Mini-Posts 3- Wisdom of Michael Pollan

The complex is always complex, but Michael Pollan grows the audience that gets it about food.

"Food Rules" by Michael Pollan - RSA/Nominet Trust competition from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo.

Mini-Posts 2- Saves

I wish that there would have been better coverage of the African Cup of Nations in the United States. I can't believe that Zambia defeated the star-studded lineup of the Ivory Coast. My favorite part though was watching this penalty kick series. As a former goalie, it was great to analyze every little piece. Lots of great takes by the first ten players.

Mini-Posts 1- Food and Water

As a way of returning to my blog, I'm posting a series of short mini-posts the remainder of the month.

Fifty years from now, we will be talking a lot of about food and water. Food and water will have national security and well as social justice implications here and around the world. Are we preparing our students to be problem solvers and solutionists in this landscape of conversation?This will be the starting point for my opening remarks at the solution summit panel that I am participating in at the Green Schools National Conference in Denver in two weeks. What are your thoughts on this topic?

Five for Friday- The Double Dose

It seems like this is an opening for our school continue the efforts to rebuild Joplin. How can we connect the power of our 1:1 programs. Ready. Fire. Aim. How can we connect with them?

As the work of our incentives group continues, this is a great article for review about what we know about what works in the area of rewards.

Great poem by William Stafford. What is your thread?

Everyone loves good weather, right Pepin?

Looking for the difference between good schools and effective schools. Read here.

We seem to be on a documentary role lately. Here is a site for a bunch of great ones.

I guess that we missed safer internet day, but if you are looking to doing a booster shot with your advisory about digital citizenship. These seem like good videos.

Here's ten sites to build charts or graphs.

These one minute physics videos are great. Great stuff for math, science, and systems thinking.

How can we support the learning of statistics in all content. Jobs with stats involved are growing by the day.

Never Can We Be Outside Enough

In the dead of the winter, this video reminded me that we can't be outside enough. It brings strength and joy, and nature is the best way to connect with God before Heaven.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Chunk of Resources and Ideas

Great video about our duty to cultivate curiosity and creative. 2012 and beyond are years when the best educators are taking control of their own continuous professional development. Here is a great list of free professional development opportunities.

Do we have a moral duty to the greater system of education? This is a question that I have been pondering lately. I believe that the answer is yes, and I have been looking for ways to connect each of you with others doing similar work, so that our capacity grows. Here are a list of great classrooms and their learning blogs. Challenge yourself to connect with someone new in 2012 for the purpose of learning.

Looking for meaningful ways to use advisory time? How about TED talks? There are hundreds of TED talks that can grow wonder and excitement about learning in kids. Start with these.

Are you thinking about reading a book that will energize and reshape your views as a teacher? May I suggest Brain Rules by John Medina. He common sense thinking helps us realize how we are doing school wrong in so many ways. Start here with a preview of Brain Rules.

The headline for this article was a turn off, 6 Quick Ways that Teacher Can Get Hip, but the meat of the article pointed to what high level technology integration looks like on a professional level. Do you have any of the six going for you?

Defining Success...I have been mentioning to some lately that we as an educational system often get caught in the trap of chasing the success definition that others have created for us, and only through each school defining their own definition of excellence can truly success become reality. Thinking of success led me to a great resource from Coach John Wooden. This resource is a great way to open a conversation about success with kids.

As we continue to wrap around to the importance of our home visit program, and how we can best pull it off in a way of excellence. I was drawn to this set of resources about the value of home visits. Please take a look.

Dr. Billy Kyles

MRH Middle School is so excited that we have an opportunity to hear Dr. Billy Kyles speak on February 2. He was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel with Dr. King when he died in Memphis. He will talk about citizenship and stewardship for our community. It will certainly be an incredible experience for our middle school students. If you are interested in hearing him, let me know. Below is the video entitled The Witness. It is Dr. Kyles story about the days leading up to the assassination of Dr. King.

The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.