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Intercultural responsiveness is not something we reach; rather, it's something we explore. As we explore, we begin to learn more about ourselves. As we learn more about ourselves, we ultimately learn more about others. And that is what this journey is about.

"It was October and I was standing on the roof of a high rise building in the middle of Shanghai. Flight after flight of stairs interspersed with several elevator journeys had brought me to the summit, and the rooftop on which I now stood served as a primary school playground for hundreds of pupils. As I made my way to the edge of the building I was amazed to find that the only barrier between me and the pavement - 16 stories down - was a small wall, waist height at most. I peered over the edge and can still recall that instant feeling of danger and dizziness washing over my entire body. I stepped back and turned to the Chinese headteacher whose school I was visiting."

"Building on the success of the popular UKEdChat sessions, supported by the UKEd Magazine and the UKEdChat website, we are today pleased to announce a new initiative that encourages teachers and school leaders globally to become part of the UKEdChat journey."

"In their new book, Debra Kidd and Hywel Roberts firmly place teachers, and ultimately their students, in a range of different locations, where the learning inhabits, offering a fantastically imagined context with prompts, ideas and illustrations helping exploration and discovery. In a fascinating resource book, which can be used in many subject areas, across most stages in schools, the authors break down each chapter destination (including a forest, castle, graveyard, ship, zoo, cave, theme park) into a story starter - introducing the location and providing provocative initial questions; key landmarks (either for primary or secondary aged students), a stopover - providing a more in-depth account of their learning journey; stepping stones - context based tasks provided to also prod your imagination, and; the bedrock - offering a debrief of the processes, helping teachers understand the justification of the processes undertaken."

"I began my personal journey into the world of Cubing when I was attending Regis University in Denver, Colorado in 2009. My senior thesis project involved devising a cryptosystem using the Rubik's Cube to encode and decode messages. Although my involvement with the Rubik's Cube waned post-graduation, it was rekindled shortly after I became a secondary teacher of mathematics in 2014. I had several Rubik's Cubes in my possession from my college days and these decorated the shelves in my classroom. I recall these puzzles catching the eyes of many curious pupils. After months of traditional curriculum presentation, I determined that my students were in need of a novel lesson, one that would ignite a passion for problem-solving. This lesson would involve the colourful and alluring hexahedron puzzle on my desk: the Rubik's Cube."

I love this trip that is happening in Finland, especially the transparency. I'm going to be "hanging out" with some of those in Finland in the hangout on Wednesday. You can look at what they are doing and how they are traveling and sharing. I think more information-gathering trips should be this transparent. "Doctoral learners from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education will spend a "week in the schools" -- the schools of Helsinki, that is -- looking at a variety of research areas through the lenses of students, teachers, parents and leaders. These lead learners will use that week to reflect upon where the United States and Finland agree and disagree on core beliefs surrounding teaching, learning and leadership."

I'm interviewing Gallit Zvi from British Columbia, Canada today on Every Classroom matters (should post in about a week) about genius hour and I was intrigued by this post on her blog about how her school "looks." While some of these points have inspired questions (they can cook for their family in lieu of copying spelling sentences, for example) others have me wishing we could do the same thing (entrepreneur fair where students have a sales idea, craft a business plan and make and sell products.) It is worth a peek inside this fascinating classroom and school which uses genius hour among other things.

Never has the theme of wellbeing been so much in vogue! And it's really no surprise why. The presence and prevalence of the wellbeing 'movement' is growing fast among the teaching profession and beyond. As teachers, we have one of the most privileged and fulfilling roles - to nurture, engage, inspire, and motivate the children we teach. It's a profession full of dedicated, talented people who commit so much of themselves striving to make a difference, to have an impact.

One good are is student wellbeing though more can always be done. http://www.textbooksfree.org/Child%20and%20Youth%20Well-Being.htm

Back in 2011 I was working in the Middle East when a colleague introduced me to Twitter as a tool for professional development and connecting with fellow educators. Prior to this I was aware of Facebook and Twitter, however I considered both as being about nothing more than apps for sharing cute cat videos and status updates. I had a Twitter account for years, however hadn't thought about how it might be a powerful tool to help me become a better educator and provide me with a wealth of new ideas and resources which I previously had not had access to. I had barely used the account beyond the initial setup...

There are some new apps in Chrome. I've installed the "pocket" app. These are basically apps that stand alone but sort of have chrome running in the background. Here's information on these handy tools to help you get more done. I do recommend Pocket (and have the app for my ipad as well) for offline reading. There are times I find a great article that I know I want to read, when I click "add to pocket" it puts it into pocket and then, when I sit down to read at night, there's the personal magazine assembled from the day's interests.

Discussion of business research, why it's not so great and how it could be improved

Why do teenagers so often seem like a different species? Journalist Patricia Hersch gives a troubling answer in her fascinating, up-close-and-personal look at what it means to be a teen in today's American high schools. Rather than interviewing "high-risk" teens (those already swept up in a cycle of drug use, gang violence, or unintended pregnancy, for example), Hersch focuses her attention on "regular kids"--adolescents who are average achievers on academic and social levels. In light of this, A Tribe Apart is all the more startling to read: Hersch's investigative approach makes it impossible for parents to shrug off their responsibilities by saying "That's not my kid." This is your kid.

Essays about teaching. Excellent for those who work with teachers.

A set of essays on the nature and nobility of teaching. You can download the text of this on this site.

You are an exemplar of what it is to be a learner. It takes courage to learn alongside your students. You do not have to be perfect. You do not have to know everything.

Vocabulary Building

Educators don't need to feel threatened by this because we still maintain our own ownership and accountability; but to educate the disaffected, angry, and powerless students in many of our traditional classrooms, we must open the circle of power to include the learners themselves.

My friend Karyn Romeis in England has done a nice job of sharing two perspectives of the flat world. Verdict -- we have a long way to go!

Two views of the flat classroom.