"Hell! There aren't rules around here!"

Thomas Edison and the phonograph.

You have probably heard the often quoted story of Thomas Edison being interviewed by a reporter who asked how Mr. Edison could carry on with his goal of inventing the light bulb when he had failed with his experiments 700 times. Thomas Edison reponded,

"I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."

Well, I came across another great quote from Thomas Edison which a think is so aplicable to where we are at the moment with the use of interactive whiteboards. Here it is:

An interviewer visiting Thomas Edison at his laboratory asked, "What are the rules you want me to observe while I am here?"
"Hell! There aren't rules around here!" replied Edison. "In this laboratory, we're trying to acomplish something."

I want to encourage you to think like Thomas Edison, focus on feedback not failure and forget the rules, take a chance and experiment a little. Who knows, maybe both you and your students will learn something.

By the way, I found the 'Rules Story' in a book written by Robert K. Cooper called 'The Other 90%'.

Have a SMARTer day,
Jeremy