Conversations #65

Post-Show description: 

While Sheila is away in Belize this week, Lisa and Maria co-hosted the show. John Fladd returned this week to contribute to the conversation. This week the discussion was about people who inspire us to try new things, get our thinking going and provide the models we build upon. Where do you get your inspiration? Whose model do you follow or build on to create new ideas of your own. Does your work inspire others?

Chat Log

11:31:15 Lisa Parisi: Hi Peggy
11:31:31 PeggyG: Hi-where is everybody today?
11:31:41 Lisa Parisi: I don't know
11:34:19 Lisa Parisi: Peggy, want to join the skype call?
11:34:37 PeggyG: I'm just waking up--overslept today
11:34:55 McTeach: Good morning! Where is everyone?
11:35:03 woodenmask: Morning. Just got here.
11:35:12 PeggyG: are you streaming yet?
11:35:19 Lisa Parisi: Not yet. 
11:35:30 Lisa Parisi: Maria is setting up but having computer issues.
11:35:46 PeggyG: ok thanks
11:35:47 McTeach: I'm having firefox issues this morning!
11:35:56 Lisa Parisi: Yes, Maria was using FF
11:36:10 McTeach: Ahhh! So it's not just me...good to know!
11:37:09 mariak: no ustream today
11:37:15 mariak: skeila is away
11:37:16 Lisa Parisi: Stream in ETTA today
11:37:25 mariak: sheila
11:37:30 mariak: check the stream
11:38:04 McTeach: Where do we find it?
11:38:25 Cathy E: Sounds loud and clear in ETTA
11:38:32 Maureen: it's fine
11:38:49 mariak: There is a slight delay
11:38:59 Lisa Parisi: McTeach...look on sidebar...EdTechTalkA...click on an icon underneath that.
11:39:23 McTeach: Got it! Thanks Lisa!!
11:41:02 Maureen: You're dreaming Maria
11:41:27 woodenmask: I'm sorry - where should I be listening to this?
11:41:47 Cathy E: @woodenmask http://edtechtalk.com/stream1.asx
11:41:47 Lisa Parisi: EdTEchTalk A....on the right sidebar
11:42:22 woodenmask: Thank you.
11:42:35 Maureen: Talked to my son in AK yesterday- 50° and 10-15 feet of snow. Lots of avalanches. He has a "beacon" he wears when he skis, so they can dig him out. Too much info to tell his mother.
11:43:12 Cathy E: @Maureen - I agree TMI
11:43:40 kyteacher: We are getting a break from the snow here.  53F...back to the cold next week.
11:43:42 Maureen: I'm still on XP :-)
11:45:30 Maureen: I'm inspired by many of the teachers I talk with online... Paul Bogush is a wonderful example for me
11:45:52 Maureen: So is Sheila, langwitches, and so many others
11:46:16 woodenmask: I'm with Maria about ruthlessly ripping off the ideas of people smarter than me. I wrote a blog post last year titled, "All My Best Ideas Are Stolen Ones".
11:46:27 McTeach: Maureen...me too! I am more inspired by the people in my PLN than the teachers I know "in real life"
11:46:51 mariak: John - give us the link to that blog post.
11:47:13 Maureen: @woodenmask- I just started reading your blog and your project is inspiring- passing it along to the history teachers in my school
11:47:41 Lisa Parisi: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3848510409060781412&postID=7819...
11:47:50 mariak: I would like John to share how "ripping off ideas" has changes his teaching
11:48:00 Maureen: Joyce is amazing!
11:48:20 kyteacher: I'm running in and out of this conversation.
11:48:46 kyteacher: Love Joyce & Paul.  Russel Tarr is also a huge inspiration in social studies.
11:48:48 woodenmask: How do I join the Skype conversation?
11:49:15 kyteacher: But mostly I am inspired by my students.
11:49:24 woodenmask: http://teachertoys.weebly.com/1/post/2009/06/my-best-ideas-are-stolen-on...
11:49:37 McTeach: Totally agree!! My students teach me every day!!
11:50:20 McTeach: it's all about the journey...not the destination!
11:50:23 Maureen: I am inspired by the folks who share all the time, but I am also inspired by kathy cassidy, who isn't always on twitter, etc... but when you look at what she is actually doing in her classroom- wow! it's amazing.  Maria and Lisa as well- it's not the "big names" for me, since many of them are not in the classroom.
11:50:23 PeggyG: very wise daughter :-)
11:51:02 kyteacher: Their desire to know more and try new things continuously pushes me to be better.  Sometimes leads me to jump into something before I have really worked out all of the details...but they stick with me and try all of the crazy things I throw at them.
11:52:54 Maureen: I need concrete examples from others... then I can steal, remix, adapt, etc. I am not "creative" until I actually see something.
11:54:02 Maureen: I use screenr all the time- to "show" people what I mean.
11:55:19 PeggyG: sometimes it's failure that inspires and motivates and sometimes it is success :-)
11:55:41 Maureen: I get inspired by the 9th graders- who are amazing at 3d programming, my 8th graders who have taken their projects to higher levels and my 7th graders who cannot grasp information literacy and are making me reteach, think harder, etc....
11:55:42 PeggyG: I'm hearing Maria
11:55:43 Lisa Parisi: so we lost the skype call
11:55:47 McTeach: I hear ya Maria!
11:55:53 Maureen: Now just maria
11:56:04 Cathy E: Hearing Maria
11:56:21 McTeach: It's quite a delay
11:56:24 Maureen: Sing us a song Maria
11:56:51 Lisa Parisi: Not sure why skype isn't working for us
11:56:59 mariak: can you hear the call
11:57:04 Maureen: no
11:57:12 PeggyG: not hearing anymore
11:57:18 Maureen: Had just maria, now no one
11:57:31 mariak: Call me back lisa
11:58:06 Maureen: Hi Peggy!  Are you attending any of the CRSTE offerings?
11:59:06 PeggyG: oops--my browser crashed too
12:00:00 Lisa Parisi: We are back
12:00:04 mariak: we are here
12:00:07 mariak: streaming
12:00:23 PeggyG: I'm still not hearing you
12:00:25 Maureen: Yes!
12:00:32 Maureen: I hear Maria
12:00:49 Maureen: Yes
12:00:51 PeggyG: ok hearing now
12:00:54 Maureen: Just Maria
12:01:05 PeggyG: just Maria for me too
12:01:05 Maureen: Is Lisa talking?
12:01:27 Maureen: I heard John
12:01:32 Maureen: I hear Lisa
12:01:33 kyteacher: Not hearing anything, but I need to go anyway.  Have a great day everyone.
12:01:41 PeggyG: is there a difference between inspiring someone else and being inspired by someone?
12:01:57 PeggyG: now hearing everyone :-)
12:02:18 Maureen: I hear you now
12:02:25 mariak: yay!!!
12:02:28 PeggyG: yes big delay in the chat
12:02:53 Maureen: I'm inspired by ppl who can work thru tech issues while online trying to do a show!!
12:03:08 Lisa Parisi: LOL...thanks Maureen
12:03:28 PeggyG: funny Maureen!
12:03:35 Lisa Parisi: Hello Scott
12:03:55 Scott Shelhart: Hello
12:04:09 PeggyG: there are inspirational speakers whose goal is to inspire others--sometimes they do and sometimes they don't
12:04:31 Maureen: I wish I was in a school where I could feel safe sharing all my mistakes and how hard it is for me at times. The PLN is a life saver
12:05:04 Lisa Parisi: Yes, Maureen.
12:05:38 Maureen: @Maria did Deb get any answer from them- xtranormal- about their nasty frontpage?
12:06:07 PeggyG: @maureen--it's so sad when you're in a situation that you don't feel you can share safely--either mistakes or successes!
12:06:11 Maureen: You guys must have a lot of bandwidth!
12:06:12 mariak: I'm not sure if she has heard yet?
12:06:17 Lisa Parisi: I have been pushing the xtranormal people to create an ed site for a year now.
12:06:26 Lisa Parisi: They keep saying they are working on it.
12:06:49 Maureen: @Lisa- they may be working on it, but their current frontpage is not OK to send kids to
12:07:09 Lisa Parisi: I'm not really sure how much they are working on it.
12:07:13 Maureen: I want the language teachers to use xtranormal
12:07:25 Maureen: You can write in French or Spanish
12:07:41 woodenmask: Just playing around with it demonstrates really dramatically how to use commas.
12:07:49 PeggyG: Rachel Boyd's K12online presentation was VERY inspiring!! :-)
12:07:58 Lisa Parisi: I have to watch it.
12:07:59 Maureen: @ peggyG- I agree!
12:08:26 Maureen: I sent it to all the lower school teachers and put in on the PD for faculty blog that I built
12:08:39 PeggyG: there is another K12Online Echo on Tuesday night this week--presentation and chat with Kelly Hines--will be great for teachers of younger kids!
12:09:18 PeggyG: Kelly's presentation is called "Little Kids, Big Ideas" :-)
12:09:22 Maureen: For me, Rachel showed the day to day in her classroom, which was as eye-opening for me as Kathy Cassidy's blogging with 1st graders a couple of years ago
12:09:52 Maureen: @Peggy- Kelly is another inspiration for the teachers of the younger grades
12:10:00 PeggyG: Kelly is a 4th grade teacher now
12:12:19 Maureen: When I taught K I had a co-teacher who did that for/with me. She could take my hare-brained ideas and make them workable
12:12:42 McTeach: I'm also inspired by Sarah Beeghley (of Civil War Sallie 'fame')! Students like that amaze me!!!
12:13:14 PeggyG: yes Sarah Beeghley is very inspiring! :-)
12:13:30 PeggyG: isn't inspiration a spark??
12:13:41 McTeach: Peggy...can't wait to have Civil War Sallie visit my school in March!!
12:14:23 PeggyG: I just saw the pictures of Civil War Sallie in Paula Naugle's 4th gr. class in New Orleans--adorable in his championship tshirt :-)
12:14:38 woodenmask: Who is Civil War Sallie? I'm intrigued!
12:14:57 PeggyG: a little bear that travels to different places around the world
12:15:20 PeggyG: http://civilwarsallie.wikispaces.com/
12:15:22 McTeach: John...here's the blog: http://civilwarsallie.blogspot.com
12:15:29 McTeach: Thanks Peggy!
12:15:32 Maureen: But don't we do that with everything. I like some parts of Responsive Classroom, but like anything else- I don't buy into everything.  I see things I like in lots of places and I can pick and choose what I like. I liked what I saw at SLA, but I don't work in a high school and not everything would work for me.
12:15:49 McTeach: Maria...but you DO inspire people!!
12:15:57 McTeach: You just don't know it
12:15:58 PeggyG: she is inspired by her dad who completed his doctorate in civil war and technology :-)
12:16:06 Scott Shelhart: Had to rebot twice, but I finally got it all working.  Hello all
12:16:23 Maureen: Many of the inspirational speakers make it look/sound so easy- and it is not!
12:16:23 woodenmask: I agree Maureen, but it must have inspired me. I can't stop thinking about SLA!
12:16:30 PeggyG: I think you need to be open to new things/ideas to be inspired
12:16:37 mariak: thanks Karen
12:17:07 McTeach: :D
12:17:11 PeggyG: negative people can inspire you to find someone more positive to be around :-)
12:17:22 McTeach: Good point, Peggy!
12:17:31 Maureen: Maybe we need some inspiration- ideas- then some models to show us how to implement them?
12:17:35 PeggyG: telling is not inspiring...
12:18:01 McTeach: There's no one way to teach, just as there's no one way to learn!
12:18:10 PeggyG: but I can hear an idea that doesn't make sense to me but find inspiration in it to try something differently
12:18:16 Maureen: But Lisa, you're usually right- except for the jeans part
12:18:23 Lisa Parisi: LOL
12:18:27 Scott Shelhart: We teach students using indualized plans, why should WE have to be inspired by a 'cookie cutter' program.  We need IEPs for PD sessions
12:19:03 PeggyG: I think inspiration can come from taking someone else's idea and making it your own
12:19:47 PeggyG: interns and student teachers are a great example of sources of inspiration for mentor teachers
12:20:22 Scott Shelhart: :)
12:20:26 PeggyG: do challenging, difficult kids inspire you to try harder to reach them?
12:20:42 mariak: Yes Peggy - taking ideas, thinking about them and making them your own - revise, refine and redo
12:20:58 Maureen: I think that if we had time/energy to actually visit/talk with teachers in our own schools, perhaps we could find more local inspiration.
12:21:34 PeggyG: I think that is a big reason that educon was so inspiring for people because it's about the conversations and connections and not just presentations
12:22:37 McTeach: I always feel very alone at my school! Especially in middle school. But I connect to my PLN and I feel "normal"
12:22:56 PeggyG: serendipity can be inspiring--a snow day that frees you up to do something you hadn't planned to do :-)
12:23:14 Maureen: Off topic... dragon now has a free search- audio search- for iphone, itouch
12:23:35 PeggyG: I just installed dragon on my iphone :-)
12:23:50 Lisa Parisi: Yes, @McTeach, that's what I mean.
12:26:16 PeggyG: there are things that inspire me that I can't do--either physically or practically because I just don't have the skills to do them.
12:26:36 Maureen: I don't know if I would call it "inspired" but I get "inspired" by my failures. When something I am trying to do does not work, I'm like a dog with a bone...have to make it work. My 7th graders have pushed me harder to work on explaining information literacy than I have ever had to stretch.
12:26:50 PeggyG: for example I'm inspired by the Olympic athletes but I could never do what they do
12:27:09 Lisa Parisi: Yes, Maureen, like if I have a student I just cannot reach...I keep at it and keep at it.
12:27:20 Lisa Parisi: Wish I could always be successful.
12:27:22 mariak: No skeleton sledding for you , Peggy?
12:27:25 PeggyG: nope
12:27:28 McTeach: Would love to know more about how teachers use game consoles in school. My kids would love that!
12:27:37 PeggyG: but still inspiring!!
12:28:33 mariak: I think the lessons, inspirations from the Olympic games are that nothing is impossible - just go out and pirsue your dream!
12:28:38 mariak: pursue
12:29:07 Maureen: I had my 5th graders teach me how to use my itouch
12:29:16 PeggyG: yes that's what I was thinking Maria--the model can be inspiring to do something else, completely unrelated
12:29:17 McTeach: I LOVE that idea!!!
12:30:08 Maureen: My friend who teaches bio has each of her kids teach a chapter/topic.
12:30:11 Scott Shelhart: (taking notes for next student teaching assignment)  Love the Idea!
12:30:34 Lisa Parisi: Maureen, that is exactly what we are doing in social studies right now.
12:30:37 PeggyG: it's also very easy to keep doing what you've always done
12:31:39 PeggyG: professional athletes are great examples of the incredible number of hours they spend practicing to improve
12:32:04 PeggyG: Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers is excellent!
12:32:06 Maureen: But some of the teachers I know have their 10,000 hours in and have decided that that is the pinnacle of their learning and stopped
12:33:01 PeggyG: if you're only participating in professional development because you are required to get the credits to renew your teaching certificate, is that motivational/inspirational????
12:33:13 Lisa Parisi: Nope
12:33:34 Lisa Parisi: Always hate when I have people in my classes who say they are only there for the credit.
12:33:35 woodenmask: That's one of the things an online PLN can do - it's incredibly valuable to be in contact with people much smarter than me. 10,000 hours has put me in a position to make use of what they inspire in me.
12:34:24 Maureen: @peggyg we don't have to participate in PD... independent school, unless you are worried about your teaching credentials. This year, finally, I think it is going to be incorporated into a formal doc, part of your job requirements.
12:34:29 PeggyG: sadly, many teachers/educators don't do anything to grow professionally if they have to pay for it themselves--conferences, workshops, etc. Even when they are free but require them to spend their own time learning...
12:35:25 PeggyG: I continually run into people at conferences who say "why are you here?" aren't you retired??? :-)
12:35:50 Maureen: @peggyg you are the least "retired" of just about anyone I know
12:36:02 PeggyG: I never want to retire from learning!!
12:37:01 Lisa Parisi:  http://ettconversations.blogspot.com/
12:37:23 PeggyG: I published your blog site in our EdTechTalk newsletter this weekend :-)
12:37:26 Lisa Parisi: Thank you all for coming.
12:37:45 Maureen: Have a great week!
12:37:52 PeggyG: thanks for the conversation!!!
12:38:21 PeggyG: there's a great, free online conference all week this week through CRSTE--more great learning opportunities
12:38:51 PeggyG: http://crste.org/
12:39:03 PeggyG: mellow can be inspiring too :-)
12:39:07 PeggyG: bye all