1 Passion for Change?

I'm visiting my family for North American summer and talking to my father this morning was quite an interesting experience.  One thing that I love more than anything else is when everything you've been reading or learning about suddenly shows up all around you in your life!  A "zeitgeist moment", if you will!

So that is exactly what happened this morning as my father argued with me about eating breakfast.  According to him, he knows perfectly well that it is healthier to eat in the morning than to not.  He knows that it helps give you energy all day and that it jump starts his metabolism (which he's worried about as he gets older). So, I asked him plain and simple "So why don't you eat breakfast in the morning if you know it's healthier for you?" His answer was also plain and simple, "I'm lazy. As soon as I can afford a maid to make me breakfast every morning, I'll eat it!"

What does that have to do with education you ask? After listening to the #ISTE11 talk #yeahbut by @willrich45 and @Robmancabelli I was reminded of the talk I had heard earlier this year at the ASCD conference in San Francisco by @chipheath on his book Switch. My father is just like the people in those books that are told that they must change their health or they will die, and they don't.

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I'm wondering then, if that's how we have to look at education as a whole.  Not as individual teachers but as one collective "person" called education.  We have to address the need for change from an emotional standpoint and not just a rational one if we are going to move anywhere in education.  Like @angelamaiers,  @kevinhoneycutt and others who believe in Passion Based Education only we need to direct it at the teachers.  We need to help them find their passion for why change in education matters.  I think it started with Waiting for Superman but we need to go farther.

So, now the mashup...how will I apply this in my own learning context? I'm planning on collecting inspirational videos of students and teachers learning in classrooms around the world and using them for emotional motivation at my next PD.  I saw this idea on @justintarte's blog for starting discussions and will use his inspiration to make my own collection solely on students doing amazing things in classrooms just like ours.

What do you think? Will this approach to educational change work? Do you have any videos you can recommend?

Jessica :)

Photo source: David Reece