The last night... bitter sweet.

They say a camel is just a horse designed by committee... this adage is very true in the education world. All of the committees I have sat on over the coarse of the last six years have been an utter waist of time. There is rarely a division of labor and never an effort for collaborative problem solving. Inevitably meetings over the year degenerate into a round table gripe fests in which the status quo is maintained or at the very most begrudgingly nudged in the direction of progress. Then after the committee presents there 'no change' changes the school in general ignores them and continues upon the path they have always been on.
Doing the Lego challenge this week has shone what can happen when multiple groups are working on multiple tasks with a single focus and a total lack of ego... well we all have egos, but none of us were cemented into our thinking. We divided and conquered, we crossed groups to help where ever help was needed, and best of all we all celebrated each others victories and shouldered each others minor failures. It has been an exercise in community for certain.
For all of us the real challenge is going to be bringing this positive feeling of team work and support to our work places. We are going to have to stare the old unmovable forces that fight progress in their faces and lead them through example and through assistance. We are going to have to fight through the noise of 'why bother' and through all of the reasons they will undoubtedly bring forth which justify the failure of students and their complete lack of involvement theirin. The status quo can not stand we as a world need better students who grow into better adults. Our problems are not going away, they are simply multiplying. The camel analogy must not be embraced, we must teach all of the world how to overcome it... there are just too many of us to not work together... and there is just too little time not to start now.

Its Day 3!

Its funny how the littlest things can be the hardest to accomplish in a group of practically any size. Today it was easier for 13 people, living in four different time zones, to quickly pick the times they wanted to meet for the entirety of the next year, but picking a name for the group was a monumental task. We had 13 hungry people who all knew lunch was on the table a few hundred yards away and that was not enough motivation for them to belittle the naming process. Names are in fact powerful. Names carry weight and have influence, its the main reason no one should name their daughter Roxy, Trixy, or Star, unless you want to raise a stripper. Does that mean Roxy cant be a doctor? Of course not... but lets face it, odds are she going to be a stripper. Just like odds are your son named Melvin is going to be a geek... or if he shortens it by choice to Mel, a professional bowler. I think it has something to do with three letter names fitting well on bowling shirts... but I am off subject. We came to a decision that I think no one was happy with at the time, so I believe I am going to call for a recount tomorrow after everyone has had a day to think about it. It is important to remember that quick decisions can lead to your loved ones becoming strippers... or worse... bowlers.

The Growing of Communitay

Community is as fluid a word as any in the English language... it can number from 2 to millions... it can range from a small town where everyone knows your name to a high rise apartment in Manhattan where neighbors barely recognize each others faces. As a traveler and a bit of a rebel, community has never played a major roll in my life.

Community is something I have tended to avoid, I often find myself looking from the outside in. I often slide sideway of the norm to side step it. But I find this community of learners and teachers to be a collection of amazing individuals. I find the former cadre members attitudes and excitement after all of the time that has passed inspiring. Not in an "awe shucks ain't that quaint" way, but in a way that makes me think that perhaps this feeling of strange belonging (something I haven't felt for over 6 years in Hawaii) to be real. So to answer the question of how has my impression of community changed in the last 24 hours? Simple, I am actually excited to be a part of one.

Day 1 Learning Technologies Camp

As I drove down the coast towards Malibu I was feeling in a word, terrified , was I to old to go back to school? Had I been away from school (one in which I am not the one in charge) for to long? Was the first day going to be a hellish combination of ice breakers and crawling around on the ground displaying our inner spirit animal? Please no inner spirit animals! I was scared... and I am not afraid of, well, much.

My fear evaporated quickly as we all began meeting around the dorms. It seemed that as we all began to mingle we discovered that we were all in relatively the same space, similar fears and concerns, similar excitements and anticipations, and similar feelings of the beginning of a new adventure...this immediately alleviated my stress and lingering fear.

The energy of a group often shows its self early and clearly... this group was no different within minutes of sitting together, jokes, joy, and a real feeling of adventure bubbled to the surface... oddly and happily I felt at home.