Author Archive

Thanks Steve

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Today’s Twitter Feed was almost entirely devoted to Steve Jobs (1955-2011). See my Net Nuggets for quotes, videos, and leadership links associated with Steve. I bought my first Apple II+ in 1979, my first Mac in 1984, my 10th Mac in 2009, and my iPhone in 2011. It’s really a handheld Mac that can make phone calls. I wrote reviews of several Macintosh systems for InfoWorld in the 1980’s and was a speaker at several MacWorld conferences in Boston and SanFrancisco. Needless to say I have been a big fan for the last 33 years.

The last time I cried when a famous person died was when Jim Henson moved on to the afterlife. Two quotes associated with Steve guide my thinking. The first by Henry Ford is “If I asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.” Somehow Steve knew what we wanted even if we didn’t. The second by Wayne Gretzky is “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.” Steve was that rare person who could see into the future and help us get there in a cool way. Thanks Steve.

Thanks to @ArtJonak for his idea of what the new Apple logo should be.

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Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning in the Age of Empowerment

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning in the Age of Empowerment by Charles Schwahn & Beatrice McGarvey shares an exciting vision for education that uses today’s powerful mass customizing technology to meet the individual learning needs and interests of every learner every day. The goal is to do for learners what Apple does for music lovers, Amazon does for readers, and what Google does for seekers of information. Mass Customized Learning is necessary and doable.

Why This Book Is Necessary

The world has left the Industrial Age of mass production and entered the Information Age of mass customization, except for education. We still presuppose that all students of the same age are ready to learn the same thing, the same way, in the same amount of time. This explains why people in general don’t think public schools are doing a good job. Technology has transformed nearly every sector of our lives and it should help enable changes toward customized learning. This is not only a book for teachers, but for everyone in the community especially students who will help show us how to do it. The models are available and there is no reason why it should cost more.

Facing Reality

Schools are bureaucratic monopolies existing in a world of customization and service. What we teach now is not much different from a famous 1892 plan. The model was fine when dropouts could still get good jobs. It’s no longer ok to build in failure for some with a rigid time-driven system for learning. We know that not everyone learns at the same rate, but we plan as if they did. Not quite getting it is cumulative. Don’t ask if a child is ready for Kindergarten (or anything else), ask what is the child ready for.
Policies and practices are chosen for administrative convenience and are inconsistent with basic learning research. We have expensive extra systems for those who need extra time while our fast runners are held back by the schedule and the curriculum. Averaging grades makes no sense. If someone can demonstrate learning they should move on. If they can’t, they’re just not finished yet. There also needs to be more relevance to the life students are living today and what they will face after school.
Be sure to assess your agreement with these realities, which the authors admit may be overgeneralized, with the scale on page six. You should also take it again at the end to see if you have changed.

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Dr. Doug’s Flood of 2011 Story Page 7 added 9/23

Friday, September 16th, 2011

At 2:30 am on September 8, 2011, a fireman knocked on my door and told me I had to evacuate as my apartment was soon to be flooded. What follows is my story for the next few weeks as I worked to establish a new normal.

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The Progress Principle: Breakthrough Leadership Ideas

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work (©2011, Harvard Business Review Press: Cambridge, MA) by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer is based on an extensive study that tried to find out what it takes to be highly productive. What they found was that most of what matters is below the surface and not well understood by most of today’s managers. You can find a summary of their secrets here, and get the entire picture in this must have book. While it is not an education book, I find that the principles they have discovered apply well in school settings for use by teachers and administrators.

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Tags: Harvard Business Review, Inner Work Life, Motivation, Progress Principle, Steven Kramer, Teresa Amabile
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When You Come to a Fork in the Road, TAKE IT by Yogi Berra, with Dave Kaplan – Great for Educators & Parents

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

When You Come to a Fork in the Road, TAKE IT: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball’s Greatest Heroes by Yogi Berra, with Dave Kaplan (©2001, Hyperon: New York, NY) is funny, insightful, and inspirational all at once. I have always been a big fan of Yogi as he seems like such an unlikely hero. He doesn’t look like a star athlete and at first, his speech doesn’t sound like it contains a lot of wisdom. He was the son of poor immigrants and dropped out of school after the 8th grade. In spite of this be became an MVP and winner of a record ten world series. He was a successful manager and many of his quotations have become known throughout our culture. As this book shows, they are not just amusing. The quotes along with Yogi’s philosophy contain a lot of wisdom mixed in with the humor. Many apply very well to the field of education as I try to show here. There are a lot of pages, but they are short and good.

When You Come to a Fork in the Road, TAKE IT!

Throughout life you come to serious forks in the road – decisions. No matter what decision you make, taking a job, getting married, buying a house, whatever it is, you shouldn’t look back. Trust your instincts. I’ve always done things that feel right. Learn from the choices you make and don’t second guess yourself.
On big life decisions get all the advice you can. Talk it over with parents, a mentor, a teacher, or a coach. They’ve had more life experience. They have more miles on them and can help you get on the right path. A teacher once asked me, “Don’t you know anything?” I said I don’t even suspect anything.

Enjoy The Moment

Nobody can help but be nervous in the World Series or at a job interview, or giving a presentation, or when you’re called on in class. You have to channel that nervousness. Enjoy the moment and make it a great experience. You need to learn to relax. You can’t be afraid of making a mistake. There’s always the next inning or the next day. Life goes on.

Nobody Did Nothin’ to Nobody

There were many times I had to help my teammates so that bad things didn’t happen. When you’re part of a team you stand up for your teammates. Your loyalty is to them. You protect them through good and bad because they’d do the same for you.

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Tags: Yogi Berra
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