Kevin's Blog (51)

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Building the perfect nest?





In my years in education, first as a student, then as a preservice teacher and finally in the classroom, I saw a lot of nest builders. People who sought to build the perfect place for kids to grow. Too often the nest was completed before the chicks arrived..



I remember it like yesterday and it wasn’t one classroom but most of the elementary schools I attended from Texas to Tennessee and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 6:38pm — 1 Comment

Your pencil can reach the world...

On December 14th 2008 I posted the Great White Shark video into the ocean of Youtube and wondered if anyone would ever find it, much less watch it. After uploading the video I went back to my regular work and almost forgot that my shark was lurking out there where anyone in the world could see it. Recently I got an email from Youtube, offering revenue sharing for the Great White Shark video.





By this time I had many videos on Youtube and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Can I move to the cloud?





In using the iPad for the past few weeks, one of my missions has been to discover the answer to the frequently asked question: Can that thing replace my laptop? I still travel with both the iPad and my 17in Macbook Pro but I’m seeking to fly “iPad solo” soon. There are still things I need that I haven’t figured out how to do with the iPad alone. I Use iWeb to build and maintain my websites and I cannot interface without the design and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:46pm — No Comments

Wings





Flying today is increasingly iffy proposition. I mean, what with the economy and the reality that companies and entities are cutting staffs to the bare bones of functionality, what might the maintenance challenges at airlines look like? I look out the window and think about the complex moving parts that must work to keep this craft in the air and I am reminded of our school systems and their challenges to keep flying on dwindling staffs,… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:43pm — No Comments

Can powerful, new devices work on your network?

Tim Holt is one of the air traffic controllers of technology at El Paso ISD and as such spends a lot of time exploring new software, devices and approaches to serve his 4500+ teachers, 64,000 students on over 48,000 computers across a very large school district. I recently asked him his thoughts about implementing iPods and iPads within his system and his thoughts have been illuminating as I've explored the idea of using these tools within school systems.



Apple's system is a closed… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:36pm — No Comments

Graduation is NOT the endzone!

I like sports metaphors to make points and I often use one about a quarterback throwing the ball to where the receiver is going to be, rather that where they are standing at the snap of the ball. My point is that as educators we must throw education to where our learners are going to be rather than where they are when the class bell rings.



I believe that many of us are too focused on graduation as a sort of educational end zone. We see the kids score their touchdown in their cap and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:34pm — No Comments

Cutting Budgets



The soap at the Hershey lodge in Hershey PA is missing it’s middle. Since most people waste the middle anyway, they just eliminated it altogether.



These are the hardest times I’ve ever seen in education in terms of budgetary limitations. Good people and programs are being cut all over the country and witnessing this is painful… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:30pm — No Comments

How can we move into a future we cannot completely understand?

I'm flying toward Arizona and the AzTea WoW conference where I'll be

speaking to administrators this evening about school leadership in the

21st century. It sounds generic but I consider this a sacred

opportunity. I know the importance of school leadership and I

understand the power that comes from administrators having a vision for

positive change. I want to seize this and every opportunity like it to

inspire or re-inspire these people to take the helm of their… Continue

Added by Kevin on May 10, 2010 at 12:07am — No Comments

BIG is the new small

In the last few days I've been test

driving the new Apple iPad and I have a few thoughts about it as a

product and an experience. In the interest of full disclosure, I'll

admit upfront to being an Apple fan of many years. I've had an iPhone

for some time and have marked well it's strengths and weaknesses as a

phone and a computer and I find that the iPad with wifi delivers an

experience not unlike that of the iPhone. The major ah ha… Continue

Added by Kevin on April 10, 2010 at 10:05pm — No Comments

Pushing Change

Added by Kevin on September 16, 2009 at 11:28pm — 2 Comments

Stop Signs

Added by Kevin on June 26, 2009 at 8:06am — No Comments

The Digital Dance

Added by Kevin on June 26, 2009 at 8:06am — No Comments

Hand-Held Learning

Added by Kevin on June 20, 2009 at 6:18pm — 3 Comments

I want everyone to know about this conference opportunity!

Be a part of this change-the-world learning experience!



The second annual iConnect/iLearn un-conference is quickly approaching and educators from across the state of Kansas and much further away are preparing to make pilgrimages to Colby Kansas June 4-5 and Hutchinson Kansas June 8-9. This two part un-conference is designed to reach educators and allow them to create their own customized learning experiences. Educators will be enhancing their 21st century tool kits by sharing and… Continue

Added by Kevin on May 21, 2009 at 8:49am — No Comments

Styrosaurs

I wanted to do a fun lesson with virtual students when they met in person for their academy day. They were all ArtSnacks families and were very familiar with me virtually but had met me only a few times in person. I decided to make styrofoam dinosaurs with them. Teachers and parents began collecting styrofoam packing material weeks in advance and on our day we were quite ready to build! For the materials list go… Continue

Added by Kevin on May 4, 2008 at 11:55pm — 1 Comment

Something to remember?

I just returned home from North Carolina where I presented at the NCaect conference, I took my wife and her mother along so they could revisit Fayetteville, the place they had spent some a precious years while my wife's father was stationed at Ft. Brag. My son and I were in tow as the two women came face to face with two similar but different re-aquaintences with the past. I have revisited powerful places and felt the strange realignment of past and present as my mind rummaged through closets… Continue

Added by Kevin on March 15, 2008 at 10:00pm — 4 Comments

Exciting Possibilities

I just got home from a few days in Colby kansas. I always love visiting the schools and educators in this unique city and am energized by the conversations that I get to have. They call me out to be a part of an ideation process a few times a year and it is usually an intense process. This district employs people in leadership that really work hard to bring new tools to their learners and empower them to be successful.



The first thing you notice about Colby is that the town is West,… Continue

Added by Kevin on November 3, 2007 at 2:50pm — No Comments

Notes from poolside..

I'm in Bonner Springs kansas at a LaQuinta Inn with my family after the MACE MTI conference, watching my kid swimming in the pool outside. My wonderful wife and I are in the air conditioned lobby but our line of sight is perfect. As I watch him scamper and play with friends he just met, I think about Classroom 2.0 and the online teacher community. Was it like this for you, that when you were a kid, you could make the "five minute"friend easily simply by virtue of having a pool in common. It… Continue

Added by Kevin on July 28, 2007 at 8:45pm — 4 Comments

Looking for a play to do at your school?

I wrote two plays while I was directing theater at Inman Kansas and I'm giving away production rights to them for this school year. They were written for the high school level but have been done in various community theaters. I've added Lulu links below where they can be downloaded for free, so if you're looking to save $$ they might be worth a look. What's my motivation? Well a play really isn't alive unless it's being produced and I love to come and see these on stage whenever I can. One of… Continue

Added by Kevin on July 14, 2007 at 7:45am — No Comments

Working toward a better way..

This last week was exhausting, the kind of exhausting that results in sleeping well. I will have to mark this summer as the summer of charter schools and deep thinking in general because I've had the amazing opportunity to work as a facilitator with several of them. The approach and goals of these schools vary but at the end of the day they all seek to educate kids in new, fair and innovative ways. They all want to change their corner of the educational world and so far they have all wanted to… Continue

Added by Kevin on July 14, 2007 at 7:03am — No Comments

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