October 2009 Archives

I'm surrounded by behaviors that are not always appropriate. I work in an alternative school and with children who are mainly here because their behaviors got them booted out of their home school. I attend many meetings in the districts of our cooperative that are about students and their lack of progress with academics because their behaviors are getting in the way.

When I suggest that maybe we need to focus more on changing the behavior and less on the academics so learning CAN occur, I am looked at as if I suggested that we all wear our swim suits to school. What an appalling thought!!

I talk a lot about the "function" of the behavior. People don't do things unless there is a pay-off to continue doing it. It is not always easy to see what the function, or purpose, of the behavior is, but with a little investgative work, you can usually come up with a hypothesis. It could be for attention, for control or to escape something, as examples. The student who can't do math and says, "F you" to the teacher may be trying to get kicked out of class so he doesn't have to do the math that is too hard for him and feel stupid. It's easier to get kicked out of class then to ask for help, he may think.

You can also apply this theory with the adults you work with. Have you ever had an adult in your office who displayed behavior that was inappropriate and you wondered what that person was thinking? Or you see the same inappropriate behavior over and over in an adult you know or work with? What's the function of that behavior? What's the pay-off for them that they keep doing it? Is it for attention? For control? To escape something?

In this job, we are continually faced with a variety of people, some of whom present challenging behaviors for us to figure out. Some people we don't want to figure out, if they are adults. It's the kids with challenging behaviors that we are obligated to figure out. We need to teach them appropriate behaviors to get the same results they were seeking before. Could they raise their hand for attention? Do a job in class for some control? Be given a "Take a break" card to escape something?

Changing behavior is not always easy. If it was, exercising and losing weight would be a snap and my thighs would be thinner (for the bathing suit i never wear). I realize most teachers did not go to school to teach appropriate behaviors but to teach academics.
Yet, it is part of our job as teachers and administrators to help the students we serve become the best person they can be.

Reggie Engebritson

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 4:30 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

If you are not familiar with the show "Little House on the Prairie," it is about a family in Minnesota that is trying to make a life in the 1870's and 1880's. One particular setting on the show is the one-room schoolhouse where one teacher presented different course material to the students who ranged in age from kindergarten through grade twelve.

Fast forward to the current time and place. Cloud computing is now the age in which we are living. The Internet is a transporter of information, and, therefore, it can be argued that is has become the one-room schoolhouse of this generation. Similar to the traditional one-room schoolhouse, the Internet is a "classroom" where ample information can be presented and different ages are represented.

This, however, does not mean that the Internet should replace the roles and responsibilities of the teacher. Instead, it should become a resource that teachers allow their students to access within the classroom, and, as easily as they could if they were doing schoolwork at home. Can any one of us say that we do not turn to the Internet when we need help answering a question or trying to solve a problem? As adults, we have the flexibility and freedom to use the tools that help us learn, while students are, often times, forced to practice more conventional approaches while confined inside the four walls of a classroom.

Consider the fact that educators are constantly being reminded to differentiate their instruction-- to make modifications and accommodations so that the playing field is leveled for the variety of learners within one classroom. The Internet can serve as a tool that allows students to explore what they need to learn, at a pace and level that suits them as individuals.

It is no secret that education is going through a transformation because of technology. It is likely that within twenty years, because of the Internet and cloud computing, that we will go back to the one room schoolhouse. We will start to see more "guides on the side" where the guides will steer the learning of the students and ask questions to prod thinking. This is an exciting time, and it is only going to get better as technology continues to improve and more individualized instruction becomes commonplace inside and outside the classroom.
James Yap and Teresa Ivey

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

You know that commercial for Bud Lite - Too much vs too little? I wrestled with that dilemma this week when we had to go into real lockdown mode and I had to explain the reason for it on various levels. We hadn't even had a drill yet when the real thing became necessary. It all happened during the last hour of the school day, when I received a call from the central security office informing me to lock down the school because a former employee who was acting erratically and volatile threatened to return to the school following a major blowup with district employees. We had some incidents in the past with this former employee showing up at school and making threats, which had already earned us a plain-clothes guard for several days earlier in the year.

Because the lockdown lasted longer than a normal drill, all staff and most students realized this wasn't just an ordinary drill and began asking questions. They also could see that we had an armed guard patrolling the premises. I sent an email to staff explaining the situation and to explain to students that it was a precautionary lockdown due to an outside disturbance that ultimately did not materialize. How do you explain to kids that a former employee experiencing mental instability was on the loose and making threats that could potentially harm people? We also had to explain the lockdown to parents, who are still calling to inquire about the incident and the safety of the school. The great thing in this age of immediate information is that, while I did not have time to send a letter home with over 400 students, I was able to put an explanation on my blog so that the information was out and transparent before the children arrived home with the big news of the day. And you know how kids can talk it up. While I was outside with students that day loading the buses I heard kids talking about how there was a killer on the loose and we had a SWAT team at the school.

The following morning I worked with our communications department on drafting a letter for parents that revealed the right amount of information without divulging too much or leaving too much room for inquiry and suspicion that we were covering up a potentially dangerous situation. It's definitely a fine line that we tread when we are deciding how much information is necessary. Some parents, of course, felt it was too little and wanted a more detailed explanation, while some actually thanked me for giving them the information that they did receive. I am still receiving calls daily and the message is always the same - our highest priority is providing a safe learning environment. We'll take every precaution and always err on the side of safety. It usually suffices, but there are still those that call everyday to see if we got the guy yet.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

If so, keep this feeling in mind while you read this post.

I love the idea of LeaderTalk and think that the group has some very talented and knowledgeable individuals posting daily. I also know that I have been focusing hard on developing my posts each month and spending very little time commenting on my peers' posts. It seems very possible that I am not the only one doing this each month.

I recently went through the last 20 posts and found that there were a total of 44 comments. When doing the math consider that one of the 20 posts received 9 and another 8. I also noticed that post are not happening daily, as planned. We all know that the small number of comments is not due to the quality fo the ideas that are being shared.

I'd like to suggest that the assignment for this month (and future ones) be that, in addition to our monthlhy post, we comment on at least 2 of our peers posts. Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach in her 21st Century Learning highlights the importance of members of the PLP receiving responses to their posts.

"As the community leader you should make sure in the practice posts and introductions that 100% of member posts get a response from you or someone else. The thrill of getting a response encourages more participation."

My guess is that all of us can relate to the 'thrill' that she mentions and we can probably agree that more comments lead to more learning, excitement and a stronger learning community.

Feel free to comment!

Blair Peterson

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

 A consistent rally cry heard throughout educational conferences and conversations is the need for more teacher input into future education policy and practice. Those on the front line know best about what our children need,  but have far too few options to share their suggestions and concerns with the researchers and policy makers BEFORE the decisions are made.

I am thrilled to see this beginning to change. I am very honored and excited to present to all those concerned about adolescent literacy and learning an opportunity to share your thoughts and concerns with the team at The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the members from the Time to Act Adolescent Literacy Panel for a discussion of their groundbreaking report set to shape the upcoming agenda for literacy reform and initiatives.

On October 19, panel members will be highlighting the major themes and outcomes of their findings and welcome your input and suggestions as they move forward in their recommendations. I have provided their bios to help guide you as you submit your thoughts and questions. You can share you questions here or to send then to me via Twitter at @angelamaiers. 

If you have not had a chance to do so, I urge you to take at look at this amazing body of research. The full report, Time to Act,  as well as the five corresponding reports, which delve deeper into how to advance literacy and learning for all students, including such topics as the cost of implementing adolescent literacy programs and reading in the disciplines:

• Reading in the Disciplines: The Challenges of Adolescent Literacy, by Carol D. Lee Ph.D. and Anika Spratley, Northwestern University
• Adolescent Literacy Development in Out of School Time: A Practitioner's Guide,http://blog.reading.org/archives/003203.html by Elizabeth Birr Moje and Nicole Tysvaer, University of Michigan
• Measure for Measure: A Critical Consumer's Guide to Reading Comprehension Assessments for Adolescents, by Leila Morsey, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Michael Kieffer, Teachers College, Columbia University; Catherine Snow, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Adolescent Literacy Programs: Costs of Implementation, by Henry M. Levin, Doran Catlin, and Alex Elson, Teachers College, Columbia University
• Adolescent Literacy and Textbooks: An Annotated Bibliography, by Michael Kamil, Stanford University

DO NOT MISS THIS CHANCE TO ACT NOW, HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD, and BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION! 

When: October 19, 2009  10/19/2009 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm-10/19/2009 , US/Pacific (GMT-08:00)*

How: Register Here: Time to Act Panel Discussion

Cost: Free

Experience: PRICELESS!

 If you are unable to join us live, the session will be recorded and archived as well.

Panel Member Bios:

Mel Riddile - Teacher and principal quality, i.e. Riddile is an advocate and ambassador for teachers and principals. Mel joined the staff of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in July 2008, after a distinguished career as the principal of J. E. B. Stuart High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, and T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Riddile was the 2006 National High School Principal of the Year and was the 2005 Virginia High School Principal of the Year. His work as a high school principal and as a leader in the field of adolescent literacy has received both national and international recognition from National Geographic Magazine, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the International Baccalaureate of North America. Dr. Riddile is a recognized leader in efforts to reinvent America's high schools

Catherine Snow - Literacy Advocate, expert on language and literacy development in children, Catherine has chaired two national panels: the National Academy of Sciences committee that prepared the report "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," and the Rand Reading Study Group that prepared "Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension." Her research activities include a longitudinal study of language and literacy skills among low-income children who have been followed for 15 years since age three; following the language development of young children participating in the Early Head Start intervention; studying the vocabulary development of first- and second-language learners; and considering aspects of transfer from first to second language in the domains of language and literacy. Her book, Preparing Our Teachers: Opportunities for Better Reading Instruction, is one of several efforts she is involved in to develop consensus among teacher-educators about what pre- and in-service elementary teachers need to know about language and literacy. Snow has also written about bilingualism and its relation to language policy issues such as bilingual education in the United States and in developing nations, and about testing policy. She is currently involved in efforts to improve middle-school literacy outcomes, in partnership with other Boston area researchers and the Boston Public Schools.

Don Deshler - Special education. Don is the Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education and the director of the Center for Research (CRL) on Learning at the University of Kansas. The research and development (R & D) of the CRL focuses on the validation of academic and social strategies for struggling adolescent and on alternative ways to structure secondary schools to improve academic outcomes. Since its inception in 1978, the CRL has completed in excess of $180 million in contracted R & D. Among the awards Deshler has received are the Gene A. Budig Teaching Professorship in Special Education, the J. E. Wallace Wallin Award from CEC, the Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award, the Higuchi Research Achievement Award, the Distinguished Education Achievement Award from National Center for Learning Disabilities, and the Educator of the Year Award from Learning Disabilities Association.

Carnegie Corporation of New York: Time to Act pinpoints adolescent literacy as a cornerstone of the current education reform movement, upon which efforts such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act must be built. The report's recommendations intersect with the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competitive grant guidelines with their emphasis on standards and assessments, data systems, great teachers and leaders, and re-engineering struggling schools.

Related Posts:

• Adolescent Literacy : The Time To Act is Now!
• New Coalition to Rethink Learning...Now!
• Limits of Reading Levels
  
• Ecology for Adolescent Literacy
  
• Changing the Rules for the Literacy Club
• Thoughts on Adolexcent Literacy

Cross Posted on Angelamaiers.com

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Recently I attended a Professional Development day for principals where we had the opportunity to discuss the Carnegie Report, Reading Next. During the meeting we did a jigsaw read and so in the interest of full disclosure I have to state that I have not read the report cover to cover although I have reviewed it since the meeting. The primary focus of our meeting was on the "Fifteen Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs" The list includes both instructional elements and infrastructure elements which work in concert with one another. As an administrator I certainly have a responsibility to oversee the infrastructure piece however the instructional elements while not revolutionary truly caught my attention and my imagination.

The report addresses the literacy needs of the middle and high school population with some fairly stark language. The report notes that literacy skills are becoming increasingly complex, that in 2005 "40% of high school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek", and that there has been and will continue to be a steep incline in the literacy skills needed in the job place. The report also indicates that at the post-secondary level one of the real needs is to provide writing remediation for incoming students.

Looking at all 15 elements a few key things caught my attention. Including the need to have explicit instruction in literacy across all disciplines, the need to provide diverse texts, the need to ensure literacy skills taught are relevant to real world needs, a call for text based collaborative learning , and an emphasis on reading and literacy that prepares students to deal with a "fast paced, networked world."

One other thing that caught my attention was tied in with the discussion of writing instruction. The report makes the point that writing across the curriculum is a key component to literacy but it also states that "traditional explicit grammar instruction is not effective and may actually be harmful to writing development, whereas instruction in sentence combining, summarization, and writing strategies significantly improve students' writing." I think this is a very important distinction and it is not to say that elementary students should not learn the parts of speech but it is a challenge to move beyond rote knowledge into more emphasis on real world application and practice.

In the beginning I said this report caught my imagination and this is why. Those educators who advocate for integration of digital technologies and global connections in the classrooms do so in part because these technologies inherently include essential literacy skills the students need to master. As an advocate for ubiquitous access to technology and having just gone 1:1 in grades 6 to 8 I see an incredible opportunity unfolding to address all 15 of the key elements and it seems that herein may also lie the opportunity to see the efficacy of this kind of technology integration. A 1:1 environment is ready made to explore diverse texts, to delve into text based collaborative learning and to encourage and support writing and publishing.The Carnegie report provides, for this principal, an interesting framework to move forward on the road to improve student learning. Anybody else coming along for the ride?
Barbara Barreda

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I have been advocating for changes in education to improve the quality of life for teachers, students and administrators for my whole career. Over the last three years I have added using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate, create, and collaborate on the Internet to my list of what needs to change and what holds promise. The PLN (Personal Learning Network) I have developed inspired me to return to teaching after many years as an administrator, most recently as a superintendent of a seven school district. No words can express how grateful I am for all that this Twitter community of educators has done and continues to do 24/ 7 to support my learning.

My First Class

Two weeks ago I had my first class with thirty K-12 teachers in a local school district. The course is titled "The Three Cs of 21st Century Teaching and Learning," affectionately referred to as i3cs21. Another similar class begins in another school district begins next week. I spent a long time gathering resources and planning the way I would teach the course.

The class has a closed home wiki embedded within my innovation3 creative commons open wiki that I created on Wikispaces.com. There is a "Class Commons" blog for general communications I want to send out, and each class has a "Learning Commons" blog for practicing "blogging" and for sharing reflections about the class resources. Each class also has a "Learning Commons" wiki for practicing with a wiki. Teachers will also use the wiki as a place where they can present elements of the ePortfolio they are developing. The ePortfolio will include four elements: evidence of active engagement with the course, evidence of a personal/professional digital footprint, a summary of their personal learning in the course and a major creative digital sharing project.

The Learners

These teacher are incredible. Fearlessly, some with confusion and higher than normal levels of anxiety, they are venturing onto the digital landscape to learn for themselves what is possible for their own learning and for that of their students. I only hope I can meet their expectations. Visit our Learning Commons blog now and in the future to see what they have to say as they their journey continues. Leave a comment, all advice and encouragement accepted. They will appreciate it, and it will help sustain them through any moments of frustration they feel as they are learning within this new digital culture.

Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge three people for their work in this area. I am participating in two open, online courses this fall that are unlike any courses I have ever experienced. Each is stretching my communication, collaboration and creation skills. Without direct involvement in my work, nonetheless, the teachers of these open, online courses are helping to shape my understanding of the nature of Internet enabled learning and the pedagogy appropriate to this kind of instruction.

Two Free Open Online Courses

I highly recommend you visit if not participate in either or both of these courses, which are running now through December. Dr. Alec Couros, University of Regina, Saschatewan, Canada teaches the Social Media and Open Education course, which is free and online for anyone interested in participating. Dr. George Siemens and Dr. Stephen Downes, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada teach the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course, which is also free and online for anyone interested in participating.

i3cs21 Course Artifacts

To illustrate aspects of the i3cs21 course I am teaching, I want to share with you two artifacts that I created. One is my experiment with a new presentation tool called Prezi. It is an introduction to the course's components.

Animated Gettysburg Address

The other, which you can link to on my innovation3.edublogs.org blog, is my experiment with a animated video creation tool/web site called Xtranormal. It is one example I will use to illustrate options for communication, creation, and collaboration. For the fun of it, I created an animated version of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. I hope you enjoy both artifacts.

Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still a Learning, Creating, Teaching
dennisar at gmail dot com
innovation3.edublogs.org

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

When I am asked to help districts save money or financially justify the paradigm shift to One to One computing, one of the first things I suggest they do is audit their technology energy use. Shifting from traditional desktop PC's to laptops, netbooks, or thin clients can save significant amounts of money, to say nothing of it being the environmentally correct thing to do.

A typical desktop computer uses between 65w-250w of electricity. A typical CRT monitor uses 80w and an LCD monitor 35w of electricity. You can get the actual amount of energy usage by checking the label on the specific device, or you can use a watt-meter to measure real energy consumption.

So, if we use 158w as an average for desktops and 58w as an average for monitors our total energy use is 216w per computer.

Let's compute the energy cost of running just ONE computer for a typical school year.

Assumptions:

1. The computer is in use 6hrs per day. (6hrs x 216w = 1296w)

2. The computer is left in power saver mode over night. (18hrs x 35w = 630w)

3. The computer is in use 200 days per year. (200 days x (1296w+630w) = 385,000w)

4. The computer is in power saver mode on weekends and holidays, approximately 100 days. (24hrs x 35w = 840w) x 100 days = 84,000w)

5. The computer uses no energy 65 days of the year.

Estimated yearly cost for ONE computer @ .17 per kw hour = $80.

Energy cost for ONE computer over a (5) year lifespan = $400.

Total annual energy cost for ONE THOUSAND computers = $79,730.

Total energy cost of ONE THOUSAND computers over (5) years = $398,650.

Now, lets look at alternatives to the energy hungry desktop PC approach that is so prevalent in our schools today.

A laptop or netbook averages about 30w, most of it related to the display.

A thin client and display also averages about 30w.

Thus replacing a standard desktop with a laptop, netbook, or thin client device theoretically produces an 86% reduction in energy consumption.

Estimated yearly cost for ONE device @ .17 per kw hour = $11 (Savings =$69)

Energy cost of ONE device over a (5) year lifespan = $55 (Savings =$345)

Total annual energy cost of ONE THOUSAND computers = $11,000 (Savings=$68,530)

Total energy cost of ONE THOUSAND computers over (5) years = $56,000 (Savings=$342,650)

Even if we take the 'best case' desktop scenario: a 65w computer and 35w display, the energy savings for shifting to laptop, netbook, or thin client devices is 54% resulting in a savings of $227,230.

In One to One implementations, if students use battery power during the day and are required to charge their devices at home, the energy savings can be more than 95% and a cost savings of $378,717.

The yearly $68,530 savings in energy costs (ONE THOUSAND computers) can purchase:

An additional (228) netbooks, or thin clients per year. (@$300 per device)

Over (5) years a school can DOUBLE the number of devices available to students (1140) based on energy savings generated by switching to netbooks or thin clients.

If you are more interested in the traditional route you can purchase laptops and add an additional (86) devices per year (@$800 per laptop) and increase your network by (430) devices over (5) years.

It's time to shift our technology energy paradigm.

pete

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 5:04 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

CNN currently has a news link titled Six Steps to Creative Breakthroughs. They are:

1. Look behind you - Investigate the history of what worked, what did not work, and what might have worked given different scenarios.
   
2. Lose the routine - In other words, 'Play!' This might be reading, hitting seminars, attending conferences, etc. Taking time away from the routine of preparing, teaching, grading can have great rewards.
   
3. Use the brains you hired - Let employees (i.e., teachers snd ) take risks and not be penalized for failure.
   
4. Get cozy with customers - Get to know the needs of students, parents, and the community.
   
5. Share the load - Use resources in house, at the local college, or in the community to get things done.
   
6. Try to fail quickly - Quickly move from thinking about change, to doing it. Set benchmarks to determine if the innovation is working. Commit but don't be afraid to admit defeat.

These steps are powerful if put in terms of K-12 education. I wonder how many schools are willing to embrace this mentality? Should they?

Jayson W. Richardson
University of North Carolina Wilmington

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 3:21 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

It seems as if we all do it.

We embed pictures, illustrations, charts, graphs, videos, text, and other stuff from the internet into our blog posts. I see it every day, and I do it myself. I have always tried to give credit to the creator, author, photographer, or illustrator by listing his or her name and the link to the original item. For example, I have taken photographs from flickr.com and added them to a blog post. I also have included who posted the picture on flickr to give proper credit.

Based on an email I recently received, I am now wondering if that is enough.

Here is what happened to me. Last month I wrote a blog post for my blog and for LeaderTalk in which I included an illustration that I found when doing some research for the post. I pasted the illustration into the post, and I gave credit to the illustrator (by writing "Illustration by ...). I assumed that that was enough.

Well, I received an angry email about a week later that was titled "Unauthorized Use of Illustration." Here is the text from that email (edited to protect anonymity):

Mr. Sherman: It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my copyrighted work entitled "XXXXX" (the "Work"), found at this web page:http://theprincipalandinterest.wordpress.com/ . I have reserved all rights to the Work, first published in YYYY Magazine, August, 2008. As you have neither asked for nor received permission to use the Work on your website (nor paid me for use of my illustration), nor to make or distribute copies, including electronic, I believe you have willfully infringed my rights under 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages as high as $150,000 as set forth in Section 504(c) (2) therein.

I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all
infringing works making use of my illustration, and that you desist from
this or any other infringement of my rights in the future. If I have not
received an affirmative response from you by Friday, September 25, 2009
indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I shall
take further action against you.
Very truly yours,
Arthur Artist

Yikes! Too much "Legal-ese" for my liking. I had no intention of stealing anything from this person, and I certainly can't afford $150,000 at the moment (or ever). Of course, I pulled the picture immediately, and let the artist know I had done so. I received a very friendly reply: "Thanks, and have a nice day!"

I have spent a few weeks wondering about internet copyright laws. I understand that people have a right to protect their work. But, does this change when they post on the internet? If I have pictures on a site like flickr, and I make them public, can anyone use them? Do they have to give me credit by including my name? If I find out about it, can I sue them for $150,000?

Finally, Is there really a difference between a photograph on flickr or a video on YouTube and someone's artwork that is part of an article in an online magazine?

These are important questions because we have students pulling images off the internet all the time for their schoolwork. What should we be teaching kids about copyright infringement and plagiarism?

Dave Sherman
The Principal and Interest

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 3:15 PM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend

You get it. It's the 21^st Century and social media has changed society so much that you understand the need to make technology a transparent part of the learning environment as part of meeting the growing needs of students and society.

Assuming we understand this social phenomenon and have started critical, actionable conversations within our schools, our focus inevitably turns to professional development and shifting teacher mindsets as part of the transformational puzzle.

The question I continue to raise is whether we should discuss these technologies as tools or instructional strategies.

For systemic success, I believe must stop thinking about social media technologies as tools and begin exploring these organizationally as instructional strategies. What happens when this occurs?

An Example

Let's look at wikis as one example.

As a tool, there are no "rules" leaves room for new uses and a simple measure of organizational success: quantity of people trained and using the tool. Even more appealing, a tool approach offers a quick, simple way to move forward with training: explain the tool, show some examples, and let the teacher do the rest.

But, what happens after this point and click training?

While merely a hypothesis, the organizational base never rises or only slightly rises beyond their current instructional effectiveness. Yes, more people are aware of the tool and maybe even choose to use it, but the impact on the learning environment and student achievement is minimal outside of a few innovative teachers.

Organizationally, we don't need more teachers using wikis just to use wikis. We need quality. How do we get there? I believe we get there by approaching wikis as a strategy with clear guidelines and practices associated with classrooms needs. In this case, collaboration might be the identified skill/value/solution needed. Thus, the organizational professional development would narrow their focus on collaboration strategies and methods both in the physical and the digital.

In this case, we no longer train on wikis. We create learning opportunities on collaboration and community building for the physical and digital learning space. We discuss, attempt, and modify approaches such as those established by Johnson and Johnson, Caine and Caine, and Shirky. We would apply methods of cooperative learning. We would look at our collaborative methods in the physical space and extend opportunities and possibilities into the digital. We would observe teachers that have effectively created a community and that have leveraged collaboration to enhance the learning environment and student achievement in a multi-dimensional space.

Time and Effort

This approach takes more time. This approach is more intense. This approach is about breadth and depth. And yes, this approach focuses on pedagogy and tools as strategies. But, this approach will create shifts in mindsets and sustainable growth as it serves as a clear jumping off point.

For innovative teachers already embracing social media and emerging technologies, this approach is frustrating. It seems limiting, stifling, and time consuming because they've used the technology as a strategy and are wanting more or they want to explore technologies outside of the foundation.

On many levels, this is true which is why it is important to foster the development of teachers seeking new, never thought of ways of using the technology -- technology as innovation not just strategy.

This doesn't mean giving teachers a tool and walking away. We still ask challenging questions and discuss assessment, curriculum entry points, and potential roadblocks. However, the goal is to be open minded about these new approaches that go beyond the foundational level established and provide just-in time support.

In other words, innovative teachers embracing technologies in new and creative ways are to be encouraged as their findings could alter our instructional strategies at the foundational tier.

Final Thoughts

It is easy for those who are naturally drawn to emerging technologies and social media to feel all we need is to show tool after tool to teachers in order to shift mindsets into the 21^st Century. The reality is that for every teacher transformed by this approach, there are dozens that eventually walk away or end up using the tool in ways that do little or nothing for the learning environment outside of being able to say 'I use web 2.0 technologies'. Shirky reminds us that "revolution doesn't happen when society adapts new technologies - it happens when society adapts new behaviors" (p. 160).

And shifting mindsets, creating new behaviors, and raising the base of our professional learning communities to enhance student achievement is the goal.

Image:

Ryan Bretag
Coordinator of Instructional Technology
Glenbrook North High School
Metanoia

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend