Wednesday, September 29, 2010

exemplar schools - maine

8) Have a Bias for Yes

When my son was little, I was going through a lot of turmoil at King, and I did not feel like doing much of anything when I got home. One day, I just decided that whatever he wanted to do, I would do -- play ball, eat ice cream, and so on.  
I realized the power of yes. 
It changed our relationship. 
The only progress you will ever make 
involves risk:
Ideas that teachers have may seem a little unsafe and crazy. Try to think, "How can I make this request into a yes?"

via Mike McCarthy's 10 big ideas

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exemplar schools - yes prep

cool jets yes prep - you rock..





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exemplar schools - louisville

bravo....


i love richard little at the end..
getting on those busses with a smile on their face... my job is done..
care.

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detox process

working on ways to monitor progress of learning...
visuals and focus thanks to our expert expert tutor - Craig...@csr_wildwood
verbiage thanks to @noamkos and @jamesmarcusbach and students
concept and soon to be hatched activity systems mapping comparing expert tutor with student thanks to @jimfolk
all above from research of tons of other really smart people.. tons (you are probably one of them)
(sharing just now esp for for @prettylikedeer who keeps me sane)


example of ongoing encouragement from Craig. huge grazie.
and ongoing ways to make this all scalable.. via @skap5
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Sunday, September 26, 2010

clubs as school

bravo guys... ben would be proud.



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suicide

let's talk about this  (update)when we talk about achievement and success...
 our bad:
1) we're basing all our data on tests that measure things we really don't believe in
2) the data is biased.. leaving out info that would completely mess up the pretty numbers


this.
this is what's urgent.
people feeling like they matter..


we keep overwhelming ourselves with possible solutions
we keep throwing tons of money at possible solutions
we keep writing more rules and blaming more people in search of possible solutions
we can't stop long enough to realize we're running the wrong way


life is really simple
detox to get back to simplicity:
1) notice - be mindful of what's going on around you
2) dream - imagine yourself solving/curing/doing/creating
3) connect - to people and content to make your dream/passion/project a reality
4) do - play offense - just do it

the one skill everyone needs - knowing what to do when you don't know what to do - being usefully ignorant (erica mcwilliams) - those four steps - that's it. practice those four steps with anything you want to learn - and then - like breathing - you will always know what to do when you don't know what to do.


let's get on with...
cognitive surplus - via shirky - where generosity takes over
digital equity - via grammatis - ahumanright.org
leveling out the playing field - via rosling
community as curriculum - via cormier
= people matter most



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summerhill

interviews from kids who went there...
what will you miss about summerhill...
i will miss being significant.
how have we missed that... how are we too busy for that?

the whole site is intriguing... since 1921.

people need change. people want to matter... to do things that matter.
freedom to do things that matter.

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seth godin




















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triiibes people at tedxpennquarter

anne mccrossan - oh yay...

diversity=sustainability
every human is their own cultural ecology




















examples: ted, childsi
infectious vision in an unstructured environment












angela lussier

cartwheel - everything after that will be less embarrassing
your creativity is an issue - 
our stories are what are going to change other people's stories

business for people who feel locked up at work
time to stop waiting for the future to change and time to start creating it



and of course
kes sampanthar


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guy walks across america

very very cool...



behind the scenes....


so much to learn from this.
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Saturday, September 25, 2010

mash-up

sugata mitra and will richardson.

the secret is in 
providing the resources... 
and then fighting the urge 
to manage them.
i'm thinking.... sugata mitra is incredible... he had to leave the country...


as i see it now -
it used to be that content was king... and we (expert tutors) did our best to deliver.
now.. there's too much (and morphing) content... but there are more ways to connect to expert tutors.
so facilitating connections (to people and content) where a standard process of learning how to learn can be practiced in more personalized ways is.... well - it's a delightful breath of fresh air.
we should be swimming in it. if we could just...

let go.

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richard leider

via BIF-6 Richard Leider | Business Innovation Factory
- take a listen to the audio - 
2 most important days..
1) the day you are born
2) the day you discover 
why you were born

find your place...


rest of bif notes/talks/convos

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sal khan

and yay.

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offense

the way you do it is to do it
via @chrislehmann

the market is not seduced by logic
via Seth Godin
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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

steven berlin johnson

on ted: where good ideas comes from -
what is the space of creativity:



shared patterns of creativity and innovation.
have to steer away from which our content and metaphor and verbiage describe this now..
now = an idea is a single thing.
but in fact - and idea is a network on the most elemental level.
how do you get your brain into environments where these networks can perform.

infant mortality rates - tech is there.
problem - it will work for 2 yrs then break - because you don't have the systerm and 40000 dollars to fix it.
what are the abundant resources in these developing companies
seem to have expertise to keep cars working.
so - could we build an incubator built from car parts.
all you need are spare parts and ability to fix a headlight.

 the spaces that have tended to lead to innovation.. look very chaotic... filled with people with many different backgrounds.
people are notoriously unreliable when they report on where they have had their best ideas.
dunbar - video taped everyone when doing jobs and tried to figure out where most important ideas happened.
most break through ideas happened at the conference table when they shared their ideas - mostly their mistakes... led to innovation.
people want to tell the story of the eureka moment.
a lot of important ideas have very long incubation periods.. sometimes for decades.
interesting ideas but not tools yet... or one piece missing.. darwin - natural selection.
howard gruver - found darwin's full theory months and months before he claimed his eureka moment.

fade into view over a long period of time.
so how do you create space for these ideas to ferment..
allow those hunches to connect with other people's hunches.
we should spend at least as much time if not more valuing the connecting of ideas rather than protecting them.



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bonnie bracey sutton

....teaches me daily.
her latest when i asked why/who are the fcc...

Bonnie Bracey Sutton September 22 at 10:16am Report
The internet has governances and the government tries to share with us the way it can work. There is a committee and there is a citizen's group as well as open meetings. The law of the land is that the FCC
provides guidance. To get the train and highways back in the day on the same size track, same time zone ( trains) groups were set up to create commmissions that represent all of the states to make a decision. When the interstate highways came along it was the same thing. The Internet is the latest of the connecting state iniitatives.
I guess that each state could do its own thing, but for national security and governance the FCC is the provider and the decider. Sort of.

ideo

the future of the book  - via @IvanaSendecka


The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

steven johnson

where good ideas come from - via @hrheingold




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offense

Seth Godin on opportunity 

.. take it..








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Monday, September 20, 2010

daniel coyle

deep practice from his talent code



talent isn't born it's grown
when we practice in certain ways we are actually improving our brain
deep practice can increase skill ability 10 times more
we could check ability simply by asking - how do you practice
removes mystery to talent - gives you access to the mechanisms to get you their

mayleigh on deep practice:


look at those eyes....


myelin development:


ray montagne held himself up in a room for 2 years..  p. 81 in talent code
getting into the zone..

p. 80ish
rule 1 - chunk it up
take in the whole thing: stare at or listen to until you can imagine yourself doing it, we're pre-wired to imitate
break into chunks: learn each chunk then piece back together
slow down: allows you to attend to errors, can embrace internal blueprint

rule 2 - repeat it
but not like we know practice, deep practice requires energy, passion, commitment, all most experts can handle is 3-5 hours a day  p. 89 for even less hours

rule 3 - learn to feel it
get a balance point where you can sense errors when they come, to avoid mistakes - 1st you have to feel them immediately, what you're really practicing is -- concentration


perception of self - i am a ____________________




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james paul gee

ask the expert


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dean groom

prezi on ict in higher ed:




excellent videos, etc...

from earlier:
[i can't convince myself that we all need ie: algebra... please help]
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Sunday, September 19, 2010

bif 6 - my notes & such


my story from the stories:

I believe we need to focus on offense… we’re burying ourselves in defense.
I believe we need to respectfully question and unpack assumptions of success.
I believe we need to focus on what makes us tick and then stand graciously tall.

Everyday.

i believe innovation = learning.
and innovation is not invention. 
we don't need to invent anything more in ed. 
we need to rework what we already have in time/money/resources. 
we need to listen to global voices and become more resourceful.
all anyone needs is access to resources (and probably a bit of detox) 
not managers/owners.... use Sugata as an example. 
those all around us are our emotion and ignition and passion...

from reading talent code to and from... 
wondering how incredible if we could free ourselves up (the land of the free - right?) to let kids choose their topic and then facilitate/model deep practice, a keen process of learning how to learn...



[i can't convince myself that we all need ie: algebra... please help]





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matthew marsh

choose not to fall - 1 min film

via @ajenkins
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will richardson

excellent post in edutopia...
dang 2007...

secret of Sugata Mitra - he left them for 3 months at a time... no?

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game design

quest to learn and james paul gee in the nytimes
[i can't convince myself that we all need algebra... please help]


 more links from laura..
the current edition of new york times magazine is dedicated to education:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html?ref=education
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19Essays-cellphone-t.html?ref=education
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19Essays-online-t.html?ref=education
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19Essays-kodu-t.html?ref=education


monika, thought you may be interested in this teacher's town hall:
http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=DC9A4C20-BE68-11DF-B09C000C296BA163
other speakers on education are scheduled to appear next week on nbc's "education nation" summit

oprah is discussing education on monday (9/20) and friday, (9/24)
http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Waiting-for-Superman-The-Movie-That-Can-Transform-Americas-Schools


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broadband

bringing it to people with low incomes.. via benton foundation..
the fcc

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dan meyer

on pseudocontext
esp note carloann's comment:
I think there are four ways to approach maths with students, and I make the four ways obvious by encouraging discussion:
1. What is the maths here? (abstract)
2. Is there any REAL occasion when we might do this naturally
3: Is there any obvious job-related occasion when this is used on real life ( engineer; psychologist; physicist; statistician etc etc)
4: What is a national exam question on this topic likely to look like? (pseudocontext)

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Saturday, September 18, 2010

mashup fried & coyle

@jasonfried was at #bif6 - wow to that.
i quote Rework daily. (fyi to the people who can't hear me)

on the plane to and from Providence (which i fell in love with) -
i read Daniel Coyle's Talent Code.
[which @kessampanthar recommended to me like a year ago. he recommended that and Carol Dweck's Mindset. the 2 books i put off till last on my then current list. silly me.]


so - my take...
Coyle's deep practice bleeds of Fried's rework.

it was like - that's how you do it.
the mash-up for me:
before reading talent code - rework was my play book for making days matter. like i would focus on orchestrating better time slots. (i'm sure a disservice to rework's intent.)
after reading talent code - rework is the bi-product (as i'm assuming was it's intent) of my inner emotion (@nabilharfoush) and ignition.

so to me - right now - rework is part of the detox (critique requested) most of us need.
which as you can see below - ridiculously resembles keith's site.

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keith hamasha

see, believe, think, act


detox:
notice, dream, connect, do

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bif 6

oh bif 6...
how i love you.

more to come...
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alfie kohn

getting at the whole success misnomer..
grazie Alfie and @rvesper

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Friday, September 17, 2010

shelly blake plock

his post on homework

a piece:
Again, in 'real-life' does anyone actually get a thrill out of answering canned questions? Yet there are bookclubs everywhere. And why is that? It's because people love to talk about what they are reading. They don't love to be graded on how they answer questions, they just love to talk.
And in talking and discussing, 
they learn.
And in this social media rich environment, it's downright backwards to refrain from tapping in to that.


also just caught this on twitter: google for students
haven't read through much, but i'm guessing perusing that could be great use of time

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

chris anderson

crowd accelerated innovation


online video - learning innovation

web taught dancers dancing at the oscars
evolution of dance

cycles of improvement by people watching web videos
crowd excelerated innovation
the bigger the crowd the more potential
find the crowd, light in the light, dial up the desire
on the web - all 3 dials are ratcheted right up, esp the desire level
hardest part - light - you have to open up -it's by giving a way your deepest secret, in order to improve it
at ted  - radical openness works
we're a social species, we spark off each other

what is underreported - is the significance of the rise of online video, this is the tech that is going to allow the rest of the world's talents to share their talents, which launches a whole new brand of innovation
1st few yrs of web, video free, because so large, but bandwidth has exploded
video packs a huge amount of data and our brains are uniquely wired to decode it

unicycle  - can't communicate in words - but through video, global community unites

jove  - scientists peer review via video

that nonverbal portion is some serious magic

the primal medium that your brain was wired for, just went global
1st time in human history, students can sit in front of the world's finest

change in ed will take many educators, but they are out there, in the crowd, and the crowd is switching on lights and we can see them for the first time

chris has always been an inspiring guy - but now, we get to see them
i love this, ted's now immersed with video of others talking as well.


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Sunday, September 12, 2010

can ed scale?

@willrich45 posted: reality check

my response... can't get it to post there.. so here:

Postman - 40 years ago..
Asimov - 22 years ago - http://tinyurl.com/279hhgz as well....
to me it just verifies we should. not - dang we'll never get there.


the difference... now we have a means to do what Postman and Asimov and Mitra and Papert.... and so many others could just talk about.

Shirky's cognitive surplus isn't just generosity... it's tech and generosity. Mitra didn't his experiments without tech. Papert's standard of individualization can't scale without web access.


i read an article today - about how stupid the web is making us.
that's silly. anything can make you stupid if you let it.
and the web certainly will if we do ed like we have in the past.
the overwhelming web + teaching a set curriculum + mandating a set time = ridiculous.
i'd want to disengage if the web was available and people made me disconnect - to learn.


instead - let's look at the potential of the web. Mitra says, with self-supervised access to the web we could change.
self- supervised... that's the key.
we need to learn the ways of the pro-amateurs, like James Bach. his Buccaneer-Scholar is a gold mine.


so we spend a few years in detox... learning how to self-learn. and that's it.
learning what you want to learn doesn't need to be marketed... there's natural hunger there. exponentiation of networks will scale. if we let people self-impose.


let's focus on the sort of people who don't want to power down.. who crave doing something that matters.. not the ones that keep telling us we can’t. http://tinyurl.com/297j7gz

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Saturday, September 11, 2010

carne ross

at bif 5 - and now on ted


first bif summit talk to air on Ted...

i believe in randomness.

diplomacy like business is a way for solving problems and yet it doesn't allow for innovation.

personal lesson: falling off a cliff is a good thing and i recommend it - at least once in your life
bigger lesson: we are all intimately connected... instead of asking your politicians to do things you have to look to yourself to do things

he gave up on the higher ups to take care of things and took it upon himself to be an independent diplomat.
he's bringing the people together for a conversation.
of course you think this is incredibly difficult - but it will never happen if we don't try.

tech has not delivered political change in iran

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insight school

whoa - check out the  
student profiles











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Friday, September 10, 2010

blc 2010

via @lizbdavis

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isaac asimov

20 years ago:


how everyone will enjoy learning....

what about the fact that computers dehumanize people..
isaac - just the reverse
in old days had live individual tutors, hired, but not everyone could afford it...
but wanted more educated - so only way was to have one teacher for many...
either 1 to 1 for very few
or 1 to 1 for many
but now - we can have 1 to 1 for many....

dang - 22 years ago... what have we been doing?

ie: the kids in sugata's video - wanted to be football players until they watched teds - and now want to be picasso...

this is a way for every kid to create their own class
and to make it so school isn't a thing kids do

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derek sivers

3 min ted: keep your goals to yourself



not sure how i feel about this..
you?
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bif 6


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Thursday, September 9, 2010

sugata mitra

revisiting the hole in the wall at ted 2010
children will learn to do 
what they want to learn to do



if children have interest 
then education happens

with self-supervised 
access to the web 
we could revolutionize 
how we think 
about teaching


it's pretty simple stuff...
right @johnccarver ?


self-organizing systems


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can't we help Sugata do this in less time and with less money...?
i believe so...
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parents crunch the numbers


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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

loic le meur

latest of Seesmic and a custom Chatter App.



cool...
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forensics science class

and the rest of the ideas
for back to school from ny times

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derek sivers

how to start a movement



1. nurture your first few followers as equals

2. the first follower is the one who transforms the lone nut into a true leader

3. new followers emulate the followers not the leader

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macfound



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shelly blake-plock

great guide
for dealing with the foibles of tech
via @teachpaperless.
huge grazie.

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drugs and kids

ridiculous...
let's stop this.
really.

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seth godin

i woke up 30 min early - for no apparent reason...

aw... here's why...
thank you once again Seth Godin... for sharing
things that matter..

The Double Bottom Line from Alex Godin on Vimeo.
as he says... can watch video and post separate of each other...
but should do both.
it's that important.

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

tsdil - random quote

found in the lab on a dry erase board. oh yay...

fixed ideas 
won't get you 
far today. 
open your mind 
and try to accept 
wild concepts. 
-unknown

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hans gillies





hans is studying permaculture in our district innovation lab

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Monday, September 6, 2010

tsdil - first lessons

going to get better but here's a start on my tsdil journal:

this first 3 weeks of school has been more incredible than any of my other 20 as an educator. because kids are taking over. i am learning tons.
huge lesson #1:
on the term homeless - doesn't say houseless... so not so much about the shelter.. but about fitting in. we have many homeless in our classrooms.
huge lesson #2:
on best way to help the homeless... we can't force someone to care about changing or improving themselves. we can however.. offer free resources. many cities do that for homeless people. the invisible homeless, the majority of homeless - women and children, can take advantage of that. (needless to say - we need more.)
and as for the homeless in education - we could have the opportunity to offer free resources to anyone, anywhere, means to whatever they want to be. there are so many resources out there already.... enough to save the world even. we just need the pipeline to every individual.

i met up with Kosta Grammatis just this last week.. he started ahumanright.org about a year ago. he is seeking global wifi as well. we need Kosta and about 9 other true innovators....
http://itssaulconnected.com/archives/2010/06/focus-on-customer-experience/
i believe we could have a solution to global wifi pounded out within a year.
i would love any support you have to offer to this end.

it's like - now we are the kids, we are the learners... we need to own what we see as the solution. we need to be the solution. we need to model - owning the solution.
Bill Strickland's look like the solution... not the problem.

user friendly tech integration

convos on homelessness and resources these last couple of weeks reminded me of teachers/students and force feeding tech.. which made me revisit our summer plans to have






done..
still working on it.. help if you can.
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tsd innovation lab


                        The TSD
lab
Currently the lab involves .4% of our district's students.
Students are creating/enhancing their own projects/courses.
The goal: learners own the learning.

The premise is for a student to create their own class/tribe/community,
with expert tutor(s) and mentors
for a project/action/course
they are choosing to research and/or act upon.
The Lab is a hatchery for
learning innovations.
We are working with Dr. James Folkestad at CSU via participatory action research,
in order to create/document a cohesive structure
to validate and scale/share our findings.
Lab participants have a daily commitment to research and growth,
to self-efficacy, and to an unquenchable thirst to
give back to our community.
Innovation has become a buzzword .
Invention and innovation are not the same.
Innovation is simply a better way to deliver value.
Often we don’t have to invent anything new to deliver value or solve a problem.
We have to get better at reconfiguring and combining existing capabilities to deliver value.
We have the inputs for innovation at our disposal.
Our focus needs to shift to the outputs.
Are there proof points that the solution works in the real worldand at scale?
We need to invest in platforms and tools to enable new model and system experiments.
We need to collaborate with unusual suspects across organizations, disciplines and sectors.
We need to organize safe zones where we can try new approaches in the real world
  designed around the end user.

rightingteacher

one of my fav twitter profiles:



 

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Sunday, September 5, 2010

worries

and 5 they shouldn't

advice: helmets and seat belts.. and water wings?...
via @kessampanthar
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writing

at post via @kdwashburn (via @jerridkruse)


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dan meyer

capturing perplexity
... love his description - take a listen.

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saul kaplan

great insight on 


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noam kostucki

on being yourself


we are gathering for videos like Noam's to go on the front page of be you.

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seth godin - smiles

your smile didn't matter.
i love today. that  
you matter 
more than the job..

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Saturday, September 4, 2010

whoa

via @chamada
double back flip in a wheelchair


just one more time...
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i could

i'm addicted to icould - this one's on music careers


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think tutorial

via @rmbyrne



Think Tutorial is a database of simple, easy to follow tutorials covering all aspects of popular computing. Technology is fantastic, but it can be difficult to keep up with at times. Think Tutorial's strength resides in its very intuitive approach and design. Every inch of web estate is used wisely keeping everything simple and organized.
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bill strickland

revisting Bill..








i was first intro'd to him about 2 years ago with this:
 


 almost every time someone tells me i'm crazy or idealistic - i have visions of Bill Strickland's visions.
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icould

via @rmbyrne

icould.com is a free, inspirational resource, offering an insight into real career stories told by real people.

 follow icouldstories on twitter

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add this button

via @rmbyrne


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