Chapter 9: Gaming the System: A Sociocultural Perspective

Somewhere in the middle of a school day, somewhere in the middle of the school year—a good friend and the former music teacher at the middle school where I teach stopped by to say hello on his way to a workshop in a nearby district. We barely had five minutes to catch up with one another when he found himself being dragged off to lunch by other former colleagues while I was summoned by the same bell to follow a different agenda; I had a class to teach. As he walked away, Jim turned his head back toward me and said simply but sternly over his shoulder: “Mark Prensky’s (2006)Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning. Read it.” I had never heard of the book or its author, but I trusted Jim to know both my interests and useful material.