The internet generation

The other morning I woke at 6:00 AM to the sounds of someone clicking on my computer in my home office. I crawled out of bed and walked into my office to find my 5 year old son on the internet playing a spongebob game at www.nick.com. How in the world did he logon to the internet AND find spongebob, I thought to myself. I have never shown him how, or so I thought.

I asked him how he got on the internet and he said, "I watched you and did the same thing". I was amazed at his ability, at 5, to learn by imitating. We are all teachers when we realize that someone is always watching us, at work, or on the bus, or at the mall, or at home, etc...

What lessons are YOU teaching?

I was also curious how he found Spongebob and I hit the back button. He simply kept clicking on advertisments that appealed to him until it finally took him to www.nick.com. Advertising to your audience is very powerful, even for a 5 year old.

The Greatest Inspiration

Every now and then, you come across a story that moves you and causes you to understand something more powerfully than at any other time before. The video link below (Dick and Rick Hoyt) is one of those moments.



In an interview, I heard Dick say that when they race, he provides the legs, and his son Rick, provides the heart. Amazing how some of the greatest lessons are sometimes taught by those with the quietest voice.

I'm Feeling Lucky

I went to Google and typed "good learning" into the search box. I then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky". The second paragraph of the website I went to is below:

The unifying point in all forms of constructivism is that things and reality are not seen as given, inevitable, or natural, but as constructed by human beings or by human activities. Constructivism is often contrasted to behaviorism and to “transmissive” models of learning where human beings are seen as passive receivers of information."

No wonder so many young people are afraid to learn. How could you not be inspired to join the "good learning" club when it is so eloquently and simply laid out for you as above (notice the extreme sarcasm in my voice).

If we are ever going to get GenY and GenX interested in true learning opportunities on the job, we have to start making it simple and fun!

The Zoo and Target

I took my family to the zoo the other day and we saw all sorts of crazy and fun animals. One that stood out particularly was this bird that had a perfect blond mohawk. On our way home we stopped by Target to return an item, and standing behind the counter was an employee with a perfect blond mohawk. My instant reflex was to grab my camera, and tell my son to stand by the counter for a picture. Not sure what species they were, but the only thing missing was the glass in between us and them and the $8.00 hotdogs.

Fraud Protection

I stopped at a gas station to pump gas the other day and put in my credit card. DENIED. I hit the call button and the voice on the other side said I had to pay inside with the credit card first. What? I thought the machine at the pump was so I could bypass the "inside".

So I went inside to pay and asked if the equipment was broke...Nope! The guy behind the counter told me it was for "fraud protection". He said they have had alot of fraud and this was to "insure no more took place".

Well, being one that likes to test the system, I proceeded to leave my card and fill up my tank. Upon returning "inside", I went to the register and waited for him to hand me my reciept to sign. When he handed it to me, I signed my best friends name, and purposely made it look nothing like the one on the back of my card. He looked at the signed reciept, smiled and handed my card right back to me.

I looked at him and said "Wow". He asked, what was wrong. I simply replied that this was the best fraud protection I had ever seen and explained that I had signed someone elses name on my reciept. He sat there with nothing to say.

Needless to say I never went back to this gas station as they chose to inconvience me and try to pass it off as "fraud protection".