Tag Archives: #learn365

Summer Blogging Challenge

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cambodia4kidsorg

There are a ton of “challenges” out there about blogging daily or 30 blog posts in a month and I think they are absolutely great for many.  That being said, with summer here for many of us on this side of the world, I am not an advocate of staying connected the entire break.  It is great to start some habits over the summer that will continue on into the school year, but it is important that people have an opportunity to recharge their batteries, spend time with family and friends, and just enjoy themselves.

So as a “happy medium”, I would like to just offer an idea for people that are either trying to start or a blog, or give themselves a jumpstart.  Sitting with David Wees last night, he reiterated the importance of a blog as being his space for learning, which is something that I think is extremely important.  This modelling of learning is something that I really believe we need to do as educators/leaders.  Often though, many people are trying to have the next great original idea, when blogging is a great space to just share thoughts on what they are learning.

Here is my suggestion/challenge…

Similar to the “You Should Read” posts that I try to do weekly, I would suggest blogging about one article that you have read that you find interesting or perhaps helpful to your personal goals, or organizational goals.  Share some quotes, ideas, and then your own thoughts about the article.  I think it would also be helpful to those encouraging others to use social media in their school to reference where they received it from.

Here is a quick example of how it could look:

I recently found this great blog post that Bo Adams tweeted out this morning referencing a “Letter to New Teachers“.  Here is a powerful quote from the post:

“Congratulations—you’ve chosen an excellent career that will ensure that no two days are ever alike for you, that you won’t die from sitting on your your butt all day long in font of a screen, and that you’ll spend most of your day interacting with people who you can have a tremendous positive influence over. You will also be constantly stretching your brain to learn new things—how to teach a particular concept, how connect with a withdrawn student, how to learn some new technology to add to your repertoire, and sometimes how to just survive to the end of the day.”

This blog post reminds me of the Apple letter to new employees that helps to create a culture of innovation and excellence.  Setting the tone for the year, or even a career, is so extremely important to the work that we do with people.  We all know that what you do in the first day or week with your students to help build a classroom that is built upon trust, relationships, and a culture of learning is so important to your entire year; this is no different than the tone we set with the adults in our school.

So what do you do in your school to help set the tone at the beginning of the year?

That’s it…an entire blog post that shared some quick thoughts, someone else’s blog post, promoted the use of social media for learning, and asked a question of your readers to promote conversation and learning.

So for those who like lists, here it is:

  1. Find a great article and write a short blog about it. (Try 2-3 times a week)
  2. Reference how you found it.
  3. Share some thoughts on the post.
  4. Ask a question to promote learning.
  5. If you are on Twitter, use the hashtag #learn365 and any other ones that you find applicable to the work you are doing.

Hopefully this little challenge could help spark some writing in a way that shares learning but doesn’t have you spending your entire summer in front of a computer!  Please feel free to share this challenge with others who may be struggling with some ideas for blogging :)

Leaders Should Be Learners (Video)

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Howard Rheingold had recently interviewed me for DML Central on some of the work that we are doing in Parkland School Division.  I thought that I would also share  the video of our conversation:

George Couros: Connected Principals Should Be ‘Learner Leaders’ from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.

The #Learn365 Project

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It has been a great experience to share the learning that has happened in Parkland School Division 184 project this past year.  As shared on the site, this project has been modified from the #edu180atl initiative this year that was a great way to bring students and educators together to share the learning that happens every day.  Without their open sharing, we would not have been able to do this project ourselves.

I have been lucky enough to share the success of this project through both social media as well as face-to-face with many.  As schools have seen the power of connecting and truly sharing as a learning organization, many school districts have wanted to do something similar.  While discussing this with the Surrey School District through a Twitter stream, it was suggested that we have a hashtag that we could share similar “184 projects” across the world.  The hashtag #learn365 was suggested and hopefully it will be a place where we can share the learning of our schools in a place where the entire world is watching.

Here is a simple premise of how the project works.  Every day during the school year, one person within our organization posts a blog on something they learned that day.  Sometimes it is about something they learned in school; sometimes it is something learned outside.  We have had everyone from our superintendent, teachers, parents, students posting on the blog and it has been a great opportunity to show that we are all learners.  This often a spark for many to start their own blog as they see the power of writing for an audience and enjoying the comments that they receive.  In fact, I would not have had a blog if someone did not ask me to guest post on their blog.  This gives 184 people that opportunity.

So now starting this new hashtag, we are inviting anyone to share their blogs through the #Learn365 hashtag.  But why do it?  Here are some ideas:

  • Show your school/district/classroom as a true learning community.
  • Share stories of learning with the world.
  • Promote literacy within your school(s) by not only writing, but creating using different mediums.
  • Model this process as adults not only to kids, but with kids.
So if you are interested in taking part in the #learn365 project, it would be great if you could share your school or organization in the below google document.  If you are already in your school year, you can still start.  Learning happens every day and all of the time.  As I think about this idea, it is not even limited to a school.  Any organization can do this.

If you are interested in taking part, please fill out the form below:

If you like this idea, whether you sign up or not, please share it to get others involved.  Also, if someone is interested in creating a #Learn365 logo to place on websites, that would be awesome.  The only thing that I am saying is a must is that you please give attribution to the #Edu180atl project that started this whole thing on your website.

You in?