Changed by November. . . .

Earlier this week I was blessed with the opportunity to be able to attend the Ohio Educational Technology Conference.  This is the third largest state technology conference in the United States and is attended by approximately 5000 people.  There were 485 sessions presented - sadly there wasn't enough time each day to hear and see all I hoped to learn.  But boy, by the time I left my brain was overflowing with with new ideas, tools and ways of thinking that could benefit my student's learning. So many apps, resources, and projects that I can implement in my classroom and share with my colleagues. I am beyond excited, giddy in fact.  My mind is so filled with excitement, I can only compare it to a young child on Christmas morning.  

Despite all this excitement, the single most influential session I attended was a keynote talk given by Alan November. His visions for learning and what that looks like and how our responsibility as educators are so different now, was inspirational to me. 

I have looked desperately to find a video of his talk to share with you, for the bits and pieces still held in my head can never do it justice .  Sadly, I have been unable to find that piece of treasure, but will continue hunting in hopes to one day share it with you. Until that time, I will share a few of the major takeaways. 

• If we do not teach our kids to think from multiple perspectives we are not preparing them for the world
• "If you don't know what you don't know you are dangerous" 
• Don't tell students not to use  Wikipedia, instead teach them to use it to design google searches. 
• Teach students to use  country codes when searching google 
• Check out edx.org
• When we give students assignments that are "googlable", what are we really teaching them? 
• We MUST create assignments/thinking challenges that don't generate obvious answers 
• We MUST give students a global voice at the earliest of ages. 

Before I began writing tonight I ordered November's book, Who Owns the Learning? I am exited to begin reading that and the other articles, I downloaded tonight. 

I'm curious to know is there anything that you've heard or learned this week that has changed your way of thinking?  

Laura <3