A good friend told me that he heard another friend whining about how he wished educational bloggers would get back to blogging from the heart. It struck a cord with me. While I am anything but a Chicken Soup for the Soul kind of blogger– (more emotion than substance in posts) I do think there is a place for emotional intelligence when addressing educational reform and change. Michael Jansen, the first black person to serve as dean of the University of Pretoria in South Africa outlines seven themes that I think encompass leadership with a hear.

Yesterday was fun. I was asked to be one of the presenters at the TIE/ISTE Leadership Bootcamp. More importantly I was also allowed to be one of the learners. During the facilitated round table discussions we had a process activity that I participated in as a learner. It was a 4 step writing process.  Which I think is really important. One of the downfalls of ISTE is that there is so much experiencing and so little time to reflect. Most deep reflection happens after folks go home. Even now as I write this I am feeling like I am missing out on .

Alec Couros and I were talking the other day and I was reminded of a post I have been wanting to do about deep thinking, sharing and action. We originally connected to talk about a new project PLP is sponsoring, a virtual Institute for Higher Education, which Alec will lead, but it took us awhile to get to that part of the conversation. Why? Because we were sharing strong ideas and passions about education, leadership, change, and human nature. Alec said something that got to me– I am paraphrasing here, but he said something to the effect.

While I am becoming more and more dissatisfied with Delta as my preferred airline because of treatment by most (not all) gate folks and flight attendants, I am finding that I am enjoying the networking opportunities with the folks I meet there more and more. I travel. A lot. Because of that I often get bumped up to First Class and in First Class you meet the most interesting people. People who really have a great deal of knowledge and are willing to share it if asked. The dynamics are interesting actually, networking in-flight has its own norm.

I am a big fan of my adult kids. I really am. If I wasn’t their parent I would surely want to be their friend as they turned out to be really fun, creative, decent people. (on a side note– I am really glad too since my mother constantly told me I would reap what I had sown as a kid when I had my own– it just wasn’t true). I guess I find myself taking stock once again in my life and my children’s lives because my youngest just graduated from college. I felt like whew… I made it; four well adjusted children Amb.

Would love your comments on these ideas — let’s have a conversation. OTHER FORMATS Portable (iPod) http://blip.tv/file/get/Snbeach-Reflection1ToTEDxNYED352.wmv Audio-only http://blip.tv/file/get/Snbeach-Reflection1ToTEDxNYED604.wmv

Definitions of smart on the Web: showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness chic: elegant and stylish; “chic elegance”; “a smart new dress”; “a suit of voguish cut” bright: characterized by quickness and ease in learning; “some children are brighter in one subject than another”; “smart children talk earlier than the average” fresh: improperly forward or bold; “don’t be fresh with me”; “impertinent of a child to lecture a grownup”; ̶.

Photo credit: http://thenewpostliterate.blogspot.com/2009/01/dr-john-m-bennetts-solo-and.html In the PLPNetbooks community (Australia work) this blog post surfaced after my interview with Steve Hargadon on The Future of Education The Title of the post is the same as mine.. Why Are We Here? It follows: Ok … Now I’ve got your attention I’ve just finished listening to the lastest episode of the “Ed Tech Live” podcast in which Steve Hargadon interviewed our very own community leader Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. This is a .

I have been thinking a lot about how to manage the needed change process in education. Looks like a lot of folks have been playing with that idea as well. ISTE released their new NETS for ADMIN framing it as having the potential for - Transforming Education- Administrators play a pivotal role in determining how well technology is used in our schools. The NETS for Administrators enable us to define what administrators need to know and be able to do in order to discharge their responsibility as leaders in the effective use of technology in ou.

My daughter Grace (pictured above wearing the “optical Illusion” threadless) loves Threadless T-shirts. She always asks for them for Christmas. I recently got this email and thought I would share. Hi There, I wanted to let you know about a new program that is being hosted by Threadless which is a community-centered tee-shirt company based out of Chicago, IL called Threadless 101. The idea is this: students are given an assignment to create an original design for a tee-shirt-any and all specifications are up to the teacher!.