That's what my husband told me one of the million times he tried (successfully) to lure me from the ego-centric performing arts to education. Even when longing for center stage, I still found a certain fulfillment in knowing I was playing a part in preparing the next generation for this game called Life. Before I go on, I must fully disclose that I'm a consultant with Rubicon Atlas. We found each other when, in my 12 year of teaching, my school adopted Atlas as a curriculum management software. I was excited to see Will Richardson's post about expanding the concept of what constitutes a teacher. Further inspiration came when reading One School of Thought which celebrates bringing the excellence in teaching outside of the classroom. After the privilege of reading my CEO's marginal notes in Rick DuFoursProfessional Learning Communities at Work. With the establishment of our online Professional Learning Communities (surprisingly, at no additional cost) and the Rubicon Exemplar System (again, at no additional cost), I couldn't help but feel that the mission was to connect educators, eliminate the silos, and
encourage and support the best and brightest teachers to come out of the closet and gain from the experience of teaching to a wide audience.
Inspiration is a good thing at the close of a solar/ceasarian calendar year.
I typically receive a good dose of inspiration from Dr. Scott McLeod; this is particularly the case when he is encouraging readers to be wary of outside consultants. This is what I do for a living, and his thoughtful reflection led me inspired me to reflect on my ethics, even if not in his echelon of public speaking nor a member of the National Speakers Association.
Can I assert that I have pledged myself to:
honesty and integrity
pursue my profession and education to the end that service to my clients shall always be maintained at the highest level
to seek and maintain equitable honorable, and cooperative association with fellow members . . . of my business and professional life
I need a few days to mull it over for a truly accurate self-reflection. I also look forward to redefining my personal mission statement to make sure all is where it should be for 2009. Happy New Year. God bless us, one and all
I thought I'd share some of "the places I've visited" as my blog post. Mind you, this isn't all of them, as they emerged from a list of prompts. I remember summer vacations of youth, in the back of the station wagon headed to fulfill a mother's dream to visit all 50 U.S. states. We nearly made it; it was a job in Alaska that took me to a conference in Hawaii where I fulfilled the destiny of this legacy.
Now, I'm blessed to travel the world as part of my job. After a recent 8-week tour I returned to Portland, not surprised that it is still not home without my husband there! When reuniting with friend & career coach Marti, she shared that she would be curious to see my virtual map. I updated this through my facebook page, inspired by friend Amanda's really full map and hoping mine would begin to compare.
The results are below, with miles to go before I sleep . . .
Has it really been nearly three months since my last blog post?
I have absolved myself from guilt - even with a new purpose in September to blog more regularly. I have been at my Portland base 10 days since September 9th - only two of those were non-consecutive weekend days.
I am melded to my laptop, so it's not a matter of being removed from the digital community. However, since my last blog post, I feel as though, perhaps in a dream:
The U.S. elected a President who has the potential to inspire beyond what Kennedy or King did.
The blogosphere shriveled up and went inactive - or maybe I just stopped reading my RSS feeds?
Twitter slowed down - or maybe I couldn't stomach reading all the racist comments in the public twitville after McCain conceded
I realized there were other priorities in my job demanding immediate focus beyond making sure we were present in web 2.0-ville.
Or perhaps, it is as my friend Jeff said:
I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I just think the landscape of what blogging is, is changing.
What brought me back?
I logged into Twitter, and my friend Andy Torris had a link to his post. I wanted to comment on his post but became instantly ashamed when it asked for my website. I decided if I was going to comment and list my blog, I darn sure better have something recent. I read Jeff's post to see where his thoughts had been lately - even though I was a Skype guest with his Grade 5 class as they were creating audiobooks for kindergartners.
I was also pulled back by Sanjana of AS Bombay's way of introducing first and second graders to the world of blogging . . . and I just *had* to start following @dearlibrariAnn once we met ftf after she starting following me from a mutual friend - @adecardy's twits.
I fell asleep and the world seemed to change. Then I woke up and realized I can still jump on the train and ride to my heart's content.
Let's do away with that phrase "The train is coming - either get on board or get left behind". There is nothing wrong with stopping to smell the roses and trusting there'll be another train coming through the station soon - that's why the station was built!
Early Sunday morning, I was led to join a SecondLife pre-conference and was enjoying the conversation and chats until I became irritated by the sweeping generalizations regarding what teachers will and will not do to propel, no support their students in this century. (Aside - eight years in, we can stop projecting what 21st Century learning should look like and start reflecting on what it really is).
As an educational consultant supporting both U.S. and international schools, I admit I am occasionally frustrated with educators who aren't familiar with what one might consider as the basics of computer/network navigation. However, upon realization of missing skills or understanding, it then becomes my responsibility to maximize the teachable moment, not to critcize them for what they don't know they don't know! I marvel how some will readily scaffold learning experiences and adapt instructional practices for students but become aghast at the prospect of doing so for adult learners.
As I mention what "some will readily do", I can't help but arrogantly wonder if my Quit It! reply was referenced when Scott McLeod questioned "some " as a rebuttal to the following:
Teachers aren’t integrating digital technologies into their instruction on a regular basis.
Let's continously facilitate teacher learning on how to do so. Let's introduce them to tools so accessible and so exciting that they continue the exploration on their own, even if it means staying up until 1:00 AM to own them well enough to use them!
The administrators who are in charge of leading their school organizations into the information age don’t really understand the information age.
Let's meet them where they are in the midst of multiple pressures and initiatives (mandates!) and provide them with enough exemplar IT/Ed Tech plans and dialogs until they clearly see the customized vision for their school. Let's encourage/lead them to meet in digital spaces and engage them in conversations about systemic changes that are most meaningful to them right now. Let's hyperlink them to blogs and wikis until they are so addicted to their personal learning network, their days aren't complete until their feeder is empty.
Schools aren’t providing the types of learning experiences necessary to prepare students to be 21st century citizens and workers.
Is the community aware of what it expects from its schools? Does it support new initiatives and take responsibility for leading rather than supressing-by-challenging innovation?
I would assert that among the schools I'm entitled to work with and visit, for every one where the above statements might be true, I can point to three others where they couldn't be more inaccurate. I can identify small class movements within a seemingly stagnant school which are aggressively transforming educational practices to reflect 21st Century education using embedded technology as a tool to enhance relevant content and strong instructional practices. I would rather highlight this classroom and teacher than focusing on the less in-tuned one.
The microtrends happening in pockets of these "failing" schools, according to Mark Penn, can be enough to spark a social movement or produce political change.
I plead guilty to using "some" or "many" to rebut what I view as teacher-bashing over-generalizations. Let me justify the reminder that what is true for some or many is rarely true for: this child of the 1960's riots and revolutionary changes, still trembles with angst when I hear sweeping generalizations applied to groups. Please, judge me on the content of my classroom, not the "color" of my school system. Hearing "this school" or "these past six schools I visited" seems a more appropriate and accurate reflection of educational systemic assessments than a broad brush stroke which obliterates the intricate details of a work-in-progress.
If we who are educators denigrate our own profession or professionals, how can we expect others to hold it in the esteem due an occupation that directly impacts children?
. . .and cue soundtrack for this musical called "life":
That's what my husband told me one of the million times he tried (successfully) to lure me from the ego-centric performing arts to education. Even when longing for center stage, I still found a certain fulfillment in knowing I was playing a part in preparing the next generation for this game called Life.
