I was lucky enough yesterday to be invited as a "Beta-Tester" for 4.0 Schools NYC Essentials cohort.  As a Beta-Tester, I listened to the pitches of a group of education innovators and entrepreneurs.  They learned a little about who I was and my experience.  Then the entrepreneurs chose various testers to speak with during a series of interview times.  It was like speed-dating for education-innovating.  It was an inspiring day!

I have grown my network of education professionals that want to do things differently.  I plan to take a trip to DC to check out the work being done in a group of schools being redesigned.  One of the innovators selected time to speak with me, and when we sat down to talk, he said he didn't want to talk about his pitched idea, but another that was on his mental back-burner.  And it was a great one!  Got me excited for him.

On top of this, I was also able to meet some new folks that were volunteering as Beta-Testers themselves.  Three young people (2 high school seniors and a recent high school grad) had started their own businesses and were there to offer their perspective as a student and their experience as an entrepreneur.  I met their mentor from the organization Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, and will be connecting with her in my efforts in NYC schools to help students learn to innovate.

Let's give some love to these young people:

• Zully M., Aphrodunn.com
• Carlos F., Shine Soaps
• Marc H., now working with DreamAi Platform

Being around innovators and entrepreneurs is always insporing to me.  So I also want to thank my friend Veronica from Civic Hall who connected me to 4.0 Schools NYC so I could volunteer with them this weekend.  Now, I'm off to my Instructables class to learn more about Raspberry Pi.  Hope to share a build real soon.  It's been a while, and after yesterday, I'm feeling the need to Make.

I'm reading Tony Wagner's Creating Innovators.  A few ideas are popping into mind today as I read this book and think about my own Instructional Vision for schooling.  

1. How can I make innovators in a school culture that does not value students as independent thinkers?  I need to educate students that are more than problem solvers; they must be Problem Seekers.
2. Educators must stop decrying students as unable to complete hard work or lacking perseverance.  We need to start first by looking at our own practice.  Are we preparing lessons that teach needed skills for 2016 and beyond, or are we still in the factory-style teaching mode of 1956?
3. Is the Instructional Vision of the School Leadership one that is BOLD or one that is the same old...?

As a society we have to think about Re-Making Education.  We need to create innovators, and entrepreneurs.  Factories will be manned by robots.  Look at what China is doing in this article.  The world is changing, and education must change with it, or our society will be left behind - more than we already have been.

Let's get on this folks!

I attended my first Edcamp yesterday - edcampNYC.  I was able to interact and learn with educators from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware.  We came with elementary, middle, and high school backgrounds in public, private, and charter schools.

I enjoyed learning from Kelly O'Shea who shared her classroom experience that revolves around student discourse and the $2 whiteboard.  I can't wait to get to Home Depot to make some for myself.

Had a great time with BreakoutEDU, both the physical puzzles and digital puzzles.  There are so many ways to use these kits.

But I am most inspired by the ideas that were shared by educators during our session on Maker Mindsets.  My big takeaway from this session was the idea that a MakerSpace can be anywhere.  It is a place to let ideas grow.  Put an index card on a table with MakerSpace written in bold letters, and you are ready to go.  MakerSpaces are not defined by equipment or materials.  Participants think about themselves as a Problem Finder, not just a Problem Solver.  

After this great day of idea-sharing and educator-led learning, we then got to visit the Skill Mill NYC, a new MakerSpace on the Upper West Side.  What a great space for bringing ideas to life.  I can't wait to sign up for a class (or two, or three).  Feeling inspired this weekend!