All posts by markwcarbone

I have 36 years experience in K-12 education. I have been fortunate to work in many different roles including teacher, department head, ICT consultant, IT Manager and CIO. Personal interests include performing in the Venturi Winds woodwind quintet, the Cambridge Symphony and the KW Community Orchestra as well as composing and arranging music. Connect, Learn, Reflect & Share - make a difference today!

CATC, Just pondering, Leadership Perspective, ProfessionalLearning, reflection

CATC Camp – digging in deeper

August 22, 2015 markwcarbone Leave a comment

Once again our annual summer computer camp, CATC By the Water, was a great learning experience. You can check out some of the learning and innovating thinking at: CATC Camp learning and sharing or CATC innovators.

One of my favourite conversations this year happened when I took the time to sit down with George Couros and Donna Fry to revisit a conversation from a year ago, where we debated why educators look to one well known lead or theory to follow rather than leveraging the room – the educators who are learning, changing, innovating and sharing publicly. After all, the smartest person in the room, is the room!

                 Personal photo

Digging deeper into the conversation this year we talked about another angle that I believe is important in this discussion. Perhaps the most important element is not if fact “the one” vs “the room”, but each of us recognizing which one of these causes the personal disruption needed to learn, change, grow and share. After all, we each have a responsibility for owning our professional learning journey. Perhaps a good term for this would be “differentiated disruption“.

                 Personal photo

Where do you stand: the one, or the room? What does it take to shake up or clarify your practice?

~Mark

CATC, Tech

Playing with Time

August 14, 2015 markwcarbone Leave a comment

As a relatively new GoPro user, taking advantage of the opportunities at CATC Camp seemed like the perfect opportunity to experiment and learn.

After some trial and error over the afternoon actually wearing the device to take some time lapse photo sequences, I decided to experiment with capturing the magnificent sunset view at Kempenfelt Centre.

After capturing the sunset with photos every 5 seconds over a 20 minute period of time, I imported the photo sequence into iMovie to render the sequence into a movie. Next, I re-imported the movie and added a “speed up” effect at a factor of x20 to produce this silent “one minute sunset” video.

Great learning for me. I wonder what I will do with the GoPro today?

~Mark

Just pondering, ProfessionalLearning

What Do You See?

August 8, 2015 markwcarbone 1 Comment

After enjoying a wonderful conversation with Jamie Weir today, I thought I would post this image as a point of pondering since part of our discussion explored the power of images.

What do you see? How does this image relate to possibilities?

I was thinking about the possibilities of personal learning … choice, many entry points, differently routes and choice of pace. Where will your journey lead you?

I invite you to share what you see. Please share your insights.

~Mark

Just pondering, Leadership Perspective, Next

A Touch of Patch

July 30, 2015 markwcarbone Leave a comment

David Truss writes on his blog “Pair-of-Dimes”: “It seems odd to speak of lone wolves to you, a person that is so intricately… connected. And yet, as you read on, you will relate to the loneliness that I describe, that I too have shared. Sometimes it is surprisingly …” [ read more here ]

This summer I had the opportunity to watch the movie Patch Adams (1998) again. It has been years since I originally watch the movie. I remembered the general story line, but this time I was stuck by the parallels between Patch’s journey and courageous journey that many educators are currently undertaking as David describes in his blog post.

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Adams#/media/File:080515patch.jpg

Themes that resonated with me include having the courage to experiment, innovate, being brave enough to step out of your comfort zone, and a focus on making connections – the human connection to build relationships and influence perspectives.

Without risking spoiling the plot in case you have not viewed the movie, the closing 15 minutes contains such a powerful message about following your passion(s), making a difference and being willing to challenge the status quo in positive ways. I wonder if these phases will capture your interest: the power of transference, win/lose vs win/win, share your compassion, the passion to serve others, and carry the flame like a brush fire. This movie is well worth the watch (or re-watch) in my opinion. Perhaps viewing this movie will influence your next!

Related Material:

Wikipedia: Patch Adams

The Gesundheit Institute

Patch Adams, M.D. – Transform 2010 – Mayo Clinic
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdCrPBqQALc]

~Mark

engagement, Just pondering, Leadership Perspective

Lessons from Disney

July 22, 2015 markwcarbone 2 Comments

In my reading last week, I came across an article from the Disney Institute titled “Leadership Lessons From Walt Disney: Perfecting The Customer Experience“. As a connected learner and leader, I am always interested in ideas for improving improving service. The interesting part is taking time to consider how new ideas can be applied to another setting – K12 education in this case.

Consider these two quotes from the article:

“At Disney Institute, we were recently reflecting on the phrase, “simple is the new smart,” and it reminded us of a leadership philosophy we share with our clients and training program attendees – keep it simple so that everyone understands.”

“Walt Disney was a master at this. One of the simplest, yet most powerful and timeless leadership lessons we have learned from Walt is: “You don’t build it for yourself. You know what the people want and you build it for them.”

     Photo by Stephanie Schmidt (my daughter)

If you consider education through the perspectives of “simple” and “build it for them” (the students), what would be different in education? My initial thoughts include:

increase in play based learning
more creating and making
increase in choice
more self directed
multiple paths to experience learning, and a
focus on making technology (and I mean the whole area – hardware, software, access, digital resources) easier to use

What would you add to the “K12 by Disney” list? Please share your insights to this idea by leaving a comment or connecting on Twitter.

Additional Resources:
Read the full Disney article: Perfecting the Customer Experience

~Mark

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, GAFE, PLN, student voice, Technology Enabled Learning, Technology in Education, TEL, Things That Caught My Eye

Let Them Choose

July 9, 2015 markwcarbone 7 Comments

During my ongoing curation of articles about learning, digital tools and social media, I recently came across this article exploring perspectives on social media in the lecture theatres. Although the article was primarily examining post secondary perspectives, I would argue the same discussions are relevant in K12. The discussion was centred around various viewpoints on whether or not students:

be allowed (by profs) to bring technology to class
are distracted by having access to social media and
experience benefits?

Two interviewees interviewed commented that “… because the students are most likely taking notes. Many don’t use pen and paper, and rely on their devices. She says students are old enough to decide if they are to learn or not.” and “My view is they are old enough to choose and multitask (and choose to fail too),“. Meanwhile, others choose to dictate “no access”.

Now, if I put a personal perspective on this and let you observe my learning mode, this is what you would see. Typically I use 2 devices … taking notes on my iPad using notability – not just for notes – adding audio recording, and insert photos for context for a more complete package. On the second device I organize lists, todos, ideas and share via social media, typically Twitter but this could easily be a Facebook group, G+ community, LinkedIn or open Google doc. I reiterate – this is MY style. This is how I learn best. Paper and pen doesn’t work for me.

Why not let students choose what works best for them – student voice. To me, letting students choose what tools they use and how they organize shows a strength based approach to student learning. What benefit is there in forcing students to function in a way that may not be self directed and self optimized?

Weigh in: Where do you stand?

~Mark

Technology Enabled Learning, Technology in Education, TEL

YEAR of {c0de} WR

July 4, 2015 markwcarbone Leave a comment

Year of {c0de} Waterloo Region launched today the Kitchener City Hall. The room was filled with energy and an amazing array of interesting demonstrations.

I had a great conversations with team members Susan Watt, Peter McAsh and campaign director Stephanie Rozek. I look forward to my meeting with her next week …. just think of the possibilities!

Here are a few of of the sights I enjoyed today.

Robot Video: 3683 in action!

checking out VR

3683 up close

programming ‘gizmos’

more robots

Additional Resources

Web: Year of {c0de} Waterloo Region

Follow campaign director Stephanie Rozek on Twitter: @srozek

Follow @yocwr

Follow the Twitter discussion at #yocwr

~Mark

PD, PLN, reflection, Technology Enabled Learning, Technology in Education

We Dared to Dream

June 26, 2015 markwcarbone Leave a comment

Five years ago, we dared to dream – created our first teacher support role dedicated to focusing on in servicing and supporting elementary teachers to use educational technology in the most effective ways. It seemed like the right approach, at the right time to forge a new path forward, create interest, synergy, and impact the future. Susan Watt was the successful candidate for the position – and the journey began!

Standing now in 2015, and looking back, what a journey it has been. A new path was definitely forged. I look back fondly on all of the annual “system tours” as they were affectionately known – professional learning for staff at each school — using a dual boot Mac, what can I do with an iPad, we have wifi hotspots – now what, wifi in the classroom, GAFE, chromebooks, dropbox and more. Another important project was migrating our acceptable use procedure (AUP) to the responsible use procedure (RUP) where our initial thinking about staff as digital citizenship role models and use of social media for positive purposes was captured. I could of course, list many more highlights, but you have the idea of system impact.

In her retirement speech, Susan challenged her colleagues: “ So, I have some advice for our retiree supporters tonight: go off script, listen and respond to your students’ spontaneous questions and observations. Understand that every moment is teachable. Don’t settle for the status quo. If it doesn’t feel good for kids, challenge it. If it’s being done a certain way just because it’s always been done that way – question that rationale. Follow your heart and intuition. Explore new options. Take a risk. Embrace change.”

Susan, it has been a privilege to work with you. Thank you for your creativity, determination, enthusiasm, ability to see a big picture, having a huge positive impact, and, perhaps most of all, daring to dream.

I look forward to staying connected and following along your life journey via your new blog: Watts Up Next. Thank YOU!

~Mark

Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

Help us learn about one to one

June 17, 2015 markwcarbone Leave a comment

In the fall, we are initiating a 1:1 chromebooks for all grade nine students project in 3 of our secondary schools.

Our planning team would be interested in learning from your experiences. If you have a suggestion, tip or perhaps would have done something differently, please share via this [google doc].

Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas and learning.