The K12 Geek

Looks like the $100 $176 laptop initiative might just make it to the US after all – and running Windows as well!

I found myself laughing out loud the other day, while waiting in line at Starbucks for a morning beverage. As you know from a previous post, I started reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, and boy did it hit home. Pink’s ideas that we now live in an Age of Abundance couldn’t be more evident from my simple ‘quick stop for coffee.’

This all started about a year ago – a long story that I’ll try to condense — I happened to have found a $10 Starbucks card in my drawer the other day. I received it for giving up my email address last year for a technology whitepaper offer. You’ve probably received a similar email:

“Get the latest on XYZ’s new technology that will make your network hum with confidence – oh, and we’ll send you a $10 Starbucks card too.”

Well, free coffee is too good to pass up, so I quickly created a new email address (take that SPAMMERs!) submitted it, didn’t read the whitepaper, and received the coffee card about a week later. Then, much to my dismay, I searched online for a local Starbucks. Unfortunately there were none within reasonable driving distance on my way to work – only one in a local bookstore. (I happen to be an Amazon guy, so I don’t really go to the bookstore anymore.) So the card went in the drawer.

Fast forward to present day – I have a new position and a new route to work, and low and behold there is a Starbucks on the way. Remembering last year’s free coffee card, I dug it out and was now in the drive-through for my free coffee – a year later, but proud of myself in some strange way.

And about that coffee… Does anyone drink coffee anymore?! My ‘quick stop’ now turned into a 15-minute ordeal. I was second in line, thinking this will be a quicky. As I hit the button to open my window (technology at its best) I sat and overheard the guy in front of me ordering:

“I’d like a Frappio-mocha-latte half-caf with non-fat sprinkles, ¼ whipped colorless whipped cream with organic milk by-product from a 3-year old dairy cow that was fed semi-organically grown corn feed on Tuesdays and normal grain every-other-day.”

The little voice inside my head said: “See, Pink is right! We live in an age of abundance.” People don’t just drink plain coffee anymore! Though I sat through a five-minute banter between customer and server about how they didn’t have “organic whats-a-ma-call-it” and another five minutes actually waiting for his order to be ‘created,’ I just laughed. (Normally I’d have had road-rage by then.)

So it was now my turn:

“Welcome to Starbucks, may I help you?” said the friendly morning-person inside.

“Yes, I’d like a large coffee, please,” I said with simplicity.

There was a moment of silence. “Is that IT?” she said with stunned amazement.

“Yep, just a cup of coffee, thank you.”

I never thought I’d feel old and un-hip before my fortieth birthday, but I guess the Age of Abundance will do that to you. Daniel Pink hits it right on the nose: right-brained folks have it made in days to come.

Thanks to Colette at a local district for this use of Skype (or in my case, probably podcasting) for a lesson between classrooms across a district, or across the world…

We did an awesome Skype lesson here… where a teacher from our district and another district created a lesson and rubric together for a speech class (The students had to impersonate someone and tell about their life–very cool!). The students in our district presented their speeches to the other school district and vise versa.

The students were critiqued by other school and teacher from the other district. We had news, representatives attend this session. It worked out very well. We felt students being critiqued by a different teacher and other than their peers would be extremely valuable. The students loved it and want to do it again.

It took a lot of planning and practicing…but we got it to work!

Thanks for the great idea Colette!!