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.

Happy New Year 2011

Downtown to see fireworks... Happy New Year!

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NYSCATE 2010

NYSCATE was great again this year, thought provoking as always. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet new. I'm left with a tired brain and more questions than answers. (Mission accomplished NYSCATE, I am always trying to do that with my students.)

Over the next few days, I'll dig through my notes and tweets and I will share some of what I gathered from the conference and some of the questions I'm left with.

Happy Thanksgiving break!

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Dusting the Blog Off

Brian Smith is someone who I consider a good friend.  I also respect him as a colleague. He challenges me to think and pushes me to do more. Last week, at a Rocheater Area Literacy Council meeting he sat on a panel and remarked that we have an obligation share what we are doing.  We have had conversations about this type of thing before.  We have had conversations before and he has told me to write, share, reflect, and be transparent, but I didn't bite.

Here I am, sitting on the couch at 10 on a Saturday night, still thinking about Brian's comment (perhaps inspired by NYSCATE starting tomorrow).  So here it is... A concerted effort at reviving my blog and sharing. 

Today, I had the privilege of presenting at the NYSCATE Preconference Session.  My session was entitled Using Technology to Transform the Writing Process and I felt that it went very well. There was some good conversation in the beginning and lots of great questions at the end of the session.  During the session, one of the questions I brought up came from a quote by Arthur Ashe, 

Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome.

My question was more specific to writing, but in essence, the question was something like this: Is it more important to give a student a good experience to learn from or is it more important to get to understand or be able to do something?  I bought up taking road trips with friends. (When you begin one you don't yell "ROAD TRIP" for nothing, right?) You remember a particular trip with friends just as much as I do, and I am sure that the destination was not the only thing you remember.  I'm sure you remember getting pulled over, running out of gas, and/or getting lost in the middle of the night just as much as, or more than, the actual trip itself.

That said, why, then, do we focus so much on end destination for kids? Do we really know where their journey will take them? Of course we need to have a goal in mind, but is it OK to say everyone in our classes isn't ready to 'get it' yet? Does my road trip theory apply to learning?

I would argue that it does. 

Transparency: Do you see through it?

Are incompetence or lacking confidence synonyms for transparency? Do you view someone who is transparent as weak and not up to the task? Or do you value transparency in others?

In the past I have had interesting 'discussions' (more like, "How could you write that where people can read it?") because of things that I have written or said. Namely, a post that I wrote a few years ago at the end of a school year about feeling like I failed. My colleague could not get past the fact that I admitted that I think I may have been able to do better. He kept saying, "What if one of your parents sees that post?" "What is your administrators see that post?"

I'll often get looks from passers-by when I admit to my students that I made a mistake. The looks on students' faces at the beginning of the year when I say I made a mistake are priceless. They act as they have never have heard "my bad" from a teacher before.

In others, I value humility. I value someone who is not afraid to take a shot, and will claim responsibility for missing. I value when someone is self-reflective and is not afraid (or too wrapped up in being 'right') to admit a mistake. The people with these qualities are the leaders I choose to follow. These are the qualities I try live and pass on to my students each day.

So, what do you think? Is transparency a weakness? Or is being 'right all of the time' not all its cracked up to be?

Question of the Day?

“What does it mean to be well educated in the 21st century?” -David Jakes

NYSCATE Quick Hitters

This year's NYSCATE Conference was a great experience. There was a great blend of 'tool' sessions and Educon-like conversation sessions. My bucket is completely full, so here's a list of some important notes, quotes, opinions (if they are worth anything), and tidbits from the 3 day barrage. Expect more elaboration after I wrap my head around the following ideas.

• Chris Lehmann, David Jakes, and Sir Ken Robinson (among many others) are equal parts depressing and inspiring. They paint a clear picture of where 'we' (you decide who we refers to) are in education in America. They also make it clear that there is hope and plenty of opportunity for change. 'We' just need to make that happen.

• Jim Klein gets it. He does some really interesting things. How would you feel about letting kids Tweet out during a test when they come to a question that they need help on? Don't we do that in the real world? If you're not sure how to do something you ask, right? Not in schools though. I know this seems to be a far out idea but he suggested, and I paraphrase, "Start simple and gradually expand your reach." Words to live by.

• Here's a quote from Sylvia Martinez to think about: "If you can Google it, it shouldn't be on a test." Thoughts?

• Everyone needs to have the 21st century skills discussion with their colleagues. Kind of feels like the birds and the bees conversations I had with my dad.

• Old texts and ideas are relevant: Abe Lincoln was quoted by Sir Ken Robinson (still looking for the exact quote), Seymour Papert's work from the 70's still rings true, and Gandhi's "Be the change you want to see," quote just may be my new motto. Not everything has to be 21st century.

• Wait until you see GE's Augmented Reality. Think: What are the possibilities?

• In terms of tools, Fairport is in GREAT shape compared to other schools. We have access to the stuff, now it's getting the teachers on board in using it. Making it happen is the next hurdle. (Much more to come on this topic.) See Gandhi's quote above.

• This last one is not exclusively a NYSCATE idea, but as I drove out of the parking garage I was thinking its time I do what I ask of my students, be a leader and take a risk. (Much more to come on this topic also.)

What did you take from NYSCATE?

Letter to My School

I thought I'd share this. It is a copy of an e-mail that I sent to my school regarding Earth Hour and the grassroots work my students have done.

Northside School-

This Saturday is the official Earth Hour. Since Earth Hour is on a Saturday, my students came up with the idea of having all of Northside turn off their classroom lights from 9-9:30 on Friday in honor of Earth Hour. We hope you join us and participate in Northside Schools Earth Hour. It would be so cool to walk through school school and only see necessary lights on!

Don't forget to turn off your lights on Saturday too, from 8:30-9:30. Don't forget to spread the word among other family and friends also.

Feel free to take a picture or a short video of what you choose to do either Friday OR Saturday and send it to me. I am planning on putting a movie together showing how NS celebrated this awesome day! Read on below if you'd like more info about Earth Hour.

Thanks for participating!

Travis

Earth Hour started out in 2007 as an initiative in Sydney, Australia. The people at the World Wildlife Federation came up with a plan to encourage as many people in Sydney to turn off their lights for 1 hour to save energy and fight global warming. They estimated that 2.2 million people participated and landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House even turned off the lights. In '08 Earth Hour grew tremendously. The WWF estimated 55 million people around the globe participated.

Fast forward to 2009: The goal is to get 1 billion people in 1,000 cities to participate. Earth Hour has been relying on social media (twitter, facebook, blogs, etc. )(yes I am a geek) and word of mouth to convince people to turn off their lights from 8:30-9:30. I came across it while searching for something cool to do for a conserving electricity lesson. I shared Earth Hour with my class decided to spread the word. They wanted to convince Fairport to participate, but aimed to start with Northside. We may not have reached our end goal, but we have reached as far as England via our class blog.

I could not more proud of a group of students. Nine and ten year old students stepped up and worked to make a change and a difference in the world. They ran the show, deciding on goals and how to achieve them. They split into groups depending on their strengths. The artists made posters. The computer 'geek squad' made digital ads via PowerPoint and GoogleDocs Presentations to share on our class blog. The writers wrote to school leaders, local newspapers and even wrote scripts for school announcements and video ads (see below). The Woodsters never cease to amaze me with their care and drive once they believe in something.

I'm looking forward to voting for the Earth Saturday and to spreading the word for next year's Earth Hour when the current Woodsters and next year's group can team up to see the difference they can make.

Check back for a video of what everyone did during their Earth Hour celebration!

Earth Hour 2009 Video

This is a video created by my fourth graders about Earth Hour.