...if you don't know where you're going, any path will get you there.
Taking Stock
After writing (gulp) 2,100+ posts covering a wild-n-free range of topics (occasionally even a few that suggest value) here over the last 4+ years, I've been aching to re-organize my approach to this entire edu-blogging venture.
More than blog spring cleaning, a return to life as a classroom teacher (over the last year) has re-framed my intentions here. While I can't ignore that my radar remains intrigued by a wide range of ideas, I am moving forward with a much more intentional focus that taps into both my right and left brain.
To ensure success in this transition, this is the road map I'm intending to follow:
A Calendar of Topics
Monday: Hero's Journey, Classroom Literature, The Book Shelf
Tuesday: The Writing Process
Wednesday: The Student|Teacher Dynamic
Thursday: Future Think|Trends|Tech
Friday: "Big Picture" Inspiration
Saturday: School Design
Sunday: Fatherhood POV
Clarity & Practicalities
While in the past I've followed a "whatever catches my mind" posting approach, I'm actually going to be pretty rigorous re: only posting on topic days.
And pre-thinking posts, too.
Likewise, I'll organize my research, links, & brainstorming for future posts via a wiki that will allow me to keep track and develop ideas well ahead of posting.
Funny how 4+ short years of blogging can finally refine one's thinking. (wink)
He called upon every adult to bring their time, skill, and energy to
bear on the lives of students. In collaboration with teachers and
schools around the world, people are making his wish a reality.
Check out "the teachers" link to hear the voices of the individuals who have thus far been inspired to enter the classroom as teachers in part because of Taylor's work, words, & wisdom.
Here's #253, FYI:
Re-Wiring Our Storytelling Instincts
In a day and age when its ever-so-tempting to re-play the "half of all teachers quit in 5 years" stat over and over, perhaps we'd be better served by shifting gears to focus on those that are entering (and choosing to stay in or return to) the classroom in spite of the challenges and stat-counters.
Anyone who spends even a little bit of time in the edu-blogosphere eventually begins to realize that we Yanks tend to assume that the world of education must revolve around the planet of American.
Ain't This Good Enough?
Sure, we love our "global" projects and love to spout off about how we have colleagues in our digital Rolodex from all parts of the globe.
But we tend to be -- well -- just a bit US-centric in our thinking.
Perhaps we oughta stretch our lens a bit further into the known universe and agree to let the rest of the world shine a bit, too. (wink)
Just a Teaser
Backstory
Essentially, UK celebs are invited into a classroom setting to talk about their memories of being students. Accents aside, the stories are truly universal.
Some course language in a few of the episodes, but I'm sure all
of us are big boys/gals and can filter out such things in the spirit of
broadening our minds.
"While this is an
extreme form of environmental activism, expect it to become an
increasingly aspirational activity as young people are looking to have
a cool experience while doing good."
Just Pick Their Brains for a Bit
Think I'd quite enjoy putting this in front of my advisees this coming fall. Just kick the heart of the unexpected 'activism' idea around. Not so much to inspire a deliberate mirrored set of actions, spade/shovel and all. No. Not necessary, nor my place. But to talk about what it means to leave a mark on the world around us that inspires, grows, evolves on behalf of everyone's benefit.
The Unexpected
Kinda hover over that last bit of the following short film as the 'imagined' urban forest takes shape and the guerilla gardeners
imagine commuters on the way to work having their spirits lifted by the
sudden arrival of an apple tree on what was once barren/forgotten land.
Thanks to my ed-tech-design gal, Kate Olson, for walking me through some of the scary parts the last few days. Hope I made her proud:
***
Luddite is as Luddite Does
The tricky part of being a tech luddite in this web 2.0 day-n-age is that some things still take 'under the hood' know how.
'Cause You Know He's Got a Point!
Through the celebratory chiming of summer wedding bells out on Catalina Island, I swear I can hear that dy/dan fella smacking his that's what I've been tellin' you, buddy! buzzer right about now.
Sort of a related thesis to one of the many expert v. engaged amateur threads he's been rightfully developing since many of you/us were in web 2.0 diapers.
Please Hold My Hand (aka "Steal My Wallet")
This is of particular interest to me every time I daydream the crazy idea of aggregating all of my blogs, digital projects, consulting/speaking elements, and various this-n-that elements under one central digital big top.
Sure, a fell can easily drop a decent chunk of change on as many domains as he wants.
But he still has to figure out how to code/design those web domain addresses so that become actual web sites.
Sheesh.
That could drive a brother to re-invest in paper and slide rules.
Wait...
...what was that?
You're telling me that all I had to do was finally take that WordPress contraption seriously?
You mean I didn't need to be paying my TypePad homeboys a cool 3-figures of my allowance every year like clockwork?
There Ain't No Door Prize for That
Sheesh.
Who do I talk to about a refund?
Or at least a bit of edu-tech school 2.0 sympathy?
Sure, I'd like to be as savvy as he is re: noticing design everywhere he turns, but in the meantime I'll just continue to pimp his Flickr stream (not to mention his web site, his Grab Bag (art) book to be published next year, and whatever else he's got in the works now that his 1st year of college is about ready to launch).
Head in the Box
See, if a fella can't find the future of education metaphor in this shot he took up at Mass MoCA not so long ago, he ain't ready for playing hard ball in the Bigs.
Or he's just really too literal (for my taste) in his vision.
A Guy Can Dream, Right?
As a father of a kiddo who's on the verge of shifting from toddlerville to boytown, I want 2 crazy vital things to be guaranteed:
Vaughn Bell’s Personal Biospheres which give gallery visitors
their own miniature landscapes to experience by popping their head into
Plexiglas domes filled with small working ecosystems.
Bell’s new custom
biospheres for Badlands will be based on the landscape of North Adams (Mass).
The only problem I'll have this coming year in massaging the 'hero journey' construct with my students to help kick up the heat on the traditional Brit Lit motif will be fitting a lifetime of content into 9 months.
Oh, and all dem crazy projects, too.
My 1st day list of possible ideas pushes well past 753 minutes right now (if I cross out 3/4 of it), a tad bit more than what passing bells will allow. Shrug.
The Saccharin Side of Hero Worship
Perhaps I'll just show them this little Disney snippet of a happy-go-lucky young Hercules seeking his Merlin mentor, push the kids to deconstruct the stereotypical Hollywood cartoon 'hero' that such a film clip assumes...
...and then ask them if they can guess how we're gonna collectively mess that mutha up over the next 9 months.
What's the hero evolution backstory on the guy in the balloon? And what assumptions do the steampunk sensibility light in our imagination when we wonder about the hero's journey that will follow?
Or, Maybe This
Then again...
...I'll probably opt for the cool-enough-for-school Steam Boy's trailer, instead:
Did you hear what the CoverItLive (real time blogging) just announced?
Our users can now integrate LIVE video from Qik, Mogulus and uStream directly into their CoveritLive live blogs.
It is an extremely simple process (much like our existing YouTube integration) that lets our users quickly add live video content without the need to send their readers to another site or blog. Our Support Center has a short flash movie to demonstrate how to put this exciting new feature to use: Demo for IE users, Demo for Firefox users
Oh, My.
Or, at least, holy digital integration, Batman!
Get a load of this, sportsfans:
The video feeds can be turned on and off with a click of your mouse. Imagine a breaking news story where one of your readers writes in, "Have you seen the video on Mogulus right now?".
With a few clicks, you incorporate that live feed directly into your live blog.
Or how about sending a contributor to an event with a Qik enabled phone? They write in to your live blog that they are about to interview someone...click...the video interview is directly inserted into your live blog coverage.
I can just see the edu-blogger wheels under the BLC tent turning now. (wink)
To My Backchannel Homeboys:
I only have 1 month until my students begin using CoverItLive to expand our in-class discussions across all my sections (so much cooler than globally 'flat' classrooms, if you ask little ol' me) given the new wireless laptop cart that showed up in my room this summer...
...so let's get movin with some educational proof of concept on this CIL video embedding business, fellas!
Sure, a guy snoozes a little bit. And apparently he loses all street cred with dem pesky school architect types. Sheesh.
Funny how just a single year away from having a front row seat at the center of the school design
world has profoundly watered down my in-the-know radar for the
latest/greatest projects that have a fighting chance of changing the
game of possibilities for how we define a 'school' space.
While I've been enjoying my role on the DesignShare Awards 08 jury this summer -- and debating some really striking projects from around the globe with my colleagues -- I gotta admit that I rarely cross F2F paths with innovative school architecture in my new day-to-day teaching life.
Oh, My!
This is why I'm kicking myself a bit for being so late to the game about the Green School down there in Bali.
And don't even get me started about my sudden craving to be some sort of science fiction lab monkey so that I can be split into 2 independent teachers/beings, one that stays at my current school (which I adore) and one that heads to Bali to be part of this magic as well:
Hard to throw a school book these days and not hit yet another use of the word "green" or "sustainable".
Most of it, frankly, is window-dressing both from an architectural and philosophical perspective. Or perhaps just marketing chintz.
Most. But not all...
Discovery is a Good Thing
Well, meet the Green School -- scheduled to open this September -- and their profound approach to educational/community sustainabilty:
Green School was planned and constructed within the concept that education consists of more than ‘school’. In addition to the classrooms, athletic facilities, student and faculty housing, and numerous other buildings, an integral feature of our school is the Learning Village. In this specialized setting, our students have the chance to apply lessons to specific disciplines and real business situations, making abstract ideas come to practical life with results they can witness on a daily basis. Students are involved in everything from manufacturing their own chocolate to helping to manage the organic fields, bamboo plantations, and rice paddies that are integral to the campus. By working with dedicated teachers and experienced professionals, students solve problems while developing entrepreneurial skills that will inform and empower them to become the leaders of their generation.
I agree with what you're thinking. It kinda grabbed my attention, too.
A few other of the Green School links worth keeping an eye on:
The following video highlights the school's mission and hints at a
rather brave design premise in terms of the spaces that will support
the students' learning process and the larger community's sustainable
practices. Definitely only hinting at what they're building. Keep an
ear open for the way they describe the physical spaces and its
relationship to the programmatic issues.
And definitely grab a few minutes to watch this piece, too:
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Oh-My's
Man, oh man, oh man. If these photos don't rev up your curiosity factor, something is strangely amiss.
And
I can't help but wonder why all new school design projects don't find
the visual/life 'joy' within their projects rather than concentrating
on architecture for the sake of architecture. This photo set
might be a model that could teach a few architectural firms a thing or
two about visual storytelling in a way that truly inspires.
Constructing 3-bedroom faculty housing:
The "bridge":
An air-conditioned learning space:
A hint of what CR 'furniture' means; even better, what 'student' means:
There used to be a time when video and real words on digital highwires weren't battling for the universe in pseudo-deity fist-to-cuffs fashion.
There was a time when these two 1's-n-0's ninjas weren't fighting for our collective souls like a couple of Dante's adolescent angels left tossing insults on the spiritual cutting room floor, a technological battle cry barely etched in charcoal bison stick figures on the weathered Lascoux cave walls of our collective educational memory.
Back when stories were stories, and storytellers were butt-kickin' warriors who only wore the traveling singer-poet garb to keep the kings from becoming sword-lashing antsy.
You know, sort of like a middle ages Yoda wandering the highlands.
Just with a lot more under the robe than even Beowulf might have promised Technorati's Herot.
Graphics of Universal Understanding
But if I had to give up the epic rite of storytelling our very lives across the flame-licking camp fire deep insider our ancient selves...
...but wanted to stop shy of this digital bruh-ha-ha gaining faculty lounge storm clouds over the last few years...
I'd pull up a comfy seat with a copy of Otto's classic tome on aligning a universal visual language (the Mister Miagi of "information graphics") under my arm, and try the yoemen's work of wondering how we put the cultural fissures of the classroom Humpty Dumpty back together again.
What Will Our Legacy Be?
But then again, if writing (and video) disappears, we'll be nothing more than traffic signs on the larger educational & life learning curves.
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