Cognitive Surplus

Cognitive Surplus is when people use their time, talent and media tools to create and share ideas that have benefit for both the creator and society as a whole.   It is the ability of people in the world to work collaboratively to work on projects that could have large global implications.  When this is done, these projects can bring awareness to subjects that may have previously gone unnoticed by the mainstream population. These types of works need to be “supported, celebrated and rewarded” so that those who wish to create will continue to do so. 

When we create and share and or give time or the ideas for those who do these kinds of works, it benefits all of us. As a leader, I need to do more supporting of this.  I have teachers on my campus who have strong instructional practices, or have designed curriculum that would benefit others.  I need to give more time for these ideas to develop and give opportunities for others to see this good teaching for themselves.  People like to be praised by their peers and people will experiment/ try something new when it is modeled and they see it can be done with kids who look like theirs.  Creating opportunities for this to happen is key with shrinking budgets for subs- but maybe if the work being offered is enticing enough, they will come to see it if offered on a minimum prep day.

Filter Bubbles

Filter Bubbles:

There are both good and bad points about the filtering of information done by the algorithmic formulas on the internet.  The fact that “Big Brother” is watching to see what I click on and then tailors what I see next is beneficial- but at the same time kind of disturbing. 

One personal example that I can think of is how I found my daughter’s last preschool.  I know that I was looking to move her from her current baby sitter to a more traditional school setting. Some of the topics that I searched were for nannies and preschools.  I remember putting in my zip code when I searched.  I searched a few days and when I was doing some kind of search- not for preschool- down in the left corner of the page was an ad for Kids Depot.  I generally don’t look at ads purposefully, but I noticed this one probably because it was in my need of reference. I did something I normally don’t do. I clicked on it, read the information and ended up going for a tour of the school.  After watching the video, the internet formula worked well for me.  I found what I needed  and it lead me down the tunnel for where I wanted to go.  This is good.

On the other hand, what information am I missing based on my clicking patterns?  Sometimes I read the news to see what’s happening in the world, and sometimes I want to know what my current addiction reality show personality might be doing.  So based on this, my news might be skewed?  I’m not pleased with that aspect.  My mindless pleasure (sometimes I need a break from the textbooks)  should not determine what information I receive.  There needs to be some balance, and I would like to somehow have a little more control over this.

Invictus Assignment

View the movie with an eye on Nelson Mandela's style of leadership as he works to bring his country together. Be prepared to discuss how Mandela's used disruption As a catalyst for change.

Quote from a newspaper in a scene from the movie:  “He can win an election, but can he run a country?”

Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned for 27 years for trying to have democratic freedoms for all South Africans.  During this time, he could have become bitter or worn down by his experiences in the prison. Instead, he chose to use this time to learn about the people who imprisoned him in order to understand their language, habits, thinking, wants and needs.  This knowledge would serve him well as he became president of South Africa in 1994.

He could have used his power to enact revenge on his captors and the White South Africans who denied rights to the Black South Africans.  In fact, I think most of the Whites expected him to do so.  In the film, after he became president he did several things to interrupt the thought pattern for both Blacks and Whites about how he should act as the newly elected leader.  He gathered the remaining incumbent staff and told them that they were welcome, that he needed and wanted their help and that by doing so, that they would be of great service to their country.  He also told them that he expected them to work with a good heart and to the best of their abilities. 

President Mandela led by example.  He stated that reconciliation would start immediately and took steps to show that this was true. He had both black and white members on his security team and made sure that they were visible. 

He, too, was visible at popular functions that the locals enjoyed such as rugby matches.  Mandela could have dismantled the national rugby team, changed their name and colors- but didn’t do any of this.  Instead, he used the team as a focal point for bringing the country together. Mandela also set a goal of winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup for South African and enlisted the help of Francois Pienaar (captain of the team).  Rugby was a sport that was played by both the black and white people of the country.  At the beginning of the film, the Black South Africans would cheer for anyone, but the country’s team- the Springbok- as they represented the oppressive leadership before Mandela took office.  By the end of the movie, some of the racial tensions were beginning to lessen.  People such as Mandela’s cabinet, his security team and some of the political groups who had distinct thoughts about what the president was doing and why he was “catering” to the whites and the Springbok team eventually came around.

Mandela’s beliefs that everyone has the ability to change the world by acting (or not acting), that all must exceed their own expectations and inspire others to greatness by the work they do was threaded throughout his actions in the film. His ability to know what he wanted and be able to stay on his course for achieving this goal was admirable.  It would have been so easy to give in to those around him who were not in favor of working together with whites in order to create a lasting change for the country.  He was able to do this by holding back the resentment that I’m sure he must have felt, making allies of former enemies and showing the change that he expected to see in others.

Drive assignment

Discuss a time when you’ve seen one of the seven deadly flaws of carrots and sticks in action. What lessons might you or others learn from the experience? Have you seen instances when carrots and sticks have been effective.







We currently have a Caught Being Good award system at our site.  If a teacher sees a behavior we want to encourage, they can give the child a slip that has the child's name, grade and classroom.  This slip then goes into a tub from which names a re pulled out each day.  If your name is pulled out, you can get a prize from the principal's prize box.  This system has good points and bad points.  Some students are thrilled that they have received a slip and have been recognized.  Most of these students probably would do these good deeds anyway without expecting any type of reward. For other students, I'm not seeing the same result.  These children ask if they pick up a piece of trash, or do their homework can they get a caught being good slip.  That's not really the point of the system.  These good deeds are part of what it is to be a good citizen at our school.  I wonder if this system for some works the opposite, just like what is stated in the book.  This isn't how real life works.  As adults, most of us don't expect someone to give us something tangible just because we do something kind for our community or for others.  I tend to put a name in the box for students who offer to help without asking for something in return.   I make sure that I put the reason why and read it if their name is called during morning announcements. Then it's a surprise for them. I go back and forth about this type of recognition system.  If our kids always expect a pat on a back whenever they do something courteous or that is well within their job description- they may be looked down upon by future acquaintances or employers.


I have sen carrots and stick systems work when it is done sparingly- like a contest.  For example, I wanted all of the federal survey cards back by a certain date two years ago.  I mean 100% of the cards back.  Our school is a uniform school and I don't give very many free dress days.  So I got on the PA system and stated that if we got all of the cards back, by " Date x", the whole school would get free dress the following Friday.  It worked, although, I still think the kids should have brought them back- just because.

As you think about your own best work, what aspect of autonomy has been most important to you? Autonomy over what you do (task), when you do it (time), how you do it (technique), or with whom you do it (team)? Why? How much autonomy do you have at work right now? Is it enough? 

I would say that at this time I would say autonomy with team is pretty important.  I have seen both as a classroom teacher and now as an administrator how important it is to work with people who have the similar goals, expectations, work ethic, and sense of responsibility and accountability to name a few things.  Unless you open a newly constructed school, most site principals do not get to choose who they work with when they come to a site.  There are different camps at a school- those who will go along with most ideas, those who can go with the majority, and those who make things difficult no matter what the idea is.  It makes what should be the simplest task excrutiating.  I do have some autonomy when I get to interview, however, lately it seems like Human Resources is just placing people at sites to get them off of their rolls- no matter if it is a fit to the school site or not. It is really difficult to move someone from your school site once they are there unless they decide to move themselves through post and bid processes.  Right now, I would say my team is my biggest challenge and I do not have much say over it as most were there when I got there and the out of the 8 moves that have happened during my tenure, I've only got to interview for one of them, the rest were placed.  Some have been great additions, others are taking a lot of work.  Nice people, but not fitting with either the school or neighborhood culture, lacking the teaching rigor needed in classrooms- it makes things challenging. At times, I feel like I'm spending a lot of time managing adult issues based upon the concerns I have listed above.  Contracts are alive and well in our district, and it's very difficult to move people unless they want to move.  Some flexibility in this would be good, although I'm not sure how to do this without it being seen as retaliatory in most cases.

Learning in New Media Video

Very intriguing video. I thought that his reference to how the census changed the way people acted and the process actually changed the culture was powerful; and once these changes begin to happen, everything changes and people can't "opt out". Some of the ways the village and villagers changed were: names became more formalized, the blueprint of the housing layout was modified, the way people interacted and resolved conflict changed as well. It was astounding and a little scary to see how quickly these changes in people and around the village people happened- not over a generation, but within a few years. The way they dealt with each other, their relationships changed. This had been an integral part of their way of life and the new process of census taking changed it.

This makes me think about life before computers and smart phones. I remember when I used to have to be tethered to my home or campus dorm room in order to type on my typewriter/word processor. Now I can bring my smaller and more powerful laptop anywhere. I can communicate just about instantaneously when I need to do so. Work time and leisure time used to have more of a separation, but now, we can work from almost anywhere. People can reach each other anytime- which has both benefits and drawbacks. I think because the lines of work and home time have been blurred, that at times these relationships suffer. I also think that some of our young people who may have never experienced being out of this technology all around us life may have difficulty with person to person relationships, collaboration and just knowing what to do with "down time" or being with one's self.

Alternatively, our young people can be very adept in gathering information and working quickly through tasks, we as educators just need to get out of our comfort zones of the lecture style of instruction, get used to the learning talk (versus a quiet classroom) and give students the chance to do some meaningful, thought provoking projects that require them to look at a problem, research it, work together, come up with a well thought out solution and present it in a meaningful and creative way via technology and or written/oral methods. One of my grade levels is starting a research unit. I introduced an alternative form of presenting the information by doing a digital story. The reception was very positive from three out of the four teachers. The last teacher is very traditional and couldn't quite wrap her head around deviating from the regular oral report. We're working on it, though. I think if we do some modeling for her, she will be less anxious about this possibility.

Visitor or Resident

As far as the visitor and resident article goes, I would consider myself a visitor.  I definitely do not live for an extended period of time online- and I don't have a huge identity on it.  I mainly use the technology as a means to an end- to find out information, purchase something I want, pay bills and yes, occasionally keep up with friends and family.  It's not how I  prefer to keep in contact with friends.  I am using Skype an blogs more and more- am seeing how twitter may be used as a tool to communicate efficiently and quickly- but I still have the privacy issues. I did begin a school Edmodo site last week. I plan to use it to have all of our school information on it (calendar, bulletin, upload articles/bulletins, etc)- but I guess that is still using technology as a means to an end.... Not sure I'll ever reach resident status.