BlurryLines : If I Can Find It, It's Okay to Use it & Other Copyright Myths

If I can download it, it's okay.
If they don't want me to use it, they should make it so I can't.
It's for "educational purposes".
If I can just right click and save, it isn't copyrighted.
It's not like I'm hurting anyone.
If I can find it, I can use it.

All of the above are things I've heard teachers and students say.  I'm certain I've said something like "It's for educational purposes" without even being sure what that meant.  I was someone who was okay with what I thought were the blurry lines of copyright. it was easy to  rationalize my behavior, I just told myself  that it was something a student needed and that made it okay.  Then I had an experience that led me to think more deeply about copyright.

Read the full post that includes resources on New Tech Network's blog where it was originally posted. 

College: They All Went but They Didn't Stay

Follow your dreams.

Life is a journey, not a race.

Figure out who you are…
Maybe try "un-college"...

BLAH BLAH BLAH…

The whole "un-college" thing is all the rage these days and it seems like a good idea….for other people's children!

So, I have a history of encouraging kids to follow their dreams, take the "road not taken" etc... In our early 30's my husband and I even quit our great jobs, sold our house in the suburbs , cut our income in half and moved our 3 boys under 8 to a city 800 miles away so he could follow a dream and I was totally onboard with this.

 But imagine my surprise when our own boys  followed in our footsteps! 

Both my husband and I have our college degrees, I have a Masters and often ponder a Ph.D ( I google, I bookmark, I can't commit)  We have talked to our boys about college for as long as I can remember. The question was never, "Are you going to college?" it was "Where are you going to college?" 

And they all went, but they didn't all stay.

Our middle son Trent has always had a calling to do "good works".  His high school resume is filled with philanthropy. Nevertheless, when he first went off to college he sort of denied this part of himself.  It didn't last long, after a semester, the school he chose didn't feel like a fit.  He applied to work with Americorps for the next year and off he went from Indiana to California to live and work with people he had never met.  He had amazing adventures, from planting native species while camping on the beach to working at a therapeutic horseback riding center to re-roofing cabins at a national arks.  He was happy!  When his Americorp stint was over, it was back to college. ( I MAY have been a little pushy about this….) This time he studied "Non-Profit Management" and got involved in philanthropic groups on campus.  But honestly, he felt like he was just jumping through hoops and not DOING anything.  Much to our surprise (even though we knew he wasn't really happy) , after a year and a half it was bye bye college & hello again Americorps.  

Currently he is in Las Vegas working with The American Red Cross.  He is making a difference for people every day.  He isn't jumping through hoops, he is bringing resources & help to people who need it. He talks about returning to college so he can go further in the non-profit world, but again…he is happy…the world is currently his college, his boss & colleagues are his favorite professors.  

Trent is on the right end

Alex also set off to college right after high school.  He had a scholarship to run cross country, I will now, in hindsight, admit that he was never all that pumped up about going to college.  He went because we thought he should and the majority of his friends were going.  He had a great first year, ran, made friends, had fun and... didn't want to go back. 

GRRRR how is this happening to me again.  

He has always been an avid skate boarder. He eats breathes & sleeps it.  Really skateboarding and any sport that makes a mother's heart beat too fast. The thing is, he is really good at them.  Currently, Alex is living in a city about an hour and a half away from us with his girlfriend who goes to college & works.  Alex is working at a really great alternative sports sort of store True West Coast Style .  He lights up when he talks about  meeting with sales reps whose products are in the store. He has led the store in sales, never misses works and loves it.  He is….you guessed it….happy.  The customers, sales reps and store owners are his professors.  He learns everyday. He also talks about going back to school, studying something that will help him design skateparks.  He isn't in a hurry, but wants to take a few classes at a time so he can still work & skate.

Photo by Chris Johnson

So who learned the most here?  Likely the answer is me!  The boys are alright…they are independent, pretty much the only bill of theirs we pay is their cell phone. I'm not saying it has been an easy journey, , but as I may have said more than once in this post, they are happy & that makes me happy. 

So, it is true, life IS a journey, not a race….even when it is your OWN children's journey!

Some resources in case you listen to your kids better than I did:

Uncollege

Apprentice University

When Your Child Says No to College

Americorp

Hacking Your Education

I've Got a Big But…..

So I confess, I've got a big but…..
I haven't written a blog since the beginning of summer because of my big but….
Well, I might have more than one big but...

But….
I don't have time.

But…
I'll do it after I finish this project.

But…
I can't figure out how to say that.

But…
That idea is dumb.

But…
I might make a grammatical error.

But
But
But

My big but has gotten in the way of my blogging so it is time to get rid of the big but.
What is your big but?
How is it getting in your way?
What is your big but keeping you from doing?

Gotta go…time to work out my big but!
I promise a blog post next week! NO BUTS!

via @Improvingthesilence.com

We are Living in a #PBLWorld and I am a PBL Girl

So we JUST ended #PBLchat tonight where we had a super high energy chat about making global connections for and with our students.

You can see the archive here in Storify (want to see it as a slideshow? Just add /slideshow to the url, trust me, it is fun to read and share this way!)

Just want to share a few loves...

I love that the folks at this chat have either worked all day, been at a conference all day, are either super close to bedtime or just before dinner time, tweeting from a soccer practice or chatting from their phone while waiting in line somewhere all take time to share and learn with others. 

I love the fact that while I get to work with an amazing network,New Tech Network ,  of collaborators, we are also a part of the larger PBL community across the world and tonight's chat made that so evident.

I love that it was fun to see "friends" at the chat tonight that I have never met, but they have become resources & experts for me via Twitter and/or their blogs or even I have met them just once and I can't wait to see them f2f at conferences this summer.

I love that I "think in PBL" I often use phrases like "I wonder" and "What are our next steps" in my everyday conversation.

I love that as I am planning the decor for an addition we are doing to our house that I want my sister to come visit and "critical friend" my plan.

I love that I can't  read or listen to the news without looking for a driving question or global connection.

I love that I watched & listened to educators run through their Ignite Talks for our national conference and they were FILLED with passion.

I love that several members of my online PLN are students and I value their opinion and so does everyone else in our PLN.

So much more to love about PBL....but that is enough for now!

Anyway...just a little celebratory post about being happy to be a part of something that I am proud to be a part of!

Join us for #PBLChat every Tuesday!  Usually at 8pm EST but once in awhile we change it up for a special collaboration or event.  Follow @NewTechNetwork to get all of the scoop!

Is Your School "Successful"?

Way back in 1997 when we were considering moving back to Indiana to my husband's hometown one of the reasons for choosing this town was because, while the local elementary schools were great where we lived, our kids were moving into middle school and I wasn't thrilled with what I knew (or thought I knew) about the middle and high school.

My views were that there was no sort of "be true to your school" feeling. High school events were well attended, sports teams sometimes didn't have enough players to field a team, the school just wasn't the hub of the community.  Since this was "pre-internet" I went to the library and checked out the Places Rated Almanac and my fears were confirmed around the data they reported for the school, too.

I was happy to be moving to Indiana to a community known by everyone here as "a great place to raise kids".  We often heard things like...

•  You don't have to lock your doors.
• Kids ride bikes everywhere, with no fear.
• They can fish at the hospital pond.
• On Friday  night everyone is either at the football field, or at a basketball game, depending on the season. (Go ZEBRAS!)

So did that make this a successful school system?

After we lived here for a bit, I actually checked out THIS school system in the Places Rated Almanac and guess what? They had pretty much the same data/test scores/grad rate as the town we left.  

So was one school more successful than the other?

Flash forward to present day and I am happy to say I consider this school (the whole system here) a success!  (It's been a journey undertaken by a lot of great people, but that's another blog post!) A few reasons might be...

• They are on a path of continuous improvement and reflection
• They have embraced project based learning
• They do technology integration really well and are always looking ahead
• Of course, fantastic dedicated teachers who, even if the face of year after year of budget cuts always find a way
• The administrators work as a team & the school board is a part of that team
• Many active, engaged parents & community members

My colleague @PaulSCurtis wrote a blog about school success and the rubric that New Tech Network is sharing. I really like it as a measure, it goes so much deeper than the newspaper headlines we see each year ranking schools by test scores alone.

We are going to be discussing and trying to define "school success" at this week's #PBLChat Tuesday June 11th at 8pm. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts! Join us for the chat! 

http://sweetbeanz.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/success-failure-sign.jpg