The Circle, by Dave Eggers

I need to change the way I record book recommendations.  A friend recommended this book to me but I didn't write down who it was.  Now I wonder about who it was and am curious about whether it was someone criticizing my involvement with technology or if they thought I'd simply be interested.  Whichever was the motivation, my response is perhaps different that they might have anticipated.  I am reading this not so much as a morality tale about technology but instead a reflection on assessment.

The book has received mixed reviews.  The writing has been criticized as lacking in literary merit.  The criticisms may be justified, but still the book offers opportunities for discussion of the new mania for measuring everything and then rewarding or punishing based on the numbers.

I also had to laugh at the images created of the multi-tasking demands made on The Circle's employees.  I'm about half way through and the protagonist is now having a fourth screen installed on her desk.  (Which makes me wonder if the author doesn't know about tiling windows on a screen.)  But still...

I'm close to several customer experience employees and know the pressures on them to produce high "numbers" are ridiculous.  The "metrics" being produced each day to evaluate their work are dizzying and oppressive.  In contrast I consider Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow.  Based on his work, being focused on numbers actually probably makes it impossible to work within a state of flow.  In my own professional life I am drowning in data and assessment (including huge pressures to "raise" numbers).  Last night some of my World of Warcraft guild members and I were discussing the effects of assessments on the abilities of teachers to include innovative, engaging, relevant activities/content in this instruction.  One of us retold a story of teachers energized by ideas of game-based learning and inclusion of student created machinima (or movies) in the curriculum.  But the teachers quickly shut down when they realized that they wouldn't be able to create multiple choice tests to measure achievement of standards connected to these exciting curriculum/instruction ideas.  We then discussed the problems several of us were seeing in young adults/adults being successful in completion of post-secondary education (or graduation from high school).  I have to believe that there is a link between the difficulty many are having with completing school and our increased emphasis on test scores.  (This would be a side-effect of attempts to reform/improve education that we forget to measure.)

Maybe a random connection (this is the way my mind works) but it perhaps helps build my case--
Act Two. Is That a Tape Recorder in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Unhappy to See Me?, a segment from This American Life first aired on 9/10/2010.  In the second segment of the show the story surrounds the effects of assessment numbers on policing  in New York City.  In short, it was not good!

There's a principle in science "by measuring you distort."  I think it's time in our era of easily obtained numbers that we go back to this fundamental idea.  Another principle that I haven't heard recently is "garbage in--garbage out."

I know I am swimming upstream trying speak out against "data collection"  (especially since that is part of my work responsibility) but I think we need to take a moment to pause and consider if we're guilty of putting the cart in front of the horse in much of our assessment plans.  I'm not convinced that we have learned how to identify data that will actually measure the critical factors leading to success or excellence in most of our endeavors.  Not only that, but I am concerned that focusing all this human capital on getting "the numbers up" instead of working on actually doing/producing something is going to have long term disastrous effects on our economy.

There's also a risk that in search of  perfect ratings that we are in danger of eliminating creativity and genius.  When we become preoccupied with numerical ratings, particularly those from rubrics, we can easily miss the unexpected or creative.  For example, I'm pretty certain that if O'Keeffe's, Van Gogh's, Monet's, or Kadinsky's works had been measured using a rubric developed by a committee that they would have been identified as "does not meet standards."

Crater, by Homer Hickam (2012)

My son is considering astro-physics as a career path.  When I came across this title I knew immediately that I needed to read it.  Hickam is most known for his book Rocket Boys  that was used as the base for the film October Skies.  Rockets, spaceships, and outerspace are not my first choice of settings in fiction.  However, Hickam has captured my imagination.  His possible world, mining for inexpensive energy on the Earth's moon, is believable and in the opinion of many scientists, likely.  His background as the son of a miner and as a NASA engineer makes the underlying science trustworthy.  I'll admit--the science is way beyond my knowledge level, but I'll trust Hickam to know what he's talking about.

This appears to be a promising series that will appeal to both boys and girls.  There is a love interest, strong family/community themes, and the adventures that the main character, Crater Trueblood survives.  I am actually looking forward to the next book.  As someone with more interest in biology and ecology Hickam conveyed the geology and energy science topics in an interesting and understandable fashion.  He even discussed the main object of the mining on the moon, helium-3, in a way that got me interested in this isotope. 

I recommend this book strongly to teachers as a good choice for a book club selection or even a whole-class reading.  If English language arts and science teachers are collaborating this is a great choice for physics and energy related units.

Divergent, by Veronica Roth

I had hesitated to begin this series.  It felt too much like it was going to be "just another" dystopian novel.  I'm a little weary of the genre  (with a few exceptions).  I may be one of the few who didn't really like The Giver.

This book was a wonderful surprise!  The plot line was not the expected for a dystopian work. Or at least that wasn't the plot line that grabbed my attention.  The main character, Beatrice, is really an adolescent trying to  find her way and her future in a complex world.  She has complicated relationships with almost everyone in her life.  This nuanced interplay of trust/mistrust, friendship/betrayal, and belonging/ostracism plays out very well in the story. 

To pull you in a bit--Beatrice lives in a post-something (apocalypse?) Chicago.  In this world you can be part of one of five factions or be factionless (not at all a good thing).  The factions were formed based on personality characteristics:  Erudite, Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, or Amity.  On your 16th birthday you have to choose a faction.  You can stay with your family's faction, or join another.  Beatrice was raised in an abnegation family.  They dress plainly (mostly grey) and try to minimize the concern for self and instead think of the greater good.  At 16 Beatrice surprises everyone by choosing Dauntless.  In doing so she has to learn to be physically strong and fearless in all ways.

Much of the book chronicles "Tris's" training in Dauntless.  She develops some very uncomfortable suspicions during her training. 

The ending of the book is thrilling and is likely to push you out the door to buy the next book in the series.  I expect that this is best for high school readers, but some junior high readers could tackle it.  The publisher suggests ages 14-17.