Rush the Iceberg

I am not sure where I came across this on the web, maybe Kotkke, but the idea of a Personal Canon has stayed with me, begging me to write about my own Canon.

The quote below by David Cole is what captured my thoughts:

“These are the pieces that I find myself referencing regularly in my work life, the pieces I wish everyone would read. Big, small, philosophical, practical, and between.”

I think a Personal Canon is a great way to look backwards and forwards, like Janus does.

Cole has his set up within Quora, but I want to create something little easier to navigate and update. Perhaps another Tumblr?

I keep thinking about my grandpa’s old army chest that has random, yet personal and revealing, things waiting to equip me for a better understanding of who I am.

I also keep thinking about what am I leaving for my 50, 60, 70, 80…year old self to remind me of life lived that makes living so great.

Thinking about my kids when I am no longer around…my grandchildren…

I have many fond memories of both sides of my family: parents to third cousins. I know the big things: marriages, children, deaths, war. But I want to know more…I want insights, questions, and understandings from the cumulative lives of my family.

I am thinking about creating yet another Tumblr just for this project. I envision this as an ongoing journey.

What are your thoughts? What areas of one’s life should be included?

P.S. - As a teacher, I often talked about the metaphorical tool box, yet my tools are not in a single place, easily referenced. Maybe I should create a My Teaching Canon, too.

My English department held an extra credit drive for school supplies the last few weeks. Students could either bring in school supplies or create a project exhibiting how they think outside the proverbial box. Here is an interview I did with him this morning; he does a great job explaining his thoughts…

I love the line: “the hand has a concentrated picture of what he is trying to paint, and it is being infused into the canvas and he is literally making it come to life.” Brilliant!

What do two educators chat about online in their spare time, from opposite sides of the globe? Here’s a transcript of a conversation I had one lazy Sunday afternoon with Edna Sackson, a wonderful teacher, blogger, and inquirer in Melbourne, Australia.  We have previously collaborated via our blogs in Bridging the Primary/Middle School Gap. Our conversation is cross-posted on Edna’s site, What Ed Said.

Stephen: Hello!
Edna: I seem to have abandoned “Teacher’s Desk”
I keep forgetting… my new job is so hectic.
How are you and your family?
Stephen: No worries I have been neglecting it, too. I have about three or four desks I need to update!
Are you enjoying your new job? To what extent is it fulfilling vs. your previous job? Or, are they both fruit and you like both an apple and an orange?!?!
Family is great! Wifey is a little tired due to baby #2 growing inside her, but she is handling it beautifully!
Edna: Oh that’s lovely to hear.
Job… hmm
The first few months I wasn’t enjoying as much as teaching.
Now I am more into it and like working with the teachers too.
And I’m going back to teaching a little so that’s better!
Stephen: Yeah…those first few months did you regret your decision?
Edna: Not really, I know it takes time
but I need to teach kids
Stephen: How much teaching (kids) are you able to do now? Daily?
Edna: I’m going to teach 4 lessons formally a week, but I do some team teaching and work with other teachers
Stephen: What’s the biggest challenge now?
Edna: Shifting teachers’ thinking
Is this an interview?!!
Just kidding… thanks for your interest
Stephen: LOL! Just questions that have been on my mind!
Take a look at www.rushtheiceberg.com
The Writing Process and Science
Edna: In the PYP we say that all teachers are language teachers… your post fits with that idea. I like this: ‘I firmly believe there is much to learn about the art and craft of teaching by watching/reading teachers from across content areas and grade levels’.
It makes for excellent teaching and learning
The idea that learning is subdivided into separate content boxes is ridiculous in reality
Stephen: I agree…I want to learn more from teachers about their content and what influences them…
I’m tired, really tired, of educational philosophy dressed up as dogma…
Stephen: The last two weeks I have participated in the #mathchat on Twitter…it has been educational, enlightening, and enriching! Challenging, too!
Edna: Excellent!
Trans disciplinary learnig
Stephen: I’m also growing tired of teachers only tweeting/RTing the same few teachers…
Edna: Wait.. is this a new topic?
Stephen: Sorry, meant to type that earlier!
Edna:
Stephen: Yes, same expectations for students…I want them to see their world as blurred, not compartmentalized…more like a frozen dinner than a Bento box…
Edna: So do you think on twitter that people often RT by name, rather than by value of what’s being said or written?
Stephen: Absolutely! I think many of them are trying to benefit off of doing that somehow…
Edna: Maybe you should follow some different sorts of people!
You can follow my PYP list… some different people there
I guess everyone has their own motivations for twitter. I tend to ignore the parts that would irritate me. I read what i like. I tweet what I like.
Stephen: Yeah! I get that irony…I think the edutweeps have reached a ceiling…meaning, I think we have reached a point where everyone is echoing, echoing each other instead of progressing past…plus, progress is not always addition…
Going to your PYP list now! Who, not just on your list, is really interesting/challenging you on twitter lately?
Edna: I disagree with your use of the word ‘we’!
@sherrattsam is an awesome educator
He really understands learning and he writes great stuff, even his class blog.
@librareanne is an excellent librarian who tweets great links
Stephen: I’m ok w/ disagreeing on “we”, probably should have used “many” because, I agree, there are ‘many’ that are doing great things!
Edna: These PYP teachers often share great links
@jessievaz12 and @surreallyno
It’s better not to be part of a ‘specific group’ i think, just open to learning from everyone
Am i being teacherish?
Stephen: You are a teacher! Teacherish is fine! Any non-education recs? Books…
Edna: I only do teacher people on twitter I think
Oh books, yes
I love the visible thinking stuff…
Have you read Ron Ritchhart’s Intellectual Character
and he has a new book out Making Thinking Visible.
Oh, non education you said!!
I read mainly fiction!
What kind of fiction do you like?
Stephen: Re: fiction – Robin Sloan is great… I try to read the books my 13 year old students are reading…I tend to read much, much more non-fiction than anything!
Edna: This is one of Sam Sherratt’s blogs http://artoflanguage.wordpress.com/ and this one http://timespacelearn.wordpress.com/
I just read Richard Zimler’s latest book
Stephen: http://longform.org has curated many great articles from a variety of print sources that I read through my Instapaper account…
Edna: Have you read any of Zimler’s books?
this one..
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warsaw-Anagrams-Richard-Zimler/dp/1849013691
Stephen: Nope! But I just looked up the Art of Language on the Kindle shop! I love the thinking/mind maps project out of Harvard you turned me on to!
Btw, this is exactly what I envision my ‘interviews/conversations’ to be!
Edna: I know.
I love one on one conversations about books and learning, but not so keen on interviews.
I don’t want to be a ‘celebrity.
Stephen: Well…being on my blog in an interview will not make you a celebrity! You have significantly more readers than I do!
Edna: hmm
I recall you were one of the first people to encourage me in early blogging days
Thank you.
Stephen: I also just put the two sites you rec into my RSS feed…
Edna: Is http://www.openculture.com/ in your reader? always interesting clips and things to make you think..
Stephen: I like http://kottke.org/ (kind of tech focused, but other stuff, too…)
http://snarkmarket.com/ talks about culture, design, books, news, cities, movies, the future and the present…
Edna: Thanks!
Stephen: http://robertogreco.tumblr.com/ A good friend’s site who does much curation and finds many wonderful nuggets! He teaches at an independent progressive school…
Edna: You can use the transcript of this conversation to write the interview, then I won’t have to do a video interview
Actually that was a joke but now has me thinking…
Stephen: I would love to use it…with your permission…of course!
Edna: It could be a series…
What do 2 educators, from different places, different backgrounds, different teaching areas, different ages… chat about online in their spare time?
Stephen: That would be awesome!

Wow! I just watched an awesome video showing someone, likely a ninja, playing Tetris. I found the video HERE via the awesome Kottke.org blog.

Watch the entire piece – it will be worth it.

What I found fascinating was not the player’s speed. Rather, I was awed by the player’s strategy: the simplicity and practicality of the strategy.

I showed the video this afternoon to my AVID kiddos and they noticed it, too. They never thought of placing all the random shapes to one side while waiting for the long, straight piece. Once the straight piece shows up, turn it vertical, letting it slide into place, finishing off four or five rows at once.

I love the patience of it.

I could not help but think of this as a metaphor for not only our personal and professional lives, but also for our students’ lives.

Homework, sports, clubs, tutor academy, church, jobs…all the different shapes of our student’s lives have to be organized at an ever increasing pace with increasing stress while marching towards perfection…

Sometimes the pieces do not fit when our students want…we need to remind our students that, eventually, opportunities come about to put all the pieces together…

Credit: Stephen Davis

I had the joy to have a conversation with Bill Selak a few days ago. Bill is a great guy to follow on Twitter and Instagram (@billselak for both). I’ll let him do the talking…

A Conversation with Bill Selak from Stephen Davis on Vimeo.