I continue to think about the rhizome-its ability to grow where it lands, its vigour, and its resiliency. I am thinking about how the rhizome can represent complexity. And I am thinking about how it symbolizes connection and what the connection might mean.

ETMOOC is about connected learning. Collectively trying to tease out the parts-visible learning, contributing to the learning of others, accepting the responsibility to share,  connecting, reflecting, talking, writing, singing, creating, questioning.  It’s not all fun and games, though. There is push back. Fear of change exists even in this crowd. What happens to the rhizome when it hits that wall? 

I am second generation Canadian. My grandparents, together and individually, came here for the same reasons thousands have- lack of opportunity, poverty, distress. I think in particular of my maternal grandfather, Emil Tvys, oldest of 14 children, a musician, a linguist, and a teacher in his home country, Lithuania, who came to this country on his own to start again. He rode the rails for awhile and then became a miner, and finally a carpenter.  I think about him and I wonder, how did he prepare for the uncertainty of his life? What made him so resilient? How did he find his way past the wall? This is the most important lesson, isn’t it? How do we learn that? 

 When I first saw the tweets about ETMOOC, I was interested because I am determined to learn about digital tools, and because I want to understand how they are currently impacting and will impact teaching and learning.  But I was so busy already-finishing up Flat Classroom Certified Teacher course, moving into the last leg of my Master’s program, and working hard at serving my teachers. And yet, there was something happening around this mooc, something intangible, yet palpable, and it drew me in. 
And I mean in.  I feel like I am in a clearing deep within the  mangle mess that we call the Internet.  There is space to move around, stretch, and dance.  There is space to declare yourself. There is space to be heard.  I have a strong sense of having arrived, of being at home.  

So, what’s going on here?

I believe it’s hope.

That lateral spread is the constant seeking for possibility–for a better life, for connected learning, for our clearing. And it is wildly energizing to feel that possibility exists. 

What if I join ETMOOC?
What if I connect and collaborate there?
What if I make myself vulnerable?
What if share my understanding of what is ‘out there’ with my colleagues face-to-face?
What if I learn to see the trees?
What if I figure out how to tell that story?
What if I can connect my story to your story?
What if this connection fills us with hope? 

What if this is the way past the wall.

Share you thoughts about connected learning and where it might take us, and what our responses  might be when something gets in our way.