In the 1980s, Robert Fulghum wrote a book of essays All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten. The phrase rolls off my tongue now, as this title has become a part of our American cultural landscape (or else I read it, liked it, and don’t remember a lick about what he wrote).

I’ve been doing some self-reflection lately and realized that so much of my work habits are drawn from my experiences with music. I began to daydream that perhaps all I really need to know I learned in my music lessons.

I had a variety of teachers, from the clarinet player that taught me trombone, to the professors I had in college, and then back to the lady who first taught be Suzuki on the piano. While little of what I touch becomes perfect, people have called me a perfectionist. I disagree somewhat, choosing instead to see these habits through the lens of practicing. In a musical performance there are many solutions. There are many ways to play one phrase or another, and while you may have found a perfectly good one, there are many other viable sources.

I wrote here recently about the human-ness of music in my reflection on Gary Stager’s use of music software to create his “learning adventure.” I often wonder if Stager turns to music as his example because he simply likes music (which I have a feeling he does, very much, especially jazz), or because music plays a special role in developing our children in schools.

When I have the occasion to speak in front of others I often think of it as a performance, not unlike preparing for a “solo contest” like I did back in school. You’d have to play a piece off an approved list, and then three judges would talk into a microphone while you performed, telling us what was both good and not good about your performance. You’d get a score, then go home.

A conference presentation is different, of course, but shares some of this mentality. But despite getting a score, you are judged. Instead of simply playing the notes of a master, you may reference the masters, but usually the ideas are you own. Instead of scrutinizing your tone, folks may notice the quality of your slides. They’ll certainly be paying attention to your cadence and the likability of what you’re talking about.

Becoming a better musician requires one to have the discipline to self-judge and improve with trial, error, and the application of acquired technique. But wouldn’t improvement in almost any situation require the same, if not similar procedure?

I learned a lot studying music. Someone once asked me if I regretted studying it in college. It certainly wasn’t a choice that led to a fast track for what I’m doing now. But no, there is no regret. My success, however I see it, is directly influenced by what I learned growing up, developing as a musician. It’s why I lament schools that cut “fat” in their programs that do away with this essential art form. I am not as confident that the visual arts or drama or dance are as essential. But that in no way makes me think they are any less important to the well-being of our society’s younger segment. There are a lot of important lessons learned in Kindergarten, including the very ways we learn. But both the musical and musically-influenced traits I picked up over the years are just as, if not more, important.

Gary Stager, Ph.D., presented at NECC this past year, specifically talking about his idea around learning adventures. I like the term, and came to understand his thinking while listening to his presentation via ISTEVision. Better yet, you can get a far more focused read of what a Stager learning adventure is from his paper.

I found the following the most valuable within the read:

There are essential elements involved in an approach of learning where the process trumps the product. It’s a pedagogical method where we give kids a challenge and they go about solving it, learning from one another in the process.

His essential elements are these, but compare them to what you put into your own lessons:

• Surprise
• Product is subordinate to process
• Socratic teaching
• Distributed expertise
• Flexibility
• Reflection
• Technology as building material
• A good prompt is worth 1000 words (sufficient time, appropriate materials, a motivating problem or challenge, plus a supportive culture.

His example, given both in the video (linked above) and the paper (linked above, yet lower) is one where he provides students with copies of inexpensive music notation software and asks them to compose music.

Knowing little about this craft, the kids set about learning about “balls and sticks” (the tinker toys of standard, Western music notation), but the computer is a tool that turns those into real sounds.

Stager’s interpretation is something akin to this: “This is wonderful learning. Profound. Students composing music. Students figuring out how to use the software from going online and searching forums. Students asking one another questions, problem solving. It’s pretty cool, because everyone composes a piece of music!

I think music makes a good example because banging on pots and pans, at its core, is something innately human that some of us naturally fell in love with. We can make sounds! We can make something musical. To be musical, is in part, to be a human being. By creating, listening, and working together at making music, we explore (even at a very immature level) something crucial about being human.

But there’s where I have to step back and begin asking questions.

• What are we setting out the students to learn with this so-called adventure? How to compose music? How to work together? How to problem-solve?

Don’t get me wrong, but all those may be valid things to learn. But which is it?

• Is using more sophisticated tools (i.e., GarageBand) encouraged? Or discouraged? Why?

• What do we do in schools without sufficient time for exploring and learning in a “community of practice?” (I.e., we’re worried about preparing kids for a test in the spring.)

• How do we match the appropriate materials for the appropriate learning objectives?

I worry that this approach assumes that the teacher be a master teacher (i.e., one good, but rare among his/her peers in society) to manage the learning adventure approach consistently well. I think having great prompts, a supportive culture, and flexibility in learning are win-win approaches. But matching “this could go in a lot of directions” approach takes especial skill for the instructor.

So many other questions remain. Is this an approach to use at every juncture? How do we match learning objectives to the types of activities, or challenges, we pose to students?

While I do reserve some doubts, they are centered around the feasibility of giving learning adventures a fair shake within the teaching culture of most public schools. Perhaps the right direction is to take colleague Resnick’s lead–and instead of talking about the process from the teaching side, we ought to talk about it from the learning side. In the 1996 tome, published with Yasmin Kafai and Mitchel Resnick, they ask us what the term is for the art of learning. Pedagogy is the term for a teaching art. But what’s the art of learning to be called?

According to Gary Stager, it might be an adventure. And while I have my doubts that learning adventures will take over in schools anytime soon as a predominate method of instruction, I do believe there is real value in the ideas. It shall be my personal challenge this upcoming school year to turn to the adventure of learning in my own approaches to learning and teaching.

Unlike Dr. Stager, however, I do find some value in my own definition of a personal learning network, or PLN. The voices I follow in blogs both diverse and deep, from Twitter, and from my colleagues in my own school system and beyond in my state, are a community which certainly adds value to my thinking and reasoning. I include Dr. Stager in that company, and his call for more “learning adventures” and less “nonsense” qualifies for me my own personal learning adventure.

Stay tuned.

Check out the new app for iPhone/iPod Touch from Promethean Planet.

Now you can connect to the Planet wherever you go with our new Promethean Planet iPhone Application!

This free, simple download allows you to instantly view Planet’s latest teacher-submitted resources, news and events and ActivSoftware video tutorials.

As calendaring needs grow more sophisticated, folks are looking for ways to keep all of their data in “sync.” They’d also like to delegate to others the ability to add or change their calendars. And, if that wasn’t asking too much, they’d like to add to their calendars on the go with Apple’s iPhone. This guide shows you how.

We will combine iCal, Google Calendar, and iPhone.

1. Set up your Google calendar.

Login to Google Apps (http://docs.google.com/a/glnd.k12.va.us) and then choose “calendar” from the top of the screen.

Name your calendar. For work, I choose to name mine GLND Hendron to distinguish it from my other, personal calendars.

1. Go into iCal (Mac OS X Leopard). Follow the instructions on this page.

I refresh my calendars every 30 minutes in the iCal Accounts preference.

1. Now you can make changes to your calendar either within iCal or within Google Calendar on the Web.

2. To share your calendar with others, you can choose three levels of access: busy/available status, read only, and read/write. Under Google Calendar > Settings, choose “Share this Calendar.” After entering the person’s email address, you may choose from among the options under permission settings.

At this time, I have not been successful at allowing edits from someone else’s account via sharing through iCal to your calendar.

Your colleague can edit your calendar either by connecting through Google Calendar online, or through iCal if you share your Google Apps credential with them for editing within iCal.

1. To sync with iPhone, you will be setting up a new “Exchange” account on your iPhone. Since iPhone can only handle one Exchange account, first ensure you do not already use Exchange on your iPhone.

The instructions start online.

Things to note:

• you may no longer be using your Address Book contacts on your phone. Using Google Sync, you will use your Google Contacts. This means you will need to transfer your contacts to Google first.

• you can elect to not sync contacts. This page details settings you will need.

• To manage multiple calendars, visit m.google.com/sync on your phone via Safari.