Month: March 2006

I had a singular experience at CUE (CUE2006) this weekend, that those of you who have seen my Literacy & Learning (Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century) keynote will identify with. It was shortly after 9:00 AM. I had just finished my spotlight address and was gathering my computer and stuff for my next appointment. A few people had come up with questions and to share what they were doing, and a young woman was hovering at the edge, with a notepad. After a moment, she walked up, and said that she was doing short interviews for the conference, and would I mind answering some questions.

I said that I needed to get my equipment out of the way so that the next presenter could set up, and “…what are your questions?”

She replied, “What was the main point of your presentation? and What do you think is the best thing that people, who are attending CUE, should walk away with?”

I started answering the first question, but she interrupted me pointing back to the back of the room, “We would like to video your answers!”

I looked back — at a young man with a hulking video camera resting on his shoulder, and that customary tremor of terror ricocheted through my body. I don’t like cameras.

I went back with them, and started answering the questions, with my computer bag on my shoulder, and my good friend, Sara Armstrong, ready to walk with me to the exhibitor’s area where we could talk and catch up. I answered the first question by briefly describing how content is changing, as a result of Web 2.0 applications, and that our notions of literacy must also change. Then I started answering the second question, that I’d like for participants to leave not only with new ideas about using modern technologies, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, that they leave with new stories, to take back to their schools and their communities and tell, inspiring people to think differently about teaching and learning.

It was then that she asked if I knew Marco Torres, and I said yes, and then it hit me. I looked down at her name tag, back up at her face, down at her name tag again, and blurted out, “Your Consuelo Molina!” “You made the Sweatshops video!”

She blushed and said, “Yes!”

“You’re Consuelo Molina!” I looked around at the people who had gathered, and said, “This is Consuelo Molina! I’ve met Consuelo Molina!” “I don’t believe it!” I couldn’t contain myself.

“Yes!” She said, obviously becoming embarrassed.

“This is what I’m talking about. It’s a story — a compelling story. I show your video to illustrate to educators how students can now learn, process, and then take what they learn, and turn it into a compelling story. It’s what we need to retool education. ..a compelling new story.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the wits about me to suggest that someone take a picture of me with Ms Molina, so I do not have the proof. But it just goes to show how a simple classroom assignment can affect people around the world and how just looking down at a name tag, can put you in the presence of a very important person.

I’ll not forget that meeting, even if I can’t prove it.

Way more than 2¢ Worth.

Chris Walsh’s CUE webcasts are up — and I didn’t do so bad with the accountability question. You can view my interview at:

http://www.kidzonline.org/webcast/webcast.html?id=195

You might have to go through some rigamarole, depending on whether you have a pop-up blocker installed.

Other interviews include:

• Mike Lawrence, Bonnie Marks, Gerald McMullin (“Engage, Explore, Express”: CUE Conference Preview)
• Don Knezek, Kurt Larsen (Ed Tech Advocacy)
• Steve Hargadon, Mark Wagner (Open Source for K-12 Schools)
• Hall Davidson, Peter H. Reynolds, David Thornburg (Ed Tech Trends)
• Steve Dembo, Kathy Shirley (Podcasting in Education)
• Kathy Hayden, Don Knezek (NECC 2006 Preview)
• Sonny Portacio, Wes Cruver (Geospatial Education)

You can access all of these at:

http://www.kzowebcasting.com/cue/schedule.asp

When I am presenting at a conference, and advance to a slide with a bulleted list, I want to get down on my knees and apologize to the audience. People are not there to process a list or even to read. They’re there to watch, listen, and learn. So it is rare that I include bullets in my slides and never with more than three items (almost never). Here are today’s three items — worth their bullets. 😉

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This is the introduction to a blog that I posted
for Technology & Learning Magazine this morning.
I’m not sure it’s been read, and I put a lot of work
in it. So link over there
and give it a read.

• Three more Bullets about Web 2.0

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I am truly sorry that it has taken me till now to write my report on CUE 2006. First of all, the conference came through with flying colors — fireworks, actually. The tech staff found me a lapel mic, and those tiny speakers actually put out an impressive sound, and proved to be more than sufficient for my podcasting session. Got to get me some of those!

The CUE conference was once one of the two or three leading state edtech conferences, but it has fallen in recent years for a variety of reasons. After all, the Dot Com Bust happened mostly in California. But I’m here to tell you that CUE is back. They had over 3,000 educators in attendance, many of the people I met having come from Northern California. ..And I’m sure they were as shocked as me to see snow in Palm Springs. CUE happens twice a year. Once in the south (Palm Springs or Anaheim), and once in the North (Sacramento).

My featured address started with just a handful of attendees. Inside of five minutes, the room was almost packed. People were simply awestruck by the snow.

California as an interesting place to be involved in education. It is probably the single state that has been hit hardest by the budget crunches of the past six years. Yet, the energy that I always experience, when working in that state, can almost be felt and harnessed. It’s a great place to present, because I can feel the excitement.

It was a full day, starting with an 8:00 featured address, then a book signing (I signed about 9 books in an hour, while Peter Reynolds had a line waiting for his signature for the entire hour he was there. I’m not complaining. He’s Peter Reynolds). Then I did a rather shallow session on podcasting, where we actually made a podcast as a group — great fun. And then a webcast with Chris Walsh. That was fun too, thanks to Chris. Working in front of a camera usually creeps me out.

Finally, I spent about an hour and a half walking around the exhibitor’s area, seeing lots of very old and dear friends. After the conference, I took a short drive into the desert where I took some pictures with my DSLR camera, (look for some beautiful scenery in my Serial Teacher photo blog), and then a rather tedious drive back to LA. I spend today in the air and in airports, and then the next several days at home. Glorious.

It’s going to be one of those days when I truly begin to wonder why I’m doing this. It starts at 3:40 AM EST. I’m up blogging, because I woke up thinking about stuff. After that, I will finish my online handouts for today’s presentations and go over (and probably rearrange) today’s slides.

Then its off to the “Superintendent’s Leadership Conference”, put on by the Oneida, Herkimer, Madison BOCES in Utica, New York. I’ll be delivering my standard redefining literacy keynote. I’ve done it for several years now, and many of you have heard it. But it is an issue that seems to have attracted increased attention lately. I will be delivering this topic as a keynote for the TLN Executive Briefing day at the National School Boards Association conference next month. The other keynote speaker will be Ken Kay, of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

After the keynote and three presentations here in Utica, I’ll drive back to Syracuse, from where I’ll fly to Chicago and then on to Los Angeles, rent a car, and then drive on to Palm Springs for the last day of the California CUE conference. I’ll arrive around 2:00 AM. Considering that that will be 2:00 AM PST, it makes more than 24 hours. Am I getting too old for this. I’ll let you know tomorrow. So Please stay tuned.

One final note, and my reason for getting up so early. Right now, there are two major state conferences going on. CUE (cue2006) in Palm Springs, and MACUL, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Both are leading edtech conferences, so there is going to be great learning and sharing going on during these last two days of the week. Look for a lot of buzz in the blogosphere on these three events. In fact, I’ve set up on my online handouts, an aggregator for bloggings related to CUE2006, MACUL (apparently macul means something in French), and myself (for good measure), because I’ll likely be writing about all of them.

And my last final note, “I am encouraged.” I had a short phone conversation with one of the planners for today’s BOCES “Superintendent’s Conference Day”, and they are thrilled to have a pre-registration of nearly 300, twice what they were hoping for. Many of the attendees are from outside the BOCES service region and some from over a hundred miles away. I’m encouraged, because technology, and what it means to what and how we teach, seems to be returning as an issue that is critical enough for us to invest our time in. We critically need nothing less.