Are You A Believer?

Posted by Calypso Admin
Tuesday June 1st, 2010 | 2 Comments

In the movie “The Matrix”, Neo, the character played by Keanu Reeves, was unwittingly born to be “The One”, destined to combat the all-controlling, shape-shifting aliens on their own terms for the good of humankind.  At first Neo rejected the possibility, not believing he had any special talents or role to play in the struggle for liberation.  Eventually though, the evidence was overwhelming and his true powers grew in strength as he embraced both them and his destiny.   Are you seeing the parallels to classroom voice amplification?

All right.  It’s a stretch and oh-so-geeky.  I run a tech company, so what do you expect?  Still, there is a point there that just doesn’t seem to be getting much traction.  The FACT is that voice amplification works.  It delivers on the promise.  It’s affordable and easy to use.  It’s non-invasive.  It requires no changes to curriculum, assessment or teacher training.  No massive technical infrastructure shake-up and no searching through terabytes of data teasing out confounding factors.  Put it in, turn it on and walk away.  Suddenly kids are attentive, engaged and improving.  Some more than others, but all are affected in just the right way.

Yet … we’re still pushing the rock uphill on this subject, as most administrators and teachers frankly don’t buy it.  They’re not believers and don’t seem to see the evidence for what it is or what it says.  Skepticism is good, but you can’t let it blind you.  So while I’m out there pushing on the NEA, DOE and others to look closely at this topic and create a movement for classroom voice amplification, I thought to take a page from “Did You Know” (http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/) and put the following video together.  Hopefully it helps …