It has been my pleasure to work with Lisa Davis at High Tech High. She is the Director of Community Outreach but I believe any title underestimates her and the importance of her job.

One of the buzzwords in education is relevancy or real world connection. Many schools do this by talking about "when you get a job or get older you will need __________" but, real world education means right now not in 5-10 years! Through Lisa we have received grants, internships, and collaboration partners within our community. She made it possible for our students to learn from experts, work with professional equipment, and experience first hand what it means to follow your passions and dreams.

Lisa engages with our students, teachers, and staff to find out their passions and ideas for future projects. She then connects us to the community and helps us obtain resources. She is a wonderful sounding board to help refine and implement new endeavors. I cannot count the number of times we have talked about various ideas that would not have come to fruition without her help.

While I think education would be significantly improved if a position like this was available (and if she could be cloned) in all schools, it isn't likely to happen. It's a shame because she is invaluable to our schools operation.

Lucky for all of us, Lisa has decided to take the plunge and begin blogging about her thoughts, experiences, and the community connections she has helped foster. Her blog is at MindCollisions.org which stems from the belief that if people are paired with the right resources and collaborative partners, it is like a catalyst in a chemical reaction speeding up the innovation and creative process.

She is also on Twitter @mindcollisions and is hoping to pioneer the hashtags #youthengagement and #mindcollisions because of her passion for service learning (as well as the wikipedia link) and the incredible things that happen when students are connected to their world.


What you can expect to learn from Lisa, is the practical side of connecting students with the community and with each other through examples and evidence. You might also get a chance to hear her passion and pedagogy for how students can learn in the 21st century. Patrick, I, and many other educators have benefited from her and I am so happy that you can as well.

Great new Math Blog: Infinigons.com and the 2010 BrokenAirplane Edublog Nominations

It is time for the 2010 Edublog Awards Nominations:

It has been a great experience for me to blog. I really appreciate the many unique opportunities I have enjoyed and people I have met through doing it. In my opinion it is really important to get many voices in the conversation about education. To get various perspectives and new ideas.

Over the last couple of years, I have had the privilege of working with Allison. She is a hard working and committed to giving her students the most interesting math experience they can have. Her and I have also worked to create curriculum that integrates computer science and math through the Python Programming Language. She has begun a math blog www.infinigons.com (Infinity + Polygons) which I hope you will check out.

www.infinigons.com

Here are my EduBlog award nominations:

• Lifetime Achievement: Karl Fisch The Fischbowl - I was introduced to this blog over 3 years ago while I was working with the University of Utah on creating their Epigenetics Curriculum. Since then I have followed him on Twitter and his Math focused blog Transparent Algebra. Innovative and thoughtful posts.
• Best Educational Wiki: Patrick Yurick 9th Grade Multimedia Wiki - It has been my pleasure to work and consider myself friends with him. A deeply thoughtful teacher, his ideas and pedagogy has influenced every educator at our school. The founder of the very popular and groundbreaking Graphic Novel Project and co-creator of the Interdisciplinary Spanish/Multimedia Talk Town Project. Start a conversation with this guy, you will not regret it.
• Most Influential Blog Post: Anne Smith Alfie Kohn - I Need You. When the blog world saw how open she was about sharing her concerns and open to asking for help, it could not help but offer suggestions and support. Even Alfie Kohn found time to respond.
• Best Group Blog: Graphic Novel Project. This group of students works extremely hard to produce professional quality comic books about compelling and important topics like Immigration and School Dropout. The work that they do will have far reaching effects as their influence in the community grows.