Garth and I are humbled by the amazing words some of the leaders in eduction from around the world have written about our presentations in Boston at BLC12.  We are always amazed, honored, surprised, moved, humbled, inspired, etc when others have great things to say about how we teach.

Here is what some people are saying:

Michael Lombardo @mlombardo99
Daryl Bambic  @dabambic
Amy Burvall @amyburvall

Garth and I are very passionate about changing education and giving students every ounce of opportunities available.  Again we are deeply grateful to so many people for making our work possible.  Here's a quick list:

It all started with Ed Bernetich:
    He was the visionary principal that pioneered the 1:1 initiative at Beachwood and then hired Garth and gave him the freedom to be all that he could be.

It all continued because of Susan Rakow:
    Dr. Rakow was one of my professors at Cleveland State University and introduced me to Garth.  She somehow knew that I would "fit in" with what Garth was trying to do.  She calls it a "little Karmic connection", but really it was the amazing instincts of a life-long-teacher/learner and if it was not for her then our friendship and professional collaboration would have never happened.

It all gets better and better because of our families:
    Garth and I have two wives, five kids, three cats and two dogs between us.  We spend hours talking via Skype, locked in 
our offices and are continually texting and Tweeting.  Our families not only put up with us, but continue to be a source of 
inspiration and selfless love.  We miss them desperately when we travel and try our best to balance work and home life.

...As our students continue to push what education is, as our districts continue to allow us to give the students that freedom and as people continue to take notice of our work we thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts.

-Mike & Garth

First keynote of BLC12 is with the creator of TEDTalks.  Garth and I have posted and used several TEDTalks throughout the course of this blog and our careers.  The purpose of TED is (in It's own words):    "TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize."

Chris started his keynote talking about the amazing connection that occurs between teachers and students.  The big push of Alan at this BLC is "The First Five Days", speaking to the idea that the tone set in the first week of school can make or break your learning environment.  Chris continued to speak about this idea and how technology can help the process.  Highlighting the new TedEd site where teachers were paired with animators to create truly awesome mini-lectures.  Chris calls it a way to "amplify teachers' voices".

Chris went on to speak about the other advantages technology brings to students.  Not only can you open up lectures from other teachers, but it gives you access to experts when they are needed.  All-in-all it was a very interesting look at the changing atmosphere of technology in education; whereas technology integration is no longer about putting things in a classroom, but people are finally seeing the fact it is about a philosophical shift.

-Mike

Garth and I are back in Boston for another exciting week at BLC with November Learning.  BLC is one of those conferences that is unlike every other conference we have attended.  Not only is there an international audience, but it is about forming learning communities (the "LC" part) and really thinking about the philosophical foundations of teaching and learning.

It was great getting back to Boston and stepping into the hotel to see old friends.  Before we even made it in the doors we ran into Amy Burvall from Hawaii and the HistoryTeachers channel on YouTube.  Helen and the staff of November Learning are great people and were all smiles as Garth and I were our typical selves at registration. 

The biggest highlight for us this year is a Teach-in that will happen in just a few hours.  Garth and I pride ourselves on actually putting into practice the concepts that most presenters spend years preaching about, without really doing.  Along those lines, we always talk about "organic" learning and moving with the flow of your learners.  The teach-in is a concept from the social movements of the 1950s and 1960s that I have always found interesting.  Professors and students would simply occupy a space, sometimes for days, and just talk.  Connections would be made, more questions would be created than answered and it helped to liberate the minds of the people actively changing the word.  Our goal is the same.  We will talk some philosophy, discuss how we see our role as teachers and then help people create something that will help them change teaching and learning in their classrooms.  This goes beyond the idea of the "un-conference" or workshops.  We hope that people really decide to throw away some old boundaries and leashes of the system to start seeing the learning process for what it can and should be. 
*We created a page to house all of our BLC12 presentations...just take a gander up top on our menu.