Everything George Lakoff says here about the importance of framing in our conversations about Climate Change is just as true about the importance of framing in our conversations about Reforming the US Education System.

We’re wasting our breath unless the ways we speak about using Web 2 tools to support informal and formal education connect with people’s fundamental values. Values like truth-telling and practicality and the importance of following our pioneering spirit.

 Authenticity and freedom of choice aren’t “bleeding edge” values. They’re grounded in the very heart-and-soul of what it means to be an American. Doing what works in ways that were easiest for most people to access was at the heart of the original movement to create public education.

What Lakoff has been writing and speaking about for 30 years needs to be applied now to integrate social media into US “classrooms,” whether they’re in public buildings or private homes.  The American way of life is already a polar bear on a fast-melting iceberg in the sea of globalized economics.  Using Web 2 tools to teach and learn can slow down this meltdown…  It’s time to change our thinking about them from “new” to “necessary.”  They are the life preserver we’re throwing ourselves.  

(cc) Roger Jones

For too long learners have been let down by the way they’ve  been taught math.

In fact, a lack of math proficiency remains one of the biggest single problems shared by learners across the globe, regardless of country.

Sarah Bartram is an online teaching pioneer who is making a difference for hundreds of learners who are fed up and reaching out for help with math - online.

An out-of-the-box thinker, it’s not too surprising that Sarah has chosen to teach online. But it is interesting that her passion and commitment to teaching developed OUTSIDE the expected teachers’college.

Yes, you read that right.

While Sarah is college trained, she is not a “certified” teacher. Instead, she is a woman with a sheer love of mathematics, a person who enjoys helping people understand and solve math problems they find too challenging to solve on their own.

And she’s made it her business to help them!

Learners LOVE working with Sarah because she makes their needs her #1 priority.

It’s easy to see just HOW MUCH they love working with her, skimming through the hundreds of stellar reviews they have left for her on LivePerson.com.

Basing her work on the belief that everyone can learn math, Sarah uses her online teaching business and her face-to-face tutoring practice to make a very decent living doing exactly what she loves most - teaching mathematics.

(cc) Ben Cummings

How simple can you get?

1. Learners ask for and receive the math help they need.
2. Sarah makes a decent living doing what she loves.
3. Things start turning around for learners - Online.

I invite you to listen to Sarah talk about how she’s doing her part to make a dent in a global problem - that really doesn’t have to be a global problem.

…then I suggest you consider how you might start sharing your teaching passions DIRECTLY with global learners - online.

You don’t have to quit teaching to collect on your education!

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Some people are crazy enough to think they can change things. And then do something about it.

If you don’t try WiZiQ now, you’ll hate yourself later.

Harmon Singh, the 30-year old CEO of WiZiQ, believes the most important thing he can do to support education reform across the globe is to give teachers and learners a feature-rich virtual classroom space where they can meet whenever and wherever they need to. Inside or outside of conventional schools.

Harman also believes that the technology needs to work simply and seamlessly, requiring no downloads on either side of the teaching-learning equation.

And he also believes the cost of using the technology should be affordable to any teacher willing to translate his/her expertise into a virtual arena and share it with a learner.

So, Harman’s development team has made WiZiQ – a free, public system that teachers and learners can access whenever they need to, using any broadband internet connection in the world.

Harman Singh has a big dream, a powerful development team, and strong financial backing.

Hear him talk about what WiZiQ is and why you need to take a look at it today.

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What can YOU imagine teaching in a FREE virtual classroom of your own?

Listening to Mark Cruthers talk about his experience teaching AP History online to a group of homeschoolers, what comes up for you?

If you haven’t yet heard this interview, see previous post to listen: “How to Make an Extra $25,000 A Year Teaching A Few Homeschoolers Online.”

The WizIQ free virtual classroom, Elluminate, Kasamba, Moodle, and the new tutoring environment at LearnHub are opening doors to brand new possibilities for teachers - of all kinds - and learners - of all ages.

We truly CAN teach and learn whatever we want, anywhere and anytime we’re ready.

Some of us want to enjoy this freedom now. But there’s way too much information to decide where to start.

We want reliable tools and strategies that will work for each of us. And we’re different.

I’m recommending that clients use these 9 questions to chart their own best course:

1. What do you want to learn live - and online - with others?

2. What could you teach in a free virtual classroom?

3. What would be the most fun to teach and learn with a group of people with whom you’re not co-located?

4. What might you need to translate about the way you work face-to-face so that you can create a trusting, vital, collaborative learning relationship with others in a virtual classroom or office?

5. What will you need from live teachers and co-learners for you to achieve your best performance?

6. What kind of help do you want navigating collaboratively with others? What would you prefer to explore alone?

7. What other questions come up for you when you think about teaching and learning whatever you want online?

8. Where and how will you evaluate the answers you find?

9. When would now be a good time to start experimenting with some new possibilities?

As you consider these questions, please choose one or more of them and share your thoughts and feelings below using text.

Alternately, you can share your thoughts using your microphone, telephone, or webcam on THIS VOICETHREAD.

Soon, I will convene a live session, using WizIQ, where we can explore our thoughts and share our experiences in this brave new world of live, online teaching and learning.

Watch this space for an announcement of the date and time.

I’m Meri Aaron Walker and I’ve been an independent teacher, trainer, coach, and consultant my entire working life. Over 35 years.

I’ve produced media of all kinds since my first job, writing radio ads for an underground music station in 1967. I’ve been teaching and learning on the internet since before we had Windows or graphical browsers – over 20 years now. And I’ve been studying the emergence of a new, global, digital culture since before the “public” realized what we were creating together using computers.

For my whole adult life, my work has been helping other people get from Point A to Point B faster and less expensively – and more enjoyably - than they could without me.

And, until now, I’ve quite purposefully avoided making a commitment to blogging.

Why?

Bottom line: I was waiting for the rules of engagement online to morph from more and more subtle command-and-control games to fair, two-way exchanges that benefit both parties. From serial monologue to genuine dialogue.

In other words, I was waiting for social networking to start taking hold in business, education and politics.

And it has.

During the latter half of 2007, I watched Web 2.0 shoot past its adolescence into young adulthood. Early in January, 2008, I watched Facebook sponsor and debrief the most substantive political debate I’ve seen in three decades. And, in my own participation in two dozen social networks, I’ve been watching global dialogue accelerate to the point that I can see the best way for me to manage my participation is to open this blog space and host the conversations I want to be in.

So, Ta-DAAAH!

Welcome to MAW’S TOOLBOX – a place for teachers, trainers, coaches and consultants to discover the Web 2 that works for you.

Intention
I intend for MAW’S TOOLBOX to be

1) a place to engage with me and teachers of all kinds who realize the environment for “teaching” and “learning” has definitively changed - in other words, we’re just not in Kansas anymore!

2) a place for people so excited by Web2 tools and strategies that we’re transitioning our careers into online “teaching” businesses

3) a place to share what we’re learning as we connect directly with global learners – anytime and anywhere they need our help – outside conventional systems and conventional “courseware”

4) a place to start turning your expertise into a reliable new source of CA$H for your and your family.

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