Learn about readings by Neil Postman, Lois Hetland, Howard Gardner, Dennis Yuzenas, Abe Fischler, Dan Pink, Thomas Friedman, John Corlette, Will Sutherland, Tom vander Ark, Marshall Thurber and other innovative educators.
These posters are expected to inspire students to stop, think and get inspired. <<<
I'm going to use this poster to remind students to look at their journals and reflect on something that they wrote two months ago...
>>>>
I've started an after-school center for the community around Lawrence Academy in Florida City, Floirda. If you are in the area, you are invited to come to the school between 4 and 8 pm and get free services. Let's explore the Internet together, Monday through Thursday Call (954) 646 8246 if you want to be sure that the After School Skills Center has enough capacity. RESERVE YOUR PLACE (and check to make sure Steve does not have a course in Broward College tonight). Here is the link to the posters and the description of the After School Skills Center Get the posters here! Here is the link to the Four-Page Survey about Interests....
a student bank account (no
monthly charges) a digital portfolio (to show
your classwork on the Internet) a digital Library on Google
Drive a USB with highlights of your
portfolio, your libray and your résumé a collection of your favorite
songs on a CD a résumé or list of skills, a
business card a YouTube Channel (so you can
hit LIKE and leave comments) a Facebook account, a Twitter
account, a LinkedIn.com account a blog so you can identify
something cool and tell others about the cool things you have found a Tumbler account (if you want
to curate your favorite things in life) a journal to
capture your thoughts a notebook to capture
interesting designs a domain name (your own
“dot.com”) for $10 per year How to play dominos and backgammon and chess a Klout account (so you can
measure your clout) What else do you want to know
how to do? a list of five websites and five
videos that you recommend to cool people whom you meet. I don't like watching TV or
going to most movies. Why should I stop acting in MY movie to watch
someone else's movie?
I am the producer of my movie.
I invite you to participate as a supporting actor in my movie... I
have written the script but sometimes the Director takes over and
asks us to improve our acting and “take two.” Lights, cameras,
action! ===== Here is the list of videos and websites that I encourage students to visit. VIDEOS (these are search words
on Youtube) 1
- Dan Pink motivation 2
- Ken Robinson paradigm schools 3
- Sugata Mitra Hole in the Wall 4
- Dennis Littky TEDx New York 5
- For the Love of Learning, a tour of Highland Park school. 6
- 9 Minutes with Dennis Yuzenas 7
- 21st Century
Skills Culture at High Tech High 8
- Arthur Benjamin: Focus on Statistics 9
- Dancing words by Orlando 10-
Aleph Molinari digital divide
Here are the hot links. You can see these videos now, today, at this moment, but first go into your YouTube account and get ready to CLICK LIKE and leave comments.
1) Dan Pink Motivation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34AR57A1Eo.
WHY: In his book Drive, Dan Pink talks about
what many of us believe are the key motivators. We
assume that if we offer more money, we'll get more
from employees. His description of autonomy,
mastery and purpose helped me design better
classwork (and I hope you get some ideas about how
to motivate people you work with).
2) Ken Robinson paradigm schools. Sir
Ken's talks have turned into an internet sensation.
A search of “Schools destroy creativity” will give
you a video that has been seen by more than 12
million (February 2013).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U.
WHY: The “animate” of this “paradigm” talk
helps me follow the argument that nearly 10 million
people have seen. It's a sophisticated word (what do
you get for twenty cents? A pair of dimes) that means “model” or “view of the world.” I like this video
because many parents begin to ask for more services
for their children. They are more ready to leave
behind the “lecture” and embrace the methods that
make learning personal to the student.
3) Sugata Mitra Hole in the Wall. John, my
computer guy, asked me, “Have you heard of TED
Talks? There's this guy from India who has a really
good presentation.” That's how I learned about
TED Talks. (Thanks, Evgeny.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFT02STGKW8 WHY: Dr. Mitra's step-by-step presentation
hooked me and I hope it will help you see where our
taxes should go, both overseas through foreign aid
and in Great quote by Arthur C. Clarke (the
science fiction author): “A teacher who can be
replaced by a computer should be.” I've listened to
four versions of his talk about the “Hole in the
Wall.” I selected this version because of its length.
I usually like to link someone to an official version of
the video, but I have to agree that this 5-minute
excerpt gets the message across. I hope the channel
owner (igaroy galroy) shares the revenue with a
charity. You can also see Sugata Mitra on TED
Talks with a variety of transcriptions.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html.
4) Dennis Littky TEDx New York. The “x” means that there is no official TED.com transcript
available, but the talk is lively. I hope the view
counter reaches more than four million.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbpqVPtUIFQ WHY: Littky started a school in Providence,
Rhode Island, that got the attention of Bill Gates.
Littky's book (2004) used the phrase “the New
Three Rs: Rigor, Relevance and Relationships.”
Gates used the phrase in a talk to the nation's
governors in February 2005. The Littky video gives
you an idea of the mental and emotional force
behind the ebook excerpt (see the ebook section)
and the two websites (www.bigpicture.org and
www.metcenter.org) that are listed in this book.
More: Hear the interview on National Public
Radio 25 April 2005. Search: “Dennis Littky
npr.org.” You'll see this reference in the search
result: School Features Real-World Learning, No 5) For the Love of Learning. This is a tour
of Highland Park school in Los Angeles and an
interview with Enrique Gonzalez. The camera
work and editing is by Erik Friedl, whose channel
Aiglon27 has several videos that are in the 500 videos book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34AR57A1Eo.
WHY: Enrique led the transformation of a
high school and then worked at a middle school (see
the Nightingale Initiative in the ebook section). In
the stories the he tells in the video, he puts a
California spin on what Dennis Littky writes about
in the 2004 book, The Big Picture: Education is
Everyone's Business.
6) 9 Minutes with Dennis Yuzenas. This
award-winning teacher let me come into his
classroom and interview his students.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnR_nCakIKk WHY: Dennis shows how projects don't need
to be complicated and how rubrics (checklists with
expectations spelled out) can turn almost any
teacher (preacher?) into a “guide on the side.” If
you work with me, you'll see some of Dennis in
much of what I do. Watching this video is a way of
knowing how I like to work.
7) 21st Century Skills High Tech High. I
read about this school in Tom Toch's book, High
Schools on a Human Scale.: How Small Schools Can
Transform American education.
http://www.amazon.com/High-Schools-Human-Scale-Transform/dp/080703245XHigh Tech High is
located in San Diego, Calif., with opportunities for
training for teachers on its website
www.hightechhigh.org and its channel
www.Youtube.com/hthvideo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yie4q8LscBs WHY: Here's a charter school that puts digital
portfolios and descriptions of projects on the
internet. This openness helps advocates of
interactive learning. I can say to one of my
Here are some tips for writing ideas in a journal
students, “That's what a good project looks like.
What is missing from your project?”
The description panel of the clip in the
YouTube channel reads “A school culture is key to
cultivating and supporting 21st Century Skills. At
High Tech High, 21st century skills are fundamental
to everything that happens.”
Here are transcripts from stages of the video:
“Employability skills are really college prep skills.”
(1:30)
“The whole village has a hands-on approach.”
“Teachers need to learn how to structure projects
and give clear expectations to the kids. (3:24)
“Build a common culture of learning and asking
questions.” (4:00)
“just like you would do in the real world.” (5:00)
8) Arthur Benjamin. Teach statistics
http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=BhMKmovNjvcA short video that draws
attention to the current culture in math circles that
elevates calculus above statistics. WHY: I wish I had shown this video to my
niece before she entered high school. She could
have anticipated the fun she would have in statistics
class. “Statistics is about stories. What are the
chances that something will or won't happen?” she
said “I wish I had known about this before I took
calculus.”
9) Dancing words by Orlando. This video
is based on the quotes selected for commentary by
Dr. Abraham S. Fischler. Search terms are "Dancing Words Transform Education." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLaDFBtqGY4 WHY: Sometimes reading a list of quotes is
not enough. The quotes appear in the ebook
(suggested in another chapter of this book). Some
people will “get” the quote only after seeing it flash
on a screen.
Go deeper: Look at the power of “dancing
words” in the work of Box of Crayons and the
“Entrepreneur” video created for Grasshopper.
That's where I got the idea to make the words
dance. Here are some links:
Entrepreneurs can change the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MhAwQ64c0 Words for 2011 inspiration is a way to find this
video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGr76EUyQbY 10) Aleph Molinari digital divide. This
presentation took place at a TEDx event in San
Miguel Allende, a town in Mexico. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaxCRnZ_CLgWHY: This video and the Sugata Mitra video
are not the best choices for some parents. Some
parents might not relate to the situations of areas
that lack wi-fi. “Why are you showing me a
segment about computers in Mexico?” I was
particularly enamored with One Laptop Per Child
(a campaign to help more families get online) ...
until I saw this video. What would happen if people looked at dozens
of these videos? Would they ask for a different type
of school? Would teachers (after viewing the
videos) start delivering different types of lessons?
Would principals design their schools differently? I don't know. I use these videos to connect with
students and parents. I'm at heart an introvert, so it
helps me to have a reason for talking to a parent
that I haven't met yet. “Hey, thank you for coming to my
class. Can I give you a DVD with some cool videos on it?”
Go deeper: “What about the Steve Jobs video?”
Steve Jobs gave a talk at the 2005 Graduation
ceremony. Some readers might prefer to spend time
with him. Nearly two million views (as of January 2013) on this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd_ptbiPoXM What about videos by Richard Branson?
Advice for Entrepreneurs is located at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH35Iz9veM0 Maria Andersen's descriptions of the future of
learning? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWdSz2nHQNYShe has a clever suggestion
for a “learn this” button on our web search
program.
WEBSITES (1)
www.p21.orgThis site
gives you links to the skills that your child will need to
participate in the global economy in the future. You can see another
version of this presentation by searching “Tony Wagner survival
skills.” (2)
http://www.tonywagner.com/7- survival-skills“Tony
Wagner seven survival skills” Print this list. Post it. Give it to
each of your child's teachers. Sit in a classroom and count the
activities that support these seven skills. Or send your kid to the
www.QBEAcademy.netwebsite. (3)
www.theLearningWeb.netKeep
returning to see the updates. (4)
www.Gutenberg.orgOne
of the first places on the Internet to offer free ebooks. (5)
www.bigpicture.orgis
the organization that Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor founded. You
can find an example of the dynamic Big Picture schools with
interactive programs at www.MetCenter.org.
(6)
http://scil.com.au/SCIL:
The slogan is “Lead the Change.” I recommend that you study the
videos on this site. A remarkable center or research connected with a
school near Sydney, Australia. (7)
http://www.scribd.com/Scribd
is a source of more ebooks. (8)
http://bibpenpals.wordpress.com/2011/11/Here's
a program that is open to people who want to help others with
language practice (conversation and accent reduction) BIBPenpals. (9)
www.johncorlette.comThe
meditations of the man who wrote the ebook called “Our Lives Are
What we Make of Them.” (10)
www.Qbeacademy.netfor
applications of theories of teaching, especially the educational
philosophy of John Corlette. (11)
http://www.hightechhigh.org/schools/HTH/I
recommend the link for “digital portfolios” or “DPs” on
www.HighTechHigh.org. More
examples of schools – if you are going deeper, visit some schools
via the Internet, such as www.urbanacademy.org,
one of the schools profiled in Tom Toch's book. GOING
DEEPER (12)
www.Keepvid.comso
that you can download useful videos. (13)
Go to www.vimeo.comand click
on the download button.
Yes, you can download videos for your child
to watch instead of watching TV. You can feed that brain. (14)
Www.CreateSpace.comand
www.LULU.comare useful
for kids to know about. You can create a family album and post lots
of photos in a book. Set an example to your children by maintaining
highlights of your family's odyssey and then share that journey with
a printed book showing what happened that year or over several years.
When you go on a trip, make a scrapbook with the photos and notes
that you pull from a journal (that you write with your family each
night – set an example). Use www.createspace.comto make a
collection of photos, the way my wife did in Vaison- la-Romaine.
Search “jk mccrea eyes on provence” and you can see the book on
Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/ Provence-featuring -Vaison-Romaine- ebook/ dp/B008ZIELE0
An open letter to principals and directors of schools
Tony Wagner of Harvard university spoke to Oxbridge Academy in the summer of 2011. He spoke about the need to produce opportunities for students in high school to develop seven "survival skills." Here is the list. Here is the link to Wagner's list
Here are two blog posts about a school in Rhode Island that is putting the INITIATIVE POST 1 a visit to the Met Center in Rhode Island POST 2 a visit to the Entrepreneurship Center
The opportunity What school will offer the Met Center a second location for their system? What school will be the first to contact Jodie Woodruff at the Met's Entrepreneurship Center and discuss collaboration? (yes, that's one of the seven skills). The Met Center has developed a model that can be duplicated. Is your school ready to embrace and build on the Met Center's model?
I use converters like video2mp3.net to download mp3 files (converted from Youtube videos) and then those mp3 files are shared with students
To avoid having the lyrics found in a search (the copyright holders tend to want to decide where the words are displayed), I've made screen shots of the lyrics that I have in my classroom. The choices appear at the end of this post. I find that I am a better teacher, more involved, more inspired, more likely to arrive at work whistling when I can see the words on the wall. You're the twinkle in my eye Take me across the sky
and Silver moons and paper dreams Faded maps and flying things You're my favorite one-man show a million different ways to go... will you fly me away, Take me away with you... Annie Little has created some cute "ditties" that have me dancing across the room.
Aug 9, 2010 - With hundreds and thousands of great songs out there, it is challenging to narrow it down the list. In the end, I selected the top 25inspiring...
Mar 22, 2013 - 20 Excellent Websites That Make Your Children Smarter...Here is a list of 30 inspiring songs that will help you to stay the course and go for it....We've all had bad days where everything feels like its on top of you, but think ...
Mar 18, 2013 - We all are consumers of music. Many of us are producers of music. Some of us have a natural ability with an instrument. Some of us have ...
Look no further, this article reveals the top 20 inspirational songs of all time - as...arrangements give inspirational songs the power to motivate, to inspire, and to ...
Lyrics to "What A Wonderful World" song by LOUIS ARMSTRONG: I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom, for me and you. And I think to myself, ...
Good old song of Louis Armstrong - What a wonderful world. Subscribe.
I also like this verse from The Lion King They live in you They live in me They're watching over Everything we see In every planet In every star In your reflection They live in us...
Let's call on our ancestors to express their hopes and dreams through us.
Let's call on them to bring us the power and focus to deliver and discover our purposes ... and let's put those purposes to work.
I am a taxpayer and I believe that teachers, students, principals and parents need descriptions of a new way of teaching. I wake up every morning with Dr. Fischler's question in my head: "How do you become a visible change agent in this environment?" and "Time is a variable" and "The Student is the Class." The words of Daniel H. Pink, Will Sutherland, John Corlette, Eliot Levine, Elliot Washor, Charles Mojkowski and Dennis Littky inform my daily work.
