Mr. Morse couldn’t be here today so he asked me to step in on his behalf, and welcome all of you to the start of the 176th year here on the Hilltop. 176 years. Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about what it means to be a part of a place that has been around that long? Go back in time with me for a moment and think about how much our world has changed in that time. Consider for a moment, that back then, in the early to mid-1800’s there were a group of creative thinkers, some would call them rebels, who were pushing the envelope by rebelling against what they saw as the current situation and what they were trying to be different from. They were call the Transcendentalists and another way to look at them is to see them as a generation of people who were struggling to define spirituality and religion (our words, not necessarily theirs) in a way that took into account the new understandings that the time they were living in made available to them. This movement brought us some of the most important and influential thinkers of their time. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. And while this moment in history was unfolding, in real time, Worcester Academy students were taking classes and learning from one another and their teachers. It was all happening right around them.

Or think about the fact that just shortly after the civil war, Worcester Academy students were watching the Headmaster at the time, Dr. Daniel Abercrombie, slowly expand the campus to include the buildings we use today. Kingsley, Walker Hall, The Megaron. But more importantly, they were experiencing a curriculum, which he brought to the school from Europe and was considered progressive and innovative for its time. It included the study of science and mathematics. And again, while that moment was unfolding, in real time, Worcester Academy students were gathering around the quad, much like you do today. Engaging in conversations, making steadfast friendships, competing in athletic events and performing on stage. They may not have realized at that time, in fact, I am pretty sure that like most teenagers, many of them were completely unaware that they would become the leaders of tomorrow. These same students, very much like all of you, would go on to become the founder and first editor of National Geographic magazine. Or create companies that would dominate industry such as Merrill Lynch. They would help break important social and racial barriers and go on to compose music that will forever be woven into the fabric of the American experience.

But back then, they were just ordinary students, being told to tuck in their shirts and avoid being late to class, and whether they realized it or not, they were living during extraordinary times; the industrial revolution, the Great Depression, World Wars I and II.

And in my opinion how lucky they were.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be a student at Worcester Academy when amazing and profound things were happening all around you? Just think for a moment what it might be like…

Climate change, world conflict and war, global economic challenges, the first African American President of the United States, the first Latina to be appointed to the Supreme Court and here at Worcester Academy, the first latina to be elected Head Monitor. Imagine how amazing it would be to live during a point in time when we would see advances in technology, medicine and engineering bringing us iPhones, hybrid fuel efficient cars and advances in the detection and treatment of breast cancer.

It would be pretty amazing.

So here we are, at the start of a new school year. And while this moment begins to unfold, in real time, those of us fortunate enough to be a part of Worcester Academy once again have a unique opportunity. It is our privilege to be living during a moment in time that I strongly feel, and many others believe, will be looked at as historic, some might even say revolutionary. And while others might disagree with that statement, what matters and what makes living during historic times so amazing is that they stand out. They represent moments that future generations will recall and for better or worse, will define those of us who lived during them. Students looking back at this time 100 years from now, in the year 2109, sitting where you are sitting today, will either look back and remember us as having collectively risen to meet these historic challenges or having missed the opportunity to seize the moment and truly be the change we wish to see in the world. I for one, firmly believe in all of you. Every adult who is a part of Worcester Academy believes in you, all we ask, is that you believe in yourselves.

Have a historic year. Thank you.

(Presented at the all school assembly 9/3/2009)

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Can we harness the power of social media to provide students with a vehicle for exploring and creating original content? WA Mash (Worcester Academy Mashup) is an online magazine where the power of social media is captured to provide creative writing students with a platform for exploring ideas and fostering and contributing to the larger global conversation. By exploring the possibilities offered by the use of social media tools, we explore how one teacher is defining the New Humanities at the secondary school level. Built off the work of Richard E. Miller at Rutgers University, students blog in a timely fashion about a wide variety of cultural, political and economic issues. Most importantly, it is about creating original content and redefining the role of student and teacher. They compliment their work with audio, video, photos and micro-blogging by integrating social media tools like YouTube and Vimeo, Twitter and Flickr. Think Slate or Salon for high school. The conversation will explore the nature and role of the New Humanities in education. How do we define it? What does it look it? What role does it play? And how do we move forward with implementation?

The resource wiki for this presentation can be found at educon21.wikispaces.com/211-3

Using Social Media to Define the New Humanities Classroom from Antonio Viva on Vimeo.

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When I started teaching in 1995 the faculty room was the epicenter of conversation among colleagues. You would walk in, there would be a half pot of 3 hour old bitter coffee, folks grading papers, a water cooler and the drone of a photocopier working diligently in the background. Meetings took place in the library or in classrooms and occasionally we would head out on Friday afternoons for some pool and wings at a local spot in town. I remember clearly that some of the best talks I had were with a colleague named Pat Smith as we sat at the end of a long hallway on “hall duty” during lunch period. Pat was a music teacher who had toured with Barry White during the 70’s and he was a smooth, old school daddio who knew how to make kids and colleagues laugh and he loved music and teaching. He shared stories about touring in the 70’s, his experience as a teacher and he provided insight and mentorship on challenges I was experiencing at the time developing my own, young teaching practice.

Pat is not the only “conversation” I remember from my early years in teaching. There were many others, conversations with students, one conversation with a parent that will remain forever etched in my consciousness and the most transformative, the most revealing about life and society in general with other teachers who on the whole genuinely cared for kids and sought to make the world a better place. Regardless of your career choice, the conversations you have daily with friends, family members and colleagues shape your view of the world and I would contend, the way you ultimately end up interacting with it.

This week it dawned on me that the conversations I am having now are at the core, similar to those I had back in 1995, albeit topics like social media, disruptive classes and wikis were not part of our dialogue. However, the vehicle for having those conversations has systematically changed. On Thursday, I worked from home as Verizon was scheduled to come and install new FiOS service to my house. I had a marketing meeting scheduled for 11:00 am and rather than simply miss the meeting or conference call in, I asked a colleague to log into her Skype account and I as able to attend the meeting as if I were in the room. The body language, facial expressions and “tone” of the meeting were not lost and it gave my wife a real sense of what I do all day. Kim Cofino tweeted this morning about some photos she had posted on Flickr of her students Skype experiences and their ability to have conversations with students from around the world. (Kim is located in Bangkok, Thailand) More importantly, Kim regularly contributes to Twitter and while she may be half a world away from us here stateside, she is as active a contributor to the conversation as if she were sitting in the faculty room across the table drinking 3 hour old bitter coffee.

I am guilty, as I am sure most of us are of not having done a good enough job staying in touch with old friends and colleagues over the years. Email worked well for a while but with Facebook, many of my old friends seem to be reconnected in a way that feels very much like we picked up where we left off. Some of the old jokes are still funny, sharing photos of our kids and posting 3rd grade class pictures from 1979 seems to make the connection feel more real. My Wall conversations are an eclectic mix of current friends, work colleagues, relatives and high school and college friends. And while many of these Facebook friends have never met one another, they are able to organically join the conversation I have been able to initate by posting a funny video, interesting article or whitty attempt at a status update.

Similarly, my professional learning networked has grown to include individuals I have never actually been fortunate enought to meet in person and for a while, I was unsure about how it would work to cultivate a friendship or professional relationship with someone whom I had never meet face to face. The “conversations” I follow are not always addressed directly to me, but by being able to observe and absorb the content, they help shape the way I look at important issues, my thoughts about my teaching practice, and my philosophy and approach as a school leader. The art of conversation is shifting and while social technologies will never replace stopping at your favorite coffee shop with a friend or a pre-dinner glass of wine with a colleague, the ability to engage with each other more regularly has made me appreciate that I have been fortunate to develop a personal network of friends, colleagues and family members that enrich my life daily. So don’t take these digital conversations for granted they are as important and as meaningful as those you have in person.

Consider keeping the conversation going by following me on Twitter!

Photo Credit: eye2eye

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At the beginning of this summer I picked up a copy of “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need” by one of my favorite authors Dan Pink. I had the opportunity to see Dan speak at the 2008 NAIS Annual Conference in New York in February and during his keynote, he referenced a new book he was working on that would be coming out in the spring, a career guide of sorts, done in the style of a manga. Sounded interesting. It was originally part of my “summer” reading list and even though the book takes no more than an hour to read, I didn’t get to it until last week.

What appeals to me the most about the message in “Johnny Bunko” is the potential it has to help young people re-examine their priorities. As someone who works with young people daily, the opportunity to engage the next generation of leaders, creators, inventors and creative thinkers is a profound responsibility that few in this world have and the lessons that Johnny learns throughout the book are valuable to students as they embark on their own journeys. More importantly, Dan makes it clear that the advice adults give young people about life doesn’t necessarily apply anymore. As he said during his keynote, there was a time when falling back on a career as an attorney or an accountant could be seen as safe career choices. People are always going to need a lawyer or account right? Wrong, in the age of 123divorceme.com and TurboTax the advice our parents gave us about accounting and law and the rules around careers in general have changed.

A brief synopsis. Johnny Bunko is a young man who did what everybody around him told him too. Unfortunately, the advice he received from his parents, teachers, mentors and counselors didn’t really serve him very well and now Johnny finds himself “stuck at a dead-end job,  and he’s begun to suspect that what he thought he knew is just plain wrong.”  When seemingly out of no where, Johnny meets Diana, the most un-traditional and odd career advisor you would ever meet. Diana reveals/shares six essential lessons for thriving and succeeding in the professional world and in turn, reshapes Johnny’s view about his place in life and the method he uses to make the important decisions about his career path.  The lessons in the book are simple and while Pink does not make any direct references to it, the book feels like it has a zen flavor to it. From the sushi restaurant where Johnny gets the magic chopsticks, to the way Diana meditates, to this reader, the connections became evident as I read through the story.

1. There is no plan: No matter how hard you try and no matter what anyone tells you, there is no way to predefine or predetermine your path in life. It is impossible and impractical to map out your life. The world is in a constant state of change an if we try to anticipate that change we lose sight of the possibilities that the change itself can bring. Be present in the moment and recognize that each experience presents a unique opportunity, like the Dad who becomes a blogger.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses: Capitalize on what you are good at and steer away from areas that present challenges for you. Here Diana gets very zen on Johnny by introducing the concept of “flow” by telling Johnny he should focus on activities that create flow in him. “Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.” Like is said, very zen.
3. It’s not about you: Focus outward in your work and NOT inward. Work toward bringing the best out in others, remember that your work is not about you. Your energy and effort should go toward the greater good not shameless self promotion.
4. Persistence trumps talent: Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. According to Albert Einstein who makes a cameo in the book and helps Diana explain that the people who achieve the most are “often the ones who stick with it when others don’t.” Those of us in schools have most definitely found ourselves using this logic with students who are struggling or not achieving at a level they wish they were.
5. Make excellent mistakes: Every time you make a mistake, it serves as an opportunity to learn and do something better. This doesn’t mean simple, ordinary kind of mistakes, but big, aspirational kind of mistakes. I have personally found myself the benefactor of this advice. I would rather have tried to do something big, something significant and failed than not tried to do anything at all.
6. Leave an imprint: The final piece of advice seems to connect beautifully with my own mantra. Reshape the world, one creative idea at a time. Did you make a difference? Did you contribute to the greater good? I recall a conversation I had with a student early in my teaching career, he asked me why I would go into teaching when I could have done just about anything else. I told him I wanted to leave my thumbprint on his brain. Leave your thumbprint or as Diana suggests leave your imprint on this world.

“The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need” is simple, creative and provides a profound message for young people. It is a career guide that will not only serve those newly entering the work force but those who may find themselves, like Johnny a bit disillusioned by the advice they received back in the day. I recommend getting a copy.

Johnny Bunko trailer from DHP on Vimeo.

Photo Credit: cx1uk

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Enter the fall of 2008. After being inspired by a presentation on YouTube by Richard E. Miller, Chair of Rutgers English, The Future is Now: Presentation to the RU Board of Governors challenged the comfortable, and somewhat traditional notion of why and how we should teach students writing. The birth of the “New Humanities” where the focus is on creative non-fiction prose fit nicely with the work I had been exploring in the past few years with blogging and journaling. And so, WA Mash was born. I gave each student an account on our Wordpress blog, they were given contributor access and were set off to find interesting ideas that would culminate in original content.

Almost 9 weeks later, the hits on our blog are reaching between 100 to 300 hits daily. Close to 50% of our users are returning visitors, we have over 85 followers on Twitter and several student articles have received thought provoking comments from our readers. What is most important, is that students are serving as content creators, they are writers and critical consumers of information. We read magazines like Slate.com, Salon.com, the New York Times Opinions & Editori

als section and the latest, The Daily Beast. The experiment is still ongoing, and as the end of this first trimester begins to reach its climax, I find myself reflecting on what has worked and what has not, adapting and modifying so that Mash can continue to grow. But what brings me the most joy and satisfaction is that 19 juniors and seniors have left their mark on the digital world. They have shared their thoughts, their ideas and they have engendered conversations. That is truly the power behind the new humanities, social media and teaching and learning.

Photo Credit: b_d_solis

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WA Mash: Social Media in the Classroom from Peter Baron on Vimeo.

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The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time By: David Vise & Mark Malseed

• A colleague of mine David Bill suggested this title to me last week during lunch. Looks like a great beach read.

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures By: Dan Roam

• An Amazon generated suggestion that looked good. I will let you know what I think.

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need By: Daniel H. Pink & Rob Ten Pas (Illustrator)

• Daniel Pink was one of the keynote speakers at NAIS in NYC this year. I read “A Whole New Mind” last summer and loved it, in fact my entire middle school faculty will be getting a copy of AWNM on Wednesday. During his keynote, he mentioned that he was in the process of finishing “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko” and that it was geared to students. Can’t wait for this one to come in.

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything By: Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams

• Another Amazon generated suggestion.

The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, Completely Updated and Revised By: Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel

• This is one of the texts I will be using next year in my Journalism class, kudos to my English Department colleague Christina!

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success By: Carol Dweck

• Carol Dweck is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at NAIS in Chicago in 2009. I was fortunate enough to hear Pat Bassett, President of NAIS at The Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education this past November. The book sounds fascinating and worth reading.

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) By: Garr Reynolds

• I am big fan of Garr Reynolds work. I have had a copy of this and poked through it periodically before I give a major presentation. A must have for anyone who communicates in front of groups and is looking for a way to declutter and simply the power of your message. Garr has written some in depth posts on both “The Back of the Napkin” and “Brain Rules” you should check them out.

A Short History of Nearly Everything By: Bill Bryson

• Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors. I have heard good things about this book and I think it will be one of the first books I read.

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD) By: John Medina

• Again, my colleague Dave Bill suggested this one to me. Kudos Dave.

Photo Credit: chotda

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