Aug 2011
To the Crazy Ones and Other Flights by Steve Jobs
August 25, 2011 10:02 AM
“To The Crazy Ones” by Steve Jobs
Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify them or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do
is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We believe in these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can
change the world,
are the ones who do.
Read More...
Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify them or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do
is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We believe in these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can
change the world,
are the ones who do.
Read More...
Comments
Disruptive Technology Does Not Fly in the Classroom
August 24, 2011 10:22 AM
Classroom Learning: What to Expect this Decade?
Given the biological evolutionary timescale, The way we learn is unlikely to change very much in 10 years. I'm not trying to be facetious but believe we should keep this in mind as we look to improve (read: “change”) the educational experience of our children.
That said, how we teach is certain to evolve in a significantly shorter period. Even so, while the last century has seen significant changes in the way we educate our children, the similarities between most modern classrooms and one from the days of the Puritans are immediately identifiable. Clearly, however, there have been some important changes.
Changes in the classroom have historically evolved from changes in technology and/or changes in our understanding of how people actually learn. The steady disappearance, in the 1950s, of "hands-on" lab work resulting from the widespread adoption of photography in textbooks is an example of a technological impact. About a decade later, a movement to bring hands-on, physical experience back to the classroom was driven, at least in part, by changes in our understanding of the Human brain and how it functions—the beginnings of left-right brain and "multiple-intelligence" research.
Schools are generally (with some notable exceptions) very slow to adopt and adapt. The result of a number of factors such as budget, logistics (numbers), governance and forces of habit, the way schools teach tends to evolve more slowly than most other organizations. While myriad attempts continue to be made to measure the quality of a teacher, the bottom line is that most of us (including those charged with school governance) generally make judgments based on personal experience—experience that dates back to our own schooling.
As a side, we all seem to appreciate the qualities of uniquely gifted teachers. The movie industry seems uncannily adept at creating these characters. We recognize them; celebrate them; even respect them. Movies such as “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “Dead Poets Society” tempt our passion for learning and yet, almost without exception, in some sick reverence to our puritan interests, devastate these unique protagonists. In fact, it is rare to find any movie in which an educator—gifted by passion for teaching—does not die or is fired... Read More...
Given the biological evolutionary timescale, The way we learn is unlikely to change very much in 10 years. I'm not trying to be facetious but believe we should keep this in mind as we look to improve (read: “change”) the educational experience of our children.
That said, how we teach is certain to evolve in a significantly shorter period. Even so, while the last century has seen significant changes in the way we educate our children, the similarities between most modern classrooms and one from the days of the Puritans are immediately identifiable. Clearly, however, there have been some important changes.
Changes in the classroom have historically evolved from changes in technology and/or changes in our understanding of how people actually learn. The steady disappearance, in the 1950s, of "hands-on" lab work resulting from the widespread adoption of photography in textbooks is an example of a technological impact. About a decade later, a movement to bring hands-on, physical experience back to the classroom was driven, at least in part, by changes in our understanding of the Human brain and how it functions—the beginnings of left-right brain and "multiple-intelligence" research.
Schools are generally (with some notable exceptions) very slow to adopt and adapt. The result of a number of factors such as budget, logistics (numbers), governance and forces of habit, the way schools teach tends to evolve more slowly than most other organizations. While myriad attempts continue to be made to measure the quality of a teacher, the bottom line is that most of us (including those charged with school governance) generally make judgments based on personal experience—experience that dates back to our own schooling.
As a side, we all seem to appreciate the qualities of uniquely gifted teachers. The movie industry seems uncannily adept at creating these characters. We recognize them; celebrate them; even respect them. Movies such as “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “Dead Poets Society” tempt our passion for learning and yet, almost without exception, in some sick reverence to our puritan interests, devastate these unique protagonists. In fact, it is rare to find any movie in which an educator—gifted by passion for teaching—does not die or is fired... Read More...
So you want to be a speaker?
August 23, 2011 08:06 PM
A young woman, Karen, recently asked how she might begin a speaking career. While she had, through her own personal experiences, become an expert on the Feldenkrais Method—a movement based somatic educational system—questions such as what to speak about and how to market herself remained. Ultimately, she wondered what she would say.
I offered the following from my own experience...
Karen, congratulations! I wish you the best in your new (ad)venture. Your years of experience working with children and the Feldenkrais Method clearly offer you a valuable, unique perspective. While I’m unfamiliar with the Feldenkrais Method, its reminds me of the Alexander Technique.
Years ago, I worked with a young mother as she prepared to reenter academia as a medical student. Unable to afford the support she needed, she offered to barter—one hour of tutoring for one hour of Alexander Technique. Needless to say (at least to those who know me), knowing nothing whatsoever of the Alexander Technique, I jumped at the opportunity. I’m glad you’ve jumped at yours.
With so many professional and, no doubt, master speakers offering such valuable guidance throughout myriad online communities, I hesitate to speak up—then, speaking up is what I’ve always done...
So, what do YOU want to say? Read More...
I offered the following from my own experience...
Karen, congratulations! I wish you the best in your new (ad)venture. Your years of experience working with children and the Feldenkrais Method clearly offer you a valuable, unique perspective. While I’m unfamiliar with the Feldenkrais Method, its reminds me of the Alexander Technique.
Years ago, I worked with a young mother as she prepared to reenter academia as a medical student. Unable to afford the support she needed, she offered to barter—one hour of tutoring for one hour of Alexander Technique. Needless to say (at least to those who know me), knowing nothing whatsoever of the Alexander Technique, I jumped at the opportunity. I’m glad you’ve jumped at yours.
With so many professional and, no doubt, master speakers offering such valuable guidance throughout myriad online communities, I hesitate to speak up—then, speaking up is what I’ve always done...
So, what do YOU want to say? Read More...
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place...
August 19, 2011 01:32 AM
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." ~George Bernard Shaw
Too often, innovation is starved right "on location" by a failure to communicate an inspiration. A disturbingly prevalent and even more endemic manifestation of our current communication culture is its seeming failure to exploit new and valuable opportunities to connect, in person, with those around us—to innovate with them... Read More...
Too often, innovation is starved right "on location" by a failure to communicate an inspiration. A disturbingly prevalent and even more endemic manifestation of our current communication culture is its seeming failure to exploit new and valuable opportunities to connect, in person, with those around us—to innovate with them... Read More...
Whatever Happened to Snack Anyway?
August 18, 2011 11:34 PM
I can remember looking forward to snack time in elementary school. So clear, in fact, is my recollection that just the hint of certain childhood staples gently wafting over the wall of a neighbor's cube quickly bring me back to that good place. These days, even a single flavor-blasted fishy evokes a positive physiological response. I live in fear of a chance odoriferous encounter with a cream-filled Hostess cupcake... Read More...
On ROI and Appliction...
August 18, 2011 02:19 AM
Thank you for your indulgence as I suggest the following considerations with regard to the so often unjustly imposed benchmark know as ROI.
The anarchist in me loves the suggestion that considerations of ROI or "Return On Investment" be, dismissed as irrelevant. While, however, most of us have borne personal witness to strategic failures grown out of flawed deference to measures of ROI, I would suggest many of these failures are not in the application of these measures but in their determination... Read More...
The anarchist in me loves the suggestion that considerations of ROI or "Return On Investment" be, dismissed as irrelevant. While, however, most of us have borne personal witness to strategic failures grown out of flawed deference to measures of ROI, I would suggest many of these failures are not in the application of these measures but in their determination... Read More...
Oozy Rat in a Sanitary Zoo…
August 18, 2011 01:35 AM
Are we the architects of our own destinies? So many things in our lives manifest as cycles… even our paths through the relationships we form and grow, here and elsewhere, cycle through a life seeming sometimes their own... Read More...
Supercalafragilisticexpealodocious does not make a good safeword…
August 01, 2011 03:42 AM
From a very early age the concept of safety and being safe is drilled repeatedly into each of us. From the habitual behaviors associated with the yearly fire drills and bus safety presentation to the root metaphors underlying a simple game of Red-light Green-light. As we mature, the ability to effectively communicate, through myriad means, our desires to move or stop, be touched or left alone, tickled or soothed, supported or challenged becomes integral to all our relationships—even our survival... Read More...
