Photo credit: http://thenewpostliterate.blogspot.com/2009/01/dr-john-m-bennetts-solo-and.html
In the PLPNetbooks community (Australia work) this blog post surfaced after my interview with Steve Hargadon on The Future of Education
The Title of the post is the same as mine.. Why Are We Here? It follows:
Ok ... Now I've got your attention' [...]I have been thinking a lot about how to manage the needed change process in education. Looks like a lot of folks have been playing with that idea as well. ISTE released their new NETS for ADMIN framing it as having the potential for -
Transforming [...]
"Things do not change; we change." Thoreau
"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not." James Gordon, M.D.
"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means'" [...]
Will and I are excited to announce the inaugural Powerful Learning Practice Visioning Boot Camp for Educational Leaders to be held at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia this summer.
You can get all of the details here, but the bottom line is [...]
My daughter Grace (pictured above wearing the "optical Illusion" threadless) loves Threadless T-shirts. She always asks for them for Christmas.
I recently got this email and thought I would share.
Hi There,
I wanted to let you know about a new program that is being hosted by Threadless which [...]
It has become apparent to me that I have raised a family with strong geek tendencies and I find it quite endearing. Don't get me wrong, we are all cultured and our interests range from the arts to medicine but deep down we are way techno-geek and nerdy about our' [...]
Bottom line- Get your students involved. Join the Working together Site, raise some money, and donate to help rebuild schools and help Australia's students. (left hand column of the' [...]
In a family or community when some of us hurt- we all hurt. When some of us succeed we all celebrate.
Many of those in our community from Australia are hurting. We need to stand with them in this time of crisis. I got this letter today. [...]
I had the opportunity recently to facilitate a group of business, education, political and community leaders in a discussion about developing a workforce ready group of graduates in the 21st Century.
I was given the task of relaying the experience. I have decided [...]
Received this today and believe in the work. Thought I would share with you.
I am writing on behalf of Academy
Award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth, co-founder of 826 National Nínive
Calegari, and writer Dave Eggers. They are the Director and
Co-Producers of the feature-length documentary The Teacher Salary
Project. We wanted [...]
My oldest daughter Amber was interviewed recently. I was blown away by her response to this question.
So what most inspires you?
Community. Whether it is 50 kids at a hardcore show screaming along the lyrics to a local band's song, a really encouraging comment thread' [...]In this new year many of us have promised ourselves to try and find more balance in our lives. I personally vowed to spend more time connected with the earth through hiking, walking on the beach, and playing hard with my four 20-something kids. And yet with [...]
Someone in a community I belong to recently said, "Why should teachers change? We are asking them to work harder, do things in
a new way, unlearn the old ways of doing things, and when they do all
that we have asked we do what? Tell them thanks?" [...]
I’ve been tagged by Jenny Luca to contribute to this meme. The idea is that you share 7 things about yourself that would be unknown to your readers.
1. Before I attended college at age 26, I managed health spas.
2. I first became interested in education when I [...]
"21st Century Learning is students and teachers co-creating the curriculum. The teacher has a broad-brush idea of where to go, but the students connect this outline with their own passions, developing a syllabus together."
One of the Powerful Learning Practice community members recently gave this definition to 21st Century learning. [...]
Frustrated I turned to my PLN on Twitter and asked--
* What about kids talking to each other and learning socially is so hard to "get"?
* Why is control such a huge part of school culture? Control of kids--control of teachers?
* Why do we not trust students [...]
Last night my son walks outside- snaps this- and comes in and emails me. He then Skypes and says, "Check your email." Interesting thing- we live in the same house. I get up and go outside and make him come look with me f2f. While we are outside, my daughter, [...]
In his book, Shirky describes a "ladder of activities that are enabled or improved by social tools" in which "The rungs on the ladder, in order of difficulty, are sharing, cooperation, and collective action." (Here Comes Everybody, p.49).
While I am sure Shirky never intended for anyone to [...]
After the ELH conference I was scheduled to fly across Australia to Perth and do an all day workshop at the Hale School. The campus was incredible and expansive. Participants came from all over Western Australia but the most exciting part for me personally was that Sue [...]
I met Bruce through Will and I have to tell you from Day 1 I was impressed. Bruce Dixon is the founder and president of the Anywhere, Anytime Learning Foundation and consults to schools, school districts, education departments, Ministries of Education as well as technology companies such as Microsoft, hp-Compaq, [...]
Sheryl's excellent adventure started in Australia! I was invited to keynote the ELH conference in Victoria, Australia. As I was preparing to go an amazing thing happened that shows the power of the network. I had announced on Twitter I was going and lo and' [...]
It has been two months since I have posted. I don't know why I am telling you, because obviously if you are still hanging in there as my reader you know this to be true. I have been busy traveling, presenting, convening a conference and posting in' [...]
So I am on Twitter and looking at various posts. I see one about ScreenFlow and decide to Google it. I see a YouTube tutorial and decide to watch it. It is a Mac tool, but I like speaking both languages. So I click on the [...]
My life has been a whirlwind of activity since NECC and I have found it hard to keep up with blogging. I don't know why, but I feel guilty blogging when I have other deadlines looming. Do any of you experience that? Is it illogical? Should [...]
Spotlight NECC08 Session with Will Richardson
This session will describe the work done by the presenters in creating
a sustainable model for ongoing professional development using 21st
Century technologies.
I have to admit that we were nervous about this presentation. Not the presentation part (Will and I do this "on stage" thing [...]
I left the conference a little disjointed -- not sure why and decided to reflect transparently and see if any of you (my community of readers) can help me sort it out. Please comment below. I welcome your thoughts.
First let me say that meeting so many folks f2f (if [...]
I have been spending some time recently responding to a listserv discussion that has many brilliant, award winning teachers on it who are not sold on the idea that we really are going to have to change education to remain relevant; that *they* are going to have to change. I [...]
Kia ora from New Zealand.
The 5th of June is World Environment Day - an international initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme. This
year, New Zealand is co-hosting the day, and we have a range of activities
and initiatives planned.
To recognise the importance [...]
We all need some time not online. Here is how I spend mine. Thank goodness for holidays!
I am sitting on the front of the boat taking pics!
David and Travis are on the jetski, Amber and Jimmy in the tube and Noah and Grace (not pictured) are on [...]
While I obviously haven't been blogging- I have been fast at it. I would say I have been busy, but Dean Shareski (our new convener for K12Online) has taught me we are all busy and I am not suppose to talk about how busy I am, but [...]
What does music, film, live performances, laughter, passion, reculturation and blogging for charity have in common?-- Western NY's Powerful Learning Practice's culminating celebration!
Holland's team performing a remake of "This Land is my Land" into a Web 2.0 Song
May 22, 2008- 20 school teams in the Western New [...]
Today, new and emerging Web technologies are
connecting our children in ways never before possible. Through blogs, social
networking sites, multimedia and other 'Web 2.0' tools, their worlds are
becoming more and more networked and engaging, creating environments for
learning and collaborating that look little like our traditional classroom
spaces. And [...]
We are pleased to announce the call for proposals for the third annual “K12 Online Conference” for educators around the world interested in the use of web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice. This year’s conference is scheduled for October 20-24 and October 27-31 of [...]
John Norton on TLN threw out an interesting challenge around a six-word memoir. Someone on the list called this game a limited-word writing
activity "American haiku". I found the activity so interesting I tossed it to my Twitter community. The results were delightful!
I [...]
Hot off Net-Gold list via
Sue Fraser
Citing the growing demand from the public and the scientific community
for access to research data, The Rockefeller University Press has
revised its copyright policy to allow authors to retain the rights to
work published in its three journals. The policy, which became
effective May [...]
One of the current trends or drivers in the shift we are experiencing in education is around the concept of the new economy shifting from products to people and what they know, more specifically human capital. (see: Ten Trends: Educating Children for Tomorrow's World- Trend 3)
Capacity development reclaims the [...]
A primary school has been accused of being alarmist for covering up the faces of
pupils on its website – apparently to protect them from pedophiles.
Bizarrely, the images have been altered with the type of smiley faces popular during the Acid House dance craze [...]
Every blog, conversation, Ustream and conference session I engage in I always hear the same questions asked over and over-- How do we do this? It seems we know what and we know why- but PLEASE someone help us with the how!
Some would argue that [...]
This looks like a no brainer to me...
If I was in a K-12 school- I'd enter.
Ford's partnership with Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition eco-friendly school makeover campaign.
As part of the campaign, Ford is sponsoring a nationwide contest that awards one lucky K-12 school with [...]
I have been told by some that I am visionary. I don't know if it is vision or an eye toward the future. I have always been so interested in what was to come. I remember as a kid always asking- what's next? We could be [...]
This post may be premature as I have only seen 2/3s of the PLP Independent Schools' team presentations of their impact journey through PLP and team projects- but I must say, Will and I were more than impressed. It was more on the level of [...]
My son and I finally built my new PC. My killer machine.
Processor
Memory
Drives
When you use a lot of technology to push the envelope and hang with others who do as well-- it is pretty amazing when you find yourself in awe of the tools.
