Tag Archives: Education

Some of the Coolest School (Community) Programs in Vancouver

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Ok, this is the first time (though likely not the last time) I’m going to toot the horn about my employer the Vancouver School Board. Part of the reason I wanted to write this blog post is because there are some truly amazing little communities existing, in many cases, right below our noses. After five months of sleuthing around the VSB, I’m starting to realize the wide range of programs I’ve been exposed to are only the tip of the iceberg.

So without further adieu, here’s a brief round-up of some of the coolest programs I’ve discovered recently:

Scientist in Residence Program

This school year is off to a busy start with the Scientist in Residence Program. Fifteen Vancouver School District teachers began their collaborative work with seven partner scientists so they can prepare their 341 primary and intermediate students for a scientific experience that’ll give them a firsthand opportunity to see how fun and tangible science can be. Click here to read the full story!

UBC/VSB Transition Program

UBC/VSB Transition Program

Nestled off West Mall in the heart of the University of British Columbia is a small wood-paneled three story building that houses one of the Vancouver School Board’s most dynamic learning environments  – the VSB/UBC Transition Program.

It’s a place whose alumni include the head of Microsoft’s Extreme Programming division, a 20 year old entrepreneur generating millions of venture capital for innovations in electronic communications, and a young Assistant Professor of Philosophy at UBC with a doctorate in Classics from Oxford. The level of accomplishment is palpable. Click here to read the full story.

John Oliver’s Digital Immersion Program

This Revolution will not be Televised!

John Oliver School is on the cusp of a digital revolution engineered by Principal Gino Bondi and a band of tech-savvy teachers. The school’s digital immersion program is one of the first of its kind in British Columbia and administrators and teachers are hopeful it could become the cornerstone for a new innovative style of instruction and learning that will one day become the norm in all Vancouver’s schools. Click here to read more.

 

Alison Atkinson – The Teacher

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Who are you?

I’m a reader, a writer, a Vancouver lifer, a pretty good veggie cook, a yogi, and depending on the day and season, a whole lot of other things.

By day, I work as a high school English teacher. This year, I have grade tens and elevens. We’re using literature and writing to explore crisis and resilience, and prejudice and stereotype.

What do you do for fun?

I have amazing friends, so I spend a lot of time with them. I do a lot of yoga. I read a lot of books. And I try to make the regular stuff, the day to day stuff, fun too.

What is your favorite community? Why?

My favorite community is Camp Fircom, which is a magical place on Gambier Island. I’ve been involved with camp since I was 16 and I’ve seen countless people get to play, make friends, connect to the earth, and fully be themselves. It’s a community that fully embraces imagination, enviromental awareness, and connection – everyone should check it out!

I should also mention my community of best friends here in Vancouver. They are spectacular human beings who have just heaved love on me over the years.

What is your superpower?

My superpower is creating and holding spaces for people to express themselves – be it in the classroom, the yoga studio, or just around the kitchen table.

How do I use it to build community?

When people can feel comfortable and confident on who they are, it’s easier to connect and form community. My dream is to help people be real, take themselves less seriously, and find ways to be creative. From there, community follows.

My Three Favourite Things About Alison Are…

1. Her Smile. It’s very reflective of her superpower. When Alison smiles she reveals her compassion, inclusiveness, sense of humour, and also that she kinda already knows what’s going to happen and/or what you’re going to say next. People who are very comfortable in their own skin have such a wonderful way of making those around them feel the same way.

2. She’s Candidly Direct. The world needs more straight-shooters. As the newest member of the Circle of Literary Judgement, it would be easy for Alison to agree with the collective opinion of what is a pretty outspoken and opinionated group of judgers – but that’s not how she rolls and it’s just lovely. Being a good teacher means being able to criticise without offending and Alison has this powerful skills in spades.

3. Sense of Adventurous Community. Her work with Camp Fircom – and how she collaborates with friends and fellow volunteers to creatively connect people to the natural environment is the best kind of stuff. The eloquence and passion with which Alison speaks of this experience is reflective of someone with difference-making abilities and I’m lucky to call her a friend.

- As told by John Horn

Travellers: Consider Yourself Labeled

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Labels are bad. But then again, we love them. Oh, do we ever love them. Without labels we couldn’t classify things and fit them into the hierarchy. Everything has a stepped grading system of better and worse. How else would we know how to value things? Hmm? And don’t get all Zen on me and say that all things are equal. If that were true I’d buy a vintage Harley for the same price as a used Piaggo. They’re not the same thing.

After a recent hiatus from the Daily Gumboot in the south of France, I embarked on a wee trip in Western Europe. What I saw? The hierarchy of travellers. Now this isn’t necessarily how I see it, but wow do travellers love to grade themselves.

For those status oriented people (meaning, most of us), let’s start with the lowest on the food-chain:

Pre-packaged Group Tours: The Tourists

“Now everyone please get off the bus. Anyone need a bathroom? Plug in your radio headsets and tune into channel #1, because we’re the best tour group in Paris! [waits for laugh]. Versailles was built by blah, blah, blah…please try and stay with the group everyone  —”

And the group checks off their list of tourist sites like a dabber on a foreign bingo card , The Louvre = B3, Eiffel Tower = G46, etc. This group flies in to see 12 cities in 10 days, by bus, talking with nary one local person, then jets back home. Typically between in the older of travellers, these groupsters will finsih their travels with hundreds of pictures and videos as proof of presence, and a garage sale’s worth of Union Jack coffee mugs and Mona Lisa keychains.

Bonus points for: number of pictures taken, number of stars on hotel, horror stories about hotels and airports, darkness of suntan, and full bingo card.

ALSO INCLUDED IN THE TOUR GROUP: resort resters, hotel tv-watchings vacationers, and timer-sharers isolationists.

The Young and the Dirty: The Backpackers

“You can totally save 20€ if you sleep on the train, or just sleep at the airport. I did Prague and just stayed out all night. No, I was just there for a few days, but it was awesome. Not as, like, open as Amsterdam, but cool. I’m totally going to Barcelona next. You can’t leave without doing Spain. Oh man, check out that tour…man, those people don’t see anything.”

This group spends between 1-6 months with rail passes and newly purchased behemoth bags, hiking boots, bandanas, and moneybelts hopping from city to city with other backpackers. They will “do” 16 cities which will serve as the backdrop for their mind-opening experiences they’ll talk about for years to come. Hostels and sex, you will find them in either a haze of drunkenness or hangover. Sure they go to the same museums as the tour groups, but they tend to smell worse and their cameras are smaller.

Bonus points for: dreadlocks, braided beards, number of flags on backpack, not having Lonely Planet in hand at bus station, and the possession of Moleskin notebooks full of ticket stubs.

ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS GROUP: post-university mates hitting up the world before “real life starts,” people searching for something (most often getting away from something), thrill seekers who prefer the thrill of beaten paths but sound exotic, and introductory globetrotters

Life Experiencers: Exchange Students and Volunteers

“I know it’s the best Indian restaurant around, but they just don’t do the spices right here. Hawaii is great, but the nothing tops the surf in Oz. He’s cute, but you should’ve seen Raphael in Milano. Of course I speak fluent Spanish…oh, I don’t understand that, I learned in Madrid.  Sorry, I can’t come tonight I have to go to my capoeira class.”

For a semester or a year, these students of the world pack their books and laptops and head out to have their rite of passage experience of a lifetime.   With incredible opportunity to truly immerse themselves into the culture and enrich their lives with a first-hand look at living histories this group of travellers unfortunately performs minimum scholastic or actual volunteer work.  Yes, they have a few local friends, can tell the difference between a Bavarian and Belgian brew, and have developed a solid distaste for tourists and backpackers. They may have lived with a local family, can speak the language at a decent level, and have opinions on why the country is like that.  Much like the backpackers there is a lot of partying, but sometimes includes local parties.

Bonus points for: having local friends/boyfriend/girlfriend, speaking language, less-travelled-to or more-difficult-to-say-countries are better, more time spent away = more bragging rights

ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS GROUP: do-gooders who tend to spend more time at Big Milly’s Backyard than their “boring” volunteer project, high school and university students looking for foreign fun away from watchful eyes of parents, intermediate globetrotters

Expatriates to the Rescue (and Michael Ignatieff)

“I have to wake-up at 4am to be sure I can talk with Seoul and get specs by the ends of the day. I just wish the property values here would go up before we sell and go back home. The bureaucracy is terrible, it’s really incredible, but the health care system is so much better. I think the money’s about the same, but you just can’t get the same ________ back home, which makes it totally worthwhile.”

Foreign assignments, contracts with overseas companies, working from home anywhere in the world, this jet-setting group is monstrous. 3 million Canadians overseas right now. Expats, they like to call themselves.  Michael Ignatieff was one before he tried to become the prime minister.  You’ll find them at the Irish pub watching whatever sport doesn’t air on local television, excessive time on the internet talking with friends back home, and speak with a certain authority about their host country, as cultural/political/social interpreters that are basically experts in this esoteric field. This group complains about all the lower classes of travellers because they usually make their home culture look brutish and stupid to the locals. They don’t do “touristy” things because it’s beneath them.

Bonus points for: being married to a local, having children with said local, having local friends, using correctly strange and subtle slang and cultural jokes, knowing the “best” places to do anything touristy for visitors, and having a super-cool job that doesn’t exist at home.

Emigrants are just Immigrants in Reverse

It was brought to my attention that people who move across borders aren’t always travellers.  There are people who actually move overseas…for good!  Since an emigrant (or conversely, immigrant) are not really travellers but rather residents, I thought I’d leave them out, like the government tends to do. It’s actually a whole can of worms that I’d really rather not open.  And then there are all those politics and power and integration and problems, problems, problems to address. I think I’ll just stick to the nice, easy, privileged people who travel for fun and bum around the world under the guise of becoming worldly. They’re a far easier target.

In Conclusion…

So where does this leave us in understanding the movement of people around the world? It tells us that hierarchy certainly exists and that travellers love it like everyone else. So many people want to feel superior to others. No, we shouldn’t all live overseas for years just to prove we’re better than your friend Jim who did his PhD research in Belize.

Yes, tourism has real inherent problems. That doesn’t mean we all stay at home either. People should just stop being such jerks about how their experience is better than someone else’s. That’s the moral here. So grow up and enjoy travelling already.

Oh, and if your city attracts tourists, makes you millions of dollars, perhaps consider a halt to complaining about the tourists?

My friend Iain hates platitudes, but really this is a situation of “it is what it is.”

Leaving a Job & Building Connections – Part 2

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Previously on Lost in this series:

  • We avoided self-righteous indignation
  • We said nice things to people
  • Locke totally isn’t Locke, he’s the smoke thing OMG AMIRITE!!1!ONE1!

Ahem… Focus

Part Two

Put on your blinders and blinkers boys and girls.

One Track Mind

Maintaining focus during the wrap-up period is one of the most difficult, and most important, parts of successfully leaving a job.

As much as it’s tempting to start taking it easy and wind down to the last day, actually cranking it up is by far the better option.

The reason for this is twofold:

  1. You won’t look back with any guilt over your last few weeks or days.
  2. You’ll leave with a much stronger foundation for your reputation.

You won’t be able to complete everything, and what you can’t complete will need to be handed off.

With that in mind get a notepad and pen, and keep it with you 24/7. A notepad is simple, reliable, and perhaps because of it’s lack of wifi, one of the best ways to keep yourself focused.

Out of Focus

FOCUS!

Starting at the front make lists of projects and how you’ll finish them off or at least prepare them for the next person. Starting at the back, write down a tips list for your replacement.

A good list of tips and lessons learned will be invaluable to your replacement, or replacements if your work is being spread across several positions.

On your second to last day go through that notepad. Transcribe the tips, and make a special note providing brief details for projects you just couldn’t complete or prepare for handing-off.

You’ll have kept yourself focused, and left a solid foundation for both the person(s) taking over your position, and your reputation. Much like the tips from the first post in this series, it’s all about building your professional network the right way. You’ll probably meet your colleagues again, do it as friends and mutual admirers.

Redefining the Classroom Community

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"Where is my professor? Oh, doing research. I guess that's pretty cool..."

"Where is my professor? Oh, doing research. I guess that's pretty cool..."

Whatever happened to well-rounded, liberal arts education? Like my friend and colleague, Margaret Wente, I was  lucky enough to have one at Bishop’s University. In a September 24, 2009 article in The Globe and Mail, Ms. Wente outlined the terrible state of our Canadian universities, which, according to her, do not engage students, employ grad students as peasant-instructors to teach kids (instead of professors) in classrooms packed with hundreds of students, and prefer multiple choice tests instead of essays or other creative mediums through which students can express themselves. Ms. Wente argues that, because universities are so research-based and no longer about creatively engaging students, professors don’t spend enough time in the classroom actually teaching students. “Their job is now done by an itinerant class of ill-paid academic serfs, who cobble together a living teaching sessional courses as they strive to churn out yet another scholarly article that might help them land a steady job,” says Wente. That quote goes out to my dear friend Jim, who is a graduate “serf” at York University and will soon embark on an adventure of serfdom as a sessional instructor. Or he’ll change the world through the movement of active history. I kinda hope it’s the latter, as the world needs more social enterprize carried out by historians.

Sadly, the vast majority of professors in the vast majority of universities are stuck and marred in an educational paradigm of the nineteenth-century. Here is a Vision of Students Today.

In another unfortunate turn of events, The Ubyssey (UBC’s student newspaper) uncovered an interesting fact about teaching evaluations at the university. It turns out, they don’t really matter and the evaluations themselves are horribly flawed. Here’s a sample from the article: “For starters, only professors who consent to disclosure will have their ratings made available to students. Standardized questions, called University Module Item (UMI) questions, appear on every evaluation form. Only results from the UMI questions are released with no student comments attached.” For the record, Bishop’s University doesn’t publish evaluations unless the professor releases them; and my student experience in the History department is idyllically similar to that of Ms. Wente’s. Such a huge problem, though. And where’s the accountability, academic superstars of Canada? Needless to say, our obsession with research-based universities – combined with our inability to properly evaluate the lack of student engagement in the classroom – is failing the young people who come to Canada to learn. Did you know that the University of Manitoba only graduates 56% of its students? I didn’t either. But that’s fairly deplorable.

A hilarious flow chart assembled by Paul Bucci and Kyrstin Bain at The Ubyssey

A hilarious flow chart assembled by Paul Bucci and Kyrstin Bain at The Ubyssey

Interested in making your classroom a community instead of an unaccountable research-ocracy? Here are some strategies to try out:

Edutainment: the concept of edutainment combines performance with learning; basically, make the classroom a fun place to be. Use YouTube. Play games. Talk about pirates. And, most importantly, when you link learning outcomes to enjoyable activities, the result(s) are those wonderful ‘ah-ha!’ and epiphany moments that make teaching such a rewarding experience.

Use technology: sorry, Luddites, but at least part of your curriculum needs to be online (I mean, let’s put it in context…grade ones probably aren’t going to be blogging…I mean, this isn’t Ender’s Game, right?). Whether we like it or not, Web 2.0 has allowed a whole generation of learners to personalize their consumer experience. Education is a product our students consume, so why wouldn’t they expect one of their most expensive purchases (or their parents purchases) to have the option of being tailored to their needs. Whether it’s downloadable lecture notes, an online forum for discussion or a wiki, having technology supplement a comprehensive academic experience will provide a personalized touch that so many students want…and, arguably, need.

Be inclusive: ask them questions. And don’t stop there. When your next lesson comes up, show your class that you’ve taken their feedback and used it to make your material and their experience even better. Empowering young people to take on creative leadership roles can be risky, sure. But when students are set up for success by their teacher and then their plan comes together – wow – it’s a beautiful thing. The stuff of inspiration, really.

Let them collaborate: no great thing in the history of humanity was every done by just one person. So, from team-based projects to sharing notes (yes, even on Facebook), let students work together to solve problems. Better yet, encourage them to do so.

Make it relevant: From “machine to community” and “hierarchy to network” – according to Goran Carstedt, this is where the real-world of the workplace is heading. The material (ie. the sociology of peasant uprisings in Early Modern France) might not be directly related to life, but the transferable skills sure will. So why not make education as relevant (with content, form and style) as possible? More than ever, employers are accepting that, when it comes to concepts like social media and interdisciplinary, cross-cultural collaboration the boss, not the analyst/intern/consultant/researcher, will be the student. It was two twentysomethings who brainstormed Best Buy’s internal wiki, not the CEO or VP of HR. Having a meaningful, inclusive conversation in the classroom as well as a lecture is a great place to start.

Because if we keep up with our expert orations and do not empower students to engage our ideas with theirs, well, we just might, as Sir Ken Robinson says, kill creativity for good. So, whether you teach kids or adults to dance, do math or save the world using business, try something new in your classroom. You might fail. And that’s okay.

So there it is. Something for all young people out there to think about as they (or their parents) pay for tuition or sign up for another student loan. And, perhaps more importantly, this is something for we educators to think about, too – we can do better. And is we are going to continue to develop a healthy community, we must do better.

So there it is. Be sure to have fun with it as you collaborate with colleagues to redefine the classroom experience.

- JCH

Aboard the Editor’s Pirate Ship – Back to School

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[Editor's note: Aboard the Editor's Pirate Ship is pretty similar to "from the Editor's desk" or "The Editorial Section" of a "newspaper" (remember those, kids?) - thing is, I spend a lot of my day at a desk, so, when I get to twitblogging, it takes place on a creativity-inducing pirate ship where I can stretch my legs as I expand my mind. To you, dear readers, I say "Welcome Aboard!"]

ist2_3965048-back-to-school-colorful-child-writingAcross Canada and around the world (The Gumboot has followers from Uruguay to Uzbekistan, baby!) millions and millions of people are going back to school. Obviously, there are a lot of places to get advice on everything from school supplies to fitting in to increasing your career potential by exploring your options. Now. The highly paid staffers here at The Daily Gumboot possesses a collective expertise in a lot of things – compassionate conservatism, tennis, laundromats, pirates, existential detection, qat, scrapbooking, butter – but, in all truthiness, where we really shine is in our knowledge of education. First, almost all of us went to school at some point. Second, yours truly was raised by two teachers and has attended and/or worked in schools (high ones, colleges and universities) forever. Third, education is pretty much the only thing that’s gonna save our poor little planet; so take it seriously as you have fun with it!

Without further ado, here are five key things to think about as you head to class on Tuesday (or a little earlier, I don’t know if Uzbekistan has Labour Day or not):

1. Be Yourself. This one is simple and complicated. People who change schools or enter college or university with a clean slate are often seduced by the opportunity to re-invent themselves. And it might work. For awhile, at least. Thing is, you are who you are and, no matter how much you pretend, you will inevitably be yourself. Besides, being comfortable in your own skin – maybe even confident in it – is so incredibly attractive and magnetic that, before you know it, you’ll be the most saught-after friend in your class! In conclusion, just ask Oscar Wilde: “be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

2. Find Your Tribe. Get involved. After all, hopefully you’re going to school to become a well-rounded, value-adding person in life, the universe and everything. Start reflecting on what you value (ie. accountability, you do not pay tuition because you think the system is unfairly structured and you would like to choose where your money from hardworking night shifts at Subway goes) and what interests you (ie. pirates) and try to combine them into a fun, campus-based community (ie. The Revolutionary Pirate Club). Also try to be a bridge-builder or connector – maybe your basketball friends and your History department friends and your revolutionary pirate friends will get along and collaborate to form a larger, awesomer pan-community with world-changing potential. It all starts with finding people who give you energy and bring out the best in you.

3. Demand Edutainment. Edutainment combines education, technology, media, entertainment, and, ideally, humour in a classroom setting. Basically, it is a force of positive change that is endeavouring to blow apart the nineteenth-century paradigm of education. Your classes should be collaborative, infused with technology, personalized, and, most importantly, fun! Teachers from kindergarten to university are shaking things up in a lot of ways, so keep your eyes open for distance learning, mind-mapping, social media insta-polling, blogging, e-portfolios, digital media projects, service learning, and project-based courses. And, most importantly, if you find yourself in a classroom listening to an expert for more than an hour, start yelling. The content and style of education should be engaging, after all.

4. Write Down 101 Dream Goals. What 101 things do you want to accomplish before your funeral? What stories do you want to tell your grandchildren? What kind of person do you want to see when you look in the mirror? What do you do for fun? Backpocket COO, Cameron Herald, told me about this supercool mind-mapping exercise. No, you don’t need to map out details like your professional title, geographic location, marital status, family size, and name of your three dogs that you will have by the time you’re 34. You should, however, start identifying your core values, skills and interests sooner than later. If you’re heading into a post-secondary institution, track down their career services office and schedule an appointment in your first year. Again, by no means should you be expected to define an exact and specific post-graduatation job, but you should start thinking about what you want to do when you’re finished school. And keep this in mind. More than likely, the job you will have at then end of your post-secondary education hasn’t even been invented yet. So, maybe put “know three interesting future trends” in your 101 Dream Goals…school-bus-resized

5. Handle Your Booze. “You don’t need to drink to have fun.” My mom told me this as she packed boxes of clothes to be shipped from Vancouver Island to Quebec. Frank the Tank she is not. Little did I know how powerful and unifying this phrase would be. Because, as silly as it sounded to a hyper-masculine 18 year old, I didn’t - and don’t – need to drink to have fun. When my friends and I got heavily involved in Bishop’s University’s orientation week – which, in its hay-day, was a complete gong show of the best kind – our team/group/community motto was “you don’t need to drink to have fun.” Obviously, the boozers in the crowd laughed at our sarcasm; however, we weren’t being sarcastic, as we wanted to make sure that everyone felt included, comfortable and safe. Speaking of safe, take “booze” as a metaphor for whatever vice you put in, on or around your body.  The sooner you figure out that stories beginning with “man, I was so wasted last night…” are cool, absolutely, but only have a limited shelf-life, the more ready you will be to create positive change in the world. Still, when the time and audiences are right, start some stories with that line because, well, they’re usually pretty hilarious! And remember this line that I found scrawled in a Victoria, BC pub called the Bent Mast: “everything in moderation, including moderation.”

Students. Your brilliant young minds have never been as needed as they are today. And the world’s biggest employer is, well, The World. And She is lookinf for someone to help with a rather monumental change. There will be opportunities everywhere for you to find. Good luck. And have fun with it!

- JCH

Strength in Community

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Rosie knew what it took to build strong community

Rosie knew what it took to build strong community

Sometime back in Classical Greece someone carved “know thyself” on my least favourite god, Apollo’s, temple at Delphi. No one really knows who wrote it, but a quick twitblog of the interscape will tell you that Socrates (or maybe Plato) took credit for the idea. And Alexander Pope wrote a poem about it a few years later. The point is, before you look outward and certainly before you strive out on a life path – career, family, adventures in foreign lands, kidlets, part-altering-operations – you need to look inside and, well, get a sense of yourself.

Melissa McCrae is an Associate Director at Simon Fraser University’s Career Management Centre. She is also just downright lovely as well as a bit of a genius. To say the least, Kirk Hill has good – nay, great - people on his team at the Career Management Centre. Melissa walked our team through a self-assessment tool called StrengthsQuest, which is based on and linked to StrengthsFinder. Regardless of what you think of self-assessment – one of my colleagues addressed the paradox of “self-assessment tools telling people what they value by asking them what they value” – there was something incredibly powerful that we all took away from Melissa’s presentation. In business, as in life, we constantly focus on what we’re not good at and try to improve it. So much so that some people even find themselves reflecting on how they made it so far in their career doing something they, first, were never great at and, second, don’t really like doing. And it’s because we don’t focus enough on what we’re really, really, really good at. Get this: recent findings show that in job interviews, people rarely showcase their top two strengths – that’s right, the two best things about them. Needless to say, we – individually and collectively – need to focus more on what we’re good at, because doing so is how we’ll increase things like happiness, healthiness and efficiency.

Now. Let’s do what we do and make this about community.

First, people as individuals. Find out what you’re good at. More importantly, when you’ve discovered your strengths, think about ways you can apply them that will make you really, really happy and like a contributing member to your community. Now. This doesn’t have to have anything to do with work (although combining strengths and work is a supercool idea just because we spend so much of our time/life working), it’s more about knowing where you kick butt and then focusing on continually using said skills to kick said butt. Specialize and develop where you’re awesome. And how do you find out what you’re good at? Well, here are some questions to consider:

  • What comes naturally to you?
  • What compliments do you continually receive?
  • Does it confuse you when people say  “good job” or “wow, that was amazing” when you just do something? If so, why?
  • What do other people struggle with (ie. public speaking or attention to detail) that you just don’t understand or ‘get’?
  • What kind of person do you want to see when you look in the mirror?

    "What is that guy really good at?"

    "What is that guy really good at?"

Another great exercise is to find a few people (friends, family, colleagues, nemeses) who know you well and ask them to use three words to describe you. After all, to paraphrase a Kenyan proverb, “you are the way that others see you.” Cobra Commander calls me “leader” and “visionary” and “so happy and positive it’s disgusting.”

Once you have thought about what you’re good at, start thinking about how to apply it to your community. Here are some tips on how to get started:

  • What strength(s) are you excited to share with other people?
  • Tell a story about your favourite strengths.
  • What do you enjoy doing?
  • What do you get paid to do?
  • What do you struggle with?
  • Where can my strengths and skills make the best impact in my community?

If these questions are getting you excited about learning more about self-assessment, inner knowledge and personal reflection, well, from Confucius to Robin Sharma there are a lot of introspective resources out there. Twitblog on the up-and-coming search engine, Google, for things like “self-assessment” or “reflection” or “know thyself” or “strengthsfinder” for ideas more information on strength-finding of the non-performance-enhancing-drug-variety.

Second, people as community. Here is a great example. As it happens, there are a lot of crappy things about Houston, Texas. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend Social Signal’s open house and hear from Randy Twaddle, a Principal with tTweak Renewables and one of the founders of HIWI, better known as Houston, It’s Worth It. Like I said, there are a few things – flying cockroaches, flooding, property taxes, no zoning laws, Republicans, refineries – about Houston that are certainly community-based weaknesses; however, Randy and his team at HIWI also recognized a lot of strengths in the city. So, without dwelling much on Houston’s weaknesses, HIWI focused on friendliness, arts and culture, food, and – shazaam – community as strong and defining traits of the city. You see where this is going; it is no surprise that the “Houston, It’s Worth It” campaign has garnered a heckuvalot of public interest as well as major tourist dollars for the city. But, more importantly, it’s galvanized a community and made people proud about where they live. Being proud about living in a town where a street can, theoretically, have a bar, a shopping mall, an oil refinery, a school, a hog-rendering facility, a church, and a sushi restaurant, well, that’s another discussion for another time…

So, get to know yourself. Following such introspective reflection, take what you’re good at and use said skills, values and interests to build good things. Get to know your community. And figure out where your personal strengths can play a positive role – both where you work and play.  Let’s face it. Here in Vancouver we’ve got nothing like the uphill battle of our Houstonian friends (if anything, we have to fend people off). Needless to say, I hope you’re excited to see what we can do!

Thanks again, Melissa McCrae. Like I told you on the phone, you got my mind, heart and body moving after your presentation. And it’s a beautiful thing.

In strength,

John

Online Communities – Managing your Personal Brand

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Do you twit-blog the interscape? Do you or your organization distribute information through the comprehensive and amazing medium of an “online blog website”? Do you have an account on the new social networking tool Bookface? Perhaps you employ these mediums as a means of connecting with friends, or maybe you’re a “pyjama job hunter” (someone who looks for work by emailing job applications through monster.ca rather than physically connecting with people), or maybe you’ve got a blog and/or an ex-boyfriend you follow and/or stalk through Twitter.

Whatever the case. However you do it. The vast majority of people today have some kind of online presence.

Here are some amazing findings relating to our online community’s behaviour:

Twitter is arguably the hottest thing in new media. Usage is up 752% since December 2008. Last month, about 7.7 million people used the professional social networking site LinkedIn (being mindful of these tough economic times, if you haven’t already, get on there and get connected). If Facebook was a country, it would be the eighth largest in the world. Speaking of Facebook, did you know that 20% of Facebook users do not use any privacy settings? And of the users who do use some or all of their privacy setting, last year nearly one-quarter of them still shared their telephone numbers. Nearly 50% of users concerned with divulging their political views still posted them. And nearly 20% of Facebook users employing their “top” privacy setting.

So, would you like a job one day? Or maybe you fancy yourself as the next Gregor, Gordo, Merkel, or Obama. Maybe your family’s opinion of you is the most important thing in the world. Get this. About 25% of graduates from 50 countries say there is something about them online that they do not want their parents or employer to see. And, last year in North America, 83% of employers searched online to learn more about applicants. Of job-applicants who were dismissed in 2008, 43% were turned away because of what recruiters found online.

So that’s the game. But how should we play in it?

For students and young people:

  • According to the Vancouver Sun’s Mitch Joel, “the amazing thing about developing your personal brand in a world of online social networks and blogging is that you can home in and really focus on meeting and connecting with those that have shared values.”
  • You can be social and professional, people. Trust me, employers, recruiters and friends alike want to make sure you separate work and pleasure. Man, no one wants to check out a Facebook profile that looks like a resume. It’s just not fun. Now, you should still strive to build an amazing social and personal brand by using Facebook. Check this out: http://mashable.com/2009/04/02/facebook-personal-brand/.
  • I have a lot of students who are smarter than me. One of them sent me this link to Guy Kawasaki’s blog, which outlines 11 key ways to use LinkedIn to connect with professionals in your field. In these tough economic times, take full advantage of this advice!
  • Long story short. Having fun is important. Being social is important. Being classy is important, too. Maybe leave the funnel out of the picture next time, dude.

For teachers and counsellors and parents:

  • Teach and encourage your students/kids about the concept of Link Love. Get them to collaborate in a positive way and to connect their online communities. The more things written about people and groups, the more “searchable” they become. And when the “link love” is positive, once a group or individual is found, say, by Google, their online brand will be well-received by its audience.
  • One of the reasons Generation Y is incredibly useless when it comes to comprehending the implications of putting career and socially damaging photos and information online is because they have not been taught proper online community etiquette from their parents and role models. I mean, Shaquille O’Neal is a Twitter MVP, but that doesn’t mean he should replace you/us, parents and teachers. We need to get involved, too.
  • First step, get your kids/students to explain to you how an online community works!

For employers and recruiters:

  • Is Facebook reflective of a new way of doing business? Find another tool that can put a grassroots movement or a cool new product past the tipping point on a global scale in a more collaborative way in a shorter amount of time. There probably isn’t one.
  • With our global networks expanding at lightspeed, this figure has never seemed so real. Organizations must be sure to utilize internal and external social networks to attract, engage and retain top talent. Spreading your company’s brand through the word of mouth of an elaborate global network, after all, is pretty powerful stuff.
  • Recent findings show that a cross-section of industry experts believe that the majority of employers suggest several HR professionals see the world of work transitioning from a “machine” to a “community” and from a hierarchical system of management to one that is more reflective of a social network. If the medium is the message, what do employers today need to know about Facebook and Web 2.0? Probably lots.


The Globe and Mail recently profiled the, um, online profiles of Gordon Campbell and Carole James. Like much else in British Columbia’s election, neither candidate showcases the stuff of inspiration. When managing one’s online presence, it’s of course important to be sincere, authentic and to have integrity (in the article, the closest Ms. James or Mr. Campbell got to being authentic was when Mr. Campbell chose a quote from the author of Faust, Wolfgang von Goethe, perhaps all too reflective of devilish deals politicians and their ilk have forever made). With so much noisy information clogging the series of pipes and tubes that make up the internet, those of us twitblogging are way through it must also strive to be unique, interesting and entertaining in addition to being sincere. Whether you’re a student, educator, employer, or politician, think about how you`ll be adding value to the experience of those connecting to your online community.

We here are The Gumboot add value by talking about pirates, communal nudity and cutting edge architecture way before fringe media groups like the CBC or up-and-coming politicians like this guy Stephen Harper do. Some people talk about what’s already cool. We make it cool.

And that’s how you manage an online presence. It’s a beautiful thing!

- JCH

The Classroom Community – times be changin’

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First thing’s first. It’s called “A Vision of Students Today.” Have fun with it! I’ll see you in 4 minutes and 44 seconds. Here’s the video.

Did you have fun? Let’s move on…

Education (elementary, secondary, post-secondary) is terribly hierarchical. Authoritarian, even. The teacher is the expert. The student is the learner. At universities across Canada, professors orate their ideas and “findings” to hundreds – maybe thousands - of students who cram into an annonymous lecture hall and try to absorb the distant material. These classrooms are pretty one-dimensional and, more importantly, a lot of ‘em are grossly out of date.

Clearly, there are exceptions. Because, clearly, the world is changing. More likely, it’s changed…exponentially. There’s just too much information out there for any one idea to be tackled by anything less than a team – that’s why The Gumboot is getting so much critical acclaim; it’s the collaboration, baby!

Sorry, teachers, but when it comes to our classrooms, we’re not always the experts. Especially when it comes to technology and how we use a medium like the internet to access information. Navigating its system of pipes and tubes, students can use the web to find a litany of supportive, contrasting, useless, and hilarious sources on any given topic. The more we educators pretend to know it all, the more our students will Facebook and Twitter their way into unproductive apathy. So, we need to include them in the lesson.

Here’s my modest proposal. Let’s change things in the classroom. In collaboration as students and teachers, let’s make a transition from hierarchy to community. Many post-secondary educators out there know a lot about a little, which is great and amazing and important for students to learn. And many students know a little about a lot. And the classroom community can be the vehicle for, among other things, these ideas from everywhere to come together under knowledgeable guidance. Who knows, with the right discussion, a classroom might even turn into a venue for positive social change.

Interested in making your classroom a community? Here are some strategies to try out:

Edutainment: the concept of edutainment combines performance with learning; basically, make the classroom a fun place to be. Use YouTube. Play games. Talk about pirates. And, most importantly, when you link learning outcomes to enjoyable activities, the result(s) are those wonderful ‘ah-ha!’ and epiphany moments that make teaching such a rewarding experience.

Use technology: sorry, Luddites, but at least part of your curriculum needs to be online (I mean, let’s put it in context…grade ones probably aren’t going to be blogging…I mean, this isn’t Ender’s Game, right?). Whether we like it or not, Web 2.0 has allowed a whole generation of learners to personalize their consumer experience. Education is a product our students consume, so why wouldn’t they expect one of their most expensive purchases (or their parents purchases) to have the option of being tailored to their needs. Whether it’s downloadable lecture notes, an online forum for discussion or a wiki, having technology supplement a comprehensive academic experience will provide a personalized touch that so many students want…and, arguably, need.

Be inclusive: ask them questions. And don’t stop there. When your next lesson comes up, show your class that you’ve taken their feedback and used it to make your material and their experience even better. Empowering young people to take on creative leadership roles can be risky, sure. But when students are set up for success by their teacher and then their plan comes together – wow – it’s a beautiful thing. The stuff of inspiration, really.

Let them collaborate: no great thing in the history of humanity was every done by just one person. So, from team-based projects to sharing notes (yes, even on Facebook), let students work together to solve problems. Better yet, encourage them to do so.

Make it relevant: From “machine to community” and “hierarchy to network” – according to Goran Carstedt, this is where the real-world of the workplace is heading. The material (ie. the sociology of peasant uprisings in Early Modern France) might not be directly related to life, but the transferable skills sure will. So why not make education as relevant (with content, form and style) as possible? More than ever, employers are accepting that, when it comes to concepts like social media and interdisciplinary, cross-cultural collaboration the boss, not the analyst/intern/consultant/researcher, will be the student. It was two twentysomethings who brainstormed Best Buy’s internal wiki, not the CEO or VP of HR. Having a meaningful, inclusive conversation in the classroom as well as a lecture is a great place to start.

Because if we keep up with our expert orations and do not empower students to engage our ideas with theirs, well, we just might, as Sir Ken Robinson says, kill creativity for good. So, whether you teach kids or adults to dance, do math or save the world using business, try something new in your classroom. You might fail. And that’s okay.

And, hey, if writing this was a huge mistake, well, that’s okay. Because I’m not afraid to make mistakes. Learning from them makes us all better.

- JCH

Learning from Pirate Communities – The Overview

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Hi there, Gumboot Enthusiasts. As promised by the tag-line of this publication, some of our conversations will discuss pirates. After all, these figures – real and imagined – are a popularized jumping off point for investigation, adventure and discovery; where fact meets fiction and romance meets reality. Most importantly, there is a lot we can learn from pirate communities, as they tend to mirror our own lives – in a much drunker, violent and more fashionable way.

Moving on…

A little about the credentials that allow me to expertly teach others about pirates, privateers and buccaneers. Not only does the Editor-in-Chief of The Weekly Gumboot (ie. me) hold a Masters in Naval History from the University of the Bahamas and a Ph.D in Piracy from the University of Singapore, but I was also fortunate enough to co-found the School of Arts and Piracy at Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia. Recently, I created and taught the incredibly popular graduate-level course, Pirates: Romance and Reality at the college.* But, hey, being a registered Piratologist (officially – especially when the Coast Guard and CSIS are asking – I am not a real pirate) isn’t all researching and writing of rum, romancing wenches and roughhousing. Sometimes, Piratologists are asked to change the world.

And, with that in mind, it is my pleasure to introduce a new series here at The Weekly Gumboot. The ongoing stories in Learning from Pirate Communities seek to explore the connection and ideas between pirates (of past and present) and our global community.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will explore the following topics:

  • Democracy: Barack Hussein Obama might’ve just taken this tired ideology** to the next level, but did you know that the first example of written democratic principles was completed on a pirate ship?
  • Health Insurance/Workers’ Compensation: Depending on what body part (eye, hand, leg) you lost during pillaging, the “Articles of Piracy” (agreement signed by the Captain and crew) outlined the appropriate financial compensation for the aforementioned off-lopping of limbs. Fun fact: pirates were compensated the most if they lost their right arm.
  • Personal/Corporate Branding: Pirates were conceptualized as more notorious, violent and cruel than they actually were. And this came about because of dynamic, creative and effective “branding.” Black Bart’s flag depicted him having a glass of wine with Death. That’s badass, man. So, how do you sell yourself?
  • Racial Equality: A complex and contentious issue, for certain; however, with escaped slaves, Central American Natives and Frenchmen finding common ground aboard a pirate ship, well, a certain amount of cultural leveling and acceptance took place.
  • Women’s Rights: Ann Bonny and Mary Read were two of the most notorious pirates in the Caribbean. More important, though, is the legacy of Madam Cheng – she was arguably the greatest pirate in history, at one point commanding a fleet of over 10,000 vessels. Needless to say, they were quite the pioneers for gender equality!

  • Storytelling: if there was only one recorded incident of a pirate making someone walk the plank, why is this phenomenon so effectively associated with these scurvy buccaneers? It’s all about being able to spin a good yarn, mateys!
  • Networking: in the world of pillage and plunder (and eventually becoming the Governor of Jamaica, like Captain Henry Morgan did), it’s all about who you know…
  • Entrepreneurship: Somalia is probably the worst place on Earth. And yet a community of former fishermen (foreign over-fishing and pollution have depleted stocks beyond repair) have found a niche market for risky a career endeavour: hijacking oil tankers! This creative, outside-the-box thinking is getting them noticed, too!!!
  • Creativity and the Access of Information: When they looked/look at the global economy, pirates see it in shades of grey. Whether it’s creatively carrying out a client’s business plan at the barrel of a gun and the tip of a cutlass or downloading songs, shows and movies, pirates have always used (are currently using) technology to challenge the status quo.

So there it is. A preview of what’s to come on The Weekly Gumboot. As you await the next installment of Learning from Pirate Communities, prepare yourselves to be edutained!

Yaaarrrrrrrggghhh!

- Sir John the pirate Piratologist

*Factual Disclaimer: educational allusions may or may not be “real” and “accredited” credentials and it may or may not be more about a supercool video created by the marketing team at Camosun College…

**Johnnism, an up-and-coming ideology promises to inspire an ever-shrinking global community with fresh perspectives on what it means to be named “John”…and much, much more…