May 2013 Cultural Heritage Recognition
May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage month. We were in the midst of our customary recognition of cultural heritage months, which we hold every month, when we ran into a wrinkle that we just couldn’t smooth out on our own and we’d like your help.
At West Wind we honor each cultural heritage month recognized by presidential proclamation. We do so in a couple of ways, one of which is to create a special banner each month for our website. In deciding the design of the banners we always look at a variety of images that could represent the group and deliberate which images to use. We take this seriously and really wrestle with the task. Our discussions invariably include the following points of consternation: Continue reading “May 2013 Cultural Heritage Recognition”
Last weekend I was reminded of the care and caution needed with raising young Black men.
On Saturday I attended an apple grafting workshop. Though I have no particular inclination to learn how to graft apples, I do have a passion for small-scale sustainable farming and orchards are almost always included as part of the design of sustainable homesteads. So, I went to the workshop and came home with six tiny trees, which if I learned well and the grafts grow, will kick-start my someday orchard. 
This year, my youngest son was admitted into the district Extended Learning Program (ELP), a program for students identified as gifted and talented. Almost immediately upon hearing the news, he remarked, “Wow…I’m the smartest Nyberg, besides you and Dad, of course.” Ever since then, I’ve wondered about the messages we send students in some cases as early as second grade about talent and what it means for those who are not deemed “talented” what that may imply? 
On Monday, the West Wind Education Policy team – including our colleague who telecommutes from 2 hours away – gathered in the West Wind offices for a staff retreat. We do this twice yearly and spend one to two days working together side-by-side. During this retreat we spent the first part of our day focused on our social media strategy for ourselves and our clients and partners. During the afternoon we spent some time discussing how we physically work together and how we could best use our space and the tools we have to make our work stronger and grow our relationships. 
Have you given much thought to how you learn? When you are planning learning experiences to help other professionals learn new knowledge and skills, are you using practices that will make a difference?
In education reform, technology increasingly allows us to work across classrooms, schools, districts, states, and often even international borders. Online dialogues via email are a way of life for most of us and we routinely connect through webinars, Google Plus, Discussion Forums, Twitter, Facebook, and many other platforms. Online communities of practice and collaboration sites allow ongoing working relationships that span time zones and geographical borders to promote continuous knowledge sharing. Many of you may have been part of a community of practice in the past or are currently a member of one or more of these types of communities – whether completely online, in-person, or a mixture of both. If you are not familiar with online communities of practice, visit the 
Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.