By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
With advancements in technology, the classroom has had to grow with it. One local high school principal has provided a blueprint on utilizing today’s technology and integrating it into the classroom.
Buckeye Central Principal Dr. Mike Martin recently had his book “Blending Instruction with Technology: A Blueprint for Teachers to Create Unique, Engaging, and Effective Learning Experiences” published by Rowman and Littlefield this past July. The book features lesson plans and self-assessment plans for teachers to use, with numerous pages dedicated to various digital sources, along with their uses.
Martin explained how the idea for the book came about.
“It was a couple things,” Martin said. “I travel and attend a lot of educational conferences because I am always trying to learn. And people are always talking about these 21st century skills. In the presentation they would give they would be on different digital tools, and never skills, and so people were inaccurately using the definition of 21st century skills. So, that bothered me.
“The other piece that bothered me, its chapter number one of the book, I think schools are on the verge of becoming dangerously irrelevant. I think there’s a lot of kids taking school and classes online. There is lots of other modes of delivering education, there are lots of other ways to engage students of this generation, and so unless schools adapt to that we are going to become irrelevant, and that scares the heck out of me,” Martin added. “So what this book does it tries to bring relevancy back to schools. They don’t always see the relevancy of it. So we need to try to bring the relevancy back in what we do, and when we do that it is going to be used in technology that is germane to their lives, that is organic to their lives.”
Martin explained that there is a process to blend technology and learning.
“This is a process. I have created a process and I call it the ART of blended learning. That is an acronym that stands for Assimilate, Redesign, and Transfigure, and it is a process that the book walks teachers through on how to use technology in the classroom.”
Martin noted that while the book serves as an instructional manual for teachers, it also delivers laugh out loud and entertaining moments. Martin added that these moments in the book were culled from personal experiences, observations, and communications from others. While there are those moments in the book, Martin also explained that there are times where the subject matter makes the reader set the book down and contemplate what they had just read.
With the options of self-publishing, or attempting to get the book published by a publishing company, Martin said that he wanted to attempt at least one book without self-publication due to wanting to go through the rigor. While in the process of putting the book together Martin found out that getting the book published was not an easy process.
“I was kind of lucky because about six years ago I started doing some consulting for other publishing companies. They would send me manuscripts or summaries of ideas that other authors had, and they wanted me to review it to see if it was accurate, if it was needed, and if someone would buy it. So there were a few areas of academics that would send that stuff, so I was reading that stuff for six years, and I thought, ‘I can do that’.
“So there is all these processes that you go through, and actually I was writing another book, and I was trying to get that published, and it wasn’t going that well. Then I came in contact with Rowman and Littlefield, and they told me that it was a great idea, but here is why companies are not wanting to publish it. And so the publisher at Rowman and Littlefield and I had a great conversations through the phone, texting and emailing back and forth, and she said now that is something that people will buy and we will publish. So next thing you know they emailed me a contract and gave me a year to get it done. It took about eight months.”
While it took Martin eight months to write the book, he noted that the legal side of publishing the book was quite time consuming.
“I had to track down people to ask permission to use their images. I had to get permission from Alfie Khon, who has written a lot of educational books, and I had to get permission from him for something, and we started talking, and he was giving me ideas and suggestions, and I was telling him some of my ideas and suggestions, and he told me that it was a great idea,” Martin explained. “I was like, ‘You are Alfie Kohn, I am just a principal in New Washington, Ohio.’ But that was pretty cool having that conversation.”
Martin also added that another item that took time was editing the manuscript.
“So when you start off with a 194-page manuscript, there are a lot of words, and there are a lot of typos, and while the publishing company has an editor, it took both of us to work on it, to get through it. I had 18 pages of citations, I have 150-160 sites, and making sure that they are correct and done in the APA format,” Martin said. “That is the ugly side of publishing I don’t like. I like the creative side, you think about it, you write about it, and you talk about it, but sadly there is this other side and that is very time consuming as well.”
Martin noted that the manuscript also went through a title change from “The ART of Blended Learning” to “Blending Instruction with Technology: A Blueprint for Teachers to Create Unique, Engaging, and Effective Learning Experiences.”
Martin explained that originally the book was going to be based on Google exclusively, however his publishing company noted that by just using Google he was narrowing down his market share for the book as there are other technology options including Apple, Microsoft and others. As a result he blended the various options across all applications together for this book. Martin added that he did finish the book based solely on Google, but the book that was published is better-rounded.
Martin added that while this book is finished, he has a few other literature ideas that he is kicking around with, including one that is inspired from a relative’s works.
“I am writing a second one, I am writing a non-educational one right now. What many people don’t know me is that my grandpa (Robert Lee Martin) published 24 books. My grandpa was an author and he wrote mystery novels that are popular throughout the world. They were so popular, that from where he was from, they celebrate a day that is just his name. I think my dad a few years ago was still receiving royalties from his sales. There was a show called “77 Sunset Strip” that was on in the 1960’s that he wrote for as well.
“I don’t have any formal memories of my grandpa, he died when I was really young. So what I did was take one of the characters that appeared in his books, and I created a character that is that character’s grandson who is continuing his grandpa’s work,” Martin explained.
Martin added that writing the fiction novel is a struggle due to it being outside the realm of the world that he lives in, which is education. That world and his experiences are the starting seeds for his next educational literature work.
“The one I am working on now has a working title of “The Alpha and Omega of Classroom Instruction.” Alpha meaning the beginning of the class, and Omega being the end, and that is really about what do you do the first ten minutes in the classroom, and what do you do the last ten minutes in the classroom. If you ever read anything about neuro-science in our kids’ minds they are most alert in the first 10 to 15 minutes that you get them, and the last 10 to 15 minutes. So how can you use those time periods to really make an impact on the kids in the classroom?”
While he is in the early stages of the book, Martin hopes that he can get a co-author to collaborate with him for the book.
“I have met along my journeys some pretty good scholars. There is one professor from North Carolina that I respect a lot. We did a lot of stuff together, we traveled together and did a few conferences, I would like to partner with someone like that if possible, because I don’t know if I have the energy to do that in my current role. But if I can’t find someone like that I will do it myself.”
For more information on Martin’s book “Blending Instruction with Technology: A Blueprint for Teachers to Create Unique, Engaging, and Effective Learning Experiences” visit https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475826999/Blending-Instruction-with-Technology-A-Blueprint-for-Teachers-to-Create-Unique-Engaging-and-Effective-Learning-Experiences.