There has been some confusion about our name because there is another organization that is similar. Where they are fundraising to purchase lights, we are trying to have kids put their own hard work into the lights for their partners in learning around the world.

If the project is to be owned by the community, the community should name it. Students, teachers, and volunteers contributed and voted. There were two close options. While gathered together at a coffee shop in Calgary, we decided on a name. My original favorite did not stay my favorite.

Engineering Brightness (Ryan Martine’s contribution) has a nice play on words. Not only are we trying to engineer lights so that students can study in brightness, we are also trying to be deliberate about growing a brightness of heart with the philanthropy and brightness of mind with the learning and design thinking.

http://p-e.io 

The newest Dragon from CBC’s Dragon’s Den also happens to be on the board of SHAD Valley International. She gave a wonderful Keynote to the SHADS and the Shad Cup.

She encouraged the SHADs to use their inexperience to just make it happen. Being young means she did not know that she was not supposed to be able to do it. It also meant that she had little to lose. She did not have a family to support. So take bold actions while you can.
Planning generally won’t save you from the big issues that show up. You cannot predict the problems that show up. Do not let “analysis paralysis” set in.
John Howe is looking for someone to inspire their students, particularly girls, into the entrepreneurial realm, both for business and social arenas. I wonder if Michelle would be interested in speaking.

Her story about going to St Andrews’ to get her Caviar was particularly interesting to the UNB SHADS as we visit there every year. Perhaps she would be interested in revisiting St Andrews’ with us next year!

I also wonder if she would be interested in Pretty Brainy and Brainy labs??

In August, I attended Learn East. For the first time in a long time, I went solely as a learner. I helped a bit in the maker space with Jacob, but he did not really need any help.

Listening to Sally Ng talk about how much she loved tech and STEM and one “women in comp sci” image of a person behind a screen all day turned her off, was so instructional. One poor 20 min presentation turned her off her talent. Fortunately, she has many talents upon which she can draw.

I was able to met and chat with David Alston. For a while, we have been moving AROUD each other. We finally got a chance to chat. I think there will be some synergy here.

The new SMART Tech rep was there. When he found out I was in the building, he removed the “FOGARTY-STUDY (still spelled wrong)” from his deck.

Found out that Partners in Learning is going to do an Ed Camp 21 in Freddy soon. I wonder if Lia will be coming??

Bryan Facey and Jeff Whipple run a fantastic session. I am so luck to spend time with both of them. They are so generous to me. Here’s hoping for more in the future.

At the end of July, I spoke to the Atlantic Education International (AEI) conference. There were lots of principals, new teachers, veteran teachers on their way to China and other places. I spoke about tech in the classroom. It was not a how to, but rather, look at what they can do, here is why you would want to. The literacy peer-authoring vs co-authoring really hit a chord.

It is interesting that people think they are doing collaboration or critical thinking or communication, until they see other things that are happening and all of a sudden, they are not so hot after all.

We need to keep preaching and showing real classrooms doing real work to inspire.

It was a privilege to be invited to NUREVA’s to play with their new ideation products, SPAN and their digital Portfolio software, Troove.

I really like both of their products. There are some classrooms that are SOOO ready for both of them. They fit into what the school of tomorrow should look like. Large digital space to work and the ability to use digital portfolios over the lifetime of a student can help get an accurate picture of a student, not just how they perform on tests. I hope that these will have enough critical mass to be sustainable. Are teachers, report cards, standardized testing and the whole system etc… ready for such things??

What could happen if the outside community can make comments and participate in the education of a student?

It will be fun to see how it all plays out.

Earlier in the year, the Y4 UK students from Plessey Park Elementary suggested inspired us to make wearable lights for the Dominican. We were thinking only 3D printed. Our students learned how to sew, make circuits, solder, ohms law etc…We produced a few variations on a wrist wearable light with 6-10 LED’s.

The interesting connection physically solidified the virtual network we are creating. John Howe and Tracey Winey at Preston Middle, Colorado; me at RHS in Canada and Plessey Park in the UK have been working on designing and building lights for students who cannot study after dark. These collaborations were by email, Bridgit, SKYPE, Notebook and AMP… all virtual.

I flew to Keystone Colorado for INNEdCo. John drove from Fort Collins where I gave him 3 prototypes. He kept one. A few short days later, John flew to ISTE in Phili. David Whyley also attended ISTE Philip. They both spoke about OML while they were there. John handed two RHS wearable prototypes to David. David brought them back to the UK. David delivered them to the Y4 Plessey Park kids.

In early July, the UK kids were still in session. We were on summer break. We had a final skype/SMART AMP session where the UK students showcased their colorful decorations for the wearable lights that “were still under construction”. We had some great discussion about colours, boy and girl designs, the cost of multiple colours etc… At the end, we had a surprise unveiling. The story about John and David meeting in Philadelphia was told, a box was taken out and opened, revealing two wearable prototypes ready to be decorated by the UK students. They were wide-eyed and excited, that their virtual idea had changed the minds of high school students and now was live in front of them. We are anxious to see what becomes of them in the up coming year.

Innovation in Education Colorado (InnEdCo)

SMART Invited me to speak at InnEdCo in Keystone, Colorado, June 22-25th, 2015. I spoke on “How we can Make Students Successful in a Collaborative World”. In addition to talking about how collaboration can be taught side by side with literacy and word problems, I also presented some of the One Million Lights work. We showcased SMART AMP with the Can-UK collaboration.

I re-met so many people from Fort Collins. There seems to be a connection there. There were 3 people that came up to me and said something like, “I saw you speak at SES,…” and then continue to describe my talk. It is nice to know that what I am saying seems to be memorable.

I had a wonderful 30 min early morning face to face with one of the organizers of the conference who also happens to be an important person in Fort Collins Education. I think I challenged her thinking a bit around collaboration, 1:1 devices and SMARTBoards, particularly around peer editing vs co-authorship.

I am so thankful to John and Julie Howe for coming to visit me. They had so many other things on the go, yet they drove down to see me. Thank you. In addition to reconnecting, I was able to pass him some of the wearable lights that my grade 10 students made.

Later, John went to ISTE Phili and met with David Whyley who was also at ISTE. Two great people met each other. John handed the lights to David. David took the lights back to the UK to bring our little international collaboration full circle.

What happens next is the topic of another blog entry.

PS. I won a Lifeproof case from OTTERBOX for a phone that I do not have. TIme to find a Samsung S5!!

The One Million Lights made the front page of the NSTA report, the result of our talk in Chicago.nstareports201505OML

It is like coming home!! It is nice to have many homes.

Of all the conferences that I get to attend, this is the one that is most meaningful. Here inspiration turns to action. Here, you get to talk the talk, then visit a classroom and see it in action. They do not show pics or graphs, they show you students in action. Then they show graphs. I am not sure it is fair that so many great people are in one place at a time. I have spoke about Tracey, Scott, John, Ryan, and Amy in the past. This time I would like to focus on Kathy and Sue.

There were many things that amazed me, but the thing that got me the most was the MATH Collaborative Classroom of Kathy Sampson and Sue Martino. This class is composed of grade 6, 7 and 8 students. They were talking about math. They were debating different ways to solve quadratics and what forms were most appropriate. The transition from group work (productive noise) to whole class instruction (silence) to many different hands being raised to group work (productive noise) was amazing. Just for kicks, I asked students to solve a Chem 12 Calorimetry question that uses the distributive property. Although they did not understand the chemistry, they were able to solve it without the use of a calculator until the very last bit. This was the same question that some of my grade 12’s complained was too difficult.

I loved the way that they used language, that students use jargon correctly in a professional way. I love the discussion that was happening between students and between students and teachers. It was similar to the things that I try to do in my classes, but it was at a whole new level and with less mature students about a topic that I previously thought pretty dry.

I have so much more to learn form them. I hope they will contribute 2 chapters to the Collaborative Class Book.

RHS Science 12 students decided to run a TED Talk-like fundraiser for the automated Greenhouse and One Million Lights. Earth Day made sense. But I was at SES in Colorado. So students ran this fundraiser with minimal adult involvement. I skyped in from Colorado to kick things off, but it was by students for students.

OML Greenhouse Brochure

They organized the theatre, the sound system, lights, program, pamphlets, snacks (provided by IEEE), greeters, MC’s etc… They were PRO !! They are like the childhood toys,… my job is to wind them up, point them in the general direction, and let them go.

They contacted the media re their event. This was the result.