ActivThoughts

VisualizationTechnology and Me

2010-11-16T12:36:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog site, so apologies to the two or three of you that have actually read anything I've posted here (*sigh*) but I've recently committed to keeping this blog site more up-to-date. In future passages I hope to write more about some of the following:

1. Marzano Research Lab's ongoing independent study of the effect of Promethean's ActivClassroom on student achievement;

2. A recent EdWeek article in which highly esteemed educational research scholar Dr. Gene V. Glass offers an unsolicited (by Promethean) endorsement of the study, saying that "Under the circumstances of trying to run experiments in realistic conditions 'in the field,' it was very well done;

3. Analogies to better represent the findings of this research through analogies, impact models and reasonable extrapolations (like Dr. Glass's interpretation in the above article, "One way of phrasing their findings is that a class employing the technology would gain 12 months' achievement in a 9-month school year."

4. Brain research and recently published work by Dr. John Medina (check out his amazing book and website: Brain Rules); and,

5. General ruminations on the transformation of education from a behaviorist pedagogical model to a more constructivist model.

But first, I'd like to apply Richard Mayer's "Multiple Representation Principle" to a very personal context: an internal exploration of a knee injury I sustained in an "Old Dudes" Lacrosse Tournament, which is the subject of my latest blog entry (granted this over a year ago!).

Dr. Mayer's principle is this: "It is better to present an explanation in words and pictures than solely in words." Simple, yet profound. The implications of this principle in the context of teaching and learning could be of great help in unlocking the mysteries of improving student engagement and academic achievement.

But for me, I am applying this principle to better understand the extent to which I messed up my right knee in that 7-game lacrosse-a-palooza in Florida a few years ago. I'm going to need the "words" of my orthopedic surgeon to make sense of above "picture" that was taken yesterday by a very kind MRI technician at Evergreen MRI.

I have very general idea of what I'm looking at, but I suppose this is an image of a pain-inducing injury? I think I see bone, maybe marrow? It looks more like some type of sliced lunch meat.

Clearly Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology has transformed how physicians analyze the nature and extent of their patients' injuries. It is reasonable to infer that with this new technology-enhanced visual information, physicians are able to make more informed decisions and share their analysis in such a way that makes more sense to their patients.

MRI technology has been available since the 1980s, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to apply this same multiple representation concept to today's classrooms which, thanks to interactive multimedia technologies, is now possible. Though we are just scratching the surface at the moment, I think the "value add" that these technologies bring to teachers and students is immediately obvious and backed by a growing body of research.

I have an appointment with my physician tomorrow to hear the words that go along with this picture.

Final Lacrosse Championship

2009-06-10T08:23:00.001-07:00

Let me just say once and for all, "Ow!"

For thirty years I've been saying that every time I get hit with a wayward shot, a slah to my arms, knees or head, or I check some streaking midfielder or goal-hungry attackman. Thirty years is a long time to play lacrosse; my wife thinks it's too long and she's finally convinced me to hang it up and start hanging around on weekends.

This past weekend I had the bittersweet pleasure of playing in my final championship game with the men of Coopers Lacrosse Team, http://www.cooperslax.com/ beating our arch-rivals Huron Lacrosse team 10-9 in an nail bitter to win the "Everett Smith Cup" one more time.

I've played with Coopers Lacrosse Team for the last twenty seasons. No kidding: twenty seasons! Over those 20 seasons with Coopers I've sustained inestimable ankle blow-outs, knee surgeries, fractured ribs, broken collarbones, broken wrists, and assorted deep purple bruising. I've consumed mountains of Motrin, been encased in ice and have had so many holes repaired in my meniscuses (menisci?) that my surgeon and I have become buddies (of course, he's a lacrosse player as well).

For two decades the same core group of guys has played together through the Northwest Rain, on frozen fields, in hail and on occasional sunny days. We really know each other, and more importantly, we really like each other. We've won the championship finals 11 out of the 14 years we've had a championship finals. No team has ever beaten us more than once in the finals.

That's something we can all say with pride. As our ageless captain Tim "Mac" McGarity says, "Coopers is more than a team; we're a bunch of pirates that come together to realize a collective goal on the field of battle."

That is a great analogy, Mac.

Now pass the Motrin.

Action Research: Towards a New Paradigm for Education Technology Research

2009-05-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

What impact does technology have on improving teaching and learning?

As any teacher who effectively wields technology will tell you, the answer is achingly obvious: teachers enjoy teaching in a technology-rich environment and are therefore more effective at meeting students’ learning needs; students enjoy learning in a technology rich environment and so they naturally learn more. The research literature is replete with qualitative data, anecdotal evidence, and “feel good” stories about our national investment in learning technologies.

However, for the past twenty years or more, this essential research question has yielded insufficient (or disappointing) quantitative evidence. We now know much about instructional strategies, assessment practices and curriculum design that work, but we still don’t have much data in the way of educational technology that works – until now.

Is the problem that technology has no effect on student learning, as a US Department of Education study recently found, or have we been erroneously framing education research through the lens of medical empiricism?

Perhaps this question is best explained through an analogy: Before a genetically engineered drug for diabetes makes it to the pharmaceutical market, independent, randomly assigned, “double blind” research trials would first be required.

The term “randomly assigned” refers to the process of selecting diabetic patients into the experimental group who would receive the actual drug, or the control group who would receive a “placebo.” The term “double blind” refers to the process whereby the patients selected for the trials, and their doctors, would not know if they were receiving or giving the experimental drug or the placebo. This, generally speaking, is a standard empirical process in medical trials for eliminating as many variables as possible and determining the effect of a single experimental variable – the drug itself

There are many problems associated with overlaying this standard of research into extant sociological contexts – like K12 classrooms.

It is absurd to consider that a teacher would be “blind” to the intervention he or she might, or might not, implement with experimental or control groups of students. It also stands to reason that students in the experimental or control groups could not possibly be “blind” to the technology intervention that they would be using or receiving

While it is not impossible, it is also very difficult for teachers to be randomly assigned in experimental trials. Rather, voluntary teacher participation in Action Research Studies is becoming the norm, if not the “gold standard” for education research

As a company developed by educators for educators, Promethean determined it was our obligation to meet this conundrum head-on.

Promethean commissioned internationally esteemed education researcher and author, Dr. Robert Marzano to conduct independent, third party research on the effect of Promethean’s ActivClassroom Suite of technologies on student learning. Over the past academic year, Dr. Robert Marzano conducted a much-anticipated meta-analysis of numerous action research studies on the direct effect of Promethean’s transformational technologies on academic achievement. His recently published study, “Evaluation Study of Promethean’s ActivClassroom on Student Achievement” represents a breakthrough for educational technology research in general, and Promethean’s ActivClassroom in particular.

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Marzano at the Marzano Research Laboratory www.marzanoresearch.com in Denver where we discussed the nature of education technology research, the findings from his study of Promethean’s ActivClassroom, and the future direction of this multi-year research and development partnership

The video podcast of this interview has been published in Promethean’s Innovation in Education Thought Leadership Webcast Series. To view the video podcast, please go to www.prometheanworld.com. As always, I hope you find your Promethean experience enlightening.

A New Era

2009-01-31T07:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while. For that I apologize. However, given the calamitous nature of this past year's political skullduggery, I should be afforded a modicum of lenience.

I've been doing a lot of hoping lately. In fact, I've been diligently practicing what Herb Kohl (one of my top three education heroes) describes as The Discipline of Hope. For hope is indeed a discipline - not in the conformist, rather negative sense of punishing bad behavior and rewarding good behavior, but rather in the sense that discipline yields liberation. The discipline of hope directs one's perspicacity towards the attainment of some desirable happenstance. For me, that happenstance has been freeing our nation's youth from the punitive, oppressive - and decided political - talons of NCLB.

A few years ago I was attending the Building Learning Communities conference on a sweltering July afternoon in Boston. Founded by my friend Alan November (another of my top three education heroes), BLC brings together some of the most progressive minds in education from across the globe to revel at the edge of educational possibilities. On this particular day, the keynote address was given by Professor Andy Hargreaves the "Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College." (Andy must have very long business card.)

Andy said that from his perspective (ostensibly from the Thomas More Brennan Chair) "America is the last English-speaking country to attempt to colonize the sinking sands of standardization." Every other nation which had previously wielded standardization as a political bludgeon had failed to achieve any lasting improvements in student learning. In a free society, he said, standardization was utterly unsustainable as a social, educational, or political tool. "A new era is coming," he said, "The era of post-standardization. And we had better get ready."

Last November 4th, on an usually balmy night, I witnessed the most sweeping political change in my lifetime standing among the ecstatic swells of other hopefuls in Chicago's Grant Park. Could the election of "Team Obama" be the harbinger of this new era? "We'll see," said the Zen Master.

We'll see indeed.

Bear of a Year

2008-06-22T13:45:00.001-07:00

It's been one heck of a year. I've beared witness to many things - including this beautiful grizzly bear at Denali National Park in the early fall. She was, quite literally, crossing the road. Why? To get to the berries on the other side!

It was a most impressive visit. The bear paid very little attention to us in a reconstituted school bus lurching through the park. The

wildlife has become de-sensitized to the buses as they are neither a threat, nor a food source. While those inside the bus may constitute a food source, as long as we were on the bus all was well. Once we stepped out of the bus we made a lot of noise.

First Day of School

2007-09-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

The first day of school has always had a special kind of hold on me. I can feel it in the first atumnal breeze that the deciduous trees shrug off like an unpleasant premonition, or perhaps a memory. Like the trees, I know the change is coming, but don't want to believe it until late-August when I sense the familiar yearning for falling leaves, new school books, rich discussions, warmer clothes and close-toed shoes.

The feeling was particularly strong this year as I found myself wandering around the Alaskan Interior in the middle of August. Although daylight lasted longer, the weather was colder and the shadows were longer, which hastened my longing for a new year of learning.

A short while ago, some dear friends asked if I would play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during the processional of their wedding. And so I spent a good part of my vacation in Alaska learning that song, as I did on the doorstep of this tiny cabin at Hatcher Pass north of Anchorage. It seemed an apt place to play, but "The Sound of Music," kept creeping it's way into the tune.

Still, I enjoyed the feeling of staying barefoot before school started, if at least for a little while longer.

The Fishin' Academicians

2007-08-16T13:33:00.001-07:00

Fairbanks is sinking.

As with many places in Northern Alaska, the city of Fairbanks is built upon a massive bed of permafrost: a subterranean layer of permanently frozen earth. The permafrost is melting. As the earth gets warmer, the layer of permafrost under the foundations of many buildings in Fairbanks is thawing causing buildings to list unevenly. Several large sinkholes have opened around the city and so far little has been done to offset this trend.

I learned these facts while fishing for Silver salmon on the Little Susitna River near Wasilla, Alaska. I traveled to Alaska to work with the Instructional Technology Department in the Matanuska-Susitna, or Mat-Su Borough School District in Palmer, Alaska. They invited me for a return trip to the lovely Wasilla Valley to assist in their back-to-school technology integration program.

Mat-Su’s Instructional Technology Specialist Brett Hill introduced me to his friend Greg Gioaque, a Mat-Su teacher who offered to guide my first salmon fishing trip in Alaska. I arrive at the dock later than the 6:30 am meeting time and apologize to the group sitting in the aluminum flat bottom river boat. The moss colored water contrasts slightly with the dull grey sky. Greg cheerfully explains that while salmon are most active during first light, the cloud cover will prolong their activity into the late morning.

Along with us is Greg’s former English teacher Dave and his wife Judith, also a former teacher. Both are now retired and fish with Greg often. We strike up easy conversation about our mutual love of teaching, the unique challenges today’s educators, and, of course, fishing stories – though theirs are more numerous than mine.

We make our way up the shallow Little Su with Greg’s steady hand on the till. Greg has been fishing the river since the age of five and he describes each section as aging friend whose best days are now the stuff of memory.

Greg anchors the boat at a particular bend and we begin to drift cast using baited hooks. Greg expertly rigs each rod with a floater and neon pink salmon eggs on a two hook rig. He positions each of us so that our lines won’t cross. After several unsuccessful casts, he picks up the leaded anchor and takes us to a section he calls “The Promised Land.”

As we make our way upriver Greg shares that in years past the Little Su would be choked with salmon: forty pound Kings, silvers, pinks, chum and the elusive scarlet sockeye swimming towards their native spawning grounds by the tens of thousands.

It’s a sight I have trouble imagining and may never actually witness.

We finally case out the Promised Land. Greg points out numerous signs of what appear to be an abundance of fish. He says that spawning salmon aren’t eating and so we’re not baiting them with food as much as irritating them causing them to attack the lure by biting it.

We once again let our bait drift back with the current and almost immediately both Dave gets a fish on. I begin reeling my rig in so as not to interfere with Dave’s fish when my rod jerks downward and I feel the unmistakable pull of a big fish struggling.

Dave and I move to opposite sides of the boat to minimize the chance of crossing our lines and losing one or both fish. I keep my tip up and reel as quickly and smoothly as I can when I see my fish jump clear out of the water. It is an awesome sight. Greg reminds me to keep the pressure on because a fish that breaks the water could be a fish that breaks the line. I continue to reel in, maneuvering the fish close to the boat. He tries to swim underneath, but I somehow manage to steer him towards Greg’s outstretched net and just like that I’ve caught my first Alaskan Silver salmon.

After a valiant fight, Dave’s fish proves to be a huge chum salmon and so he is released and we continue fishing the Promised Land. Judith quickly pulls in two good sized silvers and I follow with my second silver caught on a spinner. Greg casts expertly into a hole and immediately reels in another. Not five minutes pass when he casts into the hole and we see another silver swim up and take the lure.

Dave has yet to catch his limit of two and we relax on the boat chairs while Dave plies the waters with expert casts.

Earlier we swung past a deep hole that Greg said once held four or five thousand fish. Now estimated it contained count of four or five hundred.

I ask him if the pressures on salmon in Puget Sound watersheds – development, commercial fishing, habitat loss, and over fishing – are also reducing the salmon runs in Alaska.

His answer surprised me. Greg opined that in addition to possible over-fishing, the run strength may be more compromised by uncharacteristic flooding during Fall spawning or Spring hatching cycles along with unseasonably warm waters delaying the run. He’s says he’s optimistic that the run is just late this year and that the salmon will come back.

So what, I asked, is causing the unseasonably warm waters?

That’s when Judith told me that due to global warming Fairbanks is sinking, Polar bears are drowning, and Native Alaskan Elders can no longer safely predict the weather as they watch their ancestral homes engulfed by a rising ocean.

“Global warming,” she said assuredly, adding, “And some people still think it’s a lie.”

I couldn’t help but think, “What hope is there for man if salmon are lost?”

Not long ago President George W. Bush said, “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.”

On this count, at least, I hope he is right.

Blog Crabbin'

2007-08-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Washington is my favorite state. The San Juan Islands are my favorite part of Washington. Lopez Island is my favorite of the San Juans.

It was in this favorite of favorite places where I learned several things, the most important of which was this: A Rock crab can pinch a man's finger off clean.

I learned this important lesson while on a small skiff with my friend Gary. I was staying with Gary and his lovely wife Leora at their beautiful house on Mackay Bay on Lopez. We were picking up crab pots - not pots so much as traps - and hoping to collect enough fresh Dungeness crabs for dinner. My job was to haul the crab pots onto the skiff while Gary sorted the crabs into two crab buckets: one for desirable Dungeness and one for the troublesome Rocks.

While the ruby colored Rock crab are edible, they are smaller than Dungeness, contain less meat, yet are infinitely more aggressive. Clearly suffering from some inferiority complex, they swarm crab pots like wolf packs, fighting off their larger cousins while eating all the bait.

Gary has begun the first Rock crab relocation program on Lopez. Hailing from New Jersey, I am intimately familiar with the witness relocation program and have had several childhood friends "disappear," presumably taking on new identities in another part of the country. Gary was transplanting the Rocks from his favorite crabbing spot on the North end of the Bay to the South end - rather like relocating Wiseguys from New Jersey to South Florida.

As I hauled up the first of several pots, I saw fiesty little Gumba crabs were swarming around the bait angrily and several of them fell through the trap landing in a scramble by my bare feet.

With a look that said, "You want a piece of me?" a particularly maladjusted Rock crab opened an impressive left claw and aimed a stiff pinch at my little toe. Luckily I juked to the right, grabbed one his back legs and tossed Rocky overboard. That was when Gary taught me the most important lesson of the trip: evidently, there are a number of crabbers on Lopez with missing appendages.

My digits intact and the Rock exodus complete, we discovered that we had caught just enough of the sweet Dungeness for a lovely dinner. We steamed the crabs in fresh sea water and served them with drawn butter, corn on the cob, pasta salad and summer's bountiful blueberries all grown on an organic farm on Lopez.

As Bruce Springsteen, the "Jersey Bard" said, "Summer's long, but I guess it ain't very sweet around here anymore."

I'm sure the Rocks would have agreed.

Issaquah Teacher Project 2.0

2007-08-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Nestled in the majestic Cascade Mountains in Central Washington is the Sleeping Lady Conference Center where I'm participating in the newly revamped Issaquah Teacher Project: ITP 2.0. ITP is without question one of the most innovative professional development initiatives in which I've ever had the pleasure to participate.

Chief among the objectives of ITP is building technology and curriculum integration capacity among the entire teaching staff in the Issaquah school district. Promethean's Activclassrooms are Issaquah's District Standard, and this year ITP 2.0 has been modified to integrate the Activclassroom into the content and context of this extraordinary program.

The Issaquah learning community is quite fortunate to have the leadership team of Colleen Dixon, Eric Ensey, Leslie Lederman, Rich Butler and Josh Moore. These outstanding educators were themselves involved in the Washington State Teacher Leadership Project (TLP) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation nearly ten years ago. This project was so successful that the team decided to replicate the initiative in-house - which, incidentally, was the original intent of TLP, though few districts in Washington took on this charge.

I've known Colleen, Eric and Leslie for a number of years as I was part of the team that developed and supported both the Gates Foundation-funded Teacher Leadership Project and the Smart Tools Academy for Washington Principals and Superintendents.

Rather than learning technology tools in a "just-in-case" mode, ITP teachers are learning about the theoretical underpinnings of constructivism in general and the work of the Russian Psychologist Lev Vygotksy and his conceptual Zone of Proximal Development in particular. It is within this new cognitive framework that teachers are honing their curriculum and instructional design skills by collaboratively building digital learning scaffolds to help organize, support and extend student thinking, creativity, conceptual understanding and knowledge construction.

When teachers build digital learning scaffolds they judge the potential benefits by using the following guiding questions:

*Is any NEW, DEEPER or CREATIVE LEARNING taking place?
*Is it developing a Core Thinking Skill?
*Would it be better suited for paper and pencil?
*What value did technology add to the lesson?"
Core Thinking Skills

The Core Thinking are skills are deemed essential to using information in the learning process and include:

*Improving communication
* Locating and harvesting information
*Organizing information into new formats
*Analyzing information
*Producing reports and new products
*Evaluating throughout the learning process

The overarching understanding for ITP is, "Throughout life, our students will understand and apply current and emerging technologies to extend their personal abilities and productivity. Based on this key assumption, how can digital immigrants best teach so that digital natives can best learn?" This imperative came from the Issaquah School Boards' Learning Ends for Students: http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/board/new_ends.asp.

This is an essential question that faces all of today's educators and will continue to challenge new and emerging generations of educators to come. The teachers enrolled in the ITP project are boldly facing this challenge head on. Now equipped with 21st Century learning environments, Issaquah teachers are more prepared than ever to meet the learning needs of the digital natives they'll see in September.

For more information about ITP, please contact Issaquah Director of Educational Technology Collen Dixon, or Instructional Technology Specialists Eric Ensey or Leslie Lederman.

Three Wild Kings Revisited

2007-08-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

King, or Chinook, Salmon numbers had been dwindling in Puget, due to a variety of reasons, for many years. So much in fact, that in 1994 the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife indefinitely closed a highly sensitive region, Area 9, to fishing for King Salmon.

Anglers lamented the closure but recognized that over time it would serve the greater good as over-fishing and habitat loss due to rampant development, logging and agricultural run off put too many pressures on the once abundant salmon.

Salmon hatcheries were charged with rearing and releasing millions of "hatchery-raised" Chinook Salmon to improve the depleted stocks. Fish reared in hatcheries have a small adipose fin clipped off in order to differentiate them from native or wild King Salmon.

In the thirteen years since the closure, department officials learned from professional fish counters - an actual job! - determined that the King Salmon were sufficient to open Region 9. While the region was open for both wild and hatchery-raised salmon, only the non-native hatchery fish (the ones without the tiny adipose fin) could be kept. The Wild Kings still had to be released. This is precisely where my friend Rick motored to on my first ever salmon fishing trip last week.

We made our way towards the southwest bank of an undersea horseshoe formation south of Whidbey Island. There we used down-riggers to lower our lines to about 120 feet and began a slow troll up and down the bank. We were using flashers on a forty inch leader culminating in a Red-Striped Coyote Flasher.

Within a short time the tip my rod danced. I reeled up cautiously then whipped the rod upwards in an attempt to set the hook. Sadly, I jerked the hook completely out of the fish's mouth and I reeled up a pathetically empty line.

Although Rick was a patient teacher, the next attempt went little better, as did the third, fourth, fifth and sixth. On the seventh try, however, I didn't lose the fish until it was reeled almost half way to the boat. This was somewhat discouraging since, after four hours on troll patrol, I hadn't yet actually seen a salmon. I'd felt seven of them, but we never made eye contact.

Fishermen tell a lot of stories. This explains a good part of the appeal of fishing for me because I like stories. Rick, as it turned out, also liked stories - particularly telling them. This actually worked out fine for me because I was fishing, not catching, and apparently had a lot of time on my hands.

Rick told some great fishing and hunting stories and kept me entertained for the better part of the next four hours.

We were evidently waiting until the tide changed - twelve hours from when we started fishing. I was hoping that Rick didn't run out of stories.

Luckily, sometime around the tenth hour my rod dipped in that telltale way I'd come to hope for during the better part of the day. I gingerly lifted my rod from the down-rigger, reeled in until I felt some pressure, and then jerked the rod up, but not too vigorously. As I reeled in, the fish gave surprising resistance as I pulled it in close to the boat. Sure enough, it was a beautiful King Salmon. With the fish still in the water next to the boat, Rick estimated its weight to be about 12 pounds. However, we saw the adipose fin clearly and so we released this first Wild King.

A short while later, I caught another fish, this time an estimated 14 pounder. Sadly, it too was a Wild King and so we released it back to the ocean. The "bite," however, was definitely on!

The next fish nearly ripped the rod out of my hands as it fought valiantly to swim away. I paid out more than I ever had trying to catch a fish. I felt as though I was hauling in a lead weight. By the time I had the fish up to the boat both of my wrists were aching as I steered the fish towards the port side. An enormous twenty five pound king stared up at me. Sure enough, it was another Wild King - and clearly the largest fish I had ever caught - and released.

Not more than ten minutes later I caught and landed another King, but this lacked an adipose fin and could be kept. While dropping my line in the water, I caught a small Silver of Coho Salmon and had two nice fish for nearly fourteen hours on the water (see image at right).

That Friday night I relived my childhood memories of a fish dinner, only this time I had caught the fish. I grilled both the King and Coho filets on an open flame and served them to good friends with a lemon caper white wine sauce, wild rice, fresh corn on the cob, and a delightful La Crema Pinot Noir - a new ritual in the making.

There is a Chinese proverb which states, "Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime."

My newest proverb goes something like this, "Give a man a salmon and you'll have a friend for a day. Teach a man to fish for salmon, and you'll have a friend for life."

Thanks for being such a good teacher, Rick.

Three Wild Kings

2007-08-03T08:51:00.001-07:00

Last week I was the lucky recipient of three fishy visitations.

As I was raised in a Roman Catholic household, I am familiar with the mythic relevance of fish. Due to certain commonly held theological musings, on Friday nights devout Roman Catholics refused to dine on anything that didn’t once swim...regularly. For me that meant that Friday evenings brought the sight of fish sticks, fried cod, dried cod, or baked cod, served with the obligatory side of Puerto Rican rice and beans.

For me, fish on Fridays meant more than just a healthy meal: it was the story behind the dinner that made it meaningful. My brother and sisters and I felt a certain piety as we picked small bones from our teeth. My older, holier-than-thou sister always had the biggest pile of bones.

When my friend Rick asked if I’d like to go salmon fishing with him a few days ago, I accepted his offer without hesitation. I’ve lived in Seattle for the past seventeen years and thought it high time that I try catching a salmon.

- Internal Vocalization Alert -

At this point, please internalize the voice of David Attenborough, noted BBC wildlife narrator, reading the following passage:

Seattle is built upon the foundations of a salmon-centric culture that dates back thousands of years. The Native Peoples of the Puget Sound basin have long revered the migratory salmon, the king of the fishes.

An anadromous fish, salmon are born and reared in the numerous rivers and lakes of Washington State in North America (which should have been ours). At some point at the dawn of their life cycle, an ancient switch is engaged and the fish move en masse from their fresh water environment to the open sea where they undergo a dramatic physiological transformation.

The salmon collect in Puget Sound, then speed through channels deep in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and out into the wild expanse of the Pacific Ocean. There they will live for three to five years, swimming tens of thousands of miles, eating, avoiding being eaten, and encountering untold stories of their own.

Near the final stage of their lives, another switch deep inside the brains of surviving adults is ultimately engaged and the salmon gather for an epic journey back to the very spot from where they themselves were hatched. It is here, in their ancestral river beds, that the surviving members of the hatch come to lay and fertilize eggs of their own. Succumbing to the rigors of their final journey home, the exhausted salmon take their final respite alongside the newly laid eggs they’ve carried for so far for so long. And thus the salmon saga begins anew.

- End Narration -

To be continued...

Blogosphere Connections

2007-07-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

During Alan November's Building Learning Communities Conference 2007 in Boston, I met a remarkable teacher named Seth Bowers who is helping catapult Deerfield Public Schools squarely into the 21st Century.

Learn how Seth is helping to integrate many of the must-have Web 2.0 technologies to empower students by browsing Seth's blog at http://blog109.org/communities/sbowers/default.aspx.

Accio Potter

2007-07-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm too absorbed in the trials of Harry Potter to contribute much to the blog at the moment...other than, what a great story! No wonder my students loved the series so.

I'm afraid I'm a Pottermaniac. I used to be a Beatlemaniac, but I've grown up somewhat.

Will Ron Weasley finally express his love to Hermione Granger? Will Ginny Weasley finally express her love to Harry Potter? Will Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall see eye-to-eye on anything?

Was Lord Voldemort never held as a child?

So many important questions for a lowly Muggle to consider. Accio Potter!

Building Learning Communities - Dr. Yong Zhao

2007-07-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

Dr. Yong Zhao on Rethinking the Purpose of Education in a Global Economy

Technology and Redefined Talents

Dr. Yong Zhao gave a most thought-provoking final keynote at this year's Building Learning Communities Conference. What is not surprising is that the theme of transforming learning environments to prepare students for a completely different kind of world resonated with each of the excellent keynote presentations.

Yong began with the findings from the recent Technology Integration Project (TIP) study results that were published in May. The findings declared:

"Test scores were not significantly higher in classrooms using the reading and mathematics software products than those in control classrooms. In each of the fou groups of product-reading in first grade and in fourth grade, mathematics in sixth grade, and high school algebra-the evaluation found no significant differences in student achievement between the classrooms that used the technology products and classrooms that did not."

The study indicated that software tools don't raise test scores, yet Yong suggests that readers are advised to 'scrutinize the findings carefully as even the Department of Education states that the study 'was not designed to assess the effectiveness of educational technology across its entire spectrum of uses." More on this can be found on the following websites: CoSN, ISTE and SETDA.

The study did recognize that proper implementation of educational software is essential for success.

Yong introduced the book, "The alphabet versus the Goddess;" the premise of the book is that technological advances change society in systemic, yet unpredictable ways e.g. the invention of the alphabet may have led to the diminished value of women in society. This technological advancement caused systemic societal changes which served to favor the left-brain directed capacity among men, thus leading to the devaluation of women in society.

The advancements of the industrial revolution are another example of how technological changes act as extraordinary societal disrupters.

What knowledge is of most worth? --Herbert Spencer posed that question in 1859. The answer was science and that changed the curricula of schools to focus on science and mathematics - both Left Brain-directed (L-directed) aptitudes.

Digital Citizenship

Almost 150 years later, nations are now going to war with Cyberattacks. People are engaged in Cyberwars in China and Taiwan.

People around the world are now engaged in virtual marriage in Second Life. We are now socializing virtually, and negotiating virtually: recently a Second Life user became the first actual millionaire by creating value in a virtual world.

Just think about that for a moment.

The advent of mass virtual collaboration has also led to other less desirable revenue sources such as Gold-farming" and "Digital Produce." We now have digital farmers market where one can raise one's social status - virtually.

There are literally millions of people joining these virtual games and this has led to the growth of actual economies. In China, gamers are playing for a living: there are 100,000 people working in digital sweatshops harvesting points and information about the games, then selling their IP online to wealthier gamers. The actual number isn't known since the process is illegal.

So, what kinds of new talents are needed in this new type of world? How do we prepare kids to prosper in an economy marked by the phenomena of YouTube, Flickr, MySpace and podcasting? What skills and aptitudes are in demand in a medium where people are not just tuning in to shows but running their own shows?

Guttenberg's invention made it possible for everyone to be a reader. The Internet makes it possible for everyone to be an author - of anything.

The Chinese Backstreet Boys are two kids in China who lip-synched their favorite Boy Band then posted their creation on YouTube. It's hilarious! After thousands of hits (like the one you may just have made) they are now very popular actual entertainers in China.

Technology has historically redefined the talents that are needed to be successful in the world.

And yet, we are still debating if software helps kids learn to read.

Living in the Digital World

We are not just approaching an age globalization, we are in it.

As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village --Marshall McLUhan, 1964

"Honey," I confided, "I think the world is flat." -- Thomas Friedman, 2005

Globalization is the global free flow of goods, people, and money.

"McDonaldization" and Starbucks in the Forbidden City in China reflect a new type of "Global Consumerism." These companies bring many changes: e.g. McDonalds does not provide chop sticks in China. McDonalds also forced people in Hong Kong to stand in line in order to be served and this is helping to make people more polite - a big change, evidently.

Evidently, McDonalds has imported more than obesity to China.

Starbucks wasn't that lucky. Apparently, the Chinese government got nervous about having a Starbucks in the Forbidden City and so it was removed - amicably.

"Our students, are affected by global forces, cultural clashes, and different value systems."

So, what type of talents, what type of aptitudes should we develop in our students?

Another example is the Mini. It's a big job to make the Mini based on the Global Supply Chain. Its now not uncommon for the different parts of products to be manufactured in different parts of the world. The MINI is a car whose parts are made in 14 different countries.

Global Trade of Talents is nothing new. To wit: Yao Ming and Herbert Hoover. At 7'6", Yao Ming of China is among the tallest basketball player and arguably the best center in the NBA. Herbert Hoover was once the richest man in the world - he was hired by the Chinese Emperors, since he was a miner, to search for gold to further enrich the Chinese Empire.

In Summary

Consider the following concepts:

*Multiple Identities/Nationalities both virtual and physical;

*Global reach

*Returning to the agricultural mode of production

*Accepting the role of the machines

New World, New Aptitudes

Read Daniel Pink's: A Whole New Mind

Pink's premise is that due to three forces:

Asia
Automation
Abundance

We are moving from the Information Age, dominated by L-Directed Thinking (sequential, literal, functional textual, analytical), to a Conceptual Age where R-Directed Thinking (creativity, emotional astuteness, nonlinear, holistic) must also be developed.

Pink has identified 6 essential aptitudes:

Design
Story
Symphony
Empathy
Play
Meaning

We can now, for a fee, learn Chinese in Second Life. Simply amazing.

Now What?

We must first start with problems - such as re-imagining education; then

Redefine talents and academic success; and finally,

Reconfigure traditional institutions.

It's time to rethink our purpose in education in a global economy.

Building Learning Communities - Dr. Mitchel Resnick

2007-07-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Mitch Resnick on The Spirit of Play and Lifelong Kindergarten

(http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/)

A kindergarten approach to creativity around a childhood spiral
Imagine, create, play, share, reflect imagine.

Too often we push down learning from the upper grades down to kindergarten and we should do the exact opposite: take what's great about schooling in kindergarten and push it up into the other levels of schools.

Low floors, a high ceiling and wide walls.

Mitch was involved in the team that created Lego Mindstorms and developed creative robotics and activities; now Mitch has gone beyond building robotics by creating a veritable inventors toolkit called Cricket (http://www.picocricket.com/) so support the same creative thinking, but in variable containers. This expands the range of combining art and technology.

Mitchel offered great examples of how to let kids use their imagination to create interesting things like a "wearable jukebox" that played different songs depending upon the

Froebel, the inventor of kindergarten, was a toy maker and developed a series of learning toys that are known as Froebel's gifts.

Another tool is called Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu/) which just became available. It's a free programing environment that helps kids very quickly learn computer programming by stacking a very cleverly designed set of building blocks. Scratch is fully integrated with the web and makes it easy for kids to develop an understanding of programming by focusing on the thinking rather than the punctuation and syntax of programming, which at first, can be out of reach for many.

Get Scratch!

The most important learning happens when things don't work well and then you iterate the cycle of imagine, create, play, share, reflect, and imaging. Mitch and his team want kids to do the same thing: try something out, if it doesn't work, you think about it and try it again.

This will prepare kids for a world where creativity and problem solving will help kids be more successful and more content.

Building Learning Communities - Professor Angela McFarlane

2007-07-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

Angela McFarline - Online Communities of Learning

(http://www.bris.ac.uk/education/people/academicStaff/edaemf)

"There has been a chorus of pronouncements that "the information society" both requires and makes possible new forms of education" - Seymour Papert and Guy Caperton, 1999.

Angela began her thought-provoking presentation with her astute observation that we lack a bold vision of what education could be as a result of technology utilization by students. She sais that while we have a tendency to engage in "techno-romanticism," we have to keep our feet firmly on the ground.

"We've had 20 years of a future which was a disappointment" - John Gardner. If we're not careful, we're going to have another disappointing 20 years.

Part of the problem is that there are many people who still think that knowledge is deliverable. However, there are a growing number of us, like Angela, who think that knowledge is constructible.

Direct Impact Model (DIM):

Traditionally defined curriculum and learning culture + Traditionally defined ICT skills, leads to activity using new technology and ICT skills, which leads to improved knowledge and understanding and improved attainment.

However, there is not enough substantive use of the technology.

Socially contextualized Impact Model (SCIM): self-directed learning runs parallel to Institutional learning with some overlap - Traditionally defined ICT skills and Home-based task.

A lot of kids are doing great things in school, but an awful lot of what they are doing is banal and trivial. How many are really have enriching and productive experiences of digital media in online communities?

The kids that not are getting this don't have the community in which to have those enriching experiences. They lack the social capital in the form of a highly educated home, and parents who are highly involved. in their educational lives.

Meaningful learning disrupts:

*Teacher roles
*Learning behaviors
*Ideas about learning
*Models of knowledge

In the first one-to-one program in Queensland, Australia, the experts came in to show the kids Logo, then left and let the kids do the programming on their own while the teachers had no idea what was going on and were not able to help their kids - which the kids clearly understood.

Media/Tools + Content + Pedagogical Model wrapped around a Meaningful Task.

Looking at the patterns of usage of computers in the UK align with the US: almost all kids have access to a computer outside of school before the age of 12. As a result, They Power Down once the get into their classrooms.

Angela use the Promethean Activote 2.4 system to get responses to the following question:

"The link between ICT use and learning remains elusive because technology use:

A. Does not support traditional learning
B. Testing does not capture relevant learning
C. There is insufficient use of ICT
D. Use of ICT is not well managed for learning
E. Too much software is not well designed
F. There is insufficient digital content

Here are the results:
A. 8.9%
B. 21.7%
C. 6.9%
D. 54.2%
E. 2.0%

Angela then let the audience choose the direction of the presentation by posing three things to discuss:

A. Handheld technology
B. Online creative communities
C. Managing face to face interactions

Here are the results:

A. 14.8%
B. 52.2%
C. 26.6%

We overwhelming chose Online Creative Communities.

New Wuxia Novels are typically over 10,000 words, written in chapters over a period, have a large following and have constructive and positive comments (http://www.wuxiasociety.org/).

In these communities there is a lot of one-to-one tutoring going on. The key things about blogs is that they are a good place for people to come together and exchange ideas.

Plant (2004:54) defines an online community as "a collective group of entities, individuals or organizations that come together either temporarily or permanently through an electronic medium to interact in a common problem or interest space."

However, in schools, we often penalize student for collaborating since we consider it some form of "cheating." So until we encourage students to work together and stop penalizing student interaction, we shouldn't be enthusiastic about what might happen.

Have we lost sight of education as a process of personal enrichment? If we have, then we are

We don't educate kids anymore, we train them. That's why they can decode text, but they can't read.

We need to elicit among our students the ability to ask good questions. Many of the effective online communities are full of good questions of these types:

Problem solving "How can I take a photograph like this one?

Requests for information "What do you think of the new CAD system? Does it really help?"

Seeking experience "Can we visit your personal photography lab?"

There is a whole lot of interaction going on using a host of technologies. The online community stuff that's visible is only a part of what's going on. It's the visible part that the public can see, but there is much going on beyond what we can see.

Amazing social project: BioEthics Education Project, or BEEP (http://www.beep.ac.uk/content/index.php).

Unfortunately kids still lack skills in information filtering and quality assessment; don't question the authority of information sources, have a diminished vocabulary compared to the past, and don't like to think. They are too overloaded with information to care. They cut and paste without engaging because they are too busy preparing for exams. They just don't want to know the stuff that's not on the exam. And these are some of the brightest and best students.

This is what we have to pay attention to because we over test.

We are turning out generations of people who can take tests, but who can't learn. And the only difference between the rich kids and the poor kids is that we give the rich kids certificates for not being able to learn.

Building Learning Communities - Dr. Tim Tyson

2007-07-18T05:52:00.000-07:00

Tim Tyson on Kids Making the World a Better Place

http://www.drtimtyson.com

Tim is the principal of Maybry middle school in Marietta, Georgia. He has just announced that he is leaving his position and is going to go out and wander the world and work with schools around the planet.

Tim started his presentation with two great questions using the new Promethean Activote 2.4 system with over 200 responders:

"1. To what extent do you truly believe in your heart that school age children have the capacity to make a significant contribution to our world?

A. Truth be told, I really don't believe this at all
B. A few children might have the capacity to make a meaningful contribution
C. Most children have the capacity to make a meanignful contribution"

2.5% selected A
13.8% selected B
76.4% selected C

2. About what percentage of children in your school (or school district) actually did something last year that you believe made a significant contribution to our world? (above and beyone being a precious child)

A. None
B. 1% - 10%
C. 11% - 25%
D. 26% - 50%
E. 51% - 75%
F. 76% - 100%"

1.5% selected A
42.4% selected B
24.1% selected C
8.4% selected D
8.9% selected E
3.0% selected F

So, the respondents generally believe that students can make a significant contribution to our world, but they believe that less that a quarter of them actually did contribute something that significantly to our world.

Read Dan Pink's book "A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future." Listen to an interview on Alan November's podcast sight.

According to Pink, schools are maniacally focused on preparing kids for a world of work that no longer exists.

The big question for every teacher is: "Who is doing all of the thinking work?"

We can't continue school as usual. We must change. This is a time of new beginnings replete with unlimited opportunities, potential, and transformation.

School 2.0 includes:

*Authentically Engaged Learners
*Self-directed Learning
*Project-driven Instruction
*Independent Problem-solvers
*Empowered by Technology Innovation
*Community of Learners
*Relevant

Read "Working on the Work" by Phil Schlechty.

On global distribution: Tim and his staff have created a means for students to contribute significantly to our world. Learn more by going to http://www.mabryonline.org/ & iTunes - searh on iTunes to find over 100 podcasts made by the students and teachers at Maybry Middle School.

Maybry has had visitors from New Delhi, Tasmania, Beijing, Shanghai, Perth, Hong Kong, Republic of Georgia, Tunisia, Canada, Africa, Japan, Peru.

Having a global audience totally changes the nature of schoolwork for students. Most of the projects don't get graded, rather students are provided the opportunity for Authentic Assessment from their world-wide audience.

Essential Question:

When does meaningfulness start?

In K12 education?
In college?
When we get married?
When we work?
Now?

Tim showed a marvelous film on the complex ethical considerations surrounding organ donation created by students entitled, "Making Our World a Better Place." Two of the most powerful statements by of the students were "Now is not that far away." and "Making a movie? That's like learning on steroids."

The second film was called "Genetically Modified Foods: Frankengenes." Perhaps the most impactful statement was from a twelve year old student who looked straight into the camera and said, "The United States is the largest feeding experiment in the world. We are rats in a cage. You and me." The power of that statement, and the manner in which it was shared was not lost on me.

Perhaps the most powerful film exposed the prevalance of child slavery in the African chocolate fields.

Finally, it's not about technology and connectivity. It's more about the contributing to make the world a better place.

What's your next logical step?

Take it.

blc 2007

A Whale of a Task

2007-07-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

I enjoy a good lunch.

A good lunch is a rather like a well made investment in the middle of the day.

Today I had a lovely lunch with Angela the Ferry Catcher. We had decided to take the New England Aquarium sponsored Whale Watching tour out of Boston Harbor based on their stated claim of "Guaranteed Whale Sightings." According to their website (http://www.neaq.org/), in the unfortunate event that whales aren't sighted, passengers would receive a complimentary New England Whale Watch ticket. It reminded me of Mastery Learning: if at first you don't succeed, just do it a lot more.

We arrived a bit early, and, intrigued by the name "Legal Seafood," stopped in for a bit of lunch. Angela said that the first time someone mentioned the restaurant's name, she heard it called "Lethal Seafood," which might explain why we got such a good table.

We dined on fresh grilled calamari salad with white beans and a snappy vinaigrette. Expecting the usual nondescript calamari rings, I was surprised to see whole creatures in the salad, complete with tiny tentacles and suction cups. One even looked like a miniature octopus - which had probably gotten caught up in a confused crowd of squid. A lethal mistake. But a tasty one - for me.

After lunch we boarded the Voyager III, the Aquarium's sleek whale watching vessel, a mammoth catamaran with huge pontoons and three observation decks complete with indoor seating. Angela and I decided to sit outside on the bow of the lowest deck in order to maximize our visibility. We also thought it would be more stable than the uppermost deck in the event of a rogue wave or two.

We steamed out to Stellwagen Bank, an enormous undersea mountain with massive pockets of nutrient-rich water upwelling from the cold dark ocean depths. This serves as the fast-food equivalent for dolphins, sea birds, whales and other marine life...such as, squid, perhaps.

About thirty minutes into the voyage, as the ship began to roll significantly, I had vital self-realization: I am easily susceptible to sea sickness. I typically remedied this flaw by avoiding the open ocean. Now, however, the trait which had remained dormant for so many years was waking up with a surly disposition.

Motion sickness is caused by two differing signals, emanating from within each ear, which confuse the brain and result in excessive saliva production, dizziness, and nausea. It is impossible to be calm and sea sick at the same time. Angela seemed serenely focused on the horizon looking for whale spouts while I sat in a mouth-watering, stomach-churning dilemma: it would be most uncouth to disturb Angela's rapture by vomiting on her.

I remembered reading that one could counteract the effects of motion sickness by applying pressure to the inside of one's wrist and impinging a nerve that somehow mitigated the unpleasantness. I also recalled that meditative repose focused one's thoughts elsewhere, which was where my thoughts needed to be at that moment.

I found the spot on my wrist, pressed forcibly then turned my focus to breathing deeply. It went something like this: in....out....in...out...SQUID!...in...out...in...out...TENTACLES!...out... no, no...in, then out...in...out...in...out...YOU ATE A BABY OCTOPUS!...and so on.

Oh, incidentally, we did see humpback whales, five or six of them. We saw a mother breach the water completely followed by her young calf doing the same. They rolled on their sides and slapped the water with their fins. They stuck their heads out of the water and peered at us in a maneuver known as spy hopping. They dove deeply, breaking the water with elegant tail flourishes.

In...out...in...out.

The spectacle finally drew to a close and we made our way back to port. As the Boston skyline drew nearer the swells subsided. Evidently the leading edge of a cold front had whipped up the ocean surface and the Voyager III encountered some of the roughest seas the tour operators had ever seen. Angela turned to me and in a conspiratorial whisper said, "You know, I was this close to being sick, but I just kept focusing on the horizon." Most of the other passengers onboard were not so fortunate, particularly those seated inside which, according to one observer, became a veritable "floating vomitorium."

For me there is something Zen-like in the act of whale watching. I found it not so much in the the awe-inspiring natural phenomenon of massive sea creatures twirling in balletic grace, or the poetry of sea and sky, wind and water. No, I found nirvana by keeping my investment in a good lunch.

It was a whale of a task.

blc 2007

The Best Recipe

2007-07-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Many recipes exist for many different things. I'd always thought of myself as he-who-does-not-need-a-recipe. Numerous disasters later, I've softened my position: while there is much to be said for serendipity, it seems that some structure, a sense of purpose, and a good dose of community makes the best recipe.

My new friend Woody from the D.C. area shared his best recipe for Margaritas; it all hinges on the sweet and sour mix: 1/2 cup lime juice + 1/2 cup lemon juice + 1/4 cup sugar + 4 tsp lime zest + 4 tsp lemon zest. Refrigerate up to 24 hours, strain and serve with equal parts of the mix, your favorite tequila, and triple sec.

Angela, the "Ferry Catcher" put together a lovely recipe for fresh striped bass (see July 14th Post): catch a stripped bass in a kayak with Alan November; have Alan filet the fish (he's really very good); season the filets with salt, pepper, lemon juice, Italian extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil from Alan's garden; wrap in tin foil and place on a hot grill for ten minutes, then remove from foil and place filets directly on the grill for two minutes on each side; add a jigger of brilliance from Christine Bridge and Jennifer Beine; season with a lifetime of reflective practice; fold in a heaping portion of insightful conversation about teaching and learning, brain research and gaming, randomly assigned collaborative groups and supporting best practices with technology. Serve with at least two bottles of Cousino Macul Chilean Antiguas Reservas cabernet sauvignon (I know: red wine with fish - so sue me).

Enjoy a most memorable evening.

The Ferry Catcher

2007-07-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

Angela McFarlane is a precise woman. She is also quite charming. I learned these two critical facts about Angela today - the first day we met. Angela is the Chair of the Education Department at the University of Bristol and, like me, is staying at "Camp November" in preparation for Alan's Building Learning Communities Conference.

In the midst of last-minute details and tasks, Alan November invited Angela and me to go fishing. Well, kayaking, really, while trolling for striped bass. I live in Seattle so I know how to kayak, as do most Northwesterners. Fishing from a kayak is, as I've discovered, entirely different.

You start with worms.

These are not your ordinary, night-crawler variety, but rather frilly sea worms that look like something not of this planet. They seem docile enough; but then there's the hook, which you have to "thread" with the sea worm. Not pleasant. Neither for the worm nor the threader.

There is, of course, a fishing pole. In a single kayak, such as I was using, one has to juggle the fishing pole by oneself along with the paddle and the hook - a nasty looking curve of metal that you don't want any where near you...unless, of course, you are engaged in the unfortunate task of threading it with a sea worm.

Completely and utterly absorbed, I set out following Angela and Alan, who were in a much more stable double kayak, into the Atlantic on our mid-morning fishing/kayak trip.

Angela fished with charm and precision while Alan paddled into clear blue-green waters. The tide was nearly at its height as rolling swells came in from the vast Atlantic. Black back gulls and sooty cormorants roosted on nearby Rams Island, and the sun sparkled like emeralds on the water's surface. The scene could not have been more beautiful.

Or so they told me.

I was too busy ensconced in unraveling fishing line, keeping up with Alan and Angela, and threading worms.

We had a few nibbles, but it was great fun.

Or so I heard.

Later in the day, Alan suggested that we catch the Salem Ferry into Boston. We thought it sounded splendid, and so we drove to the town of the famous Witch Trials. Apparently, witchcraft is still practiced in Salem, and most things there have a bit of the peculiar.

We boarded the "SS Nathaniel Bowditch" precisely at four o'clock bound for downtown Boston. It was a lovely trip followed by quick walk around Boston. Angela inquired as to the time of the return run to Salem and was told the ferry would depart at 5:10. Alan and I had just purchased lucky Boston Red Socks hats when we saw the ferry pulling out into Boston Harbor. We looked at our watches - it was only five past five. As Alan and I started to panic, Angela quickly made her way to the ferry ticket counter.

I've lived in Seattle for nearly twenty years and when you miss a ferry, you miss a ferry. No matter what. They never turn around for anyone: governors, legislators, rock stars, retired Microsoft execs - no one. It just never happens. So it was no small surprise when we saw the Nathaniel Bowditch reverse its engines and make its way back to the dock. We simply couldn't believe our eyes: Angela, with her inimitable charm and sense of precision, managed to reel the ferry back to the dock. She explained, in her charming British accent, that the ferry left the dock too soon and simply had to return to pick us up.

We boarded while the passengers looked at us with mouths agape. We must have seemed awfully important. As we extolled Angela's newfound superpowers, she merely shrugged her shoulders and said, "I expected the ferry to return to the dock and so it did. You just have to believe. "

We decided to test our newfound belief and try our hand at fishing once again - only this time with "witchy" sea worms we bought in Salem.

Now at sunset, Alan and Angela set out in their double kayak while I paddled like mad to keep up in the single kayak. In no time at all Angela adeptly reeled in a beautiful large-headed striped bass as Alan kept the kayak steady. While the fish was impressive, it was just under the regulation twenty eight inches and so was thrown back.

Meanwhile, as I struggled to keep up while threading one of the spirited witchy worms from Salem, the little bugger bit me in the finger. I nearly swamped the kayak as I jumped back in my seat. I didn't know that sea worms had teeth! Sharp little incisors, too.

Somehow managing to get the thing on the hook and into the water, I heard the reel sing out and found myself wrestling what seemed like a mammoth striped bass. The fish actually began to tow my kayak towards shore as I held on for dear life yelling repeatedly, "Fish on!" Alan, having never heard the term before, calmly turned to Angela and asked, "What did he say?"

Angela expertly maneuvered their kayak into position so that Alan could net the fish, a whopper at nearly thirty-six inches. It was, without question, the biggest fish I had ever caught. We kept kayaking and trolling and Angela caught her second striped bass, though it was smaller than her first and was also thrown back. As the sun set on the pink-hued cliffs, we hauled in our lines and headed towards shore.

As I paddled back to Marblehead, I reflected upon the events of the day. When things fall into place one gets an almost organic sense of flow. Individually anticipating events and then believing that they will come to fruition is great, but doing so in collaboration makes it even better.

Yes, I did catch a three-foot striped bass in a single kayak. But only thanks to Alan for inviting me to be a part of his learning community, and to Angela...because Angela, with her inimitable charm and precision, caught a seventy-foot ferry.

blc 2007

A Beginning

2007-07-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting inside "Camp November," the lovely late 19th Century home of my friend Alan November on a warm July evening. Hailing from Seattle, where the Pacific Ocean rarely ventures above hypothermia-inducing, I found the Atlantic, mere steps away from the house, a balmy 65 degrees. I waded in from the rocky shore and felt the tension from a long day's travel washed away.

The town of Marblehead was built on granite flecked with rose and white quartzite veins criss-crossing the bedrock. These formations, when first seen by early colonists from the decks of approaching British ships, resembled banks of marble glowing in the setting sun's final rays. The long hump of Cape Cod, a vast deposit of debris at the terminal moraine of the last great northern glacier, peaks into view twenty miles to the South East.

I'm attending Alan's Building Learning Communities Conference. Serving as the National Strategic Initiatives Manager for Promethean, I've decided to start my first blog by documenting my experiences at this, my second Alan November conference. Since many of my teaching colleagues at Promethean aren't able to attend, this blog will serve as both a personal journal and a meeting place to collaborate and share new ways of thinking about engaging students with technology.