Photo by Kent Manning via Flickr

I was listening to Garfield Gini-Newman today talk about critical and creative thinking and making connections to our weekly #CTchat conversations on Twitter. Garfield used the metaphor of a kayak paddle to illustrated the importance of having that balance between right-brain and left-brain thinking. The balance of critical and creative thinking is as important as having 2 offset blades on a kayak paddle. Both play an important role in moving forward.

Two of my friends are avid kayakers, other Colin and Kent. As I was processing the image of a kayak paddle as a metaphor for both kinds of thinking, it was really no surprise that these two gentlemen came to mind. As I momentarily shifted my focus from the keynote I started to process the connections a little further. It occurred to me that both of these educators practice a pleasant balance between the creative and the critical mind. There is a passion for music and the appreciation of the creative process required to be an effective storyteller. On more than one occasion I’ve tapped into these two in the role of critical friend.

As we work with our contemporary learners in our classrooms it’s important to remember that we’re not there to teach answers. It’s important to equip our learners with the intellectual tools necessary to get to that answer, using both critical and creative pathways.

PS: Shameless plug – Tania, Greg and I. along with our faithful PLN run #CTchat on Twitter Wednesday evenings from 7-8PM EST. Everyone is welcome.

The other day I was having a planing conversation with a school team as they worked through their first Teaching Learning Critical Pathway. There is always some concern that individuals will perceive things as an add-on. This can quickly sabotage the flow of any meeting. Templates and planners and models are just tools. We shouldn’t have to work to fit the tool.

Letting participants voice their questions and concerns did a lot to move the group forward. Once everyone saw themselves in a reflective cycle of inquiry. The group already had a high degree of trust in place with each other and that really permitted us to move forward.

The flow channel. (Csikszentmihalyi 1990, p.74)

Flow is a really interesting idea. Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi has spoken and written about flow states. At its most basic it involves working in that middle range of stimulation. This is a sort of optimal experience we all strive for. Too much excitement and our productivity and performance suffer due to anxiety. Too little stimulation and we end up being bored.

The entire meeting lasted all afternoon and yet it felt like 20 minutes. The group was in a state of flow. It may not have seemed that way for all members but there was no sign of restlessness or boredom within the group. We moved through our initial meeting in a state of flow. Flow comes with practice. Some will find the need to experience it themselves before they try to involve a group. I was fortunate in this instance to recognize that the group was working in that optimal zone between anxiety and boredom. All I had to do was get out of the way.

Now I get it that you might need to keep a “paper trail” for some legal reasons or to track conversations, but let go of everything else, please.

The concept of inbox zero is pretty straightforward, and self-explanatory. In practice it proves to be something most people either can’t or won’t work toward. Letting your inbox drive your day is a dangerous practice. You’re never going to accomplish all those great plans you have if you are constantly being poked by your email.

Merlin Mann has an excellent series on Inbox Zero over at his 43 Folders blog. He uses peanut shells as an analogy to email. You don’t keep every peanut shell from every peanut you eat. Once you eat the peanut, you discard the shell. It’s done. Do the same with dead email. Otherwise it can drive you nuts.

- Paul Simon

Can we really get more done by slowing down? Sometimes I think we can. I know when conversations slow down we can process ideas in a more thorough fashion. I think we can teach the same way as well.

What’s the point in collecting reams of writing, carting it home, marking it up and repeating the process a day later? What if we just slowed down, provided meaningful, timely feedback and marked work when it was completed to the best of a students ability? Slow down to move ahead faster. Take the first 20 days at the beginning of a school year or a term and work on routines and building student stamina through a Daily 5 type program. It will pay dividends later on.

Sometimes I think we get caught up with doing things too quickly. I don’t know about you, but I seldom do a good job when I’m rushed. When I meet with friends I don’t want race through things. I want to enjoy their company. I probably don’t spend enough time with them anyway. I have one friend who seems to be living life at breakneck speed. I realize that it’s all a matter of perception, but it still gets me a little anxious.

My buddy Brian reminded me that we both have copies of  Carl Honoré’s In Praise of Slow. Neither of us have finished it yet. We’re taking it slow.

The other day I was in a school and the vice-principal came up to me offering all sorts of congratulations for my accomplishments. Not really being accustom to such accolades, I thought it best to at least ask a few probing questions. It appears that I google rather well.

Where do you go when you’re at the top?

Remember Rule Number 6

Participating Differently

Textbooks (1450-2012) R.I.P.

Change to Adapt

One company didn’t recognize changes that were happening and either didn’t or couldn’t react to them. Another company took it upon themselves to put changes on the fast track.

It’s not the big that eat the small anymore. It’s the fast that eat the slow.

When it comes to your leadership and professional practice, who are you most like: Kodak or Apple?

Apple’s announcement today is a game changer. Don’t buy it? Let’s look at a bit of history. Remember when we went to music stores to buy CD’s and people laughed at the idea of an online digital music store? Remember Blockbuster and the idea of renting DVD’s and people laughed at the idea of streamed TV and movies?

Remember textbooks?

Publishers have a real opportunity here to come off as the good guy here. The music industry learned the hard way that the more you fight change, the more you’re going to lose. The movie industry chose to ignore this lesson. Look what happened. Are the publishers going for the three-peat this early in the 21st century?

One thing is for sure, the future isn’t what it once was.

Well this was all pretty cool, I know Kevin and Lisa are always keen to push the envelop. I have used Skype to “attend” conferences like EduCon before, but those tend to be a one way deal. You end up being a passive audience member due to the fact you’re tethered to a webcam.

Kevin, Lisa and Orwell’s vision went way beyond this.

Using an iPad and FaceTime they brought me into the workshop and passed me around from table to table to engage in the conversations taking place. From my end I felt like Sheldon Cooper’s disembodied robot self. This was such a unique experience and it took me a while to figure out exactly what was different from a typical video conference. The fact that it was mobile on the other end made all the difference in the world. It was no accident that this was the topic of David Vandergugten’s extremely engaging keynote. David is the Director School District 42 in Maple Ridge BC. His action research on student achievement and mobile learning goes way beyond the idea that portable devices are just smaller desktop computers. I’ll save that for a future blog post.

There are still a few technical things to work out. For the first part of the workshop I had a great view of the venue’s ceiling. It was a very decorative ceiling mind you. I was being treated like an iPad, not a person. Kevin took care of me after that and propped me up to watch David’s keynote. While I could hear people perfectly on my end, the iPad just wasn’t loud enough for a noisy room for others to hear me. At one point Kevin held the microphone up to the iPad so I could introduce myself to the room. Not particularly practical, but something we will work on.

Later in the evening Kevin hooked me up to Apple TV for a quick summary of some of the evening’s learning. I was then introduced to Mike McKay, Superintendent of Schools/CEO, Surrey BC, for his closing remarks.

Leaf jokes aside this went way beyond just a video conference. This idea allows educators to connect and engage across districts, provinces and even countries. This group of forward thinking educational leaders just gave us a tiny peek into the portal of future learning.

P.S. Small detail. Kevin and I work 4,400km away from each other.

Grey Days

It’s mid-January and I’m not sure what the weather is like where you are, but here it’s grey and wet and generally miserable. Think 421 C Pantone Grey everywhere. Yuck. Couple that with the notion that we’re in between both choices of blue Monday. Things can get a bit depressing. Once you start down that road it’s not difficult to get overwhelmed. Or maybe it’s the other way around, I don’t know. I guess it depends on the individual. Either way, what can one do to snap out of this funk?

Remember Rule #6.

Take 20 minutes and watch Ben Zander’s TED talk about music and passion. Better yet, add The Art of Possibility to your book list.

Are the other rules besides number six important? None of them are. There aren’t any.

Taking ourselves less seriously can open up a world of possibilities.