My "Go Bag"

Following +Trey Boden‘s share of his “Go Bag,” or what gear he carries around with him, I’ll share my own gear that I have with me in my DT manpurse, with an eye on FUSE14 and ISTE2014. These are the things I find useful while traveling and/or conferencing:

My Go Bag

Rickshaw Zero Messenger Bag (medium, custom) — Really love these bags.

DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Finding Purpose on #slowchatED

The Purpose Economy

N.B.: This post is duplicated in the #slowchatED blog.

I’m excited to host a #slowchatED discussion on finding purpose within education the week of June 9, since it’s a topic I’ve become very invested over the course of this past year.…

DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Summer Reading and Discussion

Cognitive Surpluss
Now that summer is fast approaching (and since I’m long overdue for a blog post), I’ve been thinking about what sorts of professional development I’l be doing over the next few months. Last summer, I spent a lot of time at conferences, and while it was a fantastically productive period of time, this summer I’m looking forward to doing more reading and reflection on the past year of experimentation.
DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

EduCon 2014 and Engagement

The Franklin Institute

The more conferences I go to, the less I find myself interested in discussions about specific tools. Instead, it’s the new ideas that excite me, in that ideas have the power to outlast tools and make more of an impact on what we do in our classrooms.…

DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Top #EdBlogs2013 Posts

2013 was a productive year that saw quite a bit of professional development and new thinking, highlighted by traveling, where I made new colleagues, and attending the Google Teacher Academy in Chicago. In reflecting on this year, +Eric Saibel has inspired colleagues who blog to share their most influential posts of 2013 for the #EdBlogs2013 series he’s collecting, and I’m honored to participate (read his own post here).…

DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Sunshine Gratitude

I owe +Megan Valois (@msvalois) and +Karl Lindgren-Streicher (@LS_Karl) some gratitude for sharing their Sunshine posts with me a few weeks ago, and I’m happy to finally respond with my first post of 2014.

Here’s how Sunshine posts work:

  1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger
  2. Share 11 random facts about myself.
DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

What happens if we don’t…?

The Value Function

I’ve been reading about cognitive psychology and design thinking with great interest lately, and some ideas have been swirling around in my head. In particular, I (finally!) finished Daniel Kahneman’s fantastic book Thinking, Fast and Slow on Prospect Theory (reading notes here) and the decision-making processes that are at work in our minds (cf.…

DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Gladwell’s David and Goliath and Design Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell’s new book David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants discusses perceived advantages and disadvantages and how appearances may not always be what the seem. The book has been received with some justifiable criticism (e.g. Christopher Chabris’ “The Trouble with Malcolm Gladwell”), but I’ve still found it interesting and thought-provocative for its potential applications in education, as we’re on the cusp of some radical and profound changes.
DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Innovation and Growth

From the BigHeads Network

In a recent conversation on growth and professional development, I was surprised by some of the defensive ideas that came up in the discussion, namely, rejecting potentially valuable feedback, hiding failure, and playing it safe when setting goals.…

DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Change and the Giving up the Ego

endlessorigami.com

Someone recently mentioned to me that “change requires giving something up.” At the time, I wasn’t sure how much I believed it, but after thinking about it for a week, I do now. Depending on what kind of change is being proposed, there’s a variety of answers to the question of what should be given up; but in more cases than not in education, based on what the conversations I’ve had, it’s the ego that’s at the center of this discussion.…

DownUp (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...