It's been over a year since one of my students wrote a very heartfelt post about his younger brother. The aftermath of this post was quite powerful and led to  a big change. Read the comments, a few of which aren't very nice to get the full picture. Kyle handled himself with integrity. I continue to point to this post as a great example of the power and potential of blogging. But the whole grading and honour roll thing continues to be problem-some, at least for me.

All my kids have been on the honour roll. For them the grades were motivating and to be honest, they didn't really work all that hard. Sure they studied and put in the effort but I know many students who worked much harder with poorer results. School came pretty easy for them. In the end, the real winners were the ones that learned how to learn, the ones that found a passion, worked hard because they cared about what they did and wanted to make the most of every opportunity. I'm not saying my kids didn't achieve any of these but it wasn't the dominant reason they went to school. My youngest, who is 12 is tired of me telling her not to focus on the grade but focus on the learning. But it's hard for her to think differently when everything around her tells her the grade is really the most important thing. We live in a system that prizes numbers and letters.

So back to Kyle's post. Last night Kyle and Jordan presented to my current ECMP 355 class on ideas that are still resonating with them a year after taking my course. One of the reasons I asked them to do this was to demonstrate that hopefully what they learn in my course has value, value beyond a grade but something they'll use for the rest of their lives. They did a wonderful job. Kyle spent a few minutes talking about that post and some of the inside stories around it. I posted it to twitter last night and my colleague and mentor Rick Schwier posted a comment that has been in my head for the day:

I have a son with a different kind of disability. He has Down syndrome, and he is 37 now. He’s the most academic of my three kids, and I mean it… not in some pathetic condescending way. He pays attention. He is a serious critic. He has no tolerance for fools. He remembers important things and refuses to internalize trivial things. He inspires. Honour rolls. Silly. Trivial. Unnecessary. And at their worst, soul destroying. The older I get, the less tolerant I’m becoming of the deleterious effects of grading and its offspring.

Wow. "…the deleterious effect of gradings and its offspring". Chew on that for a while.  

With some heavy, late night editing, Rob was able to get our last night's podcast posted. Nice job Rob.

Show notes:

School reform: The “Waiting for Superman” media circus

• The Death and Life of the Great American Schools by Diane Ravitch
• A Parent 2.0′s Back to School Dilemma by Will Richardson
• Saskatchewan Reform, Superman and the Media by Dean Shareski

Technology issues for post-secondary faculty (informal research for Alec’s discussion with University of Regina faculty)

• Aboriginal children to get laptops (CBC news story)
• Cloud computing caveats – Lakehead University Faculty Association issues with Google Apps
• Michael Geist’s commentary to above: Arbitrator Rules Lakehead University Can Switch Email System to Gmail

We can haz prizes?

Thanks to edublogs (especially Sue Waters) for sponsoring the prize for the show. Listen to the show for details on how you can win.

Creative commons music

Opening theme:  nervoso con las guitarras by norelpref is licensed under a Attribution Noncommercial

Closing theme: (©urve) Music LatinSaint Style by LatinSaint is licensed under a Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)

Enjoy the show: 

Podcasting from the bathroom

A conversation with all 5 members, we haven’t done that for a while.  Rob, Heather, Rick, Alec and I talked about PLP, 1 to 1 computing, and PD.

Some other links:

• Isabel Allende’s TED talk
• Powerful Learning Practice
• IT summit
• TLt 2010
• Educon: Field Guide for Change Agents (blog post from Rodd Lucier)

We’re back with our first podcast of 2010
EdTech Posse Podcast 6.1 – No tech after 5 p.m.

Mike Wesch presented at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina earlier this week. We discussed his presentations and reflected on some of the changes that might result from educators becoming aware of his work/message.

Some notes:

• Rick’s conversation/video podcast with Mike Wesch
• Mike Wesch’s presentation at the University of Regina: The (Digital) Writing on the Walls (and why the walls don’t matter anymore (Ustream recording)
• Digital Ethnography research group site
• Mike Wesch on twitter
• 2010 Haiti Earthquake (If you are in Canada and interested in donating, the CBC has compiled a list of organizations that are providing relief. The federal government will match donations made by individuals between now and Feb. 12, 2010)
• The Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock iPhone app – as endorsed by Dean

Prognostications for 2010:

• Rick – reinvestment of classroom video capture (we’re not in favour of this due to it’s reinforcement of traditional classroom models)
• Dean – advocacy/adoption of interactive whiteboards in classrooms (we have some of the same concerns about this as above)
• Rob – mobile technology (netbooks, the mythological Apple Tablet)

Promote/plug (things we think you might be interested in):

• Coyote Chalk blog written by Cori Saas, a former student of Dean’s
• The College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Rick says that great things are happening there.
• “Shop Class as Soul Craft” by Matthew Crawford is next on Rob’s reading list for books to read on his iPod touch using the Kobobooks app (terrific ebook seller). Matthew was recently heard on episode 97 of the CBC Radio program Spark.

Finally, Rob wants to thank Paul Wood for saying hi to his kids via Skype, and Alan Levine for being The Boy™’s first twitter buddy.

Thanks to Rob for recording, editing and supplying the show notes:

Anywho, as usual we had a great time talking, laughing, being silly and of course, as sure as I'll spill food on my clothes, Rob brings out the microphone and begins recording.

No theme, no purpose, just friends yacking. After Sir Ken, Rob and I hit a local coffee shop for the debrief.

Just because I felt like it, I've added some show notes. I haven't done that for a while. Enjoy.

• Alec's crying photo
• Alec's student's post
• The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment
• Out of Our Minds
• A radical alternative: Real teaching
• Howlett Academy
• Summerhill
• Reading is Not a Skill
• Ken DeRosa and Facts
• Kristin Cummings

It was a great conversation with Alec, Rick and Rob. One of my favourites. To think it’s year five. Wow. I’m particularly satisfied with the dicussion around Alec’s flickr issue. I think Alec in particular provides a nice response to the issue.

Shownotes

The Posse felt he would make a great guest so Alec and Rick and I spent the better part of an hour with Michael. Thanks to Rob Wall who edited the audio, but unfortunately could not join us in the conversation. Heather Ross, our other Posse member, was also unable to attend.

Image: Michael Geist – Why Copyright? – 4 by D’Arcy Norman
http://flickr.com/photos/dnorman/2383910972/

Rick, Rob and Heather (we missed Alec) and I chatted for just under an hour, Rob hit the record button and here it is.

[display_podcast]
Flickr Image: nicholas in the hammock
http://flickr.com/photos/nicholaslaughlin/463979068/

Show notes