"Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson

I was fortunate to receive this book and spent some time to read it. After reading the first few chapters I had to encouraged myself to push forward to engross myself in the story. However, I am very glad that I did.

Greg Mortenson took an idea of passion and went forward. In his book Three Cups of Tea, he shares the adversity and challenges he encountered such as being kidnapped by the Taliban or receiving tons of hate mail from Americans, but Mortenson still went forward. His philanthropic vision to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past decade is inspirational for what one person can do. Also, his humanitarian spirit has resulted in 55 schools, especially for girls, to attend school in forbidden terrain, which was previously occupied by the Taliban.

Although the book focuses on his journey of creating these educational facilities, he has impacted the larger educational community to do more for their communities. Mortenson said, "There is a saying on my mirror in the bathroom that reminds me every day, when you heart speaks take good notes."

This book reminds me of our organization and the passion Bernice Pauahi Bishop had for educating the children of Hawai'i. The saying you hear often is "one person can make a difference." What should be added to that phrase is "one person can persevere to make a difference with results."

Kamehameha Schools envelops this type of passion one person had for educating the future generations. Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and her husband Charles exemplified this same philanthropic mantra of infusing the cultural values, but also the values to be community contributors in all facets.

With our organization moving toward the three focus areas: education engagement, cultural engagement, and civic engagement, it really goes back to Pauahi’s Will and passion for the humble beginnings of this organization and how it was established.

Mahalo to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and Charles Bishop for creating an institution and enterprise so that I may have the opportunity to work for an organization which personifies my passion for education.

To read more about Greg Mortenson, go to http://www.threecupsoftea.com.

Pixar University's Randy Nelson

This was a great video. The key concepts to innovation: depth, breath, communication and collaboration.

Watch as Randy Nelson explains this so well, especially collaboration.

Trials and tribulations

When you just think life is going well the overwhelming financial obstacles come crashing in. What it would be like to go back and keep things simple. Being a kid or teenager you have other crisis episodes that happen. As an adult, there are financial responsibilities that I understand now that I didn't as a kid. Now that I am an adult, money comes and goes faster than I can gain some interest on it.

Each day I pray that God will forgive me for the mistakes I have made in the past and for his guidance for the future. I am sure he did not invent stupidity and that was derived from another source.

God, I don't know if you read blogs, but I know you see and hear my heart. With all the thoughtful things that I think I am doing right, there are so many wrongs that come back at me. Help me to persevere and strive to turn the other way and just deal with the situation. As my dad has said, "you may have won the battle, but you lost the war." I never understood what that meant until recently.

Month six and still going...

Well, it has been six months and still going. How is it? It's okay. Of course like any large organization it has it anomalies, but hey, it can't be perfect.

I have discovered that Peter's Principle exist here. It is interesting to see how it is functioning and making its way through the ranks.

Do I need a breath of fresh air? Yes, probably. I think having to consider all the things that are happening. However, I could take a different view where it is just a job, do as I am told and be humble. Maybe this is the lesson God is trying to teach me.

Need to get my dissertation approved so I can finish and move on to the next thing in the chapters of my life. Will see. As one of my co-workers say "you can see the possibilities, but is just waiting for it?" My question back is "how long do you wait?"

New Perspectives on Engaging Students and Teachers in the Classroom and Beyond

Blackboard sponsored this session presented by

Rob Leo, CNYRIC/OCM BOCES
Jed Friedrichsen, blendedschools.net
Pam Willingham, Volusia County Schools
Katie Gallagher, M. S., Solutions Engineer, Blackboard K-12

Blendedschools.net

They have 160 school districts participating in their non-profit online learning and professional development for teachers and students. The focus is to learn how to use online learning for instruction, but also for reaching learners who do not go to school.

Blackboard 9.1 provides an excellent opportunity to provide professional developmoent and online learning for educators.

Channging in Teaching and Learning upgrading to 9.1
Online courses and blended learning using Bb will change from a web 1.0 environment to a web 2.0 environment. With version 9.1, teachers will be creating authentic activites for students to participant and collaborate with blogs, wikis and chats. This will empower teachers to engage students to learn and take more of an active role in learning.

Impact of Professional Development
Model Schools Program out of New York uses Bb 9.1 to provide professional development for teachers. Also, using Bb9.1 the standards align with the teacher standards can be doen with the professional development course rollouts.

Student Learning
Schools are using Bb9.1 to seeing a way to expand on student engagement to have them delve into the learning. The standards alignment is the key component to the Bb9.1. This would tie into making the link to the assessment. Curriculum mapping can also be done in Bb9.1.

"I don't believe there's a district in the nation that would tell you standards doesn't play a role in the work that they do. In the age of acocuntability, our state assessment system is driven by state standards. Therefore, we do not have to be granular about what our standards are and how those standards translate into instruction."
Dr. Lissa Pijanowski, Asst. Sup. For Academics and Acocuntability, Forsyth County, Georgia

Twiducate.com and Edmodo.com

I recently attended a webinar sponsored by Google presenting many of the tools that are out there for educators. They did emphasize the fact of the growing abuse of social media sites this is why the stated that Twiducate.com and Edmodo.com are two sites where you can build a secure learning area.

Twiducate.com allows you to create an online community for your classroom. They do emphasize the safety factor about social media sites, but in this form teachers are in control of the site. Using this in the classroom creates student engagement. Also, when you have 30+ students in a classroom and you are trying to get everyone to participate, this may be an alternative to track the participation.

Edmodo.com - the interface looks like Facebook, but it is not. One thing cool about this one is students can submit assignments and you can look at the grade book for the status. This allows teachers to track, but also grade items submitted.

Both are FREE and have different features. If I had to select one, I would probably use the Edmodo.com just because of the grading feature. You could look at this as a means of safe and controlled social media for learning.

5 months and still going

It has been 5 months and still going at KS. It has been very interesting. It has been nice having less responsibilities, but I think I miss some of the over arching things that drive a program or decision-making.

I do know that my cobweb rusty technology skills have reinvigorated themselves. I remember what it was like teaching web design and now having to do it since being out of the classroom the past few years is an awakening.

I am trying to figure out my purpose being at KSDL and what can I contribute to individuals there as well as the programs - goals and initiatives. I have come to some conclusions, but I think I will wait till I post that up here and observe a little more.

The team is dynamic. It's nice to be working with a group of "mutants" as a former Tokioka award winning DOE principal once called me and some of my friends. It is rare to find a group that you can mesh with and push forward the bar even when you achieve it and start to exceed it.

I am remembering to keep an open mind, be humble, and observant. These are the areas that I would like to use to learn about where I fit in the mix and what I can bring to the table with my prior experiences and knowledge. But, also what can I learn and gain.