Open Thread: What Should I Offer at Shanghai Learning 2.008?

Monday, 21 April 2008 Clay Burell Print This Post

learning 2.008 Shanghai I’m afraid this will sound presumptuous, when I intend it in the same way as when I ask students to give me feedback to help classes improve. What I’m talking about is this:

I’ve been invited to present three sessions at the Shanghai Learning 2.008 Conference next September. What I offer is largely up to me.

I have a few ideas, but really think that readers and people in my network can guide me to make the best choices. To me, “best” means something not offered by the other presenters.

So my question: What, if anything, can I offer that is unique, and most likely won’t make it into the conference mix if I don’t add it? What one, two, three topics should I bring with me to Shanghai Learning 2.008?

I would so appreciate feedback on this. My mind is too close to my head for me to see it clearly, and differentiate from other minds out there.

So please, again, help me make Learning 2.008 more diverse in its offerings.

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8 Responses to “Open Thread: What Should I Offer at Shanghai Learning 2.008?”

Dean Shareski writes:
No. 1 — April 21st, 2008 at 1:44 pm
What you do best revolves around your “unschooly” attitude. So with that, I’d do a session on “Pushing Boundaries.” Engage your audience in a discussion related to your recent post on literature. It’s not an easy issue but one that you feel passionate about and that’s what attracts me to any session.

I’d also offer up something related to your PLN work. Perhaps connected to that but maybe not is the whole idea of “quick in and out collaboration.” My guess is most want to jump into the full fledged global collaboration. I think that idea needs more exposure and context. You could provide it.

Be unorthodox and be passionate. That’s my best advice.

Now what is my commission?

Dean Shareski’s last blog post..Google Earth 4.3? Back to the Wow Factor

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Clay Burell writes:
No. 2 — April 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Thanks, Dean.

Commission. Hmm. Three free Skype videoconferences at OMIGOD o’clock, Seoul time?

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Jenny Luca writes:
No. 3 — April 21st, 2008 at 9:43 pm
A session about the class you are going to teach to establish students with their own PLN. I’m interested in that so I suspect others will be too. Your idea has prompted me to introduce the concept to a student of mine who needs extension. Her mother is happy for her to give it a go so she’s going to start writing her own blog with guidance from me. Good for you Clay – may even see you there – there’s a possibility I may be able to attend. It would be great to meet you f2f!

Jenny Luca.

Jenny Luca’s last blog post..We did it! Project Global Cooling concert a reality.

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diane writes:
No. 4 — April 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Clay,

I thought a lot about this, trying to pinpoint what sets you apart from other teachers and benefits your students the most.

The topic I kept coming back to was “Passionate Learning: Fanning the Flame.”

You are passionate yourself about what you do, but the focus needs to be on students, not teachers. Some of the projects you tried – like the Paradise Lost unit – didn’t seem to fire the imagination of your students. But you kept probing, experimenting, challenging them, and created a number of smaller projects that “fanned the flame” for different learners. Chronicling the failures and triumphs of your curriculum would be interesting and informative. Many teachers start out with dreams of innovation and glory and end up with disappointing, half-done assignments. Your experiences in marrying content, technology, and motivation would be worth the price of admission!

You could use the Doors’ Light My Fire as your theme song!

diane

diane’s last blog post..I’m Nobody! Who are You?

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Dean Shareski writes:
No. 5 — April 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I already used one up but I’ll definitely bank the other two.

Dean Shareski’s last blog post..Hey Mr. Shareski, look what we got!

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Carl Anderson writes:
No. 6 — April 22nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Oops, lets try that again:

MyEvery Student Is An Honored Student

I know I just pulled this straight out of the Alfie Kohn toolkit but it would be nice to hear someone talk about what these ideas mean from an edtech standpoint.

Carl Anderson’s last blog post..Student Centered Pedagogies – Part 3

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Clay Burell writes:
No. 7 — April 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Thanks for that, Carl. (I guess strikethroughs aren’t accepted html on this theme?) There’s definitely a connection there to edtech as an avenue to multimodal demonstrations of “honor.”

Diane, I’m thinking the same. Half of my posts aren’t about what a great teacher I am, but on the contrary, how many visions crash and burn in the realities of the classroom. Lessons learned, not gospels preached.

And Dean, thanks for the similar “lessons learned” and “caveat emptor” suggestions regarding large-scale global collaborations. I really do think there’s a need for more thought on things like Younsuk and Jaeho’s Basketball Without Borders in that elective PLN class. In teacher education and pedagogy-speak, it’s a form of differentiated instruction, with a dash of project-based learning thrown in.

Thanks all (And remind me to have my head examined for posting an Open Thread that says “Tell me about me!” I had qualms about it, as I noted at the outset. Just shoot me. )

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Clay Burell writes:
No. 8 — April 22nd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
And Jenny – it would be so cool to see you in Shanghai. I can’t tell you how wowed I am after knowing you for such a short time. Thanks, too, for taking the time to give me some input.

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