I struggled to fight back tears this morning. Our Global Studies team challenged 170 seventh grade students to design a low-cost, innovative solution to a global problem. Today, Torrey and 10 classmates were selected to pitch their ideas to an audience of parents, administrators, faculty, students and community members.  Although their 8-minute presentations were exemplary, their research and analysis thoughtfully executed, and their prototypes impressive, I was overwhelmed by their empathy. Each student designed a solution with a specific user in mind, someone whose circumstances are very different than hers and who has a fundamental human need that the students showed they understood, could feel… and wanted to solve. One young man shared with us his water filtration system, SPLASH, believing that little ideas can grow into big ones that solve problems “because everyone counts.” His tagline: One person can make a splash, but the world can make a wave.

Indeed, it is this kind of spirit that inspired us to create edu180atl- a place where individuals have dared to share, to be transparent, to struggle, to reinvent themselves. By so doing, the hallmark of a healthy community is evolving: empathy for one another. Isn’t that a fundamental condition for learning?

People may say education in Atlanta is broken. Institutionally, as a whole, maybe it is. But, I believe. I believe that this edu180atl community is designing a future for education in Atlanta built on empathy.  As educators, we refuse to accept a “flaw in our user base.”

Everyone counts.

Laura Deisley (@deacs84) is co-founder of edu180atl, a mom, a re-imagined professional turned educator, a reader, a runner…and a learner.

After this split-second recognition my attention turned not to the delicate purple flowers, but to the orientation of their stems. All this time, competing with the dogwood tree overhead for sunlight, these Lily of the Nile leaned in the direction of the sun.

Since August I too have leaned toward the sun, toward the bright spots of reflection and dialogue in Atlanta: students expressing their uniqueness and creativity, adults facing cataclysmic change in their lives, teachers reveling in the endearing moments of their day, parents expressing their hopes for their children. I really do think that the 170+ authors have captured the full range of experience that comes with devoting oneself to a lifetime of learning. And yet, there are so many degrees yet to capture. So I continue leaning toward the brightness of our community’s reflections, waiting with anticipation as the next group of volunteers write, read, comment, edit, and share what it means to be a learner.

So, sign up again in the fall, tell a friend, and keep the conversation going.

About the author: Ted Sadtler (@senor206) is a co-founder of edu180atl, a Spanish teacher, coach, Integration Specialist, and an intermittent blogger at ¡Inglés Fatal!

Through the edu180atl project, I’ve connected with countless learners and their stories of learning—stories filled with struggle and challenge, but also fulfillment and joy. These connections make me feel even more empowered to persevere through my own difficulties, and give me a great sense of gratitude.

John Burk (@occam98) is romantic scientist at heart. He is a co-founder of edu180atl, and looks forward to following the project next year from Delaware, where he will be teaching at boarding school. He blogs at Quantum Progress.

I have felt alive, awake, curious, and furious this 2011-12 school year. Consuming the wisdom generated from 175 posts, and now creating this 176^th post, I have gained greater consciousness about learning and schooling and being in this world.

And I feel wide-awake to possibility.

Maxine Greene’s words about being wide-awake in the world serve as a reminder…and so will the 45,000 words posted to this site from August 1^st to May 25^th.  Open eyes, open ears, and open hearts allow for learning to happen. The edu180atl project, a small-seed-of-an-idea back in the spring of 2011, blossomed in the fall and has been producing the most diverse and substantive fruit for 175 days. For that I am grateful.

And on this 176^th day, I feel wide-awake to possibility.

What if all of our classrooms and teams and schools and school systems sought to cultivate students’ spirit of wide-awakeness — their spirit of wanting to know and learn? What if we educators — both teachers and administrators — sought to cultivate that spirit in ourselves and in others? How might we change? What would the possibilities look like?

If we all had greater consciousness about learning and schooling and being in this world, the possibilites would be endless…for our students…for our selves…for our schools…and maybe even for our society. So, what have I learned? That it’s time to pursue such wide-awakeness with the reckless abandon of being alive, awake, curious, and furious every day. Not just during the 180 days of the school year. Or on the 176th.

About the Author: Megan Howard (@mmhoward), co-founder of edu180atl and passionate learner, is grateful for what the edu180atl project has taught her this year. She can’t wait for August 1, 2012, which will mark the second year of this important and inspiring project.

As I walked around the room, I was overwhelmed with the tools and resources the students are using voluntarily on an everyday basis.  After standing in front of the room speaking as an “expert” about Facebook and its business model, I watched the students gravitate toward sites like Tumblr and Google + or mobile apps like Instagram.  I listened as students explained to me how each was just a little different and allowed interaction with the world around them in a slightly different manner.  My question of “Why would you not just do all of this on one site?” was quickly scoffed by the crowd as the pros and cons of each web environment were given almost in unison from the class.

I remember a quote from a lesson years passed that said, “You can not learn when you are talking.  You can only learn when you are listening.”  The 15 minutes I spent at the end of class listening to the students freely share information with each other and with me made me feel like I was back in 1994 learning things for the first time.  In addition, hearing how the students wanted to interact with information and with others gave me a better understanding of their expectations for how they receive and filter information from the outside world.  Last but not least, as I reflect back on today, I have decided that I should probably stay away from Facebook stock.  Peter Lynch always says to invest in what you know, and I am long way from knowing about the next big thing in technology.

Jay Watts is an Economics teacher and the Assistant Athletic Director at the Westminster Schools.  He is a lacrosse enthusiast, an avid fan of the University of Alabama, and convinced that he is closely related to Larry the Cable Guy. 

Picture from:http://www.labnol.org/internet/upload-videos-to-tumblr-blogs/13166/

When I was in preschool my class was always given coloring worksheets. They were pictures of animals, people, and other things. I always had trouble with this because my classmates were always using the blue to color the water or using the green to color the grass. I hated to color because I never got the color I wanted. I would have to wait in line for that specific color.

One day I was waiting in line for the blue so I could color a picture of a fish jumping out of the water. It was taking so long. I lost my patience and I cut in line. I grabbed the green from someone else and started coloring. The little boy got pretty angry and he came over with a pink and scribbled all over the water. I didn’t say a word. I just sat there with my mouth in mid-scream form staring at it. I thought it looked great with the green fish and the pink ocean. But I thought, that couldn’t be right. The ocean is not pink, it’s blue. I sat there puzzled for a while, then I decided that in this picture the ocean would be pink. That day I learned a very important lesson. I learned that the right color is not always the best color. I also learned that even though my classmates thought my pink ocean looked disgusting, I thought it looked great. It was great because I saw it as the most beautiful ocean ever.

As I grew older my colorings got weirder and weirder by the day. I started coloring eagles pink, blue, green, and orange. One day I found an activity where you look at a picture and its all black and white and there is more than one way to see something. It was very fun. They were optical illusions. There was one where you could see a big cup or two faces. In all of them you could see the pretty and upbeat thing or the dull and ugly thing. These pictures taught me how to look at things in different ways.

Everyone has a creative eye and sees things differently.

This I believe.

About the Author: Donovan Mitchell is a fifth grader at Trinity School with a passion for sports and animals. He loves to draw and color. Look for him in the 2020 summer Olympics as a swimmer for the U.S. Team.

This year went by in a snap.  Those are the words spoken in my classroom each morning as we count down to summer.  Six days left, and all I hear are moans and groans from students that kindergarten is almost over. 

Here I am looking forward to a break, a chance to unwind and be lazy, and yet my students are ready to shed tears that school is almost over.  There’s something to be said about their sadness.  They know the truth.  School is a gift. Education is a gift.  How often in life do we celebrate the joy of learning, the ability to learn, and the incredible education we are capable of receiving? Through their moans and groans, I realize that they have it correct.  They’ve come so far, they’ve learned so much, and they’ve had a blast doing so.  Why stop now? Learning is fun and a lifetime gift that we should never stop achieving.  Because really, before we know it, life will go by in a snap.      

Mary Catherine Groome teaches Kindergarten at The Schenck School.  She is an avid runner, painter, camp director, and outdoor enthusiast.  You can almost always find her hanging out with little kiddos teaching them something about life both indoors and out. 

1) My mission in life is to share good news. Just by you reading this post, I am engaging in that purpose becoming a reality. Thanks for helping make good news happen!

2) There was once a group of recent Notre Dame grads who did not want to throw their books in the trash. They ran a book drive – 10 years ago this week – and ended up creating the company I now write to you from, Better World Books! To date, we have raised almost $12 million for our literacy and library partners and donated over 6 million books to learners in need.

3) 28 years ago during the civil war in Uganda, one man had an idea. A dream. He wanted to bring the orphans to the West to show the world the hope, dignity, beauty and potential of Africa’s children. Today, the 39th African Children’s Choir is getting ready to come to America to perform for people like me and you. Their tour will raise enough funding for these children, who would otherwise not make it to 2nd grade, to go on to university. Former members are now leading lawyers, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs and of course, musicians, across the Continent!

I hope this inspires you to chase your dreams with all your heart and mind! Learn on!

Erin Levin (@makinggoodnews) is a storyteller with a passion for serving up good news.

We were still in conversation when his mother came to my door to say that it was time to leave.  As he exited, I wondered what had motivated him to spend time and thought to create such a project.  In his book Drive, Daniel Pink talks about the motivating factors of self-direction, the need to learn and create new things, and the need to improve ourselves and the world.   I questioned what I could do as a teacher to foster and engender this kind of thinking.  I’ve always wanted students to find my classroom to be an exciting place that ignites imagination and welcomes discovery.

I’m still reflecting on best practices for this, but I do know this: nothing kills creativity like negativity.

My lesson? A reminder to be uplifting, encouraging, and supportive of those around me and to never impede the creative process with pessimism, harsh criticism, or belittling judgments.  One never knows where the next great idea might originate.

Perhaps its creator will stop by your office today.

About the Author: Julie is a spouse, parent, teacher, and coach, as well as a librarian.  She enjoys chasing after children with books.

Imagine yourself walking into a packed waiting room. You stand behind a man at the front desk, waiting for your turn to check in. It’s obvious by the body language of the man standing in front of you that he’s irritated, not unlike many others, but he’s not attempting to hide his exasperation. He is sighing repeatedly and doesn’t seem to care that people are in line waiting for him to move on. You begin to resent this man that you’ve never met before in your life. You wish he had just been courteous enough to come a different day, or even go to a different doctor. Little do you know, his beloved daughter has just recently died. A part of this man’s heart has been stolen from him in the blink of aneye. He grieves for his daughter and rightfully so, but yet, you didn’t think to consider that he is a good person that has been put through an undeserved circumstance.

This happened to me today.

Had I have known that this man was suffering inconceivable loss, I would not have judged him so readily. Everyone is suffering from some sort of loss. Rather than singling out these people and feeling bitter towards them, we should relate to them through common experience.

This way, we can accomplish life together as a community.

About the Author: Lela Johnson is 9th grade student at Holy Innocents’ and an avid tennis player, reader, and writer. She is a creative and diligent student who cherishes family and friends.