Last week was my daughters 6th Birthday party and next week is the CapCUE Techfest: Two epic events with more similarities than you may imagine.

Music by: bensound.com

I had the opportunity to speak as the closing keynote at the Math and Mindfulness Summit. I was amazed by the content of the conference. 

Sabrina Jackson is the 2017 Westlake Charter Teacher of the Year, and after listening to this podcast, you'll understand why. She believes in kids and makes every effort to set them up for success!

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to chaperone the 6th Grade Science Camp. While I was there, I thought I might capture the sights and sounds of camp, through the voices of our students, parents and staff, who were taking part in this 3 day 2 night learning extravaganza called Science Camp! 

Wandering through Open House, I was blown away by what our kids are able to do.

For Mother's Day I interviewed a pioneer of the Silicon Valley and the inspiration for the Kid Power Club: My mom.

Music: by Bensound.

This is just a quick rant on a topic that has made its way around my dinner table. What do you hope your kids get out of school? I'm kind of simple so I tried my best to boil it down to just one thing. 

My friend Tim Bedley and I agreed we would both rant on the same topic this week. Neither of us knows how the other feels about this topic, and we won't know until we both click publish. To read Tim's thoughts, go to www.TimBedley.com, and check out his latest blogpost! 

Sitting in a session by Brian Briggs and Ryan O'Donnell, they ask participants to podcast on the spot. I happen to be sitting next to Pam Hernandez and this is what happened!

In October of 2016, this keynote was captured on video at the CapCue Techfest. This week, my friend Brian Briggs suggested that I upload the audio to inspire the PLN durning their driving commute. For what it is worth, below is the link to the original youtube video, as well as credit to the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium for the original recording. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Fv1fz5pcQ

I dig all the social media: the Tweet, the Post, the IM, the DM, the Blog, the Vlog and now the Podcast...but the one thing they all miss is the opportunity at a two way conversation that includes the human voice. Natural inflection, exclamation and intonation are all a part of communication when you share your thoughts via voice-thread on Voxer.  

Special thanks to Ryan, Brian and Cate. 

Music by: http://www.bensound.com

Just a quick rant about flexible seating and creating intentional learning spaces. 

Joe Clark wandered into my office, so I pushed record and this is what happened next.

Today I sat down with an amazing 4th Grade Teacher at Westlake Charter School, Jeanette Miksits, to talk about an overnight field lesson that takes 10 year olds back to 1906 and has them scrubbing the deck and hoisting the main sails. 

I had a chance to catch up with Kim Hewitt from Westlake Charter and hear how she and her team are weaving together digital citizenship lessons with the school's core values each month.

Just to demonstrate that podcasting is something anyone can do, I asked my 14 year old son for a topic, and then I clicked record. Take a 4 minute listen to my riff on Lesson planning and Unit planning as it pertains to "Fish Food." 

This week is just a quick rant about what to do with those people in your organization that are setting the pace, blazing the trails and inspiring innovation. The advice I have is simple and it comes from my experience working with some truly amazing people. My advice: Kick them out. 

Managing Change is what educators do for a living, but every once in a while, we get thrown a curve ball that we just didn't see coming. No Bad Days is a short story about a woman who has inspired me to rethink change.

This episode is in response to the question, "Ok I have robots and 3D printers at my school...so what?" This rant was inspired by a Voxer conversation, the book Bold, and a lifetime of working with inspiring educators. 

While basking in the glow of a podcasting session hosted by Brian Briggs and Ryan O'Donnel of the Check the Out Podcast, these two encouraged the audience to spend 15 minutes producing a podcast. The Learn with John Eick Podcast was born and here is my Episode 1.