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"The Managing Complex Change model puts language to that which makes some schools successful while others struggle. The model looks at five components necessary to create a desired environment. These include vision, skills, incentives, resources, action plan. If any one piece is missing the model indicates results schools will experience including change, confusion, anxiety, gradual change, frustration, and a false start. When thinking of successful schools such as Science Leadership Academy, The MET, The Island School, The iSchool, you will find they have all those components in place. On the other hand, when I hear teachers lamenting about their school failures, the model brings clarity to the fact that one or more of these components are missing. Below is the chart that lays this out. Following the chart, I'll take a look at what each missing component might look like in a school environment. As you read, consider which, if any are components, are missing at your school. save image Lack of Vision = Confusion When I hear exasperated teachers spinning their wheels, working so hard to get ready for all the various mandates and requirements, but never feeling a sense of accomplishment, it is clear there is not a tangible school vision that has been communicated. In some cases this is because what is being imposed does or can not reconcile with what the school wanted for their vision. Skill Deficit = Anxiety My heart goes out to those with a skill deficit. They are required to implement a curriculum they are not trained in using or being evaluated via measures with which they are not familiar. Or…they are put into a position they were not trained for or prepared to embrace. Social media provides a great medium for helping these teachers get up to speed, but when the outreach occurs, the anxiety is abundantly clear. Lack of Incentives = Gradual Change It is not unusual for innovative educators to feel like and be perceived as misfits. Islands onto their own

"The Global Day of Design just wrapped up on May 2nd. If you want to see what happens when 80,000+ students embrace design thinking, check out the Twitter stream and #GDD17 hashtag! Students from six different continents (over 20 countries) participated and rocked this event in the second year in existence. Teachers and entire schools carved time out for students to not only beginning with empathy, not only brainstorm and navigate ideas, but to make, create, build, and design while in school. This was only one day, and although the event was a success for our students, the real question is: What happens when students embrace design thinking beyond one day?"

"So how can teachers prepare for this surge of computer science in the classroom and integrate it into their curriculum in a meaningful way? It starts with understanding that technology is a tool-a means to accomplishing an end, but not an end itself. It's important to not just leverage technology for technology's sake. There needs to be a purpose behind it. For example, besides simply having iPads in the classroom, schools need to have goals in place for using them. Perhaps the goal is enabling kids to create with the iPads-like build their own apps-versus simply reviewing materials on the device. Through our work helping students, teachers and parents around the world embrace technology in the classroom and at home, I've learned some best practices for maximizing the opportunities that technology education offers:"

"Technology in the Classroom: Embrace the Bumpy Ride!"

"Teachers in today's world have finally begun to embrace technology. This makes sense seeing as we live in a world where the ability to work with technology is key in virtually any profession. Making sure students are equipped for today's world is a huge part of the job. In fact, teachers that don't do so are in many ways doing their students a disservice. And while most teachers now use technology pretty heavily in their classrooms, there are constantly new technologies that you can implement in creative ways. There are a few, though, that have never really caught on the way they might have. Here are six great examples-each potentially powerful learning technologies for you and your classroom."

"Not too long ago, tablets and smartphones were largely viewed as educational scourges - mere distractions responsible for dulling minds and derailing productivity. Now, instead of being shunned completely, these devices are embraced as invaluable tools for meeting the complex, often hard to define needs of digital natives. Undoubtedly, wearable technology is destined to follow suit. The 2015 Horizon Report agrees, predicting the widespread use of wearables throughout the entire spectrum of modern education. Still, considering our senses are already overloaded with 1s and 0s, reluctance to embrace yet another digital medium is understandable. However, as this piece will explain, the potential benefits are simply too tremendous to ignore."

"Are schools taking advantage of the breadth of career opportunities for young people? Is there a fixed mindset in the structure and organisation of school as if nothing has changed? Who is making the choices for technology? The educators, the techies or the persuasive sales-people?  The key is being open and willing to embrace the opportunities of a changing world. Creativity flourishes within the context of constraints. There are conditions that must be maintained, including: academic rigour, standards, student safety and the joy of learning. So rather than see the world either/or, how do we embrace the both/and to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset? To meet community expectations AND create the context for entrepreneurs to flourish."

How about a wristband that glows when you get a text message or a phone call on your smartphone? EMBRACE+ is the new gadget in the market that will glow in various colors on your wrist. The wristband will be a wearable gadget made for your smart phone and will display specific colors to indicate depending on what kind of notification you have received on your phone. You do not have to even take the phone out of the pocket. As soon as you get the notification, the wristband will give a visual notification in a specific color and will let you differentiate between a tweet and text message. The wristband connects to your smartphone using Wi-Fi connection.The EMBRACE+ wristband features will includes indications for incoming calls, text messages, new emails, notifications from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and will even give you low battery levels indications. It will have a special feature that will help secure your phone. It will give notification if the smartphone goes far away from the wristband. The release date of the EMBASE+ wristband is July 2013. By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com https://www.facebook.com/techvedicinc https://twitter.com/techvedicinc http://pinterest.com/techvedic1 http://techvedicinc.tumblr.com/

"When you were growing up, what did you enjoy playing with? If you were like me, maybe it was Tinker Toys, an Easy Bake Oven, or Lite Brite. I liked designing and creating things. As a teenager, my imagination ran wild as my ideas turned into sketches which later covered the walls of my bedroom. (Thanks Mom, for never painting over the walls-even 25 years later!) My own children love building and messing around with things, too. It's amazing how long a few cardboard boxes or toilet paper rolls and some duct tape will keep them entertained. (We've built forts, spaceships, and garages for all their Match Box cars.) It's the nature of these learning experiences that allow young people to think creatively and use their imagination. With a focus on standards, accountability, and assessment over the last decade or so, it seemed that these opportunities disappeared from our schools. However, within the last few years, the tide is beginning to turn. I believe an exciting shift is happening in education as schools across the country are embracing the Maker Movement and returning creative, hands-on learning opportunities to their classrooms. Additionally, STEAM education has come to the forefront with an emphasis on preparing students for college, career, and beyond, focusing on the 4 C's: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. STEM has transformed into STEAM as the arts become an integral component to meaningful learning. In many schools, the STEAM and maker education are colliding. Hybrid models are being created that embrace the integration of STEAM components and the creative spirit of the Maker Movement. At the intersection between STEAM and making, powerful learning occurs. I would argue that a new movement is emerging-STEAM Makers."

"How can you place learning goals front and center in a tech-rich classroom? Let the phrase "tasks before apps" be your reminder to focus on technology's purpose for learning, even when bright and shiny digital tools grab your attention. As a teacher in a one-to-one iPad classroom, I strove to make the most of the tablets in my students' hands. From screencasting and moviemaking to reading activities and skill practice, these devices elevated and energized my students' learning experiences. Digital platforms can give children access to learning experiences that meet their individual needs, such as when a student uses the free Microsoft Learning Tool Immersive Reader to hear a passage read aloud. Digital tools can open up the world to students, such as virtual-reality videos from the New York Times that showcase a place they may never have the chance to visit. In my current role as a professional development facilitator, I spend time in other teachers' classrooms in schools across the country. The phrase "tasks before apps" was born out of my coaching conversations and presentations to educators. It is a reminder that, even as we consider how technology helps students do new and amazing things with their learning, we must always place learning goals at the forefront. Here are four strategies to make the most of technology and embrace a "tasks before apps" mindset this school year."

"A decade ago professors complained of a growing "epidemic" in education: Wikipedia. Students were citing it in papers, while educators largely laughed it off as inaccurate and saw their students as lazy, or worse. As one writing instructor posted to an e-mail list in 2005: "Am I being a stick-in-the-mud for for being horrified by students' use of this source?" How things have changed. Today, a growing number of professors have embraced Wikipedia as a teaching tool. They're still not asking students to cite it as a source. Instead, they task students with writing Wikipedia entries for homework, exposing the classwork to a global audience (and giving students an outside edit by an army of Wikipedia volunteers). There's even a new peer-reviewed academic journal about using Wikipedia in higher education."

Join MSLA & ManACE on October 19th, 2012 for 'Embracing the Edge'. This one day conference features David Warlick, several spotlight speakers, a number of hands-on sessions/workshops & 500 of North America's leading thought provokers.

"Change is the one constant that we will always have in our world and if we do not grow and learn to embrace it, then we will become irrelevant."

"For the last ten years, we've worked one-on-one with students from elementary school through graduate school. No matter their age, no matter the material, when you ask what they're struggling with, students almost universally name a subject: "math," "English" or, in some instances, "school." Doubting that all of school is the issue, we then ask to see their last test. After some grumbling, the student digs down, deep into the dark, dank recesses of his or her backpack, and pulls out a balled-up, lunch-stained paper that, once smoothed out, turns out to be the latest exam. "

"n art school, Phil Hansen developed an unruly tremor in his hand that kept him from creating the pointillist drawings he loved. Hansen was devastated, floating without a sense of purpose. Until a neurologist made a simple suggestion: embrace this limitation ... and transcend it. "

"Principal Proud to Embrace Longer School Days"

"There's nothing quite as satisfying as the soft, smooth roll of pen on paper. That ability to scribble, strike, crumple and tear. But what about the downsides of this ancient medium? Endless printing cycles. Lack of searchability. A desk stacked to the roof with essays and sheets to mark. It's these frustrations and a determination to streamline the classroom that have led many educators to trade in their pen for a stylus, and begin embracing the the brave new world of digital annotation."