Back to Maine . . . Thinking More Globally

After a whirlwind five days at the NECC09 Conference in Washington, D. C., we'll be boarding the ACTEM bus this evening for the return trip to Maine. This morning I'm sitting in Ballroom B to listen to the Alan November presentation on Global Learning.

Points from November presentation:

• Teaching ethics is important.
• What information and relationships do we need?
• What skills can we teach today that will outlast the technology?
• Globalize the curriculum. Think globally, act locally.
• Dissonance captures students' imagination.
• Zoom in so can't see it all . . . want to see rest.
• Need to give different type of assignment if want to avoid copy/paste game. Design assignments where cannot plagarize.
• Pedagogy trumps technology. Pedagogy should be taught along side with` the technical skills of a new tool.
• Assignments should compare and contrast global views . . . re-contexualizing content.
• Awareness of points of view and critical thinking is very important.
• Who owns the learning? Students should own the learning.
* Every classroom can be globally involved . . . .tools such as Skype. (Skype in parents).
• EPGY Stanford
• Engaging family is important.
• Every school should have a social network for sharing.
• Technology planning is not important. Ownership is. Who should own the learning? Who does own the learning?
• Classroom question walking out the door: "What just happened?"
• What do you do when you don't get it?
• host: nasa.gov to find number of pages of a domain
• Shifting Control to the Learner:

- Screencasting 12 Screencasting Tools, 5 Free Screencasting Tools
- Curriculum Review Bob Sprankle and Room 208
- How to find your own answers: Narrowing the Search: Create a Custom Search Engine
- Collaborative Tools Google Docs Collaboration with Google Docs
- Notetaking with recording devices (phones, laptops, etc.)
- Larger World, Social Responsibility Kiva Kivapedia
- Wikipedia, Creating classroom content wikis
- Teach children to work with other children. Lois Lowry, Number the Stars, see what other kids do on same topic around the world.

How is your school system helping students prepare for the future employment?

by Olga LaPlante

This is a very interesting set of data from Department of Labor statistics, which might have an especially significant effect on Maine employment, given the leading industries in the state. This might also be timely given the debate over going 1-to-1, it being either a wise investment or a big squander. Please read the post and share your views.
http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/04/immunizingyourgraduates.html

Daniel Pink Interviews Thomas Friedman

Essential Question: What is the function of parents and schools in the 21st Century?

Excellent article in February 2008 issue of the School Administrator combining the ideas of Daniel Pink and Thomas Friedman.

"Pink: Does this call into question the concept of the “school” as we typically think of it? In a world where information was scarce, schools operated as kind of a repository of that precious resource. But now information is abundant. A school doesn’t have to harvest and distribute this scarce resource. It has to serve some other kind of function.

Friedman: Right. When information is really abundant, when we can literally pluck it out of the air, you need people to sift it, sort it and connect it.

Pink: Sifters, sorters, connectors, “yes but-ers.” That’s a nice way to describe a teacher’s role today. Now let me ask you a question that’s tinged a little bit with politics. Neither one of us are educators. But we’ve both had the good fortune to talk to lots of teachers, principals and superintendents over the last year. I suspect that being a sifter, a sorter and a yes but-er in a world of No Child Left Behind is pretty difficult." More . . .

Related:

Steve Jobs Speech
Parenting