Multi-faceted Refractions

In Illinois, it is hard to get away from politics. Tonight was President Bush’s final State of the Union address and in eight days, on February 5th, I will be participating in the primary during Super Tuesday. It is hard not to think about the upcoming campaign.

During my weekly planning meeting with our Lower School Head (Lower School Principal), our agenda switched to continued planning for the upcoming 2008-2009 Academic Year. I mentioned that one of the items we needed to add to the list was what plans our 4th and 5th grade classes had for the upcoming fall election. I helped the team plan for their unit during the last major presidential election in 2004 and it was invigorating. “Funny you should mention that, since I had a lunch meeting with the team and we brought that topic up,” replied our Lower School Head.

Last election, our students became journalists, researching the platforms of the various parties and then went out to canvas and poll local citizens to get their feedback. They then took the data and analyzed it looking at the demographics. It was a rich, cross-disciplinary project that everyone got excited about.

Over the next few month, the 4th and 5th grade team will be reviewing the unit using the principles of Wiggin’s Understanding by Design. During this backwards design process, they will be determining the essential questions and goals that they will employ for this unit.

What really excites me is the possibilities that the new technology tools will have on their coverage of this unit. Now, they will be able to create a blog to share their thoughts, they will be able to use digital voice recorders and cell phones to record podcasts that I am hoping that they will begin to share with the world.

My ultimate goal would be to create a syndicate of other classroom journalists who would be doing the project in parallel with everyone sharing their data via Google Maps, wikis, Google Spreadsheets, and swapping audio files of interviews so that each classroom will now have a richer data set, extending their data set to compare and contrast to our own local set. It could enable a conversations and debates about differences that would be interesting, showing how different parts of the country have different needs.

So, I think that I have an idea for a new project that I am going to pursue over the next few months, to see if I can create a syndicate of other teachers and classrooms who would be willing to share their data. Who knows, this may turn into something big.

Technorati Tags: election education collaboration wiggins ubd

When Chris Lehmann first announced the dates of EduCon last summer, I was disappointed by the fact that I would not be able to attend, since there were already two other activities that were on my calendar, the first was to accompany and coach our High School Science Olympiad team at the first event of the year and the second was the annual Northern Illinois Computer Educators (NICE) Mini-Conference. I was already torn by which I should attend and the addition of EduCon really made this more of a dilemma.

As the year progressed and more events were added to my calendar, word came that the date of our Science Olympiad event was moved two weeks into the future and now it was only EduCon and the NICE Mini-Conference on this weekend. This, however, occurred in November, when my life was being turned upside down by family issues and I made the decision to stay closer to home rather that be away for the weekend. As it turns out, this is the first of four straight Saturdays of school obligations, so it made the decision clearer, at least for me at the time.

I was disappointed that I was not going to be able to attend EduCon, but I thought that I would try to bridge to the conference with a NICE session. But things didn’t work out as planned and I was not able to make the connection and for this, I am disappointed. But I know that David Jakes did an outstanding job in my place, better than I probably would have done. So I moderated a great conversation amongst a small group of technology leaders at NICE which was fruitful and engaging, so all was not a loss.

By the time that I returned home Saturday afternoon, I was exhausted and the group at EduCon had already started their final sessions before reflection. So instead of jumping in a chat room and participating live, I opted to run the errands that had not yet been completed for my wife, so that she could continue planning for the Middle School Musical that they are doing in seven weeks, High School Musical. It was the right decision at the time, to preserve domestic tranquility.

On Sunday, I awoke to the desire to awake and then jump into the conference and participate and learn. Alas, the dishwasher and washing machine needed minor repairs, so unfortunately my honey-do list trumped that my desire to engage in my own learning. This wasn’t so bad, because one of the sessions I wanted to participate in was not being uStreamed, so I completed these repairs instead.

To make a long story short, I am left wondering if the short term decisions that I made, which all seemed like the best choices at the time, was the best decision for me in the long run. Have I missed out on opportunities to learn, to network, to help mold and shape my ideas and thoughts to help design new ways of learning? I know that I will be able to review many of the conversations that had, but have I been left behind or am I going to be left out? These are questions that I am having, regretting the fact that so many people have been energized for by the experience. But as I think about it, isn’t this a feeling that many others are going to have, as we expand our worlds and learning networks to include more people from many different places around the world. How can we encourage those who are either unable to attend because of distance, because of other demands on our time, or even by the obstacles of language? How does the conversation continue for all, those who were able to converge at the same physical time and space with those who are coming into the conversation later? Or those who were unable to attend more than one conversation at the same time in the same physical space? It always comes down to choices.

So, I will sit down and begin to chip away at engaging in the conversation that occurred, balancing that with the next four weeks which will be hectic, with planning for the 2008-2009 academic year (both from an IT perspective and a Curricular perspective), getting into the heart of Science Olympiad season, coming into the stretch run guiding our students in constructing our yearbook, and being a supportive husband to my wife as she works on her major school commitment, the musical, partly by being a good father and taking more of a parenting role. It will be difficult and hard, but I will persevere to become a participant in the conversation.

Oh yeah, and what is the date of EduCon 2.1? Need to get that date into my calendar ASAP so this is not an issue next year.

Technorati Tags: educon20

Since I was on hiatus from blogging, I missed the 1st anniversary of my committing the the process of blogging. It has been an interesting journey.  Developing my inner voice has taken time to allow the style and rhythm to emerge. Like all creative artists, it is nice to look back and assemble a set of postings in a greatest hits package. Some of the selections were popular as decided by readership, some are selections which generated the greatest amount of conversation after the fact. And there are nuggets which the artist loves which may have gotten buried at the time, but stand the test of time.

So I have taken the opportunity to review my posts and create my top ten greatest hits list. It was difficult to narrow one’s work down into such a small sampling of what I have written, but these represent the best, most popular, and most fun choices. I hope that you will find the selections as interesting as I have while re-reading them.

How Three Cups of Tea Changes My Life (December 9, 2006) - This is one of my most popular posts and the one which solidified the power of the process of blogging. The reply by Greg Mortenson himself and the subsequent face to face meeting that I was able to have really have changed my life, more so that I alluded at the time.

Playing While At School (December 11, 2006) - A person favorite which highlights some of the excitement of my job.

Group Membership and Validation (January 7, 2007) - This is one of my favorite pieces, the one I hold as one of the best that I have ever done.

Creating Global Connections - A Workshop for North Shore’s Lower School Teachers (February 18, 2007) - Includes one of my first podcasts, this presentation has done more for professional development and curricular change than any other workshop I have delivered.

Notes from the PC Roundtable (April 26, 2007) - One of the posts which generated the most traffic to my site. I guess there are many people interested in the power of tablet PCs. We are piloting 26 this academic year.

How Technology Has Changed the Way we Teach at North Shore (May 11, 2007) - Picked up by Will Richardson, this was one of the most hit posts

Understanding Digital Kids - Teaching and Learning in a Digital Landscape (July 16, 2007) - A live blog of a presentation by Ian Jukes at the Laptop Institute in Memphis. A popular choice of people coming to my blog.

Changing My Tune - Internet Safety for Students (August 16, 2007) - This was later picked up by the TechLearning blog as the post for August, which was quite an honor.

The Invisibles are Forgotten (August 31, 2007) - This one was one I loved, and caused others, including Kim Cofino to post her thoughts.

Does the Backchannel Stiffle Those Who Benefit Most from Technology (October 11, 2007) - A post that still resonates, as more and different instantaneous methods of communication move us away from reflective writing.

Just missing the top 10, but important in my development as a writer:

Different Person, Similar Story (October 30, 2006) - My first post was one of the more interesting reflecting on use of visual storytelling for documentary pieces. Rough and incomplete, but a gem nonetheless.

My Online Conference Experiences (November 9, 2006) - An interesting reflections about immersing in the new modes of professional development.

Reflections on Reflections (January 23, 2007) - A story of a collaboration, a great example of partnership

Which Comes First, Aquistion of Skills or the Use of Skills for Deeper Inquiry (February 11, 2007) - A question that I still think is valid and has not been answered

The Frustrations and Exhiliration of my Virtual Presentation (April 11, 2007) - My experience with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach’s class

Teachers are Found Everywhere (September 18, 2007) - A short sweet reminder to never lose sight of who we can learn from

Reflections from a Diversity Workshop (October 16, 2007) - A post where I learned from multiple sources and experimented with new skills, via the K12 Online Conference.

Each of these posts shows how much I have grown over the past year. I hope to continue to share more great posts next year.

When someone asks me, “Why do you waste your time blogging? How do you know if anyone is reading what you are writing and if they really care?”, I was not sure that I always have a great answer. I know that the process of writing provides an opportunity for me to reflect and forge the fragments of thought into a solid idea. This is a process solely for me and not necessarily meant for others. While this may be helpful to others who are working through similar problems and projects to help shape their ideas and solutions for their unique set of circumstances, this is the narcissistic view of blogging that many harbor. Blogging is solely for self-publication and self-promotion.

An event a few weeks ago has challenged my views of why we blog. On Friday, December 14th, at the end of the day, I received both an email and a voice message from someone at the Gale Group, who have invited me to be a part of an advisory panel for a new project that they are considering. They are wanting to fly me out for a day long meeting. When I inquired why they had chosen me, the responded that they had read a blog post of mine, Eight Random Things about Me that I had written August 13th that stated that I was a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). From this and then consequently finding out that I work with in a school with teachers, they replied

It’s actually been a week or two since I did my initial googling for potential panelists, but I it had to do with you being an educator and having contributed to SABR publications (mentioned on your blog).  I am trying to bring in not just librarians but also faculty members/teachers as well, and I wanted to make sure that whoever I brought in knew a thing or two about baseball.

So blogging is not just about sharing one thoughts, but can also be a way for others to be able to seek you out and locate you based upon your passions. If I had not shared this bit of information, this meeting would have happened and I would not have been invited to participate. I would have lost out on an opportunity.

This has now changed my thinking. We blog so that we can share and allow others the chance to know who we are, what we are passionate about, and what we think. We build up the currency of thoughts and ideas which is becoming more valuable in this information age that we are living. We are establishing our portfolio to share with the world.

If I am involved in interviewing a new teaching candidate for the school, I am going to seek out to see what this person may have created. I will not be doing so to look for faults, but rather to get a better understanding of this person, more in depth and richer than a 45 minute conversation.

So this is why we blog, to celebrate all that we hold important. To share our passions, and share the ways that we think.

Personally, for me, 2007 was a year full of professional and personal growth. I could not imagine today that I would have had the successes (and failures) that I did during the year. Just from sheer numbers, 115 post over the year meant that that on average, I wrote something once every three days. Even when you subtract the live blogging posts, this meant that I was reflecting and sharing at least once a week. I am amazed by this fact, as I have always found it difficult to write. Also, this practice is consistent with what we ask our students to do, to read and reflect. We do, however, need to challenge ourselves to write for world-wide audience and not be satisfied with simply those who are immediate in our lives.

It was my willingness to share my thoughts that have led to the wonderful opportunities that I got to explore. I was asked to present for Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach’s class (Vinnie’s Virtual Monday) , was asked to participate in Arvind Grover’s and Alex Ragone’s 21st Century Podcast three times (February 20th, June 26th, and October 31st), asked to participate in the conversation on Women of Web 2.0 (October 30th), was selected to present for the K12 Online Conference (Expanding Horizons - Engaging the Adults in your Community), and asked to chair the Live Events Committee of the Conference.

Through all of these experiences and my becoming an active participant in my own learning and within the networks which I am claiming membership, I have been able to expand my network, meet new and interesting people who challenge my thinking and help me learn each and every day.

I look forward to the challenges of 2008. I will be connecting useres at EduCon 2.0 and the Northern Illinois Computer Educators (NICE) Mini-Conference in January, presenting as a spotlight speaker. I have also received inquiries about other possibilities for the upcoming year and I am really looking forward to attend NECC.

So, for the rest of the week, I am sitting down to edit my three year plan, since so much has changed in my life. I am also working on the school’s three year plan and it will be interesting to see what they share in common, and where they may diverge.  I will be sharing the process along the way.

I hope that you all have a great 2008.