As you open the cover of our first book of the StrateReaders virtual book club, remember to keep these questions in mind:
1) What does the information in this book mean to me personally?
2) What does the information in this book mean to me professionally?
3) What does the information in this book mean to our SIM world?
4) How can I use this information in these three areas?
Curl up and enjoy the book. Remember to share your reflections, thoughts, and ideas to our blog site!
Jean Piazza
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 9:33 pm and is filed under The World Is Flat.
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As you open the cover of our first book of the StrateReaders virtual book club, remember to keep these questions in mind:
1) What does the information in this book mean to me personally?
2) What does the information in this book mean to me professionally?
3) What does the information in this book mean to our SIM world?
4) How can I use this information in these three areas?
Curl up and enjoy the book. Remember to share your reflections, thoughts, and ideas to our blog site!
Jean Piazza
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 9:33 pm and is filed under The World Is Flat.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
September 1st, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Dear Jean,
Thank you so very much for sending the email to me about the Stratereaders blog, especially since I had not heard of it before tonight. How fortuitous also, I just started reading “Flat” a couple of weeks ago, based on a recommendation from a friend.
What does “FLAT” mean to me personally? Well, since I am involved in online learning again this fall term, it means I can have a second job without having to pay for more gas, I can continue to multitask on the PC, I am building new professional relationships that span common interests rather than simply geography….this all seems to relate to the first chapter of “Flat”.
Professionally, I am wondering if “Flat” will speak to this thing we’ve been saying about how technology will become a great equalizer for our students with learning differences?
What does this mean to our SIM world? Well, you seem to be correct that we need to deepen our knowledge even while maintaining our SIM foundation. Book chats stimulate professional growth for me.
How will I use this info in these areas? I don’t know yet, I need to read some more of the book. I DO know that my pastor/friend told me this book would be perfect for me and that it would really be right up my alley of divergent thinking. hmmmm
I have never been involved in a blog before. I sure hope this is ok. If not, I apologize and you may certainly delete it or something.
Thanks, again, for offering this opportunity.
Sincerely,
Mandy Horton
September 2nd, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Hi Jean,
This is great! I listened to the book over a year ago on CD on some of my long drives, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve tried to reach Tom Friedman, the author of the book, to see if he would comment on some of our posts. Now that the website is up and running, and the book club has officially begun, I will try again! This is going to be an exciting way to have a book study. Many thanks for setting it up and putting an idea into action! Can’t wait to be able to post something myself. Right now it is only possible to reply to a post.
Best regards to all…and let’s get this Stratereader thing going!
Sue Woodruff
September 2nd, 2006 at 8:43 pm
Thanks for starting stratereaders! I read FLAT last year and have wanted a reason to go back and think more deeply about it, so I’m dusting it off and starting again this weekend.
Molly Edelen
September 4th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Dear Jean and StrateReaders,
First, let me say how excited I am about StrateReaders! Than you Jean for helping to move us a little farther into the new milennium.
“Flat” has been on my bedside table for quite some time. This will help me to get back into it. I look forward to the discussions. I love that Sue is going to contact Thomas Friedman again.
I lift my (imported) coffee cup in salute to this very cool effort!
Patty
September 6th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
I’m very excited to see StrateReaders off to such a great start. Mandy, I think your comments are great–no need to apologize! It’s reflections like yours that will make our book study successful for all!
Julie
September 10th, 2006 at 9:32 am
Personally? How amazing the variety of products and services I
have purchased that were outsourced.
Professionally? We all prepare students to compete on this
leveled playing field for the opportunity to work.
Learners in our SIM world will require the advantage of becoming
critical thinkers to create their career prospects.
I especially enjoyed the hope offered in the closing chapters
that America has always encouraged and rewarded imagination.
That unique cultural focus on initiative will continue to be the impetus that fuels American business.
Thanks to Jean and all of you for sharing in this distinctive event.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
This on -line format for discussion is so great! I am in several bookclubs whose meeting I often miss because of other conflicts. That won’t be the case with this one! Thanks Jean for setting this up!
The information that Friedman shares affects our family directly because my husband is in the furniture industry. A “flattened” world has affected his industry in many complex-some good some not so good ways. The average consumer doesn’t realize that many small family owned stores and business in the US have been eliminated because they can’t compete with the “big Box” vendors that order direct from overseas or set up their own factories in China and especially Vietnam.
Professionally, I would be interested to learn more about how we can teach US children ways to think more “outside the box” in order to compete with this fast paced changing world. Many children with processing deficits will be even more handicapped if they are unable to multi-task faster.
I have not finished the book, am only half way thru it…but anxious to read his next book too! Can’t help but be a little overwhelmed with how fast much of this has all happened in less than 10 years!
October 29th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Hello,
I just want to express my thanks for this blog. It helped me to better understand the book by reading the blog and reflecting on the various comments as I ponder my own.
Sincerely,
Mandy
November 1st, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Hello,
Is anyone still blogging on “Flat”? Well, I just have to say that I really think it would be awesome if we could offer more online professional development and followup to further grow our SIM serve to our colleagues and our students. I am really enjoying participating in online trainings and networking/collaborating and find that to be highly effective for self-starters. Since SIM tends to attract and “grab” self-starters”, it seems wise to continue along these lines. It seems we are beginning to scratch the surface of the flat world in regards to SIM.
For example, what if all our stuff were online, the student worksheets, etc? What if we collaborated or harnessed E-Texts so students could learn and practice LS and CER at their grade level but with the support of the E-Text readers to mediate their reading levels while they work on comprehension tasks through strategy instruction? What if we offered differentiated texts for all our model passages and student worksheets so students of various reading levels would have the same passages written at different readability levels within each SIM lesson?
Mandy
November 13th, 2006 at 5:49 am
Hello,
Did anyone see all of the recent PBS program about China’s potential impact on the global ecology and their environmental reforms?
What if China exports their new-found expertise in environmentalism?
to us?
November 28th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Hi
Found your website through Google. I am not a member of the SIM community. Not even sure what it is.
I am at the end of The World is Flat and just wanted to talk to somebody about it. It is an amazing book. Mr. Friedman is very talented at putting a lot of information together, although I think he writes from a certain point of view. I haven’t seen the world change as fast as he has or have the impact he claims. But I’m sure its coming.
On a personal level, this flattening of the world makes me wonder about the quality of life we as a society will have to find. With the flattening of the world, there is an overload of information that is available. I think people will have to decide what their values are (beyond just making money) and deal with the flattened world from their value system. Mr. Friedman also writes about what the future of America will be with the outsourcing that is going on. As the world races toward acquiring the American lifestyle of materialism, maybe American society will lead the way by saying, yeah its great, but these are our excesses and these are the things that make life meaningful in the face of our lifestyle. It is clear in the book that Mr. Friedman does not think the world’s resources can support everyone in the whole world having the lifestyle that many Americans currently have.
On a professional level, I own a business that provides business support services to small business owners and attorneys. I am convinced that my business will become “vanilla” as Mr. Friedman puts it, so I am left with finding a niche or looking at going into another field. My husband is a machinist with a company that actually builds machines for companies in Asia. The condition of the global market place could be a future issue for him also. I have discovered that I have a growing interest in solar energy. It may need to become a future career.
In reply to Mandy Horton on Nov. 13th, I did not see the PBS program, but I think it would be great if China shared their new-found expertise in environmentalism with us. We don’t have to agree with everything China thinks to recognize they might have some good ideas. I would imagine there would be more pressure in China to conserve resources because of their large population. Necessity may be the mother of invention and I hope the U.S. can take advantage and will want to take advantage of any new conservation technologies that China might share. Or China might inspire the U.S. to make advances in such technologies themselves.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for putting this website together. It could be an interesting experience.