Category Archives: Networking

Are You Real Michael?

9 Replies

With so many self- professed social media experts trolling Twitter, bogus blogs and other fake websites abound on the Web, it is becoming more and more difficult to know who is a real person looking for authentic connection, who is  a Bot, and who is in it to make a quick buck through blatant self-promotion. There are of course strategies to employ on Twitter to differentiate between legitimate people and scams, but sometimes it is really a tough call. This recognition between the fake and the real is what I want to share with you today. In hopes that you can not only help me solve this current investigation, but more importantly to start a conversation about how we can help our students make sense of all the characters on the web.

It started like this. I received this email this morning:

Hello!

I was reading your blog today and saw that you accept guest contributions. I would love the opportunity to write for you!

Currently I write for The Professional Intern (www.professionalintern.com) and you can find samples of my writing there. I’ve got a few great post ideas that I think would mesh well with your readers, but I would be willing to write whatever you need.

I promise only original content with relevant links. Are you interested?
Thanks!

Let’s explore the clues as to why this is a scam:

  • This person did not sign their name.
  • Did not address me by name
  • Has never comment on my blog before
  • Did not name which of my blogs they want to write for
  • I have never said I “accept guest contributions”

Now let’s look at why it could be real:

  • The Blog looks legit
  • Descriptive About Page
  • I Googled long pieces of text and they all feed back to this blog
  • There is a Twitter account that looks new, but legit

Tough call right?

Dear Michael,

I hope you don’t mind that I have decided to share this experience publicly on my blog. Blogging is a public act and if you want to write for my blog and have read any of my work, you know that I think sharing, openness and transparency are vital to successful community building. If The Professional Intern is a legitimate blog, and I really want  it to be, then I hope that this post can be the place we start a dialogue. You see, I would actually love guest writers to share their thoughts here, but I see this space as an extension of who I am as an educator and as a person. It is very personal and important to me. While I would love as big of an audience as possible, I am not interested in rise to the top blogging schemes. I want to write honestly and creatively about things that are important to me as a teacher. I hope that I foster deep thinking and engagement with my tight knit group of readers. If I were to ask anyone to write for my blog, I would hope that they would be from this aforementioned family of readers.

It is not that I am saying no to your request, but I find it odd that you want to write for a blog you have never commented on before. I think that guest blogging and merging of networks and cross-pollination of ideas are fantastic. I just hope you understand my trepidation. I have worked hard to build my blog and do not feel comfortable opening it up to just anyone. For all I know I could be writing this heartfelt explanation to a Bot designed to generate emails for reasons I don’t understand. I could be writing a letter to spam. Now that would be embarrassing. But not really, Michael, because I have faith that you could be real, and if you are real then I hope this post will make you want to write on Intrepid Teacher even more.

Here’s the deal: If you are a real person who writes for The Professional Intern and still want to share some ideas here on Intrepid Teacher, please leave me a comment about why you chose this blog as a place to share your work, send me a list of possible ideas that you think my readers would enjoy, and let’s go from there. If this relationship does blossom, I hope that I could return the favor and post some ideas on your blog as well. If you are a specter of the web, then…well…I could just stop now.

Trying desperately to be sincere,

Jabiz

What do you think? Is this legit?If it is fake, why go through all of this? What is there to gain from setting up fake blogs and Twitter?  Is there a lesson here for students in recognizing Internet tomfoolery? If this is real, then was I offensive? What if Michael is just student learning? Will this interaction help him understand why someone might not see him as a person online? Is that okay?  Am I over thinking this again? Talk amongst yourself…Hopefully we can have a fun conversation in the comments

Learning 2.011 Are You Coming?

8 Replies

The first tech conference I ever attended was Learning 2.008. I was working in Qatar and felt very disconnected from any kind of network. But wait, I am getting ahead of myself- I am using the language of the present to talk about the past. Back in 2008, not only did I not have a network, I barely knew what one was. I had just parted ways with Kim Cofino with whom I had worked in Malaysia.  Back then Kim was my only mentor in all things connected. I barely understood Twitter. I did not have a professional blog and I felt like I was working in a bit of a vacuum.

Back in Malaysia, Kim had arranged a project with Clarence Fischer, which had “succeeded” to some degree. I put succeeded in quotes because I am not sure what we had actually done, but The International Teen Life Project was my first taste of connecting with another teacher and classroom and I liked it. We experimented. We learned. We created. I remember doing a Podcast over Skype one day and feeling so…what is the word? Proud? Important? Connected? Not sure what I felt, but I knew that we were doing good work. I felt like I was on the cutting edge. I was hooked. I knew that is where I always wanted to be. I didn’t want to wait for someone to tell me what the latest thing was. I wanted to find it and use it and share it myself.

It was great to work with Clarence because I respected him tremendously. He was one of the many bloggers who Kim had recommended I read in my new RSS feed. So when Kim emailed me, informing me that there was a conference in Shanghai created by teachers for teacher, I didn’t hesitate to sign up. I paid my own way, because I wanted to meet people like Clarence.

Feels strange now, thinking back to how “star struck” I was. There I was having breakfast with Alan Levine, or talking about the echo chamber with Clarence and Brian Crosby. At the time it all felt so important and in a sense maybe it was. I remember sitting in on sessions and meeting people I had only read and respected. But the most important part for me was solidifying relationships with people i had just started to know online like Brian Lockwood and Jenny Luca among others. I still remember our dinner, just the three of us and that strange feeling of seeing someone you have only “known” online. I have had that feeling many times since and it never  loses its appeal. I have written at length about the value of these relationships, so I will just say that these meals and breakout sessins with people you only know online are priceless.

The most important thing I took away from Learning 2.008 was that the only thing that separated the teachers I read about and me, was that they were writing and sharing and connected and I was not. I knew after that conference that things needed to change for me professionally. After all, I had ideas. I could write. I could be leading workshops and presenting keynotes.

Before I continue, let me say that I have no intention of becoming a globe-trotting-traveling consultant Ed-tech celebrity. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.) I am too anchored in the classroom to give it up.  But I am currently, dealing with my changing role in schools. You can only rant and rave about transforming learning environments long enough before a school calls you on it. So next year, I will be working with teachers at my current school to move our school forward as a technology facilitator. I am nervou and excited, but will write about that soon.  We are in the process of defining what my role will be and what it means to creating a workable vision, but I am proud to say that I am playing an intrical part in our transformation.

So why am I telling you all this? What’s the point? The point is that in just three short years a lot has changed for me.  But not just for me personally, but also the network, education, and conferences in general. I have taken what I learned back in 2008 and I have applied it to my career. I blog, I tweet, I share, and I build relationships. I have learned that the people I was so impressed by are just regular people like me. Yes, they are amazing educators who are doing everything they can to change education, but they are just like you and me. They are open, supportive and interested in what I (we) have to say.

This brings me to 2011 and Learning 2.011. Through a stroke of luck, hard work, or relentless self-promotion I seem to have fallen on the other side of the conference wall. I am so proud and honored to be leading the ESL cohort at this year’s conference and hopefully presenting a mini- keynote. I am stoked to be so unbelievably connected to hundreds of educators from around the world and now it is my turn to inspire.

I have some advice for anyone considering coming to this conference. If you are new to “it” “this” whatever it is we want to call it- this world of networked educators who blog and tweet and Skype and help each other out– this conference is invaluable. Bring your passion, your ideas, your classroom and let’s find other educators who can help you bring your ideas to life. As most people will tell you, conferences are about connections, and there is no better place than this conference, especially if you are in Asia, to meet like-minded professionals that will help you build your network and connect your classroom to others in the region. But more importantly, you will find countless people who like you just want to see what everyone else is doing, share ideas, and build a support network.

If you have been to a few conferences and are starting to doubt the usefulness of conferences then I urge you to come too. Learning 2.011 is a conference with few rules and expectations. It is what we make it. So let’s get together and create an unconference about what next? Let’s talk about how we can take what we have created thus far to the next level. I don’t know about you, but the idea of chatting with the Couros brothers (Alec and George) , Kim Cofino, Jeff Utech and others about what the next ten years could look like is pretty damn exciting.

Let me close by saying that I hope to see you in Shanghai in September. Talk to your staff, share this post with your admin and get a team togther to come to Shanghai. Bring your voice, your ideas, and your excitement and let’s create another amazing conference this year.

Would love comments about positive expereinces you have had and drop me a line if you are coming below.

Next Level

41 Replies

You know how there are people on Twitter you kind of know but not really? You see their smiley avatars and occasionally Re-Tweet their links or post, but you have never really “talked” to them. After an especially insightful tweet, you look up their bio again, follow the bread crumbs to their blog and say, “Maybe it is time I add this one to my RSS.” And when you do, suddenly that person begins to open up and bloom in your life. You get a few more bits and pixels of who they are. Suddenly, you start to notice their tweets more often and find yourself commenting on their blogs. Maybe there is the occasionally Skype call, and before you know it he unmet friend is in your midst and you cannot recall a time before you “knew” them, oh and of course you have still never met in “real” life.

Well it may be premature, but I think I may have found an kindred spirit. I do not know her well enough to say for sure, but I like her open and enthusiastic vibe. Last week I added Katie Hellerman‘s blog The Teaching Game to my RSS and have been pleasantly surprised by her eagerness to build community and make connections. For me, it started with her post Getting What I Really Want Out of Twitter. Which was followed by her Connection Challange.

This post is me taking up the challenge Katie! I have chosen you as the person I want to learn more about and perhaps work with.  I understand that these things should happen organically if we want them to be authentic, but by mentioning her in my space, I hope I am talking a positive first step to help not only build our relationship, but hopefully also introduce her to my network as well. And of course there are connections we share already, so maybe this intensification will help cement and tighten bongs elsewhere.

After I commented on her blog, Katie sent me an email to which I responded with this post:

Hello again Katie,

I felt weird responding to you via email, because I thought the whole point was to open up and share in order to build community. I have chosen to post my email to you’re here on my blog, in hopes that maybe others new to my blog will find my introduction useful as well.

You ask why I am in Jakarta, so let me start there. I have been teaching at international schools for seven years now I started in Kuala Lumpur, then I was in Qatar and now Jakarta. I like to live overseas, because I feel the world is too big to waste living in one country. I want to expose my children to different experiences and show them the world is a place to absorb and learn from. I also taught for two years in the US Peace Corps in Mozambique where I met my lovely wife.

Born in Iran and raised in the Bay Area, I find nationalism and culture stifling and tedious. I would rather be seen as an internationalist. Simply put I grew tired of the States. I occasionally miss home, but I am spending my summer in Thailand this year, so I quickly get over it.

You ask about my goals beyond what I am doing. I love working with kids. I love watching them grow and explore. I am currently teaching middle school, but I would like to teach higher level English course and dabble in working with teachers. I have never envisioned myself doing anything but teaching, so I see myself as the old-long-white haired dude at a school well into my sixties. Never a fan of ambition, my goal is to raise two world wise daughters, find some kind of peace in my heart, and maybe make a difference in the lives of the children I encounter.

Wait I lied! I also want to publish a few novels, record an album, tour the world and be a rock star of sorts. I want to run for public office in the States and climb a few mountains. I want to travel to every continent and learn to play the clarinet and ukulele.

As for the rest of my story, it is unfolding everyday here on the Internet. You can find my passions, my music, my books, my art, my life tucked away in various nooks and crannies of the web. I feel it is all to convoluted and complex to be simplified in a blog post, that is why I write it and sing it and smear it in as many places as I can. You want to know me better, drop me a line, start a conversation and I will keep up my end, just ask the people who already “know” me.

Balls in your court! What more can you tell me about you? Here is my challenge to you: find something I have done on the web that somehow grabbed your attention and leave a comment. I will work from there to connect it back to you.

As for you dear reader, what do you think of Katie’s challenge? What brought you here? What are you offering? How can we take our relationship to the next level? What do you want to know? What are you willing to share? Go ahead, confess, spill your guts. Let’s see what you got!

Flames With Action

17 Replies

I started this blog a few years ago as a way to reflect on my own teaching (learning), build a network of like minded teachers worldwide, and to have my own space to facilitate and encourage conversations about education with teachers in the building in which I worked. That was in January of 2009 a few years ago in Doha. I would say I have been fairly successful in two out of three of my goals. You can read my first post for yourself here for a more comprehensive look at my goals.

However, I have struggled with my third goal; I do not feel I have ever had a regular readership from teachers in my own building. I have not yet created a culture of blogging within our staff. I hope this post is a first step in creating spaces where our staff can interact. I hope it will spark a spate of new blogs as well. After a great in school retreat last Thursday, I hope to revisit my third goal here at my new school in Jakarta. I have emailed this post to the participants of our five hour meeting hoping to keep our conversation and inspiration going. Hi guys! Welcome to my blog. This is where I hang out, wrestle with ideas, connect with other teachers,  and work on all the things we talked about last Thursday.

This post is my attempt to lure out the teachers and administrators from my school interested in creating new learning spaces and a dynamic tech infused pedagogy. Schools that are inquiry based and use technology to lead and guide student driven pedagogy. I hope that some of you will take the time to let loose some thoughts in the comment section and see if we can’t clearly articulate and enact our school’s vision.

Before I continue let me recap the main ideas from our meeting, so my regular readers have a sense of where I am coming from.  Another great by-product of blogging is that I hope, teachers from my school new to blogging, will begin to see the power of being a networked teacher. I hope that you realize the fruitfulness of a blog and the conversations that can grow here, once the seed has been planted and tended ever so lightly. Let begin…

I work at a 1:1 school. We all have shiny new Macbooks and I love it. I love the freedom to do anything that strikes my fancy on a dime with my students. I am excited and inspired by the work we are doing. I am challenged on a daily basis to make sure I am not directing too much of what they do. I am realizing that technology and a 1:1 environment does not automatically lead to a inquiry based school. As a matter of fact, often it could hinder the shift. I am starting to realize that schools need focus and vision. I realize that not everyone on our campus understands what it means to be 1:!  We need to be open and honest about what our staff is willing to do and learn. We need to hold our staff accountable for how they understand and implement the vision of the school. We need to train and support. We need conversations about who we want to be and how we can get there.

Through a series of manipulations, suggestions and hard work I am somehow got myself invited to a meeting where we were going to be having these exact conversations. There were about fourteen of us present: administrators, teachers from every branch of the school, and two students. We examined our vision statement, and through a google doc, answered a few questions about what it means to be a 1:1 school. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the conversation. Many of us are on the same page and have a lot to say on the subject. Here the gist of what we said:

So often we forget that our schools are filled with passionate teachers who want to learn and grow, but only need the venue and chance to do so. This meeting was a great example of that. Now I invite you to keep the momentum going. Look back at our Google Doc and synthesis what we discussed there. Add your comments on the document, process your thoughts and join me on this blog post. Leave a comment here sharing your ideas and/or excitement. Let’s find the best tools and spaces where we can join our energies and find out how to move our faculty and school forward. Learning begins with passion and curiosity; it is clear we have no shortage of either here at our school, so now we need to tend the flames with action. I would love comments from other readers as well. How have you created a tight group of passionate teachers to move your schools toward change? What advice do you have for us?

I’m No Expert, But I Can Help

8 Replies

I recently had a great experience skyping into a grade three class at @gcouros’s school in Canada to answer a few questions about Islam. You can read about the logistics on George’s blog. I wanted to share my thoughts on the event here.


After speaking with the class around eleven PM last night, this morning I woke up to the following email from the classroom teacher, and rather than send my response to her in private, in the spirit of openness and sharing I have decided to post it here. My response comes after her email, which you can read below:

Hi Jabiz,

I just wanted to thank you again personally for Skyping with our class this morning.  It was a very powerful experience and they learned a lot about the Muslim culture, country of Indonesia, and an important celebration of Ramadan and Eid-El-Fitr.  I realize there is a big time difference between us and I really appreciate you connecting with us late on a Friday night.  It was a very authentic and powerful experience for our students, as well as for me as a teacher.  We have now used a thumbtack on our world map to indicate where you are and remember the connection we have with you, both through your commenting on our blog post, as well as Skype conversation!

George is sharing his passion with us and is teaching us how technology is a great medium in connecting with others.  As I have just returned to school after a leave, I was quite apprehensive about the technology of our Smart Boards, new classroom blogs, etc.  This truly has proven what can be done and the connections that can be made around the world.  It is amazing and I am so proud and excited to be a part of it.  Again, thank you.

Let me start by saying it really is my pleasure and I enjoy doing it. I was home, sadly to say wasn’t doing much else, and really had a great time doing it. It’s funny, once you open yourself up to these opportunities the more you will find will come your way. I have Skyped into classes all over the world from grade three to university courses, and each time it is different, but just as exciting. I am not sure why students get so excited by having someone else come into their classrooms, but we should take advantage of this enthusiasm and open our classrooms up to as many people as we can, people who can bring fresh insights and different perspectives. I am by no means an expert on anything really, but I  feel that I have a voice and that my ideas are valuable. I see my world view as unique and feel that sharing it with others can bring value not only to them, but for me as well. This sense of appreciation for one’s own voice is at the heart of blogging and online life. This is what I hope to foster in my students. It is something to discuss with your kids as well. What are they experts in? How could they share their knowledge with others? I hope they can see that someday, I will need them to help and teach me and my kids. They are teachers and we are learners too.

I  understand how one can be apprehensive and doubt the value of all this openness and sharing. But as I am sure you have sensed from George, this is just what we do. There is a new class of teacher, and we have knocked down the walls of classrooms down and are looking for any opportunity to teach and learn from as many people as we can.  We are interconnected. We share knowledge, information, and resources fluidly and easily. We meet in person, we skype into classrooms. A class across the world has some questions about (insert topic) and we feel we have something to say we make the connections. This technology and these connections need not always be more complicated than that, as you have just seen from our Skype call. I hope this experience has shown you how easy it can be to join us. Just value your voice and build the connections. You are lucky to have such a passionate and connected administrator. Often times it is teachers who are pulling a school forward, but you have an administration who is there to help you. Take advantage. Your kids will thank you for it.

The next step of course is to connect students with students, but this often takes more time and planning, but once you are open to the idea of a  classroom that shares their ideas with the world through blogs and Skype, the opportunities become easier and easier to find. Remind the kids that if they ever have any questions about Indonesia, they now have a person they know here that can help them out. We have some great podcasts for them to listen to and we would love comments as well. Good luck and stay in touch.