In his post yesterday, Seth Godin asked us to consider, “the first thing you do when you sit down at the computer.” And then he offered the following:

Oddly enough, earlier this week I received and began a new book titled, “Intentional Leader” from GiantImpact.com so when Seth Godin noted, “If you’re.....a leader or someone seeking to make a difference, the first thing you do should be to lay tracks to accomplish your goals” I thought that perhaps there were such a thing as stars aligning.

Why, because yesterday I offered the following tweet about “Intentional Leader” and my enjoyment of it to which Vinny Vrotny replied:

Therefore, because Vinny asked, I offer this short post on why I am intrigued by “Intentional Leader” and it’s day-by-day series of reflections.

First, “Intentional Leader” is broken down into twelve logical sections, one for each month of a year:

Vision, Relationships, Excellence, Focus, Passion, Perseverance, Legacy, Change, Attitude, Strategy, Initiative, and Belief.

Within in each month you have:

• An introduction to that month’s topic as well a set pattern that continues throughout the book.
• Each Monday you are asked to consider a sub-topic from the month’s theme.
• Each Tuesday you are asked to think about what is true about you as it pertains to the sub-topic from Monday.
• On Wednesday you are asked to consider the external significance of what you considered back on Monday.
• On Thursday of each week you are asked to reflect upon your answers throughout the week.
• Finally, on Friday, you are asked to be more intentional about rest, friendship, projects and rejuvenation as you head into the weekend.

Note: This post was originally posted on edSocialMedia.com

I love Twitter for the simple fact that it helps bring ideas together. Or, as Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation would say, Twitter is a place where “hunches collide” (Johnson).

So, what is this hunch I’ve had for awhile but wasn’t quite sure how to spell out or share? Well, it’s the idea that social media is somehow new. I am here to tell you that that is simply not the case.

WAIT....WHAT? WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?

That’s right, here today I am saying that social media is, in fact, not new. The only part that is new is that new technologies came along and allowed us to put social and media together to form a new phrase.

You see, as humans, we can’t help but be social. It’s part of our genetic code. It’s inbreed, ingrained, and all too often intolerable for folks NOT to be social. And media, well that’s been around since German Johannes Gutenberg decided to reinvent the screw press into a printing press around 1440 (Wikipedia). Of course, the Town Crier preceded that but news traveled only as far as his choice of medium, his voice, would carry.

So why does any of this matter? Well, about a month ago this tweet, sent by a former student who now lives in the United Kingdom and works for a WOM* company, came across my screen.

best line from @Chris_illman "Social Media is like Fight Club - the first rule of Social Media is that you don't talk about Social Media!"

— Meg Grogan (@Megster33) October 12, 2011

For those that do not get the reference, Fight Club was a 1999 file starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter in which Pitt and Edward form a Fight Club where the rules were simply put:

“Welcome to Fight Club! The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.
The second rule of Fight Club is you DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB.”

And so I say to you:

“Welcome to Social Media! The first rule of Social Media is you do not talk about Social Media.
The second rule of Social Media is you DO NOT talk about SOCIAL MEDIA.”

If you are embarking on a communications plan in the near future I say definitely include social media in those plans, just do not talk about social media as if it’s a foreign concept for it’s truly just another medium in which to share the stories of your school.

So what, exactly, are your thoughts on:

“a social gathering, especially of or as given by an organized group, using a means of communication that reach or influence people widely”

or more commonly known as, shhhh, don’t say it,  “social media”

Having spent a third of my life in and around New York City, and being a huge sports fan, I often found myself listening to one of the greatest sports radio talk shows ever to grace the airwaves in the Mike and the Mad Dog show on WFAN in the afternoons. A brutally honest sports radio duo, Mike and the Mad Dog had an incredibly loyal following of rabid New York City sports fans. And, when those loyal listeners had the opportunity to get through to chat with them on air, they generally started their conversations with “long time listener, first time caller” before kicking into many a diatribe on why this New York sports team or that player managed to let their team down the previous day.

As I sat at Solution Tree’s Author Speak 2011 as a first time author and one of the 99 “Voices of Solution Tree” to present to educators this past week along with my co-authors Bill Ferriter and Eric Sheninger, I admittedly found the experience to be a little surreal especially as a “long time listener; first time author” in the education space. For those that know me well, public acknowledgement of my work is not something I neither enjoy nor expect. However, I did want to share a few of experiences to highlight an important point to come later.

Surreal Experience #1

On Tuesday, during the open session of the event, President and CEO of Solution Tree Jeff Jones asked, at one point in his opening remarks, for all the authors in the audience to stand. He noted that Author Speak was unique because not only would the authors be leading sessions, but that they would be learning “shoulder to shoulder” with the participants.

I happened to be sitting with Eric Sheninger and when we stood, there was what I can only describe as a hushed murmur that came over the room as people recognized the authors around them. In fact, to my immediate left I noticed people pointing at Eric and me and taking out the program to find our bios. Soon after they were nudging each other as if Eric and I were somehow different than they; not so much – remember, “long time listener; first time author.”

Surreal Experience #2

On Tuesday evening, I had the chance to meet a few of the other authors and several of them said to me, “I enjoyed your book and your work.” Huh? Are you talking to me? Seriously, you’re talking to me? – remember, “long time listener; first time author.”

Surreal Experience #3

Today, on the closing day of the event, I was scheduled to have my author interview and photo shoot. When I arrived, a member of the Solution Tree marketing department explained the process, I was mic’d up and then sat down for a one on one interview about my work and book. When done, I was introduced to the staff photographer who shot photos of me in a room and then in the conference books store… Whaaat? – remember, “long time listener, first time author."

Conclusion

Now, I do not share these experiences to be vain or showy – that’s truly not me. Rather, I do so because I’m just a husband, father, and family man that happens to be a “long time listener; first time author” all because I had the good fortune to believe in the power of Twitter and social media to build connections outside my own campus in an effort to expand my thinking about teaching and learning in the 21^st Century.

So my question to you, dear reader, is if you’ve been a “long time listener” why not start Communicating and Connecting with Social Media….who knows, you might just be the next “first time author.”

Seriously, what do you have to lose?

NAIS 2011 – Reflections from Day One

23 FEB 11 @ 8:30 p.m.  – Wow! It’s been quite a busy first day here at NAIS’ Annual Conference. The day started bright and earlier with coffee in the beautiful atrium here at the Gaylord National Convention Center and a chance meeting with Demetri Orlando (@demetri); with whom I’d be presenting with later in the day, and Jamie Field Baker (@jamiereverb)  – an impromptu conversation over lattes about how our schools will need to make ourselves more relevant in the years head was quite a filling breakfast to kick start Day One.

At 8:30 a.m. the team with whom I was to present “Creating Connected Teachers: Professional Growth Using Networked Collaborations” met in our room to finalize our presentation – which had been completed entirely virtually over the past few months. The synergy between Sarah Hanawald (@sarahhanawald), Peter Gow (@pgow), Demetri Orlando (@demetri), Vinnie Vrotny (@vvrotny), Derrick Willard (@dwillard), and me as we worked to polish the flow for our workshop was a joy in which to participate – watching connected educators preparing to speak passionately about the Web 2.0 tools they most favor in helping them learn and grow professionally was inspiring.

At 10:00 a.m. I had the good fortune of attending NAIS’ 21st Century Curriculum and Technology Task – my second full year on the team -- where I had the opportunity to learn about a variety of fantastic initiatives happening at schools around the country. I consider myself blessed to have had the good fortune to learn and be inspired by folks like Demetri Orlando (@demetri), Geoff Wagg, Alex Ragone (@alexragone), Jennie Vorhees, Wendy Drexler (@WendyDrexler), Eileen Powers, Jill Brown (@drjillbrown), Howard Levin (@howlevin), Antonio Viva (@antoniovia), Chris Bigenho (@bigenhoc), Arvind Grover (@arvind), Jamie Britto (@jamiebritto), Tim Fish, Paul Miller and Susan Booth. Most importantly, however, I was excited to learn that NAIS now has a Schools of the Future sub-committee for NAIS’ Board of Trustees.

After a full meeting, I take a quick jaunt down to check-in at the presenter’s booth and I have the opportunity to meet Jonathan E. Martin (@jonathanemartin), Head of School at St. Gregory School in Tucson, AZ face to face – I’ve been following his work online and it was great to connect, albeit briefly. After checking in I head to National Harbor Room 13 and get setup to present.

With 30 minutes before we start I head downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat along the way and I have the good fortune to run into William Taylor, a former colleague of mine from Trinity-Pawling who is now the Head at St. George’s Independent School in Memphis, TN as well as Jim Foley (@foleysquared) whom I met by chance at last year’s conference in San Francisco --- Do you see a trend here? You bet, NAIS’ Annual Conference is about connecting and reacquainting yourself with colleagues (and it’s only the pre-conference day!) and having wonderful and fruitful conversations.

With 15 minutes to spare I’m back in National Harbor Room 13 and folks are starting to enter the room. We all get settled and the session begins.  And, in a blink of an eye, it’s now 4:00 p.m. and the entire team has successfully kept the attention of 32 eager learners all interested in becoming connected, collaborative educators. – whew! The day is speeding by quickly.

We finish chatting, making connections and re-orienting the room and then I and Sarah Hanawald head over to an Education Innovation Summit Advisory Committee meeting at McCormick & Scmick’s – we both had the good fortune of presenting at the inaugural event last November at The Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, OH and are eager to lend ourselves to helping that initiative grow in the years ahead.

It’s now 5:45 and we head back to the Gaylord for a longer meet up of the contingent of North Carolina educators here this week – Sarah Hanawald (@sarahhanawald), Sam Morris (@samandjt), Meredith Stewart (@msstewart), Matt Scully (@mattscully), Derrick Willard (@dwillard) and Laura Deisley (@Deacs84) from Atlanta -- always good to get connected with local folks as well since we do not have the opportunity to see each other frequently enough during the school year. After lots of good conversation I’m back in my room at 8:30 for an hour of much needed solitude and processing (and crafting this blog post) before I head downstairs at 9:30 to meet up with Linda Vaus (@fivecard) and Karen Blumberg (@specialkrb) with whom I’ll be presenting Static Systems/Dynamic Ideas: Managing Tradition and Innovation in Our Schools at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning in National Harbor 12.

Remember, while here make sure you connect, share, and find time for solitude!

I hope everyone’s first day here in Washington, D.C. was as fruitful as mine!