Why Blog?

I am taking a 5 week course with East Carolina University and the course funded by my employer for my particular career field, CP 32, Training, Capability, and Doctrine Warfighting Developers.  I am never one to turn down learning opportunities particularly if they have value added to my career field and my cost is more in my time than currency. I consider my time extremely valuable and learning something new everyday is great, but every now and then you need to be the formal documented student.

For subscribers to the blog, you are aware of my extremely painful decision to put my doctoral studies on hold for the sake of family issues. If this is the first time visiting the blog based on the class assignment, "Welcome!".

For the final assignment, one option is to blog. The blog can be on any topic and must contain at least three entries. This has been a class full of web based experiments and writing. We hit the ground running and will not stop until July 26.

So one of the three posts required for the assignment is this one. If you have not seen my blog posts come through the stream lately it is because the days and hours are filled with work, school, and family.

So whether you are new to blogging, given up on blogging, or a seasoned blogger, like those in the blog list on the right that I subscribe to..."Why blog?" For those that know me, the better question is "Why not blog?"

Here are a few links from my knowledge sharing passionistas that I connect with by reading their blogs, following them on Twitter, Google+, or Linkedin, or maybe all of them. Thanks to my personal and professional learning network (PLN) there is not one day that I do not learn something from, because, or in spite of you. It is not possible to list and describe every blog that impacts my digital footprint. In no particular order:

Principal Eric Sheninger's blog, A Principal's Reflections (2012), Why Blog?
Steven Downes, Half an Hour (2009), Blogging in Education
Will Richardson, Weblogg-ed (2004), The Blogging in Schools Question
OEDb, Top 100 Education Blogs (n.d.)
Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher
Richard Byrne, Free Technology For Teachers
US Army Combined Arms Center

I could probably write a blog post once a week on how blogging (individual and collaborative) has impacted my life, fulfilled my autodidactism needs, improved my writing, reading, comprehension, connected me with people and information that I would not have a chance to in the F2F environment, share good and bad news, provide an outlet for those who do not have another method to "just get it out", provide a personal audit trail of information, share lessons learned...and many more reasons. Hmmm...maybe an idea for the next homework blog post.

Thanks again to those people supporting my web experiments during this short, fun, and productive class.
Comments, recommendations, reaction box checks, and +1s are appreciated.

How do you share what you learn?

October has been a month in transition for me...at home, career, and community and for many reasons. While I have not been as active on my blog or through Twitter, I am thankful for my RSS feed reader to keep me up to date on personal and professional information. For that, my PLN is awarded the ABCD (Above & Beyond the Call of Digital Duty) Award.


For those of you who blog, tweet, or share through the Internet keep up the great work, regardless of the post...you never know when that one tidbit of information will bring value or provide a reference point when someone is looking for something. Using Google and Google's social search I can quickly access tweets, posts, or other items of interest from those I am connected to virtually. Keep sharing what you learn or whatever you are passionate about because you never know when you may be helping someone who needs a unique perspective.


November brings the opportunity for me to return to the local branch of my community library, Diamond Lakes Library and give the computer workshops using Google products, scholarship searches and even start up the BYOT (Bring Your Own Tech) workshops initially starting with Twitter. I enjoy these workshops because the audience is only limited by their ability to acquire a free library card and register for the free workshops. This audience is very different from our local public (Richmond County GA) school students where social media and cell phones are banned and from the military audience who may or may not have grown up with social media and work within the Department of Defense's regulatory guidance.


So for those of you who share via social media, you are awarded the ABCD Award for going Above and Beyond the Call of Digital Duty.

Keep up the great job and many thanks to the participants of my PLN!

Are you a paragon of pedagogical prodigiousness? Or do you settle?

Do you settle for sensible solutions for our people and our times? Are you sharing knowledge to build stronger fishnets, improved plows, and better yeos?

Or do you hear the trumpet fanfare as you perpetuate your Noble (or mobile) kingdom of learning in your role as the Laudatory Lord or Leading Lady of Learning and as paragons of pedagogical prodigiousness?

For those who know me...the 21st century label, title, category sticks in my craw but I adapt, implement, and overcome (AIO). I came across this book in the recommended readings for my account, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times in Books 24x7 through AKO (What is Army Knowledge Online?). 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times is also available with a limited preview through Google Books.

While there are many interesting points in the book, the sidebar of the novel, The Once and the Future King caught my attention in the Kingdom of Learnalot, Kingdom of Learning, Software & Hardware Guilds, Sir Ludd & the Luddites, Laudatory Lord & Leading Lady of Learning, Paragons of Pedagogical Prodigiousness and King Wallace's closing statement, “‘Tis time to return to your plans my dearest—stronger fishnets for the fishermen, improved plows for the plowmen, better yeos for the yeomen— sensible solutions for our people and our times.

Chapter 4: Digital Literacy Skills—Info-Savvy, Media-Fluent, Tech-Tuned opens with this quote, "It is no longer enough simply to read and write. Our children must learn how to spot a stereotype, isolate a social cliché, and distinguish facts from propaganda, analysis from banter, and important news from coverage". —Ernest Boyer, past president, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Read The Once and the Future on beginning on page 62 

As the story ends:
King Wallace turned to his Queen. “Alas, my Lady, you were right all along. We are not in the least ready for the great Knowledge Age or the noble Learning Society.

“‘Tis time to return to your plans my dearest—stronger fishnets for the fishermen, improved plows for the plowmen, better yeos for the yeomen— sensible solutions for our people and our times."

“Perhaps, my dear, one fine day in the far-off future, there will come a time when learning is truly king.”
“And queen,” added Her Highness.

Do you settle for sensible solutions for our people and our times? Are you sharing knowledge to build stronger fishnets, improved plows, and better yeos?

Or do you hear the trumpet fanfare as you perpetuate your Noble (or mobile) kingdom of learning in your role as the Laudatory Lord or Leading Lady of Learning and as paragons of pedagogical prodigiousness?

Comments, recommendations, and/or checks in the reaction box are always welcome.

Reflection with some HS grads and how do we...

What have you done to break the cycle of passive acceptance?

When I returned to Augusta for a visit, some of my daughter's friends stopped by to check on G Mama Flo who was injured in a car accident and catch up on what we all have been doing.

I miss working with the students who I have so much hope for because they are our replacements and we relate on so many issues. Many of them were home for the holidays and stopped in to visit their former high schools and noticed many changes, from educators who have moved on to their personal diverse perspectives as alumni.

It was great to hear about those who have moved on to successful college experiences, military, or internships and to hear their hopes and dreams and those who have remained in Augusta and have fallen into what I call the "Disgusta Depression." Some of them had so many hopes and dreams during high school...plans for college, travel, fulfilling jobs and they seem to have petered out. It hurts my heart...because I left Augusta...for many reasons from focusing on my own educational endeavors and the dissertation process, career progression, experience life as an empty nester, and to fulfill a need to move every few years that became ingrained during my military career.

So how do we help them to break the cycle of passive acceptance? How do we empower these former students who seem to have lost their zest for life challenges, hopes, and dreams?

Reflection and Perspectives

How often do you pause and reflect on your efforts, accomplishments, and adjust your avenues of approach? How do you encourage others to self reflect and view different perspectives in the learning environment?

Whether I am in a formal or informal learning environment I am often reminded of the story of "The Blind Men and the Elephant". Today you can see the various credits in the Wikipedia article or through the 1000+ titles in Google Books.

So how often do you put yourself in the position of the blind men and the elephant to see another person's perspective?

I am not sure how old I was when I first read this story but I know it factors into my life, regardless of my role of the hour. Wikipedia describes a few versions of the story but this quote from the Buddhist version caught my attention: "Just so are these preachers and scholars holding various views blind and unseeing...In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome, wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and thus."

So for those who are sharing knowledge in any learning environment, ensure you are not right fighting for a truth which may only be a half truth, take a moment and listen, and see if you can "Seek first to understand then be understood" (Steven Covey).

The learning process is not an "us vs. them" battlefield. The lifelong learning process is one part of the "unity" within the community. What role do you fill?

Some quotes that have caught my attention during my homework and research assignments this week:

Quotes from Robert M. Hutchins:

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives."

“It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts…it is to teach them to think.”

“Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes different points of view.”

“My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects.”

From Peter F. Drucker:

We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.

So how often do you pause and reflect on your efforts, accomplishments, and adjust your avenues of approach? How do you encourage others to self reflect and view different perspectives in the learning environment?

Comments are always welcome.

Reflection and Transformative Learning

Well another blogging dry spell...writer's block, school assignments, experiencing life as an empty nester. So this week's writer's block...wasn't so much of a writer's block...but I got caught up in the activity of reflection. Reflecting on life events, school assignments, and blog drafts.

As I completed the assignment and reflected on self reflection and collaborative reflective activities I kept coming back to blog drafts.

Transformative Learning was stuck in my gray matter. How many of you engage in Transformative Learning?

We cannot encourage students to engage in transformative learning if we are unwilling to do it ourselves (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, Pg 202). Palloff & Pratt go on to quote Stephen Brookfield (1995) notes that 'those of us who are trying to get colleagues to identify and question their assumptions, or to look at their practice through different lenses, must do the same" (pg 205). This is followed by a list of questions designed for self-reflection.

In Chapter 9, there is a section titled, We Are The Experts When It Comes to Our Own Learning. When students are empowered to become experts at their own learning, they cannot help but be transformed as people. Their self esteem rises, as does their confidence in their abilities. The main task of educators/instructors as facilitators of this process is to bring forth their best instructional practices and then get out of the way (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, pg 205).

How do you engage in Transformative Learning with your students? Peers? Superiors? Family? Community groups? Other groups in your lifelong learning process?

Meaningful Feedback

This week I had some writer's block issues with "Meaningful Feedback". As a practitioner, giving and receiving feedback has never been an issue. Learning to write about it academically was a little more challenging.

So as I submitted my assignment and had some days to reflect on scenarios, situations, and mentors who shaped my experience with feedback I wondered, "How many people give feedback to help others improve performance or project outcomes?"

We only know...what we know.

Are we teaching students (traditional & non-traditional) today the role of meaningful feedback in the process of lifelong learning? Are you a silent sideline critic? Have you ever sought feedback from peers, mentors, or supervisors which helped you improve your own self assessments? How do you incorporate meaningful feedback?

As always, feedback, comments, and shared knowledge are always welcome.

Last week of school

It has been one year of a blogging sabbatical...I start again as the class of 2008 prepares to graduate and BHS PTSA, Inc. transitions the outgoing officers to the incoming officers. The old blog: Part of the Solution http://part-of-the-solution.blogspot.com/

As we wind down the final week of the final year of the last 180 days of our experience with calendar dictated education, it is time to reflect. I am excited for my daughter's graduation and so very proud of her. The past two years have been educational, eventful, and enlightening. I send a heartfelt thank you to everyone I encountered. I learned something from everyone, regardless of our interaction and I am thankful for the experience.

I am grateful for the many people which have influenced my daughter's life...good, bad, and indifferent. These influences include the four states where she has attended public school and the adjustments she has made as a military child who had to move every time the military issued orders and career choices during my process of deciding what to do with the rest of my life after military retirement. Why? Because that is real life...we meet individuals who are good, bad, and indifferent and because progression is a good thing.

I am confident in her decision making process since we have particpated in life rather than succumb to statistics and stereotypes. I continue to encourage her to make the most of the opportunities presented to her and as my mother/her grandmother still encourages us to "Bloom where you are planted".

Our lifelong learning adventure is about to begin and coupled with our passion for technology we are only limited by the boundaries we place on ourselves. Congratulations to all of our "Classes of 2008" as they progress in life and become the decision makers of who will rock your rocking chair.