Doodle 4 Google

In case you haven't heard by now, Goggle is sponsoring a competition for students to earn a $15,000 college scholarship AND $25,000 for the students school to spend on technology.  Pretty cool!

We decided to participate in this project to give our students an opportunity to create, design, and innovate (there's that word again) on an artistic level.  The excitement was palpable.  There was major disappointment when it was time to pack up for the day and many questions of whether or not they could take it home to work on over the weekend.

The theme for this year's contest is, "What I'd Like to Do Someday..."  We expected many of the designs to be about careers, but we were astounded with the way the students interpreted Google's theme. One student she wanted to travel the world and one student said he wanted to invent 'things'. Another student, in particular, captured my attention. He said he wanted to be a father. I was struck by this for some reason.  Maybe it was that I never knew this about him.  Maybe it was that I never thought kids thought about being parents. Maybe it was the beauty of his illustration. (I mean the l in Google is a rolled up birth certificate!) Regardless, I was in awe, not really knowing how to respond. 

Neng's Doodle 4 Google- Someday I want to be a Father.

His illustration, and those of his classmates, demonstrates what hope, creativity, design and innovation are all about. If you give kids the challenge and a platform, they respond.

Note to Self

Our Pad for the Weekend

Always confirm room reservations.  Or book them yourself.

This morning, one of the guys (Mark) that is in this years EduCon crew stopped in and asked if I had heard anything about our room reservations, of which I had not. I placed a quick call to the Windsor Suites and they had no reservations for us.  In addition, they already had a wait list of 7 or more. Not good.  I'm not sure where our reservations got lost, somewhere between our building secretaries and myself, I think.

After some quick phone calls and some finagling, and an additional 70 bucks per room, we scored a room at the Embassy Suites just across the street from the Windsor. I hear that it is actually much nicer that the Windsor. We will see.

Oh, and I hear that Wilt Chamberlain once lived there when he played for the Sixers. That's pretty cool.  Not sure I want his room though...

Innovation

I was very excited to see the topic of the opening panel at Educon, innovation. The opening panel is always a highlight of Educon, perhaps because of the venue or the brilliance on the stage that night. This year the contingent coming from my school is growing again (I was the only one at Educon 2.0 from my school, last year my coteacher joined me) and I have been talking Educon up to them, big time. The topic of innovation, the Franklin Institute, and the great minds on display should prove my contention that Educon is where its at. I digress...

This evening as I thinking forward to next weekend, I settled down and I did a quick google search on innovation. I started with the wikipedia page about innovation.

Innovation comes from the Latin innovationem, noun of action from innovare. The Etymology Dictionary further explains innovare as dating back to 1540 and stemming from the Latin innovatus, pp. of innovare "to renew or change," from in- "into" + novus "new".

Innovation can therefore be seen as the process that renews something that exists and not, as is commonly assumed, the introduction of something new.

As I continued my search, I found a great post that really made me think how I approach teaching.

“Just pretend you’re teaching you. How would you do that? What would you want to know? What did you dislike when you were taught? What stories would you tell to make it understandable? What would keep you interested and engaged?”

Should I really be thinking about myself as a learner as I design learning experiences?

Shortly after, I found another great post, this one by George Curos. Shockingly coincidental at I come across two posts with similar thoughts. Curos suggests that we need to ask ourselves, "Does this work for me?" as we design our classroom environment and experiences. Of course, we need to think of our students at the end of the day (Curos suggests this also), but I thought that this was an interesting approach to designing opportunities for my students.

So, in the spirit of innovation, I am going to try to renew my approach over the next couple of days and weeks. I am going to think about myself as a learner, with the hope of this reflecting being that my students get more.