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Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Several trainings are in store for support staff, administrators, and new teachers the beginning of this week.  This is my fifth year in this district and I feel like we have made some great progress over that time.  Access to digital devices is much improved, our network and storage space has been upgraded (a continual process), and I hope to see more of a focus on use, integration, and embedding technology in the classroom this year.

We have a 1:1 initiative at our smallest middle school with about 200 netbooks in the system.  It is not a full fledged take home program, but students have access during the day.  We hope to get to the 3/4 stage of 1:1 at our high school with only 300 devices left for next year to bring online 1200 netbooks for students to use at NPHS.  This year will be a preparation for that goal, and I hope we can have some progressive discussions and preparation as we move closer to that end.

Within this big picture view are some little things that have profound influence on quality of life.  There are so many troubles out there in this big old world, and it is nice to have some tender mercies around to lighten the load.  We got a puppy in the spring and had spent all the time and energy it takes to bring him along as a member of our family.  We determined that the time was right and that we would have the summer to train him and enjoy him.  School ended for my five children on May 18th and my wife followed the next day after wrapping up her school year as a speech-language pathologist.  I have an extended contract that runs into July; so, I continue my service as we ready the district for a new school year.

On May 26th our dear, new friend Shadow was hit by a truck and we had to put him down.  Needless to say, the Memorial Day weekend took on a whole new meaning and was not filled with happiness and joy.  I grew up on a ranch in western Wyoming and have spent my life around animals.  For me, I have seen them come and go, but there are always a special few.  Shadow was one of them.  My children and I have had a special opportunity to reflect on the short life of something that became important to our family.  It has not been easy, but they are learning that it gets easier as each day passes.  This learning is profound, meaningful, and lifelong.  It will never be measured on a standardized test, and my children have learned more from this experience than an entire year of school will ever hope to bring.

We get in such a hurry in life that we forget to enjoy the things that are going on around us.  Events, people, pets, our surroundings often slip by like the scenery we view in a speeding vehicle.  We don’t notice, or cherish the little things, the special things, until they are sometimes taken away without a moment’s notice.  This can be the summer that Shadow died, or it can be something else.  I’m not sure what that something else is as of yet, but our family is searching.

I know a few that visit this blog from time to time, and your visits may be less because I post less.  It is because I have been too busy living life and that’s okay.  I hope you are all having a great summer, but if you are sad I can understand how you feel.  Your sadness may be greater, more profound, and more serious.  Take comfort in the fact that your sadness comes from the loss of joy.  Remember the joy and get it back someway, somehow, as soon as you can.  Goodbye Shadow.  You brought my family true, honest, joy.  Thank you.

If you are in the region, I highly recommend a trip to Omaha next spring (April 26-27, 2012) to attend the NETA conference.  You will be amazed at the resources you will have access to, the speakers and presenters that will share valuable information, and the power of face to face networking.  You can learn more information about NETA at the following url:  http://www.netasite.org.

See you next year!

Ian Jukes said:

“We have access to some new technologies but their use is generally optional not integral and certainly not required of all teachers – and the technologies are often used to reinforce old practices and assumptions about teaching and learning and assessment and do not require the teacher to change their current instructional practices.”

“Ask yourself this very important question – would your students be there in your classrooms if they didn’t have to be? Are they there because they want to be there? Or are they there because they have no other choice? And if they’re there only because they have to, what can we begin to do differently to help more students want to be in our classes?”

“…Our emphasis as professional educators has to be on more than just LOTS.”

“The starting point for making the necessary changes is that as educators we have to understand how truly different our students are.”

“This shift is so fundamental – the gap between them and us is so wide – that there’s no going back to the basics. There’s no going back to the way things were when we were kids.”

“The problem is that many educators just don’t get that there is a digital divide. Many of us pay lip service to the notion that this generation is different. We knowingly nod our heads but then we shut the door to the classroom and go back to business as usual where it could just as easily be 1960 all over again.”

“Most teachers know very little if anything about the digital world of their students – from online gaming to their means of exchanging, sharing, meeting, evaluating, coordinating, programming, searching, customizing, and socializing.”

“The bottom line is that we really don’t understand their digital world and we never will until we take the time to honor and respect where they come from. But to do this we have to be willing to acknowledge their world and start to educate ourselves about that world.”

“If we truly want to make a difference in the lives of our children, schools must become a place where students are actively engaged in constructing their own knowledge and know how…”

“The context of a significant event provides a frame of reference and relevance for remembering the specific information about what you were doing long after the event. By providing a context for the new information teachers are actually helping students with long-term memory.”

My summary and challenge to myself and others that continues today:  As educators it is time that we take responsibility for our own learning.  If we want to create self-directed learners, we must become one.  We must model self-directed, independent learning, and we need to discover how our students learn in the 21st Century.

The questions:

• Who is my child to you?
• Who are they as readers, writers, community members?
• What makes them unique?
• What are they passionate about?
• How do they add value to your class and the wider community?
• What makes you proud?

Read Angela’s article to learn more:  Parent Teacher Conference: “The Morning After”