Suzanne Carbonaro

Looking forward to that special occasion or vacation is something we can’t help but fill our minds with as we go through the day to day stress of the work week.  Even as I reflect back on my most recent beach get-away, I reach for my pay stub and desperately scan my banked vacation days, planning my next retreat.

If we always look forward are we really ever experiencing life’s little treasures present in our present?  Yesterday I decided to accompany my friend to celebrate the day through the warm rays of the morning sunrise.  To make it even more special, we sat on the beach and gazed at the new sun as it peaked over the ocean.  It was so beautiful and such a wonderful present in my present.  I long to go back to that moment when the young sun sprinkled my eyelashes with it glowing gold youthful beams but if I dwell on that gift for too long I will miss something today.  Like the excitement of my daughter when she conquered a long lived fear or the expression on my son’s face when he caught his first wave at a recent surfing lesson- these are life’s gifts and if we long for yesterday or dip too far in the future, we will miss the best parts of today.

My friend bought me a book to thank me for reminding her of the importance of living in her present.  The Precious Present by Spencer Johnson “has nothing to do with wishing”, only with being content with your present.

So each day we have to find our sunrises in our present- the precious gifts that surround us but that we sometimes miss wishing for tomorrow, obsessing about things we can’t change or reminiscing about yesterday’s moments.  These beautiful sunrises can be big or small, obvious or hidden, spectacular or simple.  Whatever the size or purpose for your sunrise, experience it fully today and keep your eyes focused on your present.

So, my best friend came home from her vacation where she spent a portion of her time away with her family in Charleston, South Carolina.  She, her daughter and her father began sharing Haikus to express their creativity and to represent what they love in their lives.  This project is a simple one; if you remember your 4th or 5th grade literacy lessons, you may remember that Haikus are non-rhyming, three line poems that ask the author to follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule while at the same time create meaning for the reader.

This Haiku project is not isolated to my best friend and her family nor is it just an elementary school curriculum project, it is an art form that is finding its way back into the mainstream.  After doing a little research, I have found several sites dedicated to the celebration of Haikus.  And with blogs and wikis and social media sites like Facebook more a part of our daily lives, hosting and sharing this creative art form is easier than ever.

http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/

http://www.everypoet.com/haiku/

Today, my best friend chose email to share her special words with me:

A feeling of hope and love
Touching of two souls
the circle of friendship evolves

haiku by ME (she signed it ME but it is by Tammy)

So, in this day and age when tweets, microblogging and status updates are short and sweet and the norm, are Haikus back in fashion?

Tweets, blogs and updates

Frequently express our ideas

You wrote a Haiku– By Suzanne

Why not?

This week I began my fourth summer as an instructor with the Educational Opportunity Program at Rider University.  This is a program supported by the Tuition Assistance Program (TAG) and Educational Opportunity Fund for college-bound students from families who have severe financial need.   In many cases, these students are the first in their family to attend college or have a chance at achieving their lifelong goals.  My job, as their communication instructor, is to orientate these students to college life, give them a communication foundation and prepare them for their first semester this fall.  This group of students are eager, engaging and curious.  Much like students I have worked with in the past, these students need the guidance and confidence to succeed.

To open up our class meetings with a bang, I talked about searching for success, wanting it so much that you can taste it.  To support this point, I discussed many of the ideas from The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, the not so famous patriot William Dawes, the infectious nature of the word “Yawn” and motivational speaker Eric Thomas.  Thomas’s speech impacted the students for good as the lyrics of the hit Broadway show Wicked proudly proclaim. Their expressions and interest following the presentation are forever stamped in my brain.  Words like- intoxicating, inspiring and passionate flowed from their mouths during our post-screening discussion.

I look forward to making an impression on these students as they embark on their journey toward success at Rider University. To learn more about EOP at Rider and my course, Introduction to Speech Communication, please visit our course blog.

What makes a workshop engaging?  The presenters, the examples, the participants?  A great combination of all three for sure.  Last week I had an amazing experience co-presenting a workshop for teachers entitled Web 2.0 for Kids with Hunterdon County School District Psychologist Damian Bariexca, Ed.S., NCSP.  We introduced five concepts for the audience to sink their teeth into during our six hour workshop at Rider University.  Backchanneling, videoconferencing, video sharing, microcasting and wikis were the topics and the examples were diverse and dynamic thanks to guest classroom examples in both higher education and K-12 environments and Skypers from school districts across the country and Canada.  These presenters added to the workshop because they brought real world experience- from 1st grade “virtual” trips to the firehouse to Skype calls to foreign nations to practice language development, our Skypers made valuable contributions and suggestions to our New Jersey educators. TodaysMeet, a simple backchanneling tool, gave teachers a voice and a way to introduce their thoughts and ideas to the discussion. Of course, Youtube as a method for peer review and the introduction of Audacity for podcasting stimulated ideas for usage in classrooms K-12.

The topics and presenters, however, while interesting and engaging enough, just did not steal the show.  It was the questions, the discussions, the examples and the sandbox time that made the difference.  Probably my favorite moment from the day was when a teacher opened her very own Youtube account and broadcasted her first message to the world. My hope is that the engagement continues and that the teachers integrate at least one tool into their lessons this fall.  For more information on Rider Education Workshops, please contact me via Twitter (@suziprof).

Busy times=less opportunities for teaching and learning.  That is why removing time and space from professional development is a good way to initiate discussions on topics that are important to educators without having to leave your home.  In comes the concept of Ning- a “social platform for the world’s interests and passions online. With Ning, you can make your brand social, amplify a cause you’re passionate about, or simply forge strong relationships with like-minded people.” This week I had the opportunity to meet face to face with educators from across the state of New Jersey.  The Teacher Leadership Community Institute was two-days of workshops on today’s important issues and trends surrounding education.  But the conversations don’t have to end as June makes its exit into July.  The Teacher Leadership Community has a Ning site dedicated to the celebration of cooperating/host teachers who open their classrooms to teacher candidates all over the country.  These professionals mentor thousands of student teachers during the critical time- their clinical experience.  As many teachers in attendance at the conference stated, “we are paying it forward and shepherding a new generation of teachers who will continue the practice of impacting tomorrow’s leaders.” Join us for our on-going professional development by contributing your ideas, discussion topics and teaching strategies to our Ning site at http://tlc4ed.ning.com.

Today I facilitated a presentation on On-line Collaboration with Google Docs. Teachers who participated in this workshop discussed their experiences with collaboration and opportunities to work with their grade level partners, colleagues and students using rich on-line tools. Below is a link list of tools educators can experiment with while learning how they can integrate them in their lessons.

http://udutu.com
http://gaggle.com

http://21classes.net

http://todaysmeet.com

Thanks to all of the presenters and participants for providing excellent advice and feedback on technology collaboration. If you have some open source tools to share, please add your comment below.

Our new Freshman, transfer and Graduate Level Teacher Preparation teacher candidates will embark on Rider this fall.  As orientation details and the idea of attending Rider more apparent, the flurry of activity and questions develop.  One of the important ingredients for newbies is the access and integration of the School of Education’s on-line assessment and ePortfolio tool TaskStream.  Please go to http://www.taskstream.com to open an account and realize the possibilities as you enter your tenure at Rider.  View the presentation with directions and links here.  Congratulations on your acceptance to Rider.

More on creativity in this post which is most definitely enhanced by collaboration. On June 29th-30th at Rider University, the Teacher Leadership Community will be launching its inaugural Summer Institute celebrating the role of the educators in the lives of students and teacher candidates. As a both a coordinator and presenter at TLC Institute, my charge is to inspire collaboration in the classroom by introducing the collaboration tool Google Docs. This presentation brings together some ideas about on-line collaboration and effective uses of Google Docs in the classroom. To view the presentation click:
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dfbxj94k_1190dmswjtcr and to view the abstract click: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfbxj94k_1114d4dr5cc6 Here is a link to the agenda: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfbxj94k_1197d5fq9zc8 To register for the Summer Institute for 21st Century Teachers and take advantages of these workshops and others throughout the summer at Rider, go to http://www.rider.edu/summer and click on Summer Institute for 21st Century Teachers.

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“Creativity is the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality.” Using your talent to initiate creativity or bring happiness to others launches creativity to a whole new level.  The creative spirit is truly selfless, free, airy, and honest.  It is, just natural and it flows like a river moving swiftly and purposefully, carrying all of its dwellers in its current.  Creativity can do that; it can carry the creator and the person engaged by the creativity with such force that it changes you, impacts you for good.  Last month, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with a group of middle and high school students at Shakesperience, an event organized and produced by a colleague of mine at Rider University’s School of Education.  Getting in the mind of creative students interested in the depth and creative nature of Shakespeare was an amazing experience.  They inspired me to produce a video showcasing their experiences and highlighting the talent of their workshop instructors from the McCarter Theatre in Princeton and Rider University Westminster Campus.  Join me in this creative venture by screening this video and let your mind be open to the spirit of creativity.

How do you keep your life simple in a time when accessories and detailed schedules are the norm? I picked up a basic wrap dress, a staple from the mid-1970s, but more specifically 1976, just the other day. The creator, Diane von Furstenberg had sold more than 5 million wrap dresses back then. She officially relaunched the wrap dress in 1997 after seeing women wearing them again. The dress fits women of all sizes and shapes. So, it is simple, in origin and structure. However, in 2010, is simple enough? The popular retail outlet, White House Black Market, boasts colors as accessories to the basic black, white and the middle shade gray. Is that taking away from the simplicity of basic black and white?

Here’s another scenario: you create a simple schedule for an event with intermissions for breakfast and lunch. You add guest speakers, slots for disciplinary workshops and instruction and then you are asked to “beef” it up. When is it enough?

The plaque in this picture says it: simplify. Weekends are about this. When the baseball games are over, the parties that keep you going and going die down, all that is left is the opportunity to just sit back, reflect and keep things simple. Barbeques with friends with no frills menus, a few candles, a bottle of wine, a genre with selected tunes from Pandora and some shell fish and pasta and you’re done. It’s the conversation that drives the activity. So that begs the question: do the accessories initiate the conversation and trigger the interplay between friends and on-lookers, or is it just the simplicity of the situation?