Warning: This is a Northern Hemisphere-centric post!
Each year, about this time, the eclipse begins, as the shadow cast upon education discourse begins its irresistible march toward the end of the school year. Discussion boards and mailing lists slow to a crawl. E-mail all but disappears and blogging? Well we’ve only seen one summer of education blogging, so no trend has made itself apparent. We have seen some bloggers, during the summer months of 2005, disappeared completely into the darkness, never to be heard from again. Others, however, found their traction during the months of sunshine and frolic. ..And certainly, the summer conferences will spark much blogging and podcasting.
But, as Will Richardson says, “When I’m not blogging, it isn’t because I don’t have time to write. It’s because I don’t have time to read.”
So what are you reading this summer? (you knew this was coming!)
Let’s start our 2006 reading list, and I’ll begin with something light. I’m listening to a book right now, during my afternoon cholesterol walks, that actually had me holding on to a stop sign the other day to preventing my rolling into the street laughing hysterically. The book is A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. I’d heard of Moore before, but downloaded this piece, from Audible, on a whim, and haven’t stopped laughing since.
On the more serious side, here are some I’ll consider reading in the coming months:
- Flight of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida
- Interestingly, Amazon indicates that people who read Flight also read “A Whole New Mind…“, by Daniel Pink
- Don’t Bother me Mom–I’m Learning by Marc Prensky
- The Search by John Battelle (I’m finishing this one up right now, and it provides an interesting and valuable look at information “search” as an industry.)
Well, that’s all I can think of right now. Been working for three hours, and it isn’t 6:00 AM yet. Shame! What do you recommend for the forward-thinking educator’s reading list?
2¢ Worth!
Photo Citation
Lex in the City, “Very First Faux Lomo Attempt.” Lex in the City’s Photo Stream — Flickr. 23 Dec 2005. 9 May 2006 <http://flickr.com/photos/toronto_lex/76720898/>.
Have you had the opportunity to read “The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights a the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts & Cultures” by Frans Johansson. It is about innovation and I feel offers some interesting observations regarding education.
Flight of the Creative Class is sitting in my bag next to me right now. I have gotten to the prologue, and it sure does start off with a bang!
I need to find a copy of A Whole New Mind, but it is definately on my list. Also on my list is Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe.
If you haven’t checked it out before, you might also want to take a look at http://librarything.com as a great way to coordinate your reading list along with tags, annotations, a blog widget, and the ability to see who else is reading it and what other books share similar tags.
Then we could use this: http://www.librarything.com/tag/edtech2006 to guide our reading and compare notes =)
I second “A Whole New Mind.” I’ve just started reading it. The friend who recommended it first told me the title was “Revenge of the Right Brain!”
Even better, as I added a few more books that I want to tackle this summer LibraryThing started figuring me out. The “Special Sauce” recommendations for additional books in the area I seem to like can be found at
http://www.librarything.com/recommendations/infomancy-sslib-nonfiction
Well, I for one will make time to read what students have written ONLINE. There is just enough time to keep up with my 200- 3rd and 4th graders and their think.com webpages. But I can’t wait to read what other teachers have their students writing and reflecting about. My favorites:
Pre-Cal from Darren K. http://pc4sw06.blogspot.com/
MIghty Writers from Mark Ahlness http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=80710
My international favorite from my webhead friend, Erika
listen to her students practicing English and leave a comment
http://erikacruvinel.podomatic.com/
Then I will, like David, download my summer listening from Audible.com and paddle away in the harbor.
Cheryl