Powerful Conversations and 21st Century Learning

Pictured: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and John Norton

Today some colleagues and I had the opportunity to attend the last powerful conversations quarterly meeting which showcased a few projects from the Alabama Best Practices Center’s 21st Century learning initiative. Numerous schools took part in the showcase from throughout the state. Cathy Gassenheimer opened the meeting followed by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach who addressed 21st Century Learning with an amazing presentation. Her presentation closely resembled Karl Fisch’s amazing video “Did you know.” What a powerful way to get educators on the 21st Century Learning path. Another notable guest at the meeting was John Norton who is editor of “Working toward Excellence”. Also, Allyson Knox a liaison for Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Program was in attendance and spoke to the audience. It was an honor to be able to attend and take part in the discourse of the day’s events.

Although any of the schools could have provided noteworthy presentations, three schools were chosen to present at the meeting. The schools presenting were George Hall Elementary, Challenger Middle School, and Cullman Middle School. Each of these presentations was wonderful and showcase how 21st Century Technologies can be utilized within the school setting. My personal favorite was the Challenger Middle School presentation. I was fortuitous, as I was able to speak with Barry Leshinsky briefly about podcasting and the potential of podcasting for the future.

Within my school system we are trying to secure a classroom set of iPods or MP3 players to use with our classes next year. A few of my colleagues and I actually have a meeting this week to discuss the educational benefits of having a classroom set of these devices. Maybe we will be able to secure the funds and purchase them before next year. If not, we will continue to listen to podcasts via our media labs and classroom computers until we can secure a set.

As for the meeting, the entire day was a successful showcase and provided amble discourse for educators about 21st Century learning. I was honored to be in attendance and brought back a number of ideas to help move our school toward School 2.0. Moreover, I was flattered that John Norton and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach actually recognized me from the blogosphere. John actually complemented this blog. That was a very thoughtful gesture and means a lot to me coming from an intelligent individual like John. Unfortunately, this was the last meeting of the year and I may not have face-to-face contact with John or Sheryl for sometime. Fortunately, we are in the 21st Century and I can visit them via Web 2.0 technologies at anytime.

If it wasn’t for this program I wouldn’t have created or helped create the following sites.
Lost Johns (This Site)
Bishop Blog (A Spanish Blog) I hope to fine-tune this site in the near future.
BishopBlogs Wiki (A Spanish Class Wiki) I hope to tweak this site when time allows.
HHS Library Media Center Wiki (A library media wiki)
Moodle at HHS (Intranet only) We hope to make accessible via the Internet next year.

I’m just happy that our school system could be a part of such a wonderful program. As such, I’d like to thank all of the individuals involved with the 21st Century Learning Initiative. It is an outstanding program and I have acquired a great deal of knowledge that I would not otherwise have obtained. As such, I plan to share this knowledge with others to promote 21st Century learning for the educational future of our schools. After all, we are living in extraordinary times and our students deserve more than just seat time. What a wonderful program!

Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

Technorati Tags: 21stcenturylearning, school2.0, technology_projects, k12, alabama, Microsoft_Partners_in_Learning, John_Norton, Sheryl_Nussbaum-Beach, William_Bishop, Lost_Johns