When I was a student, my math instruction involved a teacher writing problems on an overhead projector with clear transparencies and vis-a-vis markers. They all followed the typical, "I do, We do, You do" model. We didn’t do a great deal of thinking at all. We solved as asked, often regurgitating exactly as our problems were modeled. In many classrooms, we’ve tossed out the overhead and replaced it with interactive whiteboards, projectors and sometimes even handheld devices. But think about it…Has our approach to math instruction really changed? A teacher recording problems on an IWB while kids copy and duplicate or a teacher walking around using their ipad as a writing tablet is really no different than the teachers who prefer the overhead projector. In every case, the teacher is "modeling" process while kids record steps. The tools changed but the pedagogy remains the same. As a student, I was given tons of worksheets and homework was often solving even numbered problems from the textbook. Often times, my teacher would stand beside my desk or call me to hers in order to listen to me speak my way through a problem. Now, if kids aren’t getting physical worksheets or solving the same standard problems from a textbook, they might just be recording "how to solve a problem" on a mobile device. Does working a problem out on an ipad make it any different than writing it on paper? What about listening to students via device? How is that different than listening while standing beside my desk? Thinking about it makes math seem even more drone-like than I remembered. Is This Real Life? In math circles, we throw words around like "real world" problems and we like to think that we make problems "real world applicable". An example of a "real world" problem might start like so… In a model of a ship, the mast is 9 cm while the mast of the actual ship is 15 m high… I remember giving tons of those problems and then trying to draw and explain what a mast was to a group of kids who had never even experienced a lake. In my mind, the picture that I drew should have been enough. All they needed to know was that it formed a triangle, at least on paper, and that understanding the mechanics of the boat had zero to do with the answer. A few weeks ago, I traveled to the great state of California for the first time and I took tons of images because this was my first real experience with not only seeing a boat but watching it sail the ocean. When I experienced it, it was different than what I saw in a textbook…the same book that I used with my students. Only, I didn’t wonder about the missing side of the possible right triangle formed by the mast, sail and ship. Instead, I wondered if varying sizes of "sail material" affected boats differently. I wondered why some boats traveled without their sails and if doing that affected speed in the water. I wondered how much weight could fit in those small boats before they didn’t sail so well. I wondered if angles mattered. I wondered why we give kids problems like this and call it "real world" when most kids never experience it. This is not their world. This is not their math.  When I was standing on that beach, I wasn’t standing as a teacher but a person who was experiencing newness. The sights, sound, smell…I felt something…a connection. Not just real…but human

About a month after Educon 2014, I was approached to join a group of "connected educators" to write one short book in a series aimed to help schools understand a plethora of topics about being a connected educator. This opportunity came about as a result of the conversation about diversity led by Audrey Watters and Jose Vilson. I like to refer to it as the moment when I found my voice. Initially, I started writing about the conference circuit which led me to more research than I could possibly squeeze into 64 pages. I had every intention of writing about the lack of people of color and women in keynote and featured conference roles and I started writing all about how we (POC/Women) can be experts of so many tools/ideas yet are rarely given the same platform to share as many of our peers. I found preposterous examples of tech companies hiring "Booth Babes" for the educational tech circuit in which models aren’t hired based on knowledge and skills but initially by physical attributes. (Bra size was choice #1) Unlike the "Booth Babes" of the gaming tech circuit, these ladies dressed in anything from polo shirts and khakis to pencil skirts and high heels. (I actually kept this reference in the title on my chapter about women) Why is that? Well, it’s because the majority of school edtech decision makers are men so hiring "hot models" is a common ploy to get those decision makers into the vendor booth. This seemed to be common practice at ISTE 2013 in San Antonio where "event modeling" companies not only boasted about their ladies working the event but posted plenty of pictures. I nearly threw my computer upon reading this line… "Our ladies can learn anything well enough to increase your sales tremendously" because clearly, nothing sells software and expensive computers to schools like hiring a group of models to sell it. As for the research of this…A simple web search of conference models + conference and year is all that it took. Enjoy! In the end, after months of rewrites, sharing, living and learning…the entire theme of my book changed. I had a lot of aggressions about so much of the negative stuff that happens and I found that my book lost focus. I didn’t want to write a book that simply pointed out "the things" without giving solutions. In addition, I didn’t want to write something that did not speak to my intended audience…schools. I wanted to share thinking points, ideas and stories of the differences that can be made by intentionally seeking input from certain marginalized voices. While I do recognize that diversity carries many meanings, I chose to directly focus on four while indirectly interweaving others. About My Book My Book, The Missing Voices of Edtech: Bringing Diversity into Edtech (Corwin Press, Connected Educators Series) is a personal experiential reflection of how teachers, students, women and people of color are often not heard when it comes to technology initiatives in schools. Yes, there are fabulous women in tech leadership all over the country but there are still far too many schools that lack such. There are amazing technologist of color but I can count the visibility of them on my hands. As for teachers, we know how that goes…the tool shows up in a classroom for teachers to figure it out. And students? They have opinions, needs and ideas. We must engage them more. We don’t do that enough. Within my book are also contributions, vignettes, from a few members of my connected community. I will forever be grateful to Aimee Bartis, Lisa Johnson and Rachelle Wooten for sharing their journeys and perspectives. I also have two former students who proudly shared theirs. One of which, hand wrote his story on a paper tablet during his factory job break. (While meeting with me at Starbucks, to learn a few more skills, he has since created his first email address which is amazing since he is a recent graduate of a "tech heavy" school.) While I thought that I wanted to add my voice to the non-diverse tech conference/edtech company circuit, I am actually thankful for the months of delays that led to my final product because at the end of the day, if we don’t address the embedded problems in school tech thinking, there is zero room for change beyond. Why Diversity Matters (a snippet of thought from my book) Diversity matters because with understanding comes intentional thought. A single person or group of non-diverse decision makers without an understanding of their learners decides based on the lens of their own view. They tend to look at scenarios from the scope of numbers and not need. On the other hand, a group that reflects the differences of the impacted learners as well as a collection of varying yet open ideas will almost always address the needs first to align with the numbers. Diversity matters in EdTech because not all tools, devices, apps, and ideas are created equally—nor are learners   My book is available for pre-sale NOW and will release January 2015. The Missing Voices in EdTech

That moment in Round Rock when I gave my first keynote. If you follow Dwight Carter on twitter, you may have caught a particular phrase that he says with his morning tweets, "…Make it a great day… or not. The choice is yours" I can’t even read that statement without smiling profusely because it reminds me so much of the principal of my last school, as he used to say this too and like then…I find myself charged and energized with understanding that how I face my day is a choice. It can be great…or not. So many wonderful things have happened in the last few weeks and I’ve yet to take a moment to recognize them. It all started with my acceptance into Google Teacher Academy. People, many of them close to me, have their own thoughts about "edtech academies" but this was important to me. While I am certainly proud to be a part of such an amazing cohort of educators…it seems as though I am caught in the middle of a "what others think of me" whirlwind. Honestly…it is a draining place to be. The reality is that this process has made me realize my own weakness in wanting to be accepted and supported. Fortunately, this process has also shown me that those two "wants" are actually unnecessary because when it comes to goals, our own measures of success, the court of public opinion has no vote. My goals are pretty simple…be the best Rafranz that I can possibly be and do so with the intention that everyday is a step towards being better than the day before. Sometimes I fail miserably at it and others I do quite well. Regardless…at the end of the day, my reflections always show me that all of my outcomes stemmed from choices…my own. When I face my life…my job…through the lens of my own choices, it makes understanding the reality of the misalignment with the way that others think versus how I think…quite bearable. We will all deal with some sort of negativity but it’s important to know that the repercussions of such do not have to become a part of our psyche. We can choose to believe in the things and thoughts that are against us or we can choose to find the path that leads to that place of …" in spite of". In spite of negativity…I will do what is asked, expected and needed of me. I will do so knowing that not everyone wants to see my success. Not everyone believes in me but I believe in me and that is more than enough. We all have a choice. This is mine.

Lately, I have been reminded of why I typically avoid the vendor area at conferences. I have been thinking about this for quite some time and lucky for you, I’m on a long drive home and can finally hash this out. For starters, I don’t understand your company’s training practices and typically after a few sentences, it is generally quite clear that you have no idea how or if your product really impacts learning, yet you insist on repeating your provided blurb. Perhaps a deeper understanding of current educational practices as well as YOUR OWN PRODUCT sometimes, might be beneficial. I’m proud of you for at least memorizing the "EdTech Buzzword Bingo" board but until you fully understand the meaning behind the practice (from an actual classroom), you are no longer allowed to throw around such phrases as Flipped learning, future ready(Really???), transformative, personalized learning, blended learning and wait for it…content delivery system. FYI…You probably did not invent collaboration or any other derivative of the buzzwords that you used about 10 times. Yes, I did in fact count them because I was THAT over it! When you show your super expensive product and someone like myself (highly informed and tech savvy) points out that there are quite a few others on the market that do the exact same thing but at a more reasonable price point…please do not insult my intelligence by trying to repeatedly convince me otherwise. The correct response is to say something like. "That’s interesting. Let me look into that. Thank you." These conversations almost always result in a debate comparing product A to B and sometimes C. It would be different if you really understood classroom instruction and your product but too often, you do not and it shows. Is it too much to ask that you do your homework? Is it too much to ask that you actually listen to the very people that you’re trying to sell to…especially those who have already purchased your product and are offering you feedback from their classroom experience…real instructional application. Although "feedback isn’t in your lane", you might just hear a small blurb that may help you as you talk to the next person because that "small yet important classroom example" is much more conducive to your "purpose" than the ppt slides that are loaded on your device. Long sigh… Here’s an idea. Before you stand before a group educators, please do some homework. We may not always agree with homework but a little bit on your part will go a long way. You should know that in education, there are those of us who are aware of change and innovative practice as well as those that do not. At the same token, there are Edtech companies who get it right and those who need to reflect on their strategies. I do believe in a free market society as well as the creation of innovative tools. However, our priorities are different. Mine is student learning and growth. What’s yours? One more thing…Those that garner our trust, include us in the process and value our input. Doing that would be a start.

The day that my dad brought home a set of encyclopedias was an important family event. He called all of us into the front room as he unpacked each book one by one. To my parents, providing this access to knowledge was critical and I distinctly remember my dad telling us that within those books was the key to our future. He certainly believed it anyway. My parents did the best that they could to make sure that we had access to as many opportunities as possible so paying what had to be a small fortune at the time in order to support our academic and cultural development was something that they were quite proud of…even if the books were published before I was born which meant that in essence, they were obsolete and missing quite a bit of culture. As lacking as our encyclopedias were, I remember my parents saying, "Go look it up!" whenever we inquired about pretty much anything. Our learning ritual was that I would search for the information, read aloud a pretty insignificant blurb and then learn what I needed through discussion with my parents as they filled in the blanks with memories that our encyclopedias did not and could not contain. While I did enjoy this critically important bonding time, I think that we can all agree on the importance of having the type of access where a simple act of curiosity can lead to places where discussions from a single family’s dining room table can extend to others around the world…where discussions about history that happen in private can be recorded, uploaded, shared and referenced for years to come…where a desire to learn doesn’t end at the conclusion of a book but is transformed through that learner’s realization that they too can create the information that they seek…but in their own way. …Where a kid who is curious as to why she doesn’t see any lawyers, doctors, architects, engineers, astronauts, computer programmers, mathematicians or teachers that look like her can reach beyond her city limits and not only connect but be inspired to pursue her own dreams. This is the type of access that my father desired before he knew that it existed. This is the type of access that I want for MY KIDS…YOUR KIDS…ALL KIDS! There is a movement (#internet4schools) to create and share a 15-second video about why the FCC should expand high speed internet access to schools and vote "yes" to E-rate which they should certainly do. However, I want to challenge us all to go a little bit deeper. When you do have access, how will your students not just seek information, but create it? How will you address student device equity and accessibility? (BYOD isn’t the answer for all situations or all students) How will you make sure that the devices in school buildings are not only working but maintained to their highest capacity and replaced when needed? How will you guarantee that student connectivity isn’t limited to test prep technology but used collaboratively and creatively? How will you empower learners to use the power of access to create the schools, communities and worlds that they want to grow in? How will you make sure that the problems that kids solve in school are not just "real and relevant" but relatable? How will you support teachers through job-embedded development and empower them through the same learner driven growth that we want to see in our students? How will you make sure that important community, cultural and global discussions aren’t ignored but are represented through discussions, research and if desired, student-led activism? and finally… How will you make sure that all students are given every opportunity possible to learn, develop and grow through entrepreneurial minded instructional design and development through real global connections and experiences? At the end of the day, the FCC can grant all of the access possible but if we aren’t collectively ready to implement certain changes with fidelity, we all still lose. More importantly, our kids lose.

I have an 11 month old nephew who is just starting to take much longer walks around the house. Since he was about 9.5 months old, he’s been attempting this passage of life with very limited prodding from adults. I’ve sat for long periods of time watching him literally watch the people around him and it has been quite cool to see him "soak it all in" and then try things himself. He would stand on his own and immediately fall but then immediately stand again. Eventually, his long moments of standing turned in to a new sequence of events….Stand, step, fall, repeat. Seriously…the baby has set a goal for himself and has tried again and again and again until he met that goal. Then he starts a new goal…fearlessly. If you think about it, babies go through life as little goal setters. In my mind, I think that my nephew’s brain works something like this… I wonder what I can do to make people pick me up. I wonder if I can hold my own bottle. I wonder if I can sit up. I wonder if I can slide off the couch. I wonder if I can stand like everyone else. I wonder if I can drink from that straw. I wonder if I can walk on two feet like my cousins. I wonder what will happen if I touch that shiny thing. I wonder what that thing does when I press the buttons. (yes, in my mind he knows what computer keys are) As for me, I wonder when adults step in and discourage this natural curiosity about the world. What if we didn’t? What if we allowed kids to continue to set goals, learn, try, fall and repeat? The least that we could do is fearlessly do this ourselves. After-all, babies do it.  

One of these days, Techsmith’s App Show won’t be in free beta and I’ll be sad. For the record, I’m pretty sure that this nifty storytelling tool wasn’t made for education but that didn’t stop plenty of educators from finding it. I actually love App Show because it helps users create stories from an embedded "best practices" framework. You plug in your device and film scenes. After filming scenes, you add voice over and music. If you have Camtasia, you can export for further editing and what’s cooler is that each clip translates over to its own timeline for much more fluid editing. Yesterday, Braeden started working on his version of a Google office in Minecraft. Of course he wanted collaborators so of course that meant that I would be deeply embedded in Minecraft greatness yesterday. He wanted to record a quick clip and App Show was the right tool for it, especially after my Quicktime recorder kept failing and my Airserver refused to work! I should also note again that I have Camtasia and recording from a plugged in device is a function of Camtasia. Maybe it was a bit of "tech for the sake of tech" or maybe it was that we chose the right tool that we needed. At any rate, it was fun and it worked like a charm! Using it is as simple as opening the app, choosing a pathway and then deciding on number of scenes and length which can be changed at any time. You don’t even have to plug in an ios device. You can totally do the same thing with an android or with any form of video because there is an "upload media" function which means that you can make a story about whatever floats your boat! Braeden’s take: He loves it and is now writing a script for a minecraft cartoon because this tool will be perfect for making that! Click to view slideshow. Below is the video that we created! &

There is a brief moment when you are asked to speak at the White House when you just might think, "What on earth have I gotten myself into?" For me, that was never the case…not for a second! For the past week, aside from work, I’ve done nothing but write, revise, recite and repeat my Ignite speech on Supporting #FutureReady Teaching and Learning that I will share at THE WHITE HOUSE tomorrow! I’ve never been more excited and ready for anything in my entire life and not just because I actually have a completed presentation well before the event but because I am deeply ready for this. I grew up in a small town, a place where the greatest thing that has ever happened was winning a few State Championships in football unless you count the Super Conducting Super Collider that almost was…something of this magnitude was completely unheard of until now. I’m not even nervous…yet. I was actually more nervous practicing in front of my mother, who is a tough one to speak in front of. She is a pro, after all! I actually get to be in the same room as Our President and for my family, it doesn’t get any better than this. It just doesn’t…unless Michelle Obama is there…that would be amazing! So, without fear or reservation…I get to channel my inner "Jose, Sabrina, Melinda, Chris, Diana, Xian, Audrey and Jaime" and every other speaker that I have ever looked up to. I’ll lean on the support of my friends and local community who have been loud and proud in their excitement. More importantly, I get to represent my parents and my entire family. Without their sacrifices, there’s no way that I would be here. It’s not about me at all but I’m grateful for the opportunity and platform to share. Thank you to the Office of Edtech for taking a chance on a girl from a small town in Texas. Because I am connected, this "unheard of thing" is real! Let’s put this same power into the hands of all of our learners. #futureready

The other night, I sat with my family and watched the announcement from Ferguson in shock and disbelief…not because I expected the announcement to be different but because they were actually making this announcement in the dead of night in a community that was already deeply wounded. The fact that not one person thought against that decision is still appalling. Did he/she/they honestly think that the people "of"…and "not so of" Ferguson would NOT riot?? Let me be clear in saying that I definitely do not condone such violence and destruction but then again, I don’t condone a person not even getting a trial for his part in the murder that led to this but…what do I know? I hated seeing the destruction of Ferguson, the teargas, smoke, gunshots, fire, armored vehicles…a revolution that could have been avoided. I watched my son care and then not care because in his words… "What’s the point?" I didn’t expect everyone to feel my grief in hearing that decision but I also didn’t expect such hate. Through Facebook, I watched people from my own local community and learning community cheering about an officer not charged while justifying his actions with Mike Brown’s apparent lack of respect for the law because death by firing squad is the new accepted penalty for the unarmed fleeing. I think that the comment that hurt the worst was this comment…"I don’t understand how people are completely excusing the actions of this marijuana smoking thug"…or something to that nature…because this was from a fellow educator with a now questionable belief of what constitutes "a thug". Maybe I expected too much in people understanding the ramifications of living in a community that has been historically plagued with racial divisiveness.  It’s a bit odd but I thought that people would have understood that in a community like Ferguson, a fair grand jury was just as impossible as a fair trial. Unfortunately, I had to endure reading all about the "crime excusing" evidence and wait for it…the inclusion of three black grand jury members. (Yes, someone actually mentioned that) Personally, this was tough because I could not think about Mike Brown without thinking about my own brother, a young man who has had his own bouts with the law in many forms. He is days aways from being off probation and I have watched him struggle for years with finding his place in life through multiple crimes and even a gunshot wound that was inches away from taking his life. Yet, he is still here and thankfully doing quite well. Sadly, I imagine that many of the same people would have also ignored my brother’s right to live. I think of my son and the road that lies ahead for him. As much as I am fighting like crazy to help him become the man that he was created to be…I struggle with knowing that he too could in fact make some bad decisions. I pray that he refrains from being a chalk mark on the ground because I can only imagine what people might have to think about him. Honestly, there is no imagining what people think of my brother or my son because I read what people thought. My son…my brother…my cousins…my friends…are all Mike Brown. At least we are clear on that part. Call me naive but maybe I expected a little bit of humanity and humility. I didn’t get that at all. What I got instead was a big dose of "Oh my gosh…did you really just type that and hit enter?" What Now? If this case has shown nothing, it has clearly drawn a line showcasing what people believe. Please stop saying that this is not about race because it is. The first step to healing is acceptance. Right now, we’re still stuck in denial. We can’t move forward until we face the obvious.

Years ago, my son was enamored with science. He loved learning about how the world worked and "tinkering" with objects just to see their reactions. I imagine that he did this because internally, he developed his own theories and "testing them out" was just his thing. Then he entered 5th grade and with that came state mandated testing in science which, in my opinion, destroyed the "natural curiosity" that learning science provided. His learning of science, for years, has been reduced to textbooks, packets, power points and test prep questions. Yesterday, I saw my son ignited in a way that I have not seen in years and all it took was a family outing to the Dallas World Aquarium and the Perot museum. Over the years, it has been interesting hearing peers talk about the learning habits of teens as if it were biologically normal that they give up on high school learning. They do not. As a matter of fact, it’s not that they dislike school. It’s that school is sometimes not that interesting. I’m sorry but we, as adults, hate the "death by powerpoint" experience and to be clear…so do kids. I saw my son throw himself into the arms of science. I saw him getting excited about the wonders of the world while wondering quite a bit himself. I purchased a family membership and that purchase guarantees that on any given day, he can explore and tinker in the museum…a place that houses a robotics playground in the Texas Instruments Engineering Hall, an Energy Hall, Physics Hall and more biological discoveries than he will ever receive in school. The best part was taking this journey with him while also providing early exposure to 9 year old Braeden, who until yesterday had never experienced any of those things. As a parent, I wonder how much I may have impacted my son and nephew by spending about $100 and committing to their learning. For my nephew, who has been drawing animals with a vengeance lately, this trip was especially meaningful because he has only been drawing what he knew to find on google. He has never seen any of the things that he creates in person. Spending the morning at the Dallas World Aquarium was earth shattering for him. Heading over to the museum was priceless. I handed him my phone to capture "his wonders", things that he can research later. Our next stop…The Dallas Zoo! I wish that every kid had these opportunities and I am so grateful that I KNOW the importance of these moments. Again…I am deeply cognizant of the fact that I am their privilege. More Parent-Educator Wonders… 1. Why did we cancel school field trips again? The Math Alive Exhibit would be perfect for classes to experience!! 2. Why can’t everyday learning be filled with more of this in lieu of "STAAR test questions"? 3. I wonder if teachers need to go to places like this with interactive inquiry based exhibits in order to "get inquiry". Click to view slideshow.