Joyful Jubilant Learning

We couldn't wait to show you ~ Eggplant, Joy, Aloha

... what we've been cooking up for the New Year!

If you are reading this in an RSS reader, CLICK IN!

Mahalo nui loa to our Art and Graphics Editor Tim "Leaders are Learners" Milburn for our fresh and fabulous new look for 2008.

We have heard that Eggplant is THE fashion color trend for 2008, and starting right now, it will certainly be one of ours! Our Hawaiian hibiscus blooms rich with promise for the dawning of a new year.

Visit our three new Pages too... A few things we will be packing for Jubilant Way.

• A 2008 Letter from Rosa on our new About Page

• Take a Joyful Learning Tour

• Answers to your Frequently Asked Questions

Thank you JJLers, for reading our pages throughout 2007 when you have had so many choices. We sincerely appreciate the aloha filled attention you have granted us, and we promise to keep earning it.

These are our mile markers as we take our first steps down Jubilant Way in 2008 ... 433 posts and pages... 1,743 comments... 346 trackbacks... 38 Mea Ho'okipa (contributing authors)... and at least 426 subscribers via FeedBurner alone... Priceless voices, each and every one. Abundant Joy and Aloha.

2008, we are the Ho'ohana Community, and we're ready for you!

Will you still need me, will you still feed me...

Yesterday, I posted a review of John Izzo's "Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die" on my blog.  The book discusses key learnings gleaned from interviews with hundreds of "elders" in various societies around the world.  It also cites many examples of cultures that honor elders by bringing them into their homes so they can benefit from their wisdom.  Izzo notes that families in the US and other western cultures are becoming less likely to hold elderly family members in high esteem - and more likely to send them to nursing homes, etc. 

When I wrote the review, I talked about one of my concerns:  None of the most commonly cited cultures in the book are known for setting the standard for economic, social, or political excellence in the world.  If they are so good at honoring and utilizing the wisdom of their elders, why aren't they more successful?

I initially thought of a few potential reasons / dynamics:

1. Innovation drives a lot of social, economic, and political progress, and  innovation thrives more in cultures where the influence of the young is dominant;
2. Or - Corrupt or dysfunctional dynamics in these "elder-honoring" cultures are somehow stifling the elders' wisdom and influence;
3. Or - There is no connection between respect for elders and world socio-economic success;
4. Or - There is some other dynamic I'm not grasping.

I suspect there is no simple answer.  I also believe honoring elders is a good thing, not just because it will make you more successful - but because it is the right thing to do, and you'll learn things that will make you a better person.  You see, one of the things I realized about Izzo's "Five Secrets You Must Learn Before You Die" is that they are not too much about how to do things, but they are very much about why to do things.

I also thought it was no small coincidence that, when I went to church this morning, one of the readings seemed to tie perfectly into this line of thinking:

"Never seek honor for yourself at your father's expense; it is not to your credit if he is dishonored.  Your own honor comes from the respect that you show to your father. If children do not honor their mothers, it is their own disgrace.  My child, take care of your father when he grows old; give him no cause for worry as long as he lives.  Be sympathetic even if his mind fails him; don't look down on him just because you are strong and healthy. "

--Sirach 3:10-13

As a person who seeks patterns in life, I think I  have a lot to learn from my elders - and I'm beginning to realize I don't take the time to do that as much as I should.  Sure, they may not be up on the latest technology, or in tune with the latest business trends, but they are well versed in principles, methods, and concepts that are beyond the bounds of a specific technology or business model.  And even if I don't learn anything new, what's wrong with hanging out with them?

But I'd still like to know why so many of the elder-honoring cultures from Izzo's book aren't more prosperous.

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About the author: Dwayne Melancon is the author of Genuine Curiosity, where he is always on the lookout for new things to learn.

Added to the JJL Calendar: Pangea Day 2008

In 2007 Blog Action Day affected many of us far more than we had anticipated it would.

I have a hunch that will happen in 2008 with Pangea Day, coming on May 10th.

I learned about Pangea Day via the TEDBlog's call for submissions, and my greatest wish of this moment is that I were a film-maker capable of producing a video that would do justice to the importance of the Managing with Aloha movement.

From the Pangea Day site:

We're looking for films that will make us laugh, cry, and gasp. They can be fiction, nonfiction, real life, animation, or your own unique mixture. But they should hold our attention for every second. And above all, they should tell a story that someone else on the other side of the world will be able to relate to.

As you plan your film, try to imagine millions of people in different countries gathered around in the flickering light, waiting in hushed silence for your tale to start. What story will you tell? What images will you show them?

Pangea Day will present a program  broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones --- I suspect it will be a fantastic example of the audio/visual web that Kevin Eikenberry brought our attentions to in this posting: Seven Online Tools for Web-Based Learning - What are yours?

Pangea Day came to be when visionary documentary filmmaker, TED Prize winner, and Pangea Day founder Jehane Noujaim spoke to an audience of “the world’s leading thinkers and doers” at the 2006 annual TED Conference, and unveiled her inspiring wish to change the world through the power of film.

My understanding is that 'pangea' is a Greek word for "all lands" and this effort is one intended to engender world peace via global community, and the straight-forward yet challenging assumption that we'd live together more harmoniously if we knew each other better.

Click in to www.pangeaday.org to watch the trailer and listen to Noujaim's TED presentation. I'm sure you'll then add Pangea Day to your calendar too, for it promises to be extraordinary.
~ Rosa Say, JJL Contributor, and author of Managing with Aloha Coaching.

From the JJL Archives: Learning from the Blog Action Day story by Joanna Young

Pack your bag! Our January Journey Starts Tuesday!

When we think of January, we imagine a lovely stretch of road beckoning us onward. There are two signposts. One looks like the one in the picture; creative, and with so many choices! However just before it, the first one we see says,

This Way for 7 Wonders of Joyful Learning.

The road is marked Jubilation Way. We are a mixed group, yet magically, within the melting pot of our common humanity we are each able to read the road's name in our native language.

Looking a bit further, we see a picnic table nearby under a broad shade tree. On the way toward the table, like a lighthouse beacon showing us the way, is a huge cooler full of water, lemonade and sweet tea, sort of like those open chests you see on commercial fishing boats (wait a minute...is that one with the pineapple wedge a Mai Tai?!?) Halfway under the tree's canopy and halfway warmed by the sun is a birdbath on a safely-tall pedestal, and the delighted birds playing there seem to be singing just for us. Again we are struck by our common understanding, for they seem to say to us, "What's your hurry? Sit for a moment."

So we reach in the cooler, grab something to drink, and sit.

On the table is a large basket with an odd collection of surprises. Individually wrapped fortune cookies. Blank journals and pencils without erasers. Colored chalk. Compasses without arrows. Harmonicas. Band-aids. Match boxes and dental floss in mini ziploc bags. Sunscreen in disposable packets. Wi-Fi cards. Marbles.

Underneath everything, and best of all, a thick stack of shipping forms prepaid to the "Packer's Home" by someone named "Benevolent Baggage Keeper." We then notice the bin of neatly stacked cardboard boxes on the other side of the tree. A placard attached to the basket reads,

Refreshment stops are plentiful along the way, easily found by those who look for them. Just pack what you feel you need and are happy to carry with you on the journey. Leave the rest.

As I consider this offer I free a fortune cookie from its cellophane wrapper. I snap the cookie in half, and take an appreciative bite. It's just-right crisp. The fortune reads, "As you pack, remember: You are not alone. Your friends will be with you." I look at my friends and see JJL faces. We are all reading, and we are all smiling.

Taste. Believe.
Trust. Reconsider.
Adapt. Experiment.
Adventure.

Imagine and Dream.

Then, repack your bags. Fill out your shipping form.

Now hoist the backpack you decided to keep, for we walk from here. It's so much lighter, yet you've thought about it carefully, and you know you kept the right things. And guess what? You have room for that harmonica and tiger-eye marble after all...

Throughout January, our contributing authors will let us know what they decided to pack, and perhaps, what they decided to ship back home. Be sure you have your JJL subscription ready! Think of it as your free ticket to Jubilation Way.

Would you like to Guest Post for JJL in January?
Take a look at all these "signpost" clusters, and tell us, which one would you be most inclined to follow? What do you imagine you will learn along the way? Write your story and email it to our Community Mailbox. We'll publish it in January for you.

A wooden Signpost buried in sand by Richard Leonard on Flickr. The Rural Signpost above was snapped by Marvin Beatty, and also found via Flickr.

~ Rosa Say, JJL Contributor, and author of Managing with Aloha Coaching
on behalf of Joyful Jubilant Learning

Subscribe to Joyful Jubilant Learning by Email

Seven Online Tools for Web-Based Learning - What are yours?

We're sure you have noticed: The way we learn from the web is changing every day.

Flickr Photo Credit.

At Kevin's Blog, Chief Learning Officer Kevin Eikenberry writes an article he says "is meant to help you use the Web in new ways; to help you learn more, and learn it faster; therefore moving you towards your goals more rapidly than ever" and offering some resources for each of these, he suggests that learners get on board with

1. Blogs
2. Social Networks
3. Wikis
4. The Audio/Visual Web, and
5. Google Alerts

Our choices can be overwhelming, and I like the way that Kevin has outlined 5 basic categories of tools ---if we were to rename the 5th one as "RSS aggregators and notifiers," Google Alerts being just one of the options. Kevin's distinction of an "audio/visual web" is not one I would have thought of, and he is so right!

In that vein, I would add two more:

6. Bookmarklets
Those browser tools which allow you to quickly bookmark your web-based finds for later tagging or referencing. The web is a virtual library, and you are the librarian! The one I use most is del.icio.us.

7. Lifestreaming
As my newest learning, this is something I am currently experimenting with at Tumblr. A sneak peek for you: Ho‘ohana Aloha. JJL Contributor Joanna Young was the one who got me intrigued with this, when she explained that to ‘lifestream’ is to "put all the streams from your writing, your photos, [your finds] and your networks together in one place." Joanna's Tumblr Log is called  The Short and Sweet of Confident Writing.

If you were to sit with a wide-eyed web newbie, placing a mouse in their hand as they sit in front of your computer, would you have a number 8 or 9 for this list in your orientation for them?

~ Rosa Say for Joyful Jubilant Learning
Mahalo Dean for the coffee!

Postscript: Before you answer, you might want to take a look at a short video on how our kids now learn, recently shared by JJLer April Groves at her blog My Beautiful Chaos.

---

5 From the JJL Archives:

• More on Google Alerts: Thank you for teaching me (Google treasure maps).
• Facebook: Friend or Foe?
• Learning Best Practices on the Internet.
• This Web 2.0 Thing Explained (A video clip).

• BONUS! JJL Contributor Benjamin Bach had interviewed Kevin Eikenberry in our series, Jubilant Learners Speak Up! ~ A Remarkable Interview with Kevin Eikenberry. A snippet:

Let's Collaborate: A Learner's Conference Calendar for 2008

We see that Liz Strauss has officially opened the door to SOBCon08:

We’re putting the finishing touches on everything, we want you to be a part.

Part seminar, part conference, part deep networking event, SOBCon08 is even more about YOU! We’re bringing back what you valued last year, and we’re adding more depth, more coverage, more opportunities. Take a look inside.

Deciding which conferences we will aim to attend in the coming year is a part of year-end reflections for many of us. The first step is knowing what your options are, and so we thought we'd ask the experts where lifelong learning is concerned ~ YOU! ~ our Ho'ohana Community of joyful learners.

Photo Credit.

Let's put together a list:

Give us your suggestions in the comments, with dates, locations and links if you know them ~ what conferences do YOU plan to learn at in 2008? If you would, tell us why, and what you anticipate learning there. You may find that there will be other JJLers eager to keep you company once they know you will be there!

~ Rosa Say for Joyful Jubilant Learning

Please Welcome Angela Maiers to Joyful Jubilant Learning!

“Teachers need to be great learners to lead great learners. I believe that learning is a lifelong journey, an ongoing exploration and way of life. I challenge myself and others to always be striving to find and share big ideas in every million dollar conversation.”

Sounds like someone who should be writing for Joyful Jubilant Learning...

We thought so too!

Today we have the great pleasure and good fortune of welcoming Angela Maiers as our newest Contributing Author to Joyful Jubilant  Learning. A new blogger, and the author of several books, articles, and curriculum support materials, Angela strives to connect research and scientific theory to real world practices in her work as an independent consultant dedicated and committed to helping DOE’s, schools, districts and teachers reach their goals in literacy and literacy education --- take a look at the resources and innovative workshops she offers on her site.

For the past six years, Angela has created, developed, and organized multiple literacy institutes reaching thousands of educators across the United States. These summer institutes provide an innovative and unique venue for educators, administrators, and curriculum developers ready to take on leadership roles. As you can imagine, we are eager to be among Angela’s newest, very eager students, and we are sure you will too!

The first article Angela has written for us is called Teaching With Learning in Mind. Thoughtful to be sure... yet do visit her blog as well for a full intro to Angela and her more playful side. You will find she was game for bloggy tag, bravely offering 7 random/weird facts about Angela Maiers.
(I couldn’t resist Angela! Jack Bauer, huh?)

Aloha and welcome Angela, we are thrilled you will be sharing your many talents with our joyful and jubilant Ho‘ohana Community of learners.

~ Rosa Say for Joyful Jubilant Learning

Teaching With Learning in Mind

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. 

                             ~Chinese Proverb~

I have been in love with learning for as long as I can remember. The teachers most influential in my life were those that nurtured and fed my hunger for learning through their questions, challenges, and opportunities to explore.  Their classrooms were places where learning, not teaching took precedent. By sharing their own passion and persistence for learning, they paved the road that lead me to my lifelong learning love affair.

Now, as a teacher, my passion for learning is the greatest gift that I can pass on to my students.  And like great teachers who have come before me, it is my responsibility and privilege to help my students develop the motivation and skills to learn for the rest of their lives. I am not always sure that students fully understand and appreciate this gift, but, nonetheless it is my charge. 

We live in a time where education reform has become not only a personal, but a state and national level issue. As millions of dollars and literally hundreds of reform initiatives are bestowed upon schools, we have students still leaving our classrooms with neither the skills or the drive to engage in our world as lifelong learners. The disconnect between teaching and learning grows, as we turn our efforts and energies towards curriculum and programs as the means of achieving our goals.

The teaching profession is overwhelmed by mandates and content, while the national obsession with outcomes and results intensify. The score, the percentile, and the grade take precedence over the learning process. Content coverage and delivery have become more important than the learner's journey. We have lost our way.  Without conversations about what learners need to know, do, and understand in the world of ever changing  content, our students will never find their way.

There is no politician, administrator, parent, teacher, employer or citizen that would refute the power of " lifelong learning". So, how can we find our way back so that learning is the work?  I believe our best learning lessons come from those we seek to teach. Children are the most passionate, ravenous, fearless learners I know. They are insatiably curious, innately fearless, and miraculously adaptable -- continually reinventing themselves. If our schools become places where children are allowed to pursue these passions, investigate their questions, and be surrounded by adults who do the same, there will be different outcomes, scores, and percentiles.

Educational reform is possible. But it will not occur through legislative efforts and implementation of standards. Without question, the key factor in student achievement is the teacher. The greatest contribution we can make to our student's lives is to let them know that learning is the work. Here's how we can start:

1. Lead by Example. Each day demonstrate the kind of learners we wish our students to be. Don't tell them,expect them, or demand they learn- show them how it is done. Be the learner you want your learners to be.
2. Be Contagious. Share your passion and interests with your students. In doing so, you then, invite them into your learning life and they in turn will allow you onto theirs.
3. Scaffold. Frame other learners as capable, talented, resourceful and creative and watch these self fulfilling prophesies come to fruition! When students know you believe, they will achieve.
4. Celebrate the journey not the destination. In your classroom reward the effort, the risk,their vulnerability to try new things,  rather than the perfect score they got by showing you what they remembered.  Allow your learners to bask in the glory of the process not the product.
5. Embrace who you are. Who you are is far more important than what you know.  Let them see all of you. Be authentic. Be transparent. Be human.
6. Be a Learner First. Approach your work with a learners mindset. Remember, you are expert at what you do and know. When you share HOW you do it and How you came to know it.
7. Live a learning life. Stand before your students, colleagues, and peers as an individual who is still learning. Showing how it's fun, show how it is frustrating, and sharing with them your personal adventures and discoveries.

In my experience, this list drives me in both my teaching and learning life. In your experience, how do you drive home the point that learning is the work?

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I believe that learning is a lifelong journey. I conduct workshops and training sessions helping learners of all ages develop their skills in critical thinking, reading, and communication.
~ Angela Maiers
www.angelamaiers.com
~Opening up the World - One Learner at a Time~

Rapid Fire Learning - Five for December

 

"How did it get so late so soon?
Its night before its afternoon.
December is here before its June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?"

- Dr. Seuss

It's December already ? This year is almost in the books, and this morning I'm reflecting on some things I've learnt this month that will help me grow and exceed even more goals in 2008.

1  Your next million dollar idea might be in the next twenty dollar book

Pretty good deal, eh? This lesson was first taught to me by the great Jim Rohn when I spent a few days learning with him in Texas this year.  This month, the lesson has really been hit home.

I'm almost done Dan and Chip Heath's phenomenal book Made to Stick , and I'm finding ideas and strategies to implement, completely overhauling the workshops, videoblogging and writing I do to make my ideas stickier and easier to remember. 

Instead of spending years testing marketing research, I can read a book where the authors have studied and collaborated with some of the greatest marketing minds... and I can buy all this wisdom for $20.

2008 Resolution: Read and listen to 2 books a week

2  If you think you know it all, you don't.

This is something I know, and I try to live, but we all need a reminder sometimes.  Luckily, it wasn't my actions serving as the reminder of how a swelling ego can cause you to stray.   

This week there was a bit of a shoving match in the RE.net (thats the cool kid's term for the online real estate community), when one A-list RE.net blogger decided to declare that another A-list RE.net blogger's instructional real estate videoblog  was "wrong, badly wrong, madly wrong, irredeemably wrong" and proceeded to preach to all about the 'correct' way to blog.   

Shockingly this 'do as I say not as I do' criticism was not well received, and the blogger who couldn't keep his preaching to himself is now being mocked as a self proclaimed saviour all over the RE.net, losing respect post by post.

2008 Resolution:  I can learn from every one and every situation - I don't ever know it all.

3  Videoblogging is fun and easy

Last week I put my first videoblog up.  I also put together a short instructional clip on holding seminars and workshops, and a video review of Bob Burg and John David Mann's new book The Go Giver.

It's easy to put a videoblog together.  I borrowed a camcorder from a colleague, put it on the tripod, and started talking.  Then I transfered the file to my computer, added a caption or two in Movie Maker, and uploaded it to youtube.  No advanced knowledge required. 

Now I have my own Youtube channel, just like the Queen.

2008 Resolution: Videoblog every week.

4  TV is bad for me

File this one under 'blindingly obvious.'

I don't watch a lot of TV.  Sarah and I have never had cable, and our TV is only used to watch the occasional DVD (and maybe some of the upcoming Winter Olympics...).  We don't even have bunny ears plugged in try to pick up a few channels.

At the other end of the spectrum, my parents have a fancy shmancy PVR system that records TV shows so you can watch them commercial free, at your convenience. 

Since I've been at my parents house this week, I find myself watching hours and hours of property flipping shows, shows about people looking at flats and castles in England, shows about how to decorate a small kitchen to maximize space....  the list, sadly, goes on.  Moral of this story - if I have TV, I'll watch it.

  2008 Resolution: Watch less, read more.

5  Charitable donations are more useful than martini strainers

It's no secret that I'm a bit mystified by the whole tradition of giving tons of presents at Christmas.  I'm Jewish, so I never grew up celebrating Christmas;  my partner Sarah is Anglican, so for the last several years we've spent Christmas with her family. 

Every year, dozens of presents are exchanged around the tree. Inevitably, everyone gets 1 really big nice present (Ipod, leather briefcase, few hundred bucks at Ikea etc), and a bunch of smaller presents.  In the past, I've received an electronic dolphin soap dispenser, a crystal martini strainer (I don't drink Martinis), a steel espresso cup (we don't have an espresso machine), a flashless digital camera weighing in at 0.3 megapixels, etc.  The list, sadly, goes on.

Sarah and I have decided to lead by example this year, and give charitable donations to people instead of materialistic presents.  Rather than spending a few hundred bucks on 'stuff' (see list above) we made cash donations to our local Humane Society and a small village in Honduras where Sarah's sister spent a few months teaching last summer.

When Sarah gave her sister the card with the picture of the village and a note about the donation, she started crying. It was the best present anyone got this Christmas.

I hope next year instead of the miscellaneous stuff, a donation can be made in my honour.  I know it would mean a lot more to me.

2008 Resolution: Give more.  Be generous when you can, and when you cannot.

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What did you learn this month?  What about in 2007 ? 

Share with us by leaving a comment!

Benjamin Bach is a speaker, writer and wealth building Real Estate agent in Kitchener Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

He loved 2007 and can't wait until 2008.  Are YOU this excited about what you can accomplish next year ?

You can find his blog at http://www.Kitchener-Waterloo-Real-Estate-Investments.com

 

Merry Christmas JJLers!

If we could’ve figured out how to do so, when you awoke this morning you would’ve found a gaily wrapped box under your Christmas tree from all of us here in your joyful and jubilant learning community. It would have been tied with the ribbons of appreciation, gratitude and thankfulness for the many ways we have been inspired by LEARNING, and by your subscriptions, knowing that you have faithfully visited us over the past year. Mahalo for the aloha you have shared with us.

Were we to have discovered how to capture it for you, inside the box would be the one thing we fervently believe to be the very best gift we could give you.

It would be the vibrancy of learning itself,
enough to surround you for the whole of the new year to come, and
enough for you to share with each person you know,
and each you are still to meet.

We know that learning keeps us growing, filling those spaces of our amazing abundance.

Over the year to come, we will imagine www.joyfuljubilantlearning.com as our virtual Christmas tree for you as we continue to fill that box we’ve hoped to magically present. Please continue to visit, knowing we keep the fire burning so your place near our hearth is always kept warm.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas!
~ Rosa Say, on behalf of us all at Joyful Jubilant Learning

Postscript: This wonderful picture comes from Liz Strauss, borrowed here for capturing our intention so well! You can read what Liz had written at Seeing What’s Inside.