Kevin Honeycutt was a keynote speaker at ULearn12. In this talk he provides us with three challenges: Don't stop believing in the children, leverage the available tools; and don't wait until you're good at it to do it.
I'm Kevin Honeycutt, I'm an educational staff developer from central Kansas in the United States. My job most days is to stand in a school and talk to a faculty, a tired, challenged faculty looking for reasons to keep trying. They love their kids but they're challenged. And I come to New Zealand and I meet similar people with similar challenges and that is what is really kind of amazing.
Really honestly teachers here remind me a lot of the mid-west of the United States. We're up against it in so many ways, but to a person we believe in children, so my message is don't stop doing that, number one, because they need you. And two let's leverage these tools that we talk about to do something real. And three don't wait until you're good at it to do it. If you wait until you're good you'll never be great. If you're not willing to take a chance you can't learn. So think about the role of parents through history. What is the role? To give birth to a child and to prepare them for a successful life. So that has always been the role. It's an interesting thing that it has changed, What you do to prepare kids has changed, the way the world looks has changed. I think it has changed more in our generation than in any generation in human history. And that's kind of a big deal. Because this organism that we are, this brain that we have, hasn't changed biologically at all. So with the same apparatus we are having to do a lot more things. So if that is exhausting for our generation imagine being a child born into this condition not knowing that it's ever been different.
They're very bold, they're very brave, they're also very vulnerable. The lessons we have learnt from our traditions can serve them quite well unless we don't tell them what they are because we don't participate with them in social media, in these scary new places. So think about any culture that's ever gone and pioneered a new area, gone to that side of the island, faced new conditions, new realities. Those first people were pioneers and they had children, and those children had to deal with new conditions. And those children either learnt to deal with those new conditions or they didn't survive.
So pioneering, the kind of pioneer mindset is an open minded malleable mindset, and that's a good one. And it actually can serve us quite well now, because while we might not be changing locations, we changing sort of realities, the world is different. Being successful requires different skills, different tools, a different level of bravery.
I think the human organism has yet to prove that it can be as malleable as it has to be to do things the way they are now. We are stretched, and I think we may be set for a sort of evolution. This generation of kids are going to be that pioneering edge. I just don't want them to go forward without the lessons and the wisdom of the past. So mums and dads, grey haired teachers, teachers two years from retirement, we need you. Now, right now. The children need you. You've always been there for kids, no matter what. You've been diving in dumpsters to get what you need. Now we're digital dumpster divers. We still need things. So you don't know how to go forward? I understand. We're all tired. Let's help each other, let's be a community.
So Twitter, right, what's Twitt? What's social media? Forget everything you've heard. Forget all of it. And think of Twitter as your Rolladex, your think tank in your back pocket. It's there for you on your worst day. Go build a community of support. For you, yeah, for your kids, yeah. We need things. To me Twitter and having an eduverse in your back pocket is a funnel of opportunity that helps kids. Helps you get better at what you need to do. No one human can be self contained anymore we have to leverage networks. And why not, isn't that what family always was, only bigger? So you're network happens to connect with Singapore, China and America, Yay! Your kids have a bigger view of the world. And since they are now global shouldn't they have that view?
Get a few people in your network and just lean on it once in a while. By the way feed your network, tell them things, tell them what you are doing. "Working with kids today, trying to change the world, I'm up against it" People send you messages, "sending my thoughts to you" "thinking of you" "go get them tiger". Oh my gosh a whole bunch of people I don't even know just put gas in my tank and I was almost out of gas.
There are many times when the people you work with in your builidng don't even know what you do, and we're lonely. We sort of die of being detached retinas. We're trying our best but we're up against it right. So the spirits of all those other people helping each other, I see this and it is beautiful. And all those people who talk about digital is taking away humanity, I do not believe that for a moment. I think humanity finds its place, it always does. And a lot of people are annoyed by the human qualities of Twitter, "I don't care what she had for lunch." These things bother them, not me, these are the kinds of things we talk about in the teachers' work room. We talk about your daughter and we talk about my son, and we talk about chemotherapy and we talk about human issues. The same stuff happens digital and the kids are growing up with this reality too, what are they sharing? What are we teaching them to share?
Kevin Honeycutt was a keynote speaker at ULearn12. In this talk he provides us with three challenges: Don't stop believing in the children, leverage the available tools; and don't wait until you're good at it to do it.
I'm Kevin Honeycutt, I'm an educational staff developer from central Kansas in the United States. My job most days is to stand in a school and talk to a faculty, a tired, challenged faculty looking for reasons to keep trying. They love their kids but they're challenged. And I come to New Zealand and I meet similar people with similar challenges and that is what is really kind of amazing.
Really honestly teachers here remind me a lot of the mid-west of the United States. We're up against it in so many ways, but to a person we believe in children, so my message is don't stop doing that, number one, because they need you. And two let's leverage these tools that we talk about to do something real. And three don't wait until you're good at it to do it. If you wait until you're good you'll never be great. If you're not willing to take a chance you can't learn. So think about the role of parents through history. What is the role? To give birth to a child and to prepare them for a successful life. So that has always been the role. It's an interesting thing that it has changed, What you do to prepare kids has changed, the way the world looks has changed. I think it has changed more in our generation than in any generation in human history. And that's kind of a big deal. Because this organism that we are, this brain that we have, hasn't changed biologically at all. So with the same apparatus we are having to do a lot more things. So if that is exhausting for our generation imagine being a child born into this condition not knowing that it's ever been different.
They're very bold, they're very brave, they're also very vulnerable. The lessons we have learnt from our traditions can serve them quite well unless we don't tell them what they are because we don't participate with them in social media, in these scary new places. So think about any culture that's ever gone and pioneered a new area, gone to that side of the island, faced new conditions, new realities. Those first people were pioneers and they had children, and those children had to deal with new conditions. And those children either learnt to deal with those new conditions or they didn't survive.
So pioneering, the kind of pioneer mindset is an open minded malleable mindset, and that's a good one. And it actually can serve us quite well now, because while we might not be changing locations, we changing sort of realities, the world is different. Being successful requires different skills, different tools, a different level of bravery.
I think the human organism has yet to prove that it can be as malleable as it has to be to do things the way they are now. We are stretched, and I think we may be set for a sort of evolution. This generation of kids are going to be that pioneering edge. I just don't want them to go forward without the lessons and the wisdom of the past. So mums and dads, grey haired teachers, teachers two years from retirement, we need you. Now, right now. The children need you. You've always been there for kids, no matter what. You've been diving in dumpsters to get what you need. Now we're digital dumpster divers. We still need things. So you don't know how to go forward? I understand. We're all tired. Let's help each other, let's be a community.
So Twitter, right, what's Twitt? What's social media? Forget everything you've heard. Forget all of it. And think of Twitter as your Rolladex, your think tank in your back pocket. It's there for you on your worst day. Go build a community of support. For you, yeah, for your kids, yeah. We need things. To me Twitter and having an eduverse in your back pocket is a funnel of opportunity that helps kids. Helps you get better at what you need to do. No one human can be self contained anymore we have to leverage networks. And why not, isn't that what family always was, only bigger? So you're network happens to connect with Singapore, China and America, Yay! Your kids have a bigger view of the world. And since they are now global shouldn't they have that view?
Get a few people in your network and just lean on it once in a while. By the way feed your network, tell them things, tell them what you are doing. "Working with kids today, trying to change the world, I'm up against it" People send you messages, "sending my thoughts to you" "thinking of you" "go get them tiger". Oh my gosh a whole bunch of people I don't even know just put gas in my tank and I was almost out of gas.
There are many times when the people you work with in your builidng don't even know what you do, and we're lonely. We sort of die of being detached retinas. We're trying our best but we're up against it right. So the spirits of all those other people helping each other, I see this and it is beautiful. And all those people who talk about digital is taking away humanity, I do not believe that for a moment. I think humanity finds its place, it always does. And a lot of people are annoyed by the human qualities of Twitter, "I don't care what she had for lunch." These things bother them, not me, these are the kinds of things we talk about in the teachers' work room. We talk about your daughter and we talk about my son, and we talk about chemotherapy and we talk about human issues. The same stuff happens digital and the kids are growing up with this reality too, what are they sharing? What are we teaching them to share?
Kevin Honeycutt was a keynote speaker at ULearn12. In this talk he provides us with three challenges: Don't stop believing in the children, leverage the available tools; and don't wait until you're good at it to do it.
I'm Kevin Honeycutt, I'm an educational staff developer from central Kansas in the United States. My job most days is to stand in a school and talk to a faculty, a tired, challenged faculty looking for reasons to keep trying. They love their kids but they're challenged. And I come to New Zealand and I meet similar people with similar challenges and that is what is really kind of amazing.
Really honestly teachers here remind me a lot of the mid-west of the United States. We're up against it in so many ways, but to a person we believe in children, so my message is don't stop doing that, number one, because they need you. And two let's leverage these tools that we talk about to do something real. And three don't wait until you're good at it to do it. If you wait until you're good you'll never be great. If you're not willing to take a chance you can't learn. So think about the role of parents through history. What is the role? To give birth to a child and to prepare them for a successful life. So that has always been the role. It's an interesting thing that it has changed, What you do to prepare kids has changed, the way the world looks has changed. I think it has changed more in our generation than in any generation in human history. And that's kind of a big deal. Because this organism that we are, this brain that we have, hasn't changed biologically at all. So with the same apparatus we are having to do a lot more things. So if that is exhausting for our generation imagine being a child born into this condition not knowing that it's ever been different.
They're very bold, they're very brave, they're also very vulnerable. The lessons we have learnt from our traditions can serve them quite well unless we don't tell them what they are because we don't participate with them in social media, in these scary new places. So think about any culture that's ever gone and pioneered a new area, gone to that side of the island, faced new conditions, new realities. Those first people were pioneers and they had children, and those children had to deal with new conditions. And those children either learnt to deal with those new conditions or they didn't survive.
So pioneering, the kind of pioneer mindset is an open minded malleable mindset, and that's a good one. And it actually can serve us quite well now, because while we might not be changing locations, we changing sort of realities, the world is different. Being successful requires different skills, different tools, a different level of bravery.
I think the human organism has yet to prove that it can be as malleable as it has to be to do things the way they are now. We are stretched, and I think we may be set for a sort of evolution. This generation of kids are going to be that pioneering edge. I just don't want them to go forward without the lessons and the wisdom of the past. So mums and dads, grey haired teachers, teachers two years from retirement, we need you. Now, right now. The children need you. You've always been there for kids, no matter what. You've been diving in dumpsters to get what you need. Now we're digital dumpster divers. We still need things. So you don't know how to go forward? I understand. We're all tired. Let's help each other, let's be a community.
So Twitter, right, what's Twitt? What's social media? Forget everything you've heard. Forget all of it. And think of Twitter as your Rolladex, your think tank in your back pocket. It's there for you on your worst day. Go build a community of support. For you, yeah, for your kids, yeah. We need things. To me Twitter and having an eduverse in your back pocket is a funnel of opportunity that helps kids. Helps you get better at what you need to do. No one human can be self contained anymore we have to leverage networks. And why not, isn't that what family always was, only bigger? So you're network happens to connect with Singapore, China and America, Yay! Your kids have a bigger view of the world. And since they are now global shouldn't they have that view?
Get a few people in your network and just lean on it once in a while. By the way feed your network, tell them things, tell them what you are doing. "Working with kids today, trying to change the world, I'm up against it" People send you messages, "sending my thoughts to you" "thinking of you" "go get them tiger". Oh my gosh a whole bunch of people I don't even know just put gas in my tank and I was almost out of gas.
There are many times when the people you work with in your builidng don't even know what you do, and we're lonely. We sort of die of being detached retinas. We're trying our best but we're up against it right. So the spirits of all those other people helping each other, I see this and it is beautiful. And all those people who talk about digital is taking away humanity, I do not believe that for a moment. I think humanity finds its place, it always does. And a lot of people are annoyed by the human qualities of Twitter, "I don't care what she had for lunch." These things bother them, not me, these are the kinds of things we talk about in the teachers' work room. We talk about your daughter and we talk about my son, and we talk about chemotherapy and we talk about human issues. The same stuff happens digital and the kids are growing up with this reality too, what are they sharing? What are we teaching them to share?
Khoa Do, Young Australian of the Year, film director, screenwriter and teacher, sat down to talk with us at ULearn2012. He tells stories about his life, and at the same time reveals important educational ideas. Ideas that reveal the depth of the principles and key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Glenn Capelli was a keynote speaker at ULearn12. In this entertaining and inspirational talk he explores the layers of learning which he describes as: philosophy, conversations, strategies, and methodology.
