Monday, February 18, 2008

AWNM Meaning Fishbowl/LiveBlog Per. 3

Participants for February 22nd LiveBlog:

Bud Hunt:
Bud is an instructional technologist for the St. Vrain Valley School District in northern Colorado. Formerly, he taught high school language arts and journalism at Olde Columbine High School in Longmont, Colorado. He is a teacher-consultant with the Colorado State University Writing Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project, a group working to improve the teaching of writing in schools via regular and meaningful professional development. Bud is also the co-editor of the New Voices column of English Journal, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Christian Long:
Christian is a high school English teacher and coach working at a college-prep, preK-12, independent school in Ft. Worth, TX. In addition to working in schools as a teacher and coach for over ten years (prior to his return in the fall of 07), he spent several years working with architects/planners, educational and technology leaders, policy makers, and communities to design and build schools from pre-K through the university level. This work took place throughout the United States and around the world.

Will Richardson:
Will is “Learner in Chief” at Connective Learning and the author of the recently released Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms published by Corwin Press. His blog Weblogg-ed.com is dedicated to discussions and reflections on the use of Weblogs, wikis, RSS, audiocasts and other Read/Write Web related technologies in the K-12 realm, technologies that are transforming classrooms around the world. He is a national advisory board member of the George Lucas Foundation. Will lives in New Jersey.

Stephanie Sandifer:
Stephanie describes herself as “an educator with a background in visual art and design.” She is currently employed at a Houston, Texas area high school in an administrative position focused on school improvement, and her personal interest areas related to that include: school size and structure, leadership (including distributed and teacher-leadership), technology integration, experiential learning, and the elimination (or radical revision) of No Child Left Behind.

232 comments:

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raelangas said...

Patrick- that is a really good observation. we are following someone else's rules all day long. In science class the other day I tried to question my teacher and I got in trouble and it is not fair.

Bud Hunt said...

@Will - I completely agree with you - as you know - about learning and schools and passions - but I also wonder about how much knowledge you need in order to follow your passions. (I hate to admit it, but I can't completely dismiss ideas like those of E.D. Hirsch.) I think schools now expect too big of a shared knowledge bank.

jeffreys said...

@bud, how do you think that schools could do that. I think that they try, but can't easily find a way to within the bouderies of public education.

OliviaO said...

Kalyn-I think there are many different meanings in our lifes and we change them around often and for me its hard to focus on one meaning at a time.

Will Richardson said...

amberg -- I hear you. And the point is that I could find out what that thing is if I need to very easily in this world.

hollyb said...

How does your family and friends effect meaning in your life?

catherinec said...

So is purpose the moment, but meaning is the ongoing moment or life?

Bud Hunt said...

Oops - 12-faced polyhedron. My bad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron

raelangas said...

Thanks holly. But I do not need to know trigonometry to sit down and play my guitar or sing a song.

emilyh said...

Catherine, I agree that homeless people don't want to live like that but it is not always thier fault. They could have been born into homelessness and never got an education so there was no way they could get out of homelessness for the rest of thier life.

Will Richardson said...

@bud agreed. We do need some basic understanding and context of what the world is and what life is etc. But the role of schools should be to provide that for students, not to teach them the dates of the Spanish Inquisition. KnowwhatImean?

Anonymous said...

Exactlly Will, Thank You.

Bud Hunt said...

@jeffrey: I think they get smaller. They focus on relationships and mentoring and apprenticeships rather than test, test, test. Content classes get a little more generalized. And kids leave the classroom more.

Bud Hunt said...

@jeffrey: I think they get smaller. They focus on relationships and mentoring and apprenticeships rather than test, test, test. Content classes get a little more generalized. And kids leave the classroom more.

matthewg said...

I just realized that I'm consciously thinking about using the weekend to forget about all of the material I had to learn for my science test, which is coming up today. I'm really glad my meaning isn't to go through school and get good grades, because in the long run, that's not going to be a big thing in the course of my life.

Bud Hunt said...

@will: Right - I completely agree with that. Always have. I just think the sticky bit is how much knowledge.

Kalyn K said...

Rae- okay think of a string on a harp. If you pinch it half way then pluck it, it will be one octive higher. That's math...it has to do with fractions.

Kalyn K said...

Rae- okay think of a string on a harp. If you pinch it half way then pluck it, it will be one octive higher. That's math...it has to do with fractions.

raelangas said...

Holly- Right now in my life I think that the majority of my meaning comes from my family and friends because they are the ones I love in my life.

Bud Hunt said...

That phone call was one of the coolest moments in education for the last six months for me. Thank you for letting me be a part of that.

Stephanie Sandifer said...

In relation to the circle conversation --

When I was younger I don't think I was as conscious of making sure that I told my loved ones that I love them on a regular basis, but as I've gotten older -- and experienced loss of family members/friends -- It has become a habit.

jeffreys said...

@bud, Our school has 2200 students and more and more students want to enroll constantly. How do we make this school smaller and more passion oriented?

raelangas said...

Well i guess when i listen or play music I do not think of it like that.

Bud Hunt said...

You don't need math to play the guitar - but as you advance in the guitar and in math, you can see some interesting connections there - it's fascinating but not very practical from day to day.

Karl Fisch said...

We're done. Thanks everyone.

Stephanie Sandifer said...

And yes -- I am conscious of saying it on every single phone conversation, email, or face-to-face interaction with my family and close friends -- it is habit now, but I am still conscious of the thought that every moment could be the last time I see them or talk to them.

Bud Hunt said...

@jefferys: School within school models make sense - seek out groups and teachers that you have an affinity for/with. Find a mentor. Be one for someone else. Make it feel human and warm and inviting and passion-inspiring.

Stephanie Sandifer said...

I have really enjoyed this blogging experience -- thanks to everyone who participated!

CatherineD said...

As I read over the entire conversation I noticed that a lot of people brought up the fact that priorities are the same thing as meaning. I disagree, you can find many meanings that relate to something other than your priorities. For example, in my life theater is a priority but it has nothing to do with my meaning in life. For most I don't think that meaning can be truly found because it is a everchanging thing that most can't truly understand. For example, for centuries people have been searching for the meaning of life but haven't even found it. Also, I noticed that people were discussing that to have meaning you have to be passionate and happy which i think is true to some extent but not fully. I think that you need to know yourself and fully intune with your inner self.

Christian Long said...

Deeply appreciated being able to 'attend' this session -- even if half-a-day late.

My 17 month old son has been sick all week, and I had to suddenly leave school before lunch in order to take care of him...which meant I was suddenly unable to be part of this session as I flew out the school door to get home.

I am, however, really struck by the "meaning follows passion" thread that seems to permeate many of the comments expressed here. Drilled down to its essential, I think this is as good as it gets!

Sorry for not being able to be available today at the last minute, but I'm also equally appreciative that the sessions is still 'open' to read -- even at the edge of midnight.

Cheers from Texas,
Christian

Mikenn@R said...

I think over all, meaning is something to learn along the way. It doesn't just thrust itself upon us, it's an adventure in finding who you are and what you are meant to do. You may even unknowingly carry out your meaning and never realize or you may years and years later. I believe everyone has their own meaning regardless if they know it or not. Some people may never find there meaning but that doesn't mean it does not exist. I beleive that if you never find your meaning, you might become aware of what it is after you are dead. There is always something to live for, regardless of what your meaning is. Meaning is not always the thing that keeps us going, it can help, but there are other things to live for like family and friends. In my opinion, meaning is a great thing to live for but its not the only thing to live for. In the Conceptual Age, meaning will help us find our jobs and help us when chosing certain options in our lives but we also have to remmber that we can;t spend our entire life looking for something or maybe we won't find it. If we look at it as an adventure instead of a search, I think our meaning will hold better influence and importance.

evand said...

In order to find meaning in your life, you must find what you are really passionate about. School is a stepping stone, where we can learn the necessary information to pursue our passions and aspirations in life. As much as I dislike school, it is something that must be done. We are currently at an age in our lives where most of us are beggining to understand what we want to pursue with the rest of our lives.

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