My bias was intentional. In my last post, Girl Power, I highlighted two things:

1. The Girl Effect video

2. Women who are Inspirational Educational Leaders

Liz B. Davis said this in the first comment on the post: (I added the links)

David,
Thanks for including me in your list of inspiring women. I am honored to be included among so many great women. I also find Kim, Vicki and Sue to be important members of my learning network. Thanks also for introducing me to Heidi.

Now to stir the pot just a bit… I have been included in other lists of inspiring WOMEN and, while I am happy and honored to be recognized (especially by you since I respect you a great deal), there is also something just a tad condescending about qualifying the list by gender. What if it had been about the top black or Jewish or gay educators to follow? …

And, as she often does, Liz got me thinking! In response I commented and then Liz added (among other things):

When showcasing women, is it necessary to point out they are women? It might be just as powerful to talk about us as people and about the qualities you admire. I’m sure your readers would notice that you had only chosen women without you pointing it out.

What’s interesting about this is that I was very intentional with my wording. I used the term ‘girl’ just twice: In the title and to tie things up at the end of the post in reference to the video, ‘The Girl Effect’… beyond that I used the term Woman. Furthermore, in my introduction to these women, I said this: “So here are a few real educational leaders worth watching, and more specifically reading:” … Intentionally choosing not to reference them as being female.

But is that enough? Liz’s questions and comments are valid and worth reflecting on!

Well, I’ve reflected.

If I was writing a post specifically about educational leaders, then I’d have to agree with Liz wholeheartedly. Imagine me saying ‘here are my favourite educational leaders’ and then having two lists, one for women and one for men… personally I’d find that more than a bit condescending! However my last post was about the power of women to change the world. It was about the fact that not enough attention is paid to women;  not enough women are recognized for their accomplishments; and there are not enough significant role models for my daughters. In this context my belief is that a list of inspirational female leaders is appropriate.

But an appropriate list is one thing, and a necessary list is another. Why do we need another list of inspirational females?

…Because of unintentional bias!

From my own reading and personal experience, this is what I know:

* I read an article years ago that said women are far more likely to be cut off/interrupted when talking in a meeting than men are. Since then I’ve seen this time and again in meetings. I’ve even caught myself doing it.

* A few years ago I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. In the section about auditioning for musical orchestras, the number of women hired dramatically increased after screens were used to conceal the sex of the person auditioning.

* Last year I went to BLC08 with three male keynote speakers. This year I’m going back for BLC09, and what do I see? Three male keynotes.

* My kids loved Dora the Explorer. This is a great cartoon with a female hero. Dora relies on two animated objects: a map and a backpack. The male map always knows where to go and points the way for Dora. The female backpack always needs ‘your help’ to figure out what item in the backpack Dora needs.

I don’t think any of these things are intentional, but they are there… Subtle, but there.

I wish these unintentional biases were not around for my daughters to be exposed to. I wish these were not hidden behind more blatant biases that modern media exposes our kids to.  I don’t want ‘separate but equal‘ for my girls. But I also don’t want to pretend that the biases aren’t there, or think that they will go away if we just pretend they aren’t there.

If we are going to unintentionally shut women up, leave them out and give them submissive roles, then shouldn’t we intentionally and necessarily take notice of them when it is appropriate to do so?

I’ve always been surrounded by women. I grew up with three sisters, and I have two daughters and a wonderful wife.

Yet when I think of the people that I look up to as heroes and leaders, I inevitably think of men… I was tempted to list some here, but that’s not what this post is about.

The simple fact is that women should rule the world.

I’m not talking about Madonna or Britney Spears, I’m not even talking about Hillary Clinton… I’m talking about down-to-earth, community focused, compassionate women… I’m talking about the force of Yin in a world of Yang… I’m talking about women who lead by example and women who are nurturing and caring.

Two places where I connect to some pretty amazing women are in my Twitter and blogging networks. Tonight I came across a tweet by Claire Thompson about a post by Betty Gilgoff:

clthompson :

I met Betty when she invited me to present to a couple of her TLITE groups. Here is the subject of her post:

Dumbfounded by the trite and appalling approach, I did not keep a link to an article I read last week where some American schools were taking away the toys in primary classrooms until test scores improved. Are we in the buiseness of ‘measuring’ or ‘learning‘?

Last week I went to a Professional Development session on “Multiple Perspctives on Early Child Development”. It was a panel discussion that looked at some of the things we are doing with early childhood education. Here is my second page of notes, written on a paper tablecloth:

When looking at early child development:

Curriculum is Everything that happens

Play is HOW the learning happens

Play is a means to capitalize on learning

All animals learn through play

-they test limits and abilities

-play helps with peer socialization

Play & Imagination develop a Sense of Narrative

-narrative is essential for the shift from

Learning to Read -to- Reading to Learn

Play promotes both problem solving and collaboration

Play is chlid directed activity, child directed learning

Problem-Based Play Challenges and Engages

Play needs to be developmentally appropriate, but it should not end with primary/early education. There is a reason why the video game industry makes billions of dollars on games for teens and adults.

At what age does there seem to be a shift from Learning from Play to Learning or Playing? At what age do we start preparing kids for ‘the next grade’ or ‘the next test’?

We need to think more about the pedagogy of play and less about curriculum content… but the question arises: How do we measure this? Or better yet, how do we stop our measurement-based-evaluations from squeezing the fun out of learning?

I asked this question to the ministry representative on the panel: With our focus on standardidized testing how do we encourage more play? She didn’t answer my question. She said that play will improve test scores. I wouldn’t have asked the question if I didn’t already get that point.

So how do we promote learning through play more effectively in our schools?

Can quantitative tests meaningfully measure qualitative attributes and skills?

What is it we really want to measure?

Do we need a new narrative about what schools are about?

It is indeed an honour to have been nominated for the Edublog Awards in the ‘Best Individual Blog‘ category.

Special thanks goes out to Liz B. Davis for nominating me. There is a reason why Liz showed up ‘in my neighbourhood’ more than anyone alse when I created my Brave New World Wide Web video. She is a true educator who helps to make my digital network incredible!

If you are a regular reader of this blog… thank you! If you are new here, please check out some of my more popular posts linked to in the right-hand sidebar. I appreciate your comments and contributions to my learning.

What I have enjoyed about the Edublog Awards in the past has been the opportunity to be exposed to many amazing bloggers doing wonderful things. I just made a short visit to the 34 other blogs nominated in this category and I’m looking forward to exploring them further!

There are a few familiar faces on this list, like Sue Waters (x2), Kim Cofino, John Connell, Steve Dembo, and the very missed student voice of Arthus. There are also a few more blogs on this list that I’ve visited before, and then a full two-dozen that are new to me… and that is just in the Best Individual Blog category!

There is so much to explore within the 2008 Edublog Awards. Take a little time and check out some of the great resources that have been shared. This isn’t really a competation as much as it is a learning opportunity!

Here are the categories:

1. Best individual blog

2. Best group blog

3. Best new blog

4. Best resource sharing blog

5. Most influential blog post

6. Best teacher blog

7. Best librarian / library blog

8. Best educational tech support blog

9. Best elearning / corporate education blog

10. Best educational use of audio

11. Best educational use of video / visual

12. Best educational wiki

13. Best educational use of a social networking service

14. Best educational use of a virtual world

15. Best class blog

16. Lifetime achievement

Thank you for joining me on my shared, reflective, learning journey!

When I told my daughter that rather than taking photos of her musical theater Christmas show solo, I actually filmed it… she immediately asked me, “Can you put me on YouTube?”

I obliged.

After Cassie saw the video she momentarily didn’t want it up. Why? Because she was sick for 3 days before-hand with a fever and sore throat, and so she had some trouble with a few of the high notes… Notes that she could hit just a few days ago. I told her how much her grandparents in Toronto wanted to see this and she permitted me to put it up. I happen to also think it is still pretty good:-)

And here is my other daughter Katie and her friends in their feature song:

For her there was an expectation that if her older sister could be on YouTube, then she should be too.

I haven’t put any photos on Flickr yet, but I will soon.

How different this is from my private childhood! I think I have some 8mm film of me on a beach when I was Cassie’s age. And I know there are some photos of me at that age burried in my basement or hidden away in my parent’s closet.

Meanwhile, somewhere between 3 and 5 million photos are uploaded onto Flickr daily. And, “Every minute, some 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. “That’s the equivalent of Hollywood releasing more than 57,000 full-length movies every week,” (Chad Hurley). That’s a lot of ‘flotsam and jetsam‘.

So it comforts me that my daughter, weeks before her 9th birthday, is concerned about the quality of her performance being publicly placed online. I wish more students thought that way before putting things on Facebook! Two of my recent – posts have been about the need for us to help guide our students and our children as they engage in a digital world.

I’ve had to do just that recently. My youngest, Katie, decided to check out ‘katie-dot-com’. She was greeted with rotating photos of topless women and an invitation to become the next p?rn star. She thought it was a lot more amusing than mom and dad did!

The talk with Katie was simple enough: There are a lot of inappropriate sites, and you should only be on favorites unless mom or dad are helping you, (after all, she is only 6). But this was also good for Cassie to hear. We are more liberal with her use of the computer and so it was good that she listened in too. We talked about closing windows if you found something inappropriate and also telling us… that we won’t be mad.

The fact is that our kids already do a good job policing themselves with what’s appropriate on tv and so it isn’t a big logical jump to do the same on the computer.

Years from now my girls will be able to view their childhood memories at any time from virtually anywhere. They are part of a digital generation, and we need to help them grow up digitally respectful and responsible.