I recently spent a morning at our youth football stadium watching our primary elementary students battle it out on the gridiron. As the boys fought for the "W" and the girls cheered I noticed one consistent thing about the parents... They all had cameras. Creating scrapbooks has become a national pastime. In fact my own wife spends entire weekends with hundreds of other moms, wives, and grandmas creating these life novels into the early hours of the morning. She records the hobbies, family events, and little growing up moments of our children that we always want to remember. As I sat on the bleachers I wandered how many of those scrapbooks record academic accomplishments like that first A on a spelling test, reading that first level 3 book, or being that student that reads the morning announcements. Like most school administrators our wheels are always turning trying to discover that new way to engage learners and parents in our schools. As I sat on the 50 yard line waving at the students and sharing small talk with parents I realized something.
How could we better share with parents their child's academic accomplishments? Up until a few years ago those "scrapbookable" moments mounted to report cards, the occasional note home, and maybe a test with a large "A" on the front page. It's time to take a leap forward. We recently started using a video website called Eyejot, (eyejot.com). This website allows you to use your computers video camera to record a 60 second message via the web and email it directly to the person of your choice. This allows us to email mom and dad with in seconds a video link of their child proclaiming their academic touchdowns. The beauty is that mom and dad can then forward that on to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members. The goal is intrinsic motivation to continue to grow academically while also giving the parents that "scrapbookable" moment.

Gary Kandel

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Confessions of a Paper Chewer

In 1988 I was a 5th grader in a typical Ohio elementary school. It was a day like any other and my cousin and I were bored. The teacher had decided to teach social studies that day by reading to us out of the 8th grade textbook since there was more detail than our 5th grade text. Now, you may ask how I remember this… He used the 8th grade book a lot. Without any words exchanged I can remember he and I engaging in the super bowl of paper eating contests. The goal of course was to see who could get the most sheets in our mouth. He quickly took a two sheet lead, not due to his athleticism, simply because I started laughing. And that’s when it happened. My laughing induced a chain reaction causing him to get the uncontrollable giggles, which forced the paper out of his mouth and onto the poor female student in front of him. Thus, quickly ending our training to become world-class paper chewing champions. We ended up in for recess.

Twenty years have passed since that 5th grade year and now I find myself trying to solve the same problem that forced me to chew paper. Student engagement has become a passion for me as an educator and administrator. In my experiences I have become certain of one thing. Students who do not feel entertained or challenged to learn, will entertain and challenge themselves in any way they can. Kids don’t naturally look to adults for wisdom and knowledge. There must be something about the adult, the environment, or the challenge that entices the learner to be engaged in the experience. If that “it” factor is not available it is near impossible to sustain the attention of the student.

A great example of this is grand kids heading over to grandpa and grandma’s house. The moment they walk in they know exactly where to head for entertainment. My son knows exactly where every model tractor and toy farm implement is located and that is immediately where he heads after entering the house. That is until grandpa says the magic words, “I’ve got a job in the woods that I could use help with.” Like a lightening bolt my son is up and getting his shoes on. I know what you are thinking, what 5 year old doesn’t like being in the woods with grandpa. Exactly, and grandpa knows that the woods serves as the engaging environment, the job the challenge, and the relationship the entertainment. Because of these 3 necessary factors my son is able to learn from the experience. At 5 he can identify more plant and tree species than his father.

Improved student engagement is a goal for any educator at any level. Although I can’t always take students to the woods to learn about plants, I can still be cognizant of the learning environment, the challenge, and the relationship. Keeping these three pieces of the puzzle at the forefront of planning will greatly improve the experience for both the teacher and the learner.
Gary Kandel

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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

Gary Kandel

Posted by LeaderTalk Contributor at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)