The Digital Backpack

I’m running out of post it notes…

I was inspired to finally read tribes after stumbling into an elluminate session with Seth Godin hosted by  Steve Hargadon. The archive of the session can be found here

In the last paragraph of the book, Seth asks “spread the word”. I intend to hand it on to my 17 year old as pre- college reading. In the acknowledgements and story of how Tribes came about, Seth credits the work of Cory Doctorow and Hugh MacLeod.  My son has enjoyed both of these writers already. He flew through Little Brother and  devoured “Ignore Everybody” in the car on the way home from a college visit. Yes, I get the irony. Hope you do too.

After a tip off on twitter (thanks @thomasdaccord) I found out Daniel Pink was on a quickie book tour and was going to be at Borders in Boston Wed Jan 6th at 1pm.

Having enjoyed AWNM and Johnny Bunko-I’m so there, methinks.

Tosh, I have an online meeting scheduled for PLC work at the exact same time. Luckily said meeting partner was wise enough to ask the right person at her school, in order to come with me. It turned into a PLC fieldtrip, just the change of routine needed to motivate and inspire.
Daniel Pink was promoting his new book Drive. I had watched the TED videoand listened to the NPR talk, but hearing it in person makes it better. Free, was a big motivator too.

One of the reasons I like to go to author talks is I like to see how these professional writers/speakers engage audiences.

Audience participation was his opening gambit, in order to illustrate a few of the 1st drive motivations that humans have. He paid an audience member to hold up a copy of his book in the middle of the store. A small amount, but the guy was motivated enough to do it. The crowd was small (surprisingly) he didn’t use the podium or microphone and meandered amongst us instead of standing at the front. Every person to whom he talked, he asked them their name and repeated it in the ensuing conversation. I am just fascinated at how quickly everyone became his for the 35 minutes or so that he talked.

One story about the 3rd motivational drive was about the open source movement, the way he described it matched exactly the way the grassroots technology group operates at the high school I worked at. He talked about how the open source movement is made up of people who already have jobs, yet want to work on this project on their own time because it interests them, they want to achieve mastery, and then they give it away for free. This enables them to be part of a community of like-minded people who also want to not only use what they have created, but improve, refine and customize their ideas. Nobody pays them to do it, their is no carrot and stick, their motivation comes from within and matches his ideas about the 3rd drive. Similarly, the grassroots technology group meets on their own time (in school, but outside the hours required for their teaching and professional development requirements), the group is autonomous in its’ exploration of new ways to use technology in the classroom, and in addition, they share their enthusiasm and ideas in school-wide technology showcase professional development time, for free. This was a nice validation of the model that we set up a few years ago and is still working despite members coming and going.

For those who want learning in their school to become more engaging and authentic, identify who in your school is teaching in this way, get them together, give them time and autonomy to compare ideas and explore, and then ask them to share what they are discovering with others. If you don’t believe me, google “fedex days” or “google 20%”

Due to the small crowd it was easy to chat to him while getting our books signed. On returning home, the book was ensconced by another family member fan, so I have to wait to read it.

Amazing things that happened in 2009

• Educon even only virtually
• Keeping up with my blog
• Staff technology showcase at school
• Henry Jenkins at MIT in May
• Going to NECC in June in Washington
• Meeting many pln peeps and tweeps irl
• Asking a question via twitter to Malcolm Gladwell on live radio
• It was fun to be included in the David Pogue book, the world according to twitter
• Listening to Peter Reynolds twice.
• Attending BLC edubloggercon with Sandy
• Presenting at the MTA conference with Rachael
• Presenting at MASSCUE with Rachael
• The follow up response to our presentation at MASSCUE
• Seeing David Gray, Eddie Izzard with Chris
• Going to England and being ok with practically totaling the rental car and tiny hotel rooms.

Challenges I faced in 2009 is a biggie…

My sister-in-law for wisely persuading me I was too ill to return to work in September

She was right, as soon as school got in I was hospitalized and after many overwhelming tests was diag with Takayasu Arteris

I got very sick in the space of 4 weeks, spent 4 months not being able to breathe, not being able to do anything until cardiac intervention surgery on Dec 1st within 4 days after surgery I was up and about. Within 4 weeks I had lost 5lbs and was walking further and faster than I have for years. I commit in 2010 to completely take advantage of that and get into the best shape I have ever been in by hiring a trainer. This is the time!

What is there to grieve about 2009?

(What was disappointing? What was scary? What was hard? What can you forgive yourself for?)

It was hard to quit working at school

It was scary to be so sick so quickly

It’s hard to realize that no one will ever really know what it was like

Need to forgive myself for not expecting such great support, but getting it anyway.

What else do you need to say about the year to declare it complete?

Okay, the next step is to say out loud, “I declare 2009 complete!” How do you feel? If you don’t feel quite right, there might be one more thing to say…

I need to say how freaking rock star like my cardiac surgeons are. I need to let them know that with every breath I take they really are with me. I think of them all the time and cannot imagine living life without their help in 2009. They rock.

“I declare 2009 complete”

My word for 2010 is RADIANCE. Image is my own collage (created pre-op), cut pics and words that resonate from old magazine, the resulting words read:

Breathing Space, imagine, a well-lighted path, find, freedom, rock-solid, radiance.