Find out more at The Charter for Compassion.Org.

- Are you interested in an event of historical significance?
- Are you interested in the one concept that ties all religions together?
- Are you interested in ensuring that all students graduate as compassionate human beings?
- Does being compassionate bring with it a responsibility to act on the "desire to alleviate another's suffering?"
- Would sharing this post with educators and students be a reasonable first step?

Wikipedia offers a credible comment on the word compassion.

Compassion is a human emotion prompted by the pain of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the so-called Golden Rule embody by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others what you would have them do to you. [Mathew 7:12]

On February 28, 2008 Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and she wished "for help creating, launching and propagating a Charter for Compassion." Here is what she had to say.

Since then she and many other people with the same interest have been working to develop the charter. It was a web 2.0 read-write process for anyone interested from throughout the world to come together online to communicate their stories and ideas on compassion. Over 150,000 people contributed to the process from over 180 countries.

On February 24, 2009 a multi-faith, multi-national Council of Conscience convened in Vevey, Switzerland to compose the charter using the contributions received.

Twenty months after expressing her wish, and with a lot of help from many friends, Karen Armstrong's wish will come true. A wish that many people now embrace as their own. On November 12, 2009 the Charter for Compassion will be unveiled.

CHARTER FOR COMPASSION TRAILER from TED Prize on Vimeo.

Find out more at The Charter for Compassion.Org.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still a Learning, Creating, Teaching
dennisar at gmail dot com
Crossposted at:
innovation3.edublogs.org

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been advocating for changes in education to improve the quality of life for teachers, students and administrators for my whole career. Over the last three years I have added using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate, create, and collaborate on the Internet to my list of what needs to change and what holds promise. The PLN (Personal Learning Network) I have developed inspired me to return to teaching after many years as an administrator, most recently as a superintendent of a seven school district. No words can express how grateful I am for all that this Twitter community of educators has done and continues to do 24/ 7 to support my learning.

My First Class

Two weeks ago I had my first class with thirty K-12 teachers in a local school district. The course is titled "The Three Cs of 21st Century Teaching and Learning," affectionately referred to as i3cs21. Another similar class begins in another school district begins next week. I spent a long time gathering resources and planning the way I would teach the course.

The class has a closed home wiki embedded within my innovation3 creative commons open wiki that I created on Wikispaces.com. There is a "Class Commons" blog for general communications I want to send out, and each class has a "Learning Commons" blog for practicing "blogging" and for sharing reflections about the class resources. Each class also has a "Learning Commons" wiki for practicing with a wiki. Teachers will also use the wiki as a place where they can present elements of the ePortfolio they are developing. The ePortfolio will include four elements: evidence of active engagement with the course, evidence of a personal/professional digital footprint, a summary of their personal learning in the course and a major creative digital sharing project.

The Learners

These teacher are incredible. Fearlessly, some with confusion and higher than normal levels of anxiety, they are venturing onto the digital landscape to learn for themselves what is possible for their own learning and for that of their students. I only hope I can meet their expectations. Visit our Learning Commons blog now and in the future to see what they have to say as they their journey continues. Leave a comment, all advice and encouragement accepted. They will appreciate it, and it will help sustain them through any moments of frustration they feel as they are learning within this new digital culture.

Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge three people for their work in this area. I am participating in two open, online courses this fall that are unlike any courses I have ever experienced. Each is stretching my communication, collaboration and creation skills. Without direct involvement in my work, nonetheless, the teachers of these open, online courses are helping to shape my understanding of the nature of Internet enabled learning and the pedagogy appropriate to this kind of instruction.

Two Free Open Online Courses

I highly recommend you visit if not participate in either or both of these courses, which are running now through December. Dr. Alec Couros, University of Regina, Saschatewan, Canada teaches the Social Media and Open Education course, which is free and online for anyone interested in participating. Dr. George Siemens and Dr. Stephen Downes, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada teach the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course, which is also free and online for anyone interested in participating.

i3cs21 Course Artifacts

To illustrate aspects of the i3cs21 course I am teaching, I want to share with you two artifacts that I created. One is my experiment with a new presentation tool called Prezi. It is an introduction to the course's components.

Animated Gettysburg Address

The other, which you can link to on my innovation3.edublogs.org blog, is my experiment with a animated video creation tool/web site called Xtranormal. It is one example I will use to illustrate options for communication, creation, and collaboration. For the fun of it, I created an animated version of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. I hope you enjoy both artifacts.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still a Learning, Creating, Teaching
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As I thought about what I might write this month, I considered giving a shout out to some people I have been learning from lately; namely, Clay Shirky, Seth Godin, Chris Anderson, and Garr Reynolds. I also thought about re-posting here an innovation3 blog post I recently wrote on John Seely Brown that was interesting for the process and the product. Then I visited the A Difference blog of Darren Kuropatwa, a Winnipeg, Manitoba teacher who really knows how to challenge his students to think deeply about the mathematics they are learning. There I read his June 30, 2009 post, The Formula for Changing Math Education, and having suffered through the "math wars" during the last part of the 20th Century, I decided I would write this LeaderTalk post as a follow up to Darren's. The seven steps (follow them in order or pick the one you like and start there) I outline below will help carry your thinking on math education to a new level of understanding.

Step 1: Each of us has preconceptions we bring to the topic of mathematics. You have to surface your preconceptions before you can engage your mind with the topic and challenge your way of thinking. So here goes. Step 1 is for you to answer these preconception questions before moving ahead.

* How might you conceive of mathematics as the language of life?
* Assuming for a moment that it is the language of life, what are some educational reasons for acknowledging its presence in all subjects and all classes in school?
* Why might statistics and probability be a better long-term goal for the majority of students rather than calculus?
* When you get right down to it, what role should technology have in how we teach mathematics?
* What examples of successful models of teaching mathematics with Web 2.0 technology can you discuss?

Step 2: Watch this "activator" video to get you thinking about the topic.

Step 3: Contribute your thoughts to the discussion that followed in the comments on Darren's blog after the video. Add your comments there or here.

Step 4: Here is another blog post for you to read from a different author, Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Center Director, National Center for Earth and Space Science, to help you consider the place of mathematics in our curriculum.

The first part of "Weekly Challenge 3: What Can You Do With a Humongous Piece of Xerox Paper?"

Step 5: The meat and potatoes is to study Darren's three class blogs.

Darren's Class Blogs

* AP Calculus AB: Without Bound ('08-'09)
* Applied Math 40S (Winter '09)
* Pre-Cal 40S (Winter '09)

A. What did Darren ask the students of his three classes to do on their blogs to learn?

B and C are optional, but worth the effort...

B. Have other teachers or your students analyze the learning that is evident in the class blogs.
C. Better yet, have the students use the student posts to learn mathematics and post their learning to your own class blog.

Step 6: Please take time to reflect by writing in the comment section below what you have learned.

* Answer the preconception questions now. How has your thinking changed or not changed?
* Are there other important questions?
* What are your answers?

Step 7: Now, how will you apply what you learned? This is your opportunity to present (use any media vehicle) your "formula for changing math education." Add it as a comment below or link us to your creation.

Thanks for participating.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still a Learning, Creating, Teaching
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

I will probably cross post this on innovation3.edublogs.org.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I think I have found a new vision, a new paradigm, a "New Story of Learning" in the 21st Century. It is creative and innovative. It is passionate and kind. It is natural and real. It leads me down a path to the truth and beauty of learning and the beauty and truth of humanity. It describes for me how we can learn to know, do, be, and live together. You will find all this in a book written by Stephanie Pace Marshall, The Power to Transform. Dr. Marshall is Founding President and President Emerita of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy®.

Dr. Marshall's language is so powerful and universal that is it not a story for educators only. It is a story that invites conversations, conversations among educators and people from every discipline and field of inquiry or human pursuit. The more perspectives the better.

So this post is a little different. It presents you with a digital tool called a VoiceThread. Many people, including students, teachers and other educators, are using this platform to invite participation. You have to register to use the VoiceThread at their website, but that is easy and although using it is fairly intuitive, there are tutorials on the website.

In the VoiceThread I've created below, you'll find seven quotes from the book, The Power to Transform. One quote per VoiceThread page, or "slide," is presented for you to read. Here's an example of what it looks like.

The 1st arrow points to the button you click to add your comment (text, audio, video, or file uploaded to the page). The 2nd arrow points to where you click to "turn the page" forward or backward.

You can participate in this "New Story of Learning" conversation by

- reading this VoiceThread,
- commenting on one or more pages,
- visiting Dr. Marshall's website for more information about the book and her work, and
- reading The Power to Transform.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still a Learner & Teacher
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

This is cross posted on innovation3.edublogs.org.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It is summertime and many educators, contrary to popular opinion, are mind working. Mind work is different for all of us, but for educators it involves thinking, learning and knowledge creation in a variety of different contexts for a variety of different purposes: perhaps it is a book a colleague recommended, a web site that promises resources for student learning, a blog post reflecting on work with students during the past school year, Twitter comments tagged as favorites during the busy school year, a podcast on pedagogy for global classroom collaboration, an archived online conversation on managing social networks. The list is endless and it can be overwhelming at times if not managed well.

Certainly, mind work involves collecting, sorting, analyzing, synthesizing, and creating new knowledge, but it also requires prioritizing so we attend to what is most important. I want to recommend three priorities, guideposts and related resources as the most important mind work you can do this summer.

To preview the resources, I will invite you to 1) watch a YouTube video titled HOME, 2) read an article titled Minds on Fire, and 3) read one book, Beyond Discipline. Ultimately, this post is about thinking and learning deeply about conditions of community for learning so we can learn together and help the children learn well.

Priority 1: The Planet

Do some deep thinking and learning about the planet and what will happen over the next ten years. The children we teach will inherit the world with whatever capacities we help them develop; they will be adults in 2020. Please do not dismiss this as a "science" topic; the reality is this is a topic for disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and and transdisciplinary inquiry.

Guidepost 1: Climate Change

23 June 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today extended an invitation to heads of State and government to attend an “unprecedented” global summit at the United Nations to spur action towards reaching an ambitious climate change pact later this year.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge facing this and future generations,” he said at a press conference in New York. “Emissions are rising and the clock is ticking.”

Citing the top scientists, he stressed that there are fewer than 10 years left to stop rising emissions in order to avoid “catastrophic” problems. “Now is the time for action,” he emphasized. (Quoted from Ban invites world leaders to 'unprecedented' UN climate change summit, July 6, 2009)

On September 22, 2009 the United Nations Secretary-General will host an all-day high-level event on climate change for Heads of State and Government at United Nations Headquarters to prepare for the December U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

2009 is a crucial year in the international effort to address climate change, culminating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December. In 2007, Parties agreed to shape an ambitious and effective international response to climate change, to be agreed at Copenhagen. (Quoted from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, July 6, 2009)

Resource 1: HOME

HOME is an ode to the planet's beauty and its delicate harmony. Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it. But HOME is more than a documentary with a message, it is a magnificent movie in its own right. Every breathtaking shot shows the Earth - our Earth - as we have never seen it before. Every image shows the Earth's treasures we are destroying and all the wonders we can still preserve. "From the sky, there's less need for explanations". Our vision becomes more immediate, intuitive and emotional. HOME has an impact on anyone who sees it. It awakens in us the awareness that is needed to change the way we see the world. (HOME embraces the major ecological issues that confront us and shows how everything on our planet is interconnected.)

In 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly four billion years of evolution. The price to pay is high, but it is too late to be a pessimist: humanity has barely ten years to reverse the trend, become aware of the full extent of its spoliation of the Earth's riches and change its patterns of consumption. (Quoted from http://www.youtube.com/homeproject on July 6, 2009)

Priority 2: The Internet

Do some deep thinking and learning about the new order of education emerging from learning environments made possible by the read-write-participatory web and Web 2.0 associated tools.

Guidepost 2: Social Learning

The most profound impact of the Internet, an impact that has yet to be fully realized, is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning. What do we mean by “social learning”? Perhaps the simplest way to explain this concept is to note that social learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning.

....................................

There is a second, perhaps even more significant, aspect of social learning. Mastering a field of knowledge involves not only “learning about” the subject matter but also “learning to be” a full participant in the field. This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice. (Images and Text from Minds on Fire, July 6, 2009)

Resource 2: Minds on Fire: Open Education, The Long Tail, and Learning 2.0

...various initiatives launched over the past few years have created a series of building blocks that could provide the means for transforming the ways in which we provide education and support learning. Much of this activity has been enabled and inspired by the growth and evolution of the Internet, which has created a global “platform” that has vastly expanded access to all sorts of resources, including formal and informal educational materials. The Internet has also fostered a new culture of sharing, one in which content is freely contributed and distributed with few restrictions or costs. (Quoted from Minds on Fire, July 6, 2009)

Priority 3: Community

Do some deep thinking and learning about "conditions of community" necessary for deep learning. Deep learning arises when we ask our students (or ourselves) “… to respond to questions … through multiple disciplinary and transdisciplinary lenses and … seek and discern the wholeness, patterns, connections, insights, and new meanings that unfold over time…. (Stephanie Pace Marshall, The Power to Transform, 2006, 57-58)” What are the conditions of community that nurture deep learning?

Guidepost 3: Learning Communities

Community 1: What are a faculty’s assumptions about the nature of children (or adults)? What do people you know believe motivates children and causes them to act the way they do within and beyond school? Do they believe that generally students can not be trusted and need a lot of guidance and a discipline system that clearly defines rules and expectations and then holds students responsible for their behaviors?

Community 2: If, on the other hand, a faculty believes that students have a human need for autonomy, relatedness and competence, students will be trusted to make decisions, teachers will develop human relationships with the children they teach in classes and throughout the school, and students are encouraged to develop habits of thinking by taking responsibility for tasks that engage and challenge them to stretch beyond their current level of knowledge and performance.

Research on best practices for learning communities discourages the former and encourages the latter approach to learning communities (Source: Kohn, 9).

Resource 3: Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community

I just finished reading the 10th Anniversary Edition of Alfie Kohn's Beyond

Discipline: From Compliance to Community. Originally published in 1996, it has much to say about the use of power, control, rewards, punishment and learning, but especially the conditions of community for learning that have and always will be relevant to classrooms and schools. The good news is that we have another ten years to transform our schools. With so much talk about 21st Century Skills and Schools, now is the perfect time to get unstuck. The danger is that another decade will pass and schools will not change.

• In particular, we need to be on the lookout for profoundly negative theories about the motives and capacities of children, which frequently animate discussions about classroom management... (2)


• When students are "off task," our first response should be to ask, "What's the task?" (19)


• For all the reasons discussed in this chapter, schools will not become inviting, productive places for learning until we have dispensed with bribes and threats altogether. (36)


• An effective teacher by definition is one who manages to get compliance with minimal effort and who succeeds in forcing rebellious children to back down. (56)


• Each aspect of life in a classroom offers an invitation to think about what decisions might be turned over to students--or negotiated with students--individually and collectively. (85)


• Students need to feel safe in order to take intellectual risks; they must be comfortable before they can venture into the realm of discomfort. (103)


• Question for student discussion: What makes school awful sometimes? Try to remember an experience during a previous year when you hated school, when you felt bad about yourself, or about everyone else, and you couldn't wait for it to be over. (114)


• Without question, we need plenty of support to make change of this magnitude. But with that support, and a vivid awareness of the need to make such a change, we can do it. We can create classrooms and schools where students are members of ... communities. We can move beyond discipline. ( 137)

(Quoted form: Alfie Kohn, Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community, 10th Anniversary Edition, 2006)

Some Thoughts: Conditions of Community for Educators

In this Internet age of Social Learning and Participatory Culture, I wonder if all educators are thinking about the behaviors, routines, norms and practices that are de facto conditions of community within their internet communities, small and large, loose and tight, impromptu and consistent, that are either nurturing or destroying opportunities for community. There is some evidence of consideration in the Digital Citizenship conversations, but I do not think it is widespread, always seen as applying to educators because they are adults, and deep enough as a legitimate area of academic, scholarly or professional inquiry.

The conversation on this topic can begin with some basic questions but at some point I hope it will move to examining practices, and ultimately grappling with reflections on the implications for our work with students. I have lots of questions; I wish I had more answers.

I want to acknowledge I used my PLN on Twitter to help me with the following list of questions. It is interesting that now that we have connected on this topic, I am beginning to feel like a community is percolating up from cyberspace. Not sure when the PLN becomes a PLC, but perhaps it has something to do with relatedness or relationships. Kohn says it has to do with caring for others and others caring about you. When it comes to conditions of community for nurturing deep learning, that seems like a good place to start.

It is also a great foundation for doing something to care for our HOME. After all is said and done, it is not about competition and markets or military might, living on this planet is about people coming together to communicate, collaborate and create things of value. Please prioritize your time this summer to watch HOME, read Minds on Fire, and read Beyond Discipline. After that, just commit yourself to getting unstuck so we can move forward by the millions to foster meaningful learning communities. Here are the questions. If you have thoughts, please comment.

• Who is in your PLN (Personal Learning Network or Professional Learning Network)?


• What is a PLC (Personal Learning Community or Professional Learning Community)?


• Do conditions of community matter on the Internet when adults are "developing their networks?"


• Is there an accepted definition of PLN that differentiates it from PLC?


• If there is a "in practice" definition of a PLC, such as the Dufour definition, does that preclude us from defining it in another way?


• Is one for personal communication and another for professional?


• Is one more powerful than another?


• Is each as powerful as the other but both powerful in different ways?


• Is one or the other defined by topic, goals, job categories?


• Is it okay to only share in a Network and be committed and involved in another?


• Who controls what I learn? If I decide, is that a PLN and if the group, is it a PLC?


• If the principal, superintendent, school board, state Department of Education or the Federal Government decides what I learn, what's that? Community? Compliance?


• Is face-to-face collaboration versus online collaboration a dimension to consider?

Thank you to Melissa Techman, Kelly Hines, Ernie Easter, Dan Callahan, and Melissa Edwards for your Twitter "tweets" on the question of PLNs and PLCs.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still Learning & Teaching
twitter: dennisar
skype: drichards1
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

This was cross posted on innovation3.edublogs.org.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On June 2, 2009 I visited the Massachusetts legislature's Joint Education Committee to give the following testimony in support of legislation that would institute a commission to create a Creativity Index.

Very few educators call or write their legislators. Do you? Fewer give testimony on legislation that will affect their professional lives and the lives of their students. Usually, you can submit it in writing. Won't you? We all need to be educator advocates for what we believe is best for children's learning. Legislators will appreciate receiving your point of view.

June 2, 2009
Massachusetts Joint Education Committee

To begin, let me define creativity as Sir Ken Robinson does, “Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. (TED Talk)” Everything flows from that premise. Think of all the original ideas that have had value in our lifetime: in communications, medicine, science, business, industry, entertainment, the arts. Without original ideas society would be very different.

So, I’m in favor of creativity, but I don’t think our schools are. In fact, I asked my grandson, who is in high school, what he does that is creative and he couldn’t think of anything.

It doesn’t surprise me because in school original ideas don’t have value. The right answer, the correct answer is what we value. Uniqueness, and going your own way, doing your own thing, pursuing what interests you, what you may be good at, is not encouraged; in most cases it is not tolerated, and sometimes it is even punished.

I think we have to have a national Creativity Conversation about the value of creativity and the role we expect schools, and the rest of society, to play in nurturing and cultivating creativity in young people. The conversation must begin here because I’m not aware of any other place that’s considering legislation like the Creativity Index.

If you pass the Creativity Index legislation, the critical conversation can begin. If you don’t, nothing will change and the business of schooling will continue to dampen the imagination and frown on innovation.

Our future hangs on your decision because our future depends on how creative, imaginative, how innovative adults will be in the future. And that depends on what we expect, value and support in schools.

Picasso is quoted by Robinson as saying that “All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.” Picasso’s right. We need to listen to what he’s saying.

In one study quoted by Ken Robinson from George Land and Beth Jarman’s book called, Breakpoint and Beyond: Mastering the Future Today, 98% of kindergarteners were classified as geniuses when it came to divergent thinking, which is what you do when you are not forced to conform. It’s a critical ingredient in creativity. 98% of our young people naturally ready to be creative. All education has to do is nourish and cultivate these divergent thinkers. Imagine a company, a hospital, a scientific team, a farm, a high school or university where 98% of the people are creative.

That same study found that as children age the percentage of divergent thinkers shrinks. By age ten the 98% has shrunk to 32% and by age fifteen it is only 10%. It’s no wonder when they tested 200,000 adults, only 2% were considered divergent thinkers.

In this case “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!” is not a Disney fantasy but a brutal fact of an education system that is currently educating students out of their creative capacities.”

I don’t think the status quo is acceptable or wise for a state that depends on, and quite frankly, desperately needs creative thinkers. Massachusetts’ innovation economy requires creative thinkers, problem solvers, entrepreneurs, writers, scientists, politicians, educators, artists. We need to nurture and cultivate creativity and diversity in all young people so they can grow up engaged in life, continually challenging themselves and each other to have original ideas that have value.

Please vote for Creativity Index legislation so we can begin the Creativity Conversation now.

√ For more information (articles, Boston Globe Editorial, and the legislation's language) about this Creativity Index legislation, go here.

√ Robinson, Sir Ken. (February 2006) Schools Kill Creativity. TED.com talk.

√ Robinson, Sir Ken. (2009) The Element. New York: Viking.

√ Robinson, Sir Ken. (2001) Out of Our Minds. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Capstone.

√ Robinson, Sir Ken. (July 14, 2005). Presentation. Education Commission of the States, 2005 National Forum of Education Policy, Chairman’s Breakfast, Denver, Colorado.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still Learning & Teaching
twitter: dennisar
skype: drichards1
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Who will ignite the desire to learn in the adults today so they will ignite the desire to learn in our children tomorrow?

On April 27, 2009 President Obama spoke at the 146th Annual Meeting of National Academy of Sciences. I recommend the entire speech for its historic importance, a turning point for science, technology, math and engineering (STEM) that could some day be viewed as the equivalent of President John F. Kennedy's 'Decision to Go to the Moon' speech almost fifty years ago on May 25, 1961, and for the context it provides Mr. Obama’s comments on STEM education.

How far will the STEM education have travelled by 2020? By 2070? Now seems like the time for us to transform the status quo. If predictions about the future are correct, as I believe they are, our civilization my depend on what scientists and educators do now with this invitation Present Obama issued us, individually and collectively, to prepare the youth of our nation to "tackle the grand challenges of this decade."

What will you do? What will we do together?

STEM Education: Top Priority

Mr. Obama is making the sciences and STEM education a top priority for his administration. In his speech he called for “a renewed commitment to education in mathematics and science.”

America’s young people will rise to the challenge if given the opportunity –- if called upon to join a cause larger than themselves. We’ve got evidence. You know, the average age in NASA’s mission control during the Apollo 17 mission was just 26. I know that young people today are just as ready to tackle the grand challenges of this century.

Mr. Obama identified the quality of science and math teaching as the “the most influential single factor in determining whether a student will succeed or fail in [STEM] subjects.” Given that America is projected to be short 280,000 math and science teachers in 2015, Mr. Obama said we need to pay attention to this weakness and take strategic action now.

Offering a specific financial incentive, Mr. Obama said, “States making strong commitments and progress in math and science education will be eligible to compete later this fall for additional funds under the Secretary of Education’s $5 billion Race to the Top program.”

Mr. Obama presented elements of his STEM agenda when he challenged Americans to collaborate to “dramatically improve achievement in math and science” using "inventive approaches."

2020 STEM Education Goals

Mr. Obama announced two major goals for STEM education over the next decade.

√ By 2020 "increase the number of high school graduates so … America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world" and
√ By 2020 ensure that American students move “from the middle to the top of the pack [internationally] in science and math over the next decade”

The Fifty States

Mr. Obama asked each state in the nation to

√ raise STEM standards
√ modernize science labs
√ upgrade STEM curriculum
√ forge partnerships to improve the use of science and technology in our classrooms
√ enhance STEM teacher preparation and training
√ attract new and qualified STEM teachers
√ better engage students in STEM education
√ reinvigorate STEM subjects in our schools
√ create systems that retain and reward effective STEM teachers
√ create new pathways to bring the expertise and the enthusiasm of experienced STEM professionals into STEM classroom

Obama Administration

The Obama administration’s budget “provides tax credits and grants to make a college education more affordable,” and it “triples the number of National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships” to support students who want to pursue scientific careers. Mr. Obama also committed to participating “in a public awareness and outreach campaign to encourage students to consider careers in science and mathematics and engineering.” You can view Pennsylvania's STEM Initiative Communications Plan video here.

National Governors Association

The National Governor’s Association (NGA) has a current STEM initiative, a component of Innovation America. Mr. Obama said Governor Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania will lead an NGA initiative to have every state make science, technology, engineering and mathematics education a top priority. Read Innovation America: Building a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Agenda, an NGA report, to become familiar the NGA STEM agenda. I created a summary, NGA Innovation America STEM Strategies, that you can download here.

Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Community

Mr. Obama challenged scientists to

√ “use their love and knowledge of science to spark the same sense of wonder and excitement in a new generation”
√ “spend time in the classroom, talking and showing young people what it is that your work can mean, and what it means to you”
√ “participate in programs to allow students to get a degree in science fields and a teaching certificate at the same time”
√ participate in “new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, whether it’s science festivals, robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and build and invent — to be makers of things, not just consumers of things”

Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation

Mr. Obama announced that the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation will be launching a joint initiative to inspire tens of thousands of American students to pursue [STEM careers], particularly in clean energy. The initiative will include

√ "an educational campaign to capture the imagination of young people who can help us meet the energy challenge"
√ "research opportunities for undergraduates and educational opportunities for women and minorities who too often have been underrepresented in scientific and technological fields, but are no less capable of inventing the solutions that will help us grow our economy and save our planet"
√ "fellowships and interdisciplinary graduate programs and partnerships between academic institutions and innovative companies to prepare a generation of Americans to meet this generational challenge"

Encouraging Words

The President concluded with some sober words of encouragement and hope for the audience of scientists and the education profession.

Somewhere in America there’s an entrepreneur seeking a loan to start a business that could transform an industry — but she hasn’t secured it yet. There’s a researcher with an idea for an experiment that might offer a new cancer treatment -– but he hasn’t found the funding yet. There’s a child with an inquisitive mind staring up at the night sky. And maybe she has the potential to change our world –- but she doesn’t know it yet.

As you know, scientific discovery takes far more than the occasional flash of brilliance –- as important as that can be. Usually, it takes time and hard work and patience; it takes training; it requires the support of a nation. But it holds a promise like no other area of human endeavor.
......................

As President Kennedy said when he addressed the National Academy of Sciences more than 45 years ago: "The challenge, in short, may be our salvation."

Resources

√ The Decision to Go to the Moon: NASA History Office
√ Present Obama Speech to the National Academy of Sciences, April 27, 2009: Audio, Video, Transcript, Pictures
√ Pennsylvania STEM Initiative Communications Plan Video
√ Innovation America: Building a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Agenda, National Governors Association
√ STEM Communications Tool Kit, National Governors Association
√ Innovation America Website, National Governors Association

Photo Sources

√ President Obama
√ Innovation America: Building a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Agenda, National Governors Association

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still Learning & Teaching
twitter: dennisar
skype: drichards1
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

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Of course, many people do do well in their schools and love what they have to offer. But too many graduate or leave early, unsure of their real talents and not knowing what direction to take next. Too many feel what they are good at isn’t valued by schools. Too many think they’re not good at anything. (Sir Ken Robinson, The Element, p. 225)

Have you ever wondered how people become good at something they like to do? The “something” could be anything; fishing, for example, or acting, playing pool or flying the space shuttle, painting water colors, telling jokes, or unraveling the laws of physics. It could be something one does as an amateur or something one does as a professional to make a living.

I suspect the question doesn’t come up much when you are developing curriculum or designing assessments. Because of current policies and beliefs about educating children, schools often seem to be focusing on two priorities. The first priority is teaching students to be literate in mathematics, English language arts, and science and the second is preparing them to do well on the NCLB mandated and state designed standardized tests. It is time to explore another vision of 21st Century education for the good of our children and our communities.

The Element

In his latest book, The Element, Sir Ken Robinson offers the reader a series of mini-biographies, the life story of people who have become successful in spite of the education they received in the schools they attended. As Robinson explains the process, they have found their way to their Element, “the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion.” (21)

An Astronaut's Inspiration

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Colonel Eileen Marie Collins, USAF, RET. and former NASA Astronaut talk about her experiences at NASA flying on the Space Shuttle. Collins served as pilot on STS-63 (February 3-11, 1995) and STS-84 (May 15-24, 1997), and was the commander on STS-93 (July 22-27, 1999) and STS-114 (July 26 to August 9, 2005). A veteran of four space flights, Collins has logged over 872 hours in space. She is a person who obviously found her Element. She developed the aptitude to do what she loved to do, be an astronaut. After her talk I had the opportunity to ask her what inspired her to become an astronaut. Here is her answer.

A NASA Astronaut's Inspiration: Colonel Eileen Marie Collins, USAF, RET. from Dennis Richards on Vimeo.

Colonel Eileen Collins commanded the historic STS-114 "Return to Flight" mission, the first after the Columbia tragedy. Here is STS-114 at launch. Source: NASA

Colonel Collins' story illustrates the connection between passion and aptitude that Robinson examines in The Element.

Aptitude-Passion Chart

To help explain how Robinson uses the "Element" in his book, I have created the chart below. When you look at the chart, you will find four quadrants representing the intersection of the concepts of having a passion and an aptitude for doing something.

Students, for example, represented by quadrant Q 1 are not in very good shape because they lack the passion and aptitude for doing something. We obviously try to help students avoid this, but too often it happens and this lack of interest and aptitude have consequences that are all too familiar.

If you move along the "aptitude" axis from left to right, you will find quadrants representing students who have developed greater proficiency at something, and depending on the level of passion they have developed for doing it, we can assign them to quadrant Q 2 or Q 4 on the chart. In quadrant Q 2 students are able to do something, but they don’t enjoy doing it. Whereas Q 4 represents students who have arrived at an enviable state of having a passion for what they are good at doing. These students are similar to Colonel Collins and the men and women Robinson profiles in his book.

Quadrant Q 3 represents students who have a passion for something for which they have not yet developed an aptitude. Only time will tell if they can develop an aptitude that would allow us to assign them to quadrant Q 4.

Education and Cultivating Talent

If discovering one’s Element is important, shouldn’t schools be helping students to discover their talent or talents so they can develop their aptitude and passion for what they are good at? As Robinson puts it,

Finding our Element is essential for us as individuals and for the well-being of our communities. Education should be one of the main processes that take us to the Element. Too often though, it serves the opposite function. This is a very serious issue for all of us. In many systems, the problems are getting worse. What do we do about this? (228)

We can pretend that tinkering with the system we have will be sufficient to address the issue. We want to believe adjustments in the current system will be sufficient to position the current curriculum, pedagogy and assessments so we can help students find and develop their Element. It’s easier that way, less disruptive, and it preserves the integrity of past efforts to do good by students.

Robinson argues, and I agree, tinkering will not do it; we have to transform schools because, as currently structured, the curriculum, the pedagogy and assessment systems are each designed to serve the interest of an outdated industrial model of education. If we simply tinker with the current model, its essence is retained.

The Labor of Schools

Educators and students are laboring under the burden of too much disconnected content that educators must deliver at an unreasonable pace with little time available for meaningful personal formative assessment. In this environment, imagination, creativity, and innovation are not required, taught or assessed. No wonder students graduate, if they can last that long, without these skills and without any understanding of what they are good at or what they have a passion for.

Transformed Education

Would you be disappointed if each of your students were graduating from your school inspired to pursue something that they were good at? We can no longer be satisfied with anything less. We must do whatever it takes to transform every classroom in our schools and districts so each student has the opportunity to find his and her Element.

If transformation is what we need, what will schools be like? My March post on this blog explores some of the characteristics, but Robinson offers another important perspective based on imagination, creativity and passion. What he writes in The Element reminds me of my own comments on the importance of engaging, challenging and inspiring students. A banner that I saw in Washington, D.C. hanging in front of the Library of Congress said it another way. It simply said, “Explore. Discover. Be Inspired.”

Let me conclude with a video I created from video clips I took in Orlando, Florida in March 2009 when I heard Sir Ken Robinson speak. His comments expand upon the answer to the questions above: What do we do about [the current state of education]? and What will transformed schools be like?

Sir Ken Robinson On Transforming Education from Dennis Richards on Vimeo.

Dennis Richards ~ innovation3.edublogs.org

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This won't be easy, but it's important, and I know you can do it.

Just for a moment, imagine the intersection of the classroom with the world. We educate students to be guardians of the world they will inherit from us. We educate students for the world: scientists, politicians, entrepreneurs, economists, sculptors, train engineers, farmers, truck drivers; spouses, friends, colleagues, competitors. Students become citizens in this democracy and, at the same time, this "flat" world; each one a voter regularly faced with the awesome task of making decisions on complex issues that will have significant consequences for our future. Are they ready? Are they learning to learn so they can continue to learn when they leave school?

In January 2009 I attended a panel discussion in Philadelphia at Educon 2.1, a Web 2.0 education conference sponsored by the Science Leadership Academy. On Friday evening to open the conference, a panel of several men and women distinguished for accomplishments in their fields of learning and work were asked to address one question, what is the purpose of school? Their comments helped me realize that we ignore introducing students to the world with all of its complexity and challenge at our own peril. For learning to be an engaging, challenging, life-long activity for students, they need to use, develop, learn and apply their knowledge and skills within authentic, real-world contexts.

See for yourself. Here is my distillation of their comments, with a few of my own, on the purpose(s) of schooling. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Can we achieve these purposes without introducing real-world contexts into schools? How much more engaging would learning be for students if the contexts for learning came from the world adults inhabit every day, locally and globally?

The purpose of schooling is to inspire students to:

- creatively solve problems;
- collaborate as if it is the only way to get things done;
- be courageous;
- be confident;
- generate and harvest ideas for the community's benefit;
- participate in the community's economy while in school;
- build the community's social capital;
- inquire as a way of life;
- honor differences;
- communicate well;
- present well;
- be able to explain something really well;
- "calibrate" their time, effort, and resources;
- open their eyes to what is possible;
- understand how things really work;
- think and act compassionately;
- seek truth and beauty; and
- use the most advanced technology.

This describes a very different paradigm of learning from what I was used to as a student and I suspect most of you too, but imagine how different our definition of success would be if we could redefine the purpose of schooling in these ways and actually achieve them. If now is the time for change, this is the change we must become.

However, what will this paradigm look like in practice? What will teachers do? What will students do? What will schooling be like? When, where and how will learning take place? Were can we go to uncover within ourselves the understanding and wisdom we need to answer these questions in personally and professionally satisfying and significant ways?

I suggest the following as a few places you can use to ignite your learning. There are many writers and organizations grappling with the question of what the world of the future will be like, Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded, for example. Stephanie Pace Marshall, Founding President and President Emerita of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy®, has written about the future world of learning in her book, The Power to Transform. Ken Robinson is another author writing about how we should educate in the future, most recently in The Element. Others are trying to define the skills students will need: the Partnership for 21st Century Skills work, Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, and Henry Jenkins's Project New Media Literacies to name a few. Authors are also trying to help us understand the minds we will need or will get to educate in the future such as Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future, Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, and Don Tapscott's Grown Up Digital. There are also people writing and commenting within the forums of education-focused social networks, hundreds of education bloggers and creators of education wikis, and a multitude of free, online, archived educational documents and presentations. To say the least, we have a plethora of resources to tap as we pursue our self-directed learning journey for the 21st Century.

Hopefully, we can learn what we need to about teaching and learning practice and teacher and student roles. But what about authentic, real-world contexts?

I would like to address that question by presenting you with a real-world context and a question that is really an invitation to join an intellectual "studio" or "arena" if you will. The question: how could the knowledge and understanding you gain from your learning journey for the 21st Century mentioned above be applied to the context of developments in a relatively small section of north west Colombia, South America? Along with the question I will guide you to lots of background information on a project that has been ongoing since the 1980's. You can provide brain power by activating your creativity and innovation to write compelling comments on how this real-world context could be successfully used in schools to achieve the schooling purposes mentioned above. Involve anyone you like in the conversation ~ faculty and staff from from your school, people from your community, or colleagues from your personal learning network.

Here are some questions to focus some of your thinking.

- If you wanted to address deforestation in Colombia, what would you need to know, what skills would you need, what would you do? If you were innovative and creative, would you be better off when trying to address the problem?

- If you wanted to help indigenous people manage local pollution and you wanted to help them help themselves economically, what would you do? Would you be better off if you had core knowledge in traditional school subjects and better off with entrepreneurial skills?

- If you wanted to save a critically endangered species of monkey (Cotton-top Tamarin), what would you do? Would you be more able to address the problem if you could put together a multidisciplinary team that could work together collaboratively, be adaptive and self-directed?

I learned about this project, Proyecto Tití, through three sources:

1) speaking to Ashley, a staff member at Disney's Wild Kingdom,
2) visiting the project web site, and
3) talking to Dr. Anne Savage, Senior Conservation Biologist at Disney's Wild Kingdom and Executive Director of Proyecto Tití.

To get you started, below is a video of what Ashley told me about the project and here is the link to Proyecto Tití's web site. You will also find other information on the Cotton-top Tamarin by clicking the links below.

Proyecto Tití: Saving the Cotton-top Tamarin from Dennis Richards on Vimeo

Let the conversation begin and remember to return here to comment on what you do and learn. The internet is interactive now. Get with it. Share what you learn with others!

Cotton-top Tamarin at Encyclopedia of Life
Cotton-top Tamarin Pictures and Videos at Arkive
Educon 2.1 photo by bknittle
Cotton-top Tamarin photo by suneko

Dennis Richards
innovation3.edublogs.org

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