A New Way of Education - part 2

Friday's tweetup sponsored by the Edmonton Public Teachers Local 37, discussed in part 1, was a definite hit.  The organization created new standards of excellence in how people can become more engaged not only in Education, but also within the community. Patrick Johner added in a comment in part 1, which is quoted below (just in case anyone missed reading it) that clarifies the two official statements.

Just to clarify for your readers, about the reference of "The first two are official statements that our total membership agreed to last year." This refers to two of Local 37's Public Vision Statements. They are stated below for easy reference:


By 2012 the Edmonton Public Teachers Local will be:
1. A leader in promoting member (Teachers) engagement in the Local, the ATA and the COMMUNITY.
2. A respected voice that advocates for policies that address issues, trends, and conditions affecting public education.

Now that you are up to speed on the previous post, I think that it is important for readers to know that Education and Community were definitely discussed!  The gathering of people was impressive, and folks sat in various little groups carrying on their own discussions.  I was centered between two groups, listening to words from @stolenfire and @Tamara_Stecyk on my right..and @ChemCath and @britl on my left. There were also a few others in the two groups that I didn't get to know. (No one knows this about me until now, but I had measles as a kid, and my left ear was infected and the inner ear was destroyed, making "dual conversations" difficult for me at times.)

What really caught my interest, and what I wanted to bring up in this post, was the conversation I had with ChemCath.  It evolved around the idea of what kids today know... or maybe more importantly do NOT know, and I have to wonder why.  We talked about many things, such as community involvement, parents, camping, cooking, exams, and learning.  Our children for the most part, have lost the art of many of these topics.  The chances of these kids knowing about sifting flour, making dough, baking... are pretty much zilch.  The kids have been saying they know little about camping, etc, and I wonder why these family type events don't happen like they used to when I was growing up.  Unless they have a calculator, the mental math skills seem lacking, and they don't seem to know how to survive without electronics.

We also had a good talk about exams, and the NEED to have written answers instead of everything being multiple choice.  Unless our children can explain HOW they got the answer, we will never really know if they truly understand the question.  Yes, it takes more time to mark those types of questions, and we seem to be leading towards making things easier for the teachers.  With all due respect, this is the WRONG reason to remove written answers in exams.

As I write this, with twitter opened in the background, a very timely comment appeared from @DaveHancockMLA at 10:07 AM... "Students say they learn best by seeing and doing".  I can't agree more, so my question is... When will teachers be allowed to do what they do best.  Are we SO caught up in the minuscule finances, that we can't re-organize structure to allow the teachers to teach, and the children to learn?

There were several groups I didn't have the time to sit in with, the time went by SO fast.  Sadly, there were also a few people I didn't introduce myself to (shame on me) and for that I deeply apologize.  So many people were there, so many discussions going on...  Perhaps a "suggested format" for future tweetups might be something along the lines of the 'speed dating' concept, where people can get into groups of 4 or 6, and then after 20 minutes or so 1/2 of the group can move to another.  I admit, it is a rather insane concept to try, especially when you get such quality discussions going on like those of this event, you just don't want to break away!

A New Way of Education

On Friday, May 14th 2010, something new happened in Edmonton.  At least, I think it was new. According to a tweet from Walter (@fusedlogic on twitter), he is not aware of an event like this either.  So what was so earth shattering, so new, so un-tried?

Some might say "nothing".  Unlike the famous line from a 1967 movie called Cool Hand Luke ... "What we have here is a failure to communicate", was an organization stepping UP to the plate by sponsoring a tweetup.  (For those not aware, a "tweetup" is generally an informal gathering of people, usually from twitter and friends, where lots of coffee is consumed, and huge amounts of talking happens.)  And who were the hero's?  A group of people with the forethought to see and use the power of Social Media, to get engaged and provide a means and a place to communicate.

The group might surprise you, for clearly they are not "big business" looking to promote their wares.  The agenda was simple... just come on out, have a good time, and talk.  No stage, no speakers... just people.  Yes, this event was sponsored by the Edmonton Public Teachers - Local 37 (@EdPubTeachers on twitter).  Again, one would think that this was no big deal... but then one would be wrong.  The amount of effort it took to arrange this was no simple task!  Quoted below, with permission from @Patrick_Johner..

Edmonton Public Teachers- Local 37 is a democratically elected group of volunteers that are all teachers (example - classroom teachers, consultants, principals, etc). The Local voted to pay and host the tweetup for a few reasons. The first two are official statements that our total membership agreed to last year. But in a direct and very real way the teachers who sat on the committee that supported my request for $ realized that there parents, community people, advocacy groups, who can see the importance of allowing a grass roots citizenry activity that would allow all of us to engage in some dialogue that was not institutional, or political....BUT real. Allowing us to listen to each others idea, opinions, questions, concerns, stories, etc that was neutral.

Patrick went on to say

As well, we wanted to help inform the social media community that our local has become a part of social media, to develop community networks for people who care about our community in many areas. Not just in education.  I believe so deeply in our community being a sustainable one for all our citizens. Maybe we helped a few feel they can get involved, and feel more empowered to get involved. I know I do.

Now that's what I'm talking about!  Not only did this group of people, this organization... have the desire to do things better, they also went above and beyond what any other tweetup has done before.  They supplied not only a most impressive array of food (buffet cold plate style) but also refreshments, including a glass of wine!  At no cost.

While there was no "requirement" to discuss education issues, the desire by the people attending was clear.  Education problems, goals, the things that worked that we need to do more of, and the things that don't work and need fixed... were definitely the major focal point in the various chats I was having with several of the people there.

I came away with new insight, new determination, new friends... but most importantly, I can "feel" the need to get more involved, and to stay involved.  I could go on for literally hours, in writing this blog. But I know most of you will never put the time into reading everything.  So with that said, I will close this by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to the teachers and individuals from Local 37. You have the wisdom to see the future, a better future, not only for the children... but for the communities that you deal in.  You understand that as an organization, your need to be involved is critical. And in my opinion, what you achieved in last nights tweetup was a complete success.

Bare Naked Ladies in Edmonton

BNL is on a most massive road trip right now, and from looking at their list of shows one can only guess at how tiring and stressful this will be for them.  As I write this, they are preparing to perform in Vancouver, after playing in Edmonton, with previous locations in the last few days for Regina, Saskatoon, Las Vegas, Calgary and Victoria (April 6th to 14th).  All I can say is they must have an awesome road crew!  With that said...

Ed Robertson (shown here in an illegally taken picture from last nights performance) and crew (Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart) did their "best" to wow the crowd as best as possible.  As best as one could be, minus the exceptional talents of Steven Page.  Yes, we know Steven was a bad boy.  Yes, we know at the time that BNL was concentrating on doing their "kids release" and it made it difficult to keep him around.  As a side note, I think that most people would probably presume that any rock and roll type band is doing some form of drugs from time to time. And I have to say that if we can "forgive" others who have done bad things, then I would suggest that the band may want to look at asking him back.

Getting to see the band, was a challenge that came about within the twitter community.  I simply love groups who are starting to embrace this form of Social Media (check out the BNL Twitter page here) and I was in a state of awe, as I read two of the tweets sent by them. These two tweets are quoted below:

Thx to everyone that played. Dn't forget to upload ur videos + pictures you take at the show and tag them so they can be seen on bnl.com (5:50 PM Apr 9th via TweetDeck )

Go to the link for your show here http://bit.ly/dvYkwJ to find out how to tag them so they can be shared (5:53 PM Apr 9th via TweetDeck )

Like many of you, one of the things you really want, is to have those "memories" of having been-there-and-done-that type of thing. And to have a band saying what they did... well... blissful is the word that comes to mind!  But wait!  Arriving at the Jube you were greated by signs saying that no recording or picture taking was allowed!  I asked one of the ticket takers what the scoop was, and even mentioned that BNL had said they wanted to see the pics and videos... and was emphatically told "no way".  And of course, during their performance, you could see the security staff literally running up and down the aisles, getting folks to stop taking those pics etc.  Well, I came "camera ready", but it was impossible to really use it because I had to keep the camera lcd screen close to my chest to stop the glare (this is what security was watching for), which meant I could not focus, and had to do my 'best guess' at where the lens was point.  This makes for bad memories, not good ones.  I just don't understand why this no-picture policy is in place.  After all, we all want our memories and we all did pay the price to be there.

Um, ok, so.. I lied. Not everyone paid-the-price. And that's because BNL was doing ticket give aways using twitter.  From following the BNL timeline, you could see what they were going to ask, and knew their tweet would be coming the day before the next performance.  So, I watched.. and waited... and waited... AND waited. Finally, there came the following: (I just happened to be in both tweetdeck and on their twitter webpage, when I refreshed the web page, this appeared)

Here we go: first five people to respond to this tweet with #BNLEdmontonTix gets a pair of tix (7:13 PM Apr 13th via TweetDeck )

So the natural response was to just re-tweet it... after all, isn't that a "response"?  Well, I was the first person to respond, and I waited and waited. But I got nothing. :(  A note to those who read this, BNL does not deem this as a response! So if you are looking to win tickets for your area do NOT re-tweet it because you will not win!
 
Thankfully, I was also tweeting with GuitarKat and somehow along the way, a person from South Carolina (sumrthyme) picked up on things, and also had tweeted back to BNL about the tickets, and actually ended up winning a pair.  She was trying to get them for friends in Vancouver, and didn't quite realize that Vancouver and Edmonton were not as close as she thought, and offered them to GuitarKat, who then suggested that I would be more interested. Well, bless GuitarKat, and bless sumrthyme. Thanks to both of those folks, those tickets were passed on to me.  I so love social media!
 
Ok, so now you folks reading this are clued in about winning tickets... but, what about the actual performance?  The opening warmup was done very nicely by Joel Plaskett, followed by a short break before BNL performed. The Bare Naked Ladies kind of rocked.  I mean, it was "good". But I was disappointed.  The following review posted in the Edmonton Journal entertainment section pretty much sums it up, at least for me.
 
To Ed, Jim, Kevin, Tyler... and especially to your road crew... I love you guys.  But I'd love it a bit more if you used the twitter social media a bit better, and if you brought back Steven. :)  As another side note, the videos I got were obviously terrible, considering the cirumstances I was trying to perform under, but I have other... ummm.. sources... and I will be looking at those to hopefully provide some better pics and maybe some videos.

School Closures

I have been following the school closure issue with some interest, albeit not nearly as much as I should. The latest article in the Edmonton Journal dated April 12th has some very interesting reading, including the comments posted from people.  From the 'twitter' side of things, I have been quite fond of the job that Sue Huff has been doing (you can read her blog and follow her on twitter) and her ability to think out-of-the-box has been most impressive.  With all due respect to her fellow trustees, many of them should be looking to Sue to learn some insight and lessons.

With that said, the politics of the school system really needs to be fixed.  It has been said that the formulas used are out of date, but what really kills me is the (paraphrased) "oh we can't do anything until the system changes so we are bound by law to do it this way" crap.  You, the trustees, are supposed to be there to think, and not to just rubber stamp things. One of the comments posted within the Journal at 3:25 pm on April 10th says

Seems to me that seven rubber stamps costs less than 140 bucks, so why are we paying in excess of 300 grand?

and I have to agree with that, to a point.  Now, I am certainly no expert, but one would tend to think that a fair amount of the "wasted" school spaces can be leased out to all sorts of worthwhile entities, such as day care, community services, etc.  Just because the current rules say "this" should not be an indication of what you should be doing, especially when it's obvious the rules are flawed.  Take a stance, say to the public and to the Government "these rules ARE flawed, and we refuse to make decisions based on errors".

From what I can see, there are only 2 trustees that are interested in really doing the job, the rest seem to be just along for the ride.  Which is really very sad for the children.

Pardon me?

There has been a LOT of comments and discussions about the recent news of the pardon given to Graham James, who was convicted of sexual assault back in 1997.  The latest 'tiff' seems to be coming from the Prime Ministers office, as reported in this Edmonton Journal article dated April 6th, 2010.

Rather than getting into the specifics of this particularly nasty offense, let's look more at what the purpose of a pardon is, and when they should be allowed or not allowed.

If you have been convicted of a crime, then the law states that after 5 years from the end of your sentence, you can apply for a pardon.  This effectively "seals" your conviction away from the public eyes, and it allows for the person to get back to leading and living the proverbial "normal life".  And in simple terms, this is a good thing.  After all, lots of people make stupid mistakes and deserve the chance to put it in the past. No one wants that mistake to hound them until the end of time.

The real issue here, is what types of offenses should qualify for a pardon, and how many other convictions does the person have? Clearly, some crimes (and even more so some criminals, especially those with multiple convictions) should have much more stringent conditions to determine if a pardon is to be allowed.  Perhaps crimes need to be grouped into "types", where some will never qualify, and others will be allowed if you have been a "good person" for 15 years, or 10, or 5.

This is just another example where the old ways and outdated laws have not kept up with the times. Add in that the court system is so seriously flawed where the Letter of the Law allows the entire concept of Justice to fly out the window, it begs for some serious work to be done by both provincial and federal levels.  The current Canadian Government has done nothing more than provide lip service in this area, and it is up to the people of Canada to send a strong message that words mean nothing, and that taking action to clean up the legal system to bring Justice back is needed now more than ever.