Laura Varlas wrote an interesting piece in ASCD “Caught in the Middle” July 2010 | Volume 52 | Number 7 Called- Looking Within: Teachers Leading Their Own Learning She had me at her opening line, “The most powerful and ample resource for change in education is teachers’ own expertise. Yet, teachers are regularly overstepped when it comes to leading school improvement.” What’s not to love? Teachers developing expertise and leadership by using their voice in areas that impact them most, areas such as, profess.

I am driving home from NYC and while I know I should be devoting my time to the PLP communities, I couldn’t help myself- I had to come here first and reflect. It is such a rare thing when I have a chance to attend an event as a learner only and at TEDxNYED I was just that “learner only.” Don’t get me wrong,  I learn a great deal while I am presenting and engaging  audiences in the workshops and keynotes I am invited to give, however, it is rare that I am ever able to attend an event with no pressure to perform-where I.

I had an epiphany today. For most of you who lead change, run a company or ministry this is probably obvious. But for me– not so much. I was listening to John Maxwell on TV today and he shared something I had never considered. My mission, my purpose in all the work I do, whether keynoting, conferences, working with for profits like Intel or Microsoft or non profits like the EETT grant work and especially in the building of PLP, has to be about adding value to the lives of others. I know..I know.. for you guys it is a no brainer, but for.

What do you think of when you try and define the concept leadership? I surveyed my Twitter community recently and was struck with the diversity represented as they grappled with the idea. Most of the definitions spoke to leadership belonging to a group broader than individual leaders.  Which is a shift from the dictionary definition: lead⋅er⋅ship 1. the position or function of a leader: He managed to maintain his leadership of the party despite heavy opposition. 2. ability to lead: She displayed leadership potential. 3. a.

I have been spending some time recently responding to a listserv discussion that has many brilliant, award winning teachers on it who are not sold on the idea that we really are going to have to change education to remain relevant; that *they* are going to have to change.  I thought I would share my most recent letter. One member writes-I’ve been waiting and wondering when someone would take up the thread that Mark began during our "Here Comes Everybody" discussion, wherein he talked about how the printing press put scrib.

Interesting discussion over on Student 2.0 by Sean (the bass player) a student in Scotland and a group of teachers. The post was inspired from some well meant questions from a caring American adult (teacher) who was chatting with Sean at 1:30am (Scotland). I think it was more the perceived inferences Sean drew from the questions that inspired his post, not necessarily the intentions of the asker, but regardless, the conversation struck a chord with me. Where do we draw the line?Sean asks, "Where do we draw the line?" in response to th.

Got this from Alan Levine’s NMC site. August 15, 2007 (Thinkerers Quest, Second Life) - Thinkerer Studios - a network of residents in the virtual online world of Second Life - today announced the launch of an awards program to identify and encourage the development of creative products and services that use Second Life capabilities to enrich or empower experiences in Real Life. The first Award recipient will be made known at the end of September, 2007. Recipients of the Thinkerer Challenge Award will receive 30,000 Lindens - the currency.

I was over on Christopher Sessums site today. If you do not have him in your feed, you are missing out. His blog is the perfect mix of art, information and intellect. This post caught my eye:Educational Technology and Teacher Preparation: Bridging Theory to Practice. Chris does a wonderful job of looking at the struggles teacher educators have with technology adoption, which in turn creates a struggle for preservice adoption, which in turn carries over to the classroom. As you can imagine a wonderful, engaging conversation began in the commen.

If I was ever to believe there are computer gremlins, today would have been the day. Today’s Virtual Monday speaker was Vinnie Vrotny and despite the tech issues we had in Elluminate he did a wonderful job. Vinnie’s school is doing some incredible things with their students. You absolutely need to check out his resources on the class wiki. Also, you can catch the archive of his presentation here. From student made digital movies about Vietnam to Google Sktechups of student created Mayan Villages, Vinnie and his colleagues are modeli.

On Monday, I had the most awesome time delivering the keynote at the National Assoc. for the Edc. of Homeless Children and Youth conference. Where a caring group of homeless service providers, policy makers, higher education, K12 teachers, administrators and other interested stakeholders gathered, all with the goal of advocacy for those who can’t advocate for themselves- homeless and high poverty children. It was awe inspiring talking to and be with such dedicated folks who are making such a difference in the lives of so many. I arrived S.