Comments for Epiphanies

Comment on On BaLaNcE by Reflection « Epiphanies

Reflection « Epiphanies — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:09:26 +0000

[...] to learn. Well actually I have been forgetting to process what I learn. A while back I posted about balance in one’s life and I have not been taking my own [...]

Comment on Wasting Time Learning by bradmdav

bradmdav — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:22:21 +0000

Thanks for the comment and the link- Creating students who are excited about self-directed learning is a real challenge. The idea that learning happens intuitively and without warning is something we in education need to embrace and facilitate. Unfortunately, it is a radical shift in thinking for many.

Comment on Wasting Time Learning by samccoy

samccoy — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:21:31 +0000

I agree many of us are discussing this very issue in our own homes, schools, blogs and other communities.

Many subconsciously react to the idea that the work we “HAVE TO DO” is not as worthy as the work we “WANT TO DO”. This is one of the major points that Dr. William Glasser discusses in most of his work, but Ch7, pg 92 of his book “The Quality School” called Quality Schoolwork.

“Workers will not work hard unless they believe there is quality in what thy are asked to do. Working hard will not satisfy our need for power when we are engaged in doing what we believe is a low-quality task: Busy Work, for example…..”

Piddling around, procrastinating or whatever you want to call it is what Dr. Glasser would greatly approve in the Quality School. Unfortunately, we have lost sight of the TQM theory, research, and practice of Dr. Deming who revolutionized postwar Japanese business.

I am in agreement with you that we, teachers, parents, and community members must model a variety of topics for lifelong learning. For instance can we model what PLN’s are? what quality is? and how we all learn to improve in the area of quality work completion?…to hit the target more often?

I believe the answer is yes. We can model and help lifelong learners perform quality work, but it cannot be constrained by TIME….quality just doesn’t fit our “hurry up and put something out there kind of world”.

Here are a few related postings:
http://samccoy-n2teaching.blogspot.com/2008/02/quality-school-teacher.html

http://samccoy-n2teaching.blogspot.com/2008/02/zap-where-did-it-come-from.html

Comment on On BaLaNcE by Rick Biche

Rick Biche — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:28:24 +0000

Perhaps you have come across this before. I heard it during a new teacher training years ago, then came across it here at "A List Apart". As teachers, the biggest rock to put in the jar is class time spent with students. Everything else falls to small pieces of time in between. But there are other times too. When I match my creative desires to what I teach or some other need of the school and make the time, the pay off is big and even though I "made" the time, I don't feel that I needed anymore time than usual. Somehow it all gets done. This is a great time of year for this post.

Comment on Share the Wealth by bradmdav

bradmdav — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:39:53 +0000

It is very sad- do you think that we have an obligation to spend time on people who don’t get it ? (at the risk of sounding like we are peddling some new religion) Or do we just go on with what we are doing and let people try to catch up?

I talk about social networking and the like whenever I have the opportunity, but sometimes I even think that I shouldn’t expect people to get as excited about it as I do-

thanks for the comment-

Comment on Share the Wealth by Suzanne Shall

Suzanne Shall — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:00:22 +0000

I, like you, have tried to explain the potential to my family and close friends. I am mostly met with blank stares or a quick comment like, “Oh, that’s nice.” I, unlike you, am from a family of educators. My brother teaches middle school math, my sister is a middle school special education teacher, my sister-in-law is a 2nd grade teacher, my step-mom is a 2nd grade teacher, and I have several cousins in education. They all live 1,000 miles away from me. I’ve sent them the links, explained the network, and gave a demonstration of my blog, my school’s blogs, and my six year old son’s blog while I was home over the holiday. No one was excited! My only relief is that I work with passionate educators who do get it! Do you know what I think will happen? Those of us who get it will soon be unreachable by those who don’t. We will learn exponentially more and they will be doing the same thing they’ve always done. Very sad.

Comment on Share the Wealth by B.Davis

B.Davis — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:14:00 +0000

Thanks Alex-

I hope to continue this blog in that vain- and I happen to be lucky enough to work in a very progressive school district.

Comment on Share the Wealth by alexragone

alexragone — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:08:00 +0000

It's leaders like you who will communicate with parents the importance of the change that is happening around us. Who will find the teachers and parents, to convince your community of the importance of the changing landscape of information, making connections and collaborating with people around the world. The fact is that to 'change the world', we need to be working in concert with many people around us.

What's exciting is that we can't change the world on our own, so creating teams to do so is key. And leaders such as you are the ones creating the right teams for change.

Thanks for being out there and sharing. I look forward to reading your blog in the future.

Comment on Share the Wealth by B.Davis

B.Davis — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:40:00 +0000

I guess I am lucky to work in a school where the push is in this direction in all of our classrooms. We have had a great technology teacher, Patrick, who has lead the way. His blog is at http://www.chalkdust101.blogspot .com.

I love the fact that you said we can change the world- it puts things into perspective and explains why those in the know try so hard to keep up with things.

Thanks for the comment.

Comment on Share the Wealth by The Maze

The Maze — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:33:00 +0000

I find it interesting that you feel the exposure is limited to education. That has not been my experience, as virtually all the teachers I work with on a daily basis have no clue beyond perhaps Facebook and MySpace, etc, and they most certainly are not involved. I think it is an age and location criteria. My kids are aware, and many students are as well. I think it will grow over time and we can all do our part to promote the dialogue. I am teaching my students how to blog and communicate in Forums, etc., as they are from a rural district with dial up and have not been participants. They will be soon, and will be interested as it is truly an amazing phenomenon! We can change the world with this and I think we will..or perhaps we already have..