Fireside Learning:  Conversations about Education

Changing Our Minds

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In the words of the great Louis "Louie" Armstrong: "If it ain't got that swing, it don't mean a thing." Who knew Louie was saying something like the Spaniard Lorca asked about any work (of art--including self-engaged learning): "Where's the duende...
November 12
Hi Skip!!! Just this weekend, my husband sent me a link to Robinson's creativity TED video, which made me happy - in the unpredictable viral way that things spread through the Internet, it is now circulating through the meteorology community where...
November 12
Hey there Ian and Skip, Funny, that book is sitting on the top of the pile right here on my school desk. I read it a while ago and was sharing it with colleagues. I read it with a parent of a former student; we're discussing creativity in her busi...
November 12
I've just made a start on this book - very much encapsulated in Ken's TED talk on the site here - but great reading - very racy style. And being readable, it would be a great gift for the creativitiy-sceptics. A great gift for the positive voyager...
November 12
How long will we ignore the vision education can provide us to sustain peace and prosperity on Earth? Various themes of global concern offer good reasons for us to develop awareness, resources, and practical initiatives for new learning.
October 17
What works in education? Is there valid evidence that programs and practices we use--or might consider using--are effective?
October 17
Remarkable findings of how our brains work when we are learning provide invaluable insights into improving educational practices.
October 17
Thank you for this group. Lots of great resources and information has been wonderfully compiled. Thanks so much for this labor.
October 17
October 1
I've read the "Introduction" and "Conclusion" to Mike Rose's Why School. No thinker in history worth listening to has ever divorced schooling from public good. The issue has always been in conservative political oligarchies to train new sons to ...
September 20
September 20
I have not read What, Then, Is Time? I've been waiting for an opportunity to read it closely along with two other books Professor Brann has written as a trilogy. Here's what I found on the Amazon.com page for What, Then, Is Time?" bout the trilog...
September 19
Dear Laura, When I read your lament, I was moved as a sometime friend to want to give you a fatherly hug and tell you as though you were a daughter, "Sweet child you are a wonder to me, full of intelligence and grace and ambition that all you touc...
September 18
One aspect of reconstructing American society out of its failures of cultural/political imagination is the innovative work Liz Coleman is about in higher education. I want to listen to her voice of educational leadership/activism at least once a d...
September 9
Skip Zilla was featured
September 9
Well crafted graphically/musically, Ed. Message content understandably instructional and encouraging--from the experience of teacher/mentor to developing learners. Curious to learn how students respond. Was heartened by student responses to seriou...
September 9

Comment Wall (116 comments)

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At 11:51pm on August 29, 2009, Ellen Pham said…
It's so nice to see you online, Skip : )
At 7:41pm on March 28, 2009, Connie Weber said…
Wanted: comments by Skip!
Your voice is wanted, valued, needed.
Besides, you and I are signed up for a lot of booktalks. What's your latest? Shall we continue (or start) a discussion of one of our recent reads?
At 3:57pm on February 17, 2009, Laura Gibbs said…
I too feel SQUISHED, Skip. Ah well. I cannot help but see science in everything AND I see mysteriousness in everything at the same time.

And that's before I even get my trifocals!!! (They are arriving tomorrow at the optometrist!)

:-)
At 3:13pm on February 17, 2009, Laura Gibbs said…
OOOOOOH, Skip, that is so cool! Did you see the excitement around the Wordle application that Anna shared with us? I think people would be so interested in any kind of analytical tools you could bring to bear. How absolutely fascinating that could turn out to be. The bigger the corpus, the better the cloud!

I'm more mercenary in my backups - since I link and crosslink constantly to all my stuff online it would be SUCH A MESS if something disappeared. I have great faith in the power of Google to help people (persistent people anyway) discover content that has disappeared and reappeared at another address - provided that it does reappear.

Meanwhile, this idea of having all our words available in this way is really quite awesome. These are the sorts of things that are truly new thanks to this technology.

Some things, alas, are very very very old, despite the new technology. I am almost (........) ready to give up on the science/religion discussion. I just linked to a REALLY thought-provoking Salon.com article. But if that fails to generate thoughts as opposed to more foot-stamping, I may move on to greener discussion pastures like the nice one about Metacognition. I so much want to write up a post about the history of textual criticism and what an amazing SCIENCE that is, but I just can't find the time. Argh!

With all your technology wizardry, Skip, can you build us a time-generating machine???! There are quite a few folks here at Fireside who would make such delightful use of it!!!
At 11:11am on February 14, 2009, Connie Weber said…
Hi Skip,
I'm all registered for the Brain Conference in SF; that's what enabled me to go--school is paying. Since it borders on my break I'll stay with my sister for 10 days. Life is good.
I'm REALLY looking forward to the event. There are some extraordinary researchers and speakers. It'll be hard to choose which talks to attend; I'll want to go to them all.
Thanks for thinking of me!
At 12:31pm on January 29, 2009, Meredith S said…
Thanks for checking out the blog! Always happy to have new visitors. We've also got a wiki.

One of my favorite authors, Wendell Berry, talks about the connections between land and theology.
At 11:47am on January 29, 2009, Doug Beacom said…
Thanks for your thoughtful reflection on my videos!
I'm lucky enough to be a video producer as a graduate assistant here at Teachers College--and have had great support and guidance in developing my research interest into short videos.
I'll be publishing a video posing the question: what would you text message to Obama on education reform?? this Friday on Aftered.tv

Had a look at your blog and was happy to find out about 'Global Post'--after living in Cambodia and Japan, I feel that gap in proper coverage.

Thanks for the warm welcome to fireside, I look forward to engaging everyone in discussion!

best,

Doug
At 10:11pm on January 28, 2009, brianh said…
Thanks for the warm welcome, Skip! I look forward to "pulling up an armchair" at Fireside Learning and discussing all these good things. - brian
At 3:43pm on January 27, 2009, Ellen Pham said…
I'm trying to take it with a sense of humor, Skip... who am I? and why am I in this handbasket? (Play on the saying, "everything's going to hell in a handbasket"... it might be an east coast/ new jersey saying, not everyone in portland is familiar with it... ah, more fuel for the identity debate!)

It's ok, Skip : ) Oh, but how fragile our identities are!
At 8:37pm on January 26, 2009, Laura Gibbs said…
Ha ha, at that point, I will just contact Nathan and ask him to build us a spaceship so that we can leave this solar system far behind... until Google catches up with us again, ha ha! :-)

Profile Information

Tell about your involvement in education, and your ideals for collegial sharing
Happy new year 2009! What I hope to contribute to this community is not terribly technical when it comes to practical matters of classroom teaching nor attentive to every byte of the latest education news. But I'll try to do two things of benefit to members of this community: first, I'll point to (mostly online) resources that teachers might possibly use to engage their students directly or to prepare their designs of learning projects; and second, I'll try to contribute thought-generating resources for us as adult learners and active citizens who also happen to be educators.

I see and welcome the wisdom in what Barack Obama has said about us, "We're the ones we've been waiting for." Challenging times require us to grow in understanding of how our work in education critically affects social outcomes, while we develop the practical capabilities to engage our students in learning effectively and intelligently to live productive and happy lives. Fortunately, we have one another to support the changes we're challenged to make in our own work and personal lives.

I have worked closely with a variety of professionals over forty years but have found none whose work humbles me more than that of a great teacher. If I had but one wish, it would be that the learning spark of the child in each of us been inflamed by a great teacher.
About Me:
I'm retired from over three decades of business entrepreneurship as an information technologist and organizational development consultant. The learners I always had in mind during that time, as I developed new tools and strategies for accomplishing work and doing business, were adults, not children. What I know about learning by youngsters is as a lifelong amateur–especially as father of three wondrous learners, from whom I learned the essentials of the personal developments of mind and heart.

I love reading and writing, stories and poetry--and non-fiction on a variety of scientific, historical, and other topics. I play piano jazz and classical pieces on a full-sized electronic keyboard--my acoustic piano is lovingly being used by my eighty-seven year old Mum who lives some distance from where I live.

I hope to live vigorously for several more decades so I’m resurrecting the body of the athlete I once was. I don’t expect to be able to run four and a half, under five-minute miles every other day as I did two decades ago, but I’m slowly getting back to a respectable level of running performance for my age (63).
Website:
http://curiositymatters.wordpress.com/

The Green from the Sundance Channel

Skip Zilla's Photos

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Skip Zilla's Blog

Skip Zilla

"...one must take it because it is right."

Cowardice asks the question – is it safe?
Expediency asks the question – is it politic?
Vanity asks the question – is it popular?
But conscience asks the question – is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it because it is right.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted on September 6, 2009 at 10:09am — 4 Comments

Skip Zilla

Advertizing, the "education" that got/gets to us

Take a look at these 15 Sexist Vintage Ads and ask yourself how popular cultural values are spread among us of all genders--even today. The question, for those like me who want the cultural change toward more socially progressive and environmentally sustainable values with which to live everyday lives and to dream personal dreams, is how our public media/education does acculturate us and form us in subliminal ways. In what ways a… Continue

Posted on August 30, 2009 at 12:00pm — 3 Comments

Skip Zilla

The Necessary Revolution

Just got to a book last night which has been on my "anti-library" shelf for several months--Peter Senge's The Necessary Revolution (2008)--which I highly recommend. Here's an article from Business Week's "Innovation" section which reviewed the book last summer and spurred me to acquire a copy of it.

The following paragraphs from the book's first chapter, "A Future Awaiting Our Choices," provid… Continue

Posted on February 10, 2009 at 10:30am — 2 Comments

Skip Zilla

Howard Zinn on teaching and activism

I just started reading Howard Zinn's You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times (1994) and stumbled upon a couple of paragraphs that raise questions in my mind about teaching and activism. Here are those paragraphs copied from page 7:

When I became a teacher I could not possibly keep out of the classroom my own experiences. I have often wondered how so many teachers manage to spend a year with a group of students and never reveal who they are, what kind ofContinue

Posted on January 22, 2009 at 6:30pm — 18 Comments

Skip Zilla

Barack Obama's Inaugural Speech (text)

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gat… Continue

Posted on January 20, 2009 at 2:40pm — 3 Comments

Skip Zilla

Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address

Washington, D.C.
March 4, 1865

Fellow Countrymen:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of… Continue

Posted on January 19, 2009 at 6:31pm —

Skip Zilla

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

(See this Wikipedia article for brief historical background to the writing of this letter by Martin Luther King, Jr.)

16 April 1963

My Dear Fellow Clergymen:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secret… Continue

Posted on January 18, 2009 at 8:30pm — 2 Comments

Skip Zilla

What's on the President-Elect's mind: an interview with newspaper editors

President-Elect Barack Obama visited The Washington Post editorial board yesterday (1/15/09) for an interview, an important part of which had to do with education and public service. (Because the embed code provided by the Post doesn't seem to launch the audio of the interview [see below], here's a link to the Post webpage where it does work.)

Continue

Posted on January 16, 2009 at 12:00pm —

Skip Zilla

GlobalPost.com

GlobalPost.com is a start-up organization attempting to fill the lack of first-hand, first-class, international reporting in American news media in the digital age. Here are two paragraphs excerpted from GlobalPost's mission statement:

We, the Founders of GlobalPost, are also acutely aware of the fact that quality journalism in America is threatened more profoundly today than at any time in our history from an unprecedented combination of forces: theContinue

Posted on January 15, 2009 at 8:58am — 3 Comments

Skip Zilla

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

A new posting at the TED Blog announces Sir Ken Robinson's new book titled The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything and provides a link to an earlier TED video of his. I continue to listen to what has been Robinson's clear voice on creativity and human being. Awakening students' passions of mind and heart in learning/doing is as revolutionary and fundamental an aim as I can imagine for constructing an educatio… Continue

Posted on January 12, 2009 at 11:30am — 5 Comments

Skip Zilla

The River City Project

Are you folks aware of The River City Project? Although I have no hands-on experience with it, it seems worth investigating. I learned about it in a Tweet on Twitter about fifteen minutes ago from Scientific American magazine, which lead me to their online article which includes it in a discussion of lear… Continue

Posted on January 1, 2009 at 3:00pm — 6 Comments

Skip Zilla

coming of age in the American Revolution: lessons in children's resilience

Emmy Werner, an eminent American development psychologist, wrote a wonderful book a couple of years ago, titled In Pursuit of History: Coming of Age in the American Revolution, which captures the challenging and courageous lives of children in a time of war and social transformation--largely in their own words! For anyone specifically seeking a new way to engage students in t… Continue

Posted on December 30, 2008 at 11:30am —

Skip Zilla

culture, politics, and education

I've grown very curious about how American politics has played out over the time since WW2 that I've been alive. Although a student of politics during my college days, the recent U.S. Presidential election campaign re-engaged me in reading and thinking about American politics and how it might be a subject for exploration constructively even by students of elementary school age.

I've just begun reading Rick Perlstein's… Continue

Posted on December 30, 2008 at 11:00am —

Skip Zilla

looking for the missing vernacular

I woke up this morning with "making things" (which led to "making sense" and "making lives") on my mind. Is it just me that wonders why fewer of us create the world actively which we inhabit, but instead comply with training to follow directions and expectations--passively and unpoetically and logistically--which command servitude of us that at bottom is our now accustomed view of how the world works? Even the sentences we speak like the things in our lives that as time passes go unnoticed and a… Continue

Posted on December 26, 2008 at 11:00am — 12 Comments

Skip Zilla

a wish big enough to change the world

Karen Armstrong was one of three persons awarded a 2008 TED Prize for a very big wish for changing the world. She stated her wish this way: “I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.” (See this archive of… Continue

Posted on December 24, 2008 at 12:30am —

Skip Zilla

a very short story for Christmas

a very short story for Christmas
(written on December 23, 2008 by Skip)

Mom sat us around the table
and opened a can of baked beans
which we quickly emptied
in a barrage of cold spoons.

Our chilly kitchen darkened
when the sun went down
on our playing ball in the yard
behind our building and
Mom called out the back window
for us to come in to eat.

It was a December meal like most others,
familial as we mumbled through mouthfuls of beans
about Mrs. Jackson’s cat who’d caught a rat
under the sm… Continue

Posted on December 23, 2008 at 7:00pm — 1 Comment

Skip Zilla

IBM's Smarter Planet Series

IBM's Smarter Planet Series is now into its third conceptual presentation, Traffic: Roads to a smarter planet. The Series started with Planet: A mandate for change is a mandate for smart, which was followed by Energy: Smarter power for aContinue

Posted on December 2, 2008 at 12:52pm — 2 Comments

Skip Zilla

the next Secretary of Education?

I noticed in the news feed located in FL's lower left panel an article in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle about Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University education professor, who'll head President-elect Barack Obama's transition team on education policy. Connie, you recently asked who may become the new administration's Secretary of Education; I suspect Professor Darli… Continue

Posted on November 23, 2008 at 11:55am — 1 Comment

Skip Zilla

aged wine in a new bottle -- the RSA

Here's what a great organization and a source of much progressive thinking and activism in the U.K. has to say about itself:

For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.

We encou
Continue

Posted on November 22, 2008 at 10:16am —

Skip Zilla

The educational impact of the design of learning space

In this video titled "Introducing School ReDesign" AfterEd previews its "new reality style show where educators and architects design the school of the future." The idea that architectural design can impart educational meaning to the space in which we learn is based on its powerfully metaphorical as well as motivational effects on us. I posted an earlier video in this blog about the "green" architecture of SiContinue

Posted on November 21, 2008 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment

 
 

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