Outliers, Session 3 Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009

Outliers, Session 2 Sept. 23, 2009

10,000 Hours, 2 Million Minutes, Project 720

720...the number of days we have to educate students from the time they enter ninth grade. 10,000 hours....the number of hours Gladwell says a person needs to spend doing something to achieve true greatness, world-class greatness doing that something. And what about 2 Million Minutes? Read about it....what do you think? Where does this leave us as educators?


Two Million Minutes: The Documentary (Running time: 54 minutes)
http://www.2mminutes.com
Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that very moment the child has approximately -
…Two Million Minutes until high school graduation…Two Million Minutes to build their intellectual foundation…Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately career…Two Million Minutes to go from a teenager to an adult
How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off -- will affect their economic prospects for the rest of their lives.

Why Not Use Microsoft Live?

I used Blogspot.com instead of Microsoft Live because

• I didn't know if the Middle School folks would have access to Microsoft Live
• I haven't had time to figure out Microsoft Live yet, but I do know how to use Blogspot

Blogspot is Google based and I already use Google Documents, gmail, iGoogle, etc. It was the fastest and easiest at this point. Perhaps the blog for the next book will be a Microsoft Live blog.

Greetings!

Welcome to the OC Professional Development Reading Group blog. It is my hope to weave Web 2.0 applications into our reading group. One or two people wanted to be part of the group, but have other obligations scheduled at the time our group will be meeting. They will be posting to the blog in lieu of meeting face-to-face with the group. Anyone who has to miss a meeting may make a post to the blog in order to not lose credit for the half hour we meet face to face. As a matter of fact, I would like each member of the group to post regularly so that each person can learn how to use a blog. What do you think? Let's talk about it at the first meeting.

I think things are going remarkably well. I barely even notice the construction. Perhaps that is because even though the library is very, very retro, it still has a ceiling! Hope you're enjoying Outliers. See you Wednesday at 2:40 in the Senior High Library (that would be one of the only rooms with, ahem, a ceiling).