I took a few minutes to review my blog and can't help but notice that there are two recipies I use to get high activity on my blog.  One technique is to use a controversial title.  A great example is the blog post where I asked about the changing role of the librarian and how I wonder if the very job title closes minds and limits people.  Wow, what a list of ideas on that one.  The other way I've had my blog stormed is to call out to a specific classroom of students.  They LOVE sharing their ideas.  And perhaps it is so rare that an adult even asks... well, more of both kinds to come [;-)

On Saturday, Feb. 21, we convened the second annual CoLearning 2.0 unconference.  The organizers, with whom I get to loosely associate and support, call it an unconference because they discard all the usual trappings of a conference: registration fees, complicated schedules, keynote speakers and so on.  Instead, participants self-register and sponsoring districts contribute a nominal amount of money for some refreshments.  We arranged for Adams State Credit (thanks Liz and Georgia) and invited people to suggest topics to discuss.

Our wireless was not ready at 8:30 AM.  We had made an error in the access lists on the routers and had basically opened up LHS instead of HHS.  But the top-notch network team was on-site (thanks Todd and Brian) and our networks manager came into the main office (thanks Mike) to resolve the issue before kickoff at 9:00 AM.  The wifi worked fine the rest of the day.  Over 220 people attended using about 6 rooms at Heritage High School plus the cafeteria.  In reviewing the wiki yesterday in our leadership meeting, we saw that people were still updating the wiki on Sunday after the conference was over.  The discussion groups in the morning were good, the kids were great in the whole group panel discussion and the round-tables were incredible with energy.  A word of warning for next year's attendees... bring your A-game because this isn't a conference you can easily goof off in.

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Just as the idea of a school without textbooks is unfathomable to so many people, so is a major city with no newspaper.  While Tuscon and Denver are not there yet (both still have other newspapers), the closure of the Tuscon Citizen with over 130 years of history is hard to ignore...

Here is a new article on the impact of Web 2.0 on the business environment that has implications for corporate America, small business and professionals alike.  I felt a common message with Karl’s Did You Know: Shift Happens message especially during the SlideShare presentation that referenced videos going viral on youtube.  This article has some good ideas on the kinds of Web 2.0 tools that they suggest companies use to get the message out.  Instead of the old way of begging for the media to publish your message, publish it yourself.

This has implications for us in education.  We are preparing kids for this world that has gone upside down.  We need to produce kids ready and comfortable with publishing as this article suggests.  But we should be absolutely clear… this isn’t about tools.  It’s about substance.

Published works should be rooted in the wisdom of why such work is important.  I can’t count how many times people have lamented to me that the whole facebook phenomenon is silly… “who...

 This has been my week to find out if I'm as smart as a 5th grader!  Yesterday, I visited Hopkins Elementary School to see how the 5th grades use the new EeePCs in their classrooms.  I was joined by Lynn Bramberry of CDE who is our grant administrator.  It was exciting to see how Mrs. Urbanek runs her classroom.  When I was in 5th grade, my teacher would do group work with us and ask questions.  Some of us would raise our hands and he'd call on someone to answer.  Things are different in this classroom.  When Mrs. Urbanek asked questions, some students would raise their hands... she observed who that was but then directed the students to turn to a partner and share their thoughts.  Suddenly, instead of the room having just one voice of the student who always answers the questions, the room was filled with student voices as all the students excitedly talked about their ideas.