IF YOU WANT CHANGE …
BE THE CHANGE
As to my future, a BIG new world is opening before me….I have been so blessed over the past 6 months for the new opportunities.. It began with a few phone calls and e-mails to request presentations and workshops at other school districts in my free time away from Durango. In July the floodgates opened. I was invited to present at the Building Learning Communities Conference directed by Alan November. If you do not know who Alan is, check out his Web Page at:
http://www.novemberlearning.com/ He is one of the most influential leaders in the country and the world, for 21st Century Classrooms and Building Learning Communities. What an opportunity to visit and work with Alan during the week. You can read about the details of that conference and my involvement at : A day at M.I.T with Mitchel Resnick: (link is below)
http://toolsfortheclassroom.blogspot.com/2007/07/part-3-day-at-mit-with-mitchel-resnick.html
The next thing I know I am doing Keynotes and Feature Presentation around the country in August, Septe
mber, October and November. As many of you know my passion is to the share the gospel of 21st Century Learning and to “Change the World….One Teacher At A Time.” Then I receive a phone call from Alan asking me to work as a consultant for November Learning. I was lying on the floor from disbelief, as he provided the framework of what would happen after my retirement. As I stammered and stuttered and said yes, the reality of it all hit me after I hung up the phone.
Another opportunity opened this past summer in the Center School District with Superintendent George Welch. It would take 3 pages to tell you about that exciting adventure. In a nutshell Center has a population of 1,500 , free and reduced of 86 per cent and a Hispanic population of 81 per cent. George with his school board has led the district thought 1 (one) year of McRel training (http://www.mcrel.org/topics/topics/Instruction/products/19/ and a one to one computer initiative so that all high school students have their own computer, personal computers for all of the teaching staff and providing his teachers in a series of 24 workshops on 21st Century Classroom Skills that I provided this fall. We specifically designed the workshops for 21st Century skills that the staff could take back to the classroom and implement the next day of school.
….Guess what happened…CSAP scores are going up…they make AYP for the first time…NCLB requirement are being fulfilled…..all because of a Superintendent that gets it. He and his board have made 21st Century Skills a priority in their district and provided the funds to make it a priority…..George is a real supporter of 21st Century Skills. It has been an honor to instruct his teachers and bring that district into the 21st Century.
Durango could take a lesson from George…as I stated above if there is one shortcoming that I have it is not having the district as a whole support 21st Century Skills for our Teachers. Other items have been a priority and it is my hope, this will change with the new Superintendent.
I think the best way to close is with a document that I send to anyone that requests the "Did You Know" PowerPoint. It is amazing what has happened with this video...There have been over 100,000 views on YouTube, traveled to China, Norway , many eastern Europe countries , India and thousands of school districts in the U.S. The"Did You Know 4" was released at a Keynote ,I recently did in Dallas , Texas.
Is My Life An Obligation or An Opportunity1.?
When my phone rings in my office, I respond to each call as an opportunity to serve, earn, learn, influence, network, encourage or teach. A sign on my desk reads “ Obligation or Opportunity.” The people who change the world around them –rarely act from a sense of obligation….they almost always act from a sense of incredible opportunity. They interact with the world around them because they want to, not because they have to. Those who lead effectively view the circumstances around them as opportunities not obligations.
Genuine, authentic leadership infuses meaning into your life, because you know that your efforts count and that you are serving the needs of others as well as your own. You can help, influence and inspire those around you.2
In August of 2006 Karl Fisch shared a Power Point with me about our changing world and the impact of the “New Global Economy”. I then read the Thomas Friedman book, “The World Is Flat”. I then came across an old 1986 commercial called “Think Different”. For me that week was life changing. All the pieces came together on changing the way we teach our “Digital Natives” in the classroom. The commercial content included snapshots of people who changed the world and the concluding statement was….”People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do”. You can download or view the commercial on my web site at the following address: http://www.toolsfortheclassroom.com/page7.html
You can download the “Did You Know 4” along with the mp3 music file that goes with the presentation by clicking on the link below. There have been over 105,000 views on YouTube, presentations at 10 conferences and over 2,000 attendees that have carried the message back to their school district. The intent is for you to show the PowerPoint and start on a journey of teaching our “Digital Kid” differently. Have a discussion with your peers, administrators, and school board members and help “Change The World, one teacher at a time.”
Download the PowerPoint or Windows Media Video here:
http://www.toolsfortheclassroom.com/page12.html
Mark Sandborn said it best, “ People who take an active leadership role in their lives tend to be good thinkers…Great leaders tend to be GREAT THINKERS”.
Enjoy…..
“If You Want Change…Be The Change.”
Howie DiBlasi, Ph.D.
C.I.O. ( Chief Information Officer)
Durango School District 9-R
201 E 12 St.
Durango Colorado, 81301
970-247-5411 ex 1451
1 & 2…Content paraphrased from “The Fred Factor”; “You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader”; “The World According To Mister Rodgers”.
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