Dean College Hosts Early Childhood Education Training on Nutrition

The Dean College School of Continuing Studies will be hosting a free training for early childhood educators on the topic of nutrition. The event will be held on Wednesday November 20, 2013 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM and participants will earn two hours of nutrition training from the Department of Early Education and Care.  Seating is limited. 

Highlighting the schedule is a presentation from Pam Mele, titled "Growing up Healthy: A nutrition seminar for early childhood education providers", Pam is an adjunct faculty member and expert in the field of Early Education with over 30 years experience working with young children and educators. 

"On behalf of Dean College's School of Continuing Studies, I am pleased we are able to support the professional development of early childhood educators in our community on such a critical topic as childhood nutrition," says Veatrice Carabine, Dean of the School of Continuing Studies at Dean College. 

The training will take place in the Golder Room, located in the Dean College Campus Center. Attendees are asked to park in the Campus Center parking lot, at 109 West Central Street/Route 140. 

To register for the event, please call 508-541-1629 or email vcarabine@dean.edu. For more information, please visit www.dean.edu  

Fun is not just child's play (video)

The thing that hasn’t changed, and I don’t think will ever change, is that the operative word in music is “play.” You have to have a playfulness about it. As the world shifts, it’s starting to understand more and more that to have a playfulness about any and everything is actually the way of having a better life, or being more creative, or being more productive. 

The rules are: The more playful we get, the more we can get rid of the rules.

Composer Hans Zimmer discussing VJam
From Bernie DeKoven


If that quote tickles your imagination, how about this one?

Children play whenever they can – as soon as their most urgent needs are met, and whenever they are not prevented from it. That ability to stay in the moment, to grasp opportunities for exploration, joy and challenge whenever possible, is probably what most people mean by the word “childlike”.  Morgan

And if you had fun with both of those quotes, you'll enjoy this video as Morgan and Bernie get together for a delightful conversation:

#140edu 2012

View this email in your web browser

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Looking for your help - please help me invite educators to #140edu I am reaching out to the greater #140conf community and I am asking for a favor...I need your help to invite educators to join us at #140edu (http://140edu.com) taking place July 31 - August 1 in New York City at the 92nd Street Y. I would greatly appreciated it if you could take a moment and forward this email to your friends involved in education. Please also include any friends who are parents who live in the metro NYC / NJ / CT area. With the support of Chris Lehmann, Principal, Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia we are putting on our 2nd event to take on an issue of our generation...Education.  Thanks to the #140conf community, I was able to curate what I believe will be a great two day conference. You can review the schedule over at: http://140edu.com/schedule. Our event is unique and will be exploring how the real-time web is effecting education and a chance to catch up with some of the educators who are leading the charge and bringing change to education. My challenge now is to do everything I can to make sure as many people as possible who have a vested interest in the future of education become aware of this conference. This is where you come in. With your help, I believe anything becomes possible. The event pricing is optimized to bring together educators, students, parents and the education industry. The cost to attend this two-day conference for educators is only $1.40; students $14;  Parents $14; and for vendors in the education industry $140. To register, please visit: http://140edu.com/register My hope is to bring together the most diverse community of people who are passionate about the state of education. If you have a vested interest in the future of education, please make it a point to join us at the conference. Hugs, Jeff

Forward to a friend | PO Box 1432, Melville, NY 11747 USA

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for email marketing!

Seth Godin: Stop Stealing Dreams

Seth Godin always asks provocative questions. He has an ebook/essay on education reform that I just found here

http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams

Have you read this yet?

What do you think?


Note this was cross posted to Franklin Matters. I hadn't intended to but it happened.

On the edge

Do you live on the edge?

Have you peeked over the ledge?




Do you go to the dock of the bay, or end of the rocks to fish?

Help Fidelity Contribute to Music Education

This is a good opportunity to share music and contribute to a good cause. Better yet, you don't actually have to spend a penny. Fidelity Investments will do the contribution for you.

For every card sent, Fidelity Investments will donate another $1 to buy musical instruments for public school students.

After all, what would the holidays be without music?

Click through to Future Stage to send the e-card and have Fidelity make their contribution!

Note: I was a long time employee of Fidelity Investments. I am currently working on a contract for Fidelity through Veritude but this posting is completely separate from those activities. I am a life long supporter of music and education.

BTW - Fidelity is now on Twitter - http://twitter.com/fidelity

That's Greek to me

Have you ever said "That's Greek to me"?

Something complicated, something that didn't make a whole lot of sense would usually draw that comment. At least in the days before 'political correctness' became all so important.

My daughter is getting to develop a better understanding of Greece and its history, art, language and culture by spending her college semester abroad. Due to the wonders of technology, she is only a Skype call away.

You can join in with her explorations by viewing her journal online (and better yet, subscribing to receive her updates automatically).

This phrase (That's Greek to me) may become a forgotten part of your vocabulary!

Go east, young ladies!

Actually the phrase was

"Go West, young man," Indiana newspaper writer John Soule's 1851 advice, would be popularized by Horace Greeley and serve as the mantra for nineteenth Century American migration.

Quote source

Doing the opposite of the advice, the girls are off to Europe: Carolyn to spend a semester studying abroad, Allison to spend a few days vacationing with her sister before Carolyn starts school.

Somebody needed to go along, right!

So they are off to Europe and we go to cheer on the New England Revolution tonight.

Kirsten Olsen

I took the "blog off the blog" Monday to meet with Kirsten Olsen, a fellow JJL contributor. The time we had over lunch was filled with wonderful conversation, we could have gone for hours longer.


Our mutual thanks to one of the waitresses who was able to capture this photo for us.

BTW - Kirsten is the author of a couple of books on education that you might want to check out: Wounded by School and Schools as Colonizers.

"goal is to inspire action"

From my good PodCamp friend, Chris Brogan:

Do you know why Christopher S. Penn and I started PodCamp? Because we both felt that these tools like podcasting, blogging, video, and social networking were really going to have a huge impact on how business gets done, and how people can communicate. We felt deeply within our hearts and minds that educating people on a peer level, and spreading the model far and wide would be a way to inspire action from passionate minds with a desire to build new kinds of relationships.

Have you been to a PodCamp yet?

Why not consider PodCamp Western Mass? Holyoke is a good day trip for a Saturday!

what lever can move education forward?

Dr Scott McLeod has a series of posts underway on addressing the educational future for Iowa's students. You could substitute Franklin, MA for Iowa, or your community for Iowa and these posts would be just as relevant if not more so.

This video clip is from the first in the series. I do recommend reading each of them. How does your community measure up to meeting the needs of developing your children to live in the new world of technology?

Dr Scott McLeod's web site can be found here

5 for Friday

Here is some key points from this week's reading:

1 - the time is ripe

A confluence of biophysical and social processes — the physics of heat trapping gases, the faltering of the consumption-driven, global economic system, and the re-energizing of our own democratic political process – all this has created space for deliberate human action to reshape the future. As a nation, the decisions that we make — or fail to make — in the next year will have profound consequences, not only for our children, and for their children, but in fact, for every human being who will ever inhabit the earth from now until the end of time.

Read the full article on the global warming education effort written by Eban Goldstein here

2 - on a similar track along the road to Copenhagen

For Obama, the political winds at his back are now as favorable as they will ever be. He is in a position to seize 2009 and do three things to meet the climate challenge: properly educate the American public about climate change and the need for immediate action; exercise the full might of his executive powers and regulatory discretion under the Clean Air Act to jump-start action; and spend freely from his enormous store of political capital to lead the government to enact comprehensive federal climate legislation. If he does, the United States will reclaim the mantle of global leadership when it takes its seat in Copenhagen.

Read the full article from the Yale Environment 360 here

3 - on the green jobs front

Nationally, there are about 1.7 million low-income youths (16 to 24) who were out of school and out of work in 2005, according to a report by the Center for American Progress. Many of them live in areas of concentrated poverty and are often striving for precious few opportunities that the corporate media glorify--rap stars, professional athletes. When Thrower tells young people in Manchester about green jobs, "it goes in one ear and out the other." Despite this, he is confident that once he starts to put solar panels up in his neighborhood, he'll become a tangible new role model young people will want to emulate.

Read the full article about green jobs here

4 - In January, I had found a discussion between Van Jones and California State Senator Darrell Steinberg as they discussed green jobs. You can find the audio discussion here.

5 - and finally, from Wil Richardson

So those of you who have heard me speak know that I love to tell the story of Laura Stockman and the good work that she’s been doing in her community and writing about in her blog “Twenty-five Days to Make a Difference.” Laura is only 11, but her willingness to do community service of all kinds and to share those experiences with others sets her apart in many ways. Through her blog, she’s been able to connect with people from every part of the globe, and she’s even been asked to teach other kids in other classrooms how to go about changing their own places for the better. Because of her efforts, Laura has been invited to the Special Olympics in Idaho this year to be a part of its Global Youth Summit. It’s all good stuff and I think a great testament to how even younger kids (with the help of their parents and, hopefully, their teachers) can use social media to sincerely “make a difference.”

Read the full posting about Laura and how you can help to make a difference here

Enjoy!

Can green jobs solve poverty?

On a more serious note, there is an interesting conversation about

Can green-collar jobs clean the "dirty-energy economy" and lift people out of poverty?

The discussion revolves around education in California where the drop out rate from public schools is now 25%. 41% for Blacks and 31% for Latinos.

Van Jones and California State Senator Darrell Steinberg discuss a unique solution for our economy and environment. Together they offer a clear vision for green economic development and its potential.

Click through to listen here.

Well worth listening to!

Quote for the day

“Better learning will not come from finding better ways for the teacher to instruct, but from giving the learner better opportunities to construct.”

Seymour Papert

"make education more fun"

With a little help from friends and bloggers, I'll be launching a new series of programs about the Fun of Teaching and Learning. The programs will include presentations and workshops that focus on the psychology, sociology, and dynamics of fun in learning and teaching.

As advertised, they will be about the fun of teaching as much as the fun of learning, and I hope to offer them at every level of education.

This from the funsmith, Bernie Dekoven at Deepfun where you can get more details and contact info if you are interested.

Bernie's concepts are near and dear to me. I don't believe you can go wrong where there is fun involved!

Attention College Bloggers!

Is Your Blog Worthy of a $10,000 Scholarship?

Do you maintain a weblog and attend college? Would you like $10,000 to help pay for books, tuition, or other living costs? If so, read on.

We're giving away $10,000 this year to a college student who blogs. The Blogging Scholarship is awarded annually.

Scholarship Requirements:

• Your blog must contain unique and interesting information about you and/or things you are passionate about. No spam bloggers please!!!
• U.S. citizen or permanent resident;
• Currently attending full-time in post-secondary education in the United States; and
• If you win, you must be willing to allow us to list your name and blog on this page. We want to be able to say we knew you before you became a well educated, rich, and famous blogging legend.

Important Dates:

• Accepting Submissions: October 15th, 2008
• Submission Deadline: October 30th, 2008

For more details, click through here to find out the rest!

"I finally know what I am doing"

During one of the sessions at the recent Dodge Poetry Festival, Naomi Shihab Nye told the story of her second grade teacher, Mrs Lane. She was 75 years young and refusing to retire because in Mrs Lane's words

"Why should I retire when I finally know what I am doing?"

Mrs Lane organized her class curriculum around poetry. Each week Naomi and her fellow second graders had to bring in a poem or even just a section of one that they liked, for whatever reason. Each student had a section of the board on which to write their poem or piece of. During the week, as they did math, or science, and Mrs Lane could make a connection with something that was written on the board, she would do so.

On Friday, each student would go back to the board to copy down the poem or section of that they liked that was not their own. Then the board was erased and they would start all over again on Monday.

It is no wonder now that Naomi is (1) and accomplished poet and (2) a noted anthologist. Look where she came from! Thank you Mrs. Lane.

Now, Mrs Lane was teaching well before the current regulated classroom and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) came in to the picture. Naomi still believes that within the context of NCLB, poetry can be worked into the curriculum like this. She also mentioned that there is one group of teachers at a school in Texas who are attempting to do this and preparing some metrics to help prove the impact.

If you have the will, you can find the way.

The Faces of PodCampBoston

The Faces of PodCampBoston, originally uploaded by GregPC.

Lisa is one of the many fine folks who came and participated in PodCamp Boston this weekend.

We had a good conversation about using social media to help students connect and engage in their learning.

The weekend is over but the time for action on what we have learned is just beginning.

To view other photos that GregPC took in his "Faces of PodCampBoston" series, click through here.

System broken?

from David Warlick at 2 Cents Worth comes this tidbit:

Update: I think that more to the point is that my state, North Carolina, needs 10,000 new teachers every year, and all of our schools of education graduate on 3,500. According to a May 2002 Raleigh News & Observer story, only 2,200 of those teachers enter the classroom.¹ We can’t afford to send teachers out ill-prepared. Again, no blame to a system that’s worked for years. The blame goes to those who remain satisfied with a system that’s worked for years. We need to hack that system.

Read the full posting here.

Creating Lifelong Learners - Mathew Needleman

Found via Dr Scott McLeod a wonderful resource focused on Creating Lifelong Learners!

The listing of recent posts should provide something for you to dig into:

• Computers: They’re Not Just for Games Anymore
• Smaller Classes/Greater Achievement?
• Comprehension Strategies: Part Two Where Are We Going Wrong?
• Comprehension Strategies: Part One Why?
• Google Literacy Project Page

I explored the Google Literacy Project Page for quite sometime.

Enjoy!