LeaderTalk

Moving beyond Surfing the Tops of the Waves

No longer content to surf the tops of the waves of knowledge with our students we have been actively involved in retooling teaching and learning to dig deeper. It is not an easy task, nor is there a one size fits all solution. What I do want to share is some of our recent successes and the tools and teaching that took us there. As we have known all along technology is a tool and not an end and we are just beginning to learn how to choose and use tools to transform common activities into deeper learning experiences. Two tools which have really impacted our teaching and learning recently are video game simulations and chats.

I have written about our experience with chats as a way to work on group projects on my blog. The gist of our experience was that as the students worked collaboratively with the students in Snow Lake Canada as part of our ThinWall classroom they used IM to plan their projects. The transcripts of these chats, often completed at home. gave us a whole new insight into the  students thought processes, much more than one gets walking around a class listening  to the groups talking. Because we could see their thought processes we know what skills they need. It is an absolutely incredible moment. Yes, it means we are working hard but the opportunity to give the students the thinking skills, communication skills, planning skills, and talents they will need for ….well for the rest of their lives is an unbeatable experience.

Using video games in class has become another incredible tool for deepening the student thinking and learning. In 6th grade social studies students study ancient civilizations and the formations of cities and societies. In most cases the students read about the various factors that influence the early developments of cities like geography, resources,  government, trade etc. They can answer questions for an objective test but they have only "surfed the waves" with most of the information soon forgotten. like many classrooms you will sometimes see the students constructing dioramas or models depicting the various places they have studied but when questioned about the model you find that for the most part there was little real thinking about what they created and it was mostly a fun arts and crafts activity.( i remember having students do revolutionary war dioramas and they came in with WWII planes hanging from the top f the shoe box). However, this year things are different. This year we used looked at several simulations like SimCity, SimSocetiy and finally decided on CivRome, which starts with the early development of city states as a means to deepen the students understanding about building cities. Suddenly the students were no just reading about the choices others had made but they were planning and making choices.  They were divided into teams of four with one student as the geographer, one as the government official, one as a farmer and one as a job specialist based on a web quest on early civilizations. They then moved on to the simulation where they continued work in their teams and dealt with all aspects of early civilizations, where to build, what to build, how to provide food and jobs, where to place roads, how to keep the citizens happy. In just three sessions where they could immediately see the effects of their decisions they had come to a whole new level of understanding. The teacher then had them build models which will soon be upon voicethread, but this time they had  to justify every decision.  These couple of days of activity were absolutely amazing- it was classroom as studio with students moving from simulation to building and back again.they were adjusting their plans and explaining their decisions. these students may not remember the name o the early civilizations they have studied but they will understand the the various factor that contribute to the development of society and they will understand more deeply the impact of the decisions  made by a leaders or governments o the people.

So we are now building a library of simulations. It is one of the tools that works for us in  the quest to  re-tool teaching and learning to dig deeper but is also part of a whole package of technology tools we now are employing regularly  as  part of our commitment to do more than "surf the tops of the waves".

picture by by mrcthepc

What tools? What learning? What objective?

"It is not about the tools it is about the learning...." I think it is safe to say we basically agree with this often quoted sentiment. It has a valid point to make  which is probably pretty clear to those who have spent some time in the educational blogosphere. But Greg Farr's post a few days ago challenged us, as leaders, to be clear about our expectations. This got me thinking about whether or not I have been clear with my staff and how statements like the one above can be misconstrued.
I would suggest that it is about the tools AND about the learning. It  needs to be a "both/and" statement not an "either or statement". I believe we have to be very clear--- The learning that needs to take place  within our schools  can not happen without employing the tools of Web2.0, because they are the mediums of literacy, and knowledge in our world.

In a recent post on my blog I identified what I consider to be the basic tools that teachers need to be familiar with and  have some comfort in using. Specifically I wrote -

While my first inclination was to always be playing with the newest and coolest it only serve to frustrate those who are not quite as geeky as I am. There are three questions that  drive the tools we explore at school now. 1) What are the basic essentials for a 2.0 classroom? I am thinking wikis, blogs, podcasts/vcast, skype. a reader(RSS), photo program/storage/sharing, and online WP like google docs. 2) In picking specific applications, what is the learning curve for a neophyte? 3) What do we need/ what will help us with this project/concept /goal? This is the category where things like voicethread and flickrphoto storm would appear.

What would you list? This is part of being explicit about my expectations.

That however is not enough. It is about the tools AND the learning. It is easy to get wowed by the tool and not do anything more than play with it. So the next phase is to do some concrete planning. What is it we really want the students to learn and be able to do at the end of the month, the quarter, the semester, the year? I am discovering that the school year, for the teachers and myself, is a living breathing example of Newton's law of motion.  "A body in motion stays in motion unless it is acted upon." So it is time to  not only shake up our general concept of what learning is important but  to shake up the concrete objectives and goals we set for our lessons. When those objectives change then we will be well on the way to transforming the educational process.  I am not sure yet exactly what these objectives look like and so it is hard to be clear about my expectations but these is also an area that cries out for collaboration at all levels.  If you were in a classroom today, rather than an administrator, what kind of learning objectives would you be writing?

Leadership and the Art of Conversation

I am not very good at reading non- fiction books and I rarely  pick up. inspirational or self-help books.
Reading is my escape and  motivational books are not my genre of choice. However, the book that inspired this post is  both motivational and inspirational and perhaps even a little subversive . I read it in a sort of backwards manner picking it up and opening it at random and then getting hooked and reading the whole chapter.  I did this again and again, until in the end I read the whole book just not in order. It is  a book I will probably come back to often because while it made me a little uncomfortable it also resonated with me and made me stop and think about how I approach leadership, school, relationships and my life.

The book, Turning to one another: Simple conversations to restore hope to the future by Margaret J Wheatley is based on the premise that learning to listen and to have  real conversations has the power to change the world. The two things which will impact my practice as I return to school this fall are a new understanding of the elements of conversation and the willingness to let conversation disturb my core believes and understandings. Let me unpack this a little bit.

True conversation by its very nature is counter to the individualism, 'the what’s in it for me attitude', that so often characterizes our personal agendas, professional development, meetings and communications. Conversation, as Ms Wheatley's uses the word, is "an opportunity to meet together as peers, not as roles" [emphasis is mine]. She suggests some new behaviors to help us enter into conversations and I think if they become conscience habits they have transformative power. How would our relationship with faculty, parents and students be changed if we...

• ”acknowledged one another as equals”
• ”tried to stay curious about each other”
• ”recognized that we need each other's help to become better listeners”
• ”slowed down to have time to think and reflect”
• ”remembered that conversation is the natural way humans think together”
• ”expect it to be messy at times”

From a leadership perspective the ability to enter into meaningful conversation within our communities, both our school community and our own Personal Learning Network, requires more. As Ms Wheately says "it requires a willingness to be disturbed." We all know that we do not have all the answers or even the ability to see the whole picture but often by default we have learned to take a confident self-assured stance and to have the answers. Ms Wheately does not suggest that we give up our convictions, our ideas or our explanations but what she does challenge us to do is to be curious. To be curious about other points of view, to embrace the idea that no two people see things the same way and to know that in listening and in really conversing that new ideas and new solutions and new ways of doing things will emerge. However, only when we learn to listen well and do not listen simply to see if we agree will we be able to enter into true conversation. The  globally connected world in which we live is very complex and the creativity, perspective and insight we need to construct meaning and solutions is something we cannot accomplish in isolation..

What is one practical strategy that I learned to move this from theory to a life changing reality? It is to listen for what surprises me and what disturbs me because "if something you say surprises me, I must have been assuming something else was true" and if what is said disturbs me "I must believe something that is contrary." The power in this kind of listening is that I can now see myself, my values. and my core believes and I can consider them in a new light. I have to be willing to not be sure, to not know and to be comfortable with the confusion that is part of  problem solving, growth and change.

As I read and re-read sections of this book I was torn  between its impact on my school relationships and also how the desire for this kind of connectedness and conversation gets at the heart of blogging and Personal Learning Networks. In the immediate face to face world of school cultivating conversations of equals  that embody an openness and a curiosity about each individual ( student, parent, and faculty) will require much better listening. Within the virtual world of blogs and forums I need to embrace the discipline of not simply skimming for those whom reflect back my own beliefs.

The art of conversation for one in leadership means accepting the messiness of our humanity and the courage to really listen. We can not deal with this complex global world alone and I have to agree with Ms Wheately, it is and always has been, in conversation that we think together, so let the conversations begin.

Photo: a brief conversation-  http://www.flickr.com/photos/eelssej_/436433840/ by kalandrakas

Backwards Design as a Leadership Style

There has been a lot of talk post NECC about school reform. There is also a general agreement about a few basic concepts: it is about the pedagogy not the technology, technology is a tool not an end in itself, literacy has taken on new meanings,….

But how do I take all of this and make a difference? We have started down the 2.0 road and technology is being utilized in many rooms but I realized that I was still searching for a magic formula to make everything work.

 I realized that while just it time change and just in time learning had helped us make progress being an instructional leader requires more. With about six weeks until the school year is to start we have embarked on the process of backwards design not for classroom lessons but for our school as a whole.

In essence we have moved everything out into the hall  the curriculum, the standards, our tools, our presuppositions and our ideas so that we could get a good look at them and reorganize them.  In order to accomplish this kind of house cleaning I have begun a collaborative conversation with our staff about the big picture.  The question we need to answer before we put things back is how would we define the essential learning that will take place in our school.

Part of my question….

“Currently our framework for teaching is very content oriented/ driven. This can be limiting and lends itself to equating education with memorization of "key" pieces of knowledge. Base knowledge is very important but the question before us is what shapes and defines essential learning. There is a second and related question, after recognizing/defining the components of essential learning, how will this change our pedagogy? What will teaching and learning look like?”

 One teachers comments

“I read somewhere that our classrooms are good in preparing the students about what is predictable. We are good at tackling what needs to be known in the known world. However, we are not really preparing them for the unknown. If our students are faced with something that they have not learned from school or an anomaly of nature that they could not explain what will their response be?. Do they have the right mind tools to really delve into the unknown?  Or since probably they are not prepared, they would just get frustrated and give up -- leaving the discoveries of new knowledge to be made by those who are ready. There is a saying that, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." What if the opportunity shows up and they are not ready? “

Another teacher says….

“ The curriculum ( content areas) are the tool we use to teach literacy skills , critical thinking, problem solving and innovation.” Interesting twist on tools...hmmmm 

With this kind of conversation taking place it is difficult to believe that when the doors open this fall that it will be business as usual. I have always believed in backwards design as a key to focusing and revitalize classroom teaching. I just had not used it as a planning tool for the whole school community.  The conversations seem promising and as they progress we hope to have clearer picture of what is really important and what we need to do.

Focus on the postive in the midst of chaos!

This is one of those times when I feel as if life is swirling by me and I have to react quicker than I can think. The end of the year is often a time of transition for faculty  as positions change or some staff members move on and this brings  with it a myriad of questions about the future. From an administrative perspective it is always difficult with the rumor mill in full swing and the needs of students, parents and staff all claim priority. Change is  inevitable  but it is also uncomfortable and unfortunately it does not always bring out the best in people. I find that it is a very hard time of year to remain centered because from the time I arrive at school until I leave in the evening the tyranny of the urgent seems to have taken hold. So today I am shamelessly using this post as an opportunity to regain perspective and to reflect on what is important....our journey and our growth.

The first part is about our journey and my attempt to pull together a sense of how, as a curriculum leader, I sought to facilitate an understanding of the important transition we need to make to remain viable in the information age. So I offer here the 7 components which were critical to our journey this year. Perhaps they will be useful for others and perhaps you might add some ideas of your own.

1. You have to invest time in  your own learning (of course you are here so you already are doing this)

• Reading educational blogs and technology journals,
• Writing  a blog to synthesize your learning and think aloud
• Playing with the tools

2. You need to tell the story but you also need to model
constructivist learning by guiding the faculty to construct their own understanding of Web/Classroom 2.0

Our mission statement says we educate students to be "productive citizens of the 21st century"
We started the year by watching Thomas Friedman's lecture from MIT on his  book The World is Flat and talking about  our mission.
How is teaching and learning in the 21st century different than in the 20th century?

3. Make time for the faculty to play with technology on a regular basis

• To make time you have to streamline something else...find ways to free up time for your faculty
• Change the format of your meetings ( we waste a lot of time on things that could be put in memo's)
  
• See if you can cut the paperwork you require of them
• Set your priorities and give them permission to let something slide so they can learn something new

4. Be willing to be in the classroom and teach...let the teachers learn alongside the students as you teach about searching or Internet safety or how to use open office.

5. Be willing to help organize projects and find resources particularly when you want to make connections with other schools

6. Help the faculty begin to  read and share ( and blog )

We spend the first 30 minutes or so of every faculty meeting on sharing from reading the faculty has done from the educational blogosphere. The sharing is great now and they are teaching each other. I am no longer the only voice. None of the faculty besides myself keep a blog yet but the quality of the reading and sharing is great and I know the writing and finding a voice beyond the confines of our school will come soon.

7.Celebrate every step, every accomplishment and keep the discussion of the story alive digging deeper at every opportunity.

The second part of my reflection centers on the students and their growth. This is our first year of technology integration and so I have asked myself where did the journey take us?
I have my own ideas but the thing I thought that would be the most helpful to share is what the students themselves say and what they have demonstrated.....

At the 8th grade breakfast I sat with a few students and this is what they said:

• The most important thing I learned was about how to understand URLs and how to find information.
• Learning how to search
• When we blogged on Tuesdays I like choosing the news stories that interested me...In the beginning it was hard but now I have no problem writing about what I read and putting ideas in my own words.
• Learning how to use PowerPoint to make oral presentations and pull together group research.

    I know that often people downplay PowerPoint but I have to say here that when I wandered into the classroom last week I had an epiphany. This student really got it! He had prepared a great presentation, visually appropriate as a support, and  he was not reading his slides but expanding on them giving great examples.  PowerPoint became an invisible tool that helped him communicate his research and understanding effectively.

And regarding our Skype call the Shanghai ( you can read more about this on my blog):

• "I think we should do more of these with other schools to learn more about the world."
• "I learned that not all people who live in Asia are all Asian."
• "Some parts [of the Great Wall of China] you can't even stand on is no more because of how eroded it is."
• I would like to visit China in the near future, because they made it seem like a lot of fun."
• "I would like to be able to communicate or talk to them more often."
• "It turns out that even though they are far away the children in China are just like us."
• "Now I know that some people from other countries live in China because of the parents job,
• "They said that you have not lived until you see the festival fireworks."
• "I think that we should do this more often because you learn new things while having fun."
• "What really got my attention was knowing that their were different races in the class and they all spoke English."
• "I felt excited because I didn't think it would work, but we actually Saw and Spoke to kids in China."
• "It was as if they where in the future because it was tomorrow there and they were one day ahead of us.
• "I thought they only knew Chinese.  I would also think that their would be no Americans..But when I went home I wondered if it was hard for Americans to live over there because I would think they'd speak Chinese."

• "It was as if they where in the future because it was tomorrow there and they were one day ahead of us.

Nothing earth shattering here....or is there ?
A whole group of students who have a new expanded vision of the world and who suddenly have seen the tremendous power and potential of technology to empower their learning.

So  my end of the year wisdom... keep your perspective and spend time with the students!

It is not over yet! Leading until the very end.

 We are in the last 6 weeks or so of school. There are multiple special events interrupting the school day and the weekends.  The 8^th grade thinks the year is over. The teachers who are moving on next year are torn between their present and their future. I am trying to juggle all of my normal responsibilities and do interviews, hire teachers for next year, set the calendar and class schedules and keep spirits up. This is the hardest time of year for me to find time to reflect and yet it is the time of year that gives me a great deal of insight into where we are and where we need to be going. In keeping with this kind of disjointed season here are some disjointed ponderings of a K-8 administrator as the year winds down and the level of activity increases.

Classroom walk-through: Inspired by the post on  Walk –Through Observations by Alan on April 19 and the article Crayola Curriculum I have started my own data collection. It is never too late to get started! I want to make sure we have some good data to reflect on for our August meeting as we set our goals for the year and I want to make sure that all of the teachers also have good insights to reflect on their own practices as they go into the summer holidays.  I read a post recently on Classroom 2.0 that said summers are for working and there was some real truth to it. It is the time we do our reflecting and can try new things but we need to have solid information to base that planning on. So I am diligent about doing at least 10 classes a day and I am just collecting basic data what are the students doing, how many are on task , what instructional strategy is in place. I am actually excited about looking at this information right before we break for summer. A side benefit is it reminds us that even in the midst of all the end of the year activity our focus is still on learning.

Hiring and classroom assignments for 07-08:
One conundrum of the hiring season for a school headed toward embracing all things 2.0 is where to find tech savvy teachers? Even recent graduates are just on the edge of the digital age and their grammar schools and high schools were 1.0 schools so that is the style of teaching they know. So what qualities am I looking for?  I am looking for self-motivated learners with some understanding and appreciation of things 2.0. But then what about teaching skills and experience? Certainly they are important but for now I am going to weight my decision more on openness to and knowledge of 2.0. Without a vision for digital literacy and the role technology must play across the curriculum our classrooms will remain set in the 1.0 world and our students will be left behind. 63% of our students live at or below the poverty level and the digital divide is a reality in their life. If we do not step up to the plate and give them the skills needed for success and literacy in the Information Age they will  be a step behind before they even get started.

Keeping the conversation going:
As I said above vision for and openness to 2.0 is an essential condition is the transformation of teaching and learning. So in our May/June faculty meetings we are returning to our beginning of the year discussions. What does it mean to prepare students for the 21^st century? How is that different than preparing them for the 20^th century? So last week the question we tackled was to define literacy. It is important for the staff to construct their own meaning and understanding and so here is what happened. They worked in groups of three and had just a few minutes to define literacy. The definitions basically reflected the following: Read, write and communicate effectively; effective written and oral communication; comprehension; and fluency. Next I asked them if historically the definition of literacy has changed overtime. They identified that originally to be literate meant being able to write your name and then over time came to include being able to read and write. Then as a group we discussed the Industrial Age vs. the Information Age and I provided some basic statistics on adult’s connections with technology vs. the 4 to 17 year olds. I then gave them a short handout “Extra! Extra! The World is Different”  from NCREL and asked them to reconsider their definitions for literacy. The new definitions included global communication, finding, evaluating and using information, and understanding digital media. I could have given them articles that said all this or summarized it for them but the process was essential for this knowledge and understanding to take root. Internalizing the vision and constructing understanding of what the students need to learn is what motivates us to try new things and confront our need to make changes. It is my hope to continue this conversation until the last day of school to facilitate a summer of self directed learning, a sense of urgency and even more great ideas for next year!

Reading First:
Scott posted a comment and a link to an article from the Oregonian that talked about how advance readers are bored by the scripted reading programs. I have been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks and while I understand the point the article makes I want to try to build some perspective on this whole issue of "scripted" programs. Simply put I have found some real positives in our program and I think sometimes we are too quick to  bash these programs without a real understanding of them.  Are there downsides? Yes, but since plenty of people seem prepared to point out  the negatives I am going to point out positives.

The article says: " These days,Butler students follow a strict schedule. Two hours of morning reading. An additional 40 minutes for struggler's. Writing practice"

First of all, while this maybe a true statement of the particular program in question, it is not the intent of the programs I have worked with. The 40 minutes are usually referred to as universal access time and they are to be devoted to differentiated instruction in accordance with each child's abilities on any given skill (not to just "struggling” students). This means that teaching to the middle is not enough. The students at both ends of the spectrum should be challenged. In practical terms it may not play out especially in areas that have high stakes testing. However, it is the design of the program and it is a solid concept. One that I wish traversed all classrooms.  The problem is that high stakes testing continues to push us to spend all our time on one end of the spectrum and to not truly challenge all students.

I have seen other positive effects of these programs also. Much of what is required of the teachers is sound and re-enforces good instructional habits including on going professional development, coaching, pacing and the use of bulletin board as instructional aides not just pretty pictures. Could these happen without the programs and do many teachers do them anyway ...yes of course... but the programs keep these concepts in the forefront of our thinking and helps to keep us sharp. And so again as the year winds down and we are thinking and planning for next year the Reading First teachers have much to share about differentiated learning and assuring that all students are challenged.

The Edge of Chaos

Last week I attended a Professional Development  meeting for principals in our area. Among the things discussed was reflective evaluation and planning for the future. One speaker presented the concept that we need a new model for thinking about our schools and how we approach administration. I did not take notes on what he suggested was the current model but the model he suggested did catch my eye. He called it the Life Science Model and here is what I got down:

• Equilibrium is a precursor to death
• Living systems move to the edge of chaos
• Self organization and emergence take place
• Systems can not be directed along a linear path

 Being comfortable with living on the edge of chaos is a real challenge for our educational system ( and myself as a type A personality) but I believe those of us who are embracing all things 2.0 see this as a reality. I am also struck by the fact that it is a mandate for living systems to approach that edge so we better get used to it …

 I was also struck by the last statement…Systems can not be directed  along a linear path…can we substitute the word learning for systems? Or what about adding the word learning so we are talking about “Learning Systems”. 

I have not had time to fully process this but I am both challenged and given hope. This is the model I am moving toward so I am on the right track but it also is a radical shift from where I (we) have been in education. It pushes my boundaries. What do you think?

( Cross posted to Dare to Dream)

 

Classroom/School 2.0: Do we need new ways of thinking and new tools to fulfill our role as curriculum leaders?

As we discuss Classroom/School 2.0 and a fundamental shift in our educational models it has caused me to begin considering what kind of fundamental shift it will engender in our administrative models. At this point I am not primarily concerned with a shift in what our job entails, but more with a  need for a shift in thinking and a transformation in the tools and the instruments we use to reflectively guide and support the faculty. (I have written a similar post on my blog and I will also be cross posting to Classroom 2.0 on Ning)

  As an administrator, among my myriad of duties, I have a responsibility to oversee curriculum planning, lesson planning, teaching methodologies and outcomes. The administrative model for school improvement within our district is rightly centered on student learning:  what students learn, how students learn and how learning is assessed. This is a solid model but the tools we have, the guidelines or expectations we use to examine these are reflective of traditional practices of School 1.0. To be effective in the process of growth and change I need new instruments that are meant to get at the heart of 2.0 practices and which encourage and support excellence in this new model. 

Among the more universal administrative tools for curriculum support include reviewing lesson plans, walk- throughs, formal observations, curriculum meetings and staff development. How we use these and what we expect is formed in part by our own experiences, and our  professional development. The instruments themselves or the templates are often supplied from the district level. Lately I have been wondering about the efficacy of these tools. 

I spent a fair amount of time reading RSS feeds from classroom level educators who are actively involved in implementing 2.0 strategies and tools in their classrooms. If I am serious about change and about embracing 2.0 in all of its permeations then I think I need new tools that are designed to look for different things when I am giving curriculum and lesson feedback to support the teachers. I need to provide the faculty with new rubrics and new models to help them measure their own growth. How do I encourage excellence in this new model? What does excellence look like? Can we help each other design those new instruments? 

So my questions in practical terms become- 

• What should lesson planning look like for class 2.O?
• What should the long term planning look like?
• What should I expect to see in a walk through?
• What standard should I use for formal observations?
• What elements of lesson design and assessment should I be talking about in staff meetings?

 
Lesson Plans/ Plan books and Formal Observations-

My experience is that teachers have mastered the art of getting the basics down in a plan book mostly as an exercise for the administration. To that end about a year ago I said enough …what I really want you( and the students) to know is what your objective is for the lesson today. What will students know or be able to do at the end of your lesson that they did not know or could not do before. It was well intentioned but perhaps not as effective as I would have liked and it too became a wrote exercise. 

For formal observations most teachers at least at the K-8 level fall back on the 7 step lesson plan or a variation thereof. Does this model still work? Or is it tied to the idea of discreet pieces of knowledge that can be taught in 45 minutes?

We still need to make those 180 days count and so there needs to be a focus for each day but will I see an anticipatory set, review, whole class instruction, modeling, semi independent practice, independent practice and closure? Should I see this? 

I think we need a new model for planning. In some ways, I would  say planning is more critical than ever because learning will not take place in discreet packages. The teacher and the students need to know they are on a journey and what the expected destination is as well as the mile markers along the way. A syllabus for K-8? Why not? 

What about the plans for an individual lesson. In our school community we are moving into using Moodle and as courses are set up online, lesson plan books will not be necessary but the heart of the issue here is what should my expectations be and how can I help the teachers embrace this new way of thinking about teaching and learning. What should be happening daily in our classrooms? What new instruments can we create to assist us in our role as curriculum leaders because my current observation forms and lesson plan templates are wholly inadequate for this new world.

Decision Point: Allocating Resources to Initiate and Sustain Change

From the perspective of instructional leadership one of the issues which I have been pondering has to do with encouraging and sustaining systemic change (either school wide or district wide). This issue has made an appearance in a variety of forms in the blogosphere over the last year.  Jeff Utecht a technology coordinator in Shanghai posed an interesting question about six weeks ago. In essence he asks, given our budget for next year would it be more beneficial to buy every teacher a laptop and get them using technology or to set up a model classrooms complete with Smartboards etc and have those teachers model what can be done

Jeff explains the specific dilemma like this:

So, here’s the debate. If you are moving to a 1:1 environment which approach is better? Giving every teacher, even those who aren’t ready for one, a laptop and take a year to train your whole staff before bringing students onboard, or create these classrooms to become model classrooms, to show what the admin is expecting of the teachers. Teachers would have to ‘apply’ to receive one of the 21st Century Classrooms knowing that if they get chosen, that they will have a certain amount of PD they must attend and that at the same time they will be held to a higher standard with a new evaluation system that will come with the program.

Laptops for every teacher or model classrooms….
It is an interesting question and one that needs to be considered from all angles.

I believe that this is more than an intellectual exercise. I have become convinced that the kind of systemic change we need to mount is urgent and so finding the balance between this urgency and patience with the process requires some serious reflection on the best means of supporting and encouraging change. What would you choose and why?

As we have begun to travel down the path toward school 2.0 in our own community, I have tried to identify the necessary components of initiating and sustaining systemic change. These experience form and inform my choice. 

    The obstacles I have experienced are:

• Not understanding why we need to change
• Inertia and fear 

    The essential elements in activating and sustaining change became:

• Telling the story of the digital world repeatedly and from different perspectives.  How is it different than the 20^th century?
• Vision + Goals ( BHAGS)= Action - Understanding the story develops vision but it is not a call to action . Goals turn concepts into actions.
• Starting- Even if it means just doing old things in new ways overcomes inertia. Each success breeds new courage and overcomes fears.
• Connecting the staff with the blogosphere so they begin to see possibilities

So given Jeff’s choice I have to say I would go for laptops for everybody. This is based on my believe that  the most important thing we can do is overcome inertia by getting all teachers started. Generally, it takes three years for new initiatives to show results so if we do not start everyone now we will prolong that process having some students benefit from the changes and others still lagging behind. I believe we have a responsibility to prepare our students now for the digital world. That is we can not just wait for everyone to get on board; we need to find active ways to overcome inertia and fear for the whole staff.  I think that means putting computers in their hands. 

What do you think?