Rummaging...

This morning I ran across one of my notes, jotted down on a single sheet of blue steno paper, the words faded from age. It was stuck in the pages of a book I read in high school I pulled off the shelf again the other day. It's a reminder that school reform is nothing new.

The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else. Not only does education continue when schooling ends, but it is not confined to what may be studied in adult education courses. The world is an incomparable classroom and life is a memorable teacher for those who aren't afraid of her.

~John Gardner "Self-Renewal" (1964)

A New Beginning...

New Years has passed me by but not without my annual dose of reflection on the past 12 months of life.

Yes...time has passed and we're back - hard at it inside the walls of schooling. As I struggled with my own harsh self-evaluation of hurting people's feelings this past year, I discovered something author David Allan calls disintegrated self-trust. Listening to "Getting Things Done" (abridged) over the holidays was exactly what I needed. David Allen talks about the word "stuff" and makes meaning of your life. It's about stuff becoming unmanagable and you don't even know it...and I could relate. It reminds me of what Thomas Friedman describes in his awakening of "The World is Flat".

But before the book, I reached out for help from my slow-growing network of people leaders, and the network came through thanks to my twitter friend mikesansone. He pointed out that it would be bad form to delete a post but that it would be better instead to post a part 2 or some sort of follow up. I hope I have.

In 2006, a team of classroom teachers PK-12 were given time away from their teaching for a half a day a month to participate in Kal-Tech leadership training with their technology coordinator and Kal-Tech mentor. We were on our way to a new landscape and we were blazing the trails for instruction in educational technology and trying to share this passion with district staff. It's only been two years and the landscape has shifted already. The more we learn, the more we want to learn and we've found learning is empowering. It helps us change the world one byte at a time. We believe this learning can be used as a catalyst for building supportive communities of practice by studying together, using inquiry, exploration, and real-world questioning to help children learn. So is the mission of the LTT.

In the audio book Tribes, we should heed the words of author Seth Godin who draws out the differences between Crowds and Tribes when he says: Tribes have a passionate mission - not just a common idea...they're not about stuff - they're about connection.

USD 352 technology planning has always strived to build an innovative model for creativity & innovation in the classroom using technology as a catalyst for learning. But horizontal to this philosophy, it's imperative we build relationships with students to help them understand the power of learning.

Questioning the System....

I'm being brave and just asking some really tough questions in my mind. I'm sorry if I offend anyone. I've been listening to too many books & podcasts lately!

Are we teaching pre-service teachers about leadership?

How do we continue to move teacher leadership forward, where they're continuously teaching themselves leadership skills by the books they read, by the dialog they have, and apply it to their roles as teacher leaders at the building level?

How do we build the bench for teacher leaders that will eventually crush/overcome the current narrow-minded thinking of the role of teacher vs. learner in a culture others accuse has stagnated?

How do we find the money in a failing rural economy, to reward the top 5% of teacher leaders we have now with monthly time and pay during their normal work day?

How do we build school calendars that will help us prosper in a new thinking economy?

In my opinion, the keys to unlock the possibilities are held captive by the system.

FAQ's & Inspiring Teams...

Today I had a question from one of my team members about getting registered for a conference. It took me by surprise knowing about our team attitude these days. So between this and sharing a good question that others might also find as useful information, I try to answer to both.

Q: Several of the tech team want to go to MACE and need to get registered, but don't know what to do when it comes to the payment part. Can you tell us what we have done in the past and what they should do for this year?

A: In the past, I have coordinated these events so everything is easy for people to go and enjoy the conference. I don't do this because I'm trying to keep others from going. If several of the tech team want to go to MACE, you would think that they would want to discuss in large group instead, and start what could lead to a good to great discussion about what's inspiring about presenting or attending and who else in our buildings might benefit from attending and also be worthy? I am disappointed in this team because I have not heard any of these conversations going on.

If we are to be a leadership team, I need to know who wants to be on it. Is it volunteer right now? Kind of yes. Will it always be? Who knows. We are doing everything in our power to help create these learner-driven, student-centered classrooms. We can only do what we are happy at. If an awesome opportunity came up for any one of us, we would encourage strength in the talents of one another to help her/him fly the coop. It seems to me that we have lost the capacity of working in a collaborative manner....in the midst of diversity. Why?

Stephen Covey says it is because we have lost trust and without trust you can't fix anything until you fix the trust. It is my belief people don't understand how to work in teams and it's especially hard to work in a high energy team where much diversity is found, like ours. When did we become dissatisfied?

What I know is how we felt during those Kal-Tech days. We were inspired and learning and having conversations working on the work together. That was the year 2006. A few things happened to the organizational structure of our district that year. I'm only listing the two most important mile stones in my own life. Mary Frazier and Bill left after 20 some years. I'm sorry I don't know the exact amount. Natural organizational changes like this happen and we learn and grow from our experience only to continue with our passionate work in education.

Now again, we need to set sail in another direction focused on the development of teachers to build lessons with higher level student inquiry. We have to create our maps. Peter Senge in his new book "Dance of Change" says "Without better maps it is extremely unlikely that organizational change efforts will sustain themselves." If you've listened to Peter Senge, you know he pours his heart and soul into his work and he believes the framework provided by the 20+ years of research that went into the making of his book, Dance of Change, will provide a starting point, enabling those of us who care deeply about building new types of organizations .... to lead in creating better maps and healthier organizations. I want to be on the map building team.

And then there's Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers". Wow. It starts off intriguingly great.

May we always ... lead with our best self.

Karla

Settling down to lay out the plan...

Wow. I was shocked to see the last time I posted was June 8. I knew it had been awhile but that is way too long. I struggle with the question, why don't I do a better job of blogging more often or every day? I'm positive it has something to do with my insecurity of making a mistake.

When there is no failure, there can be by definition, no success. Without risk, there is no failure. Without failure there is no success.

What we don't admit is the systemic culture of Learning (1.0), teaches our children at a very early age, to make no mistakes because getting the wrong answer is bad. Failure is not looked upon as a learning experience. Each year, we hardened them off a bit more and if we're not careful we may have a community full of kids bored who no longer want to take risks for fear of failure.

Laying out the plan? This year marks our State tech plan as renewable! The due date to the state is May, 2009.

As you start to think about all the artifacts of data required to inspire us as we revise our road map and start to frame what 21st Century living looks like, the skills required to live there, we need to remember to ask tough questions.... maybe even harder for us is to create tough answers.

What we all need to agree on, in my humble opinion, is the fact that this work is hard, grueling at times, and requires the use of the dirty words "time" and "accountability".... for not just working on the work, but also to reflect, assess, and act. It certainly takes accountability to another level.

Tools of the Trade.....

Only when we can think seriously, read profoundly, dig in the research, look out globally, and have hard conversations, will we thrive and produce in a purposeful professional learning community. PLC's at their best?? How is your's stacking up?

A Few Things.......

I've missed a wonderful event that happened today in my neighborhood! I told my teachers jokingly I was jealous of them all. [smile] I've missed connecting all evening with some great people from out of town and I did't catch all your tweets! Twitter has been neglected since Holiday weekend. I think I should have invited myself better to the celebration. lol

Darn it Kevin! it just wasn't meant to happen by the master gardener!. :-) It was a very good day for me here. Even more, I heard great things from my teachers who spent the first day of the iConnect/iLearn conference with you and their fellow thinkers.

I am so excited for the four who will benefit. Still sadder... that 60 of them did not write back.

Funny, if I were going to say a few things as food for thought based on my day?.... I might say:

• I'm doing everything possible to hold your inadequacies in my hands and ease the pain and take care of you like I always have.
  

• I see great modeling of support systems that exists in the microscopic nitches of our community. The question becomes ... How can we begin to stitch the supports back together?

Curious ... what percent of YOUR citizenship is negative, how much is positive? Can we look around and assess with minds wide open?

p.s. Kevin, you have done well at branding!

Letter to myself......

We're all over the place it seems these days. All of the girls were present at last nights tech meeting, and I'm taking this moment to thank them for they are not recognized enough for what they do for me and this district. This connection keeps us challenged in many ways and as we collaborate and dialog and rant, it is because it is not so much people that disempower us but the bigger cloud we know as politics which come in many forms. Disguised at times because we don't even recognize it. The rest of my post started out as an email and then turned blog. Many works go unpublished and that is probably a good thing. I struggle as a writer. But...maybe it will spark some good .... if not just for me.

p.s. The project site has not been cleaned up yet or had the personal touches done to it from the team yet so don't be too critical. [smile]

I would like to request some time for the teachers that "come out of the woodwork" on this project and get up in front of their colleagues to share their "design" of how this Web2.0 application connects / ties to their curriculum. I would like to request a half-day professional day for this team, who we could call the GoogleEarth project team for now, so they can spend 3.5 hours of their professional day to work on the framework for next years student projects.

Wish I could change the terminology on all of this. Back in the Kal-Tech days we talked about how we could affect change not just within the boundaries of today's schools, but also by pushing and stretching those boundaries to fall outside the classroom walls.

If each teacher we have touched through laptop focus group has not experienced moments when they were inspired to create something new and unique for each learner they facilitated, I would be gravely disappointed. But....have they sustained that inspiration as a "life long" learner?

This is the question behind the question. QBQ. This is what each individual has to ask of ourselves. My goodness, isn't it the "credence" of School 1.0? to be a life-long learner? hmmmm, makes me wonder what mental models some people see. What picture can we draw of this?

This program is about drawing different pictures. It's about creating new mental models for what you love to do. Make a difference in the life of a child. oops..... That came out so easy. Why didn't I just write Make a difference in the life of children? Maybe it hasn't ever been addressed in the plural form of the word. Maybe that's why it is so hard to collaborate and share at higher levels than what is being maintained in our schools.

How clean are our pipes? Are they clogged? Are we suffering from corroded arteries? Think about it.

Building a Center of Excellence...

This was in my Inbox this morning from eseminars@enterpriseannounce.com - one of the many diverse newsletters I have raiding my Inbox. It was titled Build a Center of Excellence. (see original version posted below)

Okay..so I storied right there. It was titled BPM to BPI: Build a Center of Excellence, but instantly in my mind I substituted and imagined "What If?" The message just seemed so easy to "mashup", to make it fit with what we're trying to accomplish in the new vision of how schools can create global citizens who possess integrity, compassion, creativity, and are fluent in financial literacy, communication and collaboration skills; are critical thinkers, decision makers and problem-solvers....are young adults who learn to respect intellectual and personal property rights of others because they have been engaged in dialog around ethics, diversity, entrepreneurship, and innovation in a global society while the moment is teachable. It seesms a difficult task knowing the obstacles in our communities.

What IF we substituted the word "Schools" for "companies" in this advertisement for professional development? Actually, I'd rather refer to schools as organizations but I feel the status quo may not allow that thinking.

What essential conditions make way for creating a common vision and strategic action plans that will propel us to orchestrate the following? There is much to study and learn from the works of Stephen Covey, Peter Senge, and Tom Peters about organizational behavior.

-----------------My Version
Educational Professional,

Schools looking to evolve their "curriculum" and "skill-set" from a single-process solution to a more strategic, intelligence-driven function have much to gain in the way of an all-encompassing, end-to-end view of its processes and functions.

To achieve such a holistic process, however, schools must utilize all its resources in what should become known as a Center of Excellence and consider not just the technology but also who is driving the strategy behind it. Where are you on the continuum of learning and leading in a global economy?

In this eSeminar..

----------------Original Version
Technology Professional,

Companies looking to evolve their business process management from a single-process solution to a more strategic, intelligence-driven function have much to gain in the way of an all-encompassing, end-to-end view of its processes and functions.

To achieve such a holistic process, however, companies must utilize all its resources in what has become known as a Center of Excellence and consider not just the technology but also who is driving the strategy behind it.

In this eSeminar..

Our panel of experts discuss the factors-both technological and human-that comprise a Center of Excellence, the possible pitfalls to avoid, and what benefits such a body of knowledge can offer.

Sponsored by Metastorm
------------------

What essential conditions need to be in place that will make way for creating a common vision and strategic action plan that will propel us to orchestrate CHANGE?

How are YOU mashing it all up?

Team Work...

As I reflect on the many conversations I've had this past year, I come back to reflect on a very simple book we studied as a team, Price Pritchett's book called TeamWork. It's an easy, quick read, only 65 pages long, but it's packed full of real examples of how successful teams accomplish their goals. His table of contents seems like a good road map.

• Push for High Quality Communication.
• Bring Talent to the Team.
• Play Your Position.
• Turn Diversity to the Team's Advantage.
• Back Up Others Who Need Help.
• Practice.
• Be Prepared to Sacrifice for the Team.
• Help New Teammates Make Entry.
• Play Down Yourself and Build Up Others.
• Spend Time With Your Teammates.
• Help Drive Discipline Into the Group.
• Make Sure You Make a Difference.
• Give Attention to Group Process.
• Help Create a Climate of Trust.
• Strengthen the Leader Through Good Followership.
• Be a Good Sport.

I am also reminded of this quote from "The Power of Full Engagement"

We can derive as much value from studying and understanding our failures as we can from celebrating and reinforcing our successes.

And Peter Senge who writes about a harmonization of our thinking and moving into action that can be a foundation.

It's this coming together to think together because we know only then can we act together.

I leave you with this question from Henry Jenkins work at MIT, he asks:

What has to change with our academic institutions in order for them to capitalize on the strengths that the current cultural changes/opportunities are creating?

A Time of Reflection......

This post is a mash-up of more thoughts than should go in one post. I'm inspired right now by the books The Speed of Trust, The Power of Full Engagement, Bernajean Porter's work, my social networks, and the work of our district LTT.

The start of a New Year causes me to reflect not only on my own personal and professional growth, but also on the growth of our organization. Over the next month or so, we should all focus on reflection.

Last night's teacher laptop class was an example that we do not, on a regular basis, initiate good conversation as a whole. However, our staff development model has used the power of video and Tanya's opening movie last night accomplished the task of empowering voice. No longer is it acceptable to be ignorant. It was a good night, but we continue to have non-participants whom we can not reach. Sad.

Reflecting... As usual, I have more questions than answers. What do we, the "LTT", stand for? What is lacking in the area of 21C skills, thinking, and knowledge among those we teach and work with? How do we "bridge that gap"?

Are we Innovating? Inspiring? Assessing???

Are we teaching the skills that teachers need in the new media landscape? Do we agree on those skills? Are we remembering, among all the distraction technology brings, the power of the Socratic method?

I started the school year with an email full of questions that we have not formally addressed. Aimee brought them back to us a couple of months later with her own thoughtful answers. I challenge each of us to do the same.

My team works very hard and our district is blessed. I am nothing without my players.

Is it possible...

Is it possible to have implemented too many cultural changes in a K-12 institution in one year? Are we setting ourselves up for failure?

We need a clear focus and shared vision. Goals.

Sometimes I think we have soooo many good projects, some of them potentially great. But.....my team is tired, stressed out, over volunteered, over worked, given responsibility only to have it yanked out of their hand...out of their own efforts it was stolen.

We are working so very hard to create learning environments infused with the global tools of the trade as well as the wisdom of the past. Yet our classrooms are driven by the policy makers.

We cannot create the future without looking back at the past. Agree?

I'm sorry I don't know who to thank for that statement. It's hard to think that the best research in our lives... possibly? is less than 5 years old...2 days old...1 minute old. When does history become history?

How do we keep a balance in our classrooms knowing what we know and understanding what we don't know?

Schooling right now is hard for everyone. Whether you are struggling to create custom learning environments, or watching the clock, waiting for that retirement year to roll around. Thinking this too shall pass. Sad.

Our children are so crucial to our survival. They are so lacking in the skills they will require in the flat world that exists out there. Outside of those red-brick walls. Reminds me of Pink Floyd. Their music was enthralling and created an atmosphere of questioning the deep thinking that existed in the era. Sometimes I think more and more, the lyrics of our young adult music is lacking in the area of deep thinking. Could this be why our students are so lacking of that same skill?

We have not created authentic thinkers, or authentic doers. This is already apparent as far down as lower elementary children. Our society, our communities, needs to recognize the issues we have with children. We can not teach in isolation. It seems we are at epidemic portions. It's societal and emotional bankruptcy.

Again, I am off-task. Our struggles seem to be so political. It's crazy -- we can't just be the experts. We can't just give the whole child a whole-child education. Too much red tape right now....

Building on the power of team...

Today, I was not working in my zone, my erg, my strengths. I feel like, on a 1 to 5 scale, I preformed at 2.

I have an awesome team of teacher leaders forming within our district. It is so exciting I just can't stand not shouting about it! My lead tech team is awesome!!
The level of investment in professional staff development they give is passionate. They only survive through the intrinsic motivation that feeds their desire to educate all children who pass through our hands.

Our grass roots teachers are becoming practitioners equipped with 21 century pedagogy and skills. If you haven't been following our posts over at the usd352summerinstitute07 blog, we have had 12 students in class every day for six hours a day, four days including two virtual students working in "Web 2.0 and the Digital Classroom". I know I speak for the entire team when I say we are so proud of you. So many had to have day-care providers for two and more and the entire team has sacrificed family time to attend. Bravo!

The trick will be keeping the momentum going and remaining an active participant in the "social networks" we are creating.

I leave you with this great post from Will Richardson at Weblogg-ed about passionate based learning.

Enjoy!

Reflecting.....

As I traveled the highway this afternoon, one of my favorite songs played on the radio. It brought much needed inspiration into my day. "I Can See Clearly Now" ....sometimes, getting lost in song is what gives me hope.

The past two weeks lost in the blogosphere have me thinking deeply about many things. Reflecting...

It became clear to me that surrounding myself with people who "see" the same grandiose vision as I is so much more important today than it has ever been before in the "business" of public education. I am reminded of Marco Torres, who reminded "us" tech directors in his March07 Keynote at the M.A.C.E. conference that our jobs are to CONNECT people not machines!

Thinking about Classroom2.0, I loved this quote by Will Richardson on his post "A Degree in Social Computing? Oh...The Irony"

I’ve said it many times, my blog, my participation in this network is my Ph.D.

How true!! It doesn't matter the network ... networks will come and go as all things do. Just connect.

I've been reflecting on what Will Richardson wrote the other day. It took me by surprise and saddened me to have one of the great thinkers who has shared such wonderful and inspiring ideas with me for a long time....feel defeated.

It's certainly about "Hard Optimism"! It's like The Monster Under The Bed only the bed is gone and now we just have a monster. (smile)

Year in Review

I was just thinking about my experiences this year with Laptop Focus, my Lead Tech Team, and Kal-Tech and I can't help but think about the growth we have made, as an individual, contributor, creator, teacher. Wow!! My brain can't hold it all :-)

My Team#155 is made up of a great group of educators from Ellis, Kansas. They are excellent educators struggling against the forces of change in their small rural community. They are the "cream of the crop" in their district. I also have four FHSU professors who work in the college of Ed. in Hays. They are also "cream of the crop" and struggling to keep up with the curve of technological advances in their profession.

Life is an upward battle.

We all have these people, the cream, living inside our organizations. Are we fostering their skills? They can help design new learning opportunities. Leadership. Leadership. Where is it?

This year was HARD work for all of us "change agents"! The more we introduce change the "messier" it gets!

To my Kal-Tech team here in this wikispace ... I would like to invite each of you to think and reflect about your experiences over this past school year.

What had the most impact on your life professionally?

What had the most impact on your life personally?

If you could change ONE thing in your building next year, what would it be?

If you could design a 21C skills class, what would you include?

What knowledge is of MOST importance?

About Vision.....

This post started out as an e-mail reply to my own message about an idea to create a space for "shared dialog" in our district. I called my idea "Thursday Morning Tech Talks". I know, it should/could be more creative but I don't think I created the mental model I have of these sessions because I had this reply from one of my most creative team-teachers:

Sounds good on paper- like staff meetings? Logistically it probably wouldn't be good for our staff meeting as we have to watch children quickly after the meeting and sometimes during-

Would be great if we actually had time to meet and focus on a topic- but mornings are pretty busy - great idea though
db

Db's reply came to my Inbox before I got my reply back out to them. I wrote:

WE could probably fill up the entire year having highly intellectual discussions "around" educational practice, educational research, educational design and THEN content creation! Maybe it should be afternoon :) I'm just thinking about building our bench. I want everyone to have the opportunity to learn what we know.

But then I had this message from my good colleague and favorite administrator:

Good idea, but db has some valid points--probably will also run into problems w/ the negotiated agreement even though the meetings are not required. What about an e-meeting of some sort on a specified day or time where discussions could occur as people are able to "drop in" online?

It's hard to think "inside" the box!

I ask--Do we really think we can create a shared vision with these out of touch, paper-trained, digital immigrants outside of their physical space, with the very people who think "social networks" have no relevance and that they are evil?

Don't we still have to "live" inside the box of School 1.0 until it finally blends in to School 2.0? When will it be about what Dan Pink talks about and what drives our passion? When will it be about intrinsic motivation and personal accountability for each ONE of us/them?

Last night at the board meeting after a great presentation by Aimee about the Omaha experience, I heard a plea for support from the board, superintendent, teachers, students, parents, and community. A plea to help "us" DEMAND "high expectations" of ALL! Very refreshing. Is there anyone else that believes we may fail at high expectations of students if we can't demand high expectations of staff??? We have a lot of work to do if we want them to see the same vision of educating and learning as US.

You and I can understand the "wisdom of crowds" and the power of "teamwork" and we should be DRAW-ing our pictures of what a classroom looks like and feels like in a "high expectations" classroom focused on using the tools of the trade. Ahhh, the "tools of the trade". Interesting concept.

If we can openly and collectively dialog about what these classrooms look like (the stories are at our fingertips) we might begin to create a "shared vision". Oh yes! Shift needs to happen from the top down. I heard this too last night and we all know how true this is. I do believe that we have suffered enough at the mercy of a top down system. We are now in a flat world where the greatest currency of our economy will be the power to turn information into knowledge.

Thoughts?

Better Catch Up!

If you have not listened to/read Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat", better hurry! The next "great" book you need is "Wikinomics" by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. Wow! I find it very empowering to listen to these books as a change agent in Education....well, in any economic role!

Tom Peters talks about "disruptive technologies" in his book "Re-imagine: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age:... we are certainly understanding this concept, eh?

The tools of Web 2.0 were described in "Wikinomics" as "the weapons of mass collaboration". "Peer production" is certainly a disruptive phenomenon.

It seems clear to me that we DO? | WILL live in "a world where only the connected will survive". How many of us today feel "a power shift is underway" and understand the paradigm that "a tough new business rule is emerging"?

Our students NEED to learn new skills to live freely and successfully compete in a "Brave New World". Tapscott and Williams are telling us to "harness the new collaboration or perish".

What do you think?

Data Driven Decision Making??

"If we recognize that change and uncertainly are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic." - Hazel Henderson, The Politics of the Solar Age

The hubbub in the headlines of a Western Kansas community this week could be found in the BOE news of 04.19.07 at the Hays Daily.

Did the pendulum “tip” in the direction that will best use the RESOURCES of what was being built over the last three years with their one-to-one? What exactly caused the "tipping point" in this semi-rural Kansas community to "tip" so drastically? Too harsh a word? Not in my opinion.

It makes me wonder......did RESISTANCE from a culture stagnant to change rear its ugly head? Beware--it is messy out here!

How do we protect the learning environments that we inspire and create? Some of us have been working very hard at this for a long time! I would like to think we are “working on the work” as Phil Schlechty would say. Today, it is about creativity and R-Directed thinking which will empower our children with the skills required to be successful in our "flat world"!

At what COST do we abandon our INVESTMENTS in PeoPle, Kids, and technologies?

Our own usd352 “Learning Community”, what we call our Teacher Laptop Initiative, would be devastated if the decision Hays BOE made Wednesday night happened to our district.

What caused the scales to "tip"? Did it tip in the right direction? What disruptions will this "tipping point" cause in the learning cycle of the young adults who attend HHS? What kind of DATA did they look at in order to make an informed decision about changing the instructional learning design at their high school? Without weighing "their" successes and failures, can we really determine much?

I would challenge every one to READ, if you haven't, what Daniel Pink talks about in educating the whole child. It really is about Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning.

We’ve DONE “school”…. now is the time to DO LEARNING!

Again, I ponder........ at what COST do we abandon our INVESTMENTS in PeoPle, Kids, and technologies?

Are we "vested" in our people? Do we have reason to be? I certainly believe that today our district is vested in its best learners! In my opinion, our district could not teach the LEVEL of creativity and design without our "platform of choice". Apple.

I am hopeful our community will recognize the quality of their child’s education in the pages of our district website as they browse and dialog with the staff that live and create on these pages! This space is certainly growing and taking on a "whole new mind" of it's own.
http://www.usd352.k12.ks.us/home.html

It is a tiny bit about the technology … isn’t it?

I'm very disappointed in this decision.
http://online.hdnews.net/content/news/schoolboe041907.shtml

Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning. Which ones do YOU need to work on today? :)

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." -Charles Darwin

Do we believe?

I get the feeling educators in our own districts, those who have failed in the quest to be life long learners, don't believe the world has become flat, or if this is so - it does not and should not affect their teaching. Help me understand this....

Thinking about Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat", I came across a blog post from October 17, 2006 written by Chris O'Neal over on Edutopia's Spiral Notebook blog. It's titled "What Does "The World is Flat" Mean for Education?" and I am enlightened to read the comments. Great questions!

How does a flat world affect us personally? What do you think this means for our classrooms? How do we ensure that our children have the twenty-first-century skills to succeed in the new flat world?

Is there relevance in these questions for our own organizations and communities? In my opinion they are core to our conversations in Kal-Tech. I would challenge each of you to post your thoughts.

Book Study.1: A Whole New Mind

Our assignment for the upcoming April 4th meeting is to read the first two chapters in Daniel Pink's book and post our highlights, what stuck, what's interesting, what's questionable, or what needs clarification, about it here. The following are my thoughts.

"The future belongs to a very different kind of mind." Do we agree so far? Could it be the "Revenge of the Righ Brain"?

I like Pink's term for this new age, the "conceptual age", and his reference to the "six senses". Design~Story~Symphony~Empathy~Play~Meaning. I also read with interest "The Conceptual Age Orgainzation".

L-Directed Thinking vs. R-Directed Thinking

Now, R-Directed Thinking is suddenly grabbing the wheel, stepping on the gas, and determining where we're going and how we'll get there.

This quote on page 27, drew an instant mental image of all social networking sites such as Blogs, Wikis, Flickr, Superglu, Del.icio.us, Wikipedia, Google Apps, MySpace, and the list goes on. R-Directed Thinking????

I also like the term he coined "SAT-ocracy" as he referred to the many tollbooths we had to pass through to reach the land of knowledge work.

What struck me most was the relevance of scarcity vs. abundance and how we have lost so much in this transition.