Posts

Four Steps to Overcome Minimalist Behavior

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This morning in my "quiet time" I came across a comment that hit my life right now to the quick.  It is from Beth Moore in her Patriarchs study.  She says on p 88: "I'm concerned that the maximum-load mentality of our culture could potentially turn us into minimalists.  We're growing too exhausted to go the extra mile.  Sometimes we do only what we must to get by on a project because we have 15 other projects nipping at our own heels. We're pushed too far and too fast to go the extra distance excellence demands." Now, if that doesn't explain a lot.  I came across a powerful quote from Peter Drucker , the management guru that has resonated with many I've shared it with: "If you're going to start doing something new, you have to stop doing something old." So, as I know many who are in "downsized situations" - the people are downsized but no one downsizes the responsibilities -- no one cuts out "the old."  No...

University of Georgia: Cutting out Rural Georgia, Agriculture, and our Future?

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Watch for the Arteries Cuts are going to have to happen and they are going to hurt somewhere.  However, we must cut wisely.  Cut an artery and you are dead, not living to spend the capital on other projects.  The wisdom of surgeons is to know the artery from the small surface vein, and that, my friends, is where I feel many of our lawmakers are falling short. Georgia Educational Cuts My students are a-buzz.  Not in a good way.  The University of Georgia is cutting $300 from their budget which includes the 4-H program, many agricultural extension offices, and one of the most important water conservation research facility that farmers have in Georgia, the Stripling Irrigation Research center. Georgia 4-H The 4-H program is a national club that here in Georgia that has been a longstanding organization that teaches values and conservation even before these things were "in vogue." I was a member of 4-H as a student and many of my views of taking care of this ...

Announcing NetGenEd Project 2010: 300 students, 6 countries, 15 classrooms

Award winning author, Don Tapscott, and award winning global collaborators  Julie Lindsay  and  Vicki Davis  (co founders of the Flat ClassroomTM Project ) are excited to announce the  2010 NetGenEd Project , another global collaboration to envision the future of education and social action by inspiring today's students to study leading technology trends and create their vision for the future. Following the success of the recent  Flat Classroom Workshop and Mini-Conference  held last week in Mumbai as part of the ASB Unplugged Conference , Flat Classroom™ are excited to announce the launch of the  Net Generation Education Project . This includes more than 300 students from 6 countries and 15 classrooms. In this project, students will study and "mash up" the results of the  2010 Horizon Report  from the  New Media Consortium  and Educause  and Tapscott's book  Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is ...

Daily Spotlight on Education 03/03/2010

EAST -- A Way Forward: Tech Inspires Self-Directed Learning | Edutopia The EAST program is proven to increase math and science scores although it is about technology and social action. This program which was created in Arkansas, totally blew me away as an incredibly innovative practice that could work just about anywhere. I agree in practice with much of what they are doing and had the privilege of talking to many of the organizers and founders when I was in Arkansas -- AMAZING. tags : education , learning , edu_news , edu_trends Vicki Davis This is an example Ask Biography is trying to profile Vicki Davis, the actress, born in 1980, known best as the voice of a power ranger. (;-) -- But it rips from Google. There are actually several Vicki Davis people out here -- the actress, an elections superintendant and me, the Cool Cat Teacher. Ripping just doesn't work as this mixes all of us together. ASk biography -- not a place I'd go as a good source of biographies. tags : educa...

Daily Spotlight on Education 03/02/2010

Faceless no more: Facebook admits errors | The Australian "Staff reacted with shock and disbelief as they learned of the defacement of tribute pages set up to honour 12-year-old Elliott Fletcher and eight-year-old Trinity Bates." This is an important article to discuss with students as the defacement of these pages happened because the group was set up for anyone to join and without moderation. Education Education prevents hurt and harm as happened in this case. Of course, it doesn't change the fact that Facebook, even though it is a global company, seems to have a centralized communications structure. tags : education , digiteen , edu_news Learning and Leading - March/April 2010 Navigating the Digital Rapids is an article that Julie LIndsay and I wrote for the ISTE magazine "Learning and Leading." Hope you'll read and share about how you can "transform yourself into a professional who researches trends, monitors technology, avoids the fear factor, an...

Which Student Project Will Most Improve Education?

As part of the project-based model of conferencing that we use for the Flat Classroom conference, we have authentic outcomes.  Through this process, participants learn HOW to design global collaborative projects but we also see the best proposals and can VOTE on which of these student-created projects most deserve to come to education.  We have a couple of people who have already spoken with us about supporting some of these ideas with their time and effort, but for now, we need your votes.  Read each of these videos and if you wish, you may read more detail on their wiki pages (by clicking on the name of their project) and then cast your vote.  Feel free to use this as a teachable experience with your college classes and students. Like-Write Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference Impact: Inspirational Museum Promoting Arts by Children Through Technology Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference Ah-ha: Amateurs Teaching...

Join us for Project Presentations at Flat Classroom Mini-conference in Mumbai, India

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Find more photos like this on Flat Classroom Conference From about 45 minutes from the time of this post, the students and educators that are part of the Flat Classroom Mini-conference being hosted by the American School of Bombay in Mumbai, India at ASB Unplugged will be presenting and YOU can participate. We have been blessed with a 50 something group of students and educators in a project-based miniconference that will have participants thoroughly understanding the nuances of planning and bringing to fruition a Flat Classroom - style project. In 45 minutes, eleven teams will be giving their presentations. They are filling out their wikis and preparing to present as we speak. Here is how you may join us: Ustream video - http://asbunplugged2010.flatclassroomproject.org/UStream.tv Our Wiki - http://asbunplugged2010.flatclassroomproject.org  Our Ning - http://flatclassroomconference.ning.com The projects that have been invented: Like-write. come scrivere. مثل الك...