During the conference, a number of us began talking about the inherent problem with NAIS and other major conferences, such as ISTE, especially those with technology strands. Because of the size of each of these endeavors, the conference planners need to have their call for submissions 5 – 7 months ahead of the conference. Because of this cycle, the inclusion of new creative and innovative ideas often have to wait for 18 months before they can be shared.

While this measured pace is good for those who are closer to the mainstream, for those of use who are wanting to discuss or exchange ideas about newer implementations have to seek each other out in the hallways. This requires the individual to know the  people who are wanting to share/discuss/troubleshoot similar problems or ideas. In larger conferences, you may not personally know all of the people who share the needs as you. This can prevent you from being able to leverage the ability to connect with others who may be able to guide and inspire you.

Enter the EdCamp model. Shortly after the NAIS annual conference, a number of began a conversation that a great addition to the NAIS annual conference would be to offer a EdCamp or and EduBloggerCon type day at the beginning and end of the conference to allow for the intellectual sharing which the conference cannot offer. Under the leadership of many great folks, including Liz Davis, Kim Sivick, Anthony McGann, and Greg Bamford, discussions began ro create an EdCamp after NAIS. Through connections, the Northwest School agreed to host the event, which is being offered for free, to anyone in the area or is staying beyond the completion of the formal conference.

I am very excited about attending this event and looking forward to both learning and sharing. Our expectations are small and we hope for a small success so that we plan and repeat the event at the NAIS 2013 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. I look forward to connecting with friends new and old.

As has been the theme this year of the webcast I co-host, 21st Century Learning with Alex Ragone and arvind grover, I think that distance and online learning are going to continue to be huge. From the release of the National Association of Independent School’s (NAIS) Online Learning Guide to the white paper from the Online School for Girls, our conversations this fall have been very fruitful. It is to the end that I am personally venturing and modeling by taking online learning courses from the American School of Bombay and looking to finally pursuing my masters at one of the online programs this spring/summer. I believe that the scales are tipping and that this is an area that all K12.

I am also looking forward to all of the new professional and personal challenges which are going to be coming my way.

And one of my children has her golden birthday on the last day of the Mayan calendar. l definitely plan on celebrating at the party like there is no tomorrow.

So 2012 is shaping up to be a quite a year.

2011 was a very good year for my family and I professionally and personally. The issues which presented challenges over the past four years seem to be in our rear-view mirror. My eldest daughter is striking off on her own and beginning her own journey. I am happy she seems to be healthy and she is traveling down an alternative route which will be good for her. My wife’s music program at her school seems to be flourishing.

For me, I am pleased with all that I have been able to accomplish. I have returned to the classroom and am loving the daily interactions with my pre-Algebra students. I have begun introducing more project based work in class and have slowly begun flipping the classroom. The second semester promises to be exciting. I was able to run a week-long workshop in design thinking. I also have been able to spend this fall helping teachers get comfortable with their newly transformed learning spaces.

While I have not been as active in my PLN as I have been previously, I continued to webcast with Alex Ragone and arvind grover on 21st Century Learning. I led two Google Webinars and did one presentation at the Global Educational Conference. I led workshops at the National Association of Independent Schools conference (NAIS), the Illinois Computer Educators Conference, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, and the Laptop Institute. One of my workshops at the ISTE conference was selected “best of the best” for which I am honored. I was selected to the ISTE Independent School Special Interest Group Executive Board.

So all and all, a very successful year. Tomorrow’s post will look forward to 2012.

As a parent in the age of screens, it is refreshing to know that I have instilled a love of reading in my children and a love for books, although soon, electronic readers may replace them.

This winter break, however, my youngest is struggling with a dilemma, whether to read the first 80 pages of an assigned school reading, A Brave New World, complete with quote logs with explanations as to why they were chosen, or to read a book of her pleasure. I am really sad that she has been made to make a choice. Instead of being able to enjoy a guilty little pleasure and enjoy the story-telling, she is being made to analyze and the writing.

In my opinion, a break should be treated as a time to set aside the academic work and immerse oneself in family. For us, it is sharing stories and laughter while baking or decorating cookies, sharing family meals without the pressure to hurry back to work, to play old fashioned board games, such as Scrabble, Risk, Life, and new ones like Sort-It, Catch-Phrase, to plug in the video game system to play Mario Kart or Guitar Hero. To have reading parties into the night, sharing the stories. These represent learning opportunities that our busy, hectic schedules do not allow for during the school year. As with the Race to Nowhere’s philosophy, let’s try to carve out some time just to be together.

Act Now!!!

Ask your senators to pass S. Res.199 to establish Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced the resolution on May 25, 2011 to support the establishment of “Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week” from December 1, 2011 to December 7, 2011.

Goals of having a “Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week” include:

• Encouraging more government and public involvement in the effort to find a cure for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Raising awareness among the general public and health care professionals about IBD
• Promoting biomedical research to find better treatments and a cure for patients with IBD

Take Action! Encourage your senators pass S. Res. 199!

Please use the form below to email your two senators and ask them to pass S. Res.199 to establish Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week!  There are instructions to call as well!

You have two senators that represent your entire state.  You can identify your two senators at www.congress.org.  Put your zip code in the box labeled “your zip code here” under the “Get Involved” section, and then select the “Go” button.  From there, you can click on the name of your legislator; his or her picture will appear, and you will select      the “contact” tab to find his or her information.

When calling your two senators:

1)  Identify yourself as a constituent and ask to speak with the legislator’s Health Care Legislative Assistant.  If they are not available, request to leave a voicemail.

2)  Tell the aide that you are affiliated with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

3)  Ask that YOUR senators pass S. Res.199 to establish Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week! S. Res. 199 would:

• Encourage more government and public involvement in the effort to find a cure for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Raise awareness among the general public and health care professionals about IBD
• Promote biomedical research to find better treatments and a cure for patients with IBD

4)  Give the aide your contact information and ask to be informed about the actions the legislator takes in response to your request.

In the end, the students decided to work on two projects, one to deal with the number of backpacks which are piled up when we go to a community gathering and to begin to rethink the flow in our cafeteria service area. The students did a great job identifying problems and narrowing them down.

Tomorrow, we begin to research and idealize the problem before beginning to prototype on Wednesday.

You can follow our progress, our process, and our reflections at the blog we set up to document the project at Innovate, Tinker and Design (http://innovatetinkerdesign.blogspot.com/)

I was scanning my Google Reader when I saw today’s post by Seth Godin, “What Do You Do When You Don’t Know the Answer“. I will be using this as the first reflective prompt in the morning, to get us warmed up. I especially love the the first answer:

“Nothing” is the most common response.

Do nothing until you do know the answer. Study and practice and wait for approval and then do something.

I can’t wait to see what the student’s replies are.

I had to ponder the answer, but only for a moment to gather the arguments in my head. My answer was, “Yes, of course and here are the reasons why.”

• When spending that amount of money on a renovation, you want to end up with a space that is designed for tomorrow, not for what we are just doing today. And since we cannot accurately predict the future beyond the next academic year, the space has to adaptable so that it can easily be reconfigured to take advantage of the changes in order to get a positive return of the capital expenditure. (BTW-did I mention that this particular student is working on his MBA at Duke)
• The new space now gives us the capability of beginning to rethink pedagogy. While one would like to think that we would automatically switch, change is a process and we cannot expect across the board changes. The new space amplifies some of the changes towards a student centered, collaborative environment that we had begun to implement in the old spaces which were restrictive to these changes. We now have the environment to really begin to experiment and further define what best are best practices in a collaborative, 21st Century style.
• The new space has encouraged us to begin to rethink what we do, where we do it, and when. Along with further implementation of our Google Apps for Ed and our current Moodle implementation, plus our Haiku pilot, we are not only defining what happens within school, but what we can develop and in our extended spaces. The buzz, excitement, energy, and re-invigoration puts everyone in a different mindset, more open to the change.

Today, the North Shore Science Olympiad season will begin with our Kick-off Meeting for students.  This will start the 20 week season, 26 is we qualify for the State Finals Tournament as we have done in each of the previous 13 years since our science department chair, Lee Block, first approached me about whether I was interested in helping him start the program.

Our program has grown from the 18 students who participated on our first team to the 25 – 33% of the Middle School students who have participated recently.

I love coaching Science Olympiad for several reasons:

• Passion-based learning in science. The students are able to choose between 23 different science and engineering based events each year. They are asked to pick areas of science that they are interested in learning.
• Shift to student-centered learning and highly motivated students who are self-starters. For each event, we have a coach/guide who helps point the student in a direction. However, the amount of time  needed to be prepared far exceeds the amount of time spent with a coach. To achieve the level of success that we have had, students have had to go above and beyond, with a goal for learning for learning’s sake.
• Hands-on learning using principles of Design-Thinking. The engineering events require students to brainstorm, build, and then test a device to meet a goal. Students are given some guidelines, but other than that, it is an open-ended problem. Using the principles of Design-Thinking, to brainstorm and quickly prototype a solution, students build their devices. I am always excited and happy to help with these events, since I know that more and more students are not building, constructing, and deconstructing objects with their hands like I did when I grew up. I am afraid they are missing great opportunities for learning as a result.

Although these can be grueling  and draining, I find these meetings important as both a parent and as a teacher. It is a great time to connect, establish the relationship to partner, and check in to make sure that your observations match those of either the parent or teacher. Afterwards, I am so thankful for the opportunity to establish this important relationship for the benefit of our students.