Rocks for Sale

I am an avid Twitter consumer.  By that I mean I read Tweets, I post Tweets, and I re-Tweet posts.  I read articles about education, about student learning, about current events in our world, about cutting edge technology, and educational leadership.  I read to be a well informed professional in my field.  I read to better understand changes that are a constant reality.  I read to better prepare myself as an educator so I can better prepare my students.  I read because I'd like to think that I am a visionary leader as opposed to a myopic manager.  Visionary leaders create visions built upon a foundation for which to implement and act upon these visions.  Learning is not stationary.  To be effective today, an educator must be prepared to act.  We learn by doing.  We know learning and memory retention is best achieved when put into action.  To be more specific, according to a past professor of mine, we retain 85% of what we do and 95% of what we teach others.  This summer I traveled to Durango, Colorado, where my friend and I rode the Silverton train to the old mining town known as Silverton.  The train ride that required 3 tons of coal up and 1 ton of coal back down the Rocky Mountains, took some three hours to creep along the scenic route that was complete with breathtaking mountainous landscape.  I blogged in a earlier post while on the train about this same trip.  Upon arriving at the train depot, I ran into a young boy that was selling rocks.  Selling rocks that he had collected.  I decided to do a Wesley Fryer, Film on the Fly, and film this boy, whose name is Raul.  What is apparent while interviewing Raul is his knowledge of rocks.  I could quickly see I was no match for Raul who was proficient in his knowledge regarding rock formations and types. It wasn't, however, until I got home and refreshed my own memory regarding the three rock types: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic that I felt I was Raul's equal.  Raul is a perfect example of how proficiency is mastered.  Proficiency is mastered by doing, exhibiting, presenting, acting out, constructing, applying.  Sounds like Bloom's doesn't it? Authentic learning occurs here.  It doesn't occur by circling an item on a worksheet.  For your enjoyment I am including the video clip of Raul.  There's more to selling rocks.  Just ask Raul.