July 2009 Archives

I find working with people who are passive-aggressive wearing. I try to get to the source of what is causing them to be sullen or moody, but I can't get a straight answer. Either they say "nothing" is bothering them and "everything is fine" when it is so obviously untrue or there are so many causes that even if it is within my power to fix something, they say "it doesn't matter" because there are still too many other things that can't be fixed.

I am, by far, not perfect. Yet, I do make a conscious choice to come to work every day and face people with a positive attitude, even when I might not be feeling it on the inside. I try not to be a pig (see Dan Winters' post), I try to give people what they need to do their job and I don't bring my problems from home to work. I try to create a positive work environment because the work we do is hard and we spend a lot of hours at work and I don't think laughing and being happy should only happen outside the work day. Nor should eating chocolate.

This post isn't about working with the majority of people who have a bad day now and then. I have that too. It's more than that.

This is about the few people who make you wonder what mood they will be in when you approach them. It's great to be around them when the mood is positive. Or the people who smile and appear agreeable to your face, which is nice, but you are fairly certain that behind your back they don't look the same way or sound as friendly when your name comes up. These people do their job, that's not the issue. The issue is how their mood, or personality, negatively affects the others around them. Which in turn can affect the work environment.

Believe me, this isn't about wanting everyone to like me. I'm not here for that. It's about being in a leadership position, wanting to do right by the kids we serve and both needing and wanting the adults who work with me, for the most part, to be positive with me. I'm not just talking about teachers here. It's all the staff. Office, maintenance, kitchen, support staff, bus drivers.

From what I've read, it's not easy to change this behavior. People who act like this usually don't see themselves as the problem, even if it is clearly stated to them what they are doing and how their behavior affects the others around them. Like I said at the beginning of this post, it is wearing working with them.

Could I discipline them? Possibly, and I will if it comes to that. But, I am a leader in a profession that serves kids. And we serve kids who are at-risk or have disabilities, so every day they are here we are working on shaping behavior for the good. Should I stop doing that just because the negative behavior comes from employees? Should they know better because they are adults and get a paycheck? Maybe. Should I try harder to help them because I am the leader? Maybe. Probably.

When the kids are in the building, it is easy to get caught up in what is happening with them and issues like this take a back seat because it doesn't happen every day. The pace is slower this month, so the issues have moved to the front seat. Which has caused me to stop and reflect, once again, on the importance of the adults around me and the responsibility this position has to not only do right by the students, but also by the adults who have not just jobs, but careers, here.

Reggie Engebritson

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Of all the workshops I have attended and all the workshops I have presented on change management, the truth is it does not really matter until it matters. In other words, until you live through significant change in your career, family or personal life you may not really understand change.

A significant book that my wife gave me on Valentine's Day in 2007 was Change or Die by Alan Deutschman. Alan talks about heart by pass patients and studies that have been completed by many hospitals and research clinics. Heart by pass patients who know they must change the stress in the life, exercise more, and change eating habits do typically make change for a few months, however, after two years less than 1 out of 9 by pass patients have continued with changes in their stress, exercise or eating habits. If we cannot get heart by pass patients to change when they know that they will die if they do not, then how can we possibly expect principals or teachers to create the changes we need in public education to help their "patients" succeed in learning.

Well, change has recently come to my professional life and in a big way. Starting August 5, I will assume the role of Commissioner of Education for Kentucky. I can't help but laugh at myself a little. I can remember as a teacher thinking I should become a school administrator because surely anyone could do better. Then as principal I said that I should become a superintendent because surely anyone could do better.Then I said surely a state system could be run better and now.... In every case, I found that you really do not understand a situation and the change that is needed until it really matters. Until you are really in the position, you have no real idea of the challenges and barriers that every level of education faces. In other words don't judge someone or the job they do until you have walked in their shoes.

My future postings will probably relate the state level leadership experiences. Kentucky is in a very exciting position with regard to education reform. Kentucky led the nation in reform during the '90's and during the last legislative session a major education reform law was passed. Couple that with Race to the Top, the next few years will be very exciting in Kentucky and I look forward to sharing some of the story with readers.

Terry Holliday

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Fact: We have lived through several revolutions. The one in which we currently live should be dubbed the communication revolution. Today, we have more ways of communicating than ever before and at speeds that even a few years ago would seem ludicrous.

Think about all the different forms of communication. Now imagine a traditional classroom, and ask yourself, What ways is information communicated?

The stark contrast between what and how students learn in a traditional classroom environment and the 21st century possibilities becomes strikingly evident. As educational leaders, it is our responsibility to learn about, utilize and convey our knowledge of the various modes of information communication to our teachers. After all, what is communication? Information!

Many educational leaders and their teachers may struggle with envisioning ways in which technology can be implemented into their instruction. Below is a sampling of some of the most powerful ways and ideas that teachers can incorporate 21st century communication into their teaching. Fear not... students are already familiar, comfortable and capable of using these forms of technology... another reason why educators must open their minds to information communication.

Twitter- WOW! This is a powerful technology! We just installed Tweetdeck on every single computer in my district. Why not have your teachers start to "follow" experts in their area of focus?
RSS- Have the news come to you by using RSS aggregators like Netvibes, iGoogle, or Pageflakes.
Skype- If you cannot afford a huge Polycom videoconferencing unit, then you can probably do a lot of the same things by using Skype or Ichat and using a $40 camera.
Wikis-An asynchronous and/or synchronous way of communicating and collaborating information.
Blogs- Have your students comment AND post.
Social Networking- Change the word "Social" to "Academic" networking, which is what we are doing in Ramapo Central. It is really starting to take off. We use a site called Saywire that provides a safe learning environment and teaches students to use social networking to their advantage.
Mogulus, Ustream- These are ways of streaming video like a live or recorded TV show of a class.

This being said, the first challenge for you as an educational leader is providing opportunities for professional development so your staff can learn about how to use these tools effectively. The second challenge is making sure that these ways of communicating information become customary in the classroom. As you begin to plan for the 2009 - 2010 school year, let this subject be your guide for your district's and individual school's goals. The students will thank you for it!

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Bob Sutton has found that leaders have a big problem on their hands. In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review he stated the following:

People who gain authority over others tend to become more self-centered and less mindful of what others need, do and say.

He cites an experiment where a group of three students were given a project and one of the three was clearly put in a supervisory role. 30 minutes after the start of their work, a plate of 5 cookies was put in the room. The researchers figured no one would eat the 5th cookie, a clear broach of etiquette, but wondered what would be come of the 4th cookie. Well, you guessed it, the student in a position of power tended to take that 4th cookie and, to top it off, ate like pigs, chewing with their mouths open and spraying crumbs everywhere.

Those of us who have been trusted with leadership positions should take stock of our habits to make sure we are not slipping down that road to totalitarian brutishness - even slightly. Here are a few tips that will help us avoid the fate of the Obnoxious Boss.

1. Seek for and take action on feedback from a variety of folks in the organization. Look for creative ways to get input. Do so formally and informally. Be careful of asking too many times through the same channels and don't let the sycophants rise to the surface. Find those people who are most critical and let them have their best shot. You don't need to take every criticism at face value, but take the time to reflect on their complaints to determine if their might be some truth in there.
2. Take on the roles of your subordinates from time to time. It's a great idea to ride the bus one day, serve food in the cafeteria, help a small group next to the Instructional Assistant and answer phones at the front desk. You will see the impact of some of your decisions in a new light.
3. Force yourself to listen for others ideas before inserting your own. Listening shows such a high level of respect. I once worked with a boss who seemed to start every sentence with "No, but". It was quite discouraging. You won't be able to implement every idea, but give them a fair hearing and serious consideration before throwing out your personal favorite.
4. Be prepared to apologize when you recognize your own churlish behavior. You will make mistakes of all kinds. Be quick to take all the blame that you deserve. If you failed publicly, apologize publicly. If you failed privately, apologize privately. Having done both of these on several occasions I can tell you that 1) It aint easy and 2) you will gain more respect in the aftermath if done genuinely.
5. Develop accountable relationships both within and without the organization. Find some colleagues who can serve as sounding boards for your ideas and processes. My wife is one of my favorite sources. She questions me quite freely and I rarely admit that she's right :) but once I think about it, she usually hits it right on the head. (Fortunately, she doesn't read this blog, so she won't know that I admit this.)
6. Consciously send messages that you will listen to others and you are eager to serve them to improve their performance. Your words and actions will be scrutinized. Make sure that you highlight practices that have been generated by someone other than yourself. Don't be shy about performing menial tasks that will ease the load of your staff. You will build energy and commitment to the cause when you are a model of servant leadership and mutual support.
7. Frequently recognize the contributions of others. You are not accomplishing anything of value on your own. Find out how each individual wants to be recognized and look for positive contributions to be placed in the spotlight. Some prefer a note in private, others prefer recognition of the group and not the individual. Some like tokens of appreciation, while others enjoy a note of thanks. Some would love it if you gave them time or attention. It's also a great idea to praise others behind their backs. Be creative and genuine in your praise.

In district negotiations recently, the representative from one of the bargaining groups told a story of how he was dancing with his wife one night when he noticed that the dance floor was quite crowded and he kept bumping into this one guy. He got a little frustrated and told the guy to go dance on the other side of the floor. It just so happens that he is a rather large man with a booming voice and when he gave that "suggestion", he looked around and the entire dance floor had cleared out and given him some room. He told that story to make the point that when the District makes demands employees will possibly take those demands beyond their intended impact because of the position of power that they hold. I think it's a beautiful illustration of the trappings of power. Our actions and words will be scrutinized and we need to carefully send messages that we are there to serve the needs of our staffs to deliver quality education to every student. So, don't be a pig and be sure to say please when you go for that second cookie.

Dan Winters
Principal Learner

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Administrators have it easy over the summer.
No students, no teachers, break time right? Isn't that what so many people think? Most administrators know that not to be the case. We have some of our busiest days during the summer: it's just different. Professional Development, Curriculum writing, board retreats/work sessions, grants to write and planning for the next school year are quite enough to keep the pace moving. So what does summer have in store for Iroquois' planning? A lot.

We have a new Director of Instructional Technology that will begin and assist our administrators and teachers is drilling down the assessments to the student level so our teachers can have a profile for their class regarding what performance indicators students need help with and how to set up a system to track individual student growth over time. Something we hoped would be coming from the state in a value-added model that hasn't happened yet and we have waited long enough.

Formative and Summative Assessments have been discussed by our administrative team for months and all are ready. We need to move that initiative forward and give our teachers the tools to do so.

RTI- "Response to Intervention". While we are focused on all students succeeding, the model will track interventions and begin them early to do as much as possible in providing services to students before classifying them.

Thoughtful Education Training for our teachers will continue so that we continue to tap into student's learning styles, differentiate instruction and engage them more as active learners.

Determine the most effective use of Stimulus Money to improve programs that will in turn improve student achievement. We need to focus on our middle level and high school students for after-school support in homework. Several ideas are being discussed. We are finding homework issues and difficulty to be the major cause of course failure for our students.

Add changing a student management system that holds the most important data base from contact information to schedules to grades to transcripts and I would say the plate is pretty full.

Oh, and continuing our reform of how our high school students learn? Yes, it is still a major work in progress. We still plan to expand our technology and student's use of the read/write web, move towards more project-based learning and continue to find ways to challenge even our best students.

So while summer may look different, it is by no means a vacation. It just gives us the opportunity to use our time differently and, to plan for the future.

Results of our initiatives? We must be doing something right. We had over half our graduating class earn an Advanced Regents Diploma, we were recognized as having the highest graduation rate in all of Erie and Niagara Counties, and more and more students with special needs earning a Regents Diploma. We are very proud, we celebrate, but the work continues..............

cross-posted @ http://changinghighschools.blogspot.com

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The musicians are coming back to New Orleans even if the business investors are not. They are everywhere. They are on the streets of the Quarter and in the clubs and bars on Frenchmans Street. Listen to them play. Feel them. Put whatever you have in their guitar cases and plastic tip buckets because, as near as I can tell, they are all we have left of New Orleans.

And as street musicians, they are all we have of whatever the soul of America ever was.

There is that haunting Washington Post social experiment called "Pearls Before Breakfast". Perhaps you read it. Or not. Perhaps you were on your way to work in your busy life as a school leader and you were just too stressed to stop and listen.

1,097 commuters raced past the street musician in L'Enfant Plaza in Washington DC one January morning, on their way to their beltway jobs as policy analysts and consultants and government workers. They heard him. But they didn't listen. They kept their heads down and avoided eye contact. They stayed clear of his violin case for fear they would be shamed into fishing for a few loose quarters. Some had their IPods on so they could drown him out. Others had cell phones-- the perfect ploy for the frenetic train patron already enwrapped in the day's e-mail and text messages.

And that was their loss.

He was no vagabond fiddler begging for a cup of coffee. He was Joshua Bell, one of the world's most renowned classical musicians, playing some of the most elegant music ever created on a $3.5 million Stradivarius that was hand-crafted in 1713. On this particular morning, Joshua Bell managed $32 in tips from a handful of passer-bys who took the time to listen. It was "Chaconne", written by Johann Sebastian Bach and just a few days before, Joshua Bell had played it in the Boston Symphony Hall to a capacity audience who each paid a minimum $100 a ticket to hear the performance.

Last week Paul McCartney played a free concert on a rooftop in New York City and he had a very different reception.

Perhaps the commuters were just a little more familiar with Paul McCartney than they were with Johann Sebastian Bach. (I know I am.) Perhaps they had allowed a little more time in their morning routine so they could afford a few extra minutes to stop and listen. Perhaps something in the loud bass and amplified foot pedals spoke to the soul of New Yorkers in a way that a violin-- however sweet or eerie -- could not speak to Washington DC bureaucrats in a hurry to make their first morning meeting.

Or is it the context? Or the fear of strangers in a train station? Or a general distrust of street performers? Or the fear of being scammed? Or worse?

Or are we in too big a hurry? Or does the music matter? Or do the arts matter? Or does Washington or New Orleans or New York City matter?

The Washington Post formulated a question for their action research: "In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, does beauty transcend?" They hypothesized that it would and that Joshua Bell would draw too big a crowd and pretty soon there would be anarchy. There wasn't. He played and no one noticed.

Well, almost no one.

In his beautifully written summary of the experiment in L'Enfant Plaza, staff writer Gene Weingarten writes:

"There was no ethnic or demographic pattern to distinguish the people who stayed to watch Bell, or the ones who gave money,from the vast majority who hurried on past, unheeding. Whites, blacks and Asians, young and old, men and women, were represented in all three groups. But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away."

Our students report back for school next week. They will pass by in search of sweet music that genuinely stirs them. I for one, will not abide the adults that rush them past when they only want one glimpse of that brilliant virtuoso that seems to give life a fleeting instant of meaning; or they pop their IPod headphones out to listen to a song whose name they cannot pronounce.

by Kevin W. Riley
El Milagro Weblog

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Last month I attended a conference led by Rick and Rebecca DuFour on building professional learning communities. It was a very engaging conference that really hit on some of the key issues we continually face as we work to develop our school into a true professional learning community (PLC). One of the questions Rich posed during a session on building a collaborative culture of a PLC was: What are you tight about? He then stressed the importance of communicating what it is to all stakeholders in the PLC. I started to think about this notion of being tight about certain things, and what those things really are. Now, the staff knows that my number one pet peeve is being late to meetings. I’m about as tight as they come when it is about being on time for meetings. But being tight is not about norms, it’s about the non-negotiables when it comes to student achievement.

After the conference ended, I gave serious consideration to what I am truly tight about, and settled on what I consider my top five non-negotiables, combining what I experience on the job and what was reinforced at the conference. These are the five non-negotiables that will be discussed opening week of school:

1. Interdependence – working together rather than in isolation. According to Patterson (2008), “Interdependence calls for individuals to share ideas, provide materials, lend a hand, and otherwise willingly and ably collaborate (p. 183).” It means using building expertise to improve student learning gained through collaboration and vertical articulation.
2. Vertical articulation – going beyond the team level in articulating student needs.
3. Common assessments across grade levels – all grade levels have a common means of assessing what is learned by all students.
4. Saying NO to averages; looking student-to-student, skill-to-skill – Even when averages look good, there will always be those students who have not learned a particular skill, and those students who already know it well. Ensure that there are interventions for students who have not learned the skill, and for those who have it mastered.
5. Embedding collaboration in routine school practices – interdependence and vertical articulation are the norm.

So, what are YOU tight about? It’s definitely something to think about.

Nancy Flynn
July 19, 2009

Resource:
Professional Learning Communities at Work, Solution Tree publication distributed at PLC Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 24, 2009.

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Cross Posted on Creative Tension.

The past few months have been crazy with finishing up the school year, moving back to the United States and looking for a job. There has been no time for reading or writing blogs. Now that things have settled down for the summer I have time to do some writing.

Last week I had the pleasure of taking my son to the AT&T National Golf Tournament at the Congressional course in Bethesda. What a wonderful time we had watching Tiger and the others play golf. Over the years I’ve been to several tournaments and I really enjoy the atmosphere. The aspect that we sometimes forget is that these players typically work hard and put in long hours at the range, on the putting green and actually playing. This doesn’t even include all of the travel and the promotional appearances that they make. What stood out for me was the typical routine was practice on the putting green and then driving range, round of golf and then more practice on the range or putting green depending on where they felt they needed work. On that particular day, guys like V.J. Singh and Lee Jansen headed to the range immediately after a frustrating day. You could see the determination on their faces as they hustled off to work on their swing. Just like us, these guys are professionals who are driven for perfection.

I tried to think about how this practice applies to education. While they are working on improving physical skills, we have to constantly hone our skills as administrators. Can we equate their time working on their short game with leading a meeting? For example, when was the last time that you left a teacher observation post conference and hustled off to practice on areas that you may have not done as well as you would have liked? My first questions were, Is this applicable to what I do? and How would I replicate what they are doing? I mean, sure I can reflect on how I performed but how do I go about practicing the skills?

While some of the professionals were working on their own, others were getting advice from their caddy or coach. This is a practice that I believe can be replicated. Why not sit down with a colleague at the end of the week or day and discuss performance. What went well? What needs improvement? and Ideas for improvement? With the help of someone to give you feedback and ideas you gain knowledge and can build skills. What would it take to work periodically with a critical friend/mentor/coach? As a principal I’ve always felt that it was difficult to get direct feedback from others.

How do you reflect and practice?

Blair Peterson
School Leader Currently on Sabbatical (and loving it)

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This post also has appeared on Angela Maiers' site

Pop Quiz:
If your school became the subject  of a Hollywood movie, would you characterize the story as:

• A Drama
• A Comedy
• A Hero's Journey
• An Inspirational Tale
• A Tragedy

 This may seem like an odd question to pose, but  it came to mind as I was preparing this post for a global discussion about Educational Leadership; a challenge from Scott McLeod.

Scott encouraged educators around the blogosphere to contribute advice and insight about the role technology plays in teaching and learning in hopes to help the leaders of our schools guide their students and staff  in finding ways to utilize its power more efficiently and effectively.

So what does a Hollywood movie have to do with this? Everything!  We are not moved and motivated by statistics and factual data.  We are driven to action and empowerment by hearing stories of people who have overcome and turned those hurdles into triumphs. Yet that is not the story being told.

Right now the story of technology and education is one of disruption, change, fear and destruction. We are broadcasting this story to teachers, members of the community , and most importantly the children we serve. Our belief in this story deepens as the messages we convey is one of loss for the good ole days and  worries for the future. Soon enough we will find ourselves playing the lead roles in the horror we have been describing and predicting.

What we often fail to recognize is that we have more control than we think. We create the setting, we choose the lead characters, and we have the power to design the script. Just as a director of a movie utilizes different perspectives, camera angles, and colors to create a look and feel of a movie, we too can redefine the experience of school with new perspectives and actions that could change everything.

I want to encourage our 21st Century leaders to tell this new story. Tell the stories of how technology is allowing millions of students to connect like never before. Of how teachers are collaborating globally. And how together, teachers and students are changing the world in big and small ways

Check out the roster of Leadership Day 2009 in the comments section of Scott's call for Leadership Day.

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• Create the Future: 21st Century Learning in Practice (123elearning.blogspot.com)
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It is summertime and many educators, contrary to popular opinion, are mind working. Mind work is different for all of us, but for educators it involves thinking, learning and knowledge creation in a variety of different contexts for a variety of different purposes: perhaps it is a book a colleague recommended, a web site that promises resources for student learning, a blog post reflecting on work with students during the past school year, Twitter comments tagged as favorites during the busy school year, a podcast on pedagogy for global classroom collaboration, an archived online conversation on managing social networks. The list is endless and it can be overwhelming at times if not managed well.

Certainly, mind work involves collecting, sorting, analyzing, synthesizing, and creating new knowledge, but it also requires prioritizing so we attend to what is most important. I want to recommend three priorities, guideposts and related resources as the most important mind work you can do this summer.

To preview the resources, I will invite you to 1) watch a YouTube video titled HOME, 2) read an article titled Minds on Fire, and 3) read one book, Beyond Discipline. Ultimately, this post is about thinking and learning deeply about conditions of community for learning so we can learn together and help the children learn well.

Priority 1: The Planet

Do some deep thinking and learning about the planet and what will happen over the next ten years. The children we teach will inherit the world with whatever capacities we help them develop; they will be adults in 2020. Please do not dismiss this as a "science" topic; the reality is this is a topic for disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and and transdisciplinary inquiry.

Guidepost 1: Climate Change

23 June 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today extended an invitation to heads of State and government to attend an “unprecedented” global summit at the United Nations to spur action towards reaching an ambitious climate change pact later this year.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge facing this and future generations,” he said at a press conference in New York. “Emissions are rising and the clock is ticking.”

Citing the top scientists, he stressed that there are fewer than 10 years left to stop rising emissions in order to avoid “catastrophic” problems. “Now is the time for action,” he emphasized. (Quoted from Ban invites world leaders to 'unprecedented' UN climate change summit, July 6, 2009)

On September 22, 2009 the United Nations Secretary-General will host an all-day high-level event on climate change for Heads of State and Government at United Nations Headquarters to prepare for the December U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

2009 is a crucial year in the international effort to address climate change, culminating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December. In 2007, Parties agreed to shape an ambitious and effective international response to climate change, to be agreed at Copenhagen. (Quoted from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, July 6, 2009)

Resource 1: HOME

HOME is an ode to the planet's beauty and its delicate harmony. Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it. But HOME is more than a documentary with a message, it is a magnificent movie in its own right. Every breathtaking shot shows the Earth - our Earth - as we have never seen it before. Every image shows the Earth's treasures we are destroying and all the wonders we can still preserve. "From the sky, there's less need for explanations". Our vision becomes more immediate, intuitive and emotional. HOME has an impact on anyone who sees it. It awakens in us the awareness that is needed to change the way we see the world. (HOME embraces the major ecological issues that confront us and shows how everything on our planet is interconnected.)

In 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly four billion years of evolution. The price to pay is high, but it is too late to be a pessimist: humanity has barely ten years to reverse the trend, become aware of the full extent of its spoliation of the Earth's riches and change its patterns of consumption. (Quoted from http://www.youtube.com/homeproject on July 6, 2009)

Priority 2: The Internet

Do some deep thinking and learning about the new order of education emerging from learning environments made possible by the read-write-participatory web and Web 2.0 associated tools.

Guidepost 2: Social Learning

The most profound impact of the Internet, an impact that has yet to be fully realized, is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning. What do we mean by “social learning”? Perhaps the simplest way to explain this concept is to note that social learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning.

....................................

There is a second, perhaps even more significant, aspect of social learning. Mastering a field of knowledge involves not only “learning about” the subject matter but also “learning to be” a full participant in the field. This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice. (Images and Text from Minds on Fire, July 6, 2009)

Resource 2: Minds on Fire: Open Education, The Long Tail, and Learning 2.0

...various initiatives launched over the past few years have created a series of building blocks that could provide the means for transforming the ways in which we provide education and support learning. Much of this activity has been enabled and inspired by the growth and evolution of the Internet, which has created a global “platform” that has vastly expanded access to all sorts of resources, including formal and informal educational materials. The Internet has also fostered a new culture of sharing, one in which content is freely contributed and distributed with few restrictions or costs. (Quoted from Minds on Fire, July 6, 2009)

Priority 3: Community

Do some deep thinking and learning about "conditions of community" necessary for deep learning. Deep learning arises when we ask our students (or ourselves) “… to respond to questions … through multiple disciplinary and transdisciplinary lenses and … seek and discern the wholeness, patterns, connections, insights, and new meanings that unfold over time…. (Stephanie Pace Marshall, The Power to Transform, 2006, 57-58)” What are the conditions of community that nurture deep learning?

Guidepost 3: Learning Communities

Community 1: What are a faculty’s assumptions about the nature of children (or adults)? What do people you know believe motivates children and causes them to act the way they do within and beyond school? Do they believe that generally students can not be trusted and need a lot of guidance and a discipline system that clearly defines rules and expectations and then holds students responsible for their behaviors?

Community 2: If, on the other hand, a faculty believes that students have a human need for autonomy, relatedness and competence, students will be trusted to make decisions, teachers will develop human relationships with the children they teach in classes and throughout the school, and students are encouraged to develop habits of thinking by taking responsibility for tasks that engage and challenge them to stretch beyond their current level of knowledge and performance.

Research on best practices for learning communities discourages the former and encourages the latter approach to learning communities (Source: Kohn, 9).

Resource 3: Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community

I just finished reading the 10th Anniversary Edition of Alfie Kohn's Beyond

Discipline: From Compliance to Community. Originally published in 1996, it has much to say about the use of power, control, rewards, punishment and learning, but especially the conditions of community for learning that have and always will be relevant to classrooms and schools. The good news is that we have another ten years to transform our schools. With so much talk about 21st Century Skills and Schools, now is the perfect time to get unstuck. The danger is that another decade will pass and schools will not change.

• In particular, we need to be on the lookout for profoundly negative theories about the motives and capacities of children, which frequently animate discussions about classroom management... (2)


• When students are "off task," our first response should be to ask, "What's the task?" (19)


• For all the reasons discussed in this chapter, schools will not become inviting, productive places for learning until we have dispensed with bribes and threats altogether. (36)


• An effective teacher by definition is one who manages to get compliance with minimal effort and who succeeds in forcing rebellious children to back down. (56)


• Each aspect of life in a classroom offers an invitation to think about what decisions might be turned over to students--or negotiated with students--individually and collectively. (85)


• Students need to feel safe in order to take intellectual risks; they must be comfortable before they can venture into the realm of discomfort. (103)


• Question for student discussion: What makes school awful sometimes? Try to remember an experience during a previous year when you hated school, when you felt bad about yourself, or about everyone else, and you couldn't wait for it to be over. (114)


• Without question, we need plenty of support to make change of this magnitude. But with that support, and a vivid awareness of the need to make such a change, we can do it. We can create classrooms and schools where students are members of ... communities. We can move beyond discipline. ( 137)

(Quoted form: Alfie Kohn, Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community, 10th Anniversary Edition, 2006)

Some Thoughts: Conditions of Community for Educators

In this Internet age of Social Learning and Participatory Culture, I wonder if all educators are thinking about the behaviors, routines, norms and practices that are de facto conditions of community within their internet communities, small and large, loose and tight, impromptu and consistent, that are either nurturing or destroying opportunities for community. There is some evidence of consideration in the Digital Citizenship conversations, but I do not think it is widespread, always seen as applying to educators because they are adults, and deep enough as a legitimate area of academic, scholarly or professional inquiry.

The conversation on this topic can begin with some basic questions but at some point I hope it will move to examining practices, and ultimately grappling with reflections on the implications for our work with students. I have lots of questions; I wish I had more answers.

I want to acknowledge I used my PLN on Twitter to help me with the following list of questions. It is interesting that now that we have connected on this topic, I am beginning to feel like a community is percolating up from cyberspace. Not sure when the PLN becomes a PLC, but perhaps it has something to do with relatedness or relationships. Kohn says it has to do with caring for others and others caring about you. When it comes to conditions of community for nurturing deep learning, that seems like a good place to start.

It is also a great foundation for doing something to care for our HOME. After all is said and done, it is not about competition and markets or military might, living on this planet is about people coming together to communicate, collaborate and create things of value. Please prioritize your time this summer to watch HOME, read Minds on Fire, and read Beyond Discipline. After that, just commit yourself to getting unstuck so we can move forward by the millions to foster meaningful learning communities. Here are the questions. If you have thoughts, please comment.

• Who is in your PLN (Personal Learning Network or Professional Learning Network)?


• What is a PLC (Personal Learning Community or Professional Learning Community)?


• Do conditions of community matter on the Internet when adults are "developing their networks?"


• Is there an accepted definition of PLN that differentiates it from PLC?


• If there is a "in practice" definition of a PLC, such as the Dufour definition, does that preclude us from defining it in another way?


• Is one for personal communication and another for professional?


• Is one more powerful than another?


• Is each as powerful as the other but both powerful in different ways?


• Is one or the other defined by topic, goals, job categories?


• Is it okay to only share in a Network and be committed and involved in another?


• Who controls what I learn? If I decide, is that a PLN and if the group, is it a PLC?


• If the principal, superintendent, school board, state Department of Education or the Federal Government decides what I learn, what's that? Community? Compliance?


• Is face-to-face collaboration versus online collaboration a dimension to consider?

Thank you to Melissa Techman, Kelly Hines, Ernie Easter, Dan Callahan, and Melissa Edwards for your Twitter "tweets" on the question of PLNs and PLCs.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still Learning & Teaching
twitter: dennisar
skype: drichards1
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

This was cross posted on innovation3.edublogs.org.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I just got back from spending two weeks in London, England. I have yet to get my body adjusted to US time, but that is a small price to pay for such an amazing adventure!

Scott Imig and I were fortunate enough to lead a group of seven University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) Masters of School Administration students on this international trip. This was the first time I led an international cohort and the first time UNCW took school leaders to London. I have to say it went really well and I am eager to start preparing for next year.

So what did we do? The students spent one week in the schools and were given four days to explore individually and/or as a group. Our docket looked like this:

Saturday - Students arrived and toured the local area and took a short trip to Brick Lane. This was the first time many of these students tasted Indian food.
Sunday - Spent day in London seeing the sights.
Monday - Met with the Barking and Dagenham Local Authority to discuss data use, incorporating creativity in the curriculum, strategies used in various key stages to increase achievement, and the role of the Local Authority to improve schools.
Tuesday - Met at the University of Gloucester to learn about the National College of School Leadership, various routes into teaching, and Every Child Matters (this is similar to our No Child Left Behind).
Wednesday - Students paired up and spent the day in local primary schools shadowing school head teachers, classroom teachers, and students.
Thursday - Visited Jo Richardson, a community school that is doing amazing things with regard to the arts as well as private / public school partnerships.
Friday - Visited a secondary school that has dramatically improved in the past few years. Students shadowed teachers, chatted with the head teacher, and engaged in conversations with many international teachers.
Saturday & Sunday - Free time to explore. Students went to shows, took day trips, or simply hung out and explored the great city of London.
Monday - Students returned to North Carolina.

We are conducting research on this group to determine if this short international trip impacts or changes the way these students view diversity, education, leadership, or society and to longitudinally see if this trip has any impact on their professional practice. Even if the results of the study are not earth shattering, we already see that this trip was extremely powerful for each student. However, I am left wondering about the students who were not fortunate enough to come on the trip - how is the university preparing them for the real world? The students we took were exposed to diversity like they have never seen before. The students were able to see and hear how a national curriculum impacts leaders, teachers, and students. The students were able to live in a cosmopolitan city that is far removed from any Southeastern North Carolina community in which these students live. How do we, as university faculty members, prepare school leaders with a global mindset without these international experiences? Is it possible? Is it desired?

As an aside, researchers at the University of Minnesota through the SAGE project are writing up results of a study where they examine "long-term personal, professional, and global engagement outcomes associated with study abroad experiences." Preliminary results were published here.

Jayson W. Richardson
Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership
University of North Carolina Wilmington

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend