From Seth Godin- he sums it up well

It's easier to teach compliance than initiative

Compliance is simple to measure, simple to test for and simple to teach. Punish non-compliance, reward obedience and repeat.

Initiative is very difficult to teach to 28 students in a quiet classroom. It's difficult to brag about in a school board meeting. And it's a huge pain in the neck to do reliably.

Schools like teaching compliance. They're pretty good at it.

To top it off, until recently the customers of a school or training program (the companies that hire workers) were buying compliance by the bushel. Initiative was a red flag, not an asset.

Of course, now that's all changed. The economy has rewritten the rules, and smart organizations seek out intelligent problem solvers. Everything is different now. Except the part about how much easier it is to teach compliance.

DRIVE

Just finished Daniel Pink's latest book Drive. Check it out at http://www.danpink.com/

I am intrigued as to how his X and I theory applies to how we relate to students and engage them in their learning.

He also mentions the work of Dweck (Mindset), Gardner (Five Minds for the Future), Csikszentmihalyi (Flow), Seligman, and plenty of others. It all helps to lend credibility, but more importantly puts perspective and connectedness to their respective works and ideas.

If you are interested, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y&feature=sdig&et=1251728132.58

Personal Listening Devices (PLD's)??

Why should or shouldn’t they be allowed? When and where should they be allowed in school? Should we decide what students listen to? Are PLD’s a distraction to learning or do they assist some learners? How would we monitor what students are listening to? How does listening to music affect student behaviors? Should we have one policy/rule for the building or allow individual teacher discretion? Is there any research that “proves” listening to music increases learning?

My thoughts as of today- (not strong, I could be persuaded) But right now, I would support the absence of PLD's in schools. I have not been convinced of the student learning benefits at this time. Student learning is the main thing and in an attempt to keep the main thing the main thing, I will suggest that students fully engage in the learning experience that we offer and not be "engaged" in whatever learning their PLD is offering.

One site and a few quotes

Classblogmeister.com

We are learning to be literate in new dynamic ways. We have a deeper ability to engage literacy.

We use technology to connect ideas and learners in safe, relevant, authentic ways to answer questions , share ideas, and develop community.

My personal growth as a learner has been exponential as a result of my exploration of technology and connectivity to some of the best and brightest.

If we want people’s intelligence, support, and trust we must welcome them as co–creators.

Change is defeated by anxiety almost every time. In fact the odds against change --even when change is a matter of life and death—are a staggering nine to one.

Most people must engage in a behavior before they accept that it is beneficial; then they see results , and they believe that it is the right thing to do.

A new Blog for me: The Changing Face of Education in Iowa

I just discovered a new blogger from Iowa. His name is Evan Abbey and he works at Heartland AEA. Here is an interesting excerpt from his blog

So, I asked who the head basketball coaches were (they were sitting together on the other side of the auditorium). So I asked them as a group "Do you teach the defensive position? The duck-billed follow through? How to run your offense? And, do you have a sequence of these things?" The answer, yes to all of them... you can't get to the fine details of the motion offense and the half-court trap defense without hitting the building blocks first.

So, then I asked, "Do you teach hustle? Awareness? Improvisation?" One coach who was very interested by this train of thought had a great answer. "Yes, we do, but it's different.""How so?""Well, it isn't cut and dry. It isn't step-by-step teaching, but it's much more coaching. You see it, then you point it out and process it with the kids. Saying, you made an excellent move there that wasn't part of the offense... what did you see? Then the kid answers, and it makes everyone want to do it. And what hustle looks like to the post is different than the wing."

And another coach:"Yeah, and we're never done teaching those things. Up until the last day, you are looking to work on those. And the first day as well."Those are the "21st century skills" of basketball. And, that's what it should be in the classroom as well.You work on things like creativity, analysis, and problem-identification on all days, at all points in the lesson, at all grades. You never stop. You coach them more so than you teach them. You find examples of them in the classroom, point them out, and have kids learn from each other. The skills look different in different situations. But they are absolutely vital to a child's success.

So the answer is, you don't teach 21st century skills before the 20th century. You teach them at the same time, infusing them together.

Hmmmm.....

Sites and one quote

Just a few sites I have been learning from:

Dangerously irrelevant http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/
www.edutopia.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHiby3m_RyM Learn to change Change to Learn
www.ceschangelab.org

And one quote: You cannot lead strangers, you can only coerce or bribe them.

Enjoy.

Tony Wagner’s New Book

The title: The Global Achievement Gap doesn’t necessarily catch my attention as a good read, but I am finding it to be an enlightening vision of what high school could be- schools where students are taught to think and be curious. He has observed that the longer our children are in school, the less curious they become. I would contend that they also tend to be less engaged.

One quote from the book from the CEO of Siemens Hearing Instruments:

“If you want young people to be scientists, it’s not how much they can retain but how much they can explore. It’s how you ask the next question. I can look up anything, but I can’t take it to the next level without pushing and exploring. And that’s what I want young people to learn to do. I want them to never stop asking questions.”

The thesis of his book is focused around teaching Seven Survival Skills:

Critical thinking and problem-solving
Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination

I’ll conclude with one more quote; “but even in the best districts the focus is always on test scores, not student learning. They don’t seem to understand that the two aren’t necessarily the same thing.” Hmmm…..