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""Our teachers hopefully have hours and hours of support and training for integrating [technology] into the classroom, but what help are parents getting?" This is an important question posed in Educating Parents in the Siri Generation, a blog post by Carl Hooker that explores how "analog parents" can rise to meet the challenges of their "digital kids." It's this exact problem-the difference the learning environments that most parents experienced versus the ones in which their children are learning in-that formed the basis of our Smart Parents series and culminating book project (launching in August 2015). If you've been around the edu-innovation space for awhile, you've probably come across Carl Hooker-or @MrHooker as many of us know him. With a title like Director of Innovation and Digital Learning (Eanes ISD, Texas), he knows a thing or two about the next generation of teaching and learning. Here are some pearls of wisdom from his perspective as a parent and an administrator in a one-to-one mobile device district."

"At Branson Junior High, our amazing team of teachers and principals, along with the encouraging support of our school district superintendents to be innovative with a purpose, are on a journey to personalize learning for every child. We are starting small, but dreaming big and have already experienced some momentous transformations in our school culture. At this school year's kick-off orientation event for parents and learners, we built on the familiar analogy of a go-kart track to communicate the vision of personalized learning at BJH (Branson, MO is a big tourist destination in mid-America). Most junior high/middle school aged kids would be excited to hear their parents say they were going to the go-kart track for a night out of family fun. However, if when they arrived at the track the parent asked the attendant for a two-seater go-kart and then directed their son/daughter to climb in the passenger seat, the child's excitement level would immediately deflate. You can easily picture in your mind's eye the typical response a child would have to their parent's action: "I thought we were here to have fun?! Can't we each have our own go-kart to drive?" Likewise, if we desire fully engaged and responsible learners, then we must provide them the opportunities to drive their own go-kart. Just like a go-kart track, we set-up safe boundaries, provide some initial guidance, but then let the learner buckle-up and drive!"