Glass half full?

A leader is a dealer in hope. cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by artfulblogger I retweeted this quote on Twitter this morning as it reflects what students need at school and we all need in life – hope. Hope that the future holds wonder, love and forgiveness. Hope that it will all be OK. Hope there will be laughter and joy. Hope the the glass is half-full! cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by kalyan02 In recent days... Read More

How to use social media to collaborate*

Over the last few years my presentations and workshops, designed to share my enthusiasm for Web 2.0 with colleagues, have led to many new friendships as well as much personal and professional excitement at the future of learning. It is evident to me that all of us involved in education need to personally develop life-long learning habits and to a large extent, having a Personal Learning Network (PLN) using online tools is fundamental. Lately, I have... Read More

#leadershipday10: the complete list

Here’s the complete list below of posts for #leadershipday10 from Scott Mcleod‘s blog, Dangerously Irrelevant. Leadership & Vision Blake Skidmore (@blakeskid). Pick Up the Mouse Your E-Mail is Ringing. I will be gliding through building technology at schools, and how to take some concrete steps for “old dogs learning new tricks”. Carolyn Foote (@technolibrary). Stepping out of the bubble. How can we step out of our own... Read More

#leadershipday10

  #leadershipday2010 Scott Mcleod has organised Leadership Day, since 2007, by requesting that bloggers post their ideas on a range of pertinent edtech topics. The 30th July has dawned and some reflection is in order. Last year I wrote a response and quoted Seth Godin suggesting that leaders must be prepared to be ‘incompetent’ for a while in order to learn: It doesn’t take a lot of time to change … to reinvent … or to redesign.... Read More

Diane Ravitch

“Diane Ravitch is the rarest of scholars—one who reports her findings and conclusions, even when they go against conventional wisdom and even when they counter her earlier, publicly espoused positions.” Howard Gardner The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education is Diane Ravitch‘s new tome. It is clear, now that I have read it, why reviewers are saying”…this... Read More

‘Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future’*

As I was unable to attend the Education Future Forum, held in Sydney earlier this year, Dr Phil Lambert kindly emailed me his presentation, 2010-2020: Ten Propositions for the Decade. Phil’s paper is lengthy and it is not my purpose here to cast a cold eye over it but to take one issue of interest and seek your input, dear readers. Phil has the following tables outlining some ’false dichotomies in education’ that are of particular... Read More

The best three-minute video about leadership you will ever see

This amusing video on leadership was posted at Penny Sharpe’s blog. You may wish to follow this MLC on twitter too. Here’s the transcript  Read More

HIT REFRESH: Leading and Blogging

Welcome to our blogging workshop today for the NSW English Teachers’ Association annual conference.  Before we commence, lets gather some data using a great online tool called Survey Monkey (only for conference delegates please). A key issue: why do you want to blog? What is your purpose? What do you want to achieve? How can you connect? Kelli McGraw is a great example of an English teacher and leader blogging. I recommend you read her recent... Read More

Leading and Blogging #IWBNET09 Presentation

Apologies for the font problem. Slideshare didn’t like that one obviously.  Read More

Leadership Day 2009

Scott McLeod has sent out a clarion call for bloggers to post about leadership: He says, “many of our school leaders (principals, superintendents, central office administrators) need help when it comes to digital technologies” and in our NSW context, with the DER in full swing, this is particularly pertinent. I have always assumed that Scott’s blog is titled ‘Dangerously Irrelevant’ as this is what school has become... Read More