1 to 1 Institute

First, The keynote speaker surprisingly was a 1985 W-SR Graduate. Angela Maiers (maiden name – Fink) is an educational consultant from Des Moines. She presented well.

Her website is http://www.angelamaiers.com/

She spoke about Web 3.0. The slides and notes from her presentation are on her website.

Second, http://vimeo.com/7416500 is a video explanation of a School for One pilot from New York. It is interesting in that they have developed an algorithm that automates some of the instructional decisions teachers make daily and customize each students learning experiences. It’s way out there.

6-Word Stories

6-Word Stories - R Enough

by Dr. Z

6-word stories could be considered eXtreme short stories. It is said that Ernest Hemmingway once proclaimed his 6-word story, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn.", as his best work.

Wired Magazine asks sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers to write their own 6-word short stories.

• The sun explodes . . . eight minutes left. - Maximus

Pete Berg launched a Six Word Stories blog in Dec, 2008. This is where he stores thousands of 6-word stories. He has these catagorized by subject and author. It is possible to submit your own and receive comments from the readers.

• For Sale: Guitar. No strings attached. - Mathijs hoitsma

Visual six-word story group project on Flickr

• Bearded pensioner held over yuletide breakins - 5/10

Writing 6-word stories is not easy. You must first envision an event or tale that you want to tell. Then you whittle away the words it would take to convey your ideas about this story. Finally, you have the true essence of your dissertation.

Lemov's taxonomy

have had friends ask me what I think of our neighborhood school, and my answer is quite simple. I tell them, "The school is only as good as the teacher your child has that year."

When Doug Lemov conducted his own search for those magical ingredients, he noticed something about most successful teachers that he hadn’t expected to find: what looked like natural-born genius was often deliberate technique in disguise. “Stand still when you’re giving directions,” a teacher at a Boston school told him. In other words, don’t do two things at once. Lemov tried it, and suddenly, he had to ask students to take out their homework only once.

It was the tiniest decision, but what was teaching if not a series of bite-size moves just like that?

Lemov’s Taxonomy. (The official title, attached to a book version being released in April, is “Teach Like a Champion: The 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College.”)

The article describes the work of Doug Lemov, a teacher, principal, and charter-school founder who has written a book called Teach Like a Champion: The 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College.

Nichification E. Abbey

In the classroom, teachers have thought about this issue, at least subconsciously. When teachers allow students to choose their own groups, students will pick groups that make them comfortable and that have similar interests. This can be a very productive strategy. But on the other hand, many teachers see they have a responsibility to pair students with those they don't normally visit with in order to extend their thinking.

But, have you ever had this discussion with other educators? How to get students out of their clique-boxes and learning from other students in the class? I haven't in all my experience in teaching, which makes the issue of online nichification more dire and more pressing.

What's your sentence- D. Pink

What is your sentence? (Curacao edition)

by Dan Pink

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At the International School of Curacao, teacher Danny Kinzer asked his Theory of Knowledge students to undertake the “What’s your sentence?” described in Lindsey Testolin’s remarkable video and on page 154 ofDrive. Then each participant posted his or her answer on the school bulletin board.

Money/Value

Rather than stressing about how you can get more money for money’s sake, focus instead on how you can provide more value to more people. All sorts of wealth will flow from this mindset.

Have you seen this? Prof "freezes" laptop

Professor Destroys Laptop as a Warning for Students

by Dr. Z

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Talk about an ego-maniacal professor. This professor has serious issues with student-based learning. Watch thevideo above and you will see Kieran Mullen, a physics professor at the University of Oklahoma, bathe a laptop in Liquid Nitogen and then shatter the computer on the floor with the threat, "Don't bring laptops and work on them in class!"

What does this mean? Why is he scared of students bringing computers to class? Laptops in class can be a distraction, but it can also be an amazingly interactive tool that will enable the students to find new ideas to integrate with the discussion. Robin Galloway writes about how we run a backchannel in our lecture classes so that students are able to discuss the ideas that are covered in lecture.

What do you think?

• Do you allow laptops in your lectures or classes?
• Do you encourage students to use their laptops in class?
• How do you use laptops to engage your students in the classroom learning experience?