Learning is Change

My thoughts on a different part of the Edublogosphere:

Thank you so much for linking to these additional blog posts on “non-inclusive” education (or whatever this discussion would be okay with calling itself). I have to say, it has challenged me (and my educational philosophy) profoundly.

Generally, I advocate for personalized lea

rning, a movement where the right technology, curriculum and support meet a learner’s Strengths, Needs, Interests, and Constraints. However, this approach is usually in an effort to make the learning experience accessible to ALL LEARNERS in a similar space. It oversimplifies just how profoundly diverse learners can really be.

Just as you did in your car, I think I might need to occasionally weep for my lack of imagination for just how deep the need for a child might be or just how great an accommodation is required to meet a constraint. It is this lack of imagination that has us thinking that any one single thing could be a silver bullet for “all kids.”

I believe in “least restrictive environments”, but we shouldn’t be afraid to imagine those environments differently. We shouldn’t let the ideal (inclusion) get in the way of supporting kids as if they were our own and making imaginative decisions on their behalf.

via Who’s Afraid of the Special School? | The Diary of a Not So Ordinary Boy.

My comment on a wonderful post regarding childhood, innocence and the modern sense”growing up”:

“Thank you for writing this post. I struggle with “growing up” as my kids are getting older, but I keep on trying to figure out what is actually just DIFFERENT about being a kid with instant access to information or touchscreen devices.

I don’t believe that our kids brains are being re-wired, but I do believe there is something that changes when you are able to make Siri a part of your everyday inquiry process. For my kids, that is the case.My daughter has already had “the talk” and she is 8. She was ready in a way that I was not at that age. Is it because of her “digital precociousness”?

Childhood and innocence are not the same thing, but I don’t think we need to limit either in our efforts to prepare kids for their inevitable future. Perhaps, we just need to redefine both for the modern age. Modern childhood entails media literacy. Modern innocence means having a supportive parent to guide your google queries rather than just relying on “safe search”.

We aren’t dealing with a new species of child. They still fear monsters. But, their monsters probably have an Instagram account and are willing to post pictures of you making your worst mistakes. It is not too soon to talk about this.”

via Too Soon? | Bailey & Derek’s Daddy.

Five years ago, I decided to write one blog post every day. 365 posts later, I knew myself and my world infinitely better. The project led to a great many changes in my life: a new job and a new startup being the biggest. There is so much you can learn by simply making reflective practice a part of your daily life. The one thing that didn’t happen, though, is that I didn’t connect to very many new voices. There were folks who commented on my blog posts, but most of them had been commenting here for years. There were no brand new connections or communities created.

In the last days of 2014, as I was considering doing this again, I realized that this was the biggest shortcoming of my 2010 blogging regimen. I DIDN’T create a community of writers. Essentially, I was blogging selfishly, caring more about my growth than the conversation that could be created if I would have involved others in the process.

I’m going to do better this time.

That is why I am launching #C4C15: Comments for Community in 2015.

Rather than writing a new post every day, though, I will write a comment. Rather than blogging alone, I will blog with each of you. Rather than just talking to the ether, I will create a conversation. I will build something new throughout 2015, a community of writers and learners.

Come with me.

Every single day of 2015 and writing a comment on another blog post, Google+ post, Facebook post, or Twitter conversation (this will have to be at least three exchanges, as I don’t think 140 characters is enough to build community). After writing this comment, I will link to the original post here so that everyone can read along and comment with me. The idea is to use this blog as a kind of travelogue of my voyages around the web.

So that I can keep the process as transparent as possible, here is the full extent of what I am planning to do:

• I will use Nuzzel to find the posts that have the most re-tweets every day. I will use Feedly to curate my favorite blogs. I will use Flipboard, Zite, and Google+ to find articles that are off the beaten path.
• I will use this IFTTT recipe to send all of my favorites to a Google Doc that will have the list of all of the posts I want to comment on.
• I will use the comment feature on the post.
• I will highlight the comment after it is posted and the use the “Press This” bookmarklet to capture it back to this blog.
• I will tag the post with #C4C15 hashtag.

It is my sincere hope that many of you take up this call to make 2015 a Year of Commenting for Community. Please share your adventures on your own blog while using our hashtag. Thank you for being a part of this community. It is going to be a great year of learning.