Little things can make a difference!
As usual, NECC had a fantastic opening keynote speaker. I love the different personalities they pick, and they always make you think. It was really interesting tonight. Malcolm Gladwell gave a thought-provoking talk on how little things can make a big difference. His talk about how ideas and trends start and spread kept making me think about parallels with weblogging. He told the story of the fellow who affected change in radio broadcasting. He put together a makeshift broadcast of the fight of the century, which in turn became the tipping point for radio. He discussed how it wasn’t econonic power, political power, or dollar power that effected transformation. It was social power. Certain personalities who have a larger circle of friends who respect and trust them can be true change agents, as they do have social power. It makes sense and it’s something we should really think about in education. We can help make change agents out of our students. We can be change agents. Weblogs can really help here if we can use them in a way that helps students and teachers see the worth and power of developing relationships that foster growth in our reading, writing and thinking. Weblogs could really be a gateway here. (Or should I say tipping point???)
Ahh, the night is late but my brain is really wired. We have to be good stewards for our students. I’m going to keep mulling over all of this, but better get some sleep so I can help share the possibilities of weblogs in our classrooms in our workshop in the morning.
—–