February 2010 Blog Posts (23)

Death of Education, Birth of Learning as We Need It

On ISED-L, Fred Bartels recently pointed out Pat Bassett's provocative quote to the effect that "The death of education as we know it may lead to learning as we need it." One of the listmembers demurred, wondering if the death of education would bring about the death of leadership and if so, whether we could wait. This is my response, slightly edited.

I remember an old Big Dogs t-shirt - "When you're not… Continue

Added by Bill Ivey on February 28, 2010 at 9:18pm — 6 Comments

Thanks NAIS!

Thanks, NAIS, for a great conference! Really enjoyed it this year! In addition to the inspiring keynotes and insightful workshops, I also appreciated the little things... the coffee and water was really good and plentiful. The lunch buffet was done in a way that didn't result in long lines, and the food was great! The coat check was easy to use too.… Continue

Added by Demetri Orlando on February 27, 2010 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

Read Jason's Live Blog from Tony Wagner's "Change Leadership" at NAIS

Tony Wagner's session at the NAIS conference was full of food for thought. He has a video online here. During this session (and several others) Jason Ramsden "live-blogged." If you've never heard of this, it is a text stream that happens during the session that is accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Viewers can submit comments, and the host (Jason) can… Continue

Added by Demetri Orlando on February 27, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

Tapping Into the NAIS Hive: Collective Cognition

Twitter has served as a great way to connect on a "back channel" during the NAIS conference. Basically, anyone who tweets and includes the "hash tag" of "naisac10" automatically includes their tweet in a stream which is visible to anyone (whether they are at the conference or anywhere else.) This allows a random group of people to share their thoughts with each other. It's sort of an improvisational real-time network. The value [to me]… Continue

Added by Demetri Orlando on February 26, 2010 at 9:00pm — 2 Comments

Superheroes Among Us

This year's NAIS Diversity Award recipient is Reveta Bowers, Head of the Center for Early Education for 38 years. many of us know Reveta because she has also headed the faculty of the Institute for New heads for many years. Without a doubt, Reveta represents the best of the best, that to which all of us should aspire. Few "real" people are actually legends in their own time. Reveta, who would strongly reject the title, is. As Pat Bassett said while introducing her today, very few folks in the… Continue

Added by Ruth Huyler Glass on February 26, 2010 at 8:48pm — 1 Comment

Random NAIS Moments

I love the serendipity of the people you bump into at a big conference like NAIS. I've had great conversations because of random choices for where I happened to sit down or wander.

When I sat down Thursday morning to use some of the free wifi in the lobby, it turned out that the stranger across the table was the dean of faculty at Putney, a school where my grandparents met. It was fun to hear about how much snow they are getting. Later in the day I found a…

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Added by Demetri Orlando on February 26, 2010 at 2:00pm — 3 Comments

A Little Help From My Friends

Last night 45 or so members of the Elementary School Heads Association (www.elementaryschoolheads.org) met for dinner and camaraderie at Town School here in San Francisco, a boys school headed by Brewster Ely. Throughout the city last night

there were similar gatherings of educational leaders, both official and un.

They are part of the draw of the annual conference.…

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Added by Ruth Huyler Glass on February 26, 2010 at 12:11pm — 2 Comments

NAIS Buffet

Looking at the NAIS conference program is a bit like confronting an all-you-can-eat buffet of expensive and expansive proportions: beautiful and appetizing, but a clear reminder that there is only one me, and I can't possibly even taste everything. Do I fill up on the main entrees or nibble my way through side courses? Today I chose a sampling of both and come away pleasantly full, happy to share some tidbits, which I will restrict to the main courses for space… Continue

Added by Ruth Huyler Glass on February 25, 2010 at 7:39pm — No Comments

Kids, perform! NAIS Conference Kick-Off

This morning's keynote session began with a musical performance by students from Marin Country Day School. This was the highlight for me. Normally I don't like the half-hearted attempts at having kids on stage at an event like this, but this performance was from the heart. Sitting in the front row may have helped, because I saw how into it they were. A few of them took vocal solos that were awesome...…

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Added by Demetri Orlando on February 25, 2010 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Writing for an Audience Not in Stone

For many years I've been touting how technology can make students' writing process more authentic because putting writing onto a website provides an audience beyond the teacher. Before computers (i.e. my high school experience) students would write a paper, the teacher would read and grade it, then return it to the student, who would shortly deposit it in the trash can (this was also before recycling.) With the web, writing can be published and revised online. It can be published in…

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Added by Demetri Orlando on February 24, 2010 at 9:00pm — 1 Comment

Getting There

It starts long before reaching NAIS, this process of being a part of the annual conference. First, there's the online registration for conference and accommodations, both of which are easy enough and somewhat in the distance. Next come the round of emails with colleagues from around the country: Are you attending? Can we get together? Sure, let's meet up in the lobby.... Forgetting how big the lobby has become and how many colleagues, known and unknown, are in the process of… Continue

Added by Ruth Huyler Glass on February 24, 2010 at 5:09pm — No Comments

Online School for Girls Newsletter: February 2010

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Added by Brad on February 23, 2010 at 11:49pm — No Comments

Deep thoughts on a long plane ride towards NAIS...

Hello all NAIS conference participants! Did you hear that the first comic book about superman sold this week for a million bucks... and the original price was 10 cents? Maybe we should all save our conference programs!

Seriously though, and along the lines of the conference theme, who are…

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Added by Demetri Orlando on February 23, 2010 at 3:30pm — 4 Comments

TED Talk in Bangkok

I gave an 18 min talk at TEDxBKK (TED Bangkok) on 13th Feb 2010 ... was a fun and interesting experience.

The talk was about learning in Second Life ... and part of it was a mixed reality session with me (Chris Smith) in R.L. interacting with Shamblesguru in S.L.

The video of the mixed reality session can be found at http://vimeo.com/9430042

The full TED Talk will be posted at the YouTube channel… Continue

Added by Chris Smith (Shamblesguru) on February 18, 2010 at 3:36am — No Comments

Steve Hargadon interviews Dan Pink at 8 pm EST

Live and interactive with @danielpink in Elluminate at… Continue

Added by Laurie Bartels on February 17, 2010 at 7:51pm — No Comments

Anticipating San Francisco

My junior and senior years in high school were spent in a girls' boarding school about an hour north of San Francisco. On weekends, we were allowed to take the transit bus into the city, a fact that amused me then and even more so now. We were not allowed to go to Sausolito because, in the words of an administrator, "Sausolito is, well, you know, Sausolito." This was 1964-1966. To the students' great delight, columnist Herb Caen got hold of that restriction, published it in his newspaper column… Continue

Added by Ruth Huyler Glass on February 16, 2010 at 1:07pm — No Comments

Planning Friday at NAIS

Following up on an earlier post in which I planned my Thursday for the upcoming NAIS annual conference, here is what I'm thinking about for Friday:

For the 8-9am workshop block, I'm interested in all five of the offerings in "The Classroom Experience" track. Peter…

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Added by Demetri Orlando on February 13, 2010 at 1:30pm — 3 Comments

I Need an Analyst before I Analyze Student Work

Before I am able to analyze student work, I need to look within.

Perhaps an analyst would help.

Essentially, I need to understand all the layers of me that go into assessment; if I assess for creativity, or critical thinking, in addition to content; if I design an assessment that is meant to see who enjoys connecting the dots.

Added by Ellen on February 12, 2010 at 1:24pm — No Comments

PDP & The Survey

I will have 2 surveys this year. One about my teaching & student learning that I will give in a couple of weeks, and the second will be about my goal, which is giving proper instructions for Project Citizen and making sure students understand the point of PC. I really liked my survey from last year and felt it helped me grow as an educator, therefore I don't want to give it up. I just think it would be particularly helpful to give the survey I designed last year during the middle of the… Continue

Added by CherylAnne Amendola on February 12, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

Implementation and Observation

Last year, I surveyed my students about my teaching. The results were somewhat disturbing, as students indicated that they did not feel as though I was teaching them learning strategies, especially ones they could apply to other classes. On the other hand, I felt as though I was practically beating them over the head with skills and the contexts in which they could use them. My department chair made a joke that she often felt that same frustration and wanted to have a special "learning… Continue

Added by Laura Demaria on February 12, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments