November Learning: Building Learning Communities Conference

This was my first day at the BLC conference at the Boston Park Plaza, in Boston, MA. It was very informational and inspirational. The keynote speaker was great and really set the tone for the conference, and the three sessions that I attended were exciting.

The keynote speaker was Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. He spoke about the metaphors for leadership. His three main points were:

1. Rule #6: Don't take yourself so damn seriously. (There are no other rules.)

2. "Stand in Possibility"

3. "It's all invented."

Get his book, The Art of Possibility to better understand these three points. Zander had us enthusiastically sing "Happy Birthday" to a member of the audience. He helped us see that there is not just one way to sing it, which was a metaphor for how we should approach our students and learning. Another powerful musical "experiment" he had us participate in was singing the German words to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Once we knew the meanings of the words, we sounded a lot better...all 1,000 of us! It was amazing!

1 Joy, beautiful spark of Gods,
2 Daughter of Elysium,
3 We enter, fire-imbibed,
4 Heavenly, thy sanctuary.
5 Thy magic powers re-unite
6 What custom's sword has divided
7 Beggars become Princes' brothers
8 Where thy gentle wing abides.

The first session I went to was a little frustrating because it was all about a Mac program, Garage Band...I have a PC. I did learn how to use Garage Band for when I finally do get a Mac, as well as some great sites to get free play music (creative commons).

freeplaymusic.com

incompetech.com

thesixtyone.com

The second session, after a delicious lunch, was about using Nintendo DS systems in the classroom. This was awesome! They can be used for morning warmups, centers, group discussions and a lot more. There is a feature called Pictochat that has a lot of possibilities for classroom learning. Then there is all the software learning games that you can get for the system. If one student has the software on their system, it can be downloaded onto another student's system. Amazing! Software such as Brain Age, Brain Boost, Big Brain, Word Safari, Math Patrol and Storybook DS are just some of the learning games that were introduced in this session. I am looking forward to starting to use these systems in the fall. My principal, who was also at the conference, suggested that I request at least one game system for myself from the PTO. The kids can bring in their systems and share with their peers. Most of the activities can be 2-3 kids per system anyway. I'm psyched because I know the students will be jazzed about this way of learning.

The third session on Digital Storytelling was just o.k., and the presenter was just average. He did provide a great resource however...his wiki. It is loaded with great links and information.

jakes.editme.com

I will be presenting a similar topic at the MassCue conference at Gillette in October, so I wanted to attend this session to get an idea of what is being taught about this topic. My session will be a lot more specific for beginners. My focus is Digital Storytelling with Photo Story and XtraNormal.

This presenter gave a huge overview and it was good for understanding what digital storytelling is and isn't, but I wanted more. It was supposed to be for people who wanted to move on from Photo Story. His presentation was just all over the place. I am glad I went though. I realize that I need to make sure I stay focused and give the people who come to my session what they came to learn. He did provide great resources to go home and explore.

So that was Day One at the BLC conference. More tomorrow.