Reflection on the great love fest to all things that go beep 2011

After spending a "bonus" night in Atlanta thanks to a missed connecting flight, I got home yesterday exhausted from ISTE 11 in Philadelphia. A few reflections:

1. The best part of ISTE/NECC conferences always has been and always will be catching up with old friends, getting to know colleagues better, and meeting new people the professional networking. (I was warned networking sounds better than visiting.) Not sure why, but it seemed I didn't get to talk to as many people as usually do, but the few conversations I did have were wonderful. The convention center was gigantic and easy to get lost in.

2. I didn't catch the bug for any new tech device, software or concept this year. 2010 was all about iPads; 2009 all about GoogleApps, etc. This year nada. I was pleased that more districts are looking at BYOD (bring your own device) programs, giving a name to something we've been practicing, but not pushing, here. "Flipped classroom" seemed more buzzword than strategy. And sorry vendors, 3-D projectors leave me completely cold.

3. The SIGMS Forum was every bit as wonderful as I had hoped it would be. Anita Beaman, Buffy Hamilton, Cathy Jo Nelson, Gwyneth Jones and Shannon Miller each lit up the room for 15 minutes, brilliantly sharing their ideas and how they, as practicing media specialists, turn them into reality. I don't think I've ever heard such positive feedback about a Forum before. Media specialists, if you are not a member of SIGMS, you aren't where the action is.

4. Like others who seem to have been working at change in education for a while, I am growing tired of some conversations. (See Miguel's and Jennifer's posts.) I'm tired, in fact, of the whole notion of "conversation" - it's too goddam civilized, too passive, too open-ended. When does the talk stop and the action begin? When do we stop our whining about test scores ruling education and start sharing how we are using other metrics which better demonstrate "educated" students? 

5. I spent Saturday split between EdubloggerCon and TEDxPhiladephiaED. For some reason, EdubloggerCon didn't do it for me this year - groups too large, "conversations" (see above) too hard to hear and follow, something. I've loved the event in the past and won't give up on the idea of the un-conference, but something was off this year for me. By contrast, I felt connected and moved by every TED talk in the afternoon. Which just goes to show, lecture may still have its place.

6. Boy, was I disappointed in the Stephen Covey keynote. His broadcast talking head was down right creepy (actually I think it was an animatron)  and I was concerned the slick acolyte who introduced him was going to invite us all up for a little sip of Kool-Aid. I've admired Covey's ideas forever, using The 7 Habits as a textbook even, so this was a real let-down. Dr. Medina, channeling Lewis Black's hysteria, was amusing, if not particularly informative. I left town before getting to see Chris Lehmann (who I will watch on video). I did enjoy the dancing robots just before the Covey keynote. Four were doing all the moves. One was either broken or the supervisor. A little tough to tell.

Photo source

7. I may need to re-think my hotel selection strategy. The Comfort Inn (Historic District) sucked big time. The worst wi-fi of any place I've stayed in the last five year, a very noisy location due to highways and fireworks, and sub-standard breakfast seating. I relished my mile and half walk to the conference center and back, but the Comfort Inn was nasty - and over priced. Early booking at a non-conference hotel seems to work better for me, being both cheap and having high standards.

8. After attending the session on open educational resources by the folks at K-12 Open Ed, i realized that both ends of the copyright/intellectual property spectrum can use misinformation and scare tactics to advance their POVs. Thanks to Renee Hobbs and others like her, there is a sensible middle that helps us all understand and use Fair Use concepts.

9. Thanks to those who attended my session on Libraries in the Cloud. I was delighted by the turnout of nearly 200 lively participants. If you didn't get the link to the support materials, they are here. 

Tim Stahmer reflected that he's been going to NECC/ISTE since 1999 and the conferences have changed little. My first ISTE conference was in Seattle in 2003. While I take Tim's point that the basic formula of keynotes, concurrent sessions, and vendor area is still same, the atmosphere and perhaps even the purpose has changed dramatically. I hate to say it, but the conference seems a lot more about glitz, big attendance numbers, and corporate sponsors than it is about educating kids. Am just getting old and don't understand how all these things work together? While I always come back excited and motivated from our smaller state tech conference, I usually come back worried from ISTE about the future of education.

Maybe I just didn't get enough sleep. 

Everyone should give a TED talk

Everyone should give a TED talk

I spend a valuable afternoon Saturday at the TEDxPhiladelphiaED event. A dozen talks were given, including one on how research is changing and the growing importance of good school librarians by our own Joyce Valenza. (Who did a great job!) John Hunter, Zac Chase and Sharon Campbell, all classroom teachers, gave moving accounts of what it takes to reach kids (empowerment and caring). Kristen Swanson shared her love of “un-conferences” and Matt McInnes showed us the future of textbooks.

While topics, speaking styles and take-aways were unique to each speaker, they all shared one thing in common – passion. The love and fervor for what gave each speaker the courage to stand before peers and testify was palpable in the room.

So here is my question: Could you give a TED talk inspired by a personal passion for what you do? What would it be about? What would others learn from it? What makes you look forward to the next day even after a rough time at work? What do you take time to reflect on? What’s your obituary going to say mattered to you and why the world is a better place for your having been in it?

If you don’t know what your TED talk would be, I’d think hard about my career choice, my priorities, my life. Especially as an educator.

Oh, and yes, I've given a TED talk.

The other thing that kept running through my mind was that if Arne Duncan had been sitting in the audience how his vision for education and policies might change. I wonder who he does listen to? Business? Charter school organizers (and profit-takers)? Textbook publishers? Certainly test-makers. I have no real hope that real teachers will ever catch his ear. And that's why subversion is more important now than it ever was in Postman and Weingartner's day.

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Just after I registered for the ISTE conference, this is what I threw away from my bag within ten minutes of receiving it:

Vendors, ISTE needs your support and you need to get product information out. But aren’t there more effective, more creative ways to do it than putting a piece of cardboard in a conference bag?

And ISTE, when can opt out of the tome that is the print program? When all the forests are gone to make paper, I’m blaming YOU! The iPad app is a good start for replacing the booklet, but it needs work! (How do I put my personal appointments in the planner?)

BFTP: Lessons learned from bicycling

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post June 25, 2006 Since I am struggling to find time to train for an upcoming week-long bike ride in Wisconsin in a couple weeks, I thought this post worth repeating.

Another lovely weekend in Minnesota and the LWW and I spent a fair chunk of it on our bicycles, riding to Red Wing from Cannon Falls (MN) and back. Some Lessons Learned from Bicycling:

1. It's usually uphill and against the wind. (Murphy's Law of Bicycling)
2. Most big hills that look impossible are usually a series of small hills that are possible.
3. I've never met a hill I couldn't walk up.
4. It's better to shift to a lower gear than to stop altogether.
5. Sometimes it's nice to be able to have equipment to blame things on.
6. You really can't make your own weather.
7. Coasting feels good, but you don't get much exercise doing it.
8. A beer at the end of a long day of riding tastes better than a beer when just sitting around (or at breakfast, I'm guessing).
9. Don't drink at lunch time and expect to enjoy the afternoon.
10. Bike helmets are a sure sign that natural selection is still a force of nature.
11. The five minutes putting air in your tires at the beginning of the day is time well spent.
12. There will always be others who are faster and riders who are slower.
13. Watching as old people zip by you should be encouraging, not discouraging.
14. Too often we quit because our spirit fails, not our legs or lungs.
15. Spouses (or entire families) who dress alike should not expect the rest of us to consider them normal human beings.
16. Too much padding between you and a bike seat is impossible.
17. Before you wear Spandex in public look at your backside in the mirror. Please.
18. The happiest people are the ones who consider life a ride, not a race.
19. The more expensive the gear, the higher the expectations.
20. The 500 calories burnt exercising do not compensate for the 2000 calories from beer drunk celebrating your accomplishment.
21. Everyone can look buxom on a bicycle - guys included.
22. You always feel the headwind, but never the tailwind. But it's there.
23. Most forms of travel involve some degree of discomfort. But keep moving anyway.
24. Cows always have the right of way.
25. You will eventually dry out even after the biggest downpour.

And your observations, fellow bicyclists?