The Innovative Educator’s Top Education Quotes for Teaching Generation Text

Every year I share my top quotes. This year, it is the quotes my co-author Willyn Webb and I have chosen to accompany the chapters in our upcoming book, “Teaching Generation Text.”. These quotes were chosen to entice, motivate and inspire. I hope they will be of value to other innovative educators as well. If you have a quote that you think would work well with a particular chapter, please share.

Introduction "The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." -Albert Einstein

The Texting Teacher "If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." - Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Estrada

The Texting Learner "Over the past forty years, technology has changed so rapidly that by now kids are blase about its wonders. The unimaginable for us has become their norm." - Dr. Michael Osit

Research Based Instructional Strategies Supported by Cells "We educators stand at a special point in time" - Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollock

Cell Phone Enriched Lessons to Engage Learners "...if we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." - John Dewey

The Five Building Blocks for Success with Cell Phones in Education. "You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great." - Les Brown

The Texting School Community: Administrators, Guidance Counselors, Parents, Librarians, & Beyond “Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” -Marian Anderson

Breaking the Ban with a Six Part Plan “Let’s admit the real reason that we ban cell phones is that, given the opportunity to use them, students would vote with their attention, just as adults would ‘vote with their feet’ by leaving the room when a presentation is not compelling.” -Marc Prensky

How to use Teaching Generation Text The more I learn, the more I realize what little I know. -K.C. Freeman

For more of my favorite quotes visit

• My Favorite Quote for 2010
• 20 Education Quotes from 2009
• 10 Education Quotes I Carry With Me - 2008

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My Top 20 Education Quotes from 2009

A well formed quote, like a picture, is a great method for painting detailed concepts. Each year I do my best to capture quotes that were impactful to me. Last year I shared these Ten 21st Century Education Quotes I Carry With Me. This year I am sharing another compilation of quotes and concepts I have collected over the past year through reading, events, classes, presentations and workshops. These quotes have been valuable to me and I hope they will be to other innovative educators as well. I don’t recall where I heard most of them (or even if it was me who said some of them), so I cited none of them. Oprah, The Element, Geoff Canada, and Alan November’s BLC conference in Boston were inspirations for several. Feel free to Google if you are trying to locate the source, or leave a comment with a source you know.


1) If we don't take ownership of our digital identity who will?
2) Why is the date of manufacture the most important determinant of how we group kids?
3) Do with. Not for.
4) Treat the world as a place of creation not consumption.
5) Many of the most brilliant and creative people didn't really discover what they could do and who they were until they'd left school and recovered from their education.
6) In the age of information, knowledge stops with paper. Paper is dead. You can't have a conversation with ideas on paper nor can you connect or communicate easily with others who care about those ideas.
7) Old punctuation means “stop” the new punctuation (hyperlink) means keep going.
8) The main thing the web is teaching our kids is the world is more interesting then we were ever told.
9) Because of technology, I have a network of advisors accessible to comment to and advise me at any time.
10) If you don't do something with what you learn you are a selfish twit!
11) Being in your element is when the things we love to do and the things we are good at come together.
12) When we takes notes, rather than keep it to ourselves it makes sense for others to learn from the way we are making meaning and respond and react to it.
13) When you learn something, don't keep it inside. Do something with it. Publish it! Blog it! Tweet it! Discussion Forum it!
14) Education has moved from consuming information for set answers to producing information to engage in conversation.
15) We don’t want a technology gap to become a skills gap to become an achievement gap.
16) Homework is an equity issue. If you don't have parents or guardians and technology available you are at a disadvantage.
17) Nostalgia is a seductive liar.
18) We shouldn't have tech action plans just like we shouldn't have pencil and paper action plans.
19) Never underestimate the vital importance of finding early in life the work that for you is play. This turns possible underachievers into happy warriors.
20) You must connect yourself to connect your students.

I love collecting these quotes and knowing how they’ve affected others. If one of these quotes affects you or if you have a quote that has affected you that you’d like to share please do by commenting on this post.

You have read this article Education Quotes / technology quotes with the title Education Quotes. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-top-20-education-quotes-from-2009.html. Thanks!

Digital and Diversity Natives – Contribute to Obama’s Success

Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. I was waiting in line more than two hours to participate in an historic election. Tuesday evening at midnight, I was dancing in the streets of Harlem where we were all figuring out ways to incorporate "O's" into our moves.

During the excitement, I couldn’t help but realize that Obama’s success was not predominantly dependent on the voters of my parent’s generation, as had been the case in most elections during my lifetime. Instead, this time, the candidate's success was also a tribute to the Digital and Diversity Natives who were raised in a world very different than that of my parents. Unlike my Digital and Diversity Immigrant parents who were born into a world devoid of the internet, went to segregated schools and lived in segregated neighborhoods, Digital and Diversity natives thrive in a world where race, creed, and color at times are not issues and sometimes are “virtually” nonexistent, as is commonly the case in their online worlds.

I have heard some Digital and Diversity Immigrants share their belief that this country wasn’t ready for a black man as president. “Sure, publicly some people will say they'll vote for Obama, but once behind those curtains, they’ll never vote for a black man.” However, some of the Immigrants are not in touch with, or are not speaking the language of, their Digital/Diversity Native children and grandchildren.

While many of these Immigrants were watching television, listening to the radio, and reading newspapers, Obama hired Chris Hughes, Co-founder of Facebook. Hughes helped Obama’s online campaign where right beneath the noses, yet out of the sight, of many Immigrants, Obama connected to a world they have yet to join. Obama spoke to these potential voters in real ways. On a personal level, Barack is following me on Twitter, he is in my Facebook, I get personal emails from him, I receive text messages and listen to podcasts, I have received direct online outreach to donate to his campaign…which I did. It was fast, easy and I got a shirt! While this may not be Obama per se, I can have real interaction with his campaign and staffers and get the inside scope when I want it.

All this was going on in a world devoid of many of our Immigrant elders leaving the natives to continue in worlds where the elders are not listened to, not because they are not respected, but because they have not learned how to speak the language of the Natives . Though while noticeably absent from the Native environments, some may now be jolted into the realization that it's time to lose some of their DSL (Diversity or Digital, as a Second Language) accent and begin speaking the language of those fluent in diverse and digital worlds.

There are clearly many other factors contributing to this campaign. However, the fact that Obama so wisely and elegantly tapped into the diverse online world that often is “virtually” devoid of race, creed, or color, and instead brings people (or avatars) together based on ideas, principals, and interests…to me is a clear indication that a bright new day is dawning. I am so thrilled to join a diverse group of supporters in this virtual and live celebration and invite the Immigrants who are not yet there to join us!

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For a summary of press articles recognizing this idea read Karl Fisch's post, "Democracy 2.0."

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Ten 21st Century Education Quotes I Carry With Me

Here are ten 21st Century education quotes that I've heard over the past few years that I liked enough to save in my Blackberry so I could look at, remember, and share. These are ten quotes that have been of value to me and I believe will be of value to other innovative educators as well. If I remember or know where they came from, I've indicated it below.

1-Technology is only technology to those who were born before it.
2-We need to prepare students for THEIR future not OUR past-Ian Jukes, educator and Futurist.
3-Teachers need to stop saying, “Hand it in,” and start saying “Publish It.” Alan November
4-We have moved from “know what” learning to “know where” learning.
5-The largest number of podcasts in education are about Podcasts in education.-Marco Torres.
6-Kids DO want to learn, but schools get in the way.
7-Digital Media enables us to build more stages for our kids to express themselves. - Marco Torres
8-What gets us in trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know that just ain't so. Mark Twain.
9-We need to replicate in the classroom the world in which students are living.
10-If we teach today the way we were taught yesterday we aren't preparing students for today or tomorrow.

A well formed quote, like a picture, is a great method for painting detailed concepts. I love collecting these quotes and knowing how they’ve affected others. If one of these quotes affects you or if there is a quote that has affected you that you’d like to share please do by commenting on this post.

You have read this article Educating Innovatively / Education Quotes / Inspiration / technology quotes with the title Education Quotes. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2008/04/ten-21st-century-education-quotes-i.html. Thanks!