Friday 3 November 2017

DigCitSummit SpyQuest Mission – Help Recruit Ellie the Elephant

As you may know we have had a fantastic experience with SpyQuest as a user and as someone involved in Education. Today myself and my son accompanied Agent Jones to recruit Ellie the Elephant at Westquarter Primary school.

Agent Jones was supposed to join the Skype call when the kids finished singing “I would walk 500 miles”… Instead, just before the mission went live he told me I would be doing a training exercise first.

I had make some notes en route and then borrowed Ms Jelland’s computer to type it up. Just as well we were an hour early… who bothers with daylight savings time when you’re out of work. Right?

Glad Agent Isaac is able to get work unlike his Dad, *Sigh*
LOL! About the clocks today though!
I'm an out of work #EdTech #Cmgr in Scotland because there are no jobs... get me out of here! Ideally CA.

I will add to this post over the weekend to include what happen before and after the call but here’s and EdTech Story that includes

A Nervous Skype Call with A Connected Educator

Mr Swinney, Mr Russell, Ms Fabiani,

We need, as educators and parents, to model
Digital Leaders for kids everywhere
To connect classrooms on Twitter and Skype
with educators and policy makers with
schools locally but we need to learn
and globally kids at Westquarter and at Utah today
Help Ellie

Be a kind kid, be change you want to see… Build the #EdTechBridge because we are #BetterTogether

I would like to talk to you today about my world of work and my work as a parent.

We tell our kids that they can do anything they set their mind to, that their words are the most powerful things in the world, and that books are the most powerful weapons… They can only do anything they set their mind to IF they prepare and do their best.

You have the ability to change the world… you really do. With an Idea


We don’t just tell them these things, we try to show them! For example, I wanted to work with innovative tech companies.

Has anyone here heard of Microsoft? What about Apple? Oracle?

Oracle is a tricky one because they make tech you can’t see… It’s a company for dreamers who have their head in the clouds. But their products are in so many things that we use.

Who would like to work at Microsoft making Xbox games or work on a car that goes 1,000 miles an hour? That’s faster than a bullet… I’m not sure if that’s faster than Superman or the Flash
It was a Microsoft executive that told me to get on Twitter and other social media channels in 2010 because

It comes with the job today if you want to be in EdTech

I was nervous delivering those first messages online, putting myself out there… but who is it today who is telling educators that

It comes with the job today if you want to be an educator AND develop the young workforce

My CV had sat on Microsoft’s servers for 6 years unnoticed. Last year I got the following message after assisting with the Skypeathon

"William if you ever do take a break from connecting the world, we would love to have a conversation on the MIEE program in Scotland... your passion, committment and skills are admirable"

The person I met said “You’re a lot different in real life than your online presence.”

I “Lack presence” in face to face meetings and I get anxious... before I put myself out there online and publishing my words for the world to see this was a HUGE problem as my first impression would be bad. 

People get to know me in my preferred medium before we meet now… and that can make all the difference!

There are no jobs in Scotland for what I want to do, so I got work with someone who some commentators were calling “The Google of Education” but communicating remotely was causing problems because I wasn’t shown how to do this effectively.

Have you heard of a book called “Oh The Places You’ll Go?” Or what about “The Little Engine That Could?” and
I Think I Can!... I Think I Can!... I Think I Can!

I was saying this all the way here today and I’m saying it in my head right now too!

Another great author is Jane Jacobs who said

“I place a great deal of faith in our young people, they don’t have as much trouble accepting new ideas”

I agree with her, my friend, Agent Jones believes this too… he thinks that kids make the best Spy Guys.

When on Spy Quest missions will you be flying high? You Sure WILL!!

Will you get separated from the other agents and be alone in tricky situations? Will you fall off the Eiffel tower and land with an unpleasant bump? I sure hope NOT!!

But you might get left in the lurch or need to sit in the waiting place for a while.

But will you succeed? 98 and three quarter percent guaranteed!!

Westquarter Primary kids in @ElliePrimary1 class, you’ve ALREADY moved mountains to connect today.

Dr Seuss was an introvert and never met his young readers because he didn’t want to disappoint his young fans.

In Susan Cain’s book Quiet, she discussed how Steve Wozniak worked:

"Most inventors and enginners I've met are like me - they're shy and they live in their heads. They're almost like artists. In fact the best of them are artists. And artists work best alone where they can control an inventions design without a lot of other people designing it for marketing or some other committee. I don't believe anything really revolutionary has been invented by committee. If you're that rare engineer who's an inventor and also an artist, I'm going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is : Work alone.You're going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you're working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team."


You guys don’t have this problem today because my son’s favourite author, who is a Spy Guy, LOVES meeting his young readers, and politely asked if he’d come here today to talk about a special #DigCit mission he’s working on.

Until we got the mission brief at at 10:30am today, Isaac did not know much of the story over the last few years… He does now. He knows that you have been training Agent Curran… I hope both our boys work together.

Calling Isaac over, I hope you are always a kind kid!

I have a challenge for you too. Who makes the best kind of #DigCit SpyQuest stories… Introverts? Or extrverts? Let’s develop the #EdTechBridge because we are #BetterTogether
*Waves* to any New Teachers to Twitter #NT2T… Please say hi to @ShyJ for me

Oh The Places You'll Go - Connected Educator Style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyfxxMxuKm4
https://flipgrid.com/95222d

Do you Like Classroom Skype and Webcams?
Do you like Classroom Skype and webcams?
I do not like them, because Spy-I-am.
I do not like Classroom Skype and Webcams.
Would you like to Skype from here or there?
I would not like them here or there.
I would not like them anywhere.
I do not like Classroom Skype and Webcams.
I do not like them, because covert agent I am.
Would you like it in your house?
Would you then click on the mouse?
I might Skype from the house.
Am I the only one who still uses a mouse?
I do not like being here on this day.
I wonder if I might like it someday.
I do not like Classroom Skype and webcams.
I do not like them, but when the #Bethatkindkid #DigCit Spy Quest mission is live, I guess am a fan!!

4 comments:

  1. Hey William - you have a different eye; I constantly feel for you, the visionaries dillema is that just because you can see it so clearly, it doesn't mean translating for the blind is any easier... but still you plug away and I admire your rectitude. Wozniak is an interesting role model for you, but like Woz, you know that your mission is diminished if no-one knows what you are doing. Woz, despite everything, he has become a cultural icon, and many many people would identify as being 'on his team'; those he has and never will meet or be in the same room with share a set of values and aspirations and he becomes an accidental leader.

    I think there is a simpler way to think about this; you can never lead by following. That defines a tough, sometimes impossibly lonely path.

    These too are tough lessons for our Children, our instincts are often to guide them on the path of least resistance. But resilience is what got us here, so why wouldn't we pass that along too? Staying true to our core, standing up for what believe, being creative in the face of sameness. Why I mention these things is that Skype and Twitter and their ilk are the most dangerous or most powerful tools the difference being the user and their choice to be resilient or compliant to the crowd.

    Thank you again for being the agent of debate, the facilitator or data and the connector of invisible dots - but most for role modeling resilience.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My Dear Friend James, I could take a comment like this today from just about anyone else because I see if for the sycophantic message that it was. I could take it from you on any other day... But for YOU to send it TODAY? Well, I love you to bits, but that's just plain mean! I am no leader and I have no influence but, just like my first blog post... I Skyped today because I felt I had a story to tell. As you will see in a few days I said to a few friends the night before the event something like "This is the most important night for the next couple of years... Tonight we write the stroy" and here you are giving the ending away with you these tools can be "the most dangerous or most powerful tools the difference being the user and their choice to be resilient or compliant to the crowd" which is why I Agent Isaac turned pirate today so I could tell him - Be THAT kind of kid. Since you already know the story, welcome to SQA Agent Lobster. Your colleague John is right, know the end before you start. Now how about that call? I'm a #Cmgr but there are no jobs in Scotland... Get me out of here! Lol ;) The facilitator of data... Isaac will love that as it ties in nicely with Agent Jones' "Infinity Spreadsheet" although it's now as big as @Caz_Aspey's and @Bloodhound_SSC 110 million rows of data?! What do you do with that? Who and how do you analyze that? Most def a company for the dreamers who have their heads in the cloud...A bit like a pink fluffy unicorn dancing on rainbows? Thank you for helping me believe in myself when no one else did... Including myself. Let's be Pirates... and Donkeys... and Unicorns (Spoilers Sweetie, as River Songin Dr Who would say). William

    ReplyDelete
  3. A note for Mr Jelland's class... We all make mistakes when we start out. I could delete the message above but you can't always do that online and you can't always take back your words once you've said something so "Own your words"

    A note to Mrs Murray's class: Isaac wasn't in today because he was meeting someone who inspires him who needed him to help Agent Curran and I want Agent Isaac to be that kind of kid!

    A Note to My Dear Friend James,

    I could take a comment like this today from just about anyone else because I see if for the sycophantic message that it was. I could take it from you on any other day... But for YOU to send it TODAY?

    Well, I love you to bits, but that's just plain mean! I am no leader and I have no influence but, just like my first blog post... I Skyped today because I felt I had a story to tell.
    As you will see in a few days I said to a few friends the night before the event something like

    "This is the most important night for the next couple of years... Tonight we write the story"

    And here you are giving the ending away with your comment that

    “These tools can be "the most dangerous or most powerful tools the difference being the user and their choice to be resilient or compliant to the crowd" which is why I Agent Isaac turned pirate today so I could tell him - Be THAT kind of kid.

    Since you already know the story, welcome to SQA Agent Lobster. Your colleague John is right, know the end before you start.

    Now how about that call? I'm a #Cmgr but there are no jobs in Scotland... Get me out of here! Lol ;)

    The facilitator of data... Isaac will love that as it ties in nicely with Agent Jones' "Infinity Spreadsheet" although it's not as big as @Caz_Aspey's and @Bloodhound_SSC 110 million rows of data?! What do you do with that? Who and how do you analyze that?

    Oracle...Most def a company for the dreamers who have their heads in the cloud...A bit like a pink fluffy unicorn dancing on rainbows?

    Thank you for helping me believe in me when no one else did... Including myself.

    Let's be Pirates... and Donkeys... and Unicorns (Spoilers Sweetie, as River Song in Dr Who would say).

    William

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice work, William. EduBlogging is about being vulnerable when you place your ideas out there.

    ReplyDelete