Many of you have followed along on my trip around the country, and it would not have been as well articulated without the weekly video catch-ups with Bo Adams of Unboundary along the way. We did the final episode last Friday, unfortunately just as the news from Newton was coming out. But after a moment to reflect on that heartbreak, we wrapped up the last week of the trip, and spent a bit of time talking about next steps. In particular, I want to thank Bo for taking the time to merge the findings of this trip with carefully selected passages from my first book, The Falconer. That book was written over a period of almost a decade, and mostly well before any of us had heard or used the term “21st Century skills”. It is rewarding to see many of these ideas now viewed as best practice in schools around the country!
I am so happy and honored to have been asked to share my experience and the synthesis thereof with a number of national and regional educational organizations, as well as at TEDx Denver in March. As many as possible of those events will be active learning workshops so we leverage the brainpower in the room when we meet, and leave with creative, actionable ideas that will move us along this institutional arc of authentic, student-centered, relevant learning. Mixed in with those busy travel obligations I am working on the scaffold of my book. I have also been asked to help with the strategic visioning of the future of the Martin Institute, and you will hear a lot more about what I think will be exciting and, in fact, groundbreaking directions after the first of the year.
With this video we will put a wrap on the trip, but not on the journey. Thanks for following and sharing, and continuing to do so!
I loved the idea of a serialized book—I think this could be pretty amazing, written in iBooks Author. I’ve seen some pretty outstanding books written in this format, both in technology and education, including Paperless and the Paperless Principal, both of which I think you would enjoy.
Thanks John; when I get to the point of looking at this option I will most certainly call on you for your advice and experience!
It has been my pleasure to learn with you, from you, and for you (remember, in August I did not know how we were going to make video interviews easily each week). I see it as a great responsibility of mine to share what we are discovering and creating about educational innovation. You and your school hosts have opened windows in just 12 weeks that would normally takes years to peek through. To get to play a role in that learning and sharing has been a gift to me. Thank you!
Hope you will keep hosting a weekly video interview and that you/we will bring in others. I will happily help to spread these via my blog and connections! A valuable tool for many educators and we should leverage it.