Journey Part II

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We, I, have started my journey of “branding” myself for the ADE institute. I recently wrote about my apprehension of using corporate language when sharing my online identity, values, and mission, so I remove my critical hat of the language for the time being (but will continue the thought process and growth on my original post)

In this post, I want to drink the Kool-Aid a bit so to speak and go through the process with an open mind. I have been given a workbook as a guide to investigate and reflect on my values, mission, passions, and purpose. I have been meaning to do this for some time, so the activity seems relevant. I am, at the moment, not concerned about the brand or the product, but a closer look at what it is I believe in. I have spent most of career looking closely at who I am. Identity in general is a passion of mine, but I see the value in consolidating the pixels of who I am into a bite size snapshot. And that is what I will be doing for the next few hours.

I love to write and wrestle with ideas through text, so this is where I have chosen to start. I hope to move into media and more dynamic forms of engagement, but words are where I am rooted and this is where I will plan the seed. I apologize in advance for walking through what may seem like a scripted process, but if it proves to be too restrictive I will, as I am apt to do, fly in a new direction.

Step one: Explore my roles…

Father, artist, writer, educator, open/free-sharer, filmmaker, photographer, storyteller, leader, friend, husband, trouble maker, rabble rouser, revolutionary wanna be, critical thinker, button pusher, observer, inspirer, fire starter, a process…in the end I am an ongoing project that will only end, or perhaps continue, upon my last breath. At this moment in time: I am a father, and educator and learner.

I have been asked to look at these disparate roles through the lens myself as an ADE and a professional educator. I think the three roles that jump out are: open/free-sharer, leader, and artist/storyteller.

Let’s take a closer look at what each role means to me and what that can look like:

Open/free-sharer: I believe that openness leads to empathy, understanding, and authentic human connection. By openly sharing many aspects of our lives with as many people as we can, we connect on a deeper level- we are more than teachers and so we must connect beyond education if we want to truly create a community.

My mission is to lead by example. Prove to people that being open with ideas, dreams, and fears is valuable and liberating. Help others understand that their fears and inhibitions are obstacles. Help students and teachers deconstruct the walls they have built around themselves so we can better see each other- with our flaws and failures, but also to share our light.

This is a passion of mine because I was an awkward shy kid who carried inside me a tremendous weight. I would have loved an opportunity to have access to the global stage now offered digital citizens. The experience of sharing my voice has been a vital shift for me both personally and professional. My whole life I have been hearing my voice, but not able to share it. But that has all changed.

So will this work for others as it has for me? Will it work for you? I am not sure, but I am a believer in these lines from Modest Mouse: I know this of myself
I assume as much for other people. We have to be more alike than we are different, but purpose is to see if I am right

Leader– I believe that leadership is not about pushing or pulling, but by inspiring and modeling. It is about listening and caring. I am not good at this. I know. It is new for me. I am often excitable, passionate, and have been told I am intense. I know what it is right and I want to prove it to you, but I know this method will not work. We need to be humble and kind. As a mentor working with other teachers, I need to meet learners, students or teachers where they are, not where I want them to be.

My mission as a leader is to learn how to slow down. I want to listen more and talk less. I want to understand why teachers fear technology, not make confident assumptions. I want to learn to lead.

I am passionate about being a leader because I am enthralled by politics and the way we human beings interact. A school is a microcosm of our society and if we cannot learn to function within one of our most important institution how will we ever work toward s a more peaceful, sustainable functioning world.

The purpose is easy. World peace! Not too ambitious right? I have been intrigued by human connections since I was a child. My life’s work is to continue my journey toward self-understanding and peace, in hopes that it will open a window to the global stage.

Story teller/Artist– Novels, music, photography, film, poetry, sculpture, dance, doesn’t matter the medium I love stories. I love exploring how we all, in our individual ways and collectively experience reality.

I want to continually fine-tune my story telling abilities while also helping others understand that they too have a story to share.

Feeling a bit repetitive here. So I will say it all in one line: I want to connect people through stories, so we can see clearly our similarities and our differences, in hopes of creating empathy and understanding.

Now I have been asked to ask a friend about how you feel. As a perfect way to model behavior, I want to ask you, my network to share what you think:

What do you notice about what I have written?
What seems important to me?
What do you know about me that is missing?

Time is of the essence, so please just take a few minutes, read skim, browse and jot down a few thoughts. Thanks!

Journey Part I

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Instead of trying to post a post-ADE post (How ya like that three posts in first sentence) I want to just drop a few random post here and there. We are talking about our personal stories using this format:

Everyday…
But one day…
Because of that…
Because of that…
Because of that…
Until finally, Ever since that day…
The moral of the story…

Once upon a time there was a little boy born in a far off land. This land was suddenly thrown in upheaval and he actually once saw blood on the streets, men with guns and anger fill the air. There was cruel king who tortured his people so he could sell his oil to foreign lands. The people had had enough.

The boy’s family needed to leave because the people were so angry they forced the women to cover their faces and the people to shut their mouths and close their minds.

Everyday his mother would drag the boy to the place that would let them leave, until finally one day they ere given a ticked and told to go to a far off land. A place where they hated the people from the boy’s country. The new country loved the old king and the cheap oil, so now they were angry.

Because of that it was hard for the boys parents to fit in. They did not speak the language and had little money.
Because of that the boy often felt out of place and alone. He longed to belong, to connect, to perform, to share, to be in a community.
Because of that he ignited an inner fire that kept him warm.

Until finally he gained enough strength to become the fire and he was ready to spread it on the world and burn down to the grown and recreate both the kingdom he had fled and then one he had fled to, so that maybe there could be one kingdom.

Ever since that day, he feels alive and connected. The moral of the story is to light your own fire regardless of your circumstances, fuel it, stoke it, then let it spill beyond your mantle.

So there you have day one, activity one. More to come I am sure.

Are You A Brand?

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Last week my colleague Jane, also known as JaneinJava, sent out a tweet asking for inspirtion for her “brand” video. I knew that her request was based on some work she was doing as an advisory planner for the upcoming ADE institute. Her tweet led to a lively discussion, headed as always by Adrienne, who voiced concern about the word “brand.” I quickly found myself on both sides of the debate. I understand the idea of “personal branding” and digital identity control; I get and to a large extent agree with the need to teach professionals how to “market” their online images and create recognizable “brand” which stands for certain values, so much so that I think I have done a pretty good job of “marketing” the “brand” of Intrepid through various blogs, youtube, and Flickr. I hope that through my work, my shared open identity, my photos, my videos, that the “brand” of Intrepid stands for honesty, openness, passion, and creativity. This image I have created, sounds so sneaky, has not been achieved by accident. I have worked hard to try and create a consistent “product” (my life) to “sell” to whoever is buying.

The problem Adrienne had, and after some thought I have too, is the use of business/corporate language to describe an act which in reality is entirely different. I realized that I am not creating a “brand” to “sell” to a “market.” I am sharing who I am, my identity with an audience. While the ideas may be similar and some may cry semantics, I think Adrienne is right. We must be weary about corporatizing education, art, and most importantly our digital identities.

Before you start thinking about the comments you will write about the problems with Apple in education and the ADE program in general, let me stop you. I am waiting to go through the ADE process to see how the program works. I want to get an inside look at the benefits of the community and to see the extent of which Apple influence their ADE “brands.” I want to see what they expect of their ADEs before I make judgment about the program. Many people I highly respect rave about it, and I will see for myself before I deride the program out of hand. So please do not turn this thread into an attack on the ADE program, the problems with corporate sponsored educational programs etcetera. I think those arguments are valid, and I would like to have them after I see what ADE is all about. I am honored and very excited to be involved, but I want to be a critical member who pushes the envelope. Sorry Apple, this is what you signed up for. It is what Intrepid is all about.

What I was hoping for from this post is a nice conversation about what you think about corporate language creeping not just into education, but in every aspect of our lives. Should we be worried? Are Adrienne and I overreacting? Is it just semantics? Or is there a problem with using the language of brands when discussing education, digital identity, sharing, and life in general.

And if you understand the concept, as I do, but only think that we should be using a different set of words, what do these words look like? What do we call the act of managing digital identity for the purpose of connection, community and sharing?

I need your help because it looks like I too will need to make a “personal brand” video during the ADE institute and I want to make sure I get it right. I am not a product, service, or business to be marketed. I am a human being trying to connect to a community of like minded human beings. What do you think?

Unit of Inquiry Part I

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If I don’t start this post now, if I wait till it is all clear and ready to go, if I wait till it is all done and wrapped up, if I wait till I settle down and plow through my to-do list then this post will never be written, and to be honest with you I am way too excited about my upcoming unit not to write a preview. Please excuse the slapped together feel of this post. I hope I have spent most of my energy planning what I hope will be one of the best units I have ever planned. It starts tomorrow, runs for ten weeks and looks something like this:

Let me start by saying that while everyone extols the virtues of collaboration, it is not easy for me. I often have loud brash ideas that call for taking strange risks, doing things that I have never done before, and making a lot of things up as I go along. This spontaneous style is not always conducive to a team effort, especially if other teachers prefer to have each lesson planned out and have a clearer idea of how things might actually turn out. I mention this not because these are the types of teachers I am working with, on the contrary, my team has been great- open and resourceful, they are full of great ideas and have not only helped shape this unit, but they have also taken ownership of it and helped it become fundamentally sound. Before I continue, let me introduce my team- first my lovely wife Mairin, who has been a champion Techie. (Yes we work in the same department at school. It is fine, but will be changing next year.) You can find her on Twitter and she blogs here and here. And of course our brave and open-minded colleague Dianne. Who has recently started blogging with her classes here. But enough of the team. What has us so excited? Sit back and enjoy the ride-

I am tried of talking the talking of student based, problem based, inquiry driven pedagogy, only to plan units designed and assessed by me. I am tired of seeing the bored look on student faces as I swear what we are learning is fun and relevant. As a team, we wanted to see if we could give more/most of the responsibility to the students. We wanted to find a way to not only engage them by offering choice in content, but empower them to take control of their learning by letting them also design their own assessment. So what will this look like? We are an MYP school so let me walk you through our unit plan. You can find the unit overview here. But here are some of the details:

(The red print below are the MYP objectives and the italicized text are the standard.

We have chosen to use a combination of Arros and TESOL standards by which to assess student learning. )

Basically we want the kids to choose their content/topic as well as their assessment. They will also choose their AOI once they have a clear guiding question. They will choose a topic of interest, with some guidance they will turn this topic into a focused investigate question and begin to do some research. They will be thinking of ways to describe what they are learning in terms of how they express, share or articulate that learning in terms of the MYP Criterion. We will be using Bloom’s Taxonomy to help move students beyond simple data and knowledge gathering to higher level thinking and problem solving. Sound confusing? Let me walk you through it a bit more.

We have created a Google Doc which we are affectionately calling The Matrix. You can find this document here. (I have tried to make sure it is uneditble, but if for some reason it is editable, PLEASE DO NOT EDIT IT.) This document will serve as a guide, calender and feedback sheet for the entire ten weeks of this unit. It will be home for each project. Each student will copy and paste the contents into a new Goggle Doc which they will and share 1-1 with their teacher. This way we can use this space to help guide student for the duration of the unit. We can add notes, update material, ask questions, as well as share resources and links to help guide students as they work their way up Bloom’s pyramid. Each week they will document what they are doing on The Matrix. They will document how they are meeting each criteria, AOI, ATL, as well as citing sources, and linking to material on their blog. Le’s say for example they create a short skit in which they interview a friend about video games. They will link to the video from their blog on the G-doc and mentioned that they were able to understand and respond to questions (Criterion A), they will also begin to explore how what they are doing/learning is connected to AOI and ATL.

We will start with a survey of skills and interests. This will be in a google doc form, but for now here are the questions:

What do you know a lot about?

Is there anything about this you don’t know or would like to know more about?

Is there anything you know very little about, but would like to learn more about?

What are some things that you think you might do to help you learn more about this topic?

What do you know how to do well? How did you learn?

How do you learn best?

How do you learn something new?

Is there anything you do not know how to do that you would like to learn?

What are some things that you think will help you learn how to do this?

What are some topics you think you are interested in investigating for this unit?

How will show what you are learning?

What sources/resources do you think you will need for this unit?

In this unit, most of the time you will be working and learning independently.

What kinds of skills do you think you will need to have/use in order to work and learn successfully on your own?

What organizational tools do I have

What aspects of my organization do I need to develop?

How can I best organize myself?

Communication

Time Management

Organization

using time effectively in class

keeping to deadlines

self-management

goal setting

organization of learning materials

What communication tools do I use?

writing

blogs

video

podcast

oral presentation

drawings

charts

tables

drama (role play)

interviews

Which ways of communicating do I need to improve on?

writing

blogs

video

podcast

oral presentation

drawings

charts

tables

drama (role play)

interviews

After the survey and a review of the logistics and procedures, we will help students develop an investigative question based on any topic they choose. They will begin to gather knowledge, show comprehension, apply it, go through each week exploring Bloom’s Taxonomy. They will use blog posts, videos, podcast, interviews, surveys, anything they can think of to share their learning, while also showing evidence of the five MYP criterion. We hope to connect them with other classrooms as needs arise, or try to find experts in their fields to help them learn beyond a simple wikipedia search.

Well I got the first ideas down. I hope to blog the entire unit, so if this sounds a bit daunting now, stay tuned. But really it is quite simple: I am calling the kids’ bluff. They always claim that school is boring and irrelevant, well now they can choose to learn about anything they want and be assessed by doing whatever they want. We will push them to think deeply about their topics, but it is up to them to really dig deep and learn. I am beyond excited about getting started. I feel this is a huge step in the right direction to a more inquiry based pedagogy. I think once the wrinkles are ironed out this could be a great model. What do think? Suggestions? Ideas? Potential problems? Questions?

Next Level

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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!