Thank you Microsoft

In a time where school budgets are dwindling, the need for equipment is important, Microsoft took a bold step by supplying 10,000 surface tablets to the first ones there of an announced 20,000 people at the ISTE 2013 Conference. Whether it is the right move or not, I am amazed at some of the negatives I have heard from folks.

I challenge you to take the Surface back to school and hand it to a child that can’t afford any type of equipment and see how much that child whines. The phrase I hear over and over again is that it should not be about the tool. So let a student decide if it is the right tool for them or not.

Even at my school, a private, Catholic school, we have students that live below the poverty line and we subsidize their education. I dare say that just about every school has someone that they know in the same situation. It is time for us to continue to think about what is best for our students as opposed to what we like. Maybe it doesn’t run everything that we want it to run because it is the lighter version Surface, but why not let a child figure that out. You might be surprised what that child can show us all.

Thank you Microsoft.

So much to learn and so little time.

Part 3 - The People - It's all about the people

In this 3rd installment of what we did on our summer vacation, I mentioned that it would be about the people. Our jobs are people, students, faculties, friends and most especially families. But we are all about people in some way shape or form.  Part 1 is the trip to the destination of Washington State and the people we visited along the way. Part 2 was the trip home, so this is Part 3.

I happened to mention on Twitter that we were going to the Pacific Northwest one night and that I needed to look for places to stay and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. I had decided to not attend ISTE12 in San Diego so I figured that most people in that part of the country would be gone anyway. Then I started to get some DM's from folks in my network. Stop by and visit, would love to meet you and visit. Then I received a message from Julia Fallon. When are you heading this way? What are the dates? After an exchange of messages Diane and I suddenly had a home base to work out of and a place to stay while in Washington State. Julia would be leaving for ISTE and we were more than welcome to stay at her house while in Washington State. We took her up on it.

Kelly Dumont always seemd like my kind of guy from the first time I started to interact with him on twitter. We stopped to visit with Kelly and his family while watching his son play in a baseball playoff game. That was a fun time. On one side high school ball players and behind us beautiful mountains. Kelly loves baseball like I do, He has played it I believe and I know he has coached it and he went to the same game in Baltimore that we went to when ISTE was in DC. Down to earth and so real it was nice to be able to share some time with kelly and his family.

Julia Fallon and I first met in Denver. I vaguely remembered that after she refreshed my memory. A bunch of people came out to our Denver ISTE Mansion and visited and I drove her and some others back to their hotels from the house. As with so many people on Twitter or at least in my network of folks, I have shared things, more privately than publicly but am always grateful for the people I know. Julia and I have listened to each other, shared with each other, worked together as a result of her working with John Pederson and Todd Sanders and their Mercedes Benz Super Bowl race. That was when I really interacted with Julia as so many of us did. To me she was the organizer of the chaos that was the race. Upon our arrival we sat and talked for a bit and then the next morning she was gone.

Jennifer Dhalby - While I don't know how I ended up with Jen in my twitter stream (probably thorough seeing her talk with Alec Couros, Stuart Ciske, or Tim Lauer) but anyway she constantly gets grief for the ever changing avatar picture but is incredibly thoughtful with a great deal of depth. She invited Diane and I out for a visit so we made our way out for a visit. We spent a few hours at her place visiting with the children and talking work and networks and life in general. Then she offered brownies that had been made. Good eats are always worth the trip but the opportunity to meet people face to face makes it that much better.

Luann Lee - I can't remember when Luann showed up in my network but I knew she was a passionate science teacher and for her it was all about the students. And then she started posting pictures of the "farm." A place they lived on the edge of Yamhill. Beverly Cleary Yamhill. So a trip out to the farm. We missed it the first time going down a winding two lane road and then on the return we actually saw Luanne coming down the drive. Such a beautiful area. She invited us to lunch, had a beautiful black lab named Jake that could practically knock you over with his tail wag, and a great setting out on their deck. We talked and laughed and Luann and Diane made a connection while talking about students, special needs and dyslexia. Fresh, cool air out on the deck, Jake waiting for something to fall from the table and wonderful conversation. Then we did some walking and looking around the place and were able to see some of the things they had been working on and just talked and relaxed. The visit was a good time and just showed us the beauty of the countryside as well as a wonderful person.



Tim Lauer - Seemed that every time I had tried to get to the Pacific Northwest, with the intention of visiting Tim Lauer I managed to mess something up on my body physically. One year it was heart the next year it was foot/ankle. Tim entered my network on the recommendation of several people. But alos the same way that Bud Hunt and several others entered it - reading one of Will Richardson's books. Tim also reached out to me in a very special way when I was in the hospital trying to figure out the problems with my heart. He asked if he could call me in a DM and I gave him my number and we talked for about a half hour. A strong, sensitive, caring man who quikly became a friend not just online. When I left my phone on a bus in London I tweeted out that I needed someone to call my wife and let her know what was going on. Tim answered that request. I could only imagine the look on Diane's face as she listened to who it was and just exactly why he was calling. I got my phone back two days later. Tim showed us some of Portland, Powell's Bookstore where Diane continued her affair with the written word in a hardback form and pizza as we got there on a Friday evening. Family all around and a lovely, warm family and house.

Then came Canada and Dean Shareski and the Alec Couros family. When I first entered the twittersphere I went through several people's profiles and followers to see who I might follow. Dean Shareski was one of those individuals. One day on twitter he announced that he was streaming a tour of his former house so I clicked the link. I hollered at Diane and explained what was going on and she watched over my shoulder. When Dean finished Diane said we didn't get to see the kitchen and I explained he had already been throgh there. Her response "ask him to go back so I can see it." I said there was no way I could ask him to do that as he didn't know me. Today I know that if I had asked he probably would have done it. The king of sharing online, from stains to work, to pictures, Dean is usually in the middle of it. Calling on all of us to have our work somewhere for others to see and comment on. We showed up at his door knowing that he was in San Diego. Our shot at having some fun. His youngest daughter was there and thankfully she did not invite us in. We spoke with her at the door, took some pictures of the house with the Prius in the driveway along with Diane and then kidded him about it a bit on twitter. In no way did I want him to feel bad, just having some fun and yet he still will ocassionally tell me he wished he were there. Kind thoughtful and always telling stories, but yet that is what he also wants us to do, tell our stories. I am still trying to live up to what he has shown me and I am so glad to call and be called friend by Dean.




















Alec Couros also got in my stream the same way that Dean did, my grabbing him from someone else's twitter followers. Reading through some of Alec's posts, there was an immediate draw as he talked of social justice, education, and working hard to be open and transparent in the work he did. I first met Alec face to face at Educon 2.1 and was engaged from the start. I had been online working with a social media class at the school and mentioned it on twitter inviting people to come answer questions, and Alec didn't hesitate even while he was on sabbatical. His family, all 3 children and his wonderful wife are all fantastic people to be around. True, rich, warm conversations that call you to give your best are so meaningful. Easy to visit with, we headed out to their favorite Greek restaurant and had a blast.  The children were awesome listening to a bunch of old folks talk and I finally got the 2 year old to pay attention to me by playing a simple game of hide and seek through the use of a cloth napkin at the restaurant. She was so cute but all of their children are precious and beautiful. Alec has been one of those epeople that makes me truly think, think about direction, what is best, how to improve and how to serve. To sit with Alec and his wonderful wife and hear their story and the story of Canada's native people opened my eyes a bit to why he is the person he is and that was meaningful to me.

The things I have written about the people in this entry could be said for all of them and so many more in my network. I will be adding to this and linking and dropping in some more pictures but this is way overdue. If you have gotten to this point thank you for hanging with me to the end. I know it is long but it truly is all about the people, and these are some wonderful ones.

So very much more to learn and so very little time.

Part 2 The Trip Home

I finally decided to write about our summer trip, but have also decided it needs to be broken up a bit to make it palatable. Part 1 is the trip to the destination of Washington State and the people we visited along the way. Part 2 will be the trip home and the people we visited and part 3 will be about the people themselves.

With no real plan in mind, the next to the last day Diane and I sat down and tried to decide which way to head back to Texas. We didn't want to cover the same ground and we wanted to see more of the country. So the question was "West coast and cut across or into Canada and cut down?" "How much farther is it if we go through Canada?" 100 more miles was the answer. "Let's go through Canada."

When we left Dallas we also made sure we took our passports since we were going to be near Canada just in case, so it all worked out well. With thank you gifts hidden for Julia Fallon, we hit the road. On occasion you just have to stop especially when you find places such as this on the side of the road:

So worth it - Cocomut Creme and Chocolate Creme pie. Like they say life is short, dessert first. So we continued on toward the Canadian border.

We headed toward Idaho to enter Canada north of Coeur d'Alene. Unfortunately on the way to Idaho we started having headlight issues with the Prius. Upon arriving we stopped to gas up the car and found this funtional piece of early Americana equipment at the corner.

The Toyota store was already closed for the evening so it was decided that Diane would get to sleep in and I would handle the car being serviced. I could not have found nicer people not just in Idaho but also at the Toyota dealership I went to in Coeur d'Alene. While sitting in the dealership I got to thinking of what I could do as we traveled through Canada. I sent Alec Couros a dm and asked if we could stop in and visit with his family. He said yes. Then I asked if he could possibly get me Dean Shareski's home address. Knowing that Dean was down in San Diego at ISTE12, I started to do a bit of scheming.

Vehicle serviced and light repaired, I called Diane and told her to get ready. After finding her some Starbucks and breakfast we rolled. Small wonderful towns, a cool easy rain and lots of conversation about where we had been and where we were going helped to pass the time. Then we arrived

Into Canada we went. I know not the best picture but we were there. Cool, rainy weather. Easily a 50 degree difference from Texas. So sweet. Into Alberta, up to Highway 1. A couple of days to travel to Moose Jaw and Regina, to see more friends.

Alec had been busy getting me Dean's address so we cruised through Moose Jaw and found "the house." So we walked up and knocked on the door to find the Shareski's youngest daughter. I introduced myself and Diane so she wouldn't be too creeped out about who was taking pictures and let her know what we were hoping to do. I truly think she was creeped out anyway.(Something about wierd friends coming over to the house.)

The cool thing was that we were unaware of the underground tunnels in Moose Jaw and the ties to American mobsters and the city of Chicago. So we had a leisurely lunch in downtown Moose Jaw and saw the sights and then headed to Regina and a visit with the The Alec side of the Couros family.

Fantastic folks, wonderful children, a tour of Regina and some of the sights, a great meal at a local Greek restaurant and a lovely stay overnight. Needless to say the conversation was fantastic.

As I said in the beginning I will talk about the people a bit in the next post. From Regina we began our slow drive back to Dallas, back into the US and the heat, through the Dakota's, into Kansas, my cousin in Oklahoma for a morning breakfast and back to Dallas.

The memories, the people, learning along the way. So wonderful to have the opportunity.

So much to learn, so little time.

It Truly is About the People -Part 1 The Trip itself

I finally decided to write about our summer trip, but have also decided it needs to be broken up a bit to make it palatable. Part 1 is the trip to the destination of Washington State and the people we visited along the way. Part 2 will be the trip home and the people we visited and part 3 will be about the people themselves.

This past summer Diane and I took a two week car trip. We like seeing the country, I truly hate flying because now I get TSA'd every time at the airport, but that is a story that doesn't matter. We love seeing the country.

If we had been flying over the country we could have looked down on the fields of grain but instead, because we were driving, we were able to see this cross made of wheat at the Cathedral of the Plains in Kansas.

Our first night of travel we went from Dallas to Salina KS and spent the night. We talked with several people in my network but none were in Salina. We could have easily had a meal and a roof if we had diverted out destination some. So the next morning as we traveled along I-70 we saw the twin towers of the Cathedral rise along the landscape. Then the cool thing of car travel was a simple "let's go look."  This article written about the Church in 1972 tells a beautiful story about the Cathedral.

A few hours later we were on our way and heading toward Colorado. Talking (AKA tweeting) with people along the way when I wasn't driving of course, we tried to visit with people along the way. In some cases we were successful and in others schedules didn't work out. In Colorado as we skirted Denver, it was hard to tell what was smoke and what were clouds and it went on for miles. It was sad to think about all that was being destroyed.

In Wyoming we were surprised to see that interstates could actually be shut down due to snow. For us Texans, that was hard to imagine, so much snow that you block an interstate highway. Our problem in Texas is not being allowed to drive as fast as we want on the interstate. Signs such as this one added humor to the trip.

Through the northeast edge of Colorado near Estes Park which brought back memories and discussions of ISTE10 and the Estes Park family(You know who you are). Then into Wyoming and on to Utah.We made it to Utah in time to watch some high school baseball with Kelly Dumont and his family as his son was on the team. They won that game and went on to bigger and better things afterward.

From Utah we traveled through Idaho, Oregon and Washington to our home base so to speak courtesy of Julia Fallon. Julia was leaving for ISTE12 the next day and had offered us a place to stay while she was gone. Thus our home base in Washington State had been established.

While based in WA. we went to Yamhill and had lunch with Luann Lee, we went to Portland and had pizza at "derLauer house" with Tim Lauer, we spent an evening with Jennifer Dalby and her lovely family. Truly about the people and the experiences. Part 2 soon.

So much to learn and so little time.

Tonight I Connected Some Dots

Each year I have many opportunities to attend conferences. One day, two day, week long, travel, local and yet, I still feel there are so many I would like to attend. As people get ready to attend ISTE 2012, I can either be sad that I am not there or I can be happy for all those who are going. I choose to be happy for all those going.

For those going to ISTE12, do turn to someone and greet them and introduce yourself. Don't use the usual line of "I follow you on Twitter" instead take a moment to introduce yourself and tell them why you follow them on the Twitterz. Was it something they said, something someone said about them, who recommended them, just something other than I stalk you.

So that being said, how did I connect some of the dots. Diane and I went to Memphis this past week for a conference called The Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence. This is a wonderful, collaborative effort between a philanthropic family, The University of Memphis and Presbyterian Day School for boys. These three organizations bring together public, private and charter school teachers alike, for the sole purpose of trying to help them become better educators. Professional development. Come learn, come teach, come see what others are doing in their classrooms.

This is the third year for this Institute and this year the keynote was John Hunter. Many may know Mr. Hunter from his TED talk back in March. Maybe you know Mr. Hunter's fourth grade students and the game John started called the World Peace Game. Somehow Diane and I had missed any news about John, the game and his fourth grade students. However, due to the Martin Institute, we were able to see and learn as well as talk with John and hear all about the World Peace Game.

On the way home from Memphis, Diane and I did things like listen to the TED talk that John gave back in March, talked about what we had seen and heard at the conference, and I also got to meet many new and seasoned friends from Twitter. Today I listened to John's talk again for there was something tugging at me. I knew the town name, I knew people there, but how? In what context did I know them? Albemarle County, Virginia. Wait, Pam Moran, Paula White along with several others in my network are from that area and work in those schools. This is where John Hunter is from?

So I sent Pam Moran a tweet asking if she was the same Pam Moran that John speaks about in his Ted Talk? She said she was and I was immediately flooded with feelings of joy. Someone out there who has been talking about what we need to do in classrooms had someone talking about what he got to do and how it helped his students develop wonderful, critical, thinking skills. I was blown away. Someone who trusted one of their faculty members to do the right thing, somone who treated another person with true professionalism and it all worked. Pam's simple response to me was "...make sure paths stay open and permissions remain in place to create, design, make, engineer, build, compose learning." How beautifully simple is that? All coming down to relationship.

While I realize this is somewhat scattered, trust that I will be writing more about all of this.

So much to learn and so little time.