Uncovering Creative Confidence in Education

This is the meeting for the week of December 25, 2017 through December 31, 2017

This Meeting at a Glance:Program: Uncovering Creative Confidence in EducationProgram Description:STEM is the current rave in education and the ignition of Silicon Valley culture, but have we gone overboard at the sacrifice of a greater skill? Creativity time in our schools has diminished under the time constraints imposed by standardized testing despite creativity being the fuel of innovation in STEM. Our students need opportunities to shine creatively. They need creative educators to help them uncover and nurture their creative confidence in STEM and all disciplines. Speaker: Steven McGriff

Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!

Here's a message from President Stephen:

Hello E-Club Rotarians,

Hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying the holidays with their friends and families. It’s been a while since I’ve last connected with the club and I’d like to say it’s good to be back after taking a short leave of absence to take care of an urgent family matter back at home. Things are finally taken care of and I am looking forward to reconnecting with you all in the new year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Yours in service,

Stephen Zhou,

President

Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley

Weekly Funny with the Lady of Laughter (LOL)

We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Yvonne Kwan, our “Lady of Laughter!”

From Yvonne: "Happy holidays to all! Here are some jokes that will hopefully Claus some chuckles."

What do you call an elf who sings?

A wrapper.

What do you call Santa’s helpers?

Subordinate clauses.

What do you call an obnoxious reindeer?

RUDEolph.

Weekly Inspiration: The Homeless Man Who Inspired a Town to Help Him

Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change. This week we are featuring a video from the Great Big Story about a homeless man who inspired a town to help him.

In a country of vast highways, suburban sprawl, and a spirit of self-reliance, someone like Victor Hubbard could easily go unnoticed—that is, if he weren’t from Kemah, Texas. For years, drivers and passersby noticed Victor stationed at the same intersection, rain or shine. Ginger Sprouse was one of the drivers who took the time to hear his story. After learning that he was alone, homeless, and suffering from a mental illness, she invited him to move in with her family. Then inspired by Victor’s endless optimism, the community offered whatever they could to help turn his life around.

For Members Only: Updates

This segment of the meeting is dedicated to our club members. This section includes announcements and new initiatives. Guests, you are welcome to read this section or just skip it.

Have a Happy New Year, Rotarians! We'll see you in 2018!

Programs Committee Still Needs Speaker Referrals:

The Programs Committee needs your help! If you know someone who you believe would be an interesting speaker for one of our programs, please make the referral or email introduction to the committee! Ready to introduce someone to the club's programs committee? Email Committee Chair Rushton at programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com

Members: NAMEBADGES ARE COMING -- Seriously! We're ordering the first batch this week! Please Update your info please!

The Membership Committee is working on ordering new magnetic name badges for each member! We are missing the info for many members!!!

 These name badges will have your name on it and your profession. Perfect for wearing when you attend any Rotary events or meetings. In order to do this, we need your most updated information. Members, 

please click here to submit your info.

Past Member Announcements:

• Active members now have yourname@siliconvalleyrotary.com email forwarders! Your forwarder should be your full first name plus the first initial of your last name. Emails going to your @siliconvalleyrotary.com email will be forwarded automatically to the email you have on file with our club. If you want your email forwarder changed to a different variation of your name, please email Webmaster Mitty at mittyc@siliconvalleyrotary.com.

• Members Only Facebook Group: If you haven't joined our members-only Facebook Group, consider joining! Request an invitation from mitty@siliconvalleyrotary.com

• Service Blotter Submissions: Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey

Our Events & Projects

We hold our meetings online, but we hold regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley every month! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here.

Also be sure to join our Meetup Group for automatic calendar updates and to RSVP for our events! These are open to all guests as well!

https://www.meetup.com/siliconvalleyrotary/

Upcoming Events:

All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)

Saturday, January 13, 2018 - New Year Outdoor Expedition

Members, mark your calendars for the morning of Saturday, January 13, 2018, during which our club will have its first event of the new year: an outdoor hiking expedition! Details coming soon!

Other Upcoming Club Events:

• Saturday, January 13, 2018 - Save the date for a club outdoor expedition (Details TBD)

• Saturday, February 28, 2018 - Save the date for a club skydiving event (Details TBD)

More events coming soon! All events are open to guests, unless otherwise mentioned. Feel free to join us! If you ever have questions, please email inquiries@siliconvalleyrotary.com

What would you like to do?

Hey Members! What would you like to do? We're working on putting together some exciting socials and impactful service projects for our upcoming quarter's event calendar. Let us know what you want to do by posting in our members only Facebook Group (if you don't have access, please request it with Webmaster Mitty). Remember, you're only taking advantage of the full impact of Rotary when you're stepping up to get involved.

Happy Dollars: Do Good by Sharing Something Good

Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.

Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it's appropriate!)

Last week's happy dollar contributions went towards our club projects. Here are some of the happy dollar messages from last week:

Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his generous $15 donation to The Rotary Foundation's Polio Plus Fund. Rory had this to say:"Christmas is almost here! Please apply my gift to Polio Plus!"

Thank you to guest Paul Andrus for his generous $10 donation. Paul had this to say:"I love doing make-up meetings using your eClub. Great work guys! Good content!"

Thank you to member Rushton Hurley for his generous $25 donation. Rushton had this to say:"Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! Let's work together to make some cool things happen in 2018, and find as many inspiring stories to share with the world as we can."

Thank you to member Brian Liddicoat for his generous $15 donation. Brian had this to say:"Looking forward to another Filipino Christmas with my wife's many cousins. Hard to beat celebrating Christmas with a huge extended family when everyone's in a happy, thankful mood."

Thank you all for your donations last week!

Happy dollars is also a great opportunity to share with the group about something good that has happened to you, while giving back to a great cause. Next week's happy dollars will go back to powering our club's projects locally and globally.

So what are you happy about? Share with us below to help with doing good around the world.

Selected Six

Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select six comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.

Here are six comments selected from last week’s meeting featuring the program on Experiences with Tiny House Living:

Member Roger Plested (Canada) had this to say:“Ariel, thank you again for your presentation. The issue for the 21st century for those people under the age of 30 is the cost of housing. The baby boomer generation has made two basic mistakes in their lifetime: first they have started and continued a trend of ever larger houses, much greater in size than they really need and second,they have implemented rules and regulations, which have a huge cost associated with them, to make the overage cost of housing prohibitive for the upcoming generation. The people under 30 will have to look at alternative housing, just like Ariel has. Attending a lunch room at lunch time in a school has always been a good indicator of the values taught in the school. I am glad to see that some schools are addressing this issue. For every one, i wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!“

Member Angela Hoang (Sydney, Australia) had this to say:“Thanks for talking to us Ariel, I loved your tiny house! Just goes to show that you don't need a lot to be happy, I think sometimes we worry ourselves too much on material things and 'getting ahead' when really we should be appreciating that less can be more. On a side note I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and enjoys time with their loved ones, it's been a pretty full on year for many people so it should be nice to relax and enjoy Christmas from wherever you are in the world!!”

Member John Lozano (California, USA) had this to say:“Ariel, thank you for your presentation. I recently heard more about the Tiny House options and think it is such a great idea. I would agree that quality of life is so much more important especially after having grown up in the fast paced Silicon Valley. In the documentary, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things, I discovered the beauty of simplifying things and living a life with purpose. Great work!”

Member Nate Gildart (Japan) had this to say:“Ariel, that was a great presentation. Thank you. I think you're absolutely correct in that people should seek the path they wish to follow and actively seek their own happiness. Although I do love my teaching career, I worry little about "keeping up with the Joneses" and do the things I want to do rather than be tied down to a single place. These are the kinds of things I think we need to emphasize in schools, especially in today's economy. (in the industrialized world, at least) You're setting a great example.“

Guest Carey Lai had this to say:“Ariel, Thank you very much for your informative presentation. The pictures that you posted on http://arielcelestephotogra... are amazing. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you! =)“

Member Rushton Hurley (California, USA) had this to say:“Ariel, I love how you challenge assumptions about the way life "should" be. Great job finding a path that allows you to explore what you're passionate about. Mitty, thanks for finding that video about the We Dine Together Club at the school in Florida. Every school needs a club like that. I'll add a picture from the recent trip to Japan. Thanks, Ferheen, for sharing the shot from lunch, and thanks to Nate for giving me the chance to meet all your cool students! This one is of tako yaki (octopus bits fried in a batter) that is infused with green tea (an unusual way to do it, but the town I was in, Uji, is famous for its tea), and the Japanese mayonaise on it also has green tea in it. A seriously When in Rome moment.”

Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!

Program: Uncovering Creative Confidence in Education

Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest speaker is Steven McGriff, Ph.D., Founder and The Instructional Designer of DivergentED Consultants.

Steve creatively imagines education in ways that nurture and release learners' potential. As a divergent thinker, he leads clients to explore, develop and synthesize diverse possibilities for integrating instructional technology, transforming educational systems, and uncovering creative confidence.

He consults with K-12 and higher education institutions, education-based non-profits, and businesses to facilitate meetings, conduct workshops, and coach teams. He helps clients to persevere in pursuit of their creative potential to affect change in their professional and personal life. Steve is a teacher educator who specializes in creating compelling professional learning programs that inspire and empower the use of digital media for problem-solving, creativity, communication, and collaboration.Members and guests, please join me in welcoming Steve to our meeting!

Related Links:

• Read Steve's blog on divergent thinking for more education transformation ideas

• To find out more about DivergentED Consultants, check out Steve's website

Share with us your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page! If you have questions for Steve, feel free to ask in the comments!

Upcoming Program Schedule

All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.

Upcoming Weekly Programs:

 Week of

Host

Guest Speaker

 Topic

 Week of 1/1/2018

Rushton Hurley

Lee Knight Jr

Safe Spaces in Random Places

 Week of 1/8/2018

Tzviatko Chiderov

Kelly Sibisibi

Malaria eradication efforts at the Southern African Development Community in Namibia

 Week of 1/15/2018

Rushton Hurley

Lisa Blanchard

Grateful Garment Project

Upcoming Recordings:

If you would like to join us for any of the live recordings, you are welcome to join us. Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always https://zoom.us/j/5104080000. Please note the timezone for all recordings are listed for San Francisco, California, USA time (Pacific Time).

You’re Almost Done! One last thing: The Attendance Survey...

Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done. First, we have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.

Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.More importantly, for all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment below in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!