Tales+from+the+Trenches.+Reflections+of+an+Early+Adopter

= //Time: 10:30 - 11:45am// = toc media type="custom" key="13653120" //**Thomas Currie, Glenmore Christian Academy**//

** Session Information **

 * **Location:** //Science Lab (HCS Campus Map)//
 * **Track:** K-12 Education
 * **Grade Level Focus:** All
 * **Exhibitor:** No
 * **Blog**: http://currieosity.blogspot.ca

** Session Description **
Let's face it; as a teacher, change scares us. Okay not all of us, or not all the time but certainly enough to pique even the mildest skeptic within us. As professional development seminars often illustrate, mild change in our profession is warranted; often mandated. Every-so-often you encounter disruptive change. The kind of thing that once you've seen it you know you can't go back even if you wanted to -- imagine the first time teachers were told they could photocopy pages for their students! As the information age blossoms and a whirlwind of soft and hard technology supplants decades of much slower progression several will go forward to reconnoiter and relentlessly record their reflections. In some ways they model the next generation of learning, in other ways they remind us of the strengths we have where we are. Most importantly they tell their stories. This will be mine.

Get ahead: do some homework first!
media type="custom" key="12191962" align="right" width="110" height="110" 1. Bone-Up on DeBono's Six Thinking Hats http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php 2. Interested in Judgement vs. Evaluation? Try Spiral Dynamics! http://www.spiraldynamics.org/Graves/colors.htm 3. Like Art? PsychoGeometrics might hold your interest: http://courses.urc.ac.ru/eng/archives/geom.html 4. Find Taxonomy Taxing? Avoid these ones: http://koinonia-all.org/homeschool/personality.htm http://www3.dbu.edu/jeanhumphreys/SocialPsych/smalleytrentpersonality.htm 5. Howard Gardner! Remember him? [] 6. Roger's Adoption and Innovation Curve: http://suewaters.wikispaces.com/Rogers

Original Media and Contributions for Presentation:
Timeline of Innovation: Elements of Fusion Alberta Program of Studies (Science 8 & 9): Revisioned Grade 9 Science Class Wiki: [|http://currieosity.pbworks.com]

What I Hope to Leave You With:
In order to teach well in the 21st Century you must:
 * 1) Know who you are, and accept it.
 * 2) Know who you are working with, and accept them.
 * 3) Know who you are working for.
 * 4) Believe in what you know until you know better. You can never be right, but you can certainly be wrong...

Bonus Materials
Original Inspiration for the talk came in March 2007 media type="youtube" key="NLlGopyXT_g" height="315" width="420"