Another Great Video Presentation....

Am I one of the lost generation? A tail-end boomer? A Gen-Next? I'm not sure....but I sure liked this video:

News to the Minute?

I love this site….

 

http://www.tenbyten.org/10x10.html

 

There is some fascinating information to be found in the pictures of the day!

 

 

FINALLY A BAILOUT PLAN THAT HITS HOME

I read a column in the NY Times this morning by an author I have really enjoyed reading of late - Thomas Friedman (author of 'The World is Flat').  His plan, in short, is to stimulate both our economy now  BUT ALSO to rework the entire American economy by changing how students are prepared to enter the workforce after graduation.  Part of his plan is to cut federal income tax of teachers....that is hardly appealing......but it made me think that would hardly see society put more pressure on schools to produce different results......and could conceivably lead to the changes in the system I think need to happen....

Cheers

Now THIS is Learning!!!

I know that I have already referenced this below....but I find this talk so inspiring that I have to put it up again! This time I'll embed it....so I can easily watch it over and over...lol....

FUTURE SHAPING

I just read an interesting interview with Alvin Toffler, author of FUTURESHOCK, in which he discusses his thoughts about the future of public education.  I suppose it is not surprising that he is not a proponent of educational reform.  He's known to be a bit of a forward thinker....

 

Instead, Toffler proposes scrapping our entire system and rebuilding it from the ground up incorporating what we know we KNOW about kids, schools and society.  I'm not sure we're ready for some of what he proposes, but it was interesting and echoed some of what I keep wondering how we are going to incorporate....

 

Toffler's FUTURE SCHOOLS include:

• Open twenty-four hours a dayCustomized educational experience
• Kids arrive at different times
• Students begin their formalized schooling at different ages
• Curriculum is integrated across disciplines
• Nonteachers work with teachers
• Teachers alternate working in schools and in business world
• Local businesses have offices in the schools
• Increased number of charter schools

It is interesting....and the optimist in me gets pretty excited (as long as I don't think of the barriers to implementing changes needed to get here)!

Toffler's entire interview can be found here: http://www.edutopia.org/future-school

Cheers

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I'm not super huge on New Years Resolutions - why wait until one day of the year to make changes? - but all the talk people have regarding their resolutions can't help but to make a guy think....

After reading up a bit on the 100 THING CHALLENGE (guynameddave.com) I am leaning towards using my time in a more focussed way this year.

I wonder what that might look like? This is going to take some thought...

The Secrets of Success in 3 minutes and 30 seconds

Richard St. John, speaking at TED.

An AMAZING website

If you are reading this, you likely know me. If you know me, you likely have noticed my fondness for ‘Big Ideas’.

Well, last spring I had my first encounter with a website that is dedicated to the ‘Big Idea’. The website is: www.ted.com, and it is full of different 3 minute to 30 minute videos of talks from their various conferences.

TED stands for TECHNOLOGY, ENTERTAINMENT and DESIGN and if there is one conference/convention that I hope to attend before my big ideas cease, it is this one! The site is billed as: Inspired talks by the world's leading thinkers and doers

For the past year or so I have been visiting when I have time and searching for educational talks and/or other interesting ones. I plan on linking a few of them to the blog in the next little while (now that I am ‘re-activated’), but for now here is a list of my most recent favorites. If you are so motivated, you may search for them at ted.com.

Sir Ken Robinson – ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity’

Dave Eggers – ‘Once Upon a School’ where he talks about involving the community more in schools.

Daniel Goleman – ‘Why Aren’t We All Good Samaritans’ where he speaks on the topic of compassion

Richard St. John – ‘8 Secrets of Success’ shared in 3 Minutes

The other day I discovered an amazing way to access the TED TALKS….there is an APPLICATION for the iPod Touch/iPhone that connects the iPod via wi-fi and hooks me up with the latest TED videos….having access to TED via wi-fi is great for kicking around the house…..

Might be worth a look if you have a Touch and wi-fi….

Cheers

Re-activate

It has been almost a year since the last time I made a post......I guess I've built up a backlog of things to say because I am firing up the old beast.

The old posts are deleted...and it is time for a fresh start.

With no construction going on, and a year under our belt, I think I should be able to find the time to keep it going this year.

Let's see how it goes!

Cheers

Sent Using my Motorola Q