Regular readers know that this is not a travel blog. But my wife and I are traveling and I thought I'd share a few observations and thank you's to some of our hosts.
While in Munich, we took a long walk along a creek through the Englischer Garten. At the south end of the downtown park we came upon the creek inlet (the Eisbach, a small canal) and were surprised to find surfers. Here's my brief tribute made using Viddy and my iPhone.
Hallstatt Austria, is a picture perfect UNESCO world-heritage village perched between a mountain and a beautiful lake. We only spent one overnight there, but it was enough time to see why the city is such a big hit in China. We found out from a local shopkeeper that Chinese investors are building a replica in China. Here's my Photosynth of the [actual] Hallstatt town square from our hotel room.
Trieste Italy is a city usually overlooked for Venice, it's more glamorous neighbor. As one Italian shopkeeper in Verona quipped - "Is it in Italy?" We found Trieste to be a colorful mashup of Italian -Slovenian - Austrian food, architecture and culture. We stayed at a terrific hotel - Albero Nascosto. It'sl is a loving restoration in the old city, steps away from all the major attractions. Breakfasts feature local delicacies but the real assets are the owners and staff. A special shout out to Julio. He gave me lift from the parking garage on the back of his scooter and a quick tour of his neighborhood.
Verona Italy has great art, food, architecture, and shopping in a walkable and historic central city. We spent a few days exploring all of the above based in Tenuta Delo Relais - a agriturismo only a short 15 minutes drive out of the historic city center. Delo is an idyllic restored farm house set high on a hill and surrounded by a working vineyard. A big thanks to our gracious hosts - Ettore and Antonia.
While visiting Verona's Duomo, I suddenly heard beautiful choral music. A recording? Then I noticed a woman conducting a group of students. I never found out who they were - all I was told was they were "Russian school girls." (I think you could safely add "choral" to that description.) Right after this song they got up and quietly left.
One more must-see in Verona is the Castelvechio Museum - as if this view (below) from the castle keep isn't enough - the entire complex houses a first class art collection in a restoration that imaginatively blends historic and modern design elements.
Classrooms were a wonderful technological invention. They enabled learning to scale so that education was not only the domain of society’s elites. Classrooms made it (economically) possible to educate all citizens. And it is a model that worked quite well.
(Un)fortunately things change. Technological advancement, coupled with rapid growth of information, global connectedness, and new opportunities for people to self-organized without a mediating organization, reveals the fatal flaw of classrooms: slow-developing knowledge can be captured and rendered as curriculum, then be taught, and then be assessed. Things breakdown when knowledge growth is explosive. Rapidly developing knowledge and context requires equally adaptive knowledge institutions. Today’s educational institutions serve a context that no longer exists and its (the institution’s) legacy is restricting innovation.
As I’ve previously posted, filtering information and maintaining focus may be one of the most critical new literacies. Emails are at the top of my “needs better filtering” list. And no, I’m not talking to spammers. Friends, family, clients – I’m talking to you. To begin with, why don’t you at least consider updating the subject lines of our emails after a reply or two.
OK enough venting. I thought you’d enjoy this infographic which offers guidance for email hygiene in the work place. This infographic offers guidance for email hygiene in the work place. Use it to decide if you should forward that link to Kitten Album Covers.
A great clip from this week’s Colbert Report profiles Dawn Quarles, a Florida high school teacher, who faces voter fraud fines for registering her students to vote. Quarles, a teacher at Pace High School in the Panhandle, could receive a $1,000 fine for violating Florida’s new law which places strict limits on the voter registration process.
The 2011 Horizon report identified six new technologies that will affect teaching and learning in the K-12 education community over the next five years. Head to the vendor area of an educational conference and you’ll see a “top-down” vision of innovation in schools – expensive stuff that delivers information – lots of flashy equipment like display systems, interactive whiteboards, etc. They might give the illusion of modern, but in fact they’re just a glitzy versions of the old standby – teaching as telling. In fact, the best innovation in instructional practice is coming from the “bottom up” – from teachers who find effective ways to harness the creative energy of their students. These teachers don’t simply deliver information to kids, they craft lessons where students can research, collaborate, and reflect on what they’re learning. They harness a flood of new platforms that enable students “see” information in new ways and support a more self-directed style of learning.
Test prep courses, admissions coaches, private tutors. … So what I saw around me were great kids who had been trained to be world-class hoop jumpers. …They were, as one of them put it herself, “excellent sheep.”
We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place.
A how to for growing an audience for your thinking and my response to the question “If you could use only one method to market yourself online, what would do?”
It begins with freely sharing quality content. I use the Creative Commons BY-NC 3.0 license. Use it, share it, remix it. Just tell people where you got it, and don’t try and sell it. Remember, as the price of commodity drops, consumption increases. I include tips for using URL shorteners, hashtags and blog comments to drive traffic back to your site.
The Portland City Club is continuing its educational series “Schools Making A Difference: Portraits of Excellence, Engagement and Equity” – films, panel discussions and participant dialogues
Though economic realities pose significant challenges for our education system, when schools and communities work together with a clear vision and heroic effort, they can achieve stunning results. Exemplary schools provide high expectations and opportunities for all students to succeed. They also provide real world learning experiences that prepare students for college, careers and citizenship in the 21st century. They do this through an engaging curriculum that recognizes the diverse talents and needs of their student populations. Join fellow citizens, educators, and students for any of four evenings of films, panels, and participant dialogues that offer portraits of such schools in our region and around the world.
This week Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy. Is there a lesson for educators about what happens when you lose touch with your customer?
At the core of Kodak’s eventual demise was the failure of the leadership to remain connected to their customers. They convinced themselves that the public would continue to want to buy film, load it into the camera, take a picture, drop the film off at the processor, and return later to pick up their photos. Easy to believe when you’re making money at every stage of that process.
Has our educational leadership lost touch with their customers – the students? Given the growing array of cheap digital tools available to our students, will they passively wait to be told what, how, when and with whom to learn? Is the information flow of the traditional classroom (lecture, note-taking, test) as outmoded as taking your film to the drugstore for processing?
I am proud of my life-long career in public education - especially the 25 years I spent as a teacher. For over 20 years, I have worked with school districts, state DOEs, leading educational organizations and companies to improve the quality of teaching and learning. I provide training and consulting services across the United States and internationally.More
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