Money 101 for Parents and Teens

Many millionares and billionares got their start as teenagers by investing right, and starting the right business at the right time. All teens get money in some way, whether it is through an allowance, gifts, jobs, or a combination of the above. But it is important to begin good habits at an early age. It […]

Many millionares and billionares got their start as teenagers by investing right, and starting the right business at the right time. All teens get money in some way, whether it is through an allowance, gifts, jobs, or a combination of the above. But it is important to begin good habits at an early age. It is important to begin saving early, but continue spending, but doing so healthy.

This infographic shares income and spending habits of teenagers. It is a great comparison of various methods of income and spending habits of teenagers. Use this infographic and ask your students to write down how they compare. Ask you students to think about how their current spending habits and savings plans will help them or hurt them in the future.

It is important for everyone to continue spending money, but use this as an opportunity to share with your students healthy spending and saving habits. Also, share with them how to use a credit card wisely to help their credit. Encourage your students to continue their hard work in order to to a healthy financial future, as well as to encourage the economy, and most importantly, have a fun and comfortable life.

Blog: http://goo.gl/RrzXc

A Good Example of an Educational Infographic

OK, so there’s a thin line between education and marketing.  Perhaps it isn’t even a line at all.  At any rate, this infographic seeks to educate small local businesses on the fact that people who shop online are not just looking for Apple, Target, and Amazon, the three main online destinations for shoppers come cyber-Monday […]

OK, so there’s a thin line between education and marketing.  Perhaps it isn’t even a line at all.  At any rate, this infographic seeks to educate small local businesses on the fact that people who shop online are not just looking for Apple, Target, and Amazon, the three main online destinations for shoppers come cyber-Monday — according to this infographic.

Path to Online Marketing Success is a clear sharing of statistics in a forward (downward) moving direction, encouraging small local businesses to create an online presence via web site and social media.

It might be interesting to ask students to survey their local businesses for cyber presence or devise a campaign to convince.

Blog Entry: http://mashable.com/?p=1503179

Infographic: http://goo.gl/qgynR

Another inspired world changer.

Following the theme of yesterday’s video here is another person who’s trying to do their part to change their home for the better. This time it’s a man from Afghanistan who has been inspired by wind-powere toys he made as a child to build something that will help dispose of landmines in the area. I […]

Following the theme of yesterday’s video here is another person who’s trying to do their part to change their home for the better. This time it’s a man from Afghanistan who has been inspired by wind-powere toys he made as a child to build something that will help dispose of landmines in the area.

I think it’s a pretty universal opinion that landmines are some of the most atrocious installations of wartime, mostly because of the affect they have well after the war. This device may not work in all landmine-stricken environments, and isn’t even designed to be completely effective, but what it able to accomplish for the cost is extremely valuable to people who live in such places. This is the type of innovation the world needs more of.

words

Kelvin of Sierra Leone

This is Kelvin Doe, he is what you might call a prodigy. Collecting various items from the garbage of his town, he has created all matter of electronic devices that we take for granted. A lot of times when I see a video like this I think to myself, “This kid is going to change […]

This is Kelvin Doe, he is what you might call a prodigy. Collecting various items from the garbage of his town, he has created all matter of electronic devices that we take for granted. A lot of times when I see a video like this I think to myself, “This kid is going to change the world some day.” I don’t think that way about Kelvin, and not in a bad way. He seems very attached to his community and in making it a better place. In the end, he might just be the most important person Sierra Leone will see.

Kelvin of Sierra Leone

Farming in the City: Kijani Grows

This is a great video featuring a great man who wants to help change the world. This man is named Eric Maundu and he thinks he’s figured out a way to give more people jobs and food in environments where it wouldn’t normally be possible to grow anything. Sounds like a dream, right? Well he’s […]

This is a great video featuring a great man who wants to help change the world. This man is named Eric Maundu and he thinks he’s figured out a way to give more people jobs and food in environments where it wouldn’t normally be possible to grow anything. Sounds like a dream, right? Well he’s made it real. Let him show you the system he’s developed.

Farming in the City: Kijani Grows

Since Twitter was Unavailable…

I’ve spent the last several days at the EARCOS Education Leadership Conference in Kuala Lumpur. It’s been an interesting conference for heads of school and board members of international schools from throughout East Asia.

They’ve been working me pretty hard, but I have had the opportunity see some friends, make some new ones and attend some sessions. Milton Chen delivered the opening keynote address, my first time seeing him speak. The second day was opened by Alan November, perhaps the best keynote I’ve seen him deliver. He shared an idea that he had suggested during the pre-conference workshop I facilitated on Wednesday (I think it was Wednesday).  Probably more on that later…

But it was Greg Whitby’s keynote on the third day that really spoke the most “truth to stupid” that I’ve heard in a long time.  The notes I took using Mindo on my iPad are available here (see right).  

Since the Internet access was spotty, at best, throughout the conference, I was not able to tweet statements out that I wanted to.  So I thought I would just tweet them here with a few more than 140 characters of commentary.

We shouldn’t be talking about schools of the future.

First of all, we have no way of knowing what schools of the future will look like.  What we need to be addressing is the schools our children need right now.

Whitby, in comparying industrial age schooling with what’s more relevant to today’s children, he said that we need to..

Make learning compulsory and attendance optional.

It’s an excellent shakabuku., but its practice would need to be explained, if possible.  Still, like so much of the conversation I’m witnessing at conferences today, the focus is on the learning.

Whitby also warned that we have to get this right and do so with a compelling narrative.  If we don’t, then someone else (Silicon Valley) will step in, and…

What we could get is good technology, but poor pedagogy.

This rang my HackEducation bell and the ongoing reporting of Audrey Waters.  But then he said something that I’m still trying to wrap my brain around.  He said that,

The more personalized the education experience, the more we know about the learner and the quality of the learning.

I’m not sure how this works except that personalized learning may result in more conversation between teachers and individual learners.

Another very simple statement that doesn’t need much expiation was that

Schooling today is (1) personalized, (2) de-privatized, (3) technology-invisible and (4) agile.

It was odd, a video that Whitby played during his keynote, about a school in Australia 250 students in one enlarged classroom and several teachers.  You see we were taught about “open learning spaces” when I was in education school more than 35 years ago.  I student-taught in an open space with a team of teachers.  The the problem was that we didn’t have a new narrative to attach the concepts to.  It stood no chance.  Today we’re trying to write and tell that story –– and we’d better not get it wrong.