes from novelist William Gibson in the book Neuromancer where he refers to “A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity.”  New York Magazine in 1996 penned it perfectly when they described the word cyber as “the perfect prefix” to make any word sound new, cool and “strangely spooky.” For English teachers, the etymology of words is an enhancement to novel studies or vocabulary. Students retain meaning when they understand a word’s history. You can have a great deal of fun with Ngram Viewer by Google. Type in a word and watch a graph display of it’s usage in literature over time. This can lead to some amazing discussion about words that are incorrectly used today. Why not map your vocabulary on Visuwords and checkout some great lesson plans about prefixes and suffixes? Or, lookup your vocabulary on the Online Etymology Dictionary where some of the information for this entry resides.  Etymology is where history and English meet, so there is possibly a great cross-curricular option as well.

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