Good morning, everyone. Or, good whatever depending upon when you access this post. I’m delighted to share with you some of the inspirational thoughts from Ontario Edubloggers that I’ve encountered recently.
I’m not sure what number it takes to create a meme but the people I know about bit on a challenge that I put in my post. It was based upon a challenge from Alec Couros. I wrote a blog post and challenged others to find and analyse their last 10 social media entries.
If you were summed up by your last 10 tweets or FB posts, what would that look like?
- My Last 10 – Peter Beens was the first person to respond. I wasn’t surprised that I might have guessed what sorts of things that he would share. Peter is a big Google guy and does a lot of automation so it wasn’t surprising to see Google thoughts and references to his own Paper.li creation.
- My Last 10 – Next up was Lisa Cranston. And, like Peter, I kind of suspected what she might share. She’s heavily involved in self-regulation and still connected to initiatives that she started before she retired. They’re reflected in her collection.
- A Look At “My Ten,” And My “Strive For Five” Goal! – Aviva Dunsiger was the wild card in all this. I thought that she might have included a number of videos from her classroom. (I enjoy watching them in the evening) Instead, there were a number of pictures from her class mixed in with her regular interactions with others.
I thought that the whole process was worthwhile doing. It’s like a gut check to take a look at how you’re interacting with others. Remember “You are what you Tweet”. What about you? Have you looked at your last 10 lately? Why not write a post? Tag me with it so that I don’t miss it.
And, just an observation – David Letterman has left the concept of 10 as the magic number for lists with us!
These are great words of advice from Matthew Oldridge.
Sadly, this is one person that just can’t/won’t do that. I have so much baggage. I have an old filing cabinet in the garage with every lesson plan and assignment that I’ve ever given. I really should digitize them some day.
I have this blog that is full of every bloggable thought that I’ve ever had. (Except for those that are posted elsewhere)
Is it a sign of being an educator that we never throw anything away because there may be a time when we could use it again?
Perhaps it’s good to partner with someone that will do the purging for you.
Laura Wheeler shares her thoughts on the works of Peter Liljedahl
Via words and this wonderful sketchnote, she digs into things and I think that the sketchnote really illustrates what it means to her.
My biggest personal takeaway is the word “defront” as in “defront the classroom”.
I’ve been thinking a great deal about schools that I’ve taught in or visited. They, by design, have a definite “front” to them whether it’s desk position, classroom door, student movement flow, electricity, ethernet drop, … Defronting may well be more difficult than what it seems.
It took a little bit to get to the educational message in Sue Bruyns post. Most of it was about real fires, her love of them, and conversations that she’s had about fires with others.
Then, there was this little gem.
You’ll need to read her whole post to understand the importance of space but I think that we can all sympathize with the notion of “piling on”. It’s not just students; what about the workload that’s piled on teachers.
So, if students are choking trying to burn and teachers are choking trying to adhere to the latest missive from the board office, can we always expect fire to ensue?
Should we get it to start to burn, Stephen Hurley asked during our radio show – are we then guilty of extinguishing it – intentionally or not?
This is a great analogy and really worth thinking through for all.
TDSB Google Camp 4.0 SOLD OUT!
Congratulations to the organizers of the TDSB Google Camp. Apparently, it sold out. That’s awesome.
At events like this, often people are tweeting messages about what they’re doing but this really is one of those times when 140 characters just doesn’t quite cut it. Fortunately, Zelia Capitao-Tavares took the time to blog and share her experience as helper, social media, and presenter and apparently a Slammer. And, they had kids at the event!
I enjoyed reading things written from her perspective. It sounded like a great day.
As always, there should be a real shout-out to the organizers. Putting together an event like this is no small task. Cleaning up afterwards isn’t a quick activity either.
On days like this, there are always too much available for learning and too little time.
BreakoutEDU Digital – Online Escape Games for Students
Last year, at the Bring IT, Together Conference one of the social events was a BreakoutEDU session for those who registered. At the request of the session leaders, the session was capped at 100 people and so I didn’t attend, not wanting to rob a seat from others. Sadly, as it turned out, I could have attended as there were many no-shows. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about it until the next morning.
The concept still intrigues me and I do a lot of reading about it.
This post, from Larissa Aradj, really does a nice job to describe the process as she takes it digital. In the post, she provides an example of how it looks, digitally, in both English and French.
What I appreciated from the post is that she takes the concept further to explain just why she uses this technique with her students and what she’s looking for as they work. There’s a great deal in the post which makes reading and bookmarking totally worth your time.
Oh, and apparently Larissa won the demo slam at tdsb camp.
Many hands on the way to Kilimanjaro
Finally, a post that’s about as close to out of this world as you can get.
I first met Paul McGuire when I invited him to be a member of the Bring IT, Together committee. We really wanted to ensure that there were topics that would appeal to those principals in attendance. From that point on, I’ve remained in contact with social media, using Twitter and through his blog. He is at the other end of the province afterall.
Paul has recently retired and one of his goals is to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.
He’s using a GIS account to all those of us with lesser ambitions to follow along.
I know that I’m going to be following Paul’s blog and the map here. http://www.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=e3126e57c52742beb635da29589b6de2
Will you?
Please take a few moments and click through and read all of these wonderful blog posts. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to leave a comment or create a blog post of your own.
You can follow all of the Ontario Edubloggers here. If you’re a blogger and not on the list, please add yourself.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.