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.

Today, I visited the 5th grade classrooms at East Elementary School.  These classes have taken EeePC laptops and have officially blown the doors of learning old-school.  Scott Murphy (our Superintendent) and I watched as students accessed online videos and tutorials on the circulatory system, then marveled as they wrote in their cognitive framework (not sure if I'm using the right term here... one of the 5th graders tried to explain this to me [;-).  They use wikis and blogs for their writing.  Blogs are their publishing medium like a news service.  Wikis are their online document workspace.  And the wealth of the Internet and subscribed databases are their information source.  And did I mention that these classrooms have students with disabilities and students who don't speak English as their first language... no matter!  The traditional labels don't mean much anymore.  These are students... scholars... writers... intellectuals... the NEW 5th graders.

Here are some pictures I took today (I won't show kids...

First, I have to again note that I have not been a prolific blogger this year.  I think this is because we are dealing with some really unpleasant issues at the ESC and they have taken lots of my thinking time... and such matters don't lend themselves well to blogging.  On to my thoughts for this post...

Last summer, I posted a blog item about a wireless challenge I observed at another venue outside LPS.  The experience made me really appreciate Mike Zehner and his network team for the high quality wifi services we enjoy and utilize in the district.  My post was intended to send some kudos his way and to use the experience to highlight how challenging wireless really is.  However, my message was not as well crafted as I hoped and I got a comment back from a member of the organization hosting the event noting that I seemed happy to comment on other people's failures and not explore our own.  Since it was not my intent to bash anyone, I took the post down.

At this time, I will indeed report on my own...

Recently, I stopped by Randy Stall's desk when he shared some survey results of an online course he helped deliver on web 2.0 in the classroom...

Teens have always thought that adults just don't understand them.  Today's teens are growing up in a world which is so totally different than what we adults had, this age-old truism may be an even bigger divide today than ever.  I spend quite a bit of time interacting with students, teachers, administrators and parents and being charged with technology leadership in the district, my conversations are always about this difference.  The struggle to understand and connect is at the core of these conversations and sometimes I find it helpful to use an old language arts activity to bridge the gap: similes.  By comparing something you don't understand with something you do, it is possible to gain an insight that you would otherwise miss.  Here are a few I've recently come across in speaking today's youth:

"Not having text messaging today is like growing up without a bike in the 20th Century."  For us, the bicycle was the means of socialization.  If you had a bike, you could meetup with your friends and participate...

I just got a tip that the next TIMMS (Trends in International Mathmatics and Science Study) report is due out next week and will tell some compelling stories...