I love year-in-review lists, so I’ve come up with one of my own — the “Top 3” in a variety of categories. A great way to spur on discussion and debate. I look forward to your own additions.
Top 3 “Culture of Yes” Blog Posts – these posts have generated the most traffic this year:
1. Printing is not Meant to be Convenient
2. A Recipient in the Sharing Revolution (thanks to Dean Shareski for sharing this post)
3. TedxUBC (Post 1 and Post 2)
Top 3 Jurisdictions I Want to Learn More About:
1. Revelstoke — latest graduation rate is a provincial best 98%
2. Ontario — their recent PISA results in reading is something from which we can learn
3. Finland — in almost every measure, they continue to lead the way in education
Top 3 B.C. Principals Influencing My Thinking and Work in our District:
1. Cale Birk — his post on collaborative time was particularly helpful
2. Gino Bondi — he is pushing the change agenda and thinks differently about high schools
3. Chris Wejr — a great champion of thinking differently about assessment
Top 3 Professional Development Events I Have Attended:
1. TEDxUBC
3. Twitter (pretty much on a daily basis – and it doesn’t cost a cent)
Top 3 Social Media Tools I’ve Used More of in 2010 Than Before:
1. Twitter — it is changing the game with professional development
2. Slideshare — wish more teachers would use it to share PowerPoints
3. YouTube — it was only a couple of years ago this tool was blocked in schools
Top 3 Used (and often overused) Terms in Education for the Year:
2. backchannel
Top 3 Used (and often overused) Quotes in Education for the Year:
1. “It is not about the technology” (guilty of this one)
2. “The 21st century is more than 10% over”
3. “Creativity, now, is as important in education as literacy” (or other Sir Ken like quote)
Top 3 Canadian Educational Reform “Blueprints” Worth Reading:
1. British Columbia – A Vision for 21st Century Education (pdf)
2. Alberta – Inspiring Education
3. New Brunswick – Creating a 21st Century Learning Model of Public Education (pdf)
Top 3 Education-related Videos from B.C. (that I bet you haven’t seen)
1. Digital Immersion Class Video – from Riverside Secondary in Port Coquitlam
2. Barry McDonald – Boy Smarts from TEDxUBC (Barry is a Langley teacher)
3. The North Delta Secondary Focus Group Initiative
Top 3 Education-related Videos from Outside B.C. (not featuring Sir Ken)
1. RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us
2. Project-Based Learning Explained
3. Alfie Kohn vs Dwight Schrute (thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for pointing me to this one)
The best thing I did professionally this year was start this blog. Thanks to all of you who engage with me here on a regular basis. I look forward to more discussions to come — there will never be a shortage of topics.
Happy Holidays!
cultureofyes.ca 
I like that you chose YouTube as one of your top 3 (in Social Media section). Yes it was just some short years ago that it was blocked in schools. In addition, teachers and students are together on Twitter, Facebook, etc. This shows that times are changing and that educators are embracing it. Maybe some are still resisting it but the net movement is forward.
It is funny that while we are in the change – we often get frustrated with the slow speed, as we reflect on the changes in even the last few years – they have been quite huge. Social media has a completely different vibe now in schools than it did even 2 years ago.
Great to connect with you at PDK and now online. It is great that you have taken to blogging.
Thanks for the mention, Chris. You have been a huge addition to my PLN and your leadership has helped model effective use of social media for other administrators in the province of BC. Here’s to more great conversations in 2011!
Absolutely Chris. I like all of the suggestions that we find a way to bring our large BC Twitter PLN together in the face-to-face world in 2011!
Thanks for the lists! This will definitely give me enough material to think about over the holidays!
Thanks for the comment. I am enjoying going through the different “Best of” video lists – a great new holiday tradition.
Terrific assortment of categories. Kept me looking right to the end, unlike those “top 100” lists put out by link farms!
Thanks for the mention, Chris.
I’m presently coming down from my turkey/tryptophan induced state of disconnection and with my wife’s blessing I am ending my two week hiatus from all things technological (including tv!).
As always, after a hiatus, I quickly read what my ‘local’ PLN has been writing about the ‘global’. I enjoyed reading your post about Alyssa and change and it’s inspired me to write about how I as a Principal can help facilitate this change, one teacher at a time, at John Oliver. Hopefully I’ll get my post out into the ether tonight.
Thanks again for you leadership and your continued commitment to the “sharing revolution”.
[…] compiled a “Top 3″ list for 2010 (here), and am thinking of turning the “Top 3″ into an annual tradition. Many of […]
[…] blog list is becoming a bit of a tradition with previous Top 3 lists for 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). This “top” list is an opportunity to review ideas that have become a big part or our […]
[…] This has become a tradition with previous Top 3 lists for 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). I know we are abandoning ranking and sorting in our education system, so this is more […]
[…] 3″ lists for the year. Previous Top 3 lists for 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). Hopefully, you will find a link or video or some other information you may not have seen over […]
[…] Previous Top 3 lists for 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]
[…] Previous Top 3 lists for 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]
[…] Previous Top 3 lists for 2016 (here) 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]
[…] Previous Top 3 lists for: 2017 (here) 2016 (here) 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]
[…] Previous Top 3 lists for: 2018 (here) 2017 (here) 2016 (here) 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]
[…] The “Top 3” starts its second decade with the 11th annual list. Of course, it will be a little different this year – COVID has changed a number of categories. Then again, the categories already change every year. I appreciate everyone who has checked in here at the blog this year. The pandemic has been good for blog traffic. As per usual, while we do some serious work in education, it is also good to not take ourselves too seriously.Previous Top 3 lists for: 2019 (here) 2018 (here) 2017 (here) 2016 (here) 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]
[…] Previous Top 3 lists for: 2020 (here) 2019 (here) 2018 (here) 2017 (here) 2016 (here) 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]
[…] To get caught up, here are the previous years Top 3 lists: 2021 (here) 2020 (here) 2019 (here) 2018 (here) 2017 (here) 2016 (here) 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here). […]