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The sticking points when even the teacher next door calls you the "fun teacher" with a snarky attitude. Or when you show your principal some incredibly cool videos your kids made on science lessons, and his comment says something about them doing well on the state test because of all they learned. Do they get it? Maybe. Do they get ME? No. We just live in different worlds; that's all.

Two questions sprang to mind upon reading Tom's words: 1. How literate / illiterate am I? 2. How literate do we need to be?

I still haven't come to terms with what exactly the power of our networks mean for concepts like "cheating" - I am sure there are some who might view what I did as dishonest. I like to think it offers insight into what personalized learning could look like and how doing the same old assignments, the same old way, is not good enough.

Open teaching is described as the facilitation of learning experiences that are open, transparent, collaborative, and social. Open teachers are advocates of a free and open knowledge society, and support their students in the critical consumption, production, connection, and synthesis of knowledge through the shared development of learning networks.

Lots of good comments to check out.

...think about the following: * Who's in my neighborhood? local? global? * What are my best attributes as a 21st Century teacher? * Is technology one of these attributes? If not, how can it be? * What support/resources would it take?

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.

Great question: what is our core mission?

So if we view our resource in education and schools as being information, we will find ourselves more and more as one option among many. So I think that we need to ask the question: what is our core mission? What can we offer in classrooms and schools that can be gained nowhere else? What makes our spaces different?

let's be minimally invasive in allowing the learning to happen, but maximally invasive in ensuring that the problems we present to learners are relevant, compelling and appetizing.

So next time you log on to Facebook, stop and think about the friends you're connected to. Can you really trust all of them to do the right thing on the internet all of the time? That's what you have to ask yourself when you're about to click that 'Accept Friend Request' button.

1. Many in the blogger- and Twittersphere are realizing and understanding that their PLN will give them back what they put into it. 2. We need to share what we do in the classroom, not only to give other educators fresh ideas and new ways to look at teaching and learning, but also to collectively show that schools and individual classrooms ARE changing and preparing students for a different future.

I make choices that help me learn and do my best work. I am aware of the needs of others and do great things for them. I learn about myself and all that I can do by trying new things. I think of new ideas and share them with others. I think about people's feelings and help take care of others. I learn from my mistakes and build on the things that I do well. I work with others to learn and complete a task.  I push myself to do my personal best and keep improving. I learn about and respect different people and include everyone. I care for and learn from nature. I take time by myself to think about what I have learned

Due to the ever changing nature of technology, educators must be lifelong learners to provide the most current methodology to captivate and educate their students. I think one of the reasons we become teachers is because we enjoy the fact that each day is different and we are willing to accept those challenges. That is why we can't become stale in our methods of facilitating learning in our classrooms.

And at times it is a beautiful thing….and at other times, it might be chaotic, crazy, and seemingly unmanageable. So what do you do….to make this manageable, workable, and productive??

Be curious, be bold, find out what the smartest school librarians and educational tech visionaries from around the world are doing and saying, and see how it can be implemented to the benefit of your students and faculty. Embrace the unknown, and be prepared to jettison the familiar if it fails to move learning and student achievement forward.

Thanks for posting, Dave!

'Why are our early term colleagues, seemingly not as quick to take up technology? Why are they not the Early Adapters?' This I believe is the crux of the issue and I would say that there are probably no easy answers for this.

With a nod to the ever-brilliant-and-willing-to-share Kim Cofino, here is the rubric I've lately begun to use in my classroom for grading student blog posts. This is an experiment in action and depending on how this tool works, it is very likely that it will come under some revision.

So, what will it take to transform teaching and learning? What will it take to shut down the pleasant hum of the machine that is so good at turning out 20th century students even though we're entering the second decade of the 21st century? Leaders with Courage and Commitment!

Before joining this network, more than two thirds of these early adopters were reading and writing blogs, and using the Delicious social bookmarking tool. Half were using wikis and watching YouTube videos. Today these respondents are highly involved with social media.

For me, Sonya has the 'can do' attitude that is so necessary for educational change to take hold. She combines this 'can do' attitude with a strong sense of how important it is for students to 'own' the learning, 'own' the tools, and 'own' the rules.

I still am not convinced of a better way to personalize your web experience. As an educator, I view them as learning spaces where metacognition is king. That's not the thrust of this post but I wanted to make that clear. ...So the question remains, should he have posted it? Did he break any ethical code? My instinct is to say no to both but I want to throw it out there.