Boston Strong

           

I was in Boston visiting family for the Easter Break. I arrived on the afternoon of the Boston Marathon, fortunately, by the time I got out of Logan Airport, the last of the runners had crossed the finish line on Boylston Street in the Back Bay, so the City was (for a change) relatively congestion free and, in the West End, where I was staying, there was little evidence of the historic follow up to last year's tragedy, save the occasional reveler celebrating in one of the ubiquitous Irish pubs found throughout "Bean Town" and more than a few satisfied hurtlers with completion badges proudly displayed around their neck.

            I have to admit to a small amount of reluctance in making this trip as its proximity to the anniversary of last year's bombing, like the anniversary of 9/11 brought the tragedy a little too close to home for comfort (see the November entry of my Blog at lasallehs.blogspot.com). Readers of this space will remember that my brother, who works in New York's City Hall, which is blocks from Ground Zero, was impossible to contact until late in the day on 9/11. Ironically last year's Boston Marathon found two of my cousins, cheering on the athletes, just blocks from the finish line.  Fortunately they were far enough away that they were out of harm's way; but who really understands that in real time?

            So, as it got closer to my departure day and the news stories on the anniversary of the Boston Marathon tragedy began to multiply in frequency and in depth, I found myself turning off the radio during drive time. I wasn't sure how to feel, much less what to expect when I arrived in Boston, but I was fairly confident that it would be unusual. What I found, upon landing, was a city determined to prove to the world that a random act of terrorism was not going to detract from their pride in and support of the Nation's oldest continuously operating marathon held in a city that they loved. Someone made a lot of money on tee shirts, as everywhere I went people were wearing the slogan "Boston Strong."  Even when I got together with my cousins, there was hardly a mention of their connection to the bombing (and, trust me, my cousins talk a lot). It was only then that I began to understand the concept of resilience.

            A common definition of resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. It echoes the virtue of prudence from the Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher, the 18^th century treatise written by Brother Agathon, the fifth Superior General of the Christian Brothers.  He defined prudence as a virtue which makes us understand what we need to do and what we need to avoid. My cousins, proud - and resilient - Bostonians, weren’t about to dwell on a painful moment in time, but wanted to talk about the next family reunion, while I was turning off the radio because I didn’t want to be reminded of that awful tragedy.

In a recent interview on Face the Nation, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, commented on the anniversary of the Boston Marathon tragedy by claiming:

It's an Easter story... Boston has risen up from carnage, from death…at an event that brings people together. They've risen from that…the whole Boston community, has reminded us once again of the message of Easter. Life is stronger than death. Hope is stronger than despair.

             I suppose, in the end, Cardinal Dolan’s approach is not only the message we need to emphasize when life delivers overwhelming difficulties; but we must also embrace his Easter notion that life is stronger than death and hope is stronger than despair.  I must admit that it was abundantly obvious to me, during my short sojourn, that Bostonians - even those who were victimized by the bombing - were committed to the virtues of resilience and prudence. I learned a lot from my cousins and from the city of Boston about how to confront life’s realities, however positive or negative, and, why Easter continues to matter.

            My Easter resolution is to read Brother Agathon’s Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher a little more deeply so that my resolve to be resilient and prudent will shape how I handle the vagaries of life.

 

 

What "WWW" means for our students' future...

           

March 12^th marked the 25^th anniversary of the World Wide Web.  Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee proposed the concept to CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in 1989. More than one news outlet mistakenly used the term Internet in reporting the anniversary. While, today, we might consider the terms interchangeable, twenty-five years ago, the difference between the two terms was an essential way of distinguishing between the scientists who created the first computer-to-computer messaging system (Arpanet) in 1969 and the every day user who, 44 years later, would use the internet via the ”WWW” acronym for tasks as mundane as directions to a high school soccer game. Berners-Lee’s concept translated arcane computer “language” (code) into user-friendly symbols that made it possible for you and me to communicate with each other on-line without having to earn a degree in computer technology. The World Wide Web not only made it possible for us to do our Christmas shopping on-line, it also democratized the Internet so that anyone, regardless of economic status could access communications channels that were heretofore unforeseen since the day Alexander Graham Bell uttered those immortal words in 1876: “Mr. Watson,  come here, I want to see you.” Email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are now more commonly used by teenagers and adults alike than the post card or handwritten letter. Where folks of my generation would spend hours on the (rotary-dialed) telephone each evening, today’s teenagers use various “social media” tools for the same purpose. It was ever thus.

            Today the Internet is accessed by more than a billion users monthly. As the US Postal Service and print journalism have become painfully aware, there is no escaping this future…which is why schools across the United States have inexorably embraced the “1:1” environment (one computing device per student) in their classrooms.  And, while I have often noted, La Salle will be “the second school in” on any educational innovation, we are about to do the same.  It has been a challenging task. The first Monday of each month has been a half day schedule for students so that teachers can take the time to learn the basics of a 1:1 environment, engage in curriculum mapping exercises (a technology tool that will enable teachers to see how common educational skill sets can be supported across disciplines) and master the opportunities of “Blackboard” software which will facilitate teacher-student-parent communication regarding educational progress in a real-time environment.

            All of which is exciting and intimidating at the same time. Parents have a right to expect teachers to be experts in their discipline and its delivery; yet we are experiencing a transition in educational technology which mirrors William Goldsmith’s famous observation about Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.” When we put iPads in our students’ hands next August, we will get many things right and some things wrong (unfortunately, we won’t be able to predict the latter). We won’t, however, make the mistake of assuming that the fact of a 1:1 environment is superior, in and of itself.  What we will assume is that all of us can learn by doing in this brave new world.

            One of the benefits of the technological horizon that is upon us, not unlike Bell’s transformative imperative of 1876, is the recognition that how we will communicate, going forward, will be unlike anything we relied upon in the recent past. This dynamic will change how students learn, are held accountable and collaborate with their peers in a world where knowing information will be less important than the skill of producing information that is relevant to the task at hand.

            In his commentary on the 25^th anniversary of the World Wide Web, one technology expert noted that the Internet is still in its adolescent phase - meaning that today’s teenagers will encounter a technological horizon beyond our comprehension by the time they reach our age. The best we can do, now, is to give them the skills - and the values - to leverage those opportunities to fashion a better world than the one we will leave them.