Category: learning

Lessons Learned

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A few days in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and I’ve come away with some lessons learned:

  1. Time to do nothing but read, walk, write, and sleep soothes me.
  2. Disconnecting is easy; I didn’t miss being online at all.
  3. Cabins are warmer than tents.
  4. My ego gets in the way of so much.
  5. Going down the trail is much easier than climbing back up.
  6. Writing helps me make sense of life.
  7. When I wake in the middle of the night, I shouldn’t leave my kindle on the floor under the bed. (really hoping they find it and mail it to me.)

Edit: And they did find my Kindle. Thanks, Shenandoah National Park employees:)

What We Need Is Here
Wendell Berry

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

Money and Time: Can we get around these?

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Often teachers say the biggest barriers to getting sound professional development are money and time. First, let’s change the phrase “professional development” to “professional learning.” (I wish I could remember which of my great Dublin Dallas PLP cohort teachers shared that phrase with me, but alas, I can’t.)

If we really want to learn–and we should–then it’s pretty simple, isn’t it? We make choices.

This tweet from @newsfromtengrrl today reminded me of a few ways to do that at little or no cost:

ISTE Unplugged: During the regular ISTE sessions, these presenters have signed up to share their passions with you on elluminate. From the wiki: “All ISTE Unplugged sessions will be streamed live through Elluminate and recorded as well. (To make sure your computer is configured for Elluminate, go to http://www.elluminate.com/support.) The broadcasting is taken care of by a volunteer there. All sessions slots are 30 minutes long–20 minutes to present, with 10 minutes for transition and short Q&A.”

reform symposium: You don’t have to leave your couch for this one,either. From the site: “RSCON3, will take place from Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31, 2011 and we hope you will join us for what promises to be our biggest yet global online conference for everyone concerned with education. With more than 65 presentations and 12 keynote speakers it is sure to be an incredible event!”

Scoop.it: Read my curated posts from my RSS feed and links from twitter. I try to include only those reads I find most interesting to me.

Powerful Learning Practice Action Research: Ok, I know I work for PLP, but where else can you find great research, links to examples, and specific details about how our Peeps collaboratively examine their own educational practice. And if you want to cough up a few bucks, check out the e-courses, too. They are getting rave reviews.

The K12 Online Conference may be from last fall, but there’s plenty to catch up on. Plus you can find the details about K12 Online 2011, too.

Of course, like most of the other teachers I know who learn online, twitter and reading my RSS feed give me as much as I need or want. They are both free and I can fit my learning in whenever I have a few minutes. Here are my favorite opportunities:

  • in the car when my husband is driving (iPad connected to 3G)
  • as I eat breakfast, the morning “news”
  • after dinner–no more television for me
  • waiting for a doctor’s appointment (that handy iPhone)

I’d love to hear your favorite way to learn….

 

image credit: By shareski

 

Letting Go

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The phrase “letting go” bounces around in my head constantly and has for years. I first realized the importance of our ability to remain detached when I read William Glasser’s  Choice Theory back in the late ‘90s. For so many reasons and in so many ways, letting go simplifies our lives. But as much as I believe in the concept, it’s tough. Human nature is such that we believe we can mold people into who we want them to be. As teachers, we try criticizing, blaming, managing–none of this really works.
Glasser has ten axioms, but this single phrase says it all: The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
Nancy Buck, who writes a blog on the Glasser site, says:
Everything that we do from birth until death is an attempt to successfully and effectively meet our needs for safety, love, power, fun, and freedom. Although we are driven to meet these needs, we do not know how to meet them responsibly – the ability to meet our needs in ways that don’t interfere with other people’s ability to meet their needs.
Glasser believes our most important “need” is for love and acceptance. That if teachers could shift their thinking in this direction, those constant battles for control would end. I’m not sure I agree with his stance on grades (eliminating all grades but A and B). I know why he proposes this, but I believe that moving away from traditional grades completely serves us better.
Despite a few other concerns with this approach, the idea of letting go appeals to me. We can spend our lives trying to change people, but in reality, we can only change our own behavior. And by letting go, we actually empower our students to take charge of their own learning, take steps to manage their own lives.
Isn’t that what we want for all of them?

 

Watching the Old Guys

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I’m watching Crosby and Nash tonight on HDNet. And it takes me back…..seems like yesterday. It really does. 1970-heading off to college…..hopes and dreams….so many options.

And, yet.

Today I had a conversation with someone, saying I wondered what door would open for me next. Still learning, still wondering…

Open up and believe
That the moon will come shining on your dreams
Yes, the moon will come shining on your dreams

 

The C Word

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Cookie.

No, not really. Though I do want one. And warm bread. And muffins, the Morning Glory muffins from Hyperion.

No, I’m talking about change again. I think about change a lot. Why it is easier for some of us than others. Why some of us resist.

I’ve always thought I loved change. I moved every year of my early life, attending 13 schools in 12 years. I’ve had quite a few jobs, lived in many homes, and changed my name four times (long story).

Though Scientific American shared research that shows older folks resist change more than younger, I seem to thrive on it.

Yet, changing habits is difficult for me. I am trying desperately to shift my diet to non-gluten, non-dairy–and it’s hard. I struggle daily with choices before me, often rationalizing why I should just go ahead and eat that darn sandwich or pastry.

So when we ask teachers to shift their teaching practice, teach in ways that seem foreign or at times somewhat chaotic, I am not surprised when we get resistance.

Professor Robert Kegan says part of the problem is that we have “hidden commitments.”

They are brilliant behaviors, just exactly what you should be doing, in order to fulfill the hidden commitments — but these behaviors will also make it impossible to fulfill the visible goals. It is this combo of commitments that creates a single, powerful system — one foot on the gas pedal (the improvement goal) and one foot on the brakes (the hidden commitment). So the car doesn’t go anywhere.

Kegan says in a way it’s like an immune system that wants to protect us–but instead it’s failing us.

Our immune systems are founded on certain core beliefs which need to be examined. We call these our “big assumptions.” They are “big” because we are currently taking them as certain truths, not just assumptions, which may or may not be true.

His approach is to get people working together, reflecting upon the assumptions.

Our approach invites people to shift to an inquiring stance toward their big assumptions. They begin to run experiments of increasing size to see whether they should continue to hold their assumption exactly as they have, or whether it needs to come in for some modification. Even small modifications in the big assumptions can lead to very big changes along the lines of one’s original goal.

Sounds a lot like what we do in Powerful Learning Practice. I wonder how I can apply this to my diet?

 

Image credit: By bigbluemeanie