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01 2134 ,332 25 50 05 031 0+1 2 34 5 6 3 0!12!3 45 673,8!69:9 http creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 abc 53/0 d e 45 673,8!69:9 ,332 e 20f ghijk2l e@20f

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0 1022 3 2 4 25.6 7 10225.63 8 9.3 25.62:2 1022 3 2 4 25.6 8 8 0 1022 4,1 8 3 2 4 25.6 9 1 0 10221 3 9 4 38 http creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

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contents 1 2008 1.1 march hello world pair-a-dimes for your thoughts finds a new home 2008-03-24 08:24 the purpose of a system is what it does 2008-03-26 00:16 crisis danger opportunity 2008-03-26 22:11 application of constructivist principles to the practice of instructional technology 2008-03-27 21:57 pizzas and paperclips 2008-03-27 23:12 stone soup 2008-03-29 18:38 christopher sessums competing paradigms and educational reform 2008-03-30 15:39 d 9 9 9 10 13 14 16 17 19 21 22 24 24 25 26 29 31 38 41 45 47 49 52 57 61 66 71 78 3 three quotes servant leadership creative tension vision knowledge sharing in schools 2008-03-31 02:52 candy cultures reflections on a leadership activity 2008-03-31 20:32 1.2 april alan november and authentic audience 2008-04-02 02:08 enthusiasm 2008-04-02 22:14 a story about a tree 2008-04-03 00:00 david warlick s k12 online conference keynote 2006 2008-04-03 01:22 square peg round hole 2008-04-04 01:14 the use of blogs to learn not just to teach 2008-04-05 05:28 synthesize and add meaning 2008-04-05 07:15 tribute 2008-04-05 08:19 blog rules respect inclusion learning and safety 2008-04-05 10:18 the digital native the digital naive and the digital divide 2008-04-05 14:12 acceptance of mediocrity web 2-point-oh-oh 2008-04-06 00:05 sharing and engaging web 2-point-0h-yeah 2008-04-07 23:15 numeracy problem solving process producibles 2008-04-08 01:01 articulate your thinking an e-mail correspondence 2008-04-08 01:46 learning conversations 2008-04-08 21:58 school 2.0 participant s manifesto 2008-04-09 07:52 .

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online connectivism conference healthy discord 2008-04-09 21:30 the power and peril of praising your kids 2008-04-10 02:32 ask [for help and ye shall receive seek [the right questions and ye shall find [the right answers 2008-04-11 20:29 promoting a spirit of inquiry 2008-04-12 16:46 a whole new book club 2008-04-13 10:10 portal needed to connect classrooms to the world global citizens can share talents and skills with students 2008-04-13 13:22 kidnapped 2008-04-13 23:26 super tags and tag weeders it s time for blog tags to grow up 2008-04-13 23:57 licensed to pill we live in an over-prescribed and over-labelled society 2008-04-14 00:35 80 85 87 90 95 97 100 106 108 109 114 115 125 126 132 140 144 148 152 155 163 166 171 174 178 181 187 193 201 201 211 213 217 219 marking what counts and reporting on report cards 2008-04-14 01:52 it brought tears to my eyes 2008-04-14 02:26 the web2.0 prophecy an adventure 2008-04-14 23:48 successfull presentation 2008-04-15 21:23 reflections visit counts technorati comments and ego a good bad and almost indifferent post 2008-04-16 02:37 assessment rote learning math conundrums 2008-04-17 22:14 vandals vulgarity and victims 2008-04-18 01:21 on being a blogger 2008-04-18 22:58 wow bringing science alive wiki 2008-04-19 10:31 i m a mop not a sponge metaphors all the way down 2008-04-19 20:36 phosphorescent posts metaphor surfing for bright ideas 2008-04-22 03:10 some assembly required 2008-04-23 05:57 a giant teaches me about success a what are your secrets to a successful life meme 2008-04-24 00:25 start your own blog 2008-04-24 22:01 who have you helped today developing empathy 2008-04-25 00:10 $3,881.65 for one night s work 2008-04-26 11:22 school 2.0h no not yet 2008-04-26 14:16 more than one face to cyberbullying in the classroom 2008-04-26 16:41 wikis in the classroom a reflection 2008-04-30 01:47 1.3 may blogging with students requires biting your [digital tongue 2008-05-01 00:26 statement of educational philosophy 2008-05-02 02:13 how to prevent another leonardo da vinci 2008-05-02 21:56 bringing tools to class 2008-05-03 23:49 the capacity to lead 2008-05-04 10:26 4

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reflections stirring in the crock pot 2008-05-05 01:09 transitions transformations and transgressions 2008-05-06 01:32 presentation week 2008-05-07 02:15 start with innovative schools 2008-05-09 01:19 digital immigrants or digital natives a discussion of digital competence a spectrum not a dichotomy 2008-05-11 02:53 k12 online conference 2007 playing with boundaries at your leisure 2008-05-14 01:54 fieldfindr using ning to connect teachers to volunteers 2008-05-15 00:24 opportunities access obstacles 2008-05-16 02:26 indexed a graph is worth a thousand words 2008-05-17 15:09 two stuck posts a borrowed post with an added rant and a few questions 2008-05-18 00:28 release the hounds by chris harbeck 2008-05-18 13:12 employability skills 2000 or 2000 2008-05-18 15:40 halloween scavenger hunt on ning 2008-05-19 02:19 the flickering nevermind 2008-05-22 21:27 the lowest common denominator no this isn t about math 2008-05-24 15:44 making a difference 2008-05-25 02:00 november podcast highlights pink resnick interviews 2008-05-27 00:28 november learning 2008-05-27 23:46 most influential 2008-05-31 04:02 1.4 june evaluating a journey 2008-06-02 19:59 i speak digital digital exposure 2008-06-03 05:20 you can t go back now can you 2008-06-03 22:35 what did i do b.g before google 2008-06-07 15:38 instantaneous 2008-06-07 17:17 and finally i will leave you with this 2008-06-07 18:22 do not go quietly into your classroom 2008-06-07 22:29 ripples and tidal waves 2008-06-08 01:19 harnessing our advantage 2008-06-08 11:50 something from nothing 2008-06-16 06:42 what comes around 2008-06-17 06:44 edupunk or educational leader 2008-06-19 01:24 inaction is action 2008-06-20 07:04 kids say the darndest things 2008-06-25 03:44 things that make you go hmmmmmm 2008-06-27 03:58 1.5 july 223 227 229 232 236 241 243 244 249 250 255 257 259 262 265 276 279 283 286 289 289 291 294 297 299 302 303 306 309 311 314 315 319 320 322 329 5

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presenting 2008-07-03 03:38 overloaded and unplugged 2008-07-05 16:53 alan november s blc08 pre-conference 2008-07-15 13:55 this my blog has taught me presentation 1 blc08 2008-07-16 08:28 learning conversations -presentation 2 blc08 2008-07-17 05:51 canadians this is scary 2008-07-20 10:38 defragging my brain after blc08 2008-07-22 22:29 1.6 august hidden pain 2008-08-09 19:45 are you a catalyst for change 2008-08-14 04:39 beg for foregiveness 2008-08-16 22:26 great expectations 2008-08-29 07:59 lessons from 100 weddings 2008-08-31 02:07 1.7 september by design please keep the toilet seat in the upright position 2008-09-02 05:23 1-to-1 presentation 2008-09-12 03:54 a brave new world-wide-web the video version 2008-09-14 09:50 who are the people in your neighbourhood 2008-09-16 03:02 what we want for our children 2008-09-19 07:28 connectivism relationships and balance 2008-09-25 01:56 tlite presentations 2008-09-30 06:38 1.8 october facing facebook 2008-10-05 12:50 vote 2008-10-13 23:46 get off your butt 2008-10-19 02:19 pod s 2008-10-21 02:26 hargreaves and the 4th way 2008-10-27 01:55 let s talk about sex 2008-10-30 03:22 1.9 november interviewed on seedlings 2008-11-07 08:07 two wolves 2008-11-11 05:16 1.10 december youtube generation 2008-12-01 03:08 edublog awards nomination 2008-12-03 03:40 the pedagogy of play 2008-12-11 08:10 girl power 2008-12-17 04:42 unintentional bias 2008-12-19 04:01 6 329 331 332 334 335 336 338 340 340 342 346 347 348 354 354 358 359 362 366 367 371 372 372 380 381 383 384 387 389 389 390 397 397 399 402 404 409

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2 2009 2.1 january 7 things 3 tags and 1 confession 2009-01-04 04:08 the rant i can t the elephant and the ant 2009-01-13 04:03 digital teachers 2009-01-23 22:18 an open letter to the fraser institute 2009-01-29 02:59 2.2 february students information and schools 2009-02-06 08:05 best practice is still practice 2009-02-12 01:57 pfffffft the pitfalls of presenting at pro-d 2009-02-21 13:16 share your gr8tweets for the month of march 2009-02-25 16:59 2.3 march students today 2009-03-16 02:22 is the tool an obstacle or an opportunity 2009-03-24 01:47 my blog is my phd 2009-03-30 07:13 2.4 april a gr8tweet-ing experience 2009-04-03 03:42 black and white education 2009-04-16 02:42 hargreaves and the 4th way [part 2 2009-04-28 07:27 2.5 may the road less traveled 2009-05-13 08:22 collaboration contributors and a comment on classroom2.0 2009-05-16 11:48 chasing the a 2009-05-29 06:57 2.6 2.7 2.8 june learning in louisiana 2009-06-09 03:13 july the rant i can t the elephant and the ant on slideshare 2009-07-20 22:40 august the pod s are coming blc09 2009-08-03 12:28 a letter to friends 2009-08-15 13:59 destinations and dispositions 2009-08-18 02:52 variable flow 2009-08-23 05:03 2.9 september bubble wrap 2009-09-21 12:19 blogs as learning spaces 2009-09-24 16:00 2.10 october openness and acceptance mr deng and his allegories of windows flies and coloured cats 2009-10-05 15:24 417 417 417 419 424 427 432 432 438 441 447 449 449 450 452 455 455 458 463 466 466 470 472 476 476 479 479 481 481 485 488 490 496 496 501 503 503 7

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facebook revisited 2009-10-11 02:40 caring across the curriculum 2009-10-14 15:49 2.11 november cassie and katie have blogs 2009-11-01 00:47 moments 2009-11-16 02:41 my 2009 edublog awards nominations 2009-11-27 16:36 convergence cofino and a connected world 2009-11-30 11:31 2.12 december shifting education 2009-12-06 06:36 nominations appreciation and inquiry 2009-12-13 12:27 holiday-christmas-concert 2009-12-25 05:35 t was two nights after christmas a story of lost innocence 2009-12-28 10:55 3 2010 3.1 january broken presentations and broken photocopiers 2010-01-14 12:50 augmented identity 2010-01-15 22:31 3.2 february olympic and blogging fever 2010-02-06 10:13 the trap 2010-02-07 09:11 google buzz and george costanza worlds collide 2010-02-21 20:38 3.3 march warning we filter websites at school 2010-03-06 01:03 teachers as lead learners 2010-03-11 05:39 product you 2010-03-13 03:30 the role of a principal 2010-03-17 22:39 shifting learning 2010-03-27 16:50 my 4th blogiversary reflections and appreciation 2010-03-29 05:00 3.4 april ipads are for iconsumers 2010-04-05 06:37 great things in the classroom 2010-04-07 19:34 a culture of caring 2010-04-10 16:59 choose your battle 2010-04-20 01:26 shifting attitudes 2010-04-24 06:16 3.5 may math can be beautiful 2010-05-05 21:35 photosynthesis and learning a learning metaphor 2010-05-08 08:24 bring your own laptop to school 2010-05-20 23:15 8 505 512 515 515 517 517 522 524 524 527 537 538 543 543 543 545 547 547 549 551 555 555 558 559 562 564 570 579 579 581 582 583 586 590 590 592 595

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chapter 1 2008 1.1 march hello world pair-a-dimes for your thoughts finds a new home 2008-03-24 08:24 [1 a few years ago a friend sent me an invitation to join him on a social network and start something called a blog i signed up and my first post the purpose of a system is what is does set the metaphoric tone for my ideas and thoughts that will fill this space essentially i think many students are square pegs that we try to put into round holes my personal schooling experience included i think we have a lot still to learn about education and learning and i also think that technology might provide some bridges to help make effective pedagogy come faster and easier with this in mind i now move pair-a-dimes to it s new and final home it started at elgg.net which was confusing to some since elgg is an [2]open source software [3]platform as well as an open source blogging platform so the name was changed to eduspaces.net now eduspaces will be managed by [4]taking it global and we were told the address would change again today i checked to confirm the new address and low-and-behold [5]eduspaces is being kept in tact too little too late to keep me there on the bright side my old links will stay live so here i am making the move out on my own i am using a [6]wordpress publishing platform hosted by [7]bluehost i ve had some issues with transferring my blog and so now i will move my blog post-by-post over to this site i m taking advantage of this problem by reading reflecting and fixing old links as i go once again i bring you my thoughts and reflections on education technology learning i invite you to join in the conversation and add your couple of dimes worth or challenge yourself to use technology in a transformative way in your classroom or ask yourself why we are stuck in a paradigm that suggests changes to education need to be slow and progressive be part of the conversation be part of the solution be an active learner who shares ideas with others do so and i thank you for contributing 9

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to my learning dave think good thoughts say good words do good deeds 1 http pairadimes.davidtruss.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/pair-a-dimes1.jpg 2 http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/open_source 3 http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/elgg software 4 http www.takingitglobal.org/home.html 5 http eduspaces.net/dtruss/weblog 6 http wordpress.org 7 http bluehost.com gabriela sellart 2008-03-24 15:43:53 dave the new home of pair a dimes looks so elegant the old one meant a lot to me last year i read posts which were really enlightening which broadened my mind making me think on new possibilities i had never thought about i agree with you when you say that schools try to fit students into a matrix too often they just won t fit and they are regarded as a failure this needs to change i still don t know to what extent technology will play its part in this change what i know is that it certainly gives students more possibilities than the limited ones they had before when we teachers could build a wall around their access to knowledge i also know that when we start to use technology we start to question ourselves about our practice in general and that s the beginning of a change and certainly our global network is providing new perspectives but educational institutions tend to be conservative institutional changes will surely be slow however that shouldn t prevent us from changing we ll always find gaps best of luck in your new home is there a ritual for blog lauching like breaking a bottle of champagne against the screen no i don t think that would be a good idea dave truss 2008-03-28 02:07:51 thank you gabriela i obviously need to work out a few kinks yet like setting up alerts to let me know that i have a comment the only blog launching ritual i can think of is celebrating my first comment a blog is only an online journal until there is interaction and engagement between writer and reader as participants in a learning conversation you have been someone i owe thanks to for both following my blog and being my teacher as well there is a still-unwritten post on netiquette that you have inspired me to write but first i have some reading reflecting and posting to do in order to bring my current and hopefully final blog location up to date thanks again for contributing the first comment on my new blog dave the purpose of a system is what it does 2008-03-26 00:16 stafford beer coined the term [1]cybernetics he was a brilliant man who among other things wrote a novel about a very wise but forgetful wizard this excerpt tells you what he thinks of our education system the title alone referring to the education minister should give you a hint of what is to come excerpt from [2]chronicles of wizard prang by stafford beer from chapter two a pompous man the pompous man lowered himself into the visitor s armchair 10

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i have the honour to be the chairman of the education committee in our little town he said as you know education is the hope for mankind wizard prang raised an eyebrow but waited politely for his visitor to continue it has come to my attention the pompous man said that you are the possessor of some very advanced knowledge our committee has therefore passed a resolution inviting you to give the school prizes away on speech day this year and to give us a little address telling us all about it the wizard cleared his throat in a hundred years or so everyone now alive in the whole earth will be dead is this not so the pompous man was relieved he could follow that he nodded sagely it would therefore be possible for the human race to run its affairs quite differently in a wise and benevolent fashion in a relatively short time this way of looking at things appealed to the chairman of the education committee it had an optimistic ring so different from the doom-laden pronouncements of most so-called clever people he leaned forward and so he asked encouragingly the purpose of education said wizard prang is to make sure this doesn t happen the pompous man was thunderstruck look here sir he said please remember who i am not only do i have civic responsibilities i am also a pompous man you can t say things like that you know the wizard was under the impression that he just had said it and looked around anxiously to see if anything was wrong but things looked much as usual young people today are lazy and good-for-nothing declared the pompous man he resounded he was on familiar ground they sit around listening to pop music and taking drugs what they have to do is learn more things apply themselves no that s not correct the wizard explained they have to unlearn things how can that possibly be the pompous man was lost well said wizard prang we can teach only what we know now what we know is how to devastate the planet kill its inhabitants and starve two thirds of the rest seems a bit silly to teach people to do all that ridiculous shouted the pompous man that is not the intention at all and you know it the wizard looked reflective the purpose of a system is what it does originally posted march 29th 2006 11

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reflection upon re-reading and re-posting it seems fitting to me that this was my first ever blog post if i were given a magic wand and provided with an opportunity to change just one thing about institutional learning i would wish for a dynamic system that charged forth innovatively leading the way with new ideas and attitudes towards what it means to be an intentional learner i wouldn t worry about what has been done in the past or how we always do things around here however i am not going to go off on a diatribe this is about a new beginning this first post set a tone for my blog it was a metaphorical opening of a window allowing a breath of fresh air into my teaching and into my experience as a lifelong learner as i approach the two year mark since first blogging this i can honestly say that becoming a blogger has been absolutely transformative i feel like i ve learned more in the past 2 years than i have in 22 years of one kind of institutional learning or another we are embarking on a new era for schools technological tools and the world of web2.0 are helping teachers and students leave clay burell s [3]schooliness behind but it won t be an easy ride many people treat the technological tools as a means to do 4]old things in new ways what i think makes this new transformation more meaningful is that we can no longer hold students back dave sands a friend and mentor told me years ago do you know what will change education students will they will indeed as the metaphorical window is open for them too they can and will lead the way and we need to decide if we want to help guide their learning path beyond the walls of our schools or if we want to hold them back have them fill in a multiple choice answer here and a fill-in-the-blank question there the purpose of a system is what it does what do we want our schools to do 1 http www.cybsoc.org/contacts/people-beer.htm 2 http www.chroniclesofwizardprang.com/contents.htm 3 http beyond-school.org/2008/03/04/what-is-schooliness-overview-and-open-thread 4 http www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt andreas auwaerter 2008-03-26 14:27:00 hi dave so it seems to be moving time all over i had to switch the url from www to userpages seems to be a little change but finally its more like a digital suicide because of all the subscribers so great to hear from you again and have fun your now self hosted blog andreas 12

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crisis danger opportunity 2008-03-26 22:11 the first time i read that the chinese word for crisis included components or elements of the words danger and opportunity was in [1]james lovelock s gaia a new look at life on earth over 20 years ago see the wiki for [2]gaia theory or a review of [3]the ages of gaia i have heard this reference literally hundreds of times since and i have also perpetuated this idea countless times well chalk this one up as a fallacy or urban legend according to [4]victor h mair professor of chinese language and literature department of east asian languages and civilizations university of pennsylvania crisis w?ij consists of two syllables that are written with two separate characters w?i and j the j of w?ij in fact means something like incipient moment crucial point when something begins or changes thus a w?ij is indeed a genuine crisis a dangerous moment a time when things start to go awry a w?ij indicates a perilous situation when one should be especially wary it is not a juncture when one goes looking for advantages and benefits but j is mistakenly believed to signify opportunity because j added to huì occasion creates the mandarin word for opportunity j?huì however by itself j does not mean opportunity if j can be interpreted as incipient moment or crucial point then the j in opportunity can also be a crucial point so in both j?huì and w?ij there are crucial points but there is no opportunity found in the chinese word crisis the problem here is that despite the fallacy i think that this is such a powerful metaphor to live by on the other hand mair thinks that this muddled thinking is a danger to society for it lulls people into welcoming crises as unstable situations from which they can benefit adopting a feel-good attitude toward adversity may not be the most rational realistic approach to its solution although i agree that looking for or seeking out a crisis in order to find an opportunity is not healthy i think here of hostile takeovers as an example there is an inherent element of good in looking for hidden opportunities when you find yourself in a crisis when life feeds you lemons make and then sell lemonade originally posted april 2nd 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting i spend a lot of time examining and using metaphors in this blog i think storytelling and the use of metaphors are grossly underused in teaching the truth behind a story or a metaphor is far less important than the meaning that we can get out of a well-timed example a colourful description or an off-the-wall comparison that brings a teachable moment alive i think it is healthy to see the silver lining in a gray cloud or to look for the opportunities a crisis may present 13

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1 http www.ecolo.org/lovelock/lovebioen.htm 2 http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gaia_theory 28science%29 3 http gaianation.net/gaia.html 4 http www.pinyin.info/chinese/crisis.html application of constructivist principles to the practice of instructional technology 2008-03-27 21:57 [1]application of constructivist principles to the practice of instructional technology by [2]bonnie skaalid i found this while procrastinating on finishing my masters paper disgusted with how this has transformed from a labour of interest and love to one of hoop jumping that is just what i googled along with education this is just what i was looking for instructional strategy development · distinguish between instructional goals and learners goals support learners in pursuing their own goals ng and bereiter 1991 distinguish between 1 task-completion goals or hoop jumping 2 instructional goals set by the system and 3 personal knowledgebuilding goals set by the student the three do not always converge a student motivated by task-completion goals doesn t even consider learning yet many students behavior in schools is driven by performance requirements constructivist instruction would nourish and encourage pursuit of personal knowledge-building goals while still supporting instructional goals as mark twain put it i have never let my schooling interfere with my education no they do not converge and no i do not feel nourished and i should really listen to mr twain so can technology come to the rescue · allow for multiple goals for different learners id often includes the implicit assumption that instructional goals will be identical for all learners this is sometimes necessary but not always hypermedia learning environments almost by definition are designed to accommodate multiple learning goals even within traditional classrooms technologies exist today for managing multiple learning goals collins 1991 · appreciate the interdependency of content and method traditional design theory treats content and the method for teaching that content as orthogonally independent factors postmodern id says you can t entirely separate the two when you use a socratic method you are teaching something quite different than when you use worksheets and a posttest teaching concepts via a rule definition results in something different than teaching the concept via rich cases just as mcluhan discerned the confounding of media and message so designers must see how learning goals are not uniformly met by interchangeable instructional strategies see wilson cole in preparation so we should be spending our time designing learning environments i need to look up hypermedia learning environments 14

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i like the focus in this next section · think in terms of designing learning environments rather than selecting instructional strategies metaphors are important does the designer select a strategy or design a learning experience grabinger dunlap and heath 1993 provide design guidelines for what they call realistic environments for active learning real these guidelines reflect a constructivist orientation ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ extend students responsibility for their own learning -allow students to determine what they need to learn -enable students to manage their own learning activities -enable students to contribute to each other s learning -create a non-threatening setting for learning -help students develop metacognitive awareness make learning meaningful -make maximum use of existing knowledge -anchor instruction in realistic settings -provide multiple ways to learn content promote active knowledge construction -use activities to promote higher level thinking -encourage the review of multiple perspectives -encourage creative and flexible problem solving -provide a mechanism for students to present their learning · think of instruction as providing tools that teachers and students can use for learning make these tools user-friendly this frame of mind is virtually the opposite of teacherproofing instructional materials to assure uniform adherence to designers use expectations instead teachers and students are encouraged to make creative and intelligent use of instructional tools and resources there is so much room for creativity the use of metaphors and problem solving meeting multiple goals for individual learners as long as we invest time in making the learning meaningfully relevant and in designing flexible learning environments the hardest bone to swallow here the one that sticks in my throat as i sit here gnawing on the sparse backbone of higher learning is that this freedom is what i desire for my own learning but how much of it do i offer to my own students in my classroom how many of them are jumping through my hoops originally posted march 29th 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting it was wonderful reading this again it shows what i was looking for as both a student and a teacher 6 months before fully jumping into the world of web2.0 these key guidelines make me think of [3]chris harbeck s 15

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[4]unprojects extend students responsibility for their own learning make learning meaningful promote active knowledge construction they also remind me of my inspiration for creating my [5]brave new world-wide-web slidshow that i put together for a presentation to student teachers i ll leave the last word on this post to my friend gary kern gary invited me to start blogging and left me my first comment his words are always thought provoking metaphor change we are constantly looking for the right tool for the job once we find it every kid has to use it technology liberates us from the world of tools and provides for us an environment where students can use any type of tool they require they can pick the tool that matches their learning goals or their learning style or whatever they want the learning outcome is the purpose and whether a kid makes a movie powerpoint podcast blog entry or makes a diarama doesn t matter i don t care how you show me you deserve your masters just that you show me you deserve your masters now get back to work 1 http www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/skaalid/application.html 2 http www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/skaalid/index.html 3 http makeitinteresting.blogspot.com 4 http www.slideshare.net/charbeck1/unprojects-125206 5 http www.slideshare.net/datruss/brave-new-www alec couros 2008-03-27 22:08:23 i remember reading bonnie s paper and thinking something similar i can t remember which hoop i was on at the time but i can tell you this even after you thought you ve been through your last hoop there s another one around the corner let s stop this together no more hoops chris harbeck 2008-04-16 19:10:09 when students are set loose and allowed to be creative they set their limits almost all achieve higher results be those results academic or personal when i start unprojects i set few guidelines and set them free all students from the weak to the strong do better because of choice thanks for the mention chris pizzas and paperclips 2008-03-27 23:12 i am combining two short posts here ordering a pizza in in the near future turn your speakers on for this one a little dark humour about living in a wired world [1]ordering from pizza palace originally posted april 6th 2006 16

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one red paperclip we live in a wired world where a man with a blog and a little pr can turn [2]one red paperclip into some real estate originally posted april 17th 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting pizza the big brother potential is highlighted by this spoof in a later post i show just how much google already knows about me the potential is both scary and exciting paperclip my first hints at the power of the web and of networks a group of friends couldn t make this happen but a network could this is a great feel-good story 1 http aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf 2 http oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/2005/07/one-red-paperclip.html stone soup 2008-03-29 18:38 from the introduction of [1]the teaching moment:a learning metaphor by mia lobel michael neubauer randy swedburg the internet is saturated with distance education claims about learning environments effective pedagogies teaching modules skill training techniques and community building models typing into google online teaching training distance education nets one 265,000 hits typically efforts to deliver educational content and to construct knowledge online seem to be asynchronous the synchronous teaching `engagements either attempt to incorporate high tech features like sound and/or video into their delivery method while others seem to use java based synchronous chat modules which only allow interacting in simple ascii text in general one presumes that at least some portion of the teaching effectiveness claimed by this vast community of practitioners is predicated on long-term preparation research and experience however what this preparation may involve on what specific data the opinions are based or what the actual teaching really looks like remains largely unclear the stone soup is an eastern european folk tale at the end of the war a group of bedraggled soldiers come upon a devastated village the inhabitants having hidden the little bit of food they still had left watched as one soldier made a fire another fetched water in a cauldron while another removed an ordinary looking stone from his pouch and placed it into 17

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the boiling water having accomplished this task the soldiers settled around their campsite and began talking enthusiastically about their anticipated meal the first soldier said yes stone soup is my favorite but once i had it with cabbage and that was delicious hearing this the bravest of the villagers approached the cauldron and threw in his cabbage the second soldier said ah yes but when you add a bit of beef well next it was the village butcher who added a piece of meat he has been hoarding to the soup eventually everyone sat down together to partake of the best soup the villagers have ever had before they left the soldiers gave the magic stone to the villagers reminding them that the stone s power is actually in their cooperation like in the children s folk tale the stone soup there seems to be a famine of empirical information about how learning actually takes place in the synchronous distance education village everyone seems to agree that knowledge is being delivered and the practitioners have found the delivery methods that serve them the content of the knowledge being delivered is largely known and often grounded in theory what seems to be missing is twofold what are participants saying and how are they saying it how is the learning task accomplished and how are the group s dynamics facilitated to allow the learning to unfold this paper is an attempt to make transparent the process of experientially constructing knowledge in a real-time eclassroom which has been described in lobel neubauer swedburg 2002 the following account may be viewed as offering that which is invited namely other practitioners with whom to dialogue and share the ingredients involved in creating the content and process of facilitating online real-time learning the particular `teaching moment offered here seems apt in several ways it demonstrates how people with different points of view sharing their perspectives can and do create a common pool of knowledge where the lowest common denominator is raised to the highest one the learning segment presented in this paper includes and makes visible the elements sought above namely the preparation the research and the experience used to design deliver and process a learning sequence like in the story the instructor provides a stone by posting a pictographic ambiguous image as each villager brings her own unique contribution to the interaction the resulting synergy-rich soup belongs to everyone could not any community including one of teachers and learners dialoguing in this manner produce the same result essentially teaching begins with the belief that the way of the teacher is a practice in trust arrien 1998 the trust involved in this case study is supported by decades of observing the learning process and is anchored by theories of learning and of group development to active practice and risky experimentation trust the process and be open to outcome accurately describe the value-base of the primary instructor s teaching approach in keeping with the stone soup metaphor the teacher brings the cauldron builds the fire puts the magic stone into the boiling water and trusts that eventually the audience will engage enough to bring their own hidden ingredients to the process because of the feminine nurturing way this really makes me think about [2]the tao of leadership that the soldiers show their leadership this book is my leadership bible that i go to time and again for inspiration and guidance it really is process oriented and focused on fostering leadership from within this stone soup metaphor fits well with my thinking around having students develop the curriculum around their interests or more aptly their tastes students as leaders and creators of content for learning as opposed to just being passive receivers 18

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originally posted april 22nd 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting in a way this blog has evolved into its own kind of stone soup it is put together not only with what i have come up with but more importantly the ideas of so many others the ingredients come from outside sources and people that add to the richness of this blog it is my ingestion of and reflection on the ingredients others have shared that make it the primary source of nourishment that i feed off of as someone engaged in my own learning the very nature of the many social networks we find online are about what we share with others rather than what we hoard and keep to ourselves i guess what i m really talking about are the principles of [3]wikinomics being open peering sharing and acting globally these principles are key to preparing our students for the future things are moving and changing too quickly to be using stale ingredients textbooks and hand-me-down recipes photocopied resources we need to be connected to the tastes and ingredients the world has to offer it is exciting to see educators participating and creating their own stone soup 1 http www.usdla.org/html/journal/nov02_issue/article01.html 2 3 http www.amazon.com/gp/product/0893340790?ie=utf8&tag=davidtrcom-20&linkcode=as2&camp=1789&creative http www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591841380?ie=utf8&tag=davidtrcom-20&linkcode=as2&camp=1789&creative 9325&creativeasin=0893340790 9325&creativeasin=1591841380 christopher d sessums competing paradigms and educational reform 2008-03-30 15:39 a great article 1 competing paradigms and educational reform that asks what has this dominant paradigm actually done for public education except manufacture a crisis not only does it list initiatives and consequences of this paradigm read the post it also suggests a paradigm shift with the following perspective · human freedom and empowerment are more critical than accountability and punishment · life is about relationships not acquisition · school is a democratic experience · caring and trust for each person is the center of any truly professional activity · schools are to improve society as a whole not providing competitive advantage to the elite · curriculum is best derived from the needs and interests of the learners · developmental appropriateness should supersede national assessment · school failure is the result of a variety of political and economic causes 19

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supporters of this alternate perspective maintain that education is a process based on trust not doubt and suspicion bryk schneider 2002 the crucial elements that will sustain school improvement is not high-stakes testing standards or reactionary accountability programs ­ it is simple human trust that rests on four supports respect competency integrity and personal regard for others george 2006 real education is built on meaningful relationships we do not learn things in isolation from each other the core components of education are based on learner-centered values a respect for diversity and complexity tolerance and empowerment the developmental needs for learners are widespread and cannot be easily or meaningfully reduced to a pencil-based exam this fits so well with where my thinking has been of late to add to christopher s idea that the shift will come from the grassroots/bottom up i am reminded of dave sands comment that students will change education originally posted may 1st 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting sessums was a great influence to my writing when i started blogging he was the first blogger that i followed before knowing anything about rss feeds after somehow finding this post i added him as a friend on elgg and i would periodically check the friend s blogs tab that the blogging software offered standardized tests do not measure a school s success as wesley fryer says [2]reject rigor embrace differentiation flexibility and high expectations how do you reduce success to a percentage when in your classrooms a b can be an utter embarrassment for one student and a glorious success for another in our district we put special needs students on iep s individual education plans doesn t every student deserve an individual plan gary kern when he was my vice principal asked me why is it that we teach in groups and manage behavior of individuals when behavior is a group thing and learning is an individual thing something worth thinking about 1 http elgg.net/csessums/weblog/8200.html 2 http www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/08/31 podcast79-reject-rigor-embrace-differentiation-flexibility-and-high-expectations 20

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three quotes servant leadership creative tension vision knowledge sharing in schools 2008-03-31 02:52 this one is on [1]servant leadership providing students with capacities and competencies through their programs schools can provide the opportunity for the development of capacities and competencies that enable young people to get started on the path of acting with a sense of civic responsibility through programs of community and service learning student leadership programs peer mediation and coaching mentoring programs and student decision-making groups schools can provide the opportunity to students to develop a sense of commitment to others and a sense of service to further the interests of all groups in society page 431 quote from international handbook on lifelong learning chapman d aspin edited by david n aspin judith chapman michael hatton yukiko sawano 2001 hingham ma kluwer academic by i look at [2]servant leadership a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness [3]robert k greenleaf starting on pg 15 of [4]my master s paper here are some [5]student leadership lessons and some wonderful [6]teaching metaphors 7]peter senge writes on creative tension and moving from reality to vision leadership in a learning organization starts with the principle of creative tension creative tension comes from seeing clearly where we want to be our vision and telling the truth about where we are our current reality the gap between the two generates a natural tension creative tension can be resolved in two basic ways by raising current reality toward the vision or by lowering the vision toward current reality individuals groups and organizations who learn how to work with creative tension learn how to use the energy it generates to move reality more reliably toward their visions sloan review fall peter m senge [8]the leader s new work building learning organizations 1990 p 9 9]michael fullan on knowledge sharing we have a ways to go in education it is ironic that schools systems are late to the game of knowledge building both for their students and for their teachers most schools are not good at knowledge sharing within their own walls m fullan 2001 [10]leading in a culture of change .san francisco john wiley sons p 104 originally posted may 7th 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting until my blog address changed from elgg to eduspaces this was the most google-searched link on my blog the idea of servant leadership is an incredible way to get students involved in their school in their community and with the greater world at large the selfless nature of this kind of leadership is something we should all aspire to pass on to our students recently teachers in our district have started using [11]kiva and i have worked with [12]free the children it is wonderful when we can get students to show compassion on a 21

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global scale the idea of creative tension is interesting when looking at technology integration i think there are shifts in the tide between the current reality of what can be done using the resources and technology available and the vision of where things need to go waves of [13]elation and [14]frustration flow through the blogosphere collaboration collaboration collaboration whether it is within the walls of our schools or not is unimportant what is important is that we don t waste valuable time and energy reinventing things that are easily shared teachers are not islands why is it that i have a more intimate understanding of what some teachers around the world do in their classes thanks to their blogs than i know about the teaching practice of someone i taught across the hall from for 6 years trustees superintendents administrators teachers make more time available for collaboration 1 http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/servant_leadership 2 http www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809105543?ie=utf8&tag=davidtrcom-20&linkcode=as2&camp=1789&creative 9325&creativeasin=0809105543 3 http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/robert_k greenleaf 4 http www.davidtruss.com/leadership_paper.htm 5 http davidtruss.com/leadership_lessons.htm 6 http davidtruss.com/teachingmetaphors.htm 7 http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/peter_senge 8 http www.amazon.com/gp/product/b000mzvaf2?ie=utf8&tag=davidtrcom-20&linkcode=as2&camp=1789&creative 9325&creativeasin=b000mzvaf2 9 http www.michaelfullan.ca/biography.htm 10 http www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787987662?ie=utf8&tag=davidtrcom-20&linkcode=as2&camp=1789&creative 9325&creativeasin=0787987662 11 http www.kiva.org 12 http www.freethechildren.com/index.php 13 http horizonproject.wikispaces.com 14 http aquaculturepda.wikispaces.com/al+upton candy cultures reflections on a leadership activity 2008-03-31 20:32 for a number of years i have used [1]the candy cultures activity first as a multiculturalism activity then as a leadership activity i had a chance to experience it on two other levels recently first i ran the activity at our pro-d with staff a week ago i also shared it with the student leadership council slc executive and this week they ran the activity at their first meeting with about 60 students participating in the activity members of a specific culture greet and chat with members of other cultures one culture consists of close talkers who like to make physical contact when talking others like their personal space 22

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some cultures feel subservient and/or superior to other cultures participants mingle and a funny social dance begins with the staff after running this activity with students for so many years it was wonderful to run it with adults i was impressed with the involvement of my peers they really engaged in the activity what i enjoyed most was listening to the meta-analysis of the activity during the debrief i didn t have to lead the conversation anywhere it simply flowed from why we did it as a staff to why to do the activity with students to how it relates to our school beliefs etc i ended the debrief talking about how sometimes in a meeting we might all have the schools best interest in mind but yet because of a defensive tone or because of someone taking a different approach we end up seeing each other in adversarial roles we misinterpret delivery with intent i then pointed out that in 9 years at the school this is the first time we have almost all of the staff back we know each other and don t need to do the cultural dance we do with new people so we really have the potential to have a great year with the slc student leaders representing each middle and high school in the district i have never had the opportunity to casually observe this activity without being involved in some way the approach taken was very good and what i really liked was the debrief questions they came up with · 1 describe your frustrations/challenges · 2 how do you improve communication · 3 relate the experience to school question one is about the experience students went through question two asks students to look inward and improve their own experience question three asks students to look outward at their school experience the discussion went very well and it was great to see students pulling this off so eloquently with their peers originally posted october 1st 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting i didn t add a blog post for 6 months before this and quite honestly would never have considered myself a blogger at the time of writing this post it would be another 2 months before that metamorphosis occurred empowering students is something i get great pleasure out of as my [2]master s paper and [3]student leadership resources demonstrate it was only after i saw how technology could liberate students as learners that i delved into the world of web2.0 that i am so deeply entrenched in now what i wasn t expecting was how much it transformed me as a learner 1 http www.scribd.com/doc/2413465/candy-cultures 2 http www.davidtruss.com/leadership_paper.htm 3 http www.davidtruss.com/leadership_lessons.htm 23

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tgidinski 2008-05-04 16:11:20 thanks for this idea dave another teacher and i used this activity with our 6/7 classes to start our holocaust unit as we re going through the [1]activity from the shoah foundation and discuss how the jewish people were treated differently in europe we refer back to the different relationships between the candy cultures and discuss how quickly they decided which cultures they were able to communicate with easily and which ones they thought were in their words weird 1 http college.usc.edu/vhi/pyramidofhate/vhfmain.htm 1.2 april alan november and authentic audience 2008-04-02 02:08 i heard [1]alan november speak tonight and although there were many great ideas one key idea hit a cord with me students will work harder for an authentic audience than for a grade students will do more if they leave a legacy beyond a grade the technology is there i remember for a couple weeks after my on-line [2]renassance fair davinci project students were coming up to me saying they still went home and checked the site to see if anyone posted something new when alan told us about his course that ended months ago and students are still blogging i had to wonder why didn t i keep mine going the students had a voice and an audience think of how you would change what you do when your audience changes making dinner for yourself vs making dinner for a new friend thanking someone personally vs thanking them in front of 100 people teaching a class vs teaching peers at a pro-d our audience matters wouldn t it make sense that this is true for our students too and the audience is out there on the web from experts to parents to peers to billions of internet users on a fun side note think about the boy sitting in his basement lip sync-ing [3]numa numa hundreds of versions are on the net millions have seen it more people have seen this than some multi-million dollar movie productions furthermore his fans have now copied this guy here is a version [4]lego numa numa over 250,000 views for this copy alone i ve seen some really bad poorly made video clips on google video and youtube that have had over 15,000 people see it there is an audience out there and if that helps motivate students if it gives them a legacy or a global voice as alan suggests well what are we waiting for i added a [5]clustrmap to this blog on nov 23/06 what a great tool show kids that they have 24

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a global audience cheryl oakes posted [6]how many hits has your refrigerator had on techlearning.comhave kids post their work on a worldwide refrigerator rather than the one at home originally posted october 20th 2006 reflection upon re-reading and re-posting i ve said it time and again audience matters one thing that i have been very poor at has been leaving a legacy other than my [7]science alive project most of my students work has been on private networks that said even an audience of the whole class changes things from handing something in just for the teacher this post picks up on a theme that i keep coming back to if it works for me as a learner shouldn t i offer my students the same opportunities on that note seeing the comment about the clustrmap i dug up the archive my first clustr map archive i d be lying if i said this didn t change my writing in some way 1 http www.anovember.com 2 http eduspaces.net/davet/weblog/14829.html 3 http video.google.com/videoplay?docid 6377855743675143177&q=numa+numa 4 http video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7898868502605770693&q=numa+numa 5 http clustrmaps.com 6 http www.techlearning.com/blog/2006/12/how_many_hits_has_your_refrige.php 7 http sciencealive.wikispaces.com enthusiasm 2008-04-02 22:14 it costs nothing to be enthusiastic 2 questions to think about 1 how much enthusiasm do i show at the front of the room 2 how much enthusiasm do i inspire and/or expect from my students [1]the unlimited power of enthusiasm 25

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