After I went to bed last night, it occured to me that the title of the last link I referred to in the previous blog was "Writing for a change."

Now, admittedly, this may be 'stretching' the concept of 'prescience' that I addressed just a bit, except that on January 4 (just two weeks ago), I had sent an e-mail to several of my family members making the very same point, and in it I referred extensively to a conference which I had the privilege of attending while I was still an educator in 1988. I hadn't given the conference much thought until that e-mail. Many of the speakers were the movers and shakers in the world of thinking at the time, and I felt truly honoured to be amongst the delegates. The title of the conference was "Thinking for a change"!!

Ok, so probably not a big deal there, but just out of curiousity, I dug out the conference book this morning and went through some of the speakers and papers that were delivered. (One of the concepts in 'my' theory is 'doing a 180', or mirroring). Granted, the conference was in 1988, so a lot of the material is dated, but it intrigued me how much still lingers in my mind, and managed to interweave itself into this 'theory' thing I keep referring to.

So, here, for your entertainment, consternation, confusion or wonderment is a short list of some of the speakers, and brief excerpts about some of them. I think I'll spend the day on the net checking out what they've been up to in the last 20 years or so! (Retirement affords me that luxury!)

Tony Buzan: creator of the mind-mapping technique for 'note' taking.
Edward de Bono: and his concepts about lateral thinking.
Bohdan Hawrylyshyn: and his work on how societal values interact with political governance and economic systems.
Dr. Jack Lochhead: who focussed his work on the learning of learning and the teaching of thinking.
Bernice McCarthy: the creator of the 4MAT system as a model to recognize learning styles.
Luis Alberto Machado: (closing keynote speaker.....fascinating!!) whose write up in the manual begins with the statement "Dr. Machado created and implemented a program to enhance the intelligence of his nation" (He was Minister of Education at the time in Venezuela, and worked collaboratively with Harvard on the project).
John Naisbitt: author of Megatrends (on NY Times best seller list for over two years at the time) and was the 1980 recipient of the Benjamim Y Morrison Award for promoting global understanding.
Dr. Richard Paul: focussing on the development of critical thinking, and selected for inclusion in "Who's Who In American Education". He also worked with Dr. Edward Glaser in revising the Watson-Glaser Critcal Thinking Appraisal.
Dr. David Perkins: a founding member of Project Zero, dealing with research in the areas of creativity, problem-solving, and reasoning in the arts, the sciences and everyday life.
Bob Samples: whose research includes brain-mind functioning, and the conceptual base for planetary consciousness.
Robert Sternberg: researches the nature of intelligence, as opposed to measuring IQ. Author of "Intelligence Applied".
Dr. Il-Je Sung: whose major interest was to integrate Oriental and Western thought.
Calvin W. Taylor: best know for the Talents Unlimited program, a teaching approach premised on the belief that all students are talented in different areas (another belief that I strongly share).
Barbara Meister Vitale: herself learning disabled and not learning to read until age 12, working with right-brain teaching methods, has impacted brain research in relation to academic skills. (Personal note: her presentation simply blew me away!!)
Larry Wilson: a "Game Changer", constantly questioning the status quo and exploring the frontiers of creativity, innovation and learning. Founder of the Pecos River Learning Centre, a"2,000-acre classroom" focussing on teamwork and collaboration.

There were many other presenters, as well (it was a 6-day conference), but those are some of the 'biggies'. Looking back now, maybe this is why my head 'exploded' a couple years back....somewhere along the way, I forgot to 'zip' it all (and I don't mean my mouth ).

Posted by Evydense on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 at 8:40 a.m. | Permalink