The+Tipping+Point

** //The Tipping Point// ** Below is a proposed schedule to make the reading managable. We'll have three "Face to Face" meetings on the dates indicated. On the weeks in between we can keep in touch by checking in on this wiki. toc 2:20 to ??? Location: Conference Rm A || 2:20 to ??? Location: Conference Rm A || 2:20 to ??? Location: Conference Rm A || You may find these links to be helpful as you read:
 * WEEK || DATES || PAGES || CHAPTER || FACE TO FACE MEETINGS ||
 * 1 || 9/28-10/2 || 3-30 || Intro and CH 1: Three Rules of Epidemics || ||
 * 2 || 10/5-10/9 || 30-56 || CH 2: The Law of the Few (part 1) || ||
 * 3 || 10/12-10/16 || 57-88 || CH 2: The Law of the Few (part 2) || ||
 * 4 || 10/19-10/23 || 88-110 || CH 3: The Stickiness Factor (part 1) || Thursday, 10/22
 * 5 || 10/26-10/30 || 110-132 || CH 3: The Stickiness Factor (part 2) || ||
 * 6 || 11/2-11/6 || 133-168 || CH 4: The Power of Context (part 1) || ||
 * 7 || 11/9-11/13 || 169-192 || CH 5: The Power of Context (part 2) || ||
 * 8 || 11/16-11/20 || 193-215 || CH 6: Case Study 1 || Monday, 10/23
 * 9 || 11/23-11/27 || 216-252 || CH 7: Case Study 2 || ||
 * 10 || 11/20-12/4 || 252-280 || Conclusion and Afterward || ||
 * = 11 ||= 12/7-12/11 ||= WRAP UP ||= WRAP UP ||= Friday, 12/18
 * [|The Tipping Point Summary at Wiki Summaries]
 * [|A Summary of The Tipping Point]
 * [|A Tipping Point Reading Guide] (Directly from Gladwell's website)
 * A PDF file of the Tipping Point Reading File from above [[file:tipping_point_guide.pdf]]

=**Week 1 (3-29):** = __**Introduction and Chapter 1: The Three Rules of Epidemics**__  Introduction:  Chapter 1: The Three Rules of Epidemics
 * (MM) How are the boom in Hush Puppies and the decrease in NYC crime similar?
 * (MM) What are the three characteristics of "epidemics"?
 * (MM) What are some examples of "tipping points" from business and society?
 * (MM) Are there any things happening in BCSD or TCMS that, in your opinion, should experience epidemic change?
 * Good things that are happening that should be more widespread? Examples?
 * Things to improve on? Examples?
 * Bad things that we would like to decrease? Examples?
 * (MM) What three theories were suggested to try and explain the dramatic increase in syphullus cases in Baltimore?
 * (MM) What are three ways to "tip" an epidemic?
 * (MM) What is the 80/20 rule? Can you think of an example from school of this rule?
 * (MM) 20% of the faculty at TCMS is about 15 people. If 15 faculty members worked on a single project or goal, would they be able to tip an epidemic that infuenced the rest of the school?
 * (MM) Gladwell points out three rules of epidemics: The Law of the Few, Stickiness, and The Power of Context. Can you give examples of each?
 * (MM) CONNECTION TO "STICKINESS": Have you seen the movie //Supersize Me? //There is a brief scene in which visitors to Washington, DC can't remember the Pledge of Allegiance, but they know by heart the Big Mac jingle from the early '80s. (The scene appears at 4:19 to 5:13 in the video below. Here's the original Big Mac Commercial with the Jingle...

media type="youtube" key="zvh1AKIv7vo" height="310" width="367"media type="youtube" key="9UWq26V01po" height="309" width="379" = =  =**Week 2 (30-56):**  = __**Chapter 2: The Law of the Few (part 1)**__ = = media type="youtube" key="Us-TVg40ExM" height="312" width="383"media type="youtube" key="4xjPODksI08" height="315" width="379" = = =**Week 3 (57-88):** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Chapter 2: The Law of the Few (part 2)**__ <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> media type="custom" key="3667207" media type="custom" key="3667209" =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 4 (88-110):** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Chapter 3: The Stickiness Factor (part 1)**__ =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 5 (110-132):** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Chapter 3: The Stickiness Factor (part 2)**__ media type="youtube" key="3BFGwg9vGJc" height="255" width="310" media type="google" key="-4328677267728675104&hl=en&fs=true" width="314" height="264"
 * (MM) Gladwell writes about how well connected Paul Revere was. Revere belonged to a network called the Committees of Correspondence. What networks are you a part of and what connections are possbile as a result of being in these networks?
 * (MM) What makes "connectors" so powerful? Who are the "connectors" in BCSD or TCMS and who or what are they connected to? How can we as a community use these connections to our advantage?
 * (MM) How can we as indviduals expand our connections? Is it possbile to become a better "connector"?
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 128);">(MM) OBSERVATION: As a teacher at TCMS for 13 years, never having worked in another building or district, I had a pretty limited network. When I became the Teacher Center Director I joined a network of Directors from 16 other districts and got to know people throughout BCSD. Also by taking graduate classes in adminstration at U of R I've met many adminstrators in other districts. By knowing one adminstrator or a Teacher Center Director from another school I've drastically increased my possible connections.
 * (MM) How many connections would you have on Gladwell's list on page 39? As teachers/educators we're pretty well connected to the Brighton community. Once you have a student you may get to know their parents and siblings and make more connections. What was your score? Mine was 95.
 * (MM) On page 53 Gladwell writes about the importance of connections in people getting jobs. I wonder what percentage of employees in BSCD or TCMS had a strong connection to an "insider" before being hired. Are our hiring practices too limiting? Brighton, as far as I know, doesn't do a lot of recruiting but simply looks at the candidates who come to our doorstep. Should we be doing more to reach out?
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">(MM) CONNECTION TO "CONNECTORS": Here are three fun links to websites.
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">[|The Oracle of Bacon:] How many links does it take to link Kevin Bacon to any actor or actress? You can actually enter any actors. For example, local teen idol Teddy Geiger can be linked to Sir Lawrence Olivier in 4 links. Who knew?
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">[|Oracle of Baseball:] How many links does it take to link two Major League Baseball players? (Rochester native Tim Redding can be linked to Cy Young with 5 links.)
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Here's a great example of connectors. Filmakers Mark Johnson and Jonathon Walls went around the world and recorded street musicians playing the same songs in their movie //[|Playing for Change]// . They then edited the performances to create a truly global ensemble. Very cool. Not only are Johnson and Walls connectors, but think about the role of music in connecting people. The themes of the two songs below are all about connections. Or think about the fact that on YouTube these two videos have been viewed 9.5 million times.
 * (MM) Gladwell writes again about how well connected Paul Revere was. This made me think of the different types of networks you can associate with and how these networks can change over time. At age 37, as a new adminstrator, my networks look quite different than they did when I was starting out in teaching at age 22. How have changes in your personal networks changed the way you are connected to others?
 * (MM) On page 67 Gladwell introduces the term "Maven". What is a maven and what are their special characteristics in fostering change? Do we have any mavens at TCMS or BCSD?
 * (MM) Many recent reality TV shows (Top Chef, Project Runway, What Not To Wear) are centered around mavens sharing their expertise. Why are these shows so popular?
 * (MM) //The Tipping Point// was originally released in 2000 and edited in 2002. Since then a boom in technologial networking tools (Facebook, My Space, Twitter, etc.) has taken place. How do these new technologies help mavens and connectors spread their messages?
 * (MM) What are some differences between connectors and mavens? How do their particular strengths influence the spread of epidemics?
 * (MM) Between pages 80 and 88 Gladwell writes about nonverbal communication and "microrythms". While interesting, I did not think of any implcations for school. Can you?
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">(MM) CONNECTION TO MAVENS/CONNECTORS: In grad school I read this article, "Of Hubs, Bridges, and Networks" by Douglass Reeves. It is about how many of Gladwell's ideas play out spefically in educaiton settings. Reeves references Gladwellin the article. [[file:Of_Hubs,_Bridges,_and_Networks.pdf]].
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">(MM) Here are two links to websites about Personal Learning Networks in education:
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">[|The Innovative Educator]
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">[|My Personal Learning Network in Action]
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">(MM) CONNECTION TO "PERSUASIVENESS": Gladwell writes about research done at Syracuse University about the impact of news anchor facial expressions on viewer's feelings about presidential candidates in the Election of 1984. As news markets have grown, reporter bias have grown less subtle. Here are two Saturday Night Live spoofs on the pro-Obama media bias in last year's election. (Unfortunately, you have to watch a quick ad to see the clips.)
 * (MM) Gladwell writes about "stickiness" and how small changes can make messages more memorable or how small changes can move people to act. He dedicates a lot of pages to how the creators of Sesame Street analyzed each episode to see what children were or were not responding to. This made me think of formative assessments. How often do we check in to see how well our students are understanding the lessons, and how good are our assessments?
 * (MM) Gladwell states that the saturation of messages in the problem of the media age. How do you make your message stand out? Again, the latest update of the book was seven years ago. The saturation of messages and competing sources of information has only increased. How do we make our messages "sticky"?
 * At TCMS we have attempted to draw increased focus to important vocabulary by having words promoted on the Morning Show and having homerooms act out skits.
 * Interdisciplinary and theme based instruction can reinforce messages and avoid students' tendency to compartmentalize learning.
 * Many teachers use differentiation to tailor instruction to different learning styles or levels of student sophistication.
 * What else are we doing that is effective? What else should we be doing?
 * (MM) I was struck with how much reseach was conducted by both the creators of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues. Once they found things that needed improvement they would make changes until they got the outcome they desired. This again made me think of formative assessments.
 * How do we create formative assessments to find out what students are learning?
 * Do we, like the creators of children's programming, alter our delivery if we find students aren't learning as we hope they would?
 * How involved are students in analyzing their own learning?
 * Do struggling learners know how to make improvements?
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">(MM) CONNECTION TO "STICKINESS": How well do we tailor our assessments to help students understand them. The following two videos deal with student involvement in the assessment process. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">WARNING: These videos have some low production values, but both have good messages. (Gladwell would probably say the message delivery is very "non-sticky"). <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);"> This video below has assessment guru Rick Stiggins sharing his strategies on how to increase student involvement in assessment (minutes 2:10 through 5:50 are interesting).
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">This video shares how middle school teachers in Canada get students involved in assessment (minutes 3:40 to 8:30).

=<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 6 (133-168):** <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Chapter 4: The Power of Context (part 1)**__ =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> =
 * (MM) Gladwell introduces the "Broken Window Theory". How might this theory play out in a school setting?
 * (MM) Gladwell suggests that "environmental tipping points are things we can change". What changes would we like to see at TCMS and what modifications to the environmental can we make to promote or encourage those changes?
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">(MM) CONNECTIONS TO "BROKEN WINDOW THEORY": The Broken Window Theory has continued to be studied and debated. Here are some relatively recent articles/links/resources exploring the theory.
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Washington Post Article (1/30/05): [|A Crack in the Broken Window Theory]
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Here's a doc. version.[[file:A Crack in the Broken Window Theory.doc]]
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">NPR Radio (3/3/05): [|Reconsidering the "Broken Window Theory"]. This contains audio files.
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Los Angeles Times (11/21/08): [|Graffiti Study Bolsters 'Broken Windows' Theory].
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Here's a doc. version.[[file:Graffiti bolsters BWT.doc]]
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">These last two links are kind of the opposite of the Broken Window Theory. That Japaense practice of communal care for property (even school property) builds pride and responsibilty. [|Communing Through Cleaning]: Japanese practice of "Soji".
 * <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">"Time for the Soji". Good stuff...

media type="google" key="-1167660123204589634&hl=en&fs=true" width="372" height="305" =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = = = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 7 (162-192):** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Chapter 5: The Power of Context (part 2)**__ =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 8 (193-215):** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Chapter 6: Case Study 1**__ =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 9 (216-252):** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Chapter 7: Case Study 2**__ =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 10 (252-280):** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Conclusion and Afterward**__ =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> = =<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">**Week 11:** = <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">__**Wrap Up**__ = =