April 2009 Archives

I use Twitter. I prefer to be called a Tweeple not a Twit. I tweet on a regular basis and I have a network of tweeple in the Twitterverse. Confused?

Twitter - the microblogging platform that's taking the world by storm has become embedded in mainstream culture thanks to the exposure it has received by high profile users like Ellen Degeneres, Oprah and Ashton Kucher. You've got 140 characters to state your message. Short, sweet and to the point. People share the important things that are taking place in their lives or the mundane. So why write about it in LeaderTalk?

Simply because Twitter has become one of the cornerstones of my Professional Learning Network (PLN). My Twitter connections have been carefully built by following a variety of educators on Twitter. It includes university professors, technology consultants, educational consultants, authors, and teachers of almost every subject area and discipline across the K-12 spectrum from around the globe. As a result I have a constant source of information on the educational goings-on both locally, nationally and internationally including just-in-time access to professional learning events involving some of today's leading educational thinkers. Plus I've gained access to a network of like-minded educators who share their recommended teaching ideas and resources many of which infuse technology in almost every subject area. I learn something new via my on a daily basis both by what I share and by what others share on the Twitterverse.

You'll only really experience the benefits of Twitter by signing up and trying it out for a period of time. I've included several links below that will help you get started. I'm joevans on Twitter! and I look forward to seeing you in the Twitterverse and learning together.

General Twitter Information

*Sue Water's PLN Yourself - What is Twitter?

*Twitter Handbook For Teachers

*Twitter in Plain English

Getting Connected with Twitter

*Twitter4Teachers Wiki: Find Other Educators on Twitter

Why Twitter?

* Using Twitter to Break Down Classroom Isolation

John Evans

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Now, be honest. Ever have one of those long days (or a string of long days) where you wonder what life would be like if all the people you encountered during the day would be pleasant and agreeable every single day? I'm not saying that they just nod their head "yes" after everything you say or periodically interject, "Brilliant idea!" after you suggest something. I'm talking about having interactions where people act mature and rationale and if they don't agree with something you said or did, they would state it in a mature and rationale way and you could agree to disagree or you could change your mind. Or if you didn't agree with something they said or did, they would accept it in a mature and rationale manner.

I am creating change in my workplace and therefore, it is causing people to be upset, mad, angry, passive aggressive and threatening. Sure, there are people who are happy about the changes that are occurring and welcome it. But at the end of the day, my mind tends to wander back to the ones who are the loudest, who are in my face, who are being the most resistant and who are putting up roadblocks.

Do I sometimes wish I wasn't dealing with the challenges they present? I'd be lying if I said no. But I have learned to accept that there is something I am supposed to learn from the experience of being with them. Maybe it is to be more clear in my communications; maybe it is to be a better listener; maybe it is to offer them something they want or maybe it is to reaffirm the direction I'm heading.

When I'm feeling challenged by something or someone, I try to take some quiet time to think. What's troubling me about the situation? What feelings am I having? What are my options? What can I do to change the situation? What might be the motive for the other person's behavior?

Realizing that these people aren't in my life to screw up my day or to make me miserable has helped to keep me from inhaling a bag of chocolates in one sitting. I can choose how I am going to react and I can learn something from the experience. And maybe, they will learn something in return.

Reggie Engebritson

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

From the McKinsey Consulting Company comes another report (last month I wrote about What World's Best School Systems Do). This report is entitled "The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools." This report utilizes the Program for International Student Assessment results. This test measures student achievement at age 15 in math and science. We rank 25th in math and 24th in science among 30 nations participating.

A couple of quotes from the study should get you interested in reviewing the work (just Google McKinsey Consulting and then search for the report on the social section of the web page).

"Avoidable shortfalls in academic achievement impose heavy and often tragic consequences, via lower earning, poorer health, and higher rates of incarceration."

"If the United States had in recent years closed the gap between its educational achievement levels and those of better-performing nations such as Finland and Korea, GDP in 2008 could have been between $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion higher."

"These educational gaps impose on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession."

"The wide variation in performance among schools serving similar students suggest that these gaps can be closed. Race and poverty are not destiny."

Thomas Friedman in a nationally syndicated column (April 23) reported that according to the study, our fourth graders do well in international comparisons. However, our high school kids really lag. Which means, "the longer our children are in school; the worse they perform compared to their international peers."

"There are millions of kids who are in modern suburban schools who don't realize how far behind they are. They are being prepared for $12 an hour jobs - not $40 or $50 an hour jobs," Matt Miller (author of study)

Bottom line for educators should be that we review the Pygmalion Effect. If we believe children can learn to high levels regardless of race and poverty, then they will. If we do not believe they can, then they will not!!!! Believe in public education. Believe in teachers. Believe in educational leaders and let's get the job done. Our very future depends on our ability to raise the levels of learning of all children.

Terry Holliday
Superintendent
Iredell-Statesville Schools

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 7:00 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Barack Obama has gone from Reaganomics, which has ruled the US economic policy for the last 30 years, to behavioral economics, which is shaping our current economic situation. Authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein address this contemporary idea in Nudge (2009) and illustrate how gentle "nudging" can influence humans to make better life choices. Humans are creatures of habit by nature, however, as Thaler and Cass exemplify through several scenarios in their book, habits can be broken by a slight nudge in the right direction.

Educational leaders are constantly searching for innovative ways to involve their faculty and staff in lifelong learning opportunities. Change, which is often a daunting word in the field of education, can be seen as less intimidating through "nudging" when done properly.
This could be from learning new technologies, to working on their pedagogy, to continuing to look at the data that is now available to them. So what is the "nudge" that we, educational leaders need to get these things done?

I propose that the "nudge" we need is collaboration. Collaboration as defined as not only as collaboration between teachers but also between admins and teachers. True collaboration means that there is a listening on both sides of the equation so that the best learning environment can be developed by both staff members and educational leaders. You need to create a climate of openness and respect so that everyone feels like they have a voice in the development of the curriculum and the child. Teachers are professionals and need to treated as such by the educational leaders.

If we can accomplish this "nudge", I believe education will definitely experience significant change for the better.


James Yap

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

In 1905 a young engineer named Henry Ford invented a strange looking box with four wheels known as the Quadricycle. This creative engineer was able to accomplish this feet of industry using the skills he obtained while learning in the city of Detroit as an apprentice machinist. Even then the skills he obtained and mastered were based on the knowledge, technology, and equipment of the time. Without his knowledge of the present he was unable to invent the future.
While histories lessons are invaluable, current technology, skills, and concepts are a necessity for today’s engineers and inventers. Are educators are much like engineers? They are given materials and asked to create an object or device that works, and performs better than older models. Teachers are given students with a variety of skills, needs, and wants and are asked to create a learner that can accomplish more than last years model. Sounds pretty much the same to me.
I am frightfully discovering that many of our educators beginning their careers in classrooms are lacking the inventive spirit and 21st century skills that improve education and reaches the present day child. We continue to use old practices on “new” kids and our teachers continue to get more frustrated when they don’t work or their students are not engaged. Today’s learner continues to be less engaged in traditional teaching. I believe not because they have a bad attitude but because they learn in a culture that speaks a new language and uses new skills. The system of instruction we have today is grounded in tradition and convenience. Worksheets haven’t changed. We’ve just discovered ways to make cleaner and faster copies.
Teachers are not necessarily to blame. They have a workday and calendar that does not provide for systemic building wide training of these skills. Instead we train one or two people by sending them away while the rest never have the ability to obtain that talent due to inadequate planning and collaboration. The future of education doesn’t lie in the results of a standardized test but in the inventive spirit of creative teachers, administrators, and school staffs around the world. Beginning in college future educators must be given the opportunity to invent new ways to teach and learn. They must learn the skills and makeup of the 21st century child and obtain the tools to inspire them. School districts must give their teachers the time necessary to relearn what type of child they are teaching and be given the freedom to meet their needs through new ways of learning while holding onto the caring student teacher relationship that makes kids want to come.
Our nations schools are filled with teachers that have a deep passion for learning and a caring heart for children. They also have a mounting frustration with trying to engage kids that have no interest in school. Just like the technology and skills that have changed throughout the history of the automotive industry, the needs, skills, and learning styles of our students has changed. From the age of birth our students are immersed in a digital world with digital equipment. We cannot continue down the path of expecting them to adjust to what works for tradition. Every day we sell our product of knowledge and skills. The question is not if they need what we are selling but whether they are willing to buy our Quadricycle.

Gary Kandel

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:12 AM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

I've been hearing that phrase quite a bit lately -- especially from people who aren't happy with some of the “other duties” they've been assigned because the other duties are not aligned with 1) their job, 2) their skills set, or because the other duties take so much time away from their core job duties that they aren't able to perform their core duties. I now work in the central office (I am hearing these complaints from people on campuses), but I have been on a campus in an administrative position and I know all too well the pressures that come with the job. I know that too often decisions about duties can be made quickly without much thought about who, when, where, and why.

In the book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” (Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck), the authors list one of the “building blocks” of getting things done as “Having the Right People in the Right Place.” In fact, in the title of the chapter on this building block, the authors describe this as the one “job no leader should delegate.” The authors state:

An organization's human beings are its most reliable resource for generating excellent results year after year. Their judgments, experiences, and capabilities make the difference between success and failure. Yet the same leaders who exclaim that “people are our most important asset” usually do not think very hard about choosing the right people for the right jobs. They and their organizations don't have precise ideas about what jobs require--not only today, but tomorrow--and what kind of people they need to fill those jobs.

As I read that passage I also reflected on the idea that in some cases, on some campuses, the wrong people are assigned to the wrong duties because the leaders really aren't clear on what the core jobs of those people really are -- so the leader assigns “other duties” that conflict with the core job simply because they don't have the knowledge that they need about the person's core job.

The authors go on to explain that:

Common sense tells us the right people have to be in the right jobs. Yet so often they aren't. What accounts for the mismatches you see every day? The leaders may pick people with whom they are comfortable, rather than others who have better skills for the job. They may not have the courage to discriminate between strong and weak performers and take the necessary actions. All of these reflect on absolutely fundamental shortcoming: The leaders aren't personally committed to the people process and deeply engaged in it.

Do you know all of the strengths, weaknesses, talents, and interests of all of the people in your organization? Do you understand what their core job entails with regard to information processing, time, energy, and critical thinking? Do you know who on your staff really is the “right pick” for the multitude of “other duties”?

Or do you operate in what I refer to as the “warm body zone” where other duties are just assigned randomly with no deep consideration of which team member might really be the best fit for the job?

How do we become deeply engaged in the people process to ensure that we are putting the right people in the right places?

• We must take the time to know our people...
• We must take the time to understand what their current jobs are and what those jobs demand of them...
• We must know our people well enough to understand their strengths, areas for growth, talents, interests, and career aspirations...
• We must understand what each “extra duty” requires and what skill sets are essential for each duty...
• We must become good “match-makers” between people and tasks...

What else would you add to this list?

Do you have a successful process for “match-making” in your organization? How do you put the right people in the right places?

Stephanie Sandifer
Blog: Change Agency
Author of Wikified Schools

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 7:24 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Image via Wikipedia

The number of students from international schools across Shanghai and across the world that were able to participate and be a part of this event were inspiring to me. Elementary students, middle school, high school… all were represented and each and every one of them brought something unique to the festival. From the gregarious student to the shy student, many students were able to explore learning 21st century style by telling stories using film as the medium. As Scott McCloud mentioned in his opening S2F2 speech, films are still a relatively new medium and the potential to discover new things using film is great indeed.

Scott McCloud was in attendance at the event, having spent the week in the city seeing a few things while in Shanghai. Most importantly, he spent his week interacting with our students and learning from them as they learned from him.

From what I can see, the film festival brought more than a bunch of kids together who worked hard in their after school hours. Instead, I saw a passionate bunch of learners coming together to share their learning. Yes... learning! Students were engaged. They learned planning. They learned dedication. The learned about the power of creativity, collaboration in the spirit of competition. There were winners and losers, but frankly speaking, the winners and losers were all equally happy no matter what the result. Most interestingly, the community that was created also created an audience and that audience was left wanting more.

Let's face facts. Our kids toil over detail work for projects and grades. Their work, while sometimes fun and enjoyable, often heads to the dark closets of their parents memories for a few years and that is it. Some schools (not many) have invested in infrastructure to "preserve" the work for portfolios and digital records. Kids will work hours and hours on a project, fulfil the requirements and then have a simple number or letter grade assigned based on a rubric. Some just get grades based on a teacher's opinion. None of the work ever gains an audience. This is not the case in these films. I observed work that was clearly created for course assignments. I observed biographies, science labs and humanities projects all created with the dedication of the students who are driven to succeed. The difference is the community recognized the work as their own. A film was a part of them. Our festival included student written narratives, documentaries, public service announcements, animations, and more. I laughed. I cried (really!). I was proud.

I’ve loved working with David Gran, Mikey McKillip, Jonathan Chambers, Amanda DeCardy and all of the others on the board for this event.

You want to start your own Film Festival? Start here. David Gran has done a great job on a prexi to tell you how and he has created a wonderful ning site as well on International Student Film Festivals.

Check out the webpage: http://www.shanghaifilmfest.org/ for further information. I predict an expansion of the festival in years to come.

Andrew Torris
This entry has been reposted on "Sentiments On Common Sense"

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

by Kevin W.Riley, Ed.D.
El Milagro Weblog

Blind faith because for all that is at stake with this thing, there is an extraordinary lack of control over the outcomes. And make no mistake, we have a healthy regard for the importance of the results and for the unintended consequences engendered by another testing season. How high can the high stakes be?

• These test results will follow every one of our students for the rest of their school careers.
• Future teachers will rely on these results when considering students for afterschool programs or AP classes; for participation in athletics and performing arts; for placement in the bluebirds reading group or tracking them into a school life of eternal and uninspired remediation.
• Specialists will determine that some students are gifted, by virtue of the advanced score in math or reading. Others will diagnose sometimes-arbitrary learning disabilities because a student scored significantly lower than they otherwise would have been expected.
• Schools will (illegally) consult the test results of new students registering at the counter to determine "if there is any room" or whether they should try the school down the street.
• Others will consult the scores as the final straw before banishing 'delinquent' and chronically low-performers to continuation school or independent study or homeschooling or some other equivalent of learning in Siberia. (Watch how frequent this occurs in...oh, let's just say... the weeks immediately before testing! When I was the director of the juvenile court schools for San Diego County, we could bank on a swelling enrollment of students kicked out of their neighborhood schools just weeks before the CST!)

Can high stakes get much higher? Yes... actually they can.

• Presidents and governors and mayors and school board members all run on the promise that they will raise the scores--if not the stakes-- in high stakes testing.
• Superintendents can extend their brief tenures by another year and principals can delay their "return to the classroom" on the strength of a good test outcome. Or not.
• Veteran, tenured teachers feel the pressure too. And since most boilerplate union language allows them to transfer to the district's higher achieving schools as a benefit of seniority... they often do.
• Meanwhile, low achieving schools experience the constant turnover of veteran teachers seeking higher ground and novice teachers prematurely folding their careers for lack of support or training.
• And so low performing schools (and schools in low income areas) are far more likely to be staffed by teachers with less experience. Younger teachers. Teachers beginning to raise families of their own. Teachers who, when they are raising families of their own, take extended maternity leave and entrust their students to itinerant, long-term substitute teachers who have far less experience than the inexperienced teachers they are replacing.

But the stakes get even higher when you track the migratory patterns of families and wealth within a community.

• Young, education-savvy couples consult websites like greatschools.net to determine where the best schools are in a community-- as determined by metrics like the Academic Performance Index (API).
• So higher test scores create a better reputation for the school district and a stronger selling point for real estate agents.
• Ultimately, the shifting and moving of families within a community are more likely determined by the API of schools and districts than any other factor (aside from the cost of homes.)
• Just as the veteran teachers flee low performing schools, so too do high performing students! As their parents become more financially stable, they will join the migration toward higher API scores and the illusion of better schools.
• Thus our school communties continue to shift according to the integration of public education's two most consistent outliers-- socio-economic status and API scores. It's a brain drain.

So when we administer the California Standards test beginning on May 4, we will do so fully aware of the high stakes with which we are playing: children's school careers and the scope of life opportunities afforded them, the careers of educators and politicians, and the distribution of talent and resources within our communities.

There is, in the end, an incongruence here. We have a universal desire to improve our schools and our students' learning, but a system of assessment that produces a host of unintended consequences-- not the least of which-- is the perpetuation of the very achievement gaps we seek to explain and mitigate through high stakes testing.

We'll do our part to buck the data trends. El Milagro. High stakes and we are "all in".

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 1:24 PM | Permalink | 6 Comments | Recommend

I’m a techie,
Yes I am.
But Facebook,
I don’t give a damn.

I have my friends,
My family too,
Don’t need to be viewed
Like in a zoo.

Hey look at me
I’m great and proud.
My ACTIONS speak
More clear and loud.

Why aren’t you on?
Say he and she.
I don’t like it,
It’s not me.

But everyone’s on
And it’s really fun.
I don’t care
I’d rather run.

To sit and tell
The world 'bout me
Is just not worth it
Don’t you see?

I’d rather text,
I’d rather talk.
It’s more fun
To take a walk.

Walk and talk
Or sit and chat
With real folk
'Bout this and that.

You will find me
On a bike,
Or on a course,
Or on a hike.

You will find me
If you look,
But you won’t find
Me on Facebook!

I know, I know, it’s a great way to connect with old high school and college buddies and be up on everyone’s business. And that IS great, but the last thing I need to hear from one of my students is, “Dr. Flynn, I saw you on Facebook!” Seeing me at Target is one thing, seeing me on Facebook is another. It’s definitely a boundary issue that I would hope all educators think seriously of when creating their Facebook sites and inviting others and being invited by others to have access to it. I’ve had parents of students who have invited me to be a Facebook friend, and again, I believe that is stepping beyond the boundary.

Another reason I avoid the Facebook craze is that I spend far more time at a computer than I would like. I have an iMac, an iPhone, and an iPod. I read and reply to endless emails, read innumerable articles, and continuously research educational issues. I maintain the school website, write a blog, and type letters, memos, and articles. I do data charts and graphs, budgets, staffing, and have to take online surveys. I also keep my calendar electronically, bank online, schedule medical appointments, car maintenance, and record my daily exercise. Oh, and of course, I make that occasional purchase online. So, when people ask why I don’t join Facebook, I tell them I spend enough time sitting at a computer doing what I have to do. And honestly, it’s because I just can’t (nor do I care to) sit any longer than I absolutely have to. Life is too short, I say, get out and play!

By Nancy Flynn 4-19-09

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 7:30 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

I just happened to read Bob Lenz's post entitled Project Learning Creates a Win-Win Situation on Edutopia and at the end he poses the question, How has project learning revolutionized your classroom or school? This weekend our school is hosted the 6th Annual Malaysian Model United Nations and our campus was buzzing with excitement. Our high school Model United Nations club organizes this event for 250 middle school students. After last year's conference THIMUN recognized it as an officially affiliated event. While the thousands of hours of preparation drains our advisors and students, the final event gives our entire school community a boost. Every year we are amazed by the high quality of the work that the students do to create a first class event for 250 customers. The educational experience of attending a MUN conference is far different than the experience a student gets from actually organizing and a conference and it's almost impossible to create in a class. A sample of tasks includes:

Promoting the event through the website
Fielding queries from perspective directors
Processing payments from delegates
Providing participants with assignments and resources in advance
Arranging for a guest speaker and entertainment for the opening ceremony
Arranging transportation from airport to hotel, hotel to school, etc.
Recruiting and preparing committee chairs from our school and other schools
Troubleshooting for a variety of reasons
Running the actual conference
Producing the daily newspaper and conference video

For our school, this is the greatest project based learning project that we offer and there were approximately 150 students involved in organizing the event. On Monday those 150 students will be tired and worn out but they will all have smiles on their faces. We will all celebrate their accomplishments and the authentic learning that occurred. These successes will only help us move forward toward our vision.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Two nights ago, I was driving home from work and listened to this feature on NPR that focused on work/life balance, especially for high achieving women. In the broadcast, the moderator talked not only about how women have the need for work/life balance but also men and anybody who is trying to balance their high career aspirations and their high personal aspirations as well.

I was quite interested not only for my wife and daughter but also for me personally and for the many school executives I've heard who are struggling to make this balancing act work. It reminded me of three stellar pieces of advice I received earlier in my career:
1-ask yourself, "What justifies you being on the payroll? What is it that only a person in your position can do to positively affect the organization?" That should be one of your top priorities. It's easy to get caught up in the "dailies" that affect us all. Yet, focusing on your top priorities helps keep you focused and can give you a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day and week. I'm trying to keep my focus by looking at my major priorities and responsibilities on a weekly basis and then writing down the ONE thing I need to do to keep that priority going.

2-ask yourself, "Can anybody do this task as well as I can?" Well, of course the answer is No. Nobody can do it as well as you can. You've developed a great deal of wisdom and expertise in this area and it's something that you're comfortable with. The corollary, though is, "Can anybody do this job, period?" If the answer to that is affirmative, delegate and track it.

3-ask yourself, "What can I do to save an 30 minutes a day?" Look at things that may be an energy vampire (web browsing may be one of them, constantly checking email may be another) and set aside times during the day to do this but not to let it overwhelm your priorities.

So my question to you this time is, what are some ideas, strategies, and tactics that you have found that can help you save a half hour (or more) each day. I'm eager to hear what has worked for you.

Look forward to hearing your ideas.
Chris

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 5:10 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

by Angela Maiers

The involvement of parents and families in schools is often cited as one of the most important ways to improve education. High levels of parental involvement correlate with :

•  improved academic performance
•  higher test scores
•  more positive attitudes toward school
•  higher homework completion rates
•  fewer placements in special education
•  academic perseverance
•  lower dropout rates
•  fewer suspensions”

(The School Community Journal, 2008, Vol. 18, No. 2, p.53).

With four decades of powerful,empirical evidence, few dispute that the connection between home, school, and community is beneficial for all.  And yet, most educators and parents have had little training on how to work effectively with one another, creating a challenge for even the most zealous partnership advocates.

Creating and maintaining a partnership with parents is a process that requires both will and skill. Partnerships can only grow when they are based on mutual trust and respect for each others values, perspectives, and experiences. If we are serious about building a bridge and getting to the place where parents are true partners in their child's education, then we must find opportunities to share the ways we "view" the relationship.

I had a chance to do just that in a series of professional development workshops on the topic. I was given permission to meet with groups of parents days before my scheduled workshop with the school staff. The following reflection represents the voices and views of over 400 PreK -12 teachers and parents across three very different MidWestern school districts.) 

I believe that the first step towards partnership work begin with awareness. The following exercise proved a powerful way to get the conversations started. Adapted from the work of Heidi Hass Gable on the Parents As Partners Ning. It is called the The "Appreciative Inquiry":

1. I ask participants to think about a Parent-Teacher Interaction. (making sure not to lead them in describing a specific positive or negative expereince as I want to know which one comes to mind)
2. Each participant is given an index card and asked to write or sketch a brief description of what the expereince was like for them.
3. Participants are then asked to exchange their "Home-School Experience"stories with one another. (Depending on time, I try to them share thier story with at least two others.)
4. At the end of each story interaction, participants were asked to choose two words to describe the stories they heard.
5. I collected the "The Two Words" from both groups and used Wordle to display the results of our conversation.

Pre K-12 Staff (teachers, administrators, and instructional coaches) described their Parent-Teacher interactions in this way:

Parents in each of the three schools, shared their voices here:

Clearly, teachers and parents view the interactions and experience very differently. It was a powerful reminder that the work we do together is fundamentally an emotional task, carried out by human beings who come with different perspectives and experiences. The most profound effect of the exercise was the ability to move the conversations of partnership beyond blaming and presuming and toward strategy and action as we reflected on:

• the kinds of interactions that produced these perceptions
• the conditions necessary for more powerful interactions to continue or occur
• the qualities and traits needed from both sides to make this happen

Parent involvement from this view may help us understand why parents and schools do not always see  "Eye-to-Eye, but I wanted the last conversation of the day to be about viewing the partnership on common ground; the place where we see things " Heart-to-Heart."

My final assignment to both groups was this: In two words describe your thoughts about a Parent- Teacher partnership. Here's what we got:

:

This view of parent involvement reminds everyone that children flourish when the adults in their lives agree. Children see themselves through our eyes, and it is important that the adults in their lives find their way here. As leaders, you are in charge of getting your staff and community to the place where they come together; heart-to-heart. You provide the conditions necessary for partnerships to flourish or flounder.

No matter where you are in the process – the hope of purposeful engagement and partnership begins with you. Give this a try at your school, and see where the conversation takes you!.

Related Posts:

• Obama's Call for Parent Involvement
• Parent Ed- Web 2.0 Study
• Parent 2.0 Wiki Space
• What Partnership Looks Like
• What Counts as Parent Involvement?

Photo on Flickr by jndollar

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 12:00 AM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

Rebuild or Remodel, that is the question.

There are many schools today who are asking this question in a number of contexts. This question pops up in the area of facilities, curriculum development, relationship building, technology infrastructure etc.
We live in an era where our current world is changing so fast those not able to keep up are holding on desperately to the past. This is understandable, as being cautious was an advantageous trait in terms of surviving not so long ago. Those who took risks in the past were more often than not reviled as heretics. of course there were those who were extremely successful and hailed as innovators. Most of the innovators were not remodelers, however, but rather builders of entirely new paradigms. In my teacher days I spent a great many summers working construction to pay the bills not covered by my teaching and coaching income. Often our little crew were hired to do remodeling projects as the new construction was gobbled up by those who made their living all year long in the construction trades. Why did they leave the remodel jobs for semi-pros like myself? I quickly learned that remodeling is much more difficult than new construction. In fact there were jobs where total demolition of an existing structure and then installation of a new one was far more cost effective for the customer than if we were to try to save and therefore work around the limitations of the existing structure. I know that this is straying somewhat from a discussion on leadership so I will attempt to make a connection. I truly believe that many of the reform initiatives I have seen over the past twenty years of my career have been unable to be sustained or make significant changes in how schools operate is due to our approach. We always make attempts to "remodel" our existing system and hold on to parts which act as significant barriers to a real shift in how we do business. We often replace old obsolete systems with new ones which, when you get right down to it, are not significantly different that the old. We try to make a series of small changes hoping that they will lead to a significant change in the overall system. When we really just get more of the same.
I have teachers who have badgered me for video projectors to be mounted in their room only to use them to present notes they used to write on the white board now using PowerPoint presentations. I can remember not so long ago we were using overheads for the same purpose and the low tech version at that time was writing on the chalk board. Yes there hase been a change in technology or what I am refering to as a "remodel" but no significant change in instruction. Whether we are lecturing and have them copy notes from a chalk board or a PowerPoint presentation, we are still lecturing and we are still asking students to far point copy. I am fairly certain that since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and was able to make multiple copies thus replacing the age old process of producing multiple copies of manuscripts copying by hand. This huge innovation was a "rebuild" rather than a "remodel". It was not only significantly different in the process, but also had a huge impact on the spread of knowledge.
I have seen the same thing occuring in the use of technology in our schools. We are assimulating new technology into our current practices rather than using them as tools to change our current practices. We focus on putting laptops in the hands of every student but seldom consider the infrastructure needs this will require. We put the laptops in the hands of every student, but then limit their use to word processing. We put a laptop in the hands of every student, but rather than teach them responsible aquisition and use of information, we deny them accesss.
I see technology as an opportunity to rebuild our schools. Unfortunately, I also see many schools using these tools to simply remodel what we are already doing. We need to really stop trying to figure out the sequential steps to a smooth evolutionary improvement process and plot our revolution. Stop trying to remodel and instead tear down our existing structure/limitations and build a new system freed of the constraints of our traditional practices.
We need to convince our public that the wonderful old schools that they want to so desperately cling to, after all they worked when they were there, are no longer able to be modified to meet the needs of our students who will see a drastically different future. If we hope to remain competitive with the rest of the world, we need to get a fresh start like they are enjoying today. New factories have an advantage over old ones. To improve a process in an existing model you must first tear out the old technology to make room for the new. When building a new factory you get to plan the construction to accomodate the new technology rather than spending valuable time trying to find out how to fit it in.

I wonder how many communities are struggling with buildings which were built shortly after the second world war. What types of commitments have communities made recently to build new schools as compared to those who have simply tried to remodel what they already have? Which choice has allowed for more innovative instructional programs? Which approach has seen a significant increase in overall student achievement?

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

This week is the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) conference and several ideas have been running through my head as I have scanned my RSS feeds and worked on my presentation. As an educational leader and an occasional speaker I want to understand the dynamics of my own learning. The questions I am asking are: Why do I/we attend conferences? Do I/we lead by example? Am I an "Open Educator", whose professional, thinking, learning and reflecting are transparent? How does professional development support and encourage transformation?

I look for the conference experience to be an inspiration and catalyst for change. For me, a conference is most powerful when it creates personal network connections and carries learning beyond the confines of the space and time of the conference.This is critical to effective professional development because isolated talks without reflective conversation rarely produce change. Research by Linda D.Hammond of Stanford tells us that in order for professional development to be effective it must be focused and ongoing (a minimum of 50 hours) to effect change. The same study talks about sending a team to professional development opportunities to reap the full benefit. This can easily be extrapolated to suggest the strong benefit of focused professional networking like Classroom 2.0 on ning or the other personal learning networks. In addition I have come to expect my conference experience to be dynamic and interactive. But what about when it is not interactive and dynamic; can I by my response, by bringing my reflections online make that happen?

What do you look for from professional conferences? What responsibility do we have to use these opportunities and make them effective opportunities for growth? The conference experience certainly goes much deeper than attending sessions because often the conversations are at least as important as the sessions.

The session I am preparing for this particular conference will focus on a 21st century classroom as one that is not about tools but rather is a classroom with very ThinWalls and which emphasizes the pedagogues of connectedness, global awareness, digital literacy,and innovative and critical thinking. I am sure one could argue about this definition but for the sake of focus and clarity the topic had to be limited. The more I delve into the topic however the more convinced I am that a lecture style session can, at best, only skim the top of the waves ( this is not a tech conference and there will be little or no connectivity). Therefore, I struggle with the question of how do we effect change? How do I motivate and entice others to explore these concepts? And how well do I am embody these concepts? Today however I read a great blog post from Ewan McIntosh in Scotland that put it all into perspective. (You really need to read the whole post and watch the video). I can agonize over encouraging and coaxing forth change in myself and others or I can embrace change as dynamic, exciting and engaging. I want the audience to walk away believing that "Change is fascinating, challenging, interesting. Making your [school/classroom] interesting will make people want to work there more and better."

I want to face change and new ideas with these questions and I want all those who attend my session to ask these questions.

"When you're faced with a challenge, a potential outside change, a new idea, ask yourself the following questions, and ask those around you, too:

1. What does this challenge?
2. How can I participate/play?
3. What is the offer in this thought for me? (not if they're right or wrong)
4. Where do these things suggest things are going? and what can I do now?
5. How might engaging with this make [our schools/clasrooms] more interesting [and more effective]?"

[...] my adaptations of content
Barbara Barreda
Picture b Leo Reynolds http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/105283580/

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

[This post was co-authored by Greg Farr, Principal, and Randy Rodgers, Instructional Technologist]

My family owned The Farr Best Theater in Mansfield, Texas. My grandfather opened the theater in 1917. When Gone with the Wind was first released in 1939, my grandfather, Milton May, refused to show it. He objected to the vulgarity it contained.

Pressure from his nine children (my dad, my aunts and my uncles) finally convinced him to show the movie. As it turned out, Gone with the Wind was the theater's highest grossing film for all of 1939 and 1940 combined.

What does this have to do with allowing student access to technology and applications? More than you might realize. My grandfather was a mild-mannered, well-intentioned businessman who had accepted and paid for significant upgrades in technology: from silent movies to sound, from black and white movies to color. But he drew the line with this movie, wanting nothing more than to protect his customers from exposure to the one word vulgarity uttered by Rhett Butler. The technology of movies had been fine up to this point, but now he felt a duty to limit its application - especially when something he felt inappropriate was being put out for public consumption.

Matters of technology and the use of its various applications often boil down to issues of appropriateness. Despite all the training, policies, safeguards, and technology itself, there comes a point at which local norms, personal interpretations, and the discretion of decision-makers come into play.

Thus, while I believe in, and argue for all students being allowed a broad, open access to technologies and their applications within the school setting, I cannot tell you what is "educationally appropriate" for every child of every ability level in every class.

My grandfather lost the debate with the younger generation. I can just hear my dad saying, "It's not like we haven't heard the word before." (An argument that I still hear from my students when we discuss issues of access to certain materials or sites.)

If you read my previous post (From Mad Magazine to Facebook...), you may have had questions regarding how to actually implement student access to technology in your school or classroom. This post is written for those who want follow-up to the whole idea of allowing students access to various technologies and their applications.

Do the benefits outweigh the risks? If you agree that, in fact, the benefits far outweigh the risks, and if you are interested in how one district is working toward implementation, then I encourage you to keep reading.

As I gathered information and made notes for this post, the philosophies, policies, procedures, and various methods of implementation fell into three broad categories:

I. Administrative Support ((Policies, Procedures, Practices, and Processes)
II. Teacher Support (Policies, Procedures, Practices, and Processes)
III. Student / Parental Support, Awareness, and Agreement

I. Administrative Support

This takes the form of having philosophical, policy and financial support. Clearly, unless the board and central administration back the philosophy of student access to tech apps, the entire process stops dead in the tracks. If sufficient backing on the local governing board is present, and if the superintendent is a progressive, open-minded, cutting-edge leader who "gets" the role and significance of technology in today's educational setting, you are in a position to begin putting appropriate policies, procedures, and practices in place.

Our TIMS department is often asked, "How did you establish such strong administrative support?"

If you have any hope of creating a progressive and open climate for technology use, you have to work at demonstrating its possibilities to all levels of district leadership.

A key turning point occurred three years ago when our TIMS department briefed the district's leadership team about new sites collectively referred to as Web 2.0. The Leadership Team was excited about the potential and the superintendent wanted to check out one website in particular...a site named YouTube. He found that he was blocked by the district's filter. The block was removed in order for him to view it, and he ultimately saw so many videos of educational value that he had the block removed permanently.

There is also a financial obligation that accompanies any decision to allow student access to a meaningful variety of tech apps. And this is NOT just a yes/no decision to buy a piece of technology. Any commitment of funds must also address the initial matching of funds to the precise type/purpose/use/and desired outcome of any technology being purchased. For example, agreeing to purchase personal desktop computers versus lap tops can be based on two very distinct justifications. My staff had a lengthy discussion before choosing to buy iPods instead of laptops for one of our programs because they are two very different technologies and applications.

A significant factor which must be taken into consideration when budgeting technology is the long tail which comes attached. Rarely is a purchase of technology a "stand alone" proposition. Everyone involved must understand the long-term commitment and support costs which accompany technology. Specifically: software, site licenses, maintenance, and periodic up grades must be taken into consideration. Technology is a very hungry pet, and its upkeep and feeding take a large and long-term commitment.

This district has a commitment to growing and extending the "fence line" further out. For example:

1) We have a committee working on updating our electronic communication device policy. Once finalized, and if approved by the board, it will take effect next year. In this proposed version, the use of electronic devices (defined as cell phones, iPhones, iPods, and mp3 players) is not only approved in school and at school activities, but will be encouraged in classrooms for educational purposes.

2) We are piloting a project in which students are being given email accounts sponsored by the district. While the accounts are open to district as well as outside email, they are able to be monitored. Students will be encouraged to use them for communicating with teachers and any other educationally beneficial use they may have.

3) We are "growing" our availability of on-line courses. Refer to our e-Learning website for more attempts to expand educational opportunities beyond our schoolhouse walls.

4) We offer a high school drama class in partnership with Theatre Link via a distance learning lab through which students located in several different states are provided live, real time instruction with teachers located in New York City.

5) We are beginning to offer professional development through on-line webinars using a program called Elluminate.

6) The superintendent recently attended a conference in Austin and sent summary statements from various sessions to a group formed on Facebook.

Once philosophical agreement and financial support are established at the upper governance levels in a district, focus can then be given to the next critical tier of implementation: the teachers.

II. Teacher Support

Let's get this out on the table right from the start: the ultimate success of allowing students open access to the array of tech apps in the classroom is directly tied to:

a) the degree of teacher support;
b) the degree of specific tech app knowledge and awareness on the part of the teacher; and
c) the classroom management skills of the teacher.

Teacher support of student access begins with expectations being set at the top and a culture of acceptance gradually being built over a period of time. The use of technology is championed in our district from the top down, and we have a number of strategies being implemented to encourage teacher support and growth:

* There is a requirement for all teachers to demonstrate competencies in eight areas of technology use and application.
* Every school is provided with an Instructional Technologist to help teachers plan lessons with technology integrated as appropriate throughout the school day.
* Special one hour working lunch sessions are taught which introduce various technologies and applications to administrators. (These sessions may also be requested for staff meetings with different campuses.) Just this year alone I have attended sessions which covered YouTube, Twitter, Blackboard, PhotoShop, MovieMaker, PodCasts, Small Wonder Cameras, Skype, Sky2Go, and Google Apps.
* One of the Instructional Technologists runs a series he calls "The Twelve Second Tech Challenge". District staff are encouraged to log onto his site, watch a brief video, and then perform a task. Meant to be meaningful and fun, they are a fast way to pick up awareness of one more small tool or trick. To try one, log onto to Mr. Rodgers' site.

The goal of all our training is to establish exposure and familiarity with the most common tech apps out there. E.D. Hirsch calls it Cultural Literacy. To remain truly literate in today's society, you need a certain level of awareness and familiarity with certain touchstones of our history, society, and culture. Staying current in the rapidly expanding area of computer technology requires true effort.

Examples of New Tech Literacy:

* If someone was not aware of a currently popular tech app, last week's headlines here in Dallas would make little sense to them. The owner of the Dallas Maverick's basketball team was fined because of something he entered on his Twitter account.

* Teachers who have no understanding of "social networks", will be lost when students start talking about something that was said on MySpace or Facebook. If you have never created an avatar and gone shopping in Second Life, it would be impossible to describe a whole thriving and very real economic system based on Linden Dollars.

* And many of my students would consider me "illiterate" if I could not make out this sentence: ?4u I 1dr if u kwim w/ txt msgs. Yes? ^5 & cul8r

("I have a question for you. I wonder if you know what I mean when I text message. If you do, high five and I'll see you later.")

It is not necessary for teachers to own iPods and download their music from iTunes. But it is not unrealistic to expect them to know what an iPod is and what it does.

Once we have a basic level of teacher support and a working knowledge/awareness base established, the rest of implementing student access to tech apps becomes an issue of good old fashioned classroom management. Please note that at no point have I said students should be granted unsupervised, unrestricted access to all technologies and applications.

A basic premise of trust is essential in implementing any level of student access to tech apps. But we must also remain realistic and acknowledge that, yes, wherever students gather there are bound to be those who will seek to bend the rules and a smaller group that will seek to break them altogether. Although there is plenty of room to debate "appropriate" supervision, I prefer to operate on the basic assumption that common sense survives in our classrooms, administrative offices and boardrooms. Professional educators are more than capable of setting limits and monitoring access to technology. While I am strongly opposed to blanket denials of student access to technologies and applications in our schools, I am equally as opposed to wanton disregard for safeguards and turning students loose with no restrictions/supervision at all.

COMPLETE RESTRICTIONS - NO RESTRICTIONS. See that hyphen? THAT is where we need to focus our efforts.

One side effect of staff being aware and knowledgeable is that they can also help provide a higher level of safety. We were able to stop a case of cyber-bullying because an astute staff member knew what and how it was happening. And while we haven't had a specific case yet, staff is being made aware to watch for any signs of the current trend called "sexting".

Even as we open more gates and expand exposure to more and more tech apps, we also seek cutting edge methods to ensure both student safety and compliance with rules. We are in the process of installing a program called Vision on computers in all labs and libraries on our middle and high school campuses. This is a program which allows the teacher or lab supervisor to monitor each student's computer. It has features such as one in particular that allows a teacher to shut down access to the internet on an individual computer, take over and instruct directly on the student's screen, or even share student work from one screen to another.

When possible, we evaluate the physical set-up and arrangement of our tech areas. One example is here on my campus. We designed and installed wrap-around desks in two computer labs. These are one continuous desktop that runs along the wall and allows anyone standing in the middle of the lab to monitor every screen.

III. Student / Parental Awareness

Every student on my campus is exposed to no less than six waivers regarding their exposure to -or use of - digital technologies. There is approval for participating in video conferencing and distance learning opportunities. Permission is required for website / internet picture use. There is an agreement form for the computer labs that specifically outlines the district's guidelines and expectations for use. And then there is the "king" of all forms: The Technology Acceptable Use Form which all parents must sign prior to students being allowed to use any district technology. We have a student email AUP, student email user agreements for students 14+, parental consent forms for students younger than 14, and contracts for blogs, and wikis. Following the first few days in any computer class or the first few days of school in general, there is no doubt that both the students and parents are well aware of our district's philosophy and procedures and even consequences for misuse.

Student Art Work on Wall of Computer Lab

There is not room to include the Acceptable Use Form in its entirety here, but allow me to reprint some of the most significant content:

"The Birdville Independent School District provides technology resources to its students for educational purposes."

"The district reserves the right to monitor all technology resource activity. The use of the network is a privilege that for any reason may be revoked by network administrators or authorized faculty designees at any time for violation of district policy and/or administrative regulations regarding acceptable use. While the district uses filtering technology and protection measures to restrict access to adult content or material on the internet that students (or their parents) might find objectionable, it is not always possible to prevent such access. It is each student's responsibility to follow the rules for appropriate and acceptable use."

Summary

How do you establish open student access to today's technologies and applications in the school setting?

It starts at the top with a belief and philosophy that access to technology is vital to today's educational process. It is carried out by teachers who develop buy-in through working in a culture which embraces, trains, uses and promotes tech apps at every opportunity. It is reinforced with rules and procedures which are widely disseminated and enforced, but built upon a foundation of trust that students will use today's technology appropriately.

It grows with on-going financial commitment and becomes ever more valuable as students and teachers discover on a daily basis new ways to use applications to expand their educational opportunities.

How can you teach 21st century skills, digital ethics, and safety without access to the actual technology and applications? You cannot learn to swim by sitting on the beach. If application is one of the highest levels of learning, why do we still have school policies that prohibit exposure and use? Safety is critical. And students need the opportunity to practice responsible use in the security of the campus setting before they should be expected to apply them to the outside world.

Like it or not, technology is here and becomes more essential to the educational process every day.

And with all due respect to my grandfather...

Frankly, my friends, the time has come for all educators to really give a ....

Resources:

There are way too many great books, but I would start any library on this topic with these classics:

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Tools for Classrooms; Will Richardson;
Corwin Press, 2006

Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Learning; Marc Prensky;
Paragon House,2006

Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works; Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski;
ASCD, 2007

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy; James Paul Gee;
Palgrave Macmillan, 2007

I encourage you to visit our TIMS department's information-rich website.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 12:00 AM | Permalink | 4 Comments | Recommend

I have said, "We must be explicit about what we want students to know, understand and be able to do."
What some heard was, "You are not doing a good job."
I have said, "We will be more effective of we collaborate and work together to figure out how to best meet the needs of our students."
What some heard was, "You are not doing a good job."
I have said, "The responsibilities of public education have changed; we can learn together how to be successful in this new environment."
What some heard was, "You are not doing a good job."
I have said, "I believe in the ability of teachers to reach and teach ALL children."
What some heard was, "You are not doing a good job."

I am quickly approaching my fourth year as principal in my current school. At times I feel as thought the four years have flown by; other times, I feel like it has been a very long - and very arduous period. I must preface this by admitting that as far as challenges in public education go, this position is a dream job. Our district is blessed with plentiful resources, very involved and supportive parents, and a student population that is extremely compliant and very well-behaved. However, examining practices and looking at how to move our school forward collectively and how to ensure that we are creating an environment in which every child is valued, nurtured, and provided with opportunities has been a journey fraught with unexpected challenges both personally and professionally.

I accept the bulk of the responsibility for how things have gone. In all honesty - we have made a good bit of progress in breaking down some barriers among professional staff, building a level of trust and comfort in speaking one's mind and sharing one's thoughts, challenges, and successes, and in developing a common vision for what is needed within our organization. However, doing the really hard work of following through on the "what is needed" - getting teachers to truly work together as professionals and discuss, debate, and work through issues of planning/choosing what is to be taught and how to assess student learning - that is a different story!

As much as I have read about the importance of understanding an organization's culture (and I do believe I own and have read almost every book that has been published) when proposing any type of change, I greatly underestimated the impact of my words, actions, and what I can only describe as the 'balance of power.' I also do not think I realized the degree to which each individual's psychological needs contribute to the working of the organization as a whole and how - as the positional leader - understanding, taking into consideration, and responding to how my leadership effects each person - requires skills I never thought about.

I am currently involved in a leadership training called "Pattern Aware Leadership." We are examining the patterns of our families and our upbringing that impact who we are and how we approach our work and our relationships. It has been enlightening. The bottom line message - EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS. And, how we operated within our families - the patterns that were established and in place even before we entered into the dynamic - very much effects how we operate within the various organizations and systems to which we belong. This experience is causing me to be a bit more introspective about my role in the current 'state of affairs' in my school.

In addition, I am reading a book by Edward L. Deci titled Why We Do What We Do.I began the book in an effort to look more deeply into the motivation of students. Deci's work certainly has given me much to think about for that topic, but spoke LOUDLY and CLEARLY about what I need to attend to in working with teachers. Deci writes about being "autonomy supportive"- which he describes as being able to take another person's perspective, build alliances, and engage in new situations from that person's perspective. It involves providing choice both a the individual and group level and sharing decision-making. However, Deci also emphasizes that supporting autonomy does not mean allowing people to do whatever they choose; setting limits is indeed crucial.

I will close with a brief excerpt from Deci's book that I believe is wonderful food for thought for this blog:

In a way it is all quite ironic. Parents, politicians, and school administrators all want students to become creative problem-solvers and to learn material at a deep, conceptual level. But in their eagerness to achieve these ends, they pressure teachers to produce. The paradox is, the more they do that, the more controlling the teachers become, which, as we have seen so many times, undermines intrinsic motivation, creativity, and conceptual understanding in the students . . . One of the most important implications of this is that for people in such positions - teachers, parents, and managers, for example - will not be very effective in supporting the autonomy of their students and employees if they do not have their own support. Finding that support- finding a network of people who will help you satisfy your own needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness - is one of the most important aspects of promoting autonomy in the people you teach, care for, or supervise.

Perhaps this on-line community is part of that network.

Sue King

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 2:58 PM | Permalink | 9 Comments | Recommend

Of course, many people do do well in their schools and love what they have to offer. But too many graduate or leave early, unsure of their real talents and not knowing what direction to take next. Too many feel what they are good at isn’t valued by schools. Too many think they’re not good at anything. (Sir Ken Robinson, The Element, p. 225)

Have you ever wondered how people become good at something they like to do? The “something” could be anything; fishing, for example, or acting, playing pool or flying the space shuttle, painting water colors, telling jokes, or unraveling the laws of physics. It could be something one does as an amateur or something one does as a professional to make a living.

I suspect the question doesn’t come up much when you are developing curriculum or designing assessments. Because of current policies and beliefs about educating children, schools often seem to be focusing on two priorities. The first priority is teaching students to be literate in mathematics, English language arts, and science and the second is preparing them to do well on the NCLB mandated and state designed standardized tests. It is time to explore another vision of 21st Century education for the good of our children and our communities.

The Element

In his latest book, The Element, Sir Ken Robinson offers the reader a series of mini-biographies, the life story of people who have become successful in spite of the education they received in the schools they attended. As Robinson explains the process, they have found their way to their Element, “the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion.” (21)

An Astronaut's Inspiration

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Colonel Eileen Marie Collins, USAF, RET. and former NASA Astronaut talk about her experiences at NASA flying on the Space Shuttle. Collins served as pilot on STS-63 (February 3-11, 1995) and STS-84 (May 15-24, 1997), and was the commander on STS-93 (July 22-27, 1999) and STS-114 (July 26 to August 9, 2005). A veteran of four space flights, Collins has logged over 872 hours in space. She is a person who obviously found her Element. She developed the aptitude to do what she loved to do, be an astronaut. After her talk I had the opportunity to ask her what inspired her to become an astronaut. Here is her answer.

A NASA Astronaut's Inspiration: Colonel Eileen Marie Collins, USAF, RET. from Dennis Richards on Vimeo.

Colonel Eileen Collins commanded the historic STS-114 "Return to Flight" mission, the first after the Columbia tragedy. Here is STS-114 at launch. Source: NASA

Colonel Collins' story illustrates the connection between passion and aptitude that Robinson examines in The Element.

Aptitude-Passion Chart

To help explain how Robinson uses the "Element" in his book, I have created the chart below. When you look at the chart, you will find four quadrants representing the intersection of the concepts of having a passion and an aptitude for doing something.

Students, for example, represented by quadrant Q 1 are not in very good shape because they lack the passion and aptitude for doing something. We obviously try to help students avoid this, but too often it happens and this lack of interest and aptitude have consequences that are all too familiar.

If you move along the "aptitude" axis from left to right, you will find quadrants representing students who have developed greater proficiency at something, and depending on the level of passion they have developed for doing it, we can assign them to quadrant Q 2 or Q 4 on the chart. In quadrant Q 2 students are able to do something, but they don’t enjoy doing it. Whereas Q 4 represents students who have arrived at an enviable state of having a passion for what they are good at doing. These students are similar to Colonel Collins and the men and women Robinson profiles in his book.

Quadrant Q 3 represents students who have a passion for something for which they have not yet developed an aptitude. Only time will tell if they can develop an aptitude that would allow us to assign them to quadrant Q 4.

Education and Cultivating Talent

If discovering one’s Element is important, shouldn’t schools be helping students to discover their talent or talents so they can develop their aptitude and passion for what they are good at? As Robinson puts it,

Finding our Element is essential for us as individuals and for the well-being of our communities. Education should be one of the main processes that take us to the Element. Too often though, it serves the opposite function. This is a very serious issue for all of us. In many systems, the problems are getting worse. What do we do about this? (228)

We can pretend that tinkering with the system we have will be sufficient to address the issue. We want to believe adjustments in the current system will be sufficient to position the current curriculum, pedagogy and assessments so we can help students find and develop their Element. It’s easier that way, less disruptive, and it preserves the integrity of past efforts to do good by students.

Robinson argues, and I agree, tinkering will not do it; we have to transform schools because, as currently structured, the curriculum, the pedagogy and assessment systems are each designed to serve the interest of an outdated industrial model of education. If we simply tinker with the current model, its essence is retained.

The Labor of Schools

Educators and students are laboring under the burden of too much disconnected content that educators must deliver at an unreasonable pace with little time available for meaningful personal formative assessment. In this environment, imagination, creativity, and innovation are not required, taught or assessed. No wonder students graduate, if they can last that long, without these skills and without any understanding of what they are good at or what they have a passion for.

Transformed Education

Would you be disappointed if each of your students were graduating from your school inspired to pursue something that they were good at? We can no longer be satisfied with anything less. We must do whatever it takes to transform every classroom in our schools and districts so each student has the opportunity to find his and her Element.

If transformation is what we need, what will schools be like? My March post on this blog explores some of the characteristics, but Robinson offers another important perspective based on imagination, creativity and passion. What he writes in The Element reminds me of my own comments on the importance of engaging, challenging and inspiring students. A banner that I saw in Washington, D.C. hanging in front of the Library of Congress said it another way. It simply said, “Explore. Discover. Be Inspired.”

Let me conclude with a video I created from video clips I took in Orlando, Florida in March 2009 when I heard Sir Ken Robinson speak. His comments expand upon the answer to the questions above: What do we do about [the current state of education]? and What will transformed schools be like?

Sir Ken Robinson On Transforming Education from Dennis Richards on Vimeo.

Dennis Richards ~ innovation3.edublogs.org

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 3:57 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

From a teaching and learning perspective providing every student with some type of computer device makes complete sense and the positive results of this approach have been well researched and documented.

More widespread access to computers makes it possible for students and teachers in schools to transition from occasional, supplemental use of computers for instruction to more frequent, integral use of technology across a multitude of settings (Roschelle & Pea, 2002). Ubiquitous, 24/7 access to computers makes it possible for students to access a wider array of resources to support their learning, to communicate with peers and their teachers, to become fluent in their use of the technological tools of the 21st century workplace. When students are also able to take computers home, the enhanced access further facilitates students keeping their work organized and makes the computer amore “personal” device (Vahey & Crawford, 2002).

The 21st Century Skills of initiative, self-direction, flexibility, user responsibility, collaboration, and leadership; skills that are fundamental to our children’s future success, are undermined by the technology deployment models that are presently in use in most schools.

Our present approach to deploying technology in small pods of 3-4 computers and/or one computer classrooms puts a tremendous classroom management burden on teachers and disempower students by creating a ‘many watching one’ or ‘shared pencil environment’. Computer labs may empower students by allowing them to have their own devices; but access to labs is limited and generally not part of the core classroom experience.

Example of a “shared pencil” deployment.

Example of a “many watching one” deployment.

We need a new technology deployment paradigm that empowers students and teachers and serves as a catalyst for transforming classrooms into environments that model the key 21st Century Skills that are so desirable in the work-place.

So why don't we provide every student with a computer device?

The fact of the matter is that if money were no obstacle most of us would take steps to expand our computer inventory so that access to learning technologies was ubiquitous. It is the economics of providing a computer device for each student that seems so daunting.

We need a new technical paradigm to replace the client/server approach that has done well to get us where we are; but is not sufficient to bring us where we need to go.

That new paradigm is “cloud computing and virtualization”.

We need to recognize that the “shared pencil”, “many watching one” way we are deploying technology in our classrooms is not sufficient for students who need to be more “self directed”, “responsible”, “adaptable” and show more “initiative and leadership” .

That new paradigm is a classroom environment that allows each student to explore, communicate, collaborate, analyze, publish, and pursue their interests, passions, and curiosities. In order to do this they need to have “ubiquitous access” to technology.

The two paradigm shifts go hand in hand.

Without this shift we will continue to have 30+% student dropout rates and 40+% teacher dropout rates. It's the price we pay for disempowering both the learner and the teacher.

It's time to put the tools in our students hands.

pete

Pete Reilly
Ed Tech Journeys

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I am writing this post from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) conference in New Orleans. I am here at this conference with a close friend who is a principal in a district about 10 miles from my school. Andy (Yes, that is his real name; no need to protect the innocent.) is on my list of the top five brightest educators whom I know. Aside from being an outstanding teacher and instructional leader, he has become quite the expert on the PBIS intervention system, and he has used this to turn his school into a top performer in the State of Illinois. Educators from across the country are now asking him to speak on his successes with this program.

So why am I writing about Andy on this LeaderTalk post? Because I was shocked to learn that this innovative, forward-thinking principal and teacher does not have a clue about teaching and learning in the digital age. The proof? When I turned on my computer the other day, he looked at my screen and asked, "What is that?"

"It's Skype, of course." I replied, and I was tempted to add "Duh" but I kept that to myself. I thought everyone knew about Skype. Even my retired parents are using Skype when they travel. So, I did a little probing to find out just how 20th century Andy still was. I learned that he did not know about RSS, del.icio.us, Ning, Google Docs, and numerous other tools I have taken for granted for the last four years. And, if he does not know about these tools, the chances are great that his teachers are not using them in their classrooms.

Don't get me wrong. I am not judging my friend, or any other educator who is not knowledgeable about the uses of technology in their professional work. I am, however, concerned that this is another example of how American education continues to lag behind in the uses of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

This point was made crystal clear by Ian Jukes when he spoke to the hundreds of principals at Friday's opening key note speech. Jukes explained that technology is growing at an exponential rate, yet schools are not even close to keeping up. He described the Four Global Exponential Trends as he sees them:

1. Moore's Law (coined by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel) - In 1963 Moore predicted that computer chip design technology will exponentially double every 24 months, and that the cost of computers will decline by 50 percent in each 24 month period. This appears to have held true (now doubling at a rate of every 18 months), and the trend will continue for at least 50 more years. Jukes predicted that at this rate, personal computers will cost $1.37 in the year 2022.
2. Photonics - How fast is fast? Laser light traveling over fiber optic cable will become the norm around the world, although we are still in the stone age with this technology. Band width speeds are trippling exponentially every six months. Soon, we will have anytime/anywhere access to all the known information in the world at unbelievably high speeds.
3. The use of the Internet - It provides all the information needed for learning, and its uses are growing exponentially in every aspect of our lives. We are on the cusp of programs such as continuous voice recognition that can accurately convert spoken language to text at a rate of more than 100 words per minute. Imagine how that will change writing instruction in school. How about full immersion virtual reality and the near future use of 3-D hologram technology in schools? Picture these technologies in classrooms.
4. Finally, Jukes says that we are becoming overwhelmed with information flooding into our brains faster than we can process. He calls this "Infowhelmed." Trends 1, 2, & 3 are proof that informtion is temporary and disposable, like the newspaper that is out of date even before it hits your front door.

According to Ian Jukes these exponential trends are "The biggest threat to public education today."

The world of information is growing exponentially. What are you doing to keep up in your leadership, your teaching, and your learning?

Hey, Andy. It's time to start a blog!

Cross Posted at The Principal and Interest
Dave Sherman

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 4:32 PM | Permalink | 4 Comments | Recommend

This is not going to be the usual philosophical vision, mission, goals, kind of post. I am going to share a tool that I started using this year called “The Notebook Method.” I am pretty tech savvy but there are some things that are just better with paper and pencil. Yes, I have tried every organizational tool/recording method there is and I am pretty happy with this one.
(Please excuse my image layout as this is my first post with the edweek version.)

Get a 5 subject notebook. (I work in a K-4 building so there is a section for each grade level.)

Tab each section with some kind of a tab for each grade level.

You are going to work your way forwards and backwards through the notebook.

In the front of each section you are going to record your notes from grade level meetings with your teachers. Every time you meet with a grade level you document what is discussed. (You can also hand your notebook of to one of the teachers and have them document too to give them ownership.)

At the back of each section, working your way backwards, you are going to keep student notes. Any time a teacher comes to me about a student I record the discussion in the back of the section of that grade level. If I have a parent conference or parent phone call, I record it in the back section of the notebook.

*I do not record discipline because it is kept in the computer for core data. If there are discipline issues I usually have something about that student in “the notebook” anyway.

*Just for fun I ordered some notebooks from Shutterfly. I showed my counselor "The Notebook Method" and she thought I was a genius.(Okay, I am the boss she acted like I was a genius.) Then she tried to one-up me so I had to order some custom notebooks. We call it the "notebook wars." Both of us are scrapbookers.

Melinda Miller
The Principal Blog

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:28 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

As we all know, we are in the midst of a massive economic downturn. Every month is accompanied by reports of additional, large-scale layoffs. People are losing their jobs in significant numbers. And yet, despite claims that job losses are being felt throughout all areas of the economy, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data clearly show that the impacts of this recession are being felt more heavily by some rather than others.

For example, employees with a 4-year college degree or higher are losing their jobs at a much lower rate than other workers [click on image for larger version]:

Similarly, jobs in more ‘professional’ employment sectors are being lost at a much lower rate than those that traditionally have required fewer skills and/or education:

And certain industries are feeling the pain of unemployment much more than others (see more detail if you’re interested):

The numbers here in Iowa parallel what is happening across the nation. For example, although our state is weathering the recession better than many, the latest Iowa Workforce Development report shows that 20,000 of the 22,400 non-agricultural jobs lost over the past year are in manufacturing.

The labor statistics over the past year mirror longer-term trends in the American workforce. As the charts below show, the U.S. is now a country in which 75% of our workforce is employed in what Dr. Richard Florida calls ‘service class’ or ‘creative class’ professions. Lower-skill and lower-wage jobs that fall outside these two categories, such as those in manufacturing, are more likely to be lost both in the short and long term.

Creative-class jobs, which now make up at least a third of the American workforce and are the only segment of the economy that is growing long-term, require different skill sets such as complex communication, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving. These are skills for which schools typically have not prepared most of their graduates.

So what do all of these charts tell us? Well, there are no absolute guarantees that your school system’s graduates won’t lose their jobs. But it’s fairly clear that the best way to immunize your graduates from the potential of job loss is to give them the skill sets that they’ll need to 1) acquire an advanced education, and 2) obtain jobs in professional sectors that are long-term growth areas for the American economy (and thus are less vulnerable to short- or long-term downturns). This raises an obvious question, of course: How’s your school system doing at this?

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I recently returned from Charleston, SC where I attended the 53rd Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) conference. This conference is geared toward educators, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers interested in issues of comparative education, international education, and development education. This is one of my favorite conferences of the year. At this conference, a person can hear lectures ranging from online leadership training of school leaders in Oman to comparative perspectives on citizenship to HIV education in Uganda to measuring global engagement of students who study abroad. In other words, the range of conversations, the diversity of attendees, and the breadth of topics always wows me.

Every year I leave this conference wishing I was more plugged into international work and more engaged in the field. This year was no different...but there was a twist. Being that I am a first year assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, my thoughts often focused on how I can share all of this great research and intriguing ideas with my students. My students are probably not going to leave my institution to be comparativists or development educators or relief workers:  My students intend to be teachers, school leaders, and district leaders in Southeastern North Carolina. So, how can I bring this ideas, concepts, and thoughts to practitioners? What role do conferences such as these have as we work to develop these local school leaders to create 21st Century schools?

To answer my own question, I jotted down a few ideas throughout the conference. Feel free to add to them:

• Plug students into my international research efforts. Even if this is limited to students looking at the literature and crunching the data, local school leaders can benefit greatly from my international research.
• Infuse my leadership and technology classes with international perspectives that includes non-western research and non-mainstream applications.
• Encourage students to include non-western research in their research papers.
• Encourage students to engage in their own local international community. Most college town have some degree of international folks.
• As an educator of school leaders, I can encourage my future school-level and district-level leaders to look comparatively at research topics thus learning from a world community of learners.
• Weave comparative education themes into my courses. Teaching local leaders to look comparatively at problems can be very powerful.
• Expose my students to digital connections that link the local with the global.

Perhaps the biggest lesson I learned is twofold. First, comparative education is not synonymous with international education. It can easily be infused into any school leadership program. In the US we can do a better job of comparing across classrooms, across schools, across gender, across race, across state, across nationality, and so on. This comparison is not simply to raise standardized test score, but to understand and accentuate uniqueness. Second, taking a comparative approach to studying education is not about global competition with the end result being to 'beat the other.' It is meant as a way to understand others and have others understand us (whoever your 'other' and 'us' is). Taking a comparative approach is meant to create a better global understanding. I am eager to start developing my next semester of courses! It goes without saying that I eagerly await the 2010 conference in Chicago. I will see you there!

Jayson W. Richardson, Assistant Professor

University of North Carolina Wilmington

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

While I often discuss systemic change and the need to break free from the complacency that is pockets of innovation, these talks perhaps fail to provide guidance on all levels instead usually focusing on the role of upper adminstration (oy! I dislike the sound of that). Thus, this is the first in a series of posts with secondary department heads/instructional supervisors/team leaders in mind.

Driving Questions
For the past two years, I've talked about the need to focus on the essential questions of what does it mean to be well-educated in the 21st Century and what does that mean for teaching and learning. While the discussions and ideas that come from these discussions provide a foundation and vision for schools, these broad items leave much room for interpretation.

In many ways, this is a great thing BUT departments must also engage in specific questions focused on their content:

1. How do we best approach (content) in the 21st Century?


2. How does our (content) curriculum align to create learning opportunities for the creating well-educated 21st Century citizens?


3. How are our (content) instructional methodologies fostering the development of well-educated 21st Century citizens?


4. What pedagogical shifts should be explored to best align with student learning and achievement in the 21st Century?


5. What assessment strategies will best address the 21st Century student profile?

Here are the position statements released by some content areas:

National Council of Teachers of English

• 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment Framework (08/09)


• 21st Century Literacies: A Policy Research Brief


• Definition of 21st Century Literacies (2008)


• Writing in the 21st Century (pdf) (2009)


• Writing Between the Lines


• Position Statement on Multimodal Literacies (2005)

• The Role of Technology in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (2008)


• Computation, Calculators, and Common Sense (2005)

• The Role of e-Learning in Science Education (2008)

• Technology Position Statement (2009)

• Initial Guide for Online Physical Education (2007) (pdf)

While I would argue that these conversations should be at the heart of departments all the time, the reality is that may be easier said than done. But, now is the time to begin: late arrivals, department meetings, team time, etc. But, focus these conversations on teaching and learning. Yes, debates are going to happen. Yes, not everyone will agree. The key is to honor all points as adding to the direction of the department.

However, discussion is not enough unless it leads to the development of an action plan. In fact, I would recommend that the discussion moves towards the creation of a department position statement using the aforementioned questions. Regardless, strive to move the discussion towards action items not just academic exercises.

Most importantly, act! Don't just create your action plan, position statement, and binder documents (love those! created those!) for dust gathering purposes. As you create action items, move on them.

Moments in Time well... stink
This isn't something that can happen overnight nor is there a checklist or template to complete. It is actually a time engage and lead your tribe as an instructional leader. Remember, we must guide, listen, push/pull, adopt/adapt, and change. We must value creativity, innovation, play, risks, and disagreements. We must understand chaos, fear, and professionalism. We must see this as a start with no true end but a natural part of what we do - evolve!

By Ryan Bretag
Metanoia

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend