NECC 09 Keynote with Malcolm Gladwell

One of my favorite parts of the NECC experience is the outstanding lineup of keynote speakers they have each year. Five years ago I was introduced to Malcolm Gladwell at the NECC in New Orleans and to my delight he was our speaker again last night.

Gladwell has a unique gift of weaving together data from various case studies and sharing it to people in a down to earth and fun way. Last night he discussed the idea of learning theory in relation to the band Fleetwood Mac. What?! I know it seems like kind of a weird stretch, but the main idea of his message was that genius doesn't happen overnight. Even though Fleetwood Mac may have seemed like an instant success, they actually toiled in anonymity for years before they came out with the album Rumors.


So, how does this relate to teaching and students? Too often we think that something has got to work the first time we try it. In reality experts hone their craft over a long period of trial and error. The average expert in any field has generally invested over 10,000 hours or approximately 10 years of time to get to that level. Mozart started composing at age 9, but his first noted symphony didn’t happen until he was 23. Mark Twain took 9 years to finish the novel Huck Finn.

An interesting part of his message was the difference between Compensation and Capitalization learning theory and how it relates to our students. Too often we look at students and try to help them focus on their strengths when it comes to learning. The problem is we generally learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. Perhaps we should help our students recognize their weaknesses and provide them with opportunities to compensate for those areas by learning how to overcome their challenges.

It was a great keynote and a fun evening. After the keynote we went out to dinner and tried to get Ross to eat some Chinese food from Chinatown and well, he did eat some white rice. Still, it was neat to walk (and walk and walk) around town to see some of the interesting sites. Even if we didn’t actually get to the parts of the National Mall we wanted to see, we were able to work off our dinner.

Right in our own Backyard

A few months ago we learned that Youth Conference would be held here, in Salt Lake. That' s right - no traveling to exotic locations, no intrigue over what cool places we'd see, just boring old SLC. That's what I thought and man, was I wrong. We had a great time seeing parts of the valley and learning things I never knew.

Our first activity was a bike ride around Antelope Island. Like every kid I went in the Great Salt Lake when I was 7 or so, but I have never actually been out to the island. It was great! Because the weather has been so cool lately, the ride was really mild. Even the bugs weren't that bad, although the bites on my arms spoke a different story. We saw some bison, rode about 11 miles and no one died. Since I hadn't ridden a bike for over two years I was worried that I might be the likeliest candidate for an early coronary. Still, no harm done - even if I was the biggest guy on a bike.

One of the nice things about sticking close to home is that you know the cool things to do. I've ridden the Alpine Slide a bunch of times, but this was a first for Kennedy and Alex. Since we were close, Tara and the kids came up to enjoy in the fun. Kennedy wasn't too sure about the speed of the slide, so Alex and Tara flew past us on the hill while I kept riding the brake. No big deal though and we really had a good time.

Throughout the Conference we had several speakers who shared stories about famous leaders in Church history. One of the stories we heard a couple of times was that of Orrin Porter Rockwell. Sure I've heard many of the tales of the gun toting Mormon, but this was the first time I learned about the whole man - both the myth and reality. I hadn't known of his close relationship with Joseph Smith and the incredible promises the Lord made to his servant. It was really cool to find out about Rockwell and other members from the past.

My favorite part of the entire Youth Conference was our tour of Welfare Square downtown. Brother Goodrich guided us through all of the different buildings, and we learned about the tremendous efforts our Church is a part of to relieve suffering and strengthen individuals from around the world. As Brother Goodrich described some of the different programs the Church is involved in he stated, “I’m proud to be a member of a church who looks out for other people and follows the example of the Savior to seek after the needy and help them.” Listening to his statement I realized how proud I am to be a member of the Church.

I'm really glad I was able to go to Youth Conference again. Even if I didn't get to travel to distant lands, I was able to learn more about my hometown and myself.

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Photo of the Day

Alex really loves his baby brother - we think Dylan kinda likes him too!

Go Away

I try to keep the blog out of the weather section, but I can't remember a time when it's rained almost every day for two weeks. Don't get me wrong I've absolutely loved the fact that the temperature is in the 70's for our daily highs and I haven't turned on the sprinklers for two weeks. Still, I can tell the kids are getting a bit stir crazy. Earlier tonight Kennedy and Alex took off into the backyard to run through the showers. Do you think I should give them some shampoo and soap?