PILOTed

South Africa Part Two

You can view a slide show with photos and videos of the safari here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mweisburgh/sets/72157628810793173/ If you look at the slide show, click on "Show Info" on the top right corner to see the descriptions of the pictures.

We left Cape Town on January 2 on the 6:30 AM flight to Johannesburg, and we were met by Peter Moni at about 9:00. We booked the Safari portion of our trip through Peter, and he’d proved very knowledgeable and helpful. His company is Firelight Tours. Peter drove us the six hours to get to our camp, Bateleur Eco Safaris. It was part of the Timbavarti Preserve, and they have access to about 40 square miles of the African Veld, touching on the Kruger National Park.

We were in tents, each with its own shower and bathroom but no electricity. The food was great; served family style. It was perfect. Our hosts were Gerhard and Natalie, and our spotter/tracker was named Doctor.

We sat down to lunch, and then hopped into the Rover for our first safari. On our first outing, for the next 3 hours, we got within 15 feet of lions, impala, buffalo, zebra, and wildebeest.

Over the next few days, we settled into a routine.

• Wake up at quarter to five
• Into the rover by 5:20, as it was getting light but before sunrise
• Safari for four to five hours, depending on what we say. Generally, we’d ride in the rover for the first hour, and then get out and try to track an animal by foot for the next few hours. While tracking, we’d learn about the African Veld ecology, plants, and birds, as we’d follow the tracks.
• Breakfast back at the lodge at 10:00ish.
• Nap or hang out.
• Lunch at 3:30ish
• Back in the Rover for a safari at around 4:30. Sunset was about 7:00 and we’d be back between 7:30 and 9:00 depending on what we were seeing and where we stopped.

Not every safari camp has the same routine, most do not include walking, most stop before dark, and most do not go off road to get closer to the animals. We specifically asked for one that included walking.

Doctor and Gerhard were incredible. Doctor showed us many of the skills that the bushmen used involving tracking, use of herbs, and tools, while also telling us African stories about the origins of the animals and their habits. Gerhard explained about the wide circle of life, how each animal affects the others, and about the impact of man on the environment. For example, the  placement of a dirt road can dramatically increase erosion, or an elephant scratching on the earth to find water can eventually trigger events that create a pan or water hole deep enough to survive the dry seson.

Here is some of what we saw.

The scenery: this is the African bush, or the Veld; it’s not a treed jungle. While there are some trees, for the most part this is either grassland, bushes, or small trees. In fact, giraffes, which are about 20 feet high, can sometimes be seen from miles away.

Lions: We found out that lions are actually pretty inefficient hunters, and need to sleep for 18 hours a day. In any case, it is a little intimidating when you’re only 7 feet away from one.

Tracking: For one to three hours, we would try to follow the footprints of an animal through the river beds and grasslands. Doctor was our guide, and he'd teach us how to recognize the different animals, tell the front from the back foot, and how to figure out which way the animal was heading. It was relatively easy on dried river beds as you can see from the lion track below, but much harder in the grasses and on the hard ground.

Impalas: these were the most common animal, like deer around us. There can be up to 40 females in a herd, with just one male. But generally, a male can only hold onto his position for a couple of weeks before another male takes over.

Zebra and wildebeest: these were often found together; it seems that the vegetarian animals don’t mind hanging out together.

Birds: I wish I could remember which bird was which, but we saw lots, including ducks, vultures, hawks, eagles, and owl.

Hyena: we only saw these at night, and only for a very short burst.

Buffalos: one day as we were tracking on foot we ran into a herd of 400-500 buffalo. That certainly was a little intimidating.

Giraffe: you don’t realize how tall they are until you’re sitting or standing right next to one.

Leopard: I don’t know how Doctor spotted the leopard, but they are rare, and it was really cool being right underneath one.

Elephants: we saw male elephants and two herds. Elephants live in a matriarchal society; no males are allowed into the herd except during mating season.

Even though we tried tracking a Rhinosaurus for three hours, we would have needed another hour or two to actually see it. But, we did see quite a few from the Rover the next day.

And lots of other plants, animals, and birds. You can catch the rest of the pictures along with some short videos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mweisburgh/sets/72157628810793173/with/6675745707/

At the end of the four days at Bateleur, we decided to take the back roads back to Johannesburg and view what is called the Panorama Route, which includes the Blyde River Canyon, third largest canyon in the world (the largest is the Grand Canyon), waterfalls, the Pinnacle rock formation, and the God’s Window view. This meant that the trip back was nine hours instead of six, but was definitely worth it. Peter was our guide, and he took us to and explained all the highlights.

January 7 was our last day in South Africa, and we spent it in Johannesburg. Peter was our guide again, knowledgeably taking us through Soweto as we learned about the Freedom Charter, the African National Congress, the history of mining in Johannesburg, the beginnings of apartheid, and the revolution against apartheid. Peter is about our age (late 50’s) and lived through the whole revolution. History comes alive when you learn from someone who lived through it.

If you’re considering going to South Africa, we strongly recommend contacting Peter at Firelight Tours as booking agent and guide. We had a blast.

 

Related articles

• South Africa Part One (academicbiz.typepad.com)
• Panorama Route from Safari to Johannesburg - Hazyview, South Africa (travelpod.com)
• Africa - Safari (justkiera.wordpress.com)

South Africa Part One

Our trip to South Africa was divided into two parts:

1. Cape Town and Wine Region
2. Safari and Johannesburg.

This entry is about the first half from December 27, 2011 through January 1, 2012. More pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mweisburgh/sets/72157628779941995/

After a 14 hour flight from NY to Johannesburg and then a two hour flight from Joburg to Cape Town, Karin and I were picked up at the Cape Town airport by Steve Thomas and Lexei of Daytrippers around 1:00 in the afternoon. If you decide you want to see Cape Town and/or wine country and/or Africa by bicycle, Steve probably knows more about routes and places of interest and off road bicycling, than anyone we met.

Because the airport is right between Cape Town and Stellenbosch, we had a 1 hour drive to the Stellenbosch wine district and our inn, The Auberge Rozendal Guesthouse. The inn grows its own organic herbs and vegetables, in addition to being a wine farm and winery. The views were beautiful, and the inn was about 4 miles from town. They also create a sipping vinegar. While you can use the vinegar for salads or cooking, the preferred way of consuming it is to sip a little and mix it around in your mouth for a minute or two before swallowing. It’s worth trying, and we purchased some and brought it home. Joerg Steibing, the hospitable owner with his wife Karin, asserts that mixing the vinegar with the saliva in your mouth creates an alkaline mixture that neutralizes acid indigestion.

Below is the view from the Inn.

On this day we did light bicycling, about 20 miles in total, visiting two vineyards and bicycling around Stellenbosch itself. The Stark Conde winery had a beautiful venue for tasting, a porch in the middle of a small lake surrounded by mountains. The Lanzerac Estate, just down the road from our inn, had an extremely interesting chocolate and wine tasting. Since they make both their own chocolates and wines, they crafted different chocolates to accentuate the tastes of the different wines, finishing with a honey wine that they say is made by only two people in the world.

Herb arrived late that night, and joined us in wine tasting over the next two days, even though he did not bicycle.

Day 2 was about 50 miles of bicycling for me, 65 for Karin. We visited about 5 wineries over the course of the day, and there were four not-to-forget experiences during the day. First, at the first vineyard, the ornaments on their Christmas tree were wine bottles. Second, Steve knew about a dirt unmarked pathway that went up and down the hills through the wine fields. All you could see were grape vines with the mountains in the distance; no cars or people. Fourth, the Ken Forrester winery had some of the best wines we tasted.

The picture below is while we were riding in the dirt path in the wine fields.

Perhaps the most memorable moment, though was the Ernie Els winery, and, yes, it is the same Ernie Els who is the golf pro. At 4:30 in the afternoon, after about 40 miles of bicycling (and no lunch), we started climbing for about 7 miles. Upon stopping, our guide Lexei realized we’d climbed the wrong hill. The ride down was much easier. We found the turnoff, and bicycled another 3 miles to the beginning of the road to the Ernie Els Winery. Unfortunately, this was about three miles up at about 8 degrees. I made about half, and just hit the wall. I walked up the final mile and a half (at 85 degrees temperature), to finally join Karin and Lexei tasting wines, with one of the most spectacular views I’d ever seen. The Ernie Els wines are great, and sitting on the winery’s porch at sunset watching the lengthening shadows of the mountains around Stellenbosch was incredible. Lexei called Steve to come pick me up in the van, and he and Karin took off for the 10 miles back to the inn. Herbie joined me with Steve, and we further enjoyed the views and the wine. This is a must; if you go to Stellenbosch, you have to go to the Ernie Els Winery, and try to get there after 4:00.

Here is the view from the Ernie Els winery:

Our daughter Rosie and her friend Grace, who we’ve known since before she was a teenager, joined us in the afternoon, although they did not bike that day.

Day 3, December 29, was about 55 miles of bicycling. The first highlight was a bike path up the Hellshoogte pass on the way to the Franshoek valley. This was a shady, winding, 15 miles up from the inn. Rose, Grace, and I all experienced a feeling of accomplishment when we reached the top. For Karin, though, this just wasn’t a challenge. Just a mile further was the incredibly beautifully designed Takara Winery. They had very good wines, but the architecture and artwork are not to be missed. Two hundred yards further is an amazing view over the Franshoek valley.

Franshoek, meaning French Corner, is filled with some of the finest restaurants in the Cape Town area, and makes wines that are more similar to French wines than the other wine valleys. Next trip, we intend to spend more time there, but we did have two memorable experiences. The Boschendal Winery has classic Dutch architecture, and we liked their wines enough that we ordered a mixed case to be sent back home. The Chamonix Winery has very good wines and a very nice restaurant with excellent food, even up to Herbie’s standards.

Here is Steve Thomas, Lexei, and Karin at the Boschendal Winery:

From Chamonix, Steve drove us to Cape Town, where we bicycled about 5 miles around the city and ended up at our hotel, The Protea Fire and Ice Hotel. This was a really in hotel. The rooms are a little small, but very interestingly designed (the glass shower is part of your bedroom), the Internet is free, and there is great people watching in the bar.

There is a lot to do in Cape Town, and we didn’t have enough time there to do all we wanted to.

On December 30, Karin and I bicycled down to the Cape of Good Hope along the coast. This is a beautiful trip, and is about 60 miles. There are a few major hills with incredible views of the coastline. Steve Thomas picked us up as the route turned inland, so we actually skipped about 20 miles. But, this allowed us to take a detour within the Cape park, to bicycle along some unmarked dirt paths through the Cape Floristic Kingdom, one of the most diverse biomes in the world. Most people think of the Cape as the spot where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet, but technically, they meet 15 kilometers further east. In any case, while bicycling there, we ran into Ostriches and Baboons and a lot of very interesting plants and flowers.

This is what the Cape Floristic Kingdom looked like:

That same day, Rosie and Grace took a surfing lesson, and then bicycled to view the penguins, both of which they loved.

Dinner that night was at The Africa Café, which is a must if you go to Cape Town. They serve a tasting menu of native African foods, along with dance and music, and very interesting art.

December 31 was a shopping day. Not my thing, but there are a lot of good places to pick up interesting African artifacts in Cape Town. That night we had the finest dinner we had the entire vacation. Aubergine is perhaps the best restaurant in South Africa, and for New Years, they had a special tasting menu paired with wines and including native music and dancers. Grace, Rosie, and I were each invited to dance with the professionals. Aubergine was a perfect place to welcome in the New Year with family, and was probably one of the 10 best meals I’ve ever had.

January 1 was the day we decided to climb Table Mountain. Table Mountain has been declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, and dominates the Cape Town skyline. We made five mistakes. Karin told us we could get breakfast at the base of the mountain, but, in fact, there was no restaurant so we climbed on the remnants of the previous day from Karin's backpack, a quick meal of old cheese and stale bread. We started about noon, so we were climbing in 85 degree weather, up a steep incline, for just under two and a half hours. We didn’t bring enough water; we had three water bottles for the five of us, and we should have brought six water bottles. We did not bring jackets, and the top is always covered with clouds and windy, so it was quite cool there. And, finally, I didn’t take vista views along the route up, even though they were gorgeous. Once on the top, you are in clouds, so there are no views of Cape Town.

Here is Herbie, Gracie, and Karin about 1/3 of the way up Table Mountain:

When you get to the top, it's still a 20 minute walk to the restaurant and cable car. That was certainly a shock. Here is what it was like at the top:

We all took the cable car down, rested at the hotel, and went out to a less than good dining experience at one of the restaurants at the Waterfront.

The next day, our flight left at 6:30 in the morning for Johannesburg and our safari. If you want to see more of the photos from the first half, they are annotated and here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mweisburgh/sets/72157628779941995/

Among the things we really wanted to do but missed in Cape Town because we didn’t have enough time:

• The Waterfront: this is a high end mall and shopping experience.
• The Botanical Gardens: these are supposed to be among the finest in the world.
• Robbens Island: this is where Nelson Mandela and others were imprisoned for trying to end apartheid. You need to purchase your tickets in advance, generally by about two weeks.
• The night clubs: Cape Town is known for its night life.

 The next entry will be on the Safari portion of the trip.

 

Related articles

• Christmas in Cape Town - Cape Town, South Africa (travelpod.com)
• Good Hope for the wine - Stellenbosch, South Africa (travelpod.com)

Podstock 2011

In case you missed it last year, Podstock is a Kansas education technology event orchestrated by Kevin Honecutt of ESSDACK in Wichita, KS.

 

You can't capture the spirit of Podstock in a post; it's collaborative learning while having fun, hanging out with friends, and passing through chaos. And you certainly can't get a feel for anything but the chaos part from the website: http://podstock.ning.com/.

 

But, here is a taste, a summary of the keynote session I attended on July 22, 2011.

Dean Groom offered a lot to think about. You can also follow his blog and learn more about him at http://deangroom.wordpress.com/.

Let's say you're riding on a bus, you look up, and you see a sign: "Spitting is Prohibited." It makes you think, in what world do we need a sign to tell us that spitting on a bus isn't the correct thing to do?

Most of us do things without waiting or someone to tell us we can or we should, we can figure out what's the right thing to do, and we're generally pretty good at figuring out how to get them done even when there are rules against it. Many of the technologies used in schools today are there because someone (one of us?) has figured out how to get away with it, even if it isn't within the regulations. In communal teaching, teachers also become learners, and students become teachers.

A lot of what we do now in the classroom is like adding a clock onto a toaster. It's pretty straightforward to do it, and it does allow you to make toast AND know what time it is, but why would you ever want to do it?

But it seems that we could be seeing a fundamental shift going on in teaching and learning.

Good classrooms and good learning today are based on communities.

A community has shared values and shared goals, and when you are part of a community, your perception (your reality) gest expanded beyond your wildest ideas. Effective communities offer many rewards for learning, among them fun, knowledge, a sense of belonging, possibly money and/or power, and this is what good games offer as well. While communities may not need signs like "No Spitting" they do require an effort to make sure that values are shared and understood by their members.

Content is becoming less important.

We are starting to differentiate between teaching content and teaching cognition. Is it more important to know the dates of the major battles in the US Civil War, or to understand how certain wars have changed the social network and our collective understanding of human nature and social values?

Ability is becoming more valued.

Age, race, and gender are becoming less important, as we look for accomplishments, knowledge, and skills as criteria for advancement.

Pedagogy is becoming gamified.

Students are spending an average of 2 hours a day playing games. They're learning, and they're learning a different way of how to learn. One can think of an iterated four step process in becoming proficient in a game:

1. Learning the basic rules
2. Exploration and early success with simple tasks
3. Mastering the game
4. Generalizing skills learned to advanced levels and other games

We are learning how to construct learning strategies and projects around these same steps.

Summary

As we get better at modeling classroom learning on these emerging methods, rather than regurgitating Blooms taxonomy, we can conform education to the way kids are learning to learn. In this transition, accepted teaching practice will involve showing kids how we are going to assess them and how they can assess themselves, making sure they know how to learn on their own and learn from and with others, giving kids tasks where the solutions are worth celebrating, providing a sense of adventure, and making learning unpredictable.

There is actually a lot more I could write about in today's sessions, from friends and experts Dean Mantz (on the 21^st Century classroom), Chelsea Whisnant (student ePortfolios), Sharon Ricks (the best educational Apps), and Jill Bromenschenkel and Nancy Mangnum (connections and collaborations between classrooms). But, it's time for the dance.

Related articles

• Skype is connecting teachers and classrooms across the globe (blogs.skype.com)
• Reflections on Teaching and Learning (collaboratoria.wordpress.com)

140Conference Notes

Today, I attended the 140 Conference in NYC, which provides a unique perspective to learn how the world has changed in this age of the Real Time Web.

Jeff Pulvar, the person running the 140 Conference, says the excitement is not just having 400,000 followers, it's being able to connect with people around the world; we've never had that before.

 

Image via Wikipedia

The event features over 150 speakers, each talking for about 10 minutes. Here are my highlights from day one.

 

John Borthwick, CEO of betaworks a seed and venture investment company, talked about the fact that we are just starting to learn what it means to be part of a network. The Real Time Web has resulted in tremendous fragmentation and disruption of the web on three levels:

• Content: content is fluid, it's constantly changing and difficult to measure. Ultimately, we want to be able to make sense of things, so we need to learn to measure and curate better.
• Applications: we interact with different application, and, as producers and consumers we want to be able to move data more seamlessly.
• Networks or platforms: to what extent are the networks (like Facebook and Twitter) going to be part of an open network and integrate with other platforms, or to what extent will we find other networks that are.

Gilad Lotan, VP of R&D for Social Flow, a company that improves the reach of Tweets, talked about how information is spreading so much faster today. The difficulty is not putting information out there, it's getting people's attention, and the ability to get people's attention is power. You have to build your network's trust, which is much more important than the number in your network. Trust that your message is relevant, useful, and valid is what gets people to like and spread your content. His formula is that successful propagation = topic + network + timing. And ultimately, your message has to reach an interested big fish.

Steve Rosenbaum, CEO of Magnify and author of Curation Nation, demonstrated how obsessed we are with information, in that nearly everyone checks email right before going to sleep and right when we wake up. While 5 years ago, a person might categorize himself/herself as a blogger, no one calls themselves a twitter or a facebooker. What we do is filter and pass on what we think is relevant information, or we curate. A lot of the information on The Real Time Web is ephemeral, it's gone before any algorithms can react, which turns search on its head. But as a curator, you may pass something on, and before you do, you need to think about your digital clothing, what you tweat, follow, facebook, or like says something about who you are and what you want to say to the world. He reads about 500-700 tweets a day, but retweets about 5 or 6; his followers aren't looking for more information, they want less information of greater value.

AJ Leon and Melissa Leon run the LaC web marketing company, and help villages around the world become sustainable. These are villages with no water, no electricity, no school, and mud huts as living quarters, but many have access to 3G. A village can become sustainable in about three years for a cost of about $40,000 a year. The Leons get incredible support from around the world by being able to get the villages' stories out in real time. Villagers post pictures and descriptions to a village website and twitter. Outsiders can become citizens of the village by donating $12 a month, which also allows them to join a village Facebook group and attend live video meetings. People are compelled by the truth, and because the stories are told in realtime with no filter, no PR, and live video, they have been able to implement their sustainable village model in five countries so far.

Glenn Manish, Partner/lawyer at Duane Morris, gave a talk on IP: Don't Touch My Junk. So, who owns this social media stuff that's out there, anyway? The law protects vested interests; it does not protect new interests. There are no statutes about social media. There haven't been that many cases, and the judges don't get it yet,, anyhow so you can't really go by precedent. Terms of service are irrelevant. Contracts are rare. So who owns the content? If you give it away, you don't own it. Posting free content generally means you have practically abandoned any rights of ownership.

Peter Corbett, CEO of iStrategy Labs, creates big experiences. 75% of the people who visit an Apple Store feel satisfied even if they don't buy anything, wouldn't you like to generate that experience? When you invite someone to a place (virtual or real), what do they get? Foursquare is a very early implementation of online experience; it's all going to change. A good example is the dog food billboard, when you check in it dispenses dog food. You get a real reward. In an example he is creating, if you check in, there is a puzzle, if you complete the puzzle you get a free beer. Another example is to perhaps have a whole room unlock something on a screen; if 10,000 of you do this at say, a sporting event, perhaps there will be free coca cola for the next 15 minutes. Digital prizes are not really fulfilling, so they will be passing phase. The future of experience marketing will be people unlocking physical space with digital media.

Alon Nir is an Israel economist and CEO of Tweet Your Prayers; Tweet your prayer and he will print it out and stick it into the Western Wall in Jeruselum. He proposed some anti-business maxims:

1. go to market without a product, figure things out later
2. users don't necessarily have to use your product for it to be successful
3. you don't need a business plan if you don't monetize
4. create meaning and affect change to achieve personal and professional success

Dan Lewis is Director of New Media Communications at Sesame Street. Why does Sesame Street tweet when their target audience can't read? When parents are involved in their children's education experience, they learn better; all Sesame Street content is written for two audiences, parents and children. Sesame Street needs to keep parents engaged, and they use social media to remind parents of the fun and innocence of their characters.

Craig Newmark, founder of Craig's list is interested in philanthropic efforts that create big changes. Martin Luther was practicing social media, and so was St Paul. John Locke and Thomas Paine were bloggers. But, using their technology, their changes took 200-300 years to play out. With the Real Time Web, now hundreds of years of social change get compressed into 10 years.

Rob Locascio, Founder of LivePerson. How do you keep a sense of community as your community or company gets larger? Take some time to get to know each other as people. Get together, two or three people in a group, and ask questions that enable you to know each other as individuals.

 

Image via Wikipedia

Corey Booker, mayor of Newark, is a politician who gets social media. Why use social media? It's about creating community that did not exist before; it can create an intimacy in the way you interact. While you can use it to pass on information like police response time, it is especially valuable as a tool to learn about people and their uniqueness. Social media has created a better way for us to create networks for action. In the 1960s, in Birmingham, civil rights was successful because they created an activist network, but now we have a modern manifestation with tools that super charge that, that give individuals who are passionate the tools to create change much more rapidly. However, $60/mo is too much for many members of society to participate online. When people don't have access, when they aren't able to cultivate their mind with Real Time information, it portends a civilization in decline; our inability to educate all of our children to equal and high levels is the Achilles heal of our civilization. A child wil expand to meet the limits of their vision of themselves, when a child is  limited in their vision, they get stunted. Children need to see a path beyond their current situation. It's amazing that many Community College students need to take their laptops to Starbucks in order to get their homework done.

 

Ann Curry is cohost of the Today Show. We are where no generation has ever gone before. People are trying to use the media, to sell themselves, but also to actualize their deep wish to have meaning and do good. We all want our lives to matter, the way to matter is to do something that in some way helps other people. If you step back and look at the scope of human history you have to acknowledge that humandkind is evolving into a more compassionate species. Look at all the behaviors that used to be acceptable, but now are illegal. We have changed; we are becoming more compassionate we are standing up against things like racism, and affronts against our human family.

Related articles

• Watch the 140 Characters Conference [LIVE VIDEO] (mashable.com)
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What can you do if a family member is being abused

How can you stop the abuse?

The short answer, assuming the relative is 18 or over:

1. You can't stop the relationship
2. You can't make any material interventions
3. You have to keep lines of communication open
4. You can't appear to be judgmental

I'm no expert, but here is my experience.

History of Abuse

My relative, I'll call her Mary, is 20 years old.

She started seeing the boyfriend her senior year in high school, just over two years ago.

He works on and off, mostly off. Other relatives, who are closer to her in age, have reported that he sleeps with other women, flirts with other women when they go out, and often puts her down. He is often drunk. He is about 28 years old, and has another child with another woman.

Not that he can't turn on the charm when he wants to, he's always been nice around me.

I first heard about possible abuse about 16 months ago, when Mary said she broke her nose falling off the bed. How do you miss the pillow with such force that you break your nose?

After the nose incident, I talked to women's shelters, psychologists, and cops. I found out how powerless I was. Once she is over 18, she can't be forcibly moved anywhere, she can't be put into therapy against her will, and nothing can be done to the boyfriend unless she is willing to corroborate.

Research showed that typically the abuser is trying to isolate the victim from her family. The abused person is virtually hypnotized to believe that any criticism of the boyfriend is a direct affront to her as an individual.

In order to prove she loved him, Mary agreed to have a baby with him about two months after the nose incident. Two months before the baby was born, they moved in with her father, about 50 miles outside of NYC.

The latest incident was yesterday. Mary's father was out on an errand. The boyfriend was drunk, as usual. He slapped her across the face, dragged her by the hair into the kitchen, and poured orange juice on her. He also punched in a mirror. Subsequently, I've heard from other relatives that there have been other incidents.

Mary called one of her siblings to ask for help, and was moved out of the house, with her baby.

Two hours later, Mary and the boyfriend were back together. She said that they would figure out how to make things work because they love each other. They might see a couples' therapist together.

What can we do? Legally, nothing.

We could call the police, but they can't do anything unless she files a complaint, which she won't. There were no witnesses. Counselors will not talk to her unless she calls them first, which she won't. They advise us to just give her support; that she has to make the first move.

If we exclude the boyfriend from all family activities, Mary will not come either, further isolating her.

If we council her to leave, she becomes angry and storms out of the room.

If her dad forces the boyfriend to leave, she and the baby will leave too, and she will be completely outside of any support network.

What are we (her relatives) going to do to support the victim?

We have all agreed to talk to her regularly to continue the family relationship and provide her a support network, but not give any approval or disapproval about her relationship or the boyfriend.

Next time she calls saying she was abused or beaten, we will

1. Let her know how sorry we are and listen
2. Ask if she or the baby is injured, and take care of any physical needs.
3. Ask if she called the police
4. Ask if she wants us to call the police
5. Assuming the answer is no to all of the above, ask her if she wants to get away
6. Clarify her answers into action items (or inaction items)
7. Assuming there is nothing else, let her know that if she does ever want to call the police or seek asylum, that we are there for her, but that it is her decision.

What will we do if she asks for money to live on or to take care of the baby (since neither one is working steadily)? Let her know that we really feel badly and want the best for her, but that we just can't.

Because some family members have said that they can only control themselves if they do not have contact with the boyfriend, the boyfriend is not allowed to come to family events where any of these others want to come.

I hope you never have to go through this, but if you do, I hope that this helps as you grapple with some very difficult decisions.

Related articles

• Domestic Abuse (countrylanes.wordpress.com)
• Alcohol Abuse and Domestic Violence (volunteermanual.wordpress.com)

The Secret of Life

Tomorrow is the official start of Ednet 2010, an education networking event, primarily for education publishers, run by MDR.

Even before the event started, today I learned the secret of life.

I took Amtrak from Stamford to Boston, and sat next to a psychotherapist. I don’t remember if I asked him to tell me what lessons he'd learned from his patients, or if the conversation just naturally went that way, but there were three fascinating stories and lessons.

Story 1: He was treating a man in his early twenties for a few months. The man's parents had separated or divorced and gotten back together or remarried five times. One day, the patient came in, and his whole demeanor had changed. "I was out with a friend of mine, and he asked why I'd let this wild back-and-forth of my parents drive me crazy. He told me, 'Why are you so invested in it? It's their lives, not yours. You know what the difference between old people and us is? They're just older than us. You think they should be experts, but they're just living out their lives; they don't have a manual. There is no manual. They're not experts; they're just older.' And it just hit me, and I'm okay."

Lesson 1: There is no manual to life, we're all doing the best we can, and the biggest difference between older people and younger ones is that the older ones are older.

Story 2: About 20 years ago, he was treating a 60-65 year old man. The man was a genius: MIT graduate, researcher, university professor, author, the whole works. But, as we all get older, we all think about the meaning of life, we all need to come to grips with the end: when we're gone, what are we going to hang our hat on, what was the meaning of our lives. And this depressed that individual to the point he needed treatment, for about a year. One day, he came into the office and announced, "I've found the meaning of life."

Shrink: "And?"

Patient: "There isn't any."

Shrink, to himself, "Now he's really depressed, what do I do now?"

Patient, continuing: "I understand and I'm fine. When my time comes, I need to ask myself, 'Were you open to the rapture of living?' And I have been, and I will be, and I'm content."

Lesson 2: Be open to the rapture of living.

Story 3: He was treating another 60 year old man, a widower. The man's wife died about ten years earlier, and he was lonely and depressed.

The trouble is, the rest of the story, and the lesson learned, are a little too obscene to publish in a blog. You'll have to ask me about it next time you see me.

It's all about me

I was sitting at a presentation at the Podstock conference in Wichita, and Alan Beam, a principal and fellow attendee, leaned over to me, and said, "Some of these presentations must drive you crazy. You're obviously a planner and information gatherer, and most of these presentations are being given by simplifiers and doers."

It turns out that Alan had his team go through the Kolbe assessment, which helps individuals maximize their talents, and teams understand how to work together.

We had a quick conversation, where Alan confided that he was a person who tended to jump into things, and that he hated to follow rules; two traits not often found in educators. He was having his staff take the test so that they could all learn how to make the changes together that would improve the school.

I decided that I'd take the Kolbe test myself, but also decided to take the Strengths Finder test as well. Strengths Finder had been recommended to me by George Johnson of TEL.A.VISION. Little did I know that both tests would show that this type of behavior is typical for people like me.

The Kolbe Instrument

The Kolbe Instrument costs about $50, takes about 20 minutes to complete, and then it takes another half hour to digest the results.

Kolbe analyzes you according to four modes of operations (MO):

• Fact Finder: to what extent do you act based on simple summary information or look to gather more information and detail before you act?
• Follow through: to what extent do you look for rules and guidelines, and to what extent do you look at each situation as new or unique?
• Quick Start: to what extent do you take risks, and to what extent do you wait until the right path is clear?
• Implementor: to what extent do you analyze and plan before acting, and to what extent do you act quickly.

Kolbe places you in one of three groups for each MO, do you lean to either one of the two extremes, or are you in the middle? It said that I tend to gather information, am flexible in deciding whether to take a risk or stay with what is familiar, am flexible about whether to follow rules or devise new ones, and tend to plan and analyze instead of jump to immediate action.

As one who gathers information and plans and analyzes, is it any wonder that I would take both suggestions and try each test?

Here is the chart for me:

In Fact Finding, I tend to research, establish priorities, define objectives, and assess probabilities, and I present information comprehensively (just like now). It also means I do not jump to conclusions, and I have a hard time giving yes or no answers (as anyone who knows me will testify to).

In Follow Thru, the instrument says I coordinate schedules, can react to changes, draft guidelines, identify inconsistencies, and take notes, and can relate to both those who multi-task and quickly seek shortcuts, as well as those who are very structured. I can build systems, but I can also see when they don't apply and adapt. I don't like to give guarantees I may not be able to meet.

In Quick Start, I'm willing to try out new ideas, but not just because they are new, only when I think they are better. I often come up with metaphors and tend to reduce risks, and I can mediate between those who want to try something new and those who want to stick with what's worked before. I like challenges and tend to take calculated risks, but do not like too many changes at once or too many competing deadlines.

As in Implementor, I'm strong on conceptualizing solutions and imagining future results, I can create temporary fixes and deal with abstractions. I do not need to touch something or see a 3D model of it to know it's there or possible. As I just told my wife, this means I'm not the one who should be mowing the lawn, fixing up the house, or washing the dishes (although I didn't quite get the response I wanted from this statement.)

The instrument says I tend to be critical of ideas or plans that lack depth, resemble something that did now work in the past, or are not fully developed, and that I might get upset than when people do not meet their commitments.

In summary, it says that I am excellent at coming up with unique strategies, prioritizing  opportunities, and dealing with the unknowns in complex problems. According to Kolbe, I am the go-to person when elaborate projects are in trouble.

My biggest concern with this instrument is not knowing if the descriptions relate to my specific results, or whether they apply to anyone who was in my triad. For example, did I get the same feedback from my 7 in Fact Finding as someone who scored a 10? I'm closer to a 6 than a 10, and it's a little arbitrary that 4-6 is considered in the middle triad instead of 4-7. I would think that a 7 would tend to get a lot of information to make decisions, and that a 10 might be paralyzed, never acting because of concerns of not having enough data. But did the assessment give the same description for both? I just don't know.

Strengths Finder

The Strengths Finder is run by the Gallup organization. Similarly to the Kolbe instrument, it's goal is to help you find what you are good at, so that you can accomplish more. The Strengths Finder asks about 170 questions to determine which of 35 common traits most resemble you, and then describes how they apply to you.

The Strengths Finder costs about $25, along with the Strengths Finder book.

My five traits are Learner, Individualization, Achiever, Arranger, and Strategic.

As a Learner, I persevere until I have the knowledge and skills to attain a goal (not that different from the Fact Finder profile from the Kolbe instrument). I tend to concentrate for extended periods of time.

A person with Individualization tends to look at the unique qualities of each person, and can figure out how people who are different can work together productively. I help people with their jobs so that they can finish them at or before they are due (or, as my kids say, I can be a nag). I am driven to assist others with advice or support, and I can often figure out how each person can benefit the group.

Achievers have stamina and work hard. Combines with Individualization, I can be a good advisor to people, offering suggestions and asking questions. I like challenging situations, and am willing to step out of my comfort zone, devoting my full attention to the challenge o accomplish a goal.

Arrangers are good at organizing, and are flexible (not that different from what the Kolbe said). I like goals, and like to be held accountable (and hold myself accountable) for reaching them. I like to work with individuals who know the difference between right and wrong, and tend to distance myself from those I think lack this clarity. Even though I often notice when mistakes are being made and accuracy is being sacrificed, I tend to trust my team mates and tend to resist the temptation to push others aside.

Strategic people create alternate ways to proceed, and are good at spotting patterns and relevant issues. I often identify problems, and different solutions to the problem, before others see them. Piecing together patterns of cause and effect allows me to propose alternate routes to a goal. I am most stimulated when I collaborate as part of a team, although I may appear impatient when others do not see the issues or solutions quickly.

The Strengths Finder suggested that I seek out opportunities to teach or present to others, to be a catalyst for change, look for roles that require broad technical competence, look for new situations that require someone to develop a skill quickly, and to work in an area of continuous changing technologies or regulations.

Summary

All in all, the two tests agreed much more than they disagreed:

• I like to learn, and then use that knowledge or skill to achieve goals as part of a team.
• I am generally good at creating and planning, but also good at adapting to changes.
• I don't mind the unknown, but I'm not one to rush into something new without assessing the risks and devising some plan and metrics.
• I value and seek diversity of cultures, opinions, and aptitudes.
• I hate not meeting deadlines or goals, and when someone says they are going to do something, I expect them to do it or let me know in advance.

I'd love some feedback about whether this represents me, and I'd love to hear about others' results with either of these tests.

And one more thing. I loved the presentations at Podstock.

Advice on Education for the Obama Administration

I asked my social network the following question:

What education initiatives do you want to see from the Obama administration?

I'd like to get a and discussion going on what education initiatives people would like to see from the Obama administration, and then compile these for a blog article.

This isn't a question that can just be satisfied with a quick answer, and many pointed that out. But, here is a summary of the suggestions:

Who	Suggestion
David Marshall	Pull together the Education Department and Deans from the teaching colleges to first come up with an outline of the curriculum that should be taught, and second, come up with a two year plan to fund and implement that curriculum into schools.
Steve Taylor	Throw out NCLB and testing, and leave education decisions in the hands of the local communities and states.
Michael Hall	Base teacher pay at least partially on merit, reduce the emphasis on testing, do more for advanced students.
Al Meyers	Create a government investment fund for education technology, include higher level skills in NCLB testing, invest in teacher training, reward companies that help teachers learn to use their technology
Amanda Schwartz	Analyze all of the needs for early childhood and then create and offer a comprehensive solution where all of those needs can be met, instead of the disparate and incompatible patchwork that currently exists. And then apply that same methodology to elementary and secondary education.
Michael Ross	Getting state budgets approved with their education dollars intact
Steve Rowley	Specific language in state and federal legislation mandating professional development for educators that directly establishes the attitudes, beliefs, and skills needed for superior instruction, redirecting higher education to develop these as well.
Alan Zucker	Equalize per student spending, no more financial gaps due to student location. Create high speed access for everyone, including access to computers. Reinvigorate Community College education, with financial support for students. Tie math and science together with project-oriented curriculum
Aaron Balogun	Merit based pay, with some supervising body to ensure fairness. Level the playing field so that all schools have access to comparable resources and financing.
Jon Sims	End the corruption.
Trace Urdan	Maintain accountability, which was introduced by NCLB. Increase availability of federal (Stafford) loans to postsecondary students. Provide universal high speed wireless access.
Ray Miller	Increase resources and emphasis on Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM).
Julia Shirkey	Ensure life-long learning accounts: http://www.cael.org/LiLA/federal_policy.htm
Eric Axelson	Broaden Head Start. Phase out Middle Schools, so there is just elementary and secondary. Increase emphasis on world languages that are used in the workplace. Change to year-round schooling. Change teacher pay to merit plus tenure, with increased emphasis on professional development.
Rhonda Moskowitz	Support education for parents
Phil Mages	Make sure more of the top students go into teaching. Support teaching as a second career, making it easier for an effective transition. Find a way to keep the best teachers teaching and enthusiastic.
Terry Cochran	Let students and their parents have more voice in developing learning plans. Encourage art and creativity. Encourage more coaching and less teaching. Emphasize soft and higher level skills. Do more project work.

What I'd like to see?

I'd like the administration to

1. Set up forums for a dialog on what is important in education, with some limit to the amount of time for information gathering and discussion (perhaps two months).

2. Distill the conversation into a vision for education (in the next month or two).

3. Fund states to implement that vision in a very limited number of schools for two years, making sure that rural, suburban, and urban schools are all represented. Included in the implementation plan would be a way to measure the results, and how the changes would be implemented in a broader scale if they succeed.

4. Select the best methods, the ones that showed the best results that are sustainable, and develop a way to encourage states and local communities to implement the interventions that work best.

Please keep this dialog going. Please comment.

Is this how presidential education policy should be made?

Any candidate for the presidency of the US must be able to sound knowledgeable on every important issue. How did Barak Obama go about doing that?

 

Cathy Toohey worked as a volunteer on the Barak Obama campaign to help with the education platform.

 

Cathy was one of 200 field workers (correction from Cathy: there were 2000 volunteers for education.  Those 2000 were subdivided into state groups to report to the education policy group member with certain state responsibilities and they in turn reported into the campaign.) reporting to the central committee on education. Each field worker was responsible for an area. They checked local media, schools, websites, and organizations for educational issues in their region. Cathy’s region was rural Iowa. Her job was to find out:

·         What were the education issues

·         What was working

·         Where were the problems

·         What did rural Iowans want to do about them

·         What was being reported about education locally

·         What were the differences between their issues and national, suburban, or urban issues

·         Which of their issues were being addressed and which exacerbated by state and national policies

·         Which of Obama’s ten education principles resonate with the local population

 

Here are some of the things she found about rural issues, and Iowa’s in particular:

·         In Iowa, 40% of students are in rural schools, but rural schools only receive 22% of federal funding; nationally, rural enrollments are about 20% of the school population and 40% of the schools.

·         Most of national education funds and policy are geared toward urban schools; that’s where the money is, and that is where most of the Title I funds go.

·         Schools are much more a part of the community in rural settings; many members of the community attend and root for school teams, and go to school events like plays and concerts.

·         Teachers live, are known, and participate in the community, differently from urban and suburban schools, where the teachers usually are not part of the community they teach in.

·         AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) is an issue in rural schools, but not nearly as big an issue as in urban schools.

·         The biggest issues are a) finding teachers in hard-to-staff areas like math and science, especially given the lower pay scales that they can offer, and b) closing the achievement gap for students with disabilities and students from low income families.

·         Having the resources to help children who need help is a key concern; if there are three children in a small, rural district that need help, that is both an economic hardship and a difficult area to staff.

·         About half of young children in rural areas are in center-based day care, which is not that different from the 57% nationwide, so investing in early education, a key element of Obama’s education platform, is a concern in rural areas, too.

·         Teacher turnover is less an issue in rural areas; probably because teachers are not as meticulously controlled, teaching is less stressful, and teachers are part of the community they teach in.

·         Diversity (racial, language, and cultural) issues are not as major as in urban schools, but are a growing concern. Caucasians are just over 80% of the rural school population, but minority enrollment has grown by over 50% over the last five years.

·         The average rural school in Iowa has 200 students.

·         With small schools and large distances between schools, professional development is an issue; how are you going to get a group of elementary teachers together for training if there are only three within 100 miles.

·         Curriculum alignment to standards is considered a key solution, and is perceived as a reason districts have been able to meet NCLB goals.

·         Access to AP classes is difficult.

 

Cathy took her information, just as the other 200 education volunteers did, and regularly reported to the central education committee, who compiled all of the reports and communicated with Obama.

 

So, rather than relying primarily on a few hand-picked experts, the Obama campaign mobilized field researchers, analyzed data from a variety of sources, used the data to make communications and decisions, and then verified those policies and decisions with more data from the field.

 

Sounds like a sensible, rationale approach to making decisions and carrying out policy.

Ideas that Stick

Chip and Dan Heath, in Made to Stick, write about the six attributes that make lessons, information, and communications memorable and actionable. Not all sticky information needs all six attributes, but more attributes means greater probability that your audience (students, prospects, customers, co-workers, etc.) will remember and incorporate your message into their actions.

Successful communications are

• Simple: they hone in on the essence, the one aspect that needs to be communicated.

• Unexpected: by producing a cognitive dissonance in the audience, they demand greater attention.

• Concrete: they relate to an incident or object instead of an abstraction.

• Credible: they use statistics, authorities, cases, or simulations as proof elements.

• Emotional: they hook into emotions to spur action and long term memory.

• Stories: they use stories instead of just listing facts or bullets.

Unfortunately, the description above violates virtually every one of those attributes. Even knowing that the attributes use the mnemonic SUCCES, if all you do is read those first few paragraphs, you won’t remember any of this and your communications will remain forgettable. You probably won’t even buy the book.

Here’s a great example that shows the contrast between sticky and non-sticky communication.

Let’s say you wanted to produce a summary of a conference. Which would be more effective for the attendees and other interested parties:

1. Provide all of the handouts, data, and presentation files from the presenters in one, easy-to-use location.

2. Compile every funny, tragic, or exciting story told by the presenters.

The Heaths point out that people will remember the stories and their lessons. The presenters spent most of their time researching the data and creating the presentations. If the purpose of your summary is to acknowledge the effort and expertise of the presenters, you’ll post the notes and data. But, if your purpose is to maximize the impact of the conference on the attendees and audience, you’ll post the stories.

Here is an example from school.

Imagine that you want to teach a lesson on journalistic writing: after getting the facts, start your article with the main idea. Do you

1. Show articles that do this, explaining (or having the students explain) how the authors found, organized, and reported on the story.

2. Present facts, such as, “The governor will address the teachers of this school next Thursday in a full day session on (and so on).” Let the students write their stories and hand them in. And only then spring the main idea on them, what should have been their headline or starting sentence: that there will be no school this Thursday.

The second builds in story-telling, unexpectedness, emotion, and concreteness while bolstering the credibility of the instructor. Students will remember it.

By the way, did you know that in all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, he never said, “Elementary, my dear Watson?” There were plenty of times he said, “Elementary.” There were plenty of times he said, “My dear Watson.” And there were plenty of times he was condescending to Watson. Even though the phrase, itself, was never actually uttered, if you ask someone to quote Sherlock Holmes, that’s probably what you’ll hear. That’s because it really captures the essence of the master detective and his relationship with his faithful assistant.

Now, if we can capture the power of “Elementary, my dear Watson” in our own communications, while being accurate, maybe we can be more effective teachers, workers, and leaders.

My suggestion, if you want to sell better, manage better, or teach better, buy Made to Stick.