Dewitt Jones presented the first
keynote at NECC. He is an excellent motivational speaker and has some good ideas about looking at things in different ways. He's been a photographer for National Geographic for 20 years and uses his photos to illustrate his message.
Quote 1: Put yourself in the best position to get it.
The "it" could be the great photo, but it can also be whatever you want "it" to be. For me, we need to put ourselves - and our students - in the best position possible to prepare them to be successful in the 21st century. And if the position we are currently in is not going to let us "get it," then it's imperative we change our position.
Quote 2: It's not trespassing to exceed your own boundaries.
Quote 3: Don't stop at the first right answer.
I think many of us in education are hamstrung by these two. We have self-imposed limits that we believe we can't exceed - blaming the system, or the curriculum, or politics. But often the limits are actually of our own creation. And I think all of us - especially myself - like to go for that first right answer, even if there is a better right answer farther along the road if only we would pursue it. It's comforting to think we have "solved" a problem by finding that first right answer, but often that answer only addresses the problem at the surface level. I believe we all (educators and students) need to go deeper if we are truly going to address not only the problems in education, but the problems in our world.
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