Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this up from the library after attending uber-librarian Buffy Hamilton's presentation at a tech educator's conference (video here): http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com... where she discusses the possibilities for enchantment in the library. *Enchantment* is defined here as something that "causes a voluntary change of hearts and minds...transforming situations and relationships." This is basically a business book of the "how to persuade" variety written by venture capitalist and former Apple fellow Guy Kawasaki. Particularly of interest for me is the concept of "push" and "pull" technologies, i.e., bringing your story to people, and bringing people to your story; and tidbits like "underpromise and overdeliver."



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PS 63 Tech Team

Technology Development with PS 63 Teachers.  We are adopting and practicing new tools to use with students, including podcasting and moviemaking, as well as developing a plan to infuse technology into all areas of the curriculum.  Sarah Benis Scheier-Dolberg, from the Urban Education Leaders Program @ Teachers College, is consulting with our team, as well as leading workshops for the whole staff.

ISTE 2011

I had the privilege of attending my first ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference in Philadelphia. Having had a few days to recuperate, I'm settling in with my notes (I used the Penultimate app on my iPad to quickly scribe my notes) for review. There were so many tools and--more important--ideas to mull over. For now, I offer a precis of the sessions I attended:

Opening keynote: Dr.



What will I take back to school in 2011-12? I recently read a piece called How To Make Planning for Next Year Fun on an edutopia blog, wherein the author suggests going through your notes and circling the items that seem like they'd be really fun. "Go with the topics that make you feel tingly," she advises.Well, I'm sure there will be no shortage of these.



June 10, 2011. Last night Mat (kindergarten teacher) and I attended Teq's (the SMART Board people) "Innovation Celebration," which showcased new products, e.g., a wheelchair-accessible SmartBoard and a SMART Table (which we have in our library). They also presented videos recognizing the achievements of schools that are using SMART and other technology devices to enhance learning. We left feeling inspired to create more interactive learning activities for our students.


The Library has been closed a lot these past weeks, causing much disappointment among the students , and I am sorry for this. However, this has been a season of rich professional development that will be, in the long run, passed on to the school community.