The 2012 Global Education Conference is November 12 - 17 this year, and if you haven’t been a part of this amazing, online, 5-day, 24-hour-a-day event, we sure hope you will join us this year! There’s lots of amazing news about the conference below (really), so skim down below and find that which is important to you: 1. The conference is free to attend. If you join the conference network, you’ll be kept informed of the details and new announcements. 2. You can still submit to present! The deadline to submit proposals for both the Global Education Conference and the affiliated iEARN Annual Conference and Youth Summit are October 29th. This is a highly inclusive event with a focus on participation-we’ll have hundreds of sessions from educators around the world, and even if you’ve never presented before, we hope you will consider sharing your experiences and expertise in connecting educators, classrooms, and students globally. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a conference more dedicated to peer professional development, so jump right in! This also means that we have extended the deadline for film exhibition submissions. If you’ve got a  digital film to share on a global topic, check out this post for more details. 3. Even though we are still accepting proposals to present, the current schedule of accepted sessions has been posted! You’ll find the hourly listing of sessions in any one of 36 times zones here. (We’re quite proud of how easy it is for anyone in the world to attend and participate in the conference in their own time zone!) More sessions are being added daily. 4. We’re starting our drive for volunteer moderators, which also means that we have our first training sessions for presenters and moderators starting next week. We love our volunteer moderators, and you don’t have to be an expert to help us with this crucial part of the conference program. To learn more or to sign up as a volunteer moderator, go here. To see the training sessions that are scheduled, go to the session schedule for your time zone. 5. Lucy Gray has done it again this year with another INCREDIBLE set of keynote speakers for the conference. Seriously, you are going to be blown away.  Check them out here. Tell your friends. Email everyone you know. Really, the lineup is THAT SERIOUSLY AMAZING. I don’t want to diminish your excitement at seeing the whole list, but (I’m whispering): Dale Dogherty, Karen Cator, Larry Johnson, Dan Russell, and Tony Wagner just to start. Really. Go look… 6. We have a gaming strand this year! We’re  thrilled to be working with BrainPOP to highlight game play within a global education context. 7. We’re also working with Cisco’s GETideas.org and EdSurge on a specialized conference strand that will focus on innovative and collaboration technologies with the potential to transform learning experiences for students around the globe. This strand will focus on companies offering tools and resources that support the mission of the conference and showcase global collaborations between groups. 8. We’re still accepting conference sponsors and non-profit partners. Organizations interested in financially supporting the conference, please email me at steve@hargadon.com. Potential non-profit partners can sign up here. 9. We depend on the community to help get the word out about the conference, since this is a free event and built by the community. So please do spread the word! Forward this email, blog or tweet about the conference (#globaled12), or send the conference website link (http://www.globaleducationconference.com) to your own mailing list. Global education has never been more important, and there’s really nothing quite like our free and highly-participative online conference to help make a difference in the lives of students, educators, administrators, parents, families, and communities. This is a guest post by Steve Hargadon.

Debbie Stephens is a "Teacher of the Habitudes." Debbie is a sixth grade teacher of reading and social studies at Woodward Academy. She is a lifelong learner and is passionate about using the Habitudes in her classroom to enable her students to become active learners. Her goal every day is to encourage her students to tinker with and define strategies for problem solving and critical thinking through authentic learning opportunities. Let’s find out how she makes sure NO genius is left behind. I am truly blessed this year to be teaching an entire roomful of sixth grade geniuses. It is so exciting every day to wake up and know when I get to class that so many genius children will show up ready to explore another day of learning. It sounds like the perfect class in the perfect school with of course the perfect teacher because I am a genius too! You may wonder how I even know all this genius exists. I know because my students will tell you they are geniuses and they will reassure each other as well. We began this year as any other greeting and meeting each other and acknowledging our desire to have a super incredible year. A genius knows how to take steps in this direction. We used our Imaginations to create a mind map designed to help us. It was not easy to imagine how we could solve a problem and make a plan but using a visual design tool like Bubbl.us made the process engaging. Genius showed up as each student helped another with ideas and even the technology involved in embedding these mind maps to our wiki pages. Curiosity is one my favorite Habitudes of genius. It establishes an end to boredom in any class — anytime and anywhere. My class is committed to practicing curiosity by generating genius questions. Because my students are geniuses, the questions invigorate and empower them to go after any subject. I borrowed Angela’s idea of taking rocks from that "boring" moment to one of genius questions. Were my students really getting loud and exuberant over rocks? Check out the genius questions posted on our Wallwisher over one night. The class not only believes in genius but it has seen genius at work as we exercise what they learn with each Habitude. As we begin our study of climate and landforms or as we read an autobiography of a Laotian refugee, the curiosity and imagination muscles work along with genius for real learning to occur. We faced a new challenge for sixth graders last Monday afternoon though. Our principal and P.E. Coach, Eric Brown, needed us to solve the annual dilemma of what countries to include in our Olympic Field Day event. A genius knows that we not only must choose countries, but we needed to design a procedure for doing so. Wow. How else do we begin but by asking genius questions!? When else to collaborate and spend time in the discovery mode than in our period set aside each week for Genius Hour!? We went straight to work though the path of our challenge was anything but straight. A design was agreed upon and set in place. We then built a set of genius questions based on the premise of Empathy. Coach Brown and our principal played a crucial role in helping to bring out the genius as the "classroom of geniuses" began the next hours of inquiry. This messy but crucial list guided each group. Genius is messy and learning is messy and classrooms get messy when genius shows up! My class, by the way, was like any other class before they passed by the quote at the entrance of my room: "You are a genius and the world needs your contribution." We have IQ’s from 98 to 150+ but no numbers or test scores change what we do every day as a group of geniuses at work empowered by the Habitudes.  Meet more Teachers with Habitudes. Get your own Habitudes Journey Started Today.

Becoming a more effective writer by means of interactive, cloud-based grammar and composition tools has become much easier as adaptive elearning-focused web applications have become more sophisticated. One of the leading innovators, Grammarly, has pioneered new algorithms and approaches for writing enhancement software which are of great use for anyone who must write reports, proposals, and

Nicole Padoan is Teacher with Habitudes. Lets find out how Nicole uses lessons from Habitudes in her class.  I was so grateful for not having planned a lesson for the Monday  following a trip to work with Angela Maiers and her thinking around the "Habitudes."   I was traveling back from Boston with her words percolating in my brain….that if I didn’t secure the hearts of my students’ I didn’t have a shot at their brains.  I wanted to do as Angela inspired, to reframe the way we think about learning by opening up an unarguable truth; that kids don’t need to prove what they’ve memorized, instead they need to prove their character as  thinkers, readers and writers and leave me each day knowing that their work is worthy of the world. Indeed, there was no other way.  It was going to be my new unarguable truth.  I began this work as Angela outlines in her book, by having my seventh grade students talk about, describe, compare, and understand what the terms of the habitudes mean to them both individually and collectively. (lessons one, two and four in the "Name It" stage) The prep work was seamless.  It took me less than 15 minutes to prepare the materials I would need and the thinking I would share with my class for lessons one and two.  I modeled the work by thinking aloud what some of the habitudes looked like in my own life.    I shared with my students that courage for me looks like my son coming home from 5th grade with his Accelerated Reader reading test leveled at 1.4 (equivalent to 1st grade), grabbing "Harry Potter" off of his bookshelf, curling up on his bed, and saying, "Mom, come and get me in an hour and I’ll tell you what I love about this book."  I shared with them that imagination to me, sounds like silence because it’s what goes on in my head as I’m looking out the front window of my house. Then, working in triads or foursomes, my students talked about what the habitudes looked like, sounded like and felt like.  We collected images, icons, symbols, graphics and quotes that defined the habitudes for us.  We wrote "stories in the air" and "post-it memoirs" of times when we exhibited the habitudes.   This word storming was created first on the defining the habitudes handouts (lesson one) and then on giant charts, (lesson 2) from the Classroom Habitudes book. What surprised me is that by word storming, we created three dimensional depictions in our minds of these words - depictions which celebrated our thinking as a classroom community in terms of passion, perseverance, imagination, curiosity, self-awareness, creativity and adaptability.  One chart for each team wasn’t enough.  They wanted to share their collective thinking for all the words, for all the charts, so each group spent 5 minutes adding onto each habitude chart.  The creation of these charts took one class period (about 50 minutes)   In the end, we had this incredibly comprehensive, thoughtful, soulful "picture" of who we were as a learning family.  I was hoping they would gain an understanding of the habitudes and what they "meant."  In hindsight, that was naïve.  We gained our understanding, but more than that, we busted the doors off of our learning community that day.  We became instantly vulnerable in talking about the habitudes in our lives, we defined our learning space as a space where we could take risks and where we wanted to come back to the next day.  We learned about the words, yes, but to borrow a term from Martin Luther King, Jr., we learned more about the content of our character.   The kids sat and lay on the newly carpeted floor, nose to nose, as only kids can do.  We dared.  We were courageous.  We took risks.  We were brilliant. I can steadfastly say that the time spent in the "Name It" phase of the habitudes created a launch pad for how I may embed the habitudes into our work throughout the year.  Not only will we be immersing ourselves in all seven habitudes per the book’s ideas, we’ll be using them as themes as we study world leaders and history and we’ll discover them in our heroes as we write our hero’s journeys and study the way stories go.  We’ll do text set work in which we lay down our thinking and then watch our thinking evolve as we experience the habitudes in new and conflicting texts.  But that’s all for another posting…. Meet more Teachers with Habitudes. Get your own Habitudes Journey Started Today.  

Quickly changing environments pose special challenges for training and education developers and providers. The regulatory environment can be in flux, as well as the economic, political, and physical contexts. Being able to meet the challenges is of particular use, and it is gratifying to be able to talk to a professional who has successfully developed and implemented training and assessment in

Taking an integrative approach to e-learning, with perspectives gained from working across disciplines and with evolving technologies can provide unique insights. Welcome to an interview with Rick Zanotti, an influential e-learning leader whose perspectives have shaped products and approaches to e-learning and the development of learning management systems. 1.  What is your name and your

I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about the way in which new needs and technologies are impacting the way education and training are prepared, delivered, and administered. All the advantages of m-learning come to the forefront: on-demand, ubiquitous (esp with wifi), and practical. There are also new advantages as well, which have to do with the way in which multimedia and social networks

I have talked may times about the importance and power of stories in our life and in our learning. To help take my learning deeper, I have discovered fantastic authors that postion story in an even bigger context. One of those story leaders is Stephen Denny (@note_to_cmo).   In this fantastic post, Why Do Brand Stories Work? The Societal, Cultural and Physical Reasons Why, Stephen helps us understand why stories matter and what makes story work in a way that I had not considered. My Takeaways: Stories not only help us understand and interpret the world; they give us "equipment for life."  They teach us that the struggles we face have been faced before by generations stretching back to the dawn of time. They tell us, in other words, that we’re not alone, that we’re OK and that we’re doing it right. Or, conversely, that we’re not. Read your own destiny in the stories across time and culture. Stories engage us on a cultural, societal and physical level. We respond to stories because we’re wired to. It’s how we teach our children, it’s how we learn and it’s how we articulate our needs and desires so other will comply. And this is why/where getting our stories right matters most. If we want people in our lives to "comply";to do what we ask or need them to do. Then we need to remember this powerful point: "For stories to ring true, they need imperfection at their core. Without flaws there is neither struggle nor redemption, no drama, no story" Life’s imperfections make us worthy of attention.  ‘The writer must be true to truth.’ Because the only way you can describe a human being truly is by describing his imperfections. The perfect human being is uninteresting… it is the imperfections of life that are lovable. (Denny attributes writer Thomas Mann with this quote.) Therein lies our biggest challenge and our greatest learning. Imperfection is what makes us unique. Imperfection is what makes us human. We can not and do not relate to "perfect." Consider the videos that spread and the stories that stick. The ones that resonate and touch us deeply are not the scripted, polished, post production perfections.  It is the raw, unedited and yes, imperfect that take hold. So what does this mean? Your life and your work are good stories, well told. You have an important message to share. It takes courage and  patience to craft your storyline. As you ponder how to explain who you are in a fresh way to the listening world. Remember this: The web and the world want and need your story.  So don’t be afraid to share yourself with the world; imperfections and all. Here are a few resources to get you thinking: Robert McKee: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting. Dr. Norman Holland: Literature and The Brain Joseph Campbell: The Hero With A Thousand Faces. The quotes above are from his book, The Power of Myth Here are a few lessons with students to get them thinking: What Makes a Powerful Story? Fiction vs. NonFiction The Heart of Fiction- The Life Story Embracing Imperfections Part One  Part Two

Collaborative learning can be very motivating because it helps reinforce social needs (Maslow) and needs for affiliation (McClelland). However, there are challenges in developing collaborative discussions using online courses and/or social media, for several reasons. Podcast: http://www.zenzebra.net/podcasts/motivation4-nash.mp3 Engagement is a complex concept, and for learners to participate

Please take five minutes and watch this amazing audition of 34 year old, Christopher Maloney, for the 2012 X FactorUK singing competition. It will leave you smiling,crying and "singing" the praises of the people in your life that have given you the courage, strength and conviction to live your dreams. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1T9-I3wx8I  

It is tempting to look at self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) as the only reflector of an individual's belief about himself or herself in terms of whether or not he or she is likely to stay motivated and to achieve high learning performance. Podcast: http://www.zenzebra.net/podcasts/motivation2-nash.mp3 However, there is another way to map the process of how one's beliefs about themselves frame and

Buffer announced last week a new integration with Trapit, Feeddler and Rhino. Now, you can share your content with Buffer on nearly every social network out there. "We know you discover and share content in all kinds of ways. Because of that, one of our highest priorities right now is integrating with the services you already love or might want to check out" said Leo The co-founder of Buffer. Here are three new ways to find content and share it with Buffer: 1. Trapit for iPad — Take a spin with Trapit to discover content about new and familiar topics in a gorgeous interface designed just for iPad. You can now add content to your Buffer right from there. 2. Feeddler — Set up your RSS reader and Buffer the share-worthy posts from your favorite blogs. 3. Rhino for app.net - Experience the new social network in style with Rhino. Keep up with your feed and Buffer posts to go out later. Find out how these great apps can help you share better. More integrations are coming soon, and as always, Buffer want to hear which ones will help you fit Buffer right into your workflow. Buffer rolled out the the new integration last week, so look for Buffer option in your favorite network, and for more about how to use Buffer, check out the Buffer Help Guide.

Much of president’s Obama’s past and present election platform has been based on the importance of the importance of the education system and how it was the key for the US to rise as the undisputed world leader that it was. And you may or may not have rooted for him but the importance of getting a good quality education and the accreditation that goes along with it is an undisputed and very powerful way of coming to personal gain. And getting that education in an online environment has many advantages, from lower costs to gaining access to a series of high quality specialized programs, so many students might actually prefer this type of studies to any other. Obviously the most important reason why a prospective student would look at an online option for their studies is that these kinds of studies are usually much cheaper than real classes. In the first place it is cheaper on the school itself so it is only natural that they should ask for smaller tuition fees. However there are certain online classes that provide some extraordinary value and they are aware of it so they may actually be as expensive as some off line classes but even then they should be cheaper than the off line version of that specific class. Besides the advantages that online classes have for the schools there are certain advantages for the students too like the fact that for most classes you can choose your own studying times and there are very few classes that require all students to be online at the same time so that they can participate in debates. And even in those situations there are always advantages to being able to study from home like the fact that you don’t have to spend any money on the commute, you can always go in the kitchen and pick up something if you’re hungry and it can be so much more comfortable to keep your pajamas on in the morning. And besides what you might call comfort factors there is always the advantage that studying from home allows you to do other mandatory activities. Like new parents that have to be there for their children at all times but who do have the time to learn to get a better certification and, when they come to it, they can go back to work for a bigger pay grade. And there are many more situations where you have to be in certain places for long periods of time but you still have a few hours to spare to better yourself. And last is the fact that there are certain specialized classes that are not available anywhere but in an online environment. That is because, even in the biggest cities, there may not be enough people interested in taking a certain class but across the world there will certainly be a group that at one given time will be interested in studying a specific class and online is the only place where they can all meet and study that particular subject. This Article is contributed by Joye Allen and she is self employed by doing freelancing. Over last two years she is engaged in writing about dissertation help for the students. She lives in Santa Monica, California.

Ellen Adolph is a "Teacher With Habitudes." Ellen Adolph teaches third grade at Woodward Academy, a school that values all Habitudes!  She finds it rewarding to watch students learn life skills such as independence and responsibility.  These lessons require self-awareness, perseverance, and adaptability sprinkled liberally with curiosity and imagination.  She and her students travel a journey together as thinkers, problem solvers, and life-long learners. Who doesn’t love third graders?  They are the genuine article when it comes to learning, and I hoped to make our classroom the perfect playground for collaborative skills.  Collaborative learning has always been part of many projects in my room.  Previous years’ experience has shown that group tasks improve with every project, and our most successful collaborations didn’t usually take place until winter-spring.  I was hopeful that with a new focus and lots of practice, we could build some momentum earlier in the calendar.  So many life skills and Habitudes are the framework for successful group work. The first step would be to first establish our classroom climate via class rules.  The first week of school we spent time three, 45-minute periods at our class "Think Tank."  This is a meeting area where we use giant tablets, clipboards, and sticky-notes to meet and think "aloud."  Students brainstormed and created their rules, and we modeled "what these rules would look and sound like."  It would be important to use an important lesson learned from Debbie Miller and Angela Maiers:  the need to model the obvious. The kids had great fun modeling good and bad examples of listening or being considerate of classmates, and those activities were important to establishing class boundaries. We spent lots of time modeling different classroom skills and routines that would be  important to successful group work.  We were on our way as one large group to begin working in smaller groups with some very specific tasks. Many lessons lend themselves easily to working in groups.  Whether it’s sorting spelling words to rules or using manipulatives in math, there are often opportunities to practice collaboration.  I provide ample time for questions so students are clear on the project at hand, and I use a giant Smart Board timer reminding children of time left in a task.  We distinguish daily seat assignments from our "5 groups" or "3 groups" which yield improved productivity. The first half of the year, groups are purposefully organized to provide a balance of weak and strong, girl and boy. Our first group experiences provided successes and pitfalls, and we discuss examples of both.  Time is never enough as group activities take longer than more traditional instruction.  After these first activities, I know the children are ready to grow with some more challenging collaborations. Using the children’s group learning experiences to date, (week 8) we met at the Think Tank to reflect on our group work. I asked them, "Why do we work in groups," and their answers reflect some astute points for third graders. Answers include, "it’s important to learn to cooperate and work with others," "we learn about new friends,"  and "to get excited about something new." One child made a connection to the fact that, "Our parents are in meetings at work all the time. That’s how adults discuss work." My favorite answer was, "You cooperate with each other and use teamwork.  And when you appreciate each other you work harder." Wow. Next, we talk about what successful group work looked like and sounded like. The kids began pouring out observations.  The trending answers used the words talking and listening.  Another important category was fairness. This included how groups decided who did what task or deciding on a path for the solution to a problem.  Even if the children weren’t 100% successful at a collaborative task, they knew most steps to getting there. Over the next weeks, using our novel Ramona Quimby, Age 8, the children practiced more challenging collaborative learning tasks.  With our focus on developing stronger sequencing skills, the children worked in "5 groups" to sequence several chapters of the book.  The first assignments were choppy with some disgruntlement about roles, but the sequencing was great.  By the time we finished the book, they were pros.  Our culminating activity for the novel was a literature circle.  In their "3 groups," the children answered very open ended questions based on the novel.  They were encouraged to present their answers using any creative format. They were efficient with deciding what they would do and collecting materials to start.  Every group had a detailed plan, and four of the six groups decided on a script to help them be more organized.  They were doing great! The day of their presentations, I was so proud of their efforts.  The class was engaged and attentive to their classmates’ work.   Four of the five groups hit a home-run with their presentations.  (The previous planning day, despite redirection about not being "on task," one group had decided to change their presentation, but all did not agree.  One student worked, one pouted, and the third was just being silly. They learned important lessons about making group decisions and about trying to work together to solve a problem.)  I could not have been more pleased with the thoroughly done work on a challenging task so early in the year. So, where are the Habitudes in all this?  Several Habitudes are the foundation skills for these collaborative tasks. With all our tasks, flexibility and adaptability are key pieces that third graders practice all year long.  With the literature circle tasks, we saw curiosity and imagination.  One group wanted to be a "living" advice letter to Ramona and asked to see how an envelope is folded so they could make a giant one as a costume. Excitement and passion are evident in the lengths the children went to show how much they understood Ramona and her problems. Courage was evident in accepting what your group decides even if you’re not completely in agreement.  Courage was very evident with one child taking a huge step and donning a costume he was not comfortable about wearing.  This child got over his hesitation and wore the envelope for his classmates. That’s live courage! I am so excited about the progress my class has shown in only 10 weeks of school.  I am even more excited about the life-long Habitudes my third graders are learning!

Research by cognitive psychologists has suggested that motivation is often based on fundamental human needs, and that all are critical in factors in everyday life, such as job satisfaction, effective reward systems, team performance, and goal persistence. Audio file:  http://www.zenzebra.net/podcasts/motivation1-nash.mp3 Bullfighter & son. What motivates people? Each person is different. (

Jessica Parsons is a "Teacher with Habitudes." Jessica Parsons, a 7th grade Life science teacher, uses strategies and brain-based learning approaches to connect student interest to the core content.  She strives to make science fun, engaging and relevant, while challenging students to think critically and make connections between the content and their everyday life experience. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks all day long." In July, I had the great pleasure of attending one of Angela’s workshops, "You Matter: 2 Words Changing Learning and Lives," at the BLC12 in Boston.  I was inspired by her talk and one of the keynotes asserting we, as educators, should re-examine "what we do in the first five days."  A student-centered focus versus a content-centered introduction felt like the appropriate way to acclimate my new middle schoolers!  Throughout the first five days, we discussed and evaluated the some of the characteristics of an effective learner. Mid-August came quickly and the anticipation for the new school year mounted.  The Self-Awareness chapter from Classroom Habitudes was the perfect guiding map.   And on the first day, as the students nervously settled in their seats, I stressed that the first five days were going to be all about them.  We discussed that "self-aware learners know how they learn best; are able to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, they monitor and control their own learning process" (Maiers, p. 55). We, first, did a student search game so students could meet and greet the other learners they would collaborate with throughout the year. With a bingo-type worksheet in hand, students had to introduce themselves and ask several questions of each other to earn points. New students, and even shy students, were engrossed in questions and conversations amidst students that have known each other since kindergarten. The next day, we began the conversation about effective learners. Students brainstormed ideas and posted to prompts about champion learners using Polleverywhere.com. We then discussed the research of Dr. Carol Dweck and value of a growth mindset, especially when our 7th graders are faced with the new and various challenges the Middle School has in store for them. Through a self-assessment, students discovered where they fell on the mindset spectrum. The Mindset graphic, by Nigel Holmes, also gave a visual summary about the fixed vs growth mindset and essentially describes how one can move from one mindset to the other. It’s important for students to understand the anatomy and physiology behind the psychology. So we analyzed the article, "You Can Grow Your Intelligence," (NAIS). If students have a growth mindset, they apply effort in order to grow and persist through challenges. Our efforts and practice can literally change the physical connections of our neural pathways. To help students further understand who they are as learners, we completed a learning style and preference quiz. Although it was not a comprehensive test meant to box students into categories, many felt the results rang true in summarizing their preferences and when they would be most productive while learning.  My students seemed to appreciate the insight to their learning styles and how style-based strategies may be helpful when learning across all content and in co-curricular activities. Then we created a living document of Active study strategies for the various types of learning styles through a crowd-sourcing activity using iTouches. I urged the students to revisit this list when having to learn each night to find the study skills that would best suit them.  Lastly, the students searched for the Characteristics of a Champion Learner (p.54) through a QR code scavenger hunt. Hopefully, this established a foundation of familiar vocabulary, introspection, and expectations, as we continue this discussion throughout the year.  Their success and confidence begins with a better understanding of themselves.  And by explicitly having the conversation at the start of the year, I hope I conveyed my genuine interest in their success and that I value their differences as learners.

 Countries and communities that have the good fortune to be near areas of biodiversity and beautiful beaches, mountains, rivers, fields, and forests often cite nature tourism as a key strategy for preserving the integrity of natural resources and alleviating poverty. In doing so, they integrate conservation and development programs, and try to avoid the pitfalls that are often associated with

Love this great post from the folks at Always Prepared entitled:  ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Technology‘ and the infographic it inspired from  Mark Bates. Both highlight "The Habitudes" of educators who are effectively using technology to enhance and impact teaching and learning. Hat tip to Shawn McCusker for this awesome Twitter find!  

Imagine a group coming together to plan a new pet adoption center. They're working together as a team, and this project has a lot of moving parts, which include everything from the financing, design, permits, publicity, health and safety protocols, to finding the key personnel to make sure it's a sustainable enterprise.   The planning process is also a learning process, and it requires a clear

Anne Weidert is a "Teacher with Habitudes." Anne Weidert is a third grade teacher at Woodward Academy’s Primary School. She teaches a self contained class of children who have special needs. She feels that the classroom habitudes empower her students to be more confident and passionate learners. She is excited to be a teacher of the Habitudes.   My goal is to let my third grade students know that they matter. Not only do I blatantly tell them "You matter," I make sure they understand that they are important to the world and to the work that we do every day in our classroom. When someone it absent, it matters! We miss their important contribution to our learning. We talk about how important being here and working hard every day is to become a passionate amazing learner and citizen of the world. We also focus on one of the first things Angela talks about in Habitudes that success in the 21st century requires. "Understand your strengths and the discipline needed to improve your weaknesses." In my class that is made up of eight third graders, all of whom have special needs, we hear "I already knew that" and "I did that last year" when it is clear that they have not learned the concept and need much more work in the area. We talk about how every one of them has strengths and are very good at many things. However, we also need to recognize there are things we DON’T know and that those will take hard work and determination to master. We talk a lot about the fact that everyone has weaknesses they are working on. To improve them it takes discipline and focus. Since we had been more generally talking about Angela’s ideas and not specifically concentrating on the Habitudes, I decided that we should do a lesson where we talked about the meaning of each of the Habitudes. I quickly found that my third graders did not know the definition of any of the words! The lesson I had planned to improve knowledge of the Habitudes ended up being a vocabulary exercise as well! We worked through what each one meant, we looked at the posters I found on her website and read definitions from the Habitudes book. Then, each child made a poster for one of the Habitudes with a picture that somehow related to that Habitude. Some are more loosely related that others but I think my students generally understood the idea behind the Habitude they chose. I am looking forward to many more Habitudes lessons and focusing on each of the geniuses in my class.  

Jenni's new approach for processing water from oil and gas wells was announced on the very same day that the Oklahoma Geological Survey stated that injecting produced water was causing the dramatic increase in damaging earthquakes in Oklahoma. So, her new approach was viewed as a potential solution to the problems.  Because Jenni's approach was so practical, a large number of people were

This is why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE TED talks and believe them to be one of the best sources on the web for learning, leadership, and personal development. Where else do you have access to the worlds most inspiring, informative, ingenious and innovative people talking about how they are going to do to change the world? John Boswell — has created the "Symphony of Science" videos. Not to talk, but to listen and remix. Hear his mix of TED2012, with some classic TED moments mixed in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDHET3aCI2U Happy Monday!

Rubén Darío’s (1867-1916) work spanned many years, and it contains very distinct themes. One of the most popular deals with the sense of the ineffable, the impossibility of explaining the human condition. In many ways, his work predates the sense of "thrownness" described by German philosopher Martin Heidegger. In fact, Darío’s intensity has Romantic roots, although his prosody is firmly