​So Steve and I have talked about doing stuff with Discovery and we both share the philosophy of "just do it". So here's how this podcast was born:

​As you'll tell from the podcast, this was not rehearsed and it was pretty much uncensored. I hope it can be something where I learn more about the awesomeness of Discovery and you can too. Can you tell I've been drinking the kool-aid? If you want a prize, leave a comment on the DEN blog. 

Last week I visited two dramatically different conferences. FETC is one of the larger educational conferences you'll ever attend. While numbers have decreased significantly from the first time I attended over 11 years ago, there are still thousands that make their way to the Orange County Convention Center to drink in all things related to technology and learning. My first time there in 2001 I recall attending a pre-conference workshop on streaming video. I believe it was Miami-Dade County sharing how they were able to stream events such as football games and graduations to their community using a truck with TV studio equipment and servers coming out the wazoo. It took me about 15 minutes to realize that someone from Moose Jaw, SK with a handy cam and a lab of 30 computers had no business being in on that session and no hope of ever being able to do anything of that magnitude. I continued to be in awe that week of the emerging hardware and software that offered some new possibilities. I left feeling pretty excited. 

The next few years at this conference were less and less exhilarating and by the 2009 I had pretty much decided there wasn't anything happening there that I would need. My learning space had shifted. What I valued from conferences was about meeting new people whose ideas and sharing I was beginning to understand but wanted some clarification. Call it the flipped conference. Unfortunately FETC wasn't the best place to experience this. Unlike ISTE,  who was not only larger but had begun to acknowledge this need amongst a percentage of its conference attendees, FETC wasn't really embracing this need. 

This year I attended FETC as part of my new role with Discovery. As it turned out, it was a great way for me to spend time with co-workers, ask questions, watch a pre-conference event and connect with many DEN stars. In addition, there were many Canadians in attendance (Florida in January may have something to do with that) and made some important connections that will be helpful as develop community in Canada. But although for me, there was benefit, I couldn't help but noticed that 11 years since my first FETC, there was still a large focus on tools and devices. Very few sessions dealt with the real hard questions of teaching and learning. To be fair, I was largely going by the program and session descriptions but I struggled finding sessions I thought woudl be interesting beyond, "here's a bunch of tools I think are cool". 

The conference ended Thursday night and Friday I left for Philadelphia to attend Educon. Educon and FETC are nothing alike. Educon is small, 500 or fewer. Educon takes place in a school. Educon is in Philadelphia, not Orlando. Educon is designed to be conversational. I led one of these sessions with Alec Couros and shared this diagram from D'arcy Norman as the basic formula for the conference:

This happens because Chris Lehmann attracts smart people. It happens because a high percentage of these people interact with each other regularly online. It's a community  coming together to get at some important issues. It's kind of a flipped conference. It's not a perfect conference but it serves the needs of many who are looking to connect deeply with people and ideas. 

I think FETC meets some of their needs as well. However it's much more of an introductory space for many. A large number of attendees are experiencing shiny new tools and ideas for the first time. I often lose sight of that. At the same time I don't think they're adverse to having the conversations that might take place at an Educon but may not be ready to go there. I think they lack a context for change. 

I'm making a number of assumptions here and I may in fact be wrong. But I did come to realize that just because I find the format and style of Educon more to my liking doesn't mean that an FETC conference doesn't have value. I also realized that my role with Discovery is going to mean that I need to find more ways to reach a more diverse audience. In one month of travels and conversations, I'm seeing first hand the spectrum of technology use and understanding which is greater than I perceived. Working inside a single district, I at least understood the culture. I knew that while not every teacher was using technology to its fullest, I was aware of the circumstances and barriers to a greater degree and was able to provide the more appropriate supports. I've seen some schools and teachers who are dealing with very different challenges than I witnessed. Schools with virtually no technology outside of a single smartboard and a lab of out of date computers. No wireless access. High levels of filtering. Boards with limited vision. While I was aware these problems existed, they weren't really my problems. Now they are. 

So all this to say the digital divide is vast. Somehow I need to prepare myself to address that and It begins with a more sympathetic attitude towards those just beginning to see that things could be different. I think at times I've been harsh and impatient with people. Not openly perhaps but may have dismissed someone's seeming lack of interest as being reluctant. I'm realizing that so many people have not had the opportunities and time I've had. Again, this isn't new but I got a good reminder last week. 

The Educon experience of community and challenging conversations is something I hope to pursue and nurture with my time at Discovery. I've got lots of resources to make that happen but I've also got a big challenge in supporting a country as big as Canada. 

I'll keep sticking with what's gotten me this far; smart people. I know a few. 

Friday I left for Florida. Delta lost my luggage. This is the first time I've ever had my luggage lost. According to stats, airlines are 99.5% effective in getting people their luggage to the intended destination on time. I wasn't too worried. After all, I had my golf clubs which was really most important given I had a tee time the next morning. I knew my luggage was in trouble because it never showed up in Minneapolis where I have to claim it after I clear customs. The flight to Orlando had wifi on board so while in the air, I tweeted Delta's twitter account and they tracked down my bag letting me know it wouldn't make it to Orlando until the next day. They also instructed me to go to the baggage claim immediately after I got off the plane. I filed a claim and was told the luggage would be delivered to my Dad's place the next day between 6-10 PM. As the 10 PM hour came close it was evident the luggage wasn't going to arrive. I called the number on the claim form but only received an answering machine. Back to twitter. I tweeted @DeltaAssist again and they had me complete a form on http://whereismysuitcase.com where I was able to track the suitcase much the same way you track a package. Shortly after I received a call stating the luggage would be delivered somewhere around 2AM. 

The luggage indeed arrived and Delta offered me a rebate of my luggage fee as well as some Skymiles for the trouble. They were pleasant and quick to respond. 

Today I checked in to my hotel here in Orlando and immediately was faced with the $14.95 internet charge for a relatively crappy connection. Fine. Then as I go to connect my Ipad, I'm asked to pay another $14.95. I called the front desk and was told that's just how it is. I'll give you two guesses what I did next. 

Seriously Westin, $15 for internet and that's only a MB down and one device. @SPGInsider That's ridiculous.

— Dean Shareski (@shareski) January 22, 2012

I do this for a number of reasons.

1. I'm mad 
2. I think others should know about bad service or products
3. I like to see if companies are paying attention

Within a few minutes…

@shareski Hi Dean, Could we ask what hotel you are staying in?

— SPGInsider (@SPGInsider) January 22, 2012

And a few minutes after that the manager called my room and took care of the the charges.

I've tweeted about an even bigger resolution and many have had similar experiences I know. What I wonder is in the same way that some banks don't offer you the lowest interest rates unless you ask do companies only cater to twitter users because of its public nature? The hotel manager who called me specifically referred to my tweets as the reason he called. Is it simply a great way for companies and business to connect with customers or is it only about damage control? If I don't tweet, do I get the same kind of service? I don't think so. There's an immediacy with tweeting that and an ease at which they can respond to customers. I don't know if they watch how many followers you have and whether that plays a role but I do think it's a huge advantage to be able to connect with the people you have financial transactions with. (I wonder if any of the businesses, will track down this post since I tagged them?)

When I first began blogging and using rss, I wrote a post about how my expectations had changed. I expected to be able to connect and learn with people online and if I couldn't I was less inclined to read their stuff. I realize that's narrow and not very realistic but I'm feeling the same way about businesses and organizations and twitter accounts. I want to know that if I run into an issue, you'll be there to support me. I had that experience this week with Delta and Starwood. I recently had the same with Shaw Cable. 

I also don't want to use these connections only to complain, They all provided good service to me and I'm happy to recommend them because of that. I don't know if there's a lesson here for schools but at least it's one more reason to help our students understand how to leverage these tools. There are some literacies or skills here beyond simply creating an account. They aren't all technical but experience and being comfortable in these spaces is a good thing to have. It's been quite beneficial to me this week for sure. 

What if the ideas of personalized learning and students owning their learning was applied to teachers? 

These are questions I ask as I wonder about the ways in which schools and districts attempt to support teacher growth. In the same way schools have a hard time empowering students to own their learning, districts struggle with letting teachers own theirs. I'm not aware of any district that truly embraces the notion of personalized learning. Districts all seem to feel the need or push to set goals for schools and teachers. They tend to standardized professional development and in many ways replicate the industrial models of school. The underlying desire for accountability is largely the barrier to trust. 

What if their goal was to have teachers truly own their own learning? 

There seems to be a strong disconnect with the emphasis on differentiated instruction in the classroom and differentiated professional learning for teachers. Some teachers will encourage teachers to seek their own learning but only after they do what they're told or mandated. I've had enough experience working at the district level to understand the complexities and challenges of that branch of a learning organization but I've not seen any district brave enough to trust their teachers to do the "right work." Politics certainly play a role here but I have believe there are leaders who, if they truly trusted teachers and believed they could direct their own learning could make it happen. 

As most would agree, few if any teachers wake up in the morning with the intent of doing a crappy job. The more time I spend in schools, the more I believe that teachers are generally pretty awesome folks but are stuck in a bad system.

I think they need four things:

1. The time and opportunity to explore new ideas and possibilities. Of course time is an age old problem but unless we provide reprieve from the busyness of the classroom, we'll be hard pressed to see our teachers get better. 

…teachers must deal with constant daily disruptions, both within the classroom such as managing discipline and interpersonal conflicts, and from outside the classroom such as collecting money for school events,making announcements, dealing with the principal, parents, and central office staff; they must get through the daily grind; the rewards are having a few good days, covering the curriculum, getting a lesson across, having an impact on one or two individual students(success stories); and they constantly feel the critical shortage of time. (The New Meaning of Change, Michael Fullan, p. 31)

2. Autonomy. When schools and districts own the learning, teachers can't. Some teachers get this with their students and are making changes to reflect that belief. I'm not suggesting teachers currently have no autonomy but I don't know any that have full autonomy in their professional learning. As professionals, I think they should. I also think this might be the fastest way to improve morale. It costs nothing but sends a message of trust and appreciation that many of our teachers don't feel. 

3. The support to make it happen. The role of the district needs to be in providing teachers with new ideas as well as supports for current practice. Researchers, coaches and facilitators.

​4. The expectation to share. If you're worried about accountability, require every teacher to share their learning. While we give them autonomy, districts do pay their salary and require them to be good classroom teachers but also need them to share with one another. Whether they post their work online or not, I think they need to share what they learned. My pre-service teacher courses end with every student answering the question, "What did I learn?". Imagine if all teachers did that every year? 

I know Will Richardson is on the hunt for bold schools. While there aren't many, I know there are some.

I'm on the look out for districts who truly trust their teachers to guide their own learning. Do you work for one? I'd love to hear from you. Maybe you disagree, maybe you think districts need to mandate PD in some way. Either way, this is likely a conversation I'm going to be having for a while. 

Creating a composition video is very rewarding for me and my family. While the photos are mine and represent the world as I saw it, it's a great way to see the past year and remember events and moments we shared and experienced together.  Many of the images have a specific story and memory. Others are representative of the beauty I see around me. Certainly the addition of HDR and other image enhancements add even more awe to the world around me.  A quick scan of the various subjects shows the following results:

• Family: 86 photos
• Videos: 44
• Friends: 40
• Dogs: 38 (of particular note, 14 of those featured Rue in some type of weird sleeping position)
• Sky: 32 (likely do do the HDR app but I seemed to be sky watching more than ever)
• Me: 30 (I need to work at getting that number down)
• Golf: 28 (I think that's down from last year. I need to play more courses)

Posting photos online continue to add so much to the experience. People have shared many of these moments with me both in person and virtually. We see the collection of these images to tell rich stories of one another and I'm happy to share some of my family and life with the world. 

Technically this video was pretty easy to create. I used iMovie instead of Final Cut Express. I simply brought in all photos I had tagged with 365/11. I cross referenced them with flickr and discovered a few errors. Unlike in past years, I didn't painstakingly go through each month to insure every day was represented. I'm sure there are a few days missing. Not because I didn't take a photo but because I didn't tag them properly. Big deal. Photos are set to 5 second and fit to frame by default. After adding music I tend to view and trim accordingly. Pictures of little meaning or content tend to get cut down to 3.5 or 4 seconds. Photos that have some story or object of significance seem better suited at times to using the Ken Burns effect. I'm not sure I always get it right but discreet pan and zoom can be effective. That's why I don't want to use it as the default. Choosing which photos need or benefit from that effect is intentional. I hope that comes through. I finish with a couple of songs from my daughter which I did in 2009 as well. I tried to make some smooth transitions between the end of songs and beginnings which required some additional adjustments.  

Anyway, it's meaningful to me. and easy enough to share with you. I'm Maybe you'll recall some of the photos, maybe not. Maybe you make an appearance in some, maybe you don't. Maybe you've got 30 minutes to watch it, maybe you don't.

It's list season. Actually it's list season all year round. Writing a post with a numbered list seems the way many people think. Reminds me of my daughter's obsession with rankings. Come to think about it, I've written on this topic a few times so I may be repeating myself but as I saw a steady stream of tweets today linking to a plethora of posts I tweeted out this:

Working on some new posts. 54,000 reasons to tweet. 9,000,000 reasons to blog and 27 billion ways to use Flickr. Give me a minute.

— Dean Shareski (@shareski) December 30, 2011

A little snarky? Perhaps. But it seems to me this type of blogging is become all too prevalent. Maybe it's just a lack of creativity, or maybe it's just not my style. It just seems that that cumulative nature of these posts send a subtle message that answers can be neatly packaged into lists of 10. (actually, I'm seeing more top 12 and 11 lists just to shake it up a bit) Doug Johnson even recommends it. But since Doug often writes with his tongue in his cheek and never takes himself too seriously, I read it with a grain of salt. Ryan Bretag actually nails it pretty well with this quote:

We love to talk about lists. Just recently, I watched another 21st Century skills list get tossed about on Twitter with “oohhs and ahhs”.

And that is just it. These lists are so attractive. They’re easy. They have the instant “wow factor”. But what do they offer beyond that initial “wow” that has a meaningful impact on your organization, department, or you yourself?

Look, if you've written a post or two with a numbered list, relax, I'm not attacking you. Lots of people like list type posts. I just find them slightly lacking in creativity and at times simplifying complex problems. There's a tendency to try and be definitive, to have the answers. Sometimes we do, but I've seen too many "top 50 bloggers to follow" and "the best 20 videos for educators" lists to turn me off of that genre. These lists are far from definitive and even with disclaimers, that's how they are often viewed. I try not to immediately think in terms of ranking or even listing. In education and learning, few things can be ranked and ordered or even listed. Some people love that stuff.  I'm just not a big fan. 

This weekend I was on the lookout for moments of beauty inside our house. Having been taking a photo every single day for the past 4 years, I've developed a keener sense of beauty or mindfulness. Trying to capture moments, seeing something special in the way light hits an object or the way two people interact. It's a habit I'm glad I've been developing and will continue to pursue. 

This is what I came up with. 

It's not awesome but it's a story, our story. I can really see taking this format and tweaking it and making it one's own. Ben used his son as the theme of his video. That's a very compelling story and while it's obviously incredibly meaningful to him, he tells it in such a way that we are drawn in as well. As I watch my own, I'm not sure exactly where to critique it. Would a better camera made a difference? What shots would have been more compelling? Was there even an implied storyline? Was the music an appropriate choice? 

I think about my own assessment skills here. I've created enough of these stories to have some sense of what works and what doesn't, and yet I lack the vocabulary or expertise to truly dissect my work in this case. I'm not sure if it's because I'm using a new format or whether art itself is too challenging to always try and deconstruct. Certainly this is the dilemma of assessment in schools when it comes to creative work. As Royan Lee says, "why grade when you can reflect?"

I frequently optimize the very essence of the banal tweet. 

So when a stranger reads that anticipating they might glean some insight or wonderful resource, they're likely a combination of disappointed, confused or annoyed. Sure, if you're following me, you might now by now this is par for the course. I will post the occasional mundane tweet but hopefully with a dash of humor or cleverness. Not always, but I try. If I bring a smile to someone once in a while, that means as much to me as sharing a great link or insightful remark. For me it's purposeful, in the same way kibitzing in a staff room or with your friends is purposeful. Some call it social grooming. 

The whole notion of the word "social" and education is difficult to grasp when your experience with learning has been anything but social and void of fun. So rather than have people scared off immediately or having them figure it out eventually, I wondered if there was some way to give people a heads up, a twitter trailer if you will, on what they'll get should they decide to follow me. 

So I created this:

Using ifttt, new followers get a direct message asking them to take 90 seconds to preview the goods. I worried a little if it would come across as spammy or invasive. I still wonder that but I've received some great feedback from people saying they really appreciated the heads up. I even had one person say that really only were interested in the educational side of things and if they found my content too out of place for them, they'd unfollow. Fair enough. 

While I could have had a link to my blog, that to me, seemed spammy. The blog isn't a great reflection of my whole self. My blog is much more about my reflection and thinking as well as dumping ground of thoughts. Twitter is the blur of personal and professional. I realize everyone uses it differently and that's fine. The fact that I used a video and people hear my voice and see my face adds another layer of connection. I much prefer people's faces in their avatars. If I've heard them speak, I read their tweets with their voices, accents and all. 

So a month into this little experiment and I'm pleased with the feedback. It's likely a trade off, with a few people put off, thinking it's a little narcissistic, and maybe it is. But the pay off of potentially more informed and even more connected folks is worth it to me. 

Zac Chase and I talk about learning. I don't know if that sounds boring to you but Zac makes me think and challenges me about my learning project and some of the things rummaging around his brain.

2 years ago, he talked to me about a custom url shortener he had installed on his server. Sounded cool but I wasn't ready to invest time into getting it installed. Last year he talked to me about it again, because I asked about it. I thought specifically the ability to track these links and clickthroughs seemed interesting and useful information. Sites like bit.ly do the same but I think anytime you can own your own stuff, whether it's a domain or website, that's good move. D'arcy Norman's taking this idea to its fullest in his latest pursuits of ownership. 

Anyway, I sometimes get in this geeky mood and want to roll up my sleeves and use things like FTP, MySQL and config files. Truth is I barely know what those things are but sometimes force myself to be geeky because it's good for me. 

So I managed to install the thing on my server and short of had it working. What it does is take your existing domain, in my case I chose my shareski.ca domain as opposed to ideasandthoughts.org because it's shorter and also is a little more recognizable. Both domains and sites reside on the same server so it didn't matter which I chose. I created a separate directory for my URLs to live. I thought I had installed it correctly but somehow all my shortened URLs were pointing back to shareski.ca You do that about 3 times and you're officially a spammer. So I left it and got Dr. Craft to take a look at it. (How awesome is that you can give someone full access to your server and he just fixes it?) I think my config file was pooched. (see definition 5) Chris I owe you a breakfast in Philly. 

Whatever he did it now works. What I'm able to do is create bookmarklets to shorten automatically or create custom shortened URLs to share. Great for workshops, twitter and elsewhere. You can tell if your share a link with a specific group, how many may have opened it.  The URLs stay with me and the tracking feature is pretty nice. After a few days using it, here are my overall results:

You can also see where your traffic comes from.

I also am using a WordPress plugin that auto generates a shortened URL and auto posts to twitter. There are probably other features that I'm not aware of yet but I think it's certainly good thing to explore if you have access to a server. 

If you use tweetdeck you can include it as your default shortener. The instructions to do that are here. Lots of other little add ons and tools that you might find useful. 

Kind of reminds me of lots of learning we do. Sometimes good enough is good enough. Say that in schools and someone is bound to scream "Blasphemy!" Shouldn't we always ask our students to excel, to do their best, to aim high? I don't think so. Some of you are reading that right now in horror. I don't think it's that bad. Not every learning is about passion. I'm not passionate about guitar. I like it. I'm glad I learned something about it and will continue to play but for right now, it's good enough. We need to give ourselves permission to tell that to kids sometimes. Not every assignment, every subject needs to involve what we call "their best". For teachers, "their best" is simply about giving it more time. I gave as much time as I wanted to this project. With the time I had I explored many ways to learn. I acknowledge in many episodes I may not have chosen the best, most efficient path to learning. But I was okay with that. That's part of learning too. I think when we ask students to do their best we ought to qualify that to reference time. With the time we have we don't want to waste it but in many cases, teachers are upset because students didn't give something more time. Consider that our students' time and attention is being sought from at least 5 different teachers/subjects, not to mention extracurricular and interests and duties outside of school. 

We all make choices of how and where we'll give our attention. Instead of lamenting about not giving something more time, perhaps we need to accept that sometimes good enough is good enough. And perhaps we need to give our students license to do so as well. 

So with that here's the last episode. It's good enough. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robwall/2802347892

Yesterday  I mused on twitter about how people made their first connection online. 

Reminiscing about how I first made connections with certain people forces me to think about how and why we find people a part of our lives. I'm not talking about loose ties here but more about people that you consider an integral part of your learning community. Friends perhaps, but certainly your teachers. When I do this it's amazing how many of these folks first came to me because I heard their voice. Not voice in the literary sense but their actual vocal chords producing their unique sound. 

Podcasting as  subscribeable audio content has only been around since about 2004. It was the early educational podcasts that really helped me connect with certain individuals. 

Steve Dembo aka Teach42. Steve began podcasting out of his car back in 2005 when I first came across his work. I wish I knew how I found him but my guess is I was searching for education and podcast and found his stuff. This is the first one I think I ever listened to. The fact he was in his car and recording audio to post online later was in itself intriguing in 2005. Steve's relaxed style made you feel like you were riding shot gun. Immediately I was interested and engaged. 

Bud Hunt aka budtheteacher. Bud, like Steve did his podcasts in his car. He still does occasionally but not nearly enough. I remember him as a high school English teacher talking his students to the local bookstore to buy books. (Sorry Bud, I searched your blog for the podcast link but couldn't find it. Would you be so kind as to put it in the comments? I won't update this so folks are forced to read the comments. Sneaky, but hopefully effective)

Bud, like Steve made me feel welcome to join them. It wasn't really a dialoge but an opportunity to have a conversation. I know I left comments on their blogs and their responses let me know I was welcome to learn with them. We've been learning together for almost 7 years now. 

One of my favorite podcasts of which I think there were only 2 episodes was EdTEch Coast to Coast. Actually it appears there are up to 17 but I think only two with the likes of Tim Lauer, Will Richardson, Tim Wilson and Steve Burt. 4 guys sitting around talking about something I was passionate about and learning about was gold for me. Since that time they've become some of my greatest teachers and indeed friends. It started with me hearing their voices. 

I also remember the first time I heard of Chris Lehmann. It was in a podcast by David Warlick who really did a great job in the middle part of the previous decade in interviewing and exposing many to  a wide variety of folks. At the time Chris was an assistant principal in a school in New York City, shortly before his move to SLA. 

There were others too that I felt a connection with because I heard their voice. Video was a bit of a challenge at the time because of bandwidth and encoding challenges. This was pre Youtube. Andy Carvin was exploring the viog but audio was much more doable. 

There was something about the raw, unedited way in which these voices came to me. Full of "umms" and a little fumbling, I felt they were real people. Post production was minimal. I was attracted to blogs because I felt like I was reading people like me. Not professional broadcasters or writers but people with real things to say and offered an authenticity I only could find in face to face encounters. Recently Grant Potter and I discussed why ds106radio is so popular. It's for many reasons but one is that we hear people as they are. Pretenses are put aside and magically it's just people talking. Connections are made, friendships are possible.

I've been podcasting myself since 2005. (In this episode you'll hear me talk about podcasting in general and also the voices of Chris, Bud,Steve and David) Originally it was largely about proof of concept. Could I record audio and put it on the web for people to subscribe? Seems silly now but back then it was a little involved. Shortly after that I began podcasting with some Saskatchewan folks as we called ourselves the EdTech Posse. We might be the longest running educational group podcast on the planet. Whatever that means. 

So this is partly reminiscing, partly reflection, partly lamenting but possibly encouraging people to re-discover or discover for the first time the power of your voice. I remember first learning about digital storytelling and one of the ideas that was shared many times was the power of your voice. Speaking remains our most basic and earliest form of communication. It's been around a lot longer than writing and offers something unique that the written word cannot convey. My itunes account is sorely lacking with educators just talking about learning. Maybe you can add to that playlist. I'd love to hear your voice. Keep writing if that's what you do, writing is great but your voice is really special. For me it creates another level of connection. Try it and let me know how it goes. 

Actually what it means is I want my students to dig deep into what teaching and learning looks like in 2012 as great teachers and great ideas come together to make learning better and richer and even transformative. I've taught this particular course 4-5 times now and am really looking forward to this term. I've got some interesting and new ideas planned and I'll share on that later. 

The class is made up of pre-service teachers who are usually in their 3rd or 4th year of teaching and have had some classroom experience. This course is totally optional so they take it because they have an interest in technology and usually have some skill set above the average pre-service teacher. That doesn't mean they are programmers, just that this class doesn't focus much on the "how to" stuff, but more the "why to" stuff. 

One idea that I began a few years back was the virtual mentorship. I connected my students with teachers and classrooms around the world and they did varying degrees of work with those classrooms ranging from commenting on blogs to teaching virtually via Skype. Here's one example from a few years back.

I've not done that for a few terms now and want to resurrect that idea. Here's where I'm hoping you or someone you know would be willing to participate. This time however I'd like to offer 2 options for teachers. 

Mentorship: 

• must have an open online classroom presence where students regularly blog or post work
• must be willing to have your students interact online via comments or twitter or discussion areas
• must be willing to have my students do at least one real time virtual teaching session via Skype or other online conferencing tool
• explore the possibility of another project 
• must be willing to provide feedback to my student (3-4 emails or contact via twitter)

Mentorship Lite:

• must have an open online classroom presence where students regularly blog or post work
• must be willing to have your students interact online via comments or twitter or discussion areas
• occasionally contact student via twitter or email…no expectations

What I'm going to do is show my students the list of mentors and have them choose based on their interests and your offerings. Whether you are chosen for a full mentorship or not, everyone of you that requests will at least have my students commenting in some way on your students' work. 

Thanks so much for being willing to support future teachers. The partnerships you create here can be incredibly influential on these students.  If you're not a classroom teacher but think of someone that might be a great fit, please pass this along to them or Retweet this at the bottom of the post.

 I'll be in contact with you in late December or early January. If you have any questions either leave them in the comments or email me dean AT shareski DOT ca

If the form doesn't load for you, you can fill it out here.

Really has it been almost 6 months since we last recorded? That's bad. 

But it's great to chat again with the posse. As an added bonus we took over #ds106radio and recorded it live. Alec, Heather, Rob and I are joined by my daughter Meredith as she talks about her new book. Alec shares a bit about his recent trip to Australia and Heather and I talk chat a bit about my new gigs. 

If you like silliness and seriousness all mixed together, you might enjoy this. 

Oh, by the way, if you're wondering about image I used, you'll have to listen, at least to the first 5 minutes. 

I'm a fan of change and new. Particularly when I believe it's for the better. But even when I'm not sure, I don't mind a little risk.

It's with that spirit that I begin a new journey in January. I'll be joining Discovery Education and serving as the DEN (Discovery Educator's Network) Community Manager. The job will be largely about developing and expanding the Discovery Educator network here in Canada. In the US, the DEN is a vibrant community of exemplary educators passionate about teaching and learning with technology. My job is to develop a similar community across Canada. In many respects it will allow me to continue what I've been doing in Prairie South but now potentially be supporting exponentially more teachers. I'll be based out of my home and spending a fair bit of time traveling, visiting schools, working with teachers, presenting at conferences and fostering community in whatever way I can. 

I began talking with the folks from Discovery back in May as we explored a potential position. This particular position didn't exist. We spent several months brainstorming what the job might look like. In the end, the posting was made public in October. When I read the job description, I felt like I wrote it.

I would be very hesitant joining a for profit business except for the fact that I have the utmost respect for people like Steve Dembo, Hall Davidson, Scott Kinney, Andy Schaefer and Lance Rouguex. These are high quality individuals. Many of these folks I've known for years and it's been evident their passion and focus lies in helping teachers. That will continue to be my focus as well.

I'll be taking a year leave of absence from my current position. This allows me and my family to decide if this job is a good fit for our family. Certainly increased travel will be a factor. It's nice that Prairie South offers that option. You can even apply for my job if you like. My years at Prairie South have been simply wonderful. I've had the opportunity to try many things and work with some outstanding people. If you've been reading this blog for a while you've seen me brag often about the work we do here. 

I'll continue to teach at the University of Regina. That's such a foundation for me as I can honestly tell people I'm still a teacher. It's something I truly wouldn't want to give up. I love teaching. 

Unless you work in Prairie South, our relationship probably won't change much. In fact, if you're in Canada, chances are you'll be getting to know me even more. We could be working together. If there's any way I can help, just ask. 

Thanks to everyone who reads this. In many ways you're the reason I'm able to have this opportunity. I'll try and do good work. 

My oldest daughter is taking a few classes at the University of Regina to finalize her teachers certification here in Saskatchewan. She's taking an elementary science course but since she's taken much of this in her previous B. Ed, she negotiated to do a major project in lieu of some more traditional activities.

She's used her musical talents to create a ebook that specifically aligns with the Grade 6 Saskatchewan Science Curriculum. The book contains a songwriting guide and 8 lessons and original songs as well as a video. She would love if you would download the book and ideally use them with your students. The topics will obviously span a range of grade levels as well as the songwriting guide would be useful for many ages. Use all, parts or just listen and enjoy. Either way, she's presenting this to her class on December 1st. It would be wonderful if you would give her some feedback on how you used it or see potential for this resource.

So download it like crazy. Retweet tweet it. Give it away. It's all Creative Commons licensed.

[Living Things epub version]

Alternate link

*Epub books work well on iPads, IPhones and iPod touches but can be viewed in it's full on a any device using the appropriate software. This page offers a list of many free applications that will enable you to enjoy all the features of the epub format.

PDF version (not preferred as audio does not play inline)

It might help to read Part 1.

I've been teaching a course at the University of Regina for over 5 years. I've taught it for roughly 12 sections over that time. I really don't enjoy the assessment process. While I've had a wack sack of training and embrace the idea of student's owning their own assessment, too many intuitional and societal barriers still make it less than ideal. I've told my students this as well.

On the practical side, here are some things I've done to try and make assessment as useful as possible.

1. Co-creation of criteria. Although students often struggle with "what I'm looking for" I really want them to look for it themselves. With my learning project, we built this.

2. Choice. Like most teachers I give them lots of choice. They can choose the type of projects they want to explore and I make it clear they should be able to come up with alternative assignments if they choose. Many still beg me to just "tell them what to do". I won't.

3. Use your strengths. This term I  have 3 major assignments worth 25% each by default. I allow my students to change the weighting of these to as low as 15% and bump up others they find use more of their strengths.

4. Insist on social learning. My students are required to give each other feedback. In true community, this is organic so in that respect it often feels forced but I know they learn as much or more from each other as they do from me. Even when students email me a question, my first response is usually, "Have you read your classmates blogs?" because often their answer is there.

5. Self Assessments. I require my students to grade themselves and justify their grade. In most cases, I end up using their own recommendation however anyone who's ever done this will attest to the fact that students are often harder on themselves than you would.

Throughout the course I remind them how useless I think grading is and how much I want them to enjoy and value learning without worrying about grades.

Today made me think about why I was apprehensive about this project at the very first mention of it. I regret being apprehensive, because A) I’m learning something I have always wanted to and B) I’m being graded on an assignment that I do when I want to, however I want to, I just have to document my thinking… http://staceyjc3.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/wherewhenwhy/

I really want to work at making the assessment process less painful, less important and perhaps even useful. If you've got some techniques or ideas or criticisms. on this please share.

Unlike a classroom where a teacher controls the lecture, the organic communities that emerge through collectives produce meaningful learning because the inquiry that arises comes from the collective itself.
https://kindle.amazon.com/work/new-culture-learning-cultivating-ebook/B004S72WOS/B004RZH0BG
 

Integral to this idea is giving yourself opportunities to experience and facilitate serendipitous learning. Currently there really isn't a better way to make this happen than twitter.

Here's the story.

Yesterday I'm attending a full day workshop (workshop is a loose term, it was really a 5 hour lecture) with Dr. Larry Bendtro, researcher and founder of the Circle of Courage Institute which focuses on reclaiming at risk students. Dr. Bendtro is a good speaker and while a 5 hour lecture isn't an ideal way to learn, there were lots of nuggets of learning I took away.

Sitting in the auditorium made up of educators and community people, I did see several ipads out but the majority of course were sticking with pen and paper to capture their learning. Lots of people were talking notes but of course, few, if any were sharing those notes. That's a bit of waste. So when I pull out my phone, I'm sure most people who see that think I'm checking email, texting, playing a game, or generally just off task. I used to be concerned about that but not anymore. I've learned that for me, engaging in a backchannel or simply using hashtags is the best way for me to stay focused and engaged. It may not be for everyone but it's for me. The person I sat with also uses twitter and we simply agreed to use the #circleofcourage as our hashtag.

Sidebar:

Last week one of my students was tweeting about being bored in class. I tweeted back that she should tweet what she was hearing and try and see if she could get others in her class to use a common hashtag to take collected notes. It worked for her.

Back to the story.

Part of the purpose of using twitter to take these notes is both for me, for the others participating but also because you never know. Early on in the lecture, Dr. Bendtro talked about the importance of a good theory but that if you can't explain your theory to a 4 year old, maybe you really don't understand your theory. As I was about to tweet that out, I see my buddy Dave Cormier in my twitter stream. I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Dave and his family last month and enjoy bantering and teasing with him so I decided I had enough social capital to present him a little challenge:

I really didn't know what I expected him to do with that. The nature of twitter is such that it could have easily fallen into the pile of useless tweets, which I'll admit I likely hold the world record. But Dave took my dare and did something, something quite awesome as a matter of fact. (I forgive you if you leave here now and spend time on Dave's blog. Go ahead, it's okay) He obviously had no obligation to do anything with my question. He could have ignored it or told me to mind my own business. Instead he created a useful artifact that is beneficial for me, others and for him as well.

I don't know if that's an amazing story because it's one that likely happens to many people every day because they place themselves in a space that fosters intentional serendipity. It's actually quite wonderful, joyful and meaningful. You can't quantify it, place it in a lesson plan but you also can't ignore it. I'm sure the vast majority of you reading this are twitter users and have your own story to tell. Maybe not. The point here is that intentional serendipity should be held in much higher regard. If you say you're too busy for serendipity, you might want to loosen up your schedule.  I've often felt that every classroom should have a space, be it a wiki or a bulletin board that highlights unintended learning. It's often the best kind.

Yet we do very little to achieve that goal. 

One of my favorite moments over the past several years was having a teacher write me about some of the changes she was making in her classroom. She described a shift of handing the reigns of learning over to students and moving from doing everything to as she put it:

Talk about engaged learning. I could be sitting at the back quilting!! They are helping each other, going above and beyond any expectations I have.

Of course she didn't sit at that back of the room quilting, but it does illustrate that her role as teacher at the front, in control of the learning had shifted. There are many new roles she will now have to embrace. I think there are some similarities for all types of classrooms but in particular I've been wondering how the gradual release of responsibility should look in our K-12 schools. In many cases, students have more freedom and control of learning in our Kindergarten classes than in our Grade 12 classrooms. That's both odd and disturbing. 

As parents, I would hope that our goal is to help increase independence and self sufficiency as our children get older. When they're 3 we hold their hand as we cross the street, talk to them about traffic, how to look both ways, etc. At 5-6 we might stand at a safe distance and watch them practice and cross the street on less busy sections. Hopefully by the time they are 8-10 they can do this on their own. We repeat this gradual release of responsibility in many facets of parenting. Certainly this varies depending on your parenting style, beliefs and disposition, but in general, all parents are trying to get their kids to be relatively independent adults by the time they reach 18ish. 

Yet our schools can't seem to get this for the most part. Instead of giving students more control and independence in many ways we decrease it. Sure in our high schools we offer electives but beyond that, there's very little intention about helping students become these life long learners we talk about. Part of this issue is the antiquated structure of high schools. At least in K-8 environments, teachers have the ability to reduce the impact of time which allows for the potential of project based learning, which at its core and at its best is student driven. I'm still amazed at the "rigor" around assignment choice at the high school level. Too often there is little room for choice or option. We even take away their cell phones in order to maintain control. I'm astonished at the unwillingness to even engage students in a process of decision making. Couldn't we at the very least have a conversation with students? Students leave high school without being true independent learners. As Stephen Downes says:

We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves. It is time, in other words, that we change out attitude toward learning and the educational system in general.

We're not having enough conversations around this idea. Partly because I don't think enough educators even believe this. Our institutions, our jobs have been designed to maintain that status quo. The status quo for schools is, "come here, listen to us, mind your own business, do what we tell you and we'll give you a diploma". That's the current deal. It's largely our structure that maintains this but what we often see as our best results are continuing to feed this system.

I see many of these same students enter university. These are the best students, the ones who were most compliant (that's another issue but related) and high achievers. Many of these students are still highly dependent on a teacher to learn. Too many still don't own their learning. Besides a lack of choice, we've made them dependent on grades as well. if we truly believe in life long learning we have to be much more diligent in emphasizing learning for learning's sake, not for a grade. My experience tells me there is very little that happens in school that makes this message clear. Just like parenting, we all go through the anxiety of allowing our children to choose, allowing them to fail and allowing them to feel success and discovery on their own. 

As a parent of four, I know I'll always be a parent. In that respect, I'm not really working myself out of a job.  But my role has to change somewhat. My influence changes as does the relationship. Instead of helping them cross the street, I'm advising them on buying a car. 

So what should and could and are we doing to develop life long, independent learners? What does gradual release of responsibility look like in our K-12 schools? Maybe we are doing something about it, I'm just not seeing it.

Photo: by shareski http://www.flickr.com/photos/shareski/209122376/

I learned about Dan McLaughlin about 6 months ago and have been following his progress to become a top level golfer. Dan never played 18 holes of golf before this. He doesn't consider himself particularly athletic so this is a huge learning curve. My own passion for the game makes this fascinating for me but even if you don't care for the game, you have to admit this is interesting. He's about a fifth of the way through his journey. It's going to take 5 years and for Dan he equates it with Graduate studies. His blog and website answer the basic questions about why, the money and the journey to date. I'd suggest you watch this video for some more background.

The great thing about social media is the ability you have to connect with people. Duh. Given my personal learning project and my students, I thought it would be great to hear from someone who is really venturing out. So I simply tweeted him asking if he'd be willing to chat with me for a few minutes. He agreed. There's a brief moment where Dan's video freezes but the audio stays in tact throughout the interview. Here's our 20 minute conversation. 

Isn't learning and the internet pretty awesome? 

My talented daughter is having to take a few more courses at the University of Regina to get her teacher certification here in Saskatchewan. She's taking an elementary science course and convinced her professor that perhaps she could combine her music skills for a major project. She's been using the Saskatchewan Science curriculum to develop songs as well as a songwriting guide for students. It's a wonderful blend of science, language arts and arts education. She's created 8 songs covering a range of topics. I'm bias but I do think they're pretty good. Not your typical kids songs but they are pretty diverse in content and style. 

She's currently building an epub book that we'll share soon. For a little preview here's one of her songs and the study guide to go with it. 

Here's the m4a version if you prefer. (still not seeing this show up on an ipad…any ideas why?)

Analyze

What did you learn about living things? 
How does a plant poo?
How do you know you are living?
What is the form of the song?
What is the rhyme scheme in the second verse?
How many lines long is the chorus?
Create 3 more interesting questions to analyze the song.

Songwriting Activity

Pre-write

1.) Choose a plant or an animal that interests you.

2.) Is it living? How do you know?

3.) Create 3 of your own interesting questions about your species.

4.) Gather your information on your plant or animal.

5.) Start song writing!

a) What will your song be about (big idea)?

b) What information do you want to include?

c) Does this information help to communicate the big idea?

Write

Form: Verse, Chorus

Rhyme Scheme: Writers choice.

Lyrics: Must be original. Refer to your pre-writing work.

Melody: Choose 1.

a) Parody. Use the melody from "Does it Poo?" or use the melody of another song.

b) Original. Create your own melody!

Edit

Does your song show what you have learned about your plant or animal?
What is your rhyme scheme/ schemes?
How is the feel?
Is the melody clear and "catchy"?
How could you improve it?

Perform

Perform your song for the class. Acapella (just voices), or with music if someone in your group can play an instrument!

Having done my share of workshops, I recognize it's challenging to spend a half day or full day with strangers and provide a meaningful learning experience. Most workshops I've attended usually consist of someone giving some type of initial presentation followed by a series of table talks from handouts; read this and respond, think, pair share, and so on. Often embedded in these events are things I call "cutesy activities". Something like, find someone you don't know and interview them about blah, blah, blah. I might not be articulating this well but all I know is that half the people in the room hate it. I'm usually the one that hates it. I'm not invested in the conversation and it always seems contrived. 

Not that I've figured it all out but I've been extremely cognizant of not doing those things at my workshops. If I think I'm close to broaching the "cutesy" zone, I'll make participants fully aware of my concerns and invite them to pass if it seems like that to them. 

I have a pretty simple formula I try to use in my workshops. 

1. Give participants early success. Particularly if it involves technology, which obviously mine are, insure people can leave with a new skill or idea. Even if it's small. 

2. Allow for deep conversation and storytelling. I'm not interested in spending 2 or more hours if all we do is talk tools. There has to be an opportunity for people to tell their own stories and push themselves with new ideas and insights from me and from each other

3. Wrap it all in fun. Set a tone early that laughing and joyful learner is going to be embedded in everything. 

So with that premise, here's a wonderful learning activity that uses all those pieces. I call it the Karaoke Presentation. 

One question I've used that is useful for any educator is to delve deep into the question, "What is Learning?". Based on my recent project with my students, I ask participants to take a recent concept or skill they are learning and to examine various facets of the experience. I'll offer them these questions as prompts:

How do you learn? Use specific examples

• What’s the most difficult thing you learned?
• Are you modeling or sharing your learning in any way?
• Do your students see you learn?
• How is learning a skill different than abstract learning or personal growth
• Was it a lot of reading, was it largely practicing?
• Where am I finding resources?
• What specific things do I find easy, what is more difficult?
• What do I think I might be able to accomplish before my next reflection?
• What or who provides me with the best instruction?
• Does it remind you of a past learning experience?
• Where and when is the best time for me to learn? Describe and consider environment.
• What do I admire about those who have mastered this skill? Who are these people?
• Is there a particular learning style I use more than another?

Depending on the room configuration and participants, this conversation can happen in various ways. The key is that everyone is asked to think deeply about what it means to learn. As educators it's kind of essential we have a better handle on this question. I know that Will Richardson has been asking and collecting responses of folks in his workshops. My efforts here is to have everyone take the conversation to a place they don't often go.  

At some point, usually before hand we discuss the power of using visuals to tell stories. After the conversation about learning, I'll have participants find an image using compfight that illustrates a attitude or feeling around their personal learning.  We explore the dynamics of searching for images as opposed to a google search. For many, finding images that are not literal is a new experience. Add to that a little introduction to Creative Commons and this itself is a great learning opportunity. 

I've had many participants of late with ipads so I've used software like Fotolr or PhotoPad to bring in images and add text. If they're using their laptop we use Picnik or any software they prefer as long as they can add text. This is also a great opportunity to discuss design.

After they create their images i have the email their work to me. Inside these apps or with Picnik, it's a straightforward process. The simplicity and the ability to create something meaningful and useful accomplishes my first goal of easy success. I open their images on my ipad and simply choose "Save Images". They are automatically placed in my photostream. I have my slideshow settings to last for 20 seconds. As the emails are coming in I tell participants that they we will be building a joint presentation and the each person will be responsible for a 20 second presentation on "What is Learning?"  I've done this with up to 50 people. As long as you have reasonable wireless, this works extremely well. 

Once you have all or most of the submissions, you simply start the slideshow. It's interesting how some people prepare by writing out a word for word script, some write out a few key points, others just do it off the cuff. Either way, it's a great experience. Laughing at the silence, rushing through your 20 seconds or listening in awe of someone's lucid thoughts, it's a powerful way to synthesize the group's thinking as well as give them a tangible experience using visuals and their technology to tell stories. And up until this point, I've watched carefully to insure this doesn't turn into cutesy. If I cross that line, I'll scrap it. 

This is a clip from some administrators I worked with in Edmonton. 

If the video doesn't play in your browser, try this. 

Where's the joy? I'm a bit disappointed to see a lack of joy in my own student's learning projects. It could be my fault, I'm not sure. But for me I find great joy in this learning. I picked my project and love the process. I wish that for my students. Why isn't there joy? Maybe my forcing them to pick something to learn isn't very joyful. Then again, they're going to spending much of their life helping others to learn, I would hope they could find joy in their own learning.  Anyway, thanks for watching, I hope you can at least laugh at me or hopefully laugh with me as I learn. 

Here's five more of my students. Ask them about joy or anything. 5 minutes to encourage a future teacher would likely be a good investment of your time and theirs. 

Adam…learning to climb

Colby….relearning piano

Kaylen…learning to speak French

Justin…learning Python, the programming language

Unless you've spend the last several years on another planet, you've been hearing about how the awful lectures are for learning. Often associated with these phrases, "sit and git", "stand and deliver", "teacher directed"  or "sage on the stage" for many, the word lecture has become synonymous with the worst pedagogical practices possible. 

I don't think it's that bad. 

First let's define what we mean, or in this case, I mean when I think of the word lecture.

1. An exposition of a given subject delivered before an audience or a class, as for the purpose of instruction

​That is a commonly held definition and one isn't all that bad.  Remove the "delivered before:" part and think about simply an exposition of a subject. In that sense, reading a book or article, watching a video or listening to a conversation could be very lecture like.  Aren't progressive educators supposed to hate lectures? If so, why do we all love TED talks?

​Okay, I get it. We're really trying to shift the balance of instruction away from teacher at the front talking to students to something that better leverages the time and space we share together. I'm all for that. But even in a constructivist environment, where inquiry reigns, there has to be some "lecturing" or content acquisition in order to make meaning. That can happen in many ways via exploration, discussion, etc. But the lecture isn't limited to a teacher talking or watching a video but in certainly is useful if there are some experts at some point exposing people to new and different ideas. That could be fellow learners who have crafted an argument or articulated a message using all types of communication and sharing methods. But even if you mean one person talking, that's still useful. Not as the only means of learning, not necessarily as the primary means of learning but as an effective, essential means of learning. 

I'm bias. I'm awed by someone who can speak for more than 5 minutes and keep my attention. It's not easy. I've given my share of talks and keynotes and I realize that I'm not sure I've ever accomplished it. However, I learn a lot by listening to others. I'm also in favour of using new technologies to allow interaction and pushback. The concept of a backchannel can be very powerful and it adds an important layer on a traditional lecture. But even without it, a lecture can be good. When we read the brain is doing very similar things it does when you're watching or listening to someone speak. 

Some folks argue that ideas like the flipped classroom are bad because it still promotes the element of a lecture. So what? If you agree at all with my premise, lectures are important. What I like about the flipped classroom is that it better utilizes time and space and makes use of the fact that people are in a room together and should have equal opportunity to share, interact and even lecture themselves. 

(Longer) Lectures fail when:

• they're too long …I don't know the optimum length but you know when you've said all you need to say. TED talks work because of the constraints.
• it's just about facts …give me a handout to read instead. You stating facts has no added value. 
• there's no story or stories …this is key. We listen to stories because they have emotion. 
• there's no passion or urgency …like stories I need to know you care about what you're saying. Show me that. 
• there's no consideration of audience needs and interests …difficult but someone who conveys they have some understanding of the audience has my attention. Whether you're talking to 5 year olds or 65 year olds, they should have a sense you care about them. 

So please consider this the next time you denounce lectures. I think they're useful. And if you're going to spend more than 5 minutes giving one, do it well. Practice it and make people's experience listening to you a good one. 

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/2236177028

I’m on a mission.

In case you haven’t noticed, high schools often represent the most traditional, stagnant educational spaces. The very structure of that world from the segregated subjects, focus on content, credit acquisition, departmental/state testing all join forces to make change difficult.

In our school district, our High School Learning Support Team is tasked with supporting our high schools in a variety of ways. In particular we face many teachers struggling with student engagement. We have great conversations about the changes that could help these teachers and classrooms move forward but recognize that us simply telling them how they might change may not be the most well received approach. They need to see others in action, thinking differently and making a difference in student’s lives.

They are out there. Sometimes they aren’t easy to find but they’re there. Teachers and schools who stare those structures in the face and decide to challenge them. They do so only because they know its best for kids. It’s much easier to continue on, not make waves and seek compliance. In some cases, their efforts are celebrated and even supported by leadership and in other cases, they do so in hopes no one finds out. In other cases they don’t even realize what they are doing but just do innovative things instinctively. These are the positive deviants.

The Power of Positive Deviance is about finding people and ideas that are making a difference but are happening without an awareness of what they’re doing different from their peers.

As a leader in a school district I do believe much of this exists internally but I also am interested in discovering these folks no matter where they reside. For High Schools here are a couple of great examples of deviance.

The Classics Academy

Here’s the 15 minute documentary of their program.

The Innovation Lab

This was an experiment that I heard about before but spend several hours on the weekend examining their work. Monika Hardy and team are doing some fascinating things. It’s a multi-faceted approach to personal and passion based learning built around the idea that “nothing is for everyone”. There’s some really thoughtful work that’s gone into this and they are in their 2nd year of implementation. The documentation of this is outstanding. Videos, writing, presentations and student work is all available. I’d encourage folks to spend some time exploring. Share this with others. 

The Independent Project

Just watch the video and discuss.

Project Based Learning in Prairie South 

In my own district we’ve got some teachers making some inroads in attacking the system. This video is a couple of years old but these same teachers are continuing their work and I may need to make another video showcasing their work.

While in the true sense of the word “deviance” these may not be pure examples. These teachers aren’t doing things in private and they’ve done a fair bit of thinking before jumping in. However in the larger context of traditional education, they indeed represent the deviants. Lest you missed the link to technology, these efforts wouldn't be possible without it. In many cases their links are explicit:

Technology is a vital part of The Academy. Students and teachers bring in personal devices or borrow iPads provided by the school. The iPads enrich the educational experience and prepare the seniors for their entry into college. Latin teacher Mr. Gutkowski said, “The instant access to the Internet revolutionizes the way information is used in class.” The essential use of technology, within MHS, also allows for interesting classroom discussions, quick note-taking and the ability to access information from the Internet thereby enhancing overall classroom dialogue.

Who are the deviants in your school or district? Find them and help tell their stories.

Here's another 5 of my students that could use your encouragement. Whether you are an expert in any of these, leave a comment…better yet, leave them a great question. 

Mofizur….learning to cook

Linsey…learning Wii game Super Smash Bros.

Trina….developing webquests

Stacey…learning sign language

Rebecca….learning to draw

Cross posted at the Huffington Post.

Steve Jobs never believed in focus groups. Guy Kawasaki, who worked for Apple and Steve Jobs said, "Apple Market research is an oxymoron. If you ask people what they want they'll tell you "Better, faster and cheaper"- that is better sameness, not revolutionary change. Many other innovators have echoed similar sentiments. This flies in the face of the idea that the customer is always right. Jobs also said "people don't know what they want until you show it to them" No doubt he was a brash visionary that designed some very innovative products that many people adore. 

In education I hear this sentiment a lot lately: "Involve and engage all stakeholders". That sounds lovely. Why wouldn't we want input for parents and the community? All stakeholders in this case probably means every parent and taxpayer. That's a lot of people with a lot of ideas about what school should look like.  There's a desire to be transparent and be collaborative. These are words I use with great frequency to describe learning. But I'm beginning to question these ideas when it comes to making bold moves in education. 

I think of Zac Chase's tongue in cheek post a few months back about turning off his phone on the plane. He writes about whether turning off your phone will or won't impact the flight:

But I don’t know.

And that’s the key.

I don’t understand the system. Aviation, engineering, electronics – all these are outside the areas of my expertise.

In this system, I have an amazing amount at stake. I am thoroughly invested and committed to its success.

Entire sub-systems and interactions are beyond my understanding. Thus, I keep my mouth shut. If I decided to study aeronautics, become familiar with everything involved in the process of moving a plane from one side of the country to another, then would I have a space to speak up.

When my life and the lives of others are on the line, it’s probably best not to disrupt a system I do not understand.

I see all the ways in which flying planes and running a for profit business is NOT like a public school. They don't have a public directly paying for all kids. And yet, like Zac I try and show some humility when it comes to many government decisions. I vote people I think we represent me well and wait 4 or 5 years to assess and determine if I think they should continue their work or not. We have many persons and public people very invested in education and very knowledgeable. However when it comes to envisioning something new and different it's more than just fear that holds them back, it's ignorance. I don't say that in a demeaning way. I say that in the same way I don't understand many systems and don't spend anytime envisioning and experimenting with new ideas. Add to that those that don't care.

So as the conversation and dreams of a new place of learning happens in staff rooms and even district offices, who should really be involved in that process? I'm well aware that in many cases, these conversations are not happening but I have been part of these in schools, in our district and even at the provincial level. In these discussions, the topic of stakeholders always comes up. Even suggesting students be part of the conversation. My caution is that depending on the students, they too aren't seeing and picturing many new ideas. I realize that it's our job to engage students and parents in conversations like this but at some point, someone needs to do something. Maybe without full consensus. 

Will we really be able to create something awesome by asking people what they want? I think the average parent, taxpayer, student and even the average teacher just wants a system that's better. Higher "student achievement" (i.e. test scores) and lower dropouts. If schools did this, most people would be happy. But I know I wouldn't necessarily want those things. We can do better, we have to do better. I'm looking to be part of creating something different and I don't think it can involve all stakeholders. 

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimboo/105368831

I've not wrtten ia post about a tool in a long time. Mostly because I usually don't think about it that much and other people do a better job writing about it than I do anyway. But I've been using If This, Then That for a few months and quite like how it's helped my work flow. Will asked a few of us how we're using it and rather than try and cram it in a few tweets figured I could blog about it. Blogging is quite lovely thing for stuff like this.

Let me share the tasks I've set up and why I use them..

One I hardly if ever use. I'm not very active on Facebook and really only have a presence there because of family. I thought I might occasionally have tweets using a #fb tag to go their but I never think of it. May be I wll someday. 

There's some controversy around this task. A few people I know, have thought this is kind of any "icky" thing. I get that, but after some thought I think it's useful. While it is a generic message to all new followers, it does make sure they are clear how I use twitter. Many expect me to be all serious and post awesome links all day. Instead they find I don't and perhaps at first glance think it's useless, which I admit it might be. This is the DM they receive:

FYI, I tweet about learning but I also tweet silly stuff. I do it purposefully. http://t.co/ITuMf5Y Nice to meet you.

So far I like it and have received feedback that many like it. Some I'm sure don't but I do think it's a way of establishing trust and transparency. I'm even toying with the idea of a video intro. Not to send them to my stuff or anything but simply to explain to people the way I use twitter. 

Just a way to capture favorite tweets. I even specify a notebook and tag for the tweet to fall into. 

I'm still a big google reader guy so this is a fast way to tweet good stuff in my reader. I do have to use the "add a note" part of GR otherwise it's just a link with no context. 

This is the way I largely use facebook My daily photo of the day gets posted. It's actually made me go there more as people will often comment on the pictures. One thing that's weird is it often uses the wrong thumbnail inside Facebook. Not sure why. 

The difference between this one and the other one that goes to Evernote, is that it only grabs favorite tweets that contain a link. The reason I make it private is because I don't really want the tweet, I just want the link. I'll strip out the tweet and make the link public. I need a way to streamline this because it's an extra step at this point. 

I use Evernote to build presentations and I'll star items in GR that I want to explore for presentations. 

If I could find a way to post back to Google Plus, i might use it more. This one posts to twitter from Google plus. I'm not a big plus user yet but this might serve me well at some point. Really would like to be able to get content into plus. 

Not sure I need this one as i tweet out new videos but as my tweet says, "you might see it on my blog soon" Most of the videos I post to youtube I end up blogging about anyway. I may scrap this one.

So there are 10 recipes/tasks I'm currently using. I'm still getting to know all the options of ifttt but I really think it's got big potential. 

In the spirit of blogging about 3 years ago, I'm going to tag some ifttt users to write about their tasks. I'd like to learn more.

Will Richardson

Danika Barker

Doug Peterson

Royan Lee

Jim Pedrech

Brian Ball

I actually forget how these memes work but if you're a ifttt using please blog about it and link back here so we can easily gather all the various uses. 

I ranted a little today about a word that's bothered me for a while.

Even if you scramble around for a definition that's not so offensive the best you get is: "thorough and exactness." 

Even those words easily can be translated to inflexible or "my way or the highway".  I don't get the fascination with some people and this word. This document doesn't even define the term and this one says:

There are many definitions of the noun rigor, most of them related to some form of physical or mental rigidity or severity. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary definition of logical rigor—“strict precision or exactness”—seems at least relevant to the educational context. The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English defines the related adjective rigorous as “extremely thorough. ” Yet neither of these definitions satisfactorily conveys the intent behind the word. To me, rigor implies the reaching for a higher level of quality in both effort and outcome.