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 | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

It happens every year at the beginning of school. A parent will bring his child over to meet me or say hi to me, and he will make the inevitable comment, "Now Billy, I don't ever want you to go to Mr. Sherman's office." Like it's the place where a child will catch leprosy (or worse, swine flu).

The principal's office has traditionally been the one place in the school where children were afraid to go. I remember the threat of "getting sent to the principal's office" when I was a youngster as if this room, set way back in the deepest part of the office, was some black hole where naughty children disappeared, never to be seen again.

The media certainly has not helped to make principals your "pal." Think of some of the movies and television shows where the principal (or school administrator) was portrayed as a complete nincompoop or a total jerk. There is Edward R. Rooney (played by Jeffrey Jones) in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. And Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) in The Breakfast Club. How about Mr. Strickland (James Tolkan) in Back to the Future?

On Television shows set in schools, which character is the antagonist in almost every school? The principal, of course. Remember Principal Lazarus and Mr. Woodman from Welcome Back, Kotter? Principal Belding in Saved By the Bell? Or Principal Seymour Skinner in The Simpsons? They all were nut jobs.

So how do we break these stereotypes? We re-humanize ourselves, that's how. The time has come for school leaders to redefine the perception of principals in parents' and kids' minds. We have to redouble our efforts to show that we are caring, humane people who really do like kids and want them to succeed.

I am on a crusade in my school to be the principal that kids come to when they want to talk, instead of the guy they fear and avoid. To do this, I start the year reading picture books to classes. I choose fun, silly books that also have a message or teach a lesson, and I read the books with vigor. When I visit classes, I try not to sit in the back pretending to be invisible. Instead, I will get into groups with kids, or assist them with their work. Additionally, I spend a lot of time in the lunchroom and on the playground talking to kids, learning what their interests are, and tossing the ball around with them.

Activities like giving kids birthday cards and birthday books, having first graders come to the office to read to me, playing checkers or chess with kids who are struggling behaviorally, teaching human growth and development to the boys, and bringing my own family to school events are making a difference.

I want the students to see me as a "real person" and not just a mean disciplinarian. I am there to help them learn, adjust, cope, and grow. I am not there only to dole out punishments.

When the time comes to discipline, I focus on making better choices and using the moment to teach. I listen to all sides of the story, and I no longer raise my voice. Treating kids with respect, even when they are in trouble or have made bad decisions, is very important. That does not mean there are no consequences for inappropriate behavior. There must be consequences, but "the punishment must fit the crime." This is especially true when dealing with troubled, at-risk children who often come to school with a learned distrust of adults or authority figures (John Bender from The Breakfast Club comes to mind). Many years ago, I student taught in a school where the one and only punishment, regardless of the misbehavior, was for students to write sentences. The more serious the rule infraction, the more sentences the students were assigned to write. Yikes!

This belief that school principals need to become more human should not be based on some personal need for approval or ego-stroking. Conversely, it should be based on the need to create a positive climate in the school. The school leader sets the tone in the building, and a school where kids are happy, feel safe, and want to come every morning is a school where kids are learning.

So, what do you do to fight the negative perception of principals? How do you re-humanize yourself?

Dave Sherman - The Principal and Interest

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

School Administrators: As I am sure you are aware, hiring the best and brightest teachers for our schools is one of the most important responsibilities we have. But, hiring good people is really just the beginning. For our new, and often inexperienced teachers to be successful, we need to devote a lot of time, energy, and patience to ensure that they reach the potential you saw during the interview process. Below is a letter I have written to all new teachers out there who are excited, anxious, and scared out of their minds to start the school year.

Dear New Teachers,

Congratulations! You have survived the monotonous resume-writing and job application process, the nerve-wracking interviews, the reference and background checks, and the signing of a multitude of forms and papers. Now, you officially are a teacher! It is your dream come true. So what are you going to do to start off on the right foot and have a successful first year at your new school? Here is my top 10 list of ways to get you started toward a successful first year.

1. Learn as much about your new school and the community as possible. Search the internet, read local newspapers, and talk with people working in the area. Understand the needs, issues, problems, and strengths of the community. (Actually, you should have done this prior to interviewing, but if not, get going!)

2. Ask your principal or another administrator for a tour of the school. Don't be shy; ask questions. Then, spend some time alone in your new classroom. Just sit for a while and look around. Take pictures of the walls, furniture, technology, closets, shelves, and anything else you see. After a while, force yourself to go home. You can only spend so much time staring at blank walls and empty desks.

3. Start a list of questions, organized by the person who can best answer them (principal, mentor, teammate, department chair, secretary, custodian, etc.). Continue to add to the list and check off when you get answers.

4. Now start thinking of how you want to set up the room. Where will your desk go? How should the students' desks be arranged to best meet your style of teaching and the needs of the grade level? What should go on the walls - Teacher created stuff and/or student created stuff? Once you are back in the room, play around with the furniture and try different configurations (just don't scratch the newly waxed floors, it makes the custodians angry). Picture yourself teaching from different areas of the room. Envision students sitting in their desks. Where are they looking and what can they see? Ask yourself, "Is the room designed for teacher-centered instruction or for student-centered learning?"

5. In my opinion, you must have the classroom set up before you can focus on the lesson planning. Once the room is ready, a big weight will be lifted from your shoulders. Then, it will be time to dig into the curriculum. Start by collecting as many teaching materials and curriculum guides as you can find. Also, try to meet with one or all of your new teammates or your assigned mentor. Ask them questions related to teaching, but don't focus only on you. Get to know them personally as well as professionally. Meeting for coffee or lunch is a great way to get started.

6. For new elementary teachers, acquire a class list as soon as possible, and learn as much as possible about all of them before school starts. Find out who are on IEPs or 504s, who are in a gifted program, who are dealing with difficult issues at home, who are talented in activities outside of school and so on. Read through the cumulative files, old report cards, portfolios of work, and speak with other staff members. Most schools have some type of directory that lists the classes from the year before. Find out who your students' teachers were last year. Then, before the start of school, make a personal contact with each student. Either call them all or send a personal note in the mail. Don't send a form letter, make it personal in some way. Communicate with their parents, too!

7. For middle school or high school teachers, you probably will not be able to make a personal contact with each student, but you certainly can learn about them in the same manner as the elementary teachers.

8. As you start to plan for the first week of school, remember that your most important job is to establish effective routines and procedures in your classroom. The routines you set at the very beginning may stay all year, and negative or bad habits are very hard to change after the first few weeks of school. Clearly articulate what you expect from your students regarding their behavior, effort, work, and attitudes. Never assume that the children know how to be respectful and behave in your class. Teach them exactly what you expect, and then reteach and model it often, just like you would with an important curricular concept.

9. As you plan specific lessons, don't attempt to plan too far ahead until you really know your students and the curriculum. There will be a lot of adjusting and readjusting of lessons at first, so it is OK to plan one day at a time for a while. You still need to see into the future, and have goals for what you want to accomplish, but take the lesson planning slowly. Make your lessons very detailed and specific, and clearly spell out your objectives, guided and independent activities, and assessments just like you did in college. Eventually, you will be able to write shorter plans and still know exactly what you need to do, but it will take time and experience to get to that point. Finally, it never hurts to over-plan. Be prepared in case the lesson goes faster than you expected, or you need some back-up activities.

10. Finally - HAVE FUN! Be yourself, and let your students see you as a real person. Share some personal experiences you have had, and let your students into certain areas of your life that you are comfortable sharing with them (e.g. pets, family, hobbies, etc.). They will respect and appreciate you more, and they will be more willing to share themselves with you. Effective teaching is all about relationships. Build positive ones with your students.

Teachers, be ready for the realization that your first year of teaching (or the first year in a new school) will be nothing like your student teaching experiences. Accept that, be ready for successes and failures, and continue to learn along with your students every day. Remember, teaching is about "The Will and the Skill." Retain the will to be the best you can be and work hard to develop the skills necessary to be successful in the most important of professions.

Have a great school year!

Sincerely,

Dave Sherman

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember the bumper sticker that read,

"IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THANK A TEACHER."?

Well, these days the bumper sticker should say, "If you can read this, and tie your shoes, tell time, get along with others, solve problems, understand others' points of view, respect yourself, respect others, perform math calculations, make change for a dollar, write a five paragraph persuasive essay, compare and contrast, synthesize, hypothesize, and spell 'hypothesize' correctly, then you should THANK A TEACHER!"

Teaching is harder and more complicated than ever, and the pressure on today's teachers is huge. Teachers are expected to teach, assess, model, and even parent their students. Teachers are being held accountable for all facets of a child's education. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make teaching one of the hardest and most important jobs out there. I have often said that a school is only as good as the teacher your child has that year. In other words, your child can go to the world's greatest school with the most Blue Ribbons earned, but if your child has a poor to mediocre teacher, the awards will mean nothing to you.

We often use this LeaderTalk blog to write our feelings regarding teachers and teaching. These posts are occasionally critical of teachers, or at least perceived as critical. I have done this myself (Here). However, it's the teachers who make the most difference in the students' lives. It's the teachers who have the greatest impact on today's students, and it's the teachers who have the power to make the most change in schools.

So, since we are in the middle of "Teacher Appreciation Week," take a moment to remember a teacher who made a difference in your life, and try to appreciate the important role teachers play in our society.

Please thank a teacher some time this week.

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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 | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Tuesday was the first day of the ISATs for all 3rd through 8th grade students in the State of Illinois. This is a big deal for Illinois schools because the results of these mandated, high stakes tests will determine if our students attend “Meets” or “Does Not Meets” schools. Each school's percentage of students passing the tests will be published in all of the newspapers. Schools will be ranked and judged based solely on these tests. The pressure is on all of us: students, teachers, administrators, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, postal employees, UPS guys, and the milk delivery man. (OK, maybe not the milkman).

I find this to be a very frustrating time of year. Right now, my office is filled with boxes of test booklets, answer sheets, paper rulers, testing manuals, and rules and regulations for teachers to read. The materials all had to be counted, labeled, and numbered, and each student was assigned a specific booklet and answer sheet. This was labor intensive work for our office staff which kept them very busy for a week. Then, whole-school and classroom schedules needed to be revised so we can test the students at the same time each day. Almost everything in school shuts down this week in the affected grade levels, and then, next week we will run around trying to give make-ups to all the students who were absent during the testing week. Phew. It’s tiring work for many, many people.

If all this effort, hard work, and added stress led to test results that we could use for improving student achievement and for overall school improvement, I would be in a much better mood these days. Unfortunately, the results won't arrive for many months and will not be available for school improvement planning done over the summer.

Anyway, there are more rules and regulations involved with administering the ISATs than ever before. This is what my day looked like on Tuesday:

7:00 am – Met with my assistant principal to review all of the different accommodations groups needed for the special education students.

7:07 – Realized that we were still short one certified staff member to take one of the many different groups. No matter how we sliced and diced this, we did not have enough people to proctor the tests. Decided to ask the social worker to take a group for testing all week.

7:19 – Finished with groupings and room assignments for all the different accommodation groups.

7:20 – Printed “Do Not Disturb” signs for all of the testing rooms. (I forgot to do this on Monday.) I woke up in a cold sweat at 2:30 in the morning when I realized this.

7:29 – Burned my tongue trying to down a cup of coffee in one minute flat.

7:30 – Looked through the boxes of materials for the 27th time to ensure that each teacher had the correctly labeled test booklets and exactly the right number of answer documents. (can’t have any extras in the classrooms due to test security laws).

7:42 – PANICKED! Learned that one of the proctors broke her foot the night before, and she would not be in school. She was assigned to a small IEP accommodations group.

7:53 – Took five deep breaths and called the assistant principal again. Grabbed my accommodations sheet and ran to her office. We switched some students around and found a place for everyone to take the test in accordance with their IEPs.

8:26 – Loaded up all the boxes on two giant carts so I could deliver all the testing materials to the classrooms.

8:34 – Went from room to room, asking teachers to sign the official “I Have Received My ISAT Materials” form which officially transferred the materials from my possession to theirs. Placed the boxes on the back tables in all of the rooms. Asked each teacher for a $300 deposit for the testing materials – cash only. (just kidding)

8:49 – Forgot the “Do Not Disturb” signs. Ran back to the office. Ran back to the classrooms to deliver the signs.

8:55 – Quickly made the daily announcements so testing could begin.

9:10 – Walked (very quietly) from room to room to ensure that the testing started off on the right foot. This testing is very important, you know.

9:17 – A quiet hush has fallen over the school (except in kindergarten, first and second grade, where they still are actually teaching kids stuff).

9:18 – Visited with the school nurse (NOT for Tylenol) but to get the attendance report for the morning.

9:23 – Created the Make-up Test spreadsheet and added all of the students who were absent in the morning. They all missed the first reading test.

10:00 – Ate my Fiber One bar.

10:01 – Walked around the school to ensure that the hallways were still quiet.

10:37 – Checked email, voicemail, snailmail, etc. There was a lot! I was never this popular when I was in school!

11:30 – Collected all of the testing materials which must be locked in my office during the lunch hour. Test security is very important in high stakes testing.

12:00 – Visited with students in the lunchroom

12:30 – Walked around asking teachers, “How did the testing go?” Most said OK, but I learned that a few of the kids did not finish. And a couple of students got lost on the answer sheet and they filled in the wrong bubbles. YIKES!

12:45 - Loaded up the carts with boxes and redistributed the testing materials for the afternoon round of testing.

1:15 – Walked around the school to ensure that the afternoon testing session was to begin on time.

1:38 – Visited with school nurse to get the afternoon attendance report. Took some Tylenol.

1:58 – Added all the students who were missing the first math test to my Make-up Test spreadsheet.

2::21 - Went to the bathroom for the first time.

2:27 – Walked around the school to ensure that the hallways were still quiet as the testing session was finishing.

2:59 – Sat down.

3:00 – Collected all of the boxes with the testing materials. Locked all of the boxes in my office to ensure that they were secure. Test security is very important in high stakes testing.

3:30 – Grabbed my keys, said goodbye to the secretary, and headed off to the district office for an ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE meeting! (I’m not kidding!).

... and so it has gone for the rest of this week. Next week, I will organize all of the make-up tests because 95% of the students must take these tests or our school will not make AYP.

(What would this week have been like if we did not have to go through all of this testing? Maybe I could have visited classrooms to see what the students were learning. What if the assessments were tied directly to what they were learning, and administered throughout the year in small doses instead of all at once under so much pressure? Hmmmm… I wonder.)

Dave Sherman
The Principal and Interest

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Three years ago I dove head first into the Web 2.0 pool. I passionately embraced blogging, wikis, podcasting, digital storytelling, RSS, social bookmarking, social networking, and so on. This has been one of my main areas of professional development, and I have written short-term and long-term professional goals for myself in this area of education. Furthermore, I have been working very hard to teach these tools to teachers, and I have made it clear that they need to incorporate these technologies into their instruction. We have dedicated many hours of faculty meeting time to discuss the importance of embedding technology into the curriculum and the necessity for creating authentic units of study.

The other day I had my mid-year evaluation with my district superintendent. As part of my review, my boss challenged me to "evaluate the effectiveness of the use of the Web 2.0 tools." Continuing, she wrote "Mr. Sherman might gain evidence that explains why and how the integration of a wiki or a blog has improved the probability or depth of learning for students."

She is absolutely correct. As with any lesson, unit, or instructional strategy, we must collect data to assess what our students have learned. How will we know if our teaching is successful otherwise? For three years I have been asking myself if student achievement really is improving with the use of new and innovative technologies. I can see that students are more interested and engaged when their teachers incorporate authentic uses for technology into instruction, but I have no evidence to prove that students are becoming better readers, writers, thinkers, mathematicians, historians, or scientists through the use of technology.

This has led me to the idea of creating an action research project in my school and across the school district to assess whether the use of Web 2.0 tools is leading to improved student achievement. I plan on surveying teachers to discover the extent to which they are incorporating technology into their lessons. I can collect anecdotal information based on teachers' observations of their students, but I have not discovered an assessment tool that will provide quantitative data to prove (or disprove) my hypothesis that the use of Web 2.0 tools in school will improve student learning as compared to the use of more traditional means of instruction.

In a few months, I will be speaking to a group of principals about new and innovative uses of technology in their schools. I am expecting at least one person to ask me to prove that students learn better through the use of blogs and wikis. I am not sure I will be able provide any evidence of gains in student achievement and learning.

The majority of educators are not yet convinced that students should be using web-based tools in school (see Scott McLeod's post from February 2). Ultimately, our credibility as agents of educational change hinges on providing proof that our students are learning in response to the new and innovative instruction about which we so passionately write and discuss in this blog. How do we find the proof to back up the claims?

Dave Sherman

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Time is a very important commodity, and there is never enough of it in the day. I could use more time at school visiting classrooms, talking with students, working with teachers, and meeting with parents. I could use more time at home, too. I would like more time to play with my kids, fix and clean up around the house, and of course, I would like more quiet time with my wife.

As the end of 2008 was approaching, I began to reflect on my reasons for spending time blogging. This reflection started as a result of my launching a new personal blog and ending my "relationship" with my first blog which was owned by my school district. On this new blog I will continue to write about education related issues, and I will continue to offer my opinions about teaching, learning, and school. But now I feel as if I have a little more freedom to write about family, sports, entertainment, and other interests.

Well, all of this reflecting led me to wondering if anyone really cares about my opinions on education, my interests, or my family. This begs the the question "what is the purpose of blogging?" Is it to write what you want to write or to write what people want to read? In other words, do we blog for ourselves or for others?

I am not the only blogger asking these kinds of questions. Frank Buck (on Dec. 29) and Melinda Miller have expressed similar thoughts in recent posts. Will Richardson has recently written about blogging as well. Will is blogging a lot less than he used to, and he is expecting that the "trend line for my blogging may continue downward in 2009, perhaps not as steeply, but downward nonetheless."

This led me to wonder if blogging is falling out of favor in the blogosphere. Maybe the "golden age" of blogging has come and gone. Twitter seems to be all the rage these days. It sure takes less time and effort to tweet than to post. So, with the new year upon us, how do you feel about blogging? Are you still planning to post on your blogs in 2009 as you have done in the past?

Dave Sherman

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)