think:lab

Taylor Mali's "1000 New Teachers" Push

Once Upon A School

Most TED fans -- who also dig the world of classrooms and teachers, especially those with edu-blogs -- have already taken note of 2008 TED Prize winner Dave Eggers' "Once Upon a School" challenge wish.  Put simply:

He called upon every adult to bring their time, skill, and energy to bear on the lives of students. In collaboration with teachers and schools around the world, people are making his wish a reality.

The 1,000 Teachers Project

While you're at it, it might be worth re-visiting poet Taylor Mali -- of the oft passed-around "What a Teacher Makes" viral video -- who has a teaching challenge of his own:

253 Teachers & Counting

Check out "the teachers" link to hear the voices of the individuals who have thus far been inspired to enter the classroom as teachers in part because of Taylor's work, words, & wisdom.

Here's #253, FYI:

Re-Wiring Our Storytelling Instincts

In a day and age when its ever-so-tempting to re-play the "half of all teachers quit in 5 years" stat over and over, perhaps we'd be better served by shifting gears to focus on those that are entering (and choosing to stay in or return to) the classroom in spite of the challenges and stat-counters.

Do Non-U.S. Celebs Give Me More Cred? (wink)

3D Stars-n-Stripes Glasses

Anyone who spends even a little bit of time in the edu-blogosphere eventually begins to realize that we Yanks tend to assume that the world of education must revolve around the planet of American. 

Ain't This Good Enough?

Sure, we love our "global" projects and love to spout off about how we have colleagues in our digital Rolodex from all parts of the globe.

But we tend to be -- well -- just a bit US-centric in our thinking. 

Perhaps we oughta stretch our lens a bit further into the known universe and agree to let the rest of the world shine a bit, too. (wink)

Just a Teaser

Backstory

Essentially, UK celebs are invited into a classroom setting to talk about their memories of being students.  Accents aside, the stories are truly universal. 

While there is no one way of pulling this off, I'm gonna toss into the mix a quick episode -- regarding exams -- from Channel 4's The Law of the Playground, now one of my favorite edu-candy discoveries of the summer. 

Disclaimer

Some course language in a few of the episodes, but I'm sure all of us are big boys/gals and can filter out such things in the spirit of broadening our minds.

Certainly Worse Things Than Guerilla Gardening

A Shoe Company, Right?

A current Adidas campaign (highlighting their new eco collection) caught my eye in a recent Trend Central mailing:

"While this is an extreme form of environmental activism, expect it to become an increasingly aspirational activity as young people are looking to have a cool experience while doing good."

Just Pick Their Brains for a Bit

Think I'd quite enjoy putting this in front of my advisees this coming fall.  Just kick the heart of the unexpected 'activism' idea around.  Not so much to inspire a deliberate mirrored set of actions, spade/shovel and all.  No.  Not necessary, nor my place. But to talk about what it means to leave a mark on the world around us that inspires, grows, evolves on behalf of everyone's benefit. 

The Unexpected

Kinda hover over that last bit of the following short film as the 'imagined' urban forest takes shape and the guerilla gardeners imagine commuters on the way to work having their spirits lifted by the sudden arrival of an apple tree on what was once barren/forgotten land.

A Suggestion for Reader Types

A lovely read for all aspiring guerilla gardeners, me thinks.

Finally Tying Those Loose Parts Together

The Big Top is Open

For better or worse, I now have a functional circus tent that covers just about everything I'm doing in this wacky digital world. 

Thanks to my ed-tech-design gal, Kate Olson, for walking me through some of the scary parts the last few days.  Hope I made her proud:

***

Luddite is as Luddite Does

The tricky part of being a tech luddite in this web 2.0 day-n-age is that some things still take 'under the hood' know how.

'Cause You Know He's  Got a Point!

Through the celebratory chiming of summer wedding bells out on Catalina Island, I swear I can hear that dy/dan fella smacking his that's what I've been tellin' you, buddy! buzzer right about now. 

Sort of a related thesis to one of the many expert v. engaged amateur threads he's been rightfully developing since many of you/us were in web 2.0 diapers.

Please Hold My Hand (aka "Steal My Wallet")

This is of particular interest to me every time I daydream the crazy idea of aggregating all of my blogs, digital projects, consulting/speaking elements, and various this-n-that elements under one central digital big top. 

Sure, a fell can easily drop a decent chunk of change on as many domains as he wants.

But he still has to figure out how to code/design those web domain addresses so that become actual web sites. 

Sheesh. 

That could drive a brother to re-invest in paper and slide rules.

Wait...

...what was that?

You're telling me that all I had to do was finally take that WordPress contraption seriously? 

You mean I didn't need to be paying my TypePad homeboys a cool 3-figures of my allowance every year like clockwork?

There Ain't No Door Prize for That

Sheesh. 

Who do I talk to about a refund? 

Or at least a bit of edu-tech school 2.0 sympathy?

Getting Our Head Back in the Box

Prowling for My Benefit

Man, do I love having a cool design cat like Ethan prowling around the planet's hidden gem alleyways for visual-wonders...that I can cherry-pick on occasion.

The Fella Has Mad Game

Sure, I'd like to be as savvy as he is re: noticing design everywhere he turns, but in the meantime I'll just continue to pimp his Flickr stream (not to mention his web site, his Grab Bag (art) book to be published next year, and whatever else he's got in the works now that his 1st year of college is about ready to launch).

Head in the Box

See, if a fella can't find the future of education metaphor in this shot he took up at Mass MoCA not so long ago, he ain't ready for playing hard ball in the Bigs. 

Or he's just really too literal (for my taste) in his vision.

A Guy Can Dream, Right?

As a father of a kiddo who's on the verge of shifting from toddlerville to boytown, I want 2 crazy vital things to be guaranteed:

First:  A cool ol' nature in a box contraption like this in his room.

Gotta be easy to DIY if a guy (ironically) uses 'fake' plants.

Maybe the Maker Faire (Made magazine) folks can show a papa how to pull it off?

Second (and most importantly): The metaphor being embraced by EVERY teacher he ever has. 

Period.  For reals.

P.S.

From the Mass MoCA web site re: the cool ol' nature in a box contraption:

Vaughn Bell’s Personal Biospheres which give gallery visitors their own miniature landscapes to experience by popping their head into Plexiglas domes filled with small working ecosystems.

Bell’s new custom biospheres for Badlands will be based on the landscape of North Adams (Mass).

Singing the Hero Song Fandango

Time.  But Who's Keeping Track?

The only problem I'll have this coming year in massaging the 'hero journey' construct with my students to help kick up the heat on the traditional Brit Lit motif will be fitting a lifetime of content into 9 months. 

Oh, and all dem crazy projects, too.

My 1st day list of possible ideas pushes well past 753 minutes right now (if I cross out 3/4 of it), a tad bit more than what passing bells will allow. Shrug. 

The Saccharin Side of Hero Worship

Perhaps I'll just show them this little Disney snippet of a happy-go-lucky young Hercules seeking his Merlin mentor, push the kids to deconstruct the stereotypical Hollywood cartoon 'hero' that such a film clip assumes...

...and then ask them if they can guess how we're gonna collectively mess that mutha up over the next 9 months.

Drinking the Kool-Aid

And that makes me think that following Ewan McIntosh's lead in figuring out a way to add a little touch of the steampunk aesthetic in terms of asking the obvious about this SecondLife-to-video-vignette:

What's the hero evolution backstory on the guy in the balloon?  And what assumptions do the steampunk sensibility light in our imagination when we wonder about the hero's journey that will follow?

Or, Maybe This

Then again...

...I'll probably opt for the cool-enough-for-school Steam Boy's trailer, instead:

CoverItLive Goes Big in Video Land

Pssst: Video-Head Alert!

Did you hear what the CoverItLive (real time blogging) just announced?

Our users can now integrate LIVE video from Qik, Mogulus and uStream directly into their CoveritLive live blogs. 

It is an extremely simple process (much like our existing YouTube integration) that lets our users quickly add live video content without the need to send their readers to another site or blog.  Our Support Center has a short flash movie to demonstrate how to put this exciting new feature to use: Demo for IE users, Demo for Firefox users

Oh, My.

Or, at least, holy digital integration, Batman!

Get a load of this, sportsfans:

The video feeds can be turned on and off with a click of your mouse.  Imagine a breaking news story where one of your readers writes in, "Have you seen the video on Mogulus right now?".

With a few clicks, you incorporate that live feed directly into your live blog. 

Or how about sending a contributor to an event with a Qik enabled phone?  They write in to your live blog that they are about to interview someone...click...the video interview is directly inserted into your live blog coverage.

I can just see the edu-blogger wheels under the BLC tent turning now.  (wink)

To My Backchannel Homeboys:

I only have 1 month until my students begin using CoverItLive to expand our in-class discussions across all my sections (so much cooler than globally 'flat' classrooms, if you ask little ol' me) given the new wireless laptop cart that showed up in my room this summer...

...so let's get movin with some educational proof of concept on this CIL video embedding business, fellas!

I'm countin' on you.

And so are my kiddos!

Planting the Seeds of Inspired Design

Out of the Design Loop

Sure, a guy snoozes a little bit.  And apparently he loses all street cred with dem pesky school architect types.  Sheesh.

Funny how just a single year away from having a front row seat at the center of the school design world has profoundly watered down my in-the-know radar for the latest/greatest projects that have a fighting chance of changing the game of possibilities for how we define a 'school' space.

While I've been enjoying my role on the DesignShare Awards 08 jury this summer -- and debating some really striking projects from around the globe with my colleagues -- I gotta admit that I rarely cross F2F paths with innovative school architecture in my new day-to-day teaching life.

Oh, My!

This is why I'm kicking myself a bit for being so late to the game about the Green School down there in Bali.

And don't even get me started about my sudden craving to be some sort of science fiction lab monkey so that I can be split into 2 independent teachers/beings, one that stays at my current school (which I adore) and one that heads to Bali to be part of this magic as well:

Heck, even Thomas Friedman has been down there on campus a couple of times.  And what does he know about school design? (wink)

Sometimes Green Really Means Green

Hard to throw a school book these days and not hit yet another use of the word "green" or "sustainable". 

Most of it, frankly, is window-dressing both from an architectural and philosophical perspective. Or perhaps just marketing chintz.

Most.  But not all...

Discovery is a Good Thing

Well, meet the Green School -- scheduled to open this September -- and their profound approach to educational/community sustainabilty:

Green School was planned and constructed within the concept that education consists of more than ‘school’. In addition to the classrooms, athletic facilities, student and faculty housing, and numerous other buildings, an integral feature of our school is the Learning Village. In this specialized setting, our students have the chance to apply lessons to specific disciplines and real business situations, making abstract ideas come to practical life with results they can witness on a daily basis. Students are involved in everything from manufacturing their own chocolate to helping to manage the organic fields, bamboo plantations, and rice paddies that are integral to the campus. By working with dedicated teachers and experienced professionals, students solve problems while developing entrepreneurial skills that will inform and empower them to become the leaders of their generation.

I agree with what you're thinking.  It kinda grabbed my attention, too. 

A few other of the Green School links worth keeping an eye on:

• Introduction and what appears to be a truly world class team of professionals guiding the program
• Guiding Frames, Philosophy, and Curriculum
• Ways to get involved (including internships, volunteering, careers)
• Facilities and the overall land/campus
• Press coverage of the school and Testimonials
• And my favorite of all:  class/grade level blogs. Yes.  Really!

The following video highlights the school's mission and hints at a rather brave design premise in terms of the spaces that will support the students' learning process and the larger community's sustainable practices.  Definitely only hinting at what they're building.  Keep an ear open for the way they describe the physical spaces and its relationship to the programmatic issues. 

Bamboo never felt so innovative:

And definitely grab a few minutes to watch this piece, too:

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Oh-My's

Man, oh man, oh man. If these photos don't rev up your curiosity factor, something is strangely amiss.

And I can't help but wonder why all new school design projects don't find the visual/life 'joy' within their projects rather than concentrating on architecture for the sake of architecture.  This photo set might be a model that could teach a few architectural firms a thing or two about visual storytelling in a way that truly inspires.

Constructing 3-bedroom faculty housing:

The "bridge":

An air-conditioned learning space:

A hint of what CR 'furniture' means; even better, what 'student' means:

If It All Disappears, We'll Just Be Traffic Signs

Dear Web 2.0:

There used to be a time when video and real words on digital highwires weren't  battling for the universe in pseudo-deity fist-to-cuffs fashion.

There was a time when these two 1's-n-0's ninjas weren't fighting for our collective souls like a couple of Dante's adolescent angels left tossing insults on the spiritual cutting room floor, a technological battle cry barely etched in charcoal bison stick figures on the weathered Lascoux cave walls of our collective educational memory.

What Bards and Yoda Can Teach Us About the Story

We're talking way, way back (before the Wayback Machine, in fact).

Back when stories were stories, and storytellers were butt-kickin' warriors who only wore the traveling singer-poet garb to keep the kings from becoming sword-lashing antsy.

You know, sort of like a middle ages Yoda wandering the highlands.

Just with a lot more under the robe than even Beowulf might have promised Technorati's Herot.

Graphics of Universal Understanding

But if I had to give up the epic rite of storytelling our very lives across the flame-licking camp fire deep insider our ancient selves...

...but wanted to stop shy of this digital bruh-ha-ha gaining faculty lounge storm clouds over the last few years...

I'd pull up a comfy seat with a copy of Otto's classic tome on aligning a universal visual language (the Mister Miagi of "information graphics") under my arm, and try the yoemen's work of wondering how we put the cultural fissures of the classroom Humpty Dumpty back together again.

What Will Our Legacy Be?

But then again, if writing (and video) disappears, we'll be nothing more than traffic signs on the larger educational & life learning curves.

Which might not be a bad thing.

Nobody Puts Twitter in the Corner - P. Swayze

Part 1:  Nobody Puts Twitter in the Corner! 

With 77 inspired comments (and counting) over there at Will's blogging joint, this Twitter-esque debate seems to be sparking something primal  that resides deep within the veins of our collective human experience. 

What precisely is it about this Twitter that causes folks to line up like frenzied tech-politicos on 2 sides of a life-or-death chasm?  Is it really that vital?

Certainly -- one can safely say -- it has to be something deeper than simply micro-blogging 140 character idea chatter, technology platform arguments, or even emerging calls for "netiquette" codification in order to support the unintended 'business' of fostering legit edu-development for the seemingly obvious what are you doing hamster wheel. 

Part 2:  How Deep is that Itch?

It's gotta be touching something inside our bone marrow.  Beyond logic's reach.  Like a reaction to spiders or chocolate.

Almost thinking that if we can crack this socialized DNA code of customized Twitter @semi_life_truths, we may be actually end up farther along the edu-blogger growth curve than anything else we've seen since the first sighting of the ever insta-pundant-like digital (big)foot-print circus tent we all perform in.

Me, I can't help but admit that my own use of Twitter has gone Fonzi-like, finally jumping the shark on the tangible value vs. impetuous want wave.

Note: 

I offer zero comment on anyone's passionate/personal stake in the Twitterscape.  Clearly it serves a compelling list of needs, conversations, radars, and personalities. 

To each his own, and all that 140-character-updated jazz.

For me, however, the experiment is officially over. 

For all the perceived a value that others have rhetorically demonstrated (with passion and logic alike) that this wacky little digital tool brings, my decision has nothing to do with the tool itself, let alone any 140-character case studies that may be presented at the edu-conference in your corner of Google Earth. 

Part 3:  Jumping that Shark

What it does have to do with, however, is an investment in something larger, more profound, more real, more to-the-point.

Something that serves kids, schools and community.  Directly and unapologetically, rather then in the signal vs. noise camp. 

And for me, if even 10% of my Twitter-use falls into the:

• silly
• distracting, and/or
• real-time backchannel miscommunication

categories, then I need to admit its time to:

• take off the leather jacket
• put away the water skis, and
• tell Fonzi to leave that shark that time-jugglin' shark alone.

P.S.  All Good in the Micro-Blogging Hood

If I were to still be full-on in the Twitter-game, I'd propose 2 projects:

1. Someone's gotta buy/develop the www.140characters.com domain.  Great meme-spark for someone to start posting completely out-of-context "best of" Twitter screenshots in the meme tradition of LOLCats, opting of course for good-natured/quirky fun (over the chum-feeding frenzy of misrepresenting larger patterns of sincere conversation without the vital backstory/tone added for good measure)
2. Perhaps I'd try to nudge the @Twitterverse and its related @EduBlogger brethren to follow @HoldensJourney (and his mighty superliteraryherovoice posse this fall as they fictionally rock-n-roll with this microblogging concept, showcasing what classrooms/kids could do for the power of good if they gave @Piggy, @Iago, and @Winston some creative space as their respective stories unfold in 140-character idea bursts.

Mmm.  Dang near reason to stay in the game. Shrug.

As I hinted at above, I still retain the right / desire to keep tabs on my homies and devil advocates alike.  And anyone that takes time to DM certainly deserves a reply. 

Other than that, my Twitter has officially left the building.

Suggestion Box

Please DM @HoldensJourney if you

• have any questions
• also seek literary global micro-dominance
• wanna suggest nifty collaboration projects to help real kids, or
• simply wanna drop off a tasty cheese plate to feed us as we leap for that pesky brass ring.