Category Archives: Blog Post

Answers are Truly no Better than Questions

Stated more clearly — the answers you have are limited to the quality of the questions you asked.

This is a way bigger deal than we think.

Huge sign says Society for Asking Stupid Questions. Customer asks

You see… Our culture, our institutions, and our educational system all teach us that it’s very important to have the right answers. The people with the right answers are the powerful ones.

Well, there’s a big hitch in that equation. Having the right answers to stupid questions still leaves you with stupid answers.

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Hacking my Productivity

I just responded to Tomis’ post in his Agile Learning Center blog about how his time and work is structured. It’s a part of his own practice in the Learning Cycle we talk about in ALCs (Intend –> Create –> Reflect –> Share).  So he’s reflecting on his work and sharing what he’s seeing so others can learn from it and be connected to him in his process.

I’m also trying to tune my work practices a bit, and have a new hack that I just responded to him about, so following his lead, I’m also going to share it here.  Besides, I need a place I can put the actual image. 🙂
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Those Kids and Their Darn Gadgets (grumble…grumble)

I consistently hear these sorts of complaints a lot from parents, grandparents, and random adults on Facebook bemoaning the decline of a sort of basic decency among today’s youth.

  • “Kids today are addicted to being on their damn electronic devices.”
  • “Kids don’t even learn proper spelling or grammar with their stupid text speak.”
  • “Video games and smartphones are like crack for young minds.”
  • “Kids today aren’t learning necessary social skills since they won’t pull their noses out of their devices.”

Most are said by folks who are very well-intentioned, really caring for the kids and wishing the best for them. But I am so sick of hearing this kind of blind and backward obliviousness to what is probably the most important type of skills and literacy for children today.

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Reflections on Convening an ALF Training

[[ cross-posted from ALF Summer 2014]]

Facilitating this fast, intensive, and immersive event has brought surprises both in the form of challenges and blessings.

Our interpersonal bonding and connection happened quickly and pretty effortlessly. The “If you really knew me…” exercise helped us move into a space deep authenticity and vulnerability. The people who missed our first morning seemed less able to be vulnerable with the group for the whole first week.

One challenge we faced was avoiding getting pulled into abstract tangents where people want to solve theoretical problems for imaginary children in some Utopian educational setting. We may have lost about 20% of our group work time to these sidetracks, and I intend to be much more diligent about interrupting those discussions more quickly. Luckily, things moved quickly into actual practice with the kids at the camp, and the abstractions have largely been replaced with actual relationships with children.

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