Be the biggest tool you can be

I liked the title of Bomer's article, "Things that make kids smart," and immediately began thinking of everything as a tool of some kind. After all, we're born here with nothing and must learn how to survive with what's around us. I've always had a certain fascination with personal objects, but had not considered them as medium affecting our thinking. Strange, when you consider the pinnacle of caveman days the invention of the wheel, after which we viewed their comic grunting as the beginning of intelligent thought. I suppose earlier tools would include clubs for wife-beating, stick for hunting, etc. Before that, finger for pointing. And as the caveman begins to walk more upright he gains control over more tools, more implements, fire, spear, boat...and as we stop crawling and start pulling ourselves up on chairs, we progress until we're simultaneously driving, listening to the radio, reading signs, and talking on our cell phones.

The internet as a tool has infinitely affected the way that we think, as Bomer says, "this symbolic, theoretical aspect of a tool and its use is an instance of the relationship between the material and the idea, or materiality and ideality" (226). Both the opportunities and needs for use and the ideality between its function are staggering--many people probably no longer compose on paper, do their taxes by hand, apply for jobs, use the Yellow Pages, research papers, pay bills, shop, or write letters anymore. But the issues of past weeks' discussions concerning language and communication were still on my mind--a few days ago I subbed for an older teacher as she struggled to log into a website where she would take an interactive test (TOPS Protocol? Any other English teachers heard about this bullshit?) after completing a review session with video clips, mini-quizzes, slides, etc. It literally took her all day. Had I known she needed help, I would have easily rescued her by clicking the correct part of the menu, turning off the number lock, logging in, and skipping through the slides, which I did when she finally asked at the end of the day. Easy, right? No. What comes easily to me, almost naturally, did not to her. Even as I write this, I read an email from my mom asking how to use the word count. I realized that in the last year I've continued to pick up online tools without formal guidance, just by playing around. I don't say this to brag, I know everyone who reads this also knows how to do those things. My point is...well, it has something to do with play, learning, and tools. Let me talk about play first before I finish that thought.

"A child's greatest achievements are possible in play, achievements that tomorrow will become her basic level of real action and morality," said Vygotsky. I truly believe the best thing you can do for a kid as a parent is give them a good childhood, including lots of time to play. I thank my parents for long summer days, sprinklers, tree-climbing, snow forts, library trips, and mud pies. Most of my toys were ten year old hand-me-downs, including the Ken doll whose head popped off. A Playskool record player with accompanying Disney books and records. Kickball. As I grew older, my best friend and I played restaurant, school, hotel, secret detective, and casino. More kickball. As I grew older still, we didn't really play anymore, but we sat around and talked about boys and music and social events, and played sports. I think this has fostered my imagination and creativity, made me into a well-rounded person: I've had a lot of different jobs and roles in my life so far. What did you play when you were little?

"While playing at using the associated tools, they appropriate not just the tool and its proper functioning but the kinds of cultural and relational uses to which the object could be put. They rehearse not just the intellectual skills of writing but the subjectivity positions, attitudes, relations, and purposes that people take on when they write" (pg. 229).

While subbing I thought about tools, signs, mediums of knowledge and functionality in a school setting. I thought about the tools in place but not used, such as the motivational posters on the walls, the movie left for the sub to show the class, the websites the kids choose to use on their own. My favorite poster:There were opportunities for learning in discussing these things rather than taking them for granted. I thought about how frustrating it was to watch the kids lose, steal, or demolish school supplies such as pencils, binders, books. I thought about how the district misuses tools for assessment, from TAKS to TOPS Protocol, wasting time and losing good teachers. "The teacher could not limit the nature of the instruction students received. The larger culture teaches even what school does not" (p. 245).

In terms of teaching and closing the achievement gap, we've spent considerable time discussing how to be culturally-responsive, and should include the tools, actions, discourses, and activities students bring to the table. This is especially valuable because of the schism between home culture and school culture and the need to soften the transition. We should also dispose of what doesn't work, starting from the top down--God knows public education is way too cluttered anyway.

To get down to brass tacks, we are put here with each other and the earth and have to learn how to work with both. Since most of our conflicts deal with miscommunication and greed of some kind, it makes sense that if we could learn to do those things, it'd be a closer-to-perfect world. Then we'd be smart.