Thursday, February 28, 2013

IGNITE! NASSP 2013 Convention

As Day 1 of the NASSP 2013 convention in Washington, DC comes to a close, my mind is swirling with ideas and questions.

How can we move from our current status quo of student work to begin to integrate "crowd-sourcing"?

Technology: so many possibilities, so little time. I love the idea of "student intelligence". And it's not what you think...

Arne Duncan; hearing the executive director for the US Department of Education was a mixed bag; some of it was clearly "party line" stuff, but the Q&A afterwards was insightful and thought provoking.

And of course, there is the whole dynamic of being in DC on this, the eve of the "sequestration" train wreck.

Crowd-sourcing is an incredible concept. I had not hear that phrase prior to today. Read up on it -- it's a skill set for the 21st century and beyond. How do we help our kids develop the skills to "harness the crowd"? And, the key? It's not just the crowd in our physical proximity. It's the "crowd" around the world.

Student intelligence. When we hear that, we think about "how smart are our kids?", but in this case, it means, "How smart are WE about our kids?" I am fascinated by the idea of data mining and creating a data system that allows us to know our kids better on 50, 60, 70 different data points. NOT JUST ACHIEVEMENT!!

And Arne Duncan -- we were able to spend an hour with him, and he has some interesting ideas. I don't have any problem being called on the carpet, but I detest the phrase "drop out factories" to refer to struggling high schools. But, the idea that we need to help ALL kids be college AND career ready, well, I can wrap my heart around that.

My morning was spent on a tour of the city, visiting the beautiful monuments. I am struck with the signifant differences between today and my last visit in 1998. Now, it is rare to see people on the streets. Government buildings and monuments have strict policies and tight security. This post 9-11 world in which we live is different.

Can't wait to see what the next two days bring. The conference has only just begun!!
 

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