Peter H. Reynolds is Amazing!

Using a picture of my car that I have on Facebook, the amazing Peter H. Reynolds created this animation. It made my WEEK ( and maybe month and year )!!

O Ponto/The Dot ".. porque a imaginação não tem limites !"

A very strange thing happened the other night. I had some free time and I was surfing YouTube. I was hoping to find some cool FableVision things to put on the FableVision Learning Blog. I stumbled across this video from Portugal. I didn't even know the language that the YouTube description was written in, but the magic in the video transcends the language barrier.

The source of the video was this blog www.palavrasmenores.blogspot.com. The kids in the video making the dots with paint, hands, bodies was a heartwarming lift. All inspired by the book "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. I HAD to know what this was about...So, I went to BabelFish and translated the page from Portuguese to English. I learned that the school had won a contest sponsored by the book publisher. The scene in the end, with the hands sticking through the dots was the winning photo.

I was moved so much by this video. I emailed everyone at FableVision that I could think of. I marveled at the creativity and the passion. "The Dot" was my first favorite Peter H. Reynolds. Watching this video unfold was magical.

My favorite quote from the blog......

".. porque a imaginação não tem limites !"

"Because the imagination does not have limits."

Interactive Whiteboards

There has been much discussion lately on the use of Interactive Whiteboards in classrooms and I feel the need to say one thing. Feel free to quote me.

The only thing more misguided than a person who doesn't see the value of an interactive whiteboard in a classroom is the person who thinks they belong in every classroom.

As I have blogged about in the past, I have an interactive whiteboard in my classroom and I feel it has transformed my teaching. I have heard the opponents say that it is just another way to have the 'sage on the stage' and, as I have said before, I am rarely in front of the board. I typically have the students at the board and I sit between some disruptive students with my portable slate. If you go back to educational theory, you will find that kinesthetic and visual kids will find a comfortable adaptation to learning with an IWB. I can't imagine going back to teaching without the board.

One thing I keep reading and hearing about administrators who make a major purchase to buy one for every classroom. Misguided is the best thing I can say. Anyone adept in education understands that not all students learn the same way. In addition, all teachers are prepared to teach in that way. The boards should be carefully purchased and dramatically infused into classrooms and curriculum.

Reflections

Online friend, Paul Bogush has noticed I haven't written the obligatory follow-up to my experiences at NECC....Well, here they are, just for you, Paul.

I have already responded via comment to one post about NECC on Lee's blog. But that was sort of a negative slant. Here, I want to talk about the other side of my experiences...The all-consuming positive side.

After an unexplained one hour delay at the Detroit airport, we arrived at the Baltimore airport about 4 p.m. We hopped in a cab bound for downtown D.C. Forty harrowing minutes later, we arrived at our destination, The historic Mayflower hotel. The cab driver broke the handle on my luggage while yanking it out of the minivan and I was not in the best frame of mind after having to brace myself against the front seat as we hurtled from 75 mph to 0 at one point. However, the rest of the trip was nearly magic.

As everyone undoubtedly knows, I work very part-time for FableVision. The company and the people who work there are so close to my heart, it's like we are all very best friends even from the first minutes of meeting. I run a program for educators who believe in the work FableVision does...which is almost everyone who comes in contact with them. I am not a salesperson...nor do I want to be. I just enjoy sharing the experiences my students have had. The first night, pure bliss...A dinner with the amazing software designer and dear friend Peggy Healy Stearns, Julia Young, and the newly formed sales team and my wonderful wife.

On Sunday, I was the FableVision representative at the Contructivist Consortium Celebration. If you haven't been to the celebration, you must give it a try. It is honestly the best of what education can be. TRUE Professional Development. Here is how it works. The morning launches with a talk by Gary Stager and Melinda Kolk (Tech-4-Learning)...stirring the crowd. Then, the educators present devour some of the best Constructivist software out there. Working with peers, talking, dreaming, imagining, creating...Watching teacher being given the most valuable commodity (time) is a rare treat. As my school is filled with distrust and derision, it is spirit renewing to watch people do exactly what they are charged to do....create! The day ended with a talk by my friend, Peter H. Reynolds. The funny thing for me was watching the people who did not know him...To see the spark that has motivated so many...The inspired talk and the information that we all knew at one point, but maybe forgot.... It is KIDS at the center of all we do. It will never be tests that motivate us ...or the kids for that matter. It's the genuine love and connection that gets us out of bed every morning.

Joining me in the Constructivist Celebration was a phenomenal force of energy, Cristine Goldberg from Georgia and Peggy Healy Stearns. The true wonder of this experience for me was meeting some online friends. Andrea Hernandez, Lee Kolbert, Anna Adam, and Cheryl Woolwine. ALL gentle wonderful human beings that I felt an instant connection to. What a glorious feeling. (My apologies if I forgot someone)

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were spent in the FableVision booth. An amazing time as I watched the company I have represented so many times become "the" place to be. It was a non-stop stream of positive and wonderful people stopping by to chat and get the full experience. I was again able to meet LOTS of people I have met online.....TOO many to name individually. It seems that many people now see what I have always known...it's a company with heart and a mission.

Nights were spent with my Fablebuddies and frequently we wound up back at the hotel to hang out with Peter H. Reynolds or the Twinspiration (Peter and Paul Reynolds). GREAT TIMES! When have you ever sat at a table and, instead of meaningless chitchat, been asked what book you are going to write? That's what it's like to hang with FableVision!

So, the big learning of the week.... Well, people are pretty much the same in person as online. OK, that was a bit of a shocker. The guy who I thought was completely full of himself...so much that I had to stop reading the blog, was, indeed full of himself (I am not naming names).

Everyone who comes across online as kind/sweet/generous, was exactly that. Only one sort of surprise...Sherry from South Dakota, Lee Kolbert, Andrea Hernandez, Shannon Smith and Cheryl Woolwine are sweet online and actually MORE sweet in person (hard to believe). Hanging out with the five of them (separately) was amazing. I was glad I could introduce a few of them to Peter H. Reynolds because I could tell their spirits collide in a positive way.

My final thoughts on NECC 2009.....Life changing. I miss my NECC friends more than any other time. The relationships grow deeper and it is harder to think about going back five weeks from now to a place where I have a few friends and am not appreciated by adults whatsoever. So, I shall savor my memories and dream of a better place and a better spirit that shall sail me through the bad times.... For I am truly on a journey-- a wonderfully bumpy journey. Sometimes my suitcase gets broken and I get delayed, but I always have hope....and in my constellation, I have some of the greatest people the World has ever known.