LeaderTalk

Being an Educational Leader

As an administrator, one of my main roles is to be an educational leader in the school. Some days I’m not sure what exactly that means. In fact, over the past few weeks, I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing in this position and could have just as easily called this “Is it okay to cry now?”!

As the new year approached, I was looking forward to having a chance to really make some headway with some of the things that we have been addressing at the school, building on the new Code of Conduct that we have and addressing some areas that needed to be addressed. Instead, I’ve been taking heat over having the gym ceiling painted - it had the names of grads from previous years but wasn’t my choice - and just seeming to be out of align with things.

I know it’s only just over 2 weeks into the year but, for the first time in my career, I’m not sure I’m up to the challenges that lay ahead. I know that, each on their own isn’t really that big of a problem but things don’t seem to coming one by one. In fact, things are happening much faster than I’ve seen in previous years and by the time I know it, the weeks over and I’m trying to figure out where the week has gone.

Walking the talk

One of the things that I’ve always tried to do is “Walk the talk”. As an educational leader, I feel that it is important that I don’t just say “Well, this is how I think you should do it” or “Try this or that”. Instead, I want to model different teaching strategies, assessment strategies, the use of technology in learning and having an understanding of student learning. I know that, sometimes, it can be a tall order but that is part of leadership.

Another part of this is allowing others to lead in areas of their strengths and being able to recognize that, in many instances, you aren’t necessarily the best person to be directing. Instead, you need to allow others, using their strengths and talents, to use them to help build towards the ideal of creating the best possible education for all children.

The Eye of the Storm

As the days rush by, it seems almost impossible to get any type of bearing on what is happening and where things need to go next. I can honestly say, I’ve stood in my office wondering what exactly I need to do next. It’s not like I don’t have a list that goes out the door but there seems to be a barrage of things that just doesn’t stop and the requests and paperwork are non-ending. With all this going on, I often wonder “When do I get to be that Educational Leader I so desperately wanted to be?” 

No, really. When is it that, as an administrator that teaches, I will find the time to do my walk-throughs, discuss lessons with teachers, meet with teachers about their Professional Growth Plans, discuss with the new teachers (5 in my building this year) how things are going and just simply be present in the school? I made a pact with myself that, to be a leader, I had to be visible and, to be visible, I had to be out of my office. So far, I’m not doing so well. With a new vice-principal, I’m trying to model how you need to be visible to the students and the staff but, some days, well, it’s just not happening.

Is it possible?

I always have thought that part of what has made me a better administrator is the fact that, each day, I go into a classroom and try to capture the attention of students to help them grow and stretch, to ask themselves questions and question what is going on in their lives and the world around them. As I look at the weeks coming up and ALL the items that are clogging my ical todo list, I wonder if it has reached the time when being a teaching principal may not be feasible if I want to continue to an educational leader of quality.

Or is it just the beginning of the year madness? Once all the various things fall into place, I’ll see that this was no different than other years and, really, I’m just as able to do the things I see as necessary as a leader as I was before. Or was I? You see, that’s the crux? Would I be able to perform my role better if, in fact, I didn’t teach? Although it would distance me from the students, would it really affect my ability to perform my duties as an administrator? And are these duties different from being an educational leader? Should the two be separate titles or jobs? One where the administration of the school is the focus and the other where the development of teachers is the focus? Or should I even worry about the development of teachers? Is that the role for someone else? But, if I’m doing walk-throughs and classroom visits, isn’t teacher growth inherent in that type of relationship?

I just don’t know

Really, I don’t. My incredible PLN on Plurk has been there for me over this past few weeks, encouraging me as I struggle through this. They have been offering advice and just supporting me as I ask questions and look for some insights. As an administrator, it isn’t always easy to discuss these things with anyone. In fact, it is darn near impossible to do that without creating a bigger mess. It’s not like I’m looking at throwing in the towel or anything but there is a need to create some kind of balance which isn’t there right now and, given the different things going on, I’m not sure how to find it.

I want to be the best leader I can be. At times like this, I search for ways to improve what I’m doing and seek out the council of others hoping, that through this, I can continue to develop myself and continue to be an example to those around me of what life-long learning is all about.

Raising Expectations

Cross posted at Educational Discourse

As our students are leaving school and entering a more global society, we have become more interested in how they are doing compared to others around the world. We compare them using various test outcomes, pinpointing where they’re successful and where they need to improve. These results then drive the data driven decisions that districts and divisions use to create outcomes and implement initiatives.

Many of the students in our school have been exposed to much more of the global scenery in recent years. They are touring much more, going on exchanges, meeting people from other countries and interacting with them much more than in the past. They have access to media that shows them the happenings in other countries, the plight of many global citizens and the impact a migrant population can have on another country. Yet, with all of this, there are many who still see it as “something out there” while they will continue to live like their parents with the same expectations. For some, this might happen. However, for a great many, this view of how things will work is severely crushed when they leave home and begin to compete in the economy. With many of them not really understanding that a job-starved economy doesn’t mean you can show up late, not do what is asked or disrespect others without there being severe consequences, they aren’t ready for what is coming. Yet, in a way, schools have set them up for this in many ways.

Huh?

We have. In many instances, some of these students have been allowed to continue on their merry way as teachers have allowed them to move through the system. I’m not saying that it is just the teachers. When this type of thing happens, it a systematic function where all parts are contributing.

This is where our mindset needs to change from a “confrontational” mode to a “solution” focus. Instead of fingers being pointed as we look around, there is a need to be self-analytical and examine how we might have contributed. At the beginning, it needs to begin with the staff, being self-reflective practitioners, exploring their own expectations. It also requires the staff to state what the expectations are in the school. This discussion will be the cornerstone to future discussions about everything from curriculum planning to grading to parent/staff relationships. What are the standards that are important in the school?

No more standards!!

Now, I’m not going to give a list of “standards”. We all know we’ve enough of those! Instead, I’m going to look at what students might need to do well as they leave school. From here, you can decide the expectations you have for these.

1. Communication skills - delivering their message clearly without misconceptions. Much of what we see happening around us is driven by communication. Those who are skilled at it move along much more easily than those who struggle. We all know someone who is very knowledgeable in their field but not a great communicator - hey many of my profs were like this! - and someone who, although not as knowledgeable, was a great communicator and was able to make advancements while the other person seemed to stall. Heck, read the paper and you’ll see examples of this all the time - scam artists are the extreme end of this. Teaching students to communicate their ideas in a variety of formats will be vital to their success. Doing it well may be the key to their success.
2. Collaborative decision-making and work strategies. Groups are vital to progress - working together to create a product is found in nearly all professions - from construction to high-tech scientific work. Up until now collaborative - group - work has been “done” but there seems to be a lack of focus on learning those essential dynamics for productive collaboration. Really, I collaborate regularly on the weekend with mybuddies while watching a sports event - we have a group, everyone has a role, we have a goal and we usually achieve the goal by the end of the group activity - pizza is all gone, beverages are finished, guy hosting is in trouble with spouse and we leave him to clean up and kiss up. Mission accomplished. However, this isn’t the kind of collaboration that companies are looking for, unless you’re a tester of pizza or beverages. There needs to be direct instruction on effective and non-effective collaboration.
3. Production of high-quality, new material. Instead of constantly re-inventing essays that can be copied, students need to be able to produce authentic and high-quality end results regardless of what they are doing. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t be able to keep my job if all I did was do D work. In fact, as we become more individually accountable in more and more professions, those who do not understand this will find themselves left behind. Yet the system really doesn’t encourage novel ideas or divergent thinking. Instead, there continues to be a dominate frame of reference that if you “learn” enough information and can then answer the questions on a test, this will do you well for life. Yes, gathering background knowledge is important but I think there are a few more ways to do this.
4. Solution focus. Problems abound. You don’t have to leave your classroom or office to go find one. They’ll come to you. Mine usually have an attitude, are very unhappy and don’t want to talk. Problems aren’t unique to any profession. How you handle them will set you apart. Knowing how to move past blaming and side-taking and into solution seeking is a skill that students will need to begin to learn. It’s not that we’ll be seeking mastery here - I’m still working on this one! Instead, focusing on the strategies that are used in these situations will help students to see that there are more ways to solve problems than yelling, name-calling, fighting or worse. They may not immediately choose them, they will need guidance and patience, but they need to see them at work.
5. A global narcissism. By this I mean that instead of looking at what’s good for me, we introduce ideas that focus on global perspectives. Students are mostly “me” focused, it goes with the age. However, by moving through that stage and bringing in more global concepts, the groundwork is there for later development.
6. Accountablilty for actions. This is one area that I believe we need to work with our communities in order to create a dialogue about people being accountable for what they do. The reason I say communities and not individual parents is because some parents will not join the conversation. However, if there is a community understanding of issues, there is a greater likelihood that there will be a congruence between the school and the community. I often run into this incongruency when it comes to respect or individual actions. The community/school isn’t always at the same point of understanding which can cause problems in regards to certain activities or actions. In this way, actions that are deemed inappropriate at school will be seen as inappropriate in other community venues - the local sporting complex. No bullying/harassment means no bullying/harassment anywhere and not just at school.

These areas, I believe, are keys to helping students develop the skills necessary for becoming successful once they leave school regardless of what they choose to do.

Oh, one more thing. We need to expand our options for students who aren’t ready to be in school. There are a number of students who, for whatever reason, just are not ready to be in school, at least, school as it is now conceived. If there isn’t going to be changes to school structures, then there needs to be some type of option for those students who don’t want to be in school. They find it stupid, a waste of time, irrelevant….. making the life of those around them much more miserable than it needs to be, especially during the teenage years when things aren’t always that hot to begin with. In some way, these students need our most creative thinking and problem solving. Unfortunately, at this time, they usually receive the least. Suspension comes to mind. As an administrator, my options are pretty limited which I find frustrating. Yes, I could create something and work with the local community and the division. However, I have very little life as it is. That’s the rub - wanting to do something without it taking over. Maybe by beginning to discuss expectations, there can be a lead into something else. I don’t have the answer? Any suggestions?

Effective and Progressive

(Cross posted at Educational Discourse)

This week I was asked the question “What are some characteristics of an effective and progressive high school?”

Now, being in a K - 12 school, I took some time and talked to a few of the students in the senior grades. They were a great help, as were the 4 people who answered my twitter call for help. Through their suggestions and ideas I was able to come up with 4 characteristics that seemed to capture the essence of an effective and progressive high school.

Relevant Curriculum

From my discussions, it was clear that students want to learn and know that learning is important. Their biggest issue was that at times what they were doing didn’t seem relevant. It wasn’t that they wanted things to be always “today’s headlines” kind of stuff but they wanted to be able to find connections between what they were doing and what was going on around them. If it was detached or just some facts about things, they found it hard to follow or care about. They wanted to be involved in things that were going on in their lives and were linked to their world. They gave some examples like the problems in the Middle East - it was linked to history in many ways and they were interested in how this came about and why so many problems. They had some ideas but weren’t sure if what they knew was right or not.

Connections

The whole idea of being connected came through, not as one important idea but from how they talked about being connected to other students and other people. This leads me to think that we need to really work on helping students build networks with other students. This is happening in a few cases but they are not the norm. In most cases, students continue to work in classrooms limited to connecting with those in the room. With the tools available to teachers, it seems that this should be something that can be achieved without too much trouble. I think it will require the will of teachers to stretch and try new things but, for our students, these are the things they are already doing outside of school. Maybe it’s time we brought some of these things into the school and examined, in more detail, how we can provide opportunities for students to network.

Transitioning

This was something that the high school students were concerned about. Although they didn’t call it this, they talked about having the skills and knowledge to move from school into the world beyond and be successful. They discussed more than just academic skills. Things like living on their own, budgeting, food and clothing, working, banking and other daily activities were tossed around whether they were thinking about furthering their education or going into the work force. As things change rapidly in our society, maybe we need to spend more time looking at some of these aspects and discussing with students the various parts of living on one’s own.

Engaging

Engaging students. Whether in how the school runs or the classes that are offered, students want to be active participants in what is going on. They want to be part of the process and be part of what is going on in the school. They want a say in how they will spend their day and what they will be doing and, connected with the relevant curriculum, they want to know how and why some things are the way they are. Mostly, they weren’t looking to get rid of anything but just wanted to understand more about how things worked and ran.

We have all seen a change in the students that come into the schools. I would say that most of this change has been positive. They are much more aware of the surrounding world and what is going on. They are curious about how things work and how things happened to get to where they are today. They are very environmentally aware and have a social connectedness that is much greater than a few years ago. As educators, one of our biggest challenges is to tap that curiosity and have students expand their knowledge and understanding and then demonstrate what it is that they have come to understand.

The one thing that wasn’t mentioned was the physical environment. They talked about being able to connect and find information, have access to information and use new technologies but they talked about classrooms have wifi and internet access and being able to use the tools to do different things in the classroom setting but they didn’t seem at all to be put out by the physical design of schools. Or maybe I just didn’t ask the question:)

So what’s your take? What are the important points that you would consider in an effective and progressive high school?

Opening the door and building a network

This is cross-posted at Educational Discourse. My it was a busy week. We had all kinds of things going on - and on Friday a winter storm made it a busy afternoon as our busses were canceled for after school. This meant we were phoning parents and arranging for students to go to their billets in town. For the most part, things went smoothly. Of course, there were some of our older students who just had to make life interesting and a few of the billets we had listed weren’t home or had moved so we needed to make other arrangements. However, despite these small bumps, the whole thing went smoothly and in a matter of about 45 minutes we were able to take care of things.

As I watched our staff work together to make phone calls, talk with students and take care of business, I realized how lucky I was to be the principal of such a great group of people. Everyone who was free pitched into making calls and talking to students. The secretary, the hub of our school, was answering phones, taking down notes and coordinating efforts of organization of students. Good principal that I am, I let people use their talents and do what they were best at while I made sure that parents who were arriving were assisted and students who left with their parents were noted.

A strong network

Our school is an example of a strong network. People work together, each person using their talents to help others, strengthening the whole. Now, we are working on our PLT’s and looking at how we can continue to improve the learning of the children in our building. The teachers continue to try new things, although not as open to technology as I had hoped, but still willing to try new ideas and ways of doing things. They share information they’re reading and new ideas about what they are doing. They look to go to conferences and bring back information that they share.

PLN’s

Personally, as an administrator, I don’t get to do as much sharing with staff as I did when I was a teacher. This is where my online PLN comes in. I first started blogging in January of 2007. Since that time, I have been able to meet a whole host of new people whom help me in my learning and professional development. Like many others, my introduction into this began with reading other blogs, commenting and looking for new ideas and ways of doing things. With the introduction of twitter, jaiku and pownce, I’ve expanded my network to include so many more people with a vast array of experiences and talents. This, however, has made me take a step back and look at my network and what exactly I want from it.

When I first began to blog, it was to get in touch with others in education and network and share with them. I enjoyed the sharing of information and the discussions that took place as I read through blog posts and commented on most of those in my RSS feeder. However, over time, I realized that most of the people with whom I had contact were discussing technology from the perspective of a tech coordinator, tech teacher or tech somethingorother position. There were few administrators with whom I could connect and few teachers who were not technology teachers of some sort. The discussions followed a pattern where an issue arose and then many of the blogs would comment on it in some way or another. This was the pattern that would be followed with a few people writing about personal events or how events with technology were panning out for them.

Those who are now joining into the different networks are bypassing, for some part, the blogging portion of networking to some degree. They are entering into the networking using twitter, pownce or jaiku, getting to know other people on the network and sharing with them. These relationships are usually rather loosely held together by subjects, interests, proximity or something else. This continues as different people interact, sharing and discussing on the network, adding new people to their friends as they see the names mentioned in discussions or from visiting other people’s friends. This is how my network grows. I continue to add people to my various friends lists, watching what they say, commenting to them when I have something to say or something to share. I haven’t developed, it seems, as close of a connection as others have but that’s to come. I also notice that anyone who has had a f2f connection has a different dimension to their relationships than those who haven’t. I also like to visit the blogs of those people in my friends list and add them to my RSS. That way, I can read their thoughts and ideas and continue conversations via the blogs. I try to comment and am working on making sure that I do this more regularly.

Different tools give you different networks

I use two main tools for my instant chatting with other educators. Twitter is much more active with many more users who are doing a vast array of things. When I first started, I was amazed at all that was going on, wondering how people were able to spend that much time online and still teach. Again, I came to find that many of them were in computer labs or dealing with computers all day and therefore were able to be online almost all day. This really made me wonder how I was going to keep up with all that was going on. Thankfully, summer came along and I realized that, despite what I had thought, I could live without being online all the time. In fact, I realized that being “connected” had its limitations. I needed to make sure that there was some balance to what I did.

This is what led me to look into a few other networks that I now use. The first is ning. I was introduced to Classroom20 through Leadertalk. This introduction has led to a great set of networking nings where I interact with other teachers and administrators, discussing using technology in classrooms, the implications and the frustrations. These networks are very different from the blog networks I first started using and the conversational networks that I had recently began to use. In fact, I even started one of my own with the focus being administrators as a place for those who are in that type of leadership role to gather, talk and share. I like the interaction on these networks. Some of the people are the same ones that I have on twitter but many are not. The conversations range from practical “how to” to more philosophical ones. One of my favourites is Fireside Learning started by Connie Weber. Many of the discussions are ones you would have beside a fireplace; very casual but very deep and I’d like to thank Connie for asking me to join. (I haven’t left town, I’m just really busy;)

My other major network is Pownce. Now Pownce is a chat-like network a bit like twitter. However, as twitter relies on short brief 140 character bursts of chatter, pownce doesn’t have those limits. The discussions range in length but there are longer, more developed discussions that take place. The main things I like about pownce conversations are that they can vary from private one-to-one, to all your friends to public. This can be very handy especially when you are looking for feedback about an issue. And because it’s not limited by 140 characters, the conversation is more relaxed. Personally, I find it to have fewer “Look what I found, did, shot, podcast, ustreamed, ….” and more about input and discussion. I find that each has a place but I’ve never had anyone on pownce say “I don’t want to be away because I think I’ll miss something.” That, I believe, is one of the biggest “problems” with some of the networks that are developing. Having been there myself, I can understand how that thinking develops but it sin’t necessarily a postive one.

In fact, I believe that our idea of what a network does and can do for us will continue to evolve and change. In my previous post, I stated that we needed to help those who were entering this edusphere become acquainted with what was going on. I believe that it is now more true than ever. With all the available tools, it becomes overwhelming knowing where to start. With that said, it might be easier to help someone get started since the different networks are so much easier to join. Now I don’t know where the blogging all fits as not all people who join these new networks blog. They’ve become quite the mixture of different personalities, sharing, growing and adding new tools and exchanging ideas all with the idea of wanting to help students.

As these networks grow and change and more educators begin to use the tools that are available, our networks will continue to grow and change. Some, like twitter, I believe will continue to be used for fast paced discussions and up-to-the-minute new tools and ideas. Others, like ning and pownce, will be less fast paced, more discussion oriented, as is their nature. All these will, of course, be affected by the introduction and use of video discussions and other tools that have yet to hit the streets or become mainstream. The main thing is that, while networking has always been a part of what teachers have done, the opportunity to do so has increased. In fact, some may say that not being involved in some sort of online network as an educator may be cause for some concern given the proliferation of these networks online. I’m not sure that it has reached that point, yet, but it may soon become an expectation that teachers be involved in online PD of some sort and definitely involved in district/division wide online groups. We’ve reached the point where distance is not a concern. What is the concern/stumbling block is the failure of many within education to use the tools that are available to do the work they were designed to do. As networks continue to shrink the distance between people, educators will need to open the door and begin building their own network outside of their schools and that’s where many of us who have been using the different networks can help them in choosing something that will fit with what they are wanting to do.

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It's about the other person

Recently I’ve been involved in some discussions about how teachers might become better users of technology. It began with a post over at Dangerously Irrelevant where Scott McLeod posted

In many industries, knowledge of relevant technologies is a necessary prerequisite for either getting or keeping one’s job. Sometimes the organization provides training; sometimes the employee is expected to get it on her own. Either way, the expectation is that use of the relevant technologies is a core condition of employment.
Why aren’t our school organizations expecting more of their employees? Are we that desperate for workers?

The discussion that follows is worth reading just to see the complexity of the issue. Now, I don’t think that we are desperate for workers or anything like that but it made me wonder why it is that there are many teachers who are not taking advantage of these tools in their teaching.

Now Scott pointed me in the direction of Greg Farr, an administrator in Texas, who has some great posts about technology and its use in the classroom. I suggest that you take a look at what he has to say about technology use in education plus a whole lot of other things.

One of Greg’s posts deals with the use of technology and it being a tool that should be used just like all the other tools a teacher has at their disposal. He describes, very well, the whole idea that teaching is not about the tools but

True teaching and learning MUST allow for subtleties and nuance, for opinions expressed in tone of voice, for emphasis via a small hand gesture, or doubt cast with the slightest raising of an eyebrow.

He goes on to say

I maintain that TO THIS DAY the best way to assess a teachers ability is to take them outside, give them a group of 20 students, no pencils, no paper, no electricity, nothing but a pleasant day and a tree to sit under. And tell them to teach. A true TEACHER would take this opportunity and run with it.

I have to concur 100% with this. Teaching concerns human relationships. It is anchored in assisting students to add to their knowledge, seeking ways to scaffold learning to push them into places where they will need to stretch and question, examine, accept or reject and search for more. It is sometimes uncomfortable and challenging, frustrating and rewarding the whole while being centered around relationships.

A similar thing was happening over at Teaching Generation Z where Graham Wegner’s Parable2.0 provided for a great discussion about how teachers who are wanting to share their passion for the use of web2.0 tools often find it frustrating. The parable looks at how, in their desire to bring other teachers on board, often end up in a frustrating situation. The discussion that followed explored how many teachers identify with the parable and how it unfolded. One such contributor was Clay Burell from Beyond School, his blog looking at teaching, technology and a few other things. Clay’s comment

As a classroom teacher who does drive his own geeky projects, I know how overwhelming it can get - and I have the skills to survive and troubleshoot and tolerate frustrations and “Crosbian Messiness.” To expect others to be able to handle the strain of things too ambitious, or too time-consuming relative to the rest of the teaching load on the teacher’s plate, is dangerous.

is right on the mark. Those of us who are using the tools and doing various projects are able to do so because we have advantages that others don’t. Now, some of these advantages include what Clay points out:

skills to survive and troubleshoot and tolerate frustrations and “Crosbian Messiness.”

However, the one thing that isn’t stated is that many of us have created networks of other users and “techno geeks” with whom we can discuss, question, collaborate and bounce ideas off of. Many of us twitter, pounce, Facebook, Ning, …. sharing our discussions, thoughts and, now that we have developed relationships, parts of our lives. We have adopted the interconnectedness of the networks and built relationships which are now leading to people planning meetings at conferences (like NECC where I WON’T be going!) and personal rendezvous for such things as golf.

Relationships - this is what brings, and binds us, together. Whether it is Sharon Peters looking for feedback on a post,  Alec Corous looking for assistance with web conferencing, Vickie Davis and Julie Lindsay discussing their Horizon Project, Will Richardson and his discussions of learning or Dan Meyers, who questions and challenges, helping to stretch the discussion, helping us to reflect on our ideas and thoughts while providing some great tools and insights into using web2.0 tools in teaching, these relationships help us connect and develop, grow and learn, keep our perspective and motivate us These relationships have become a large part of how we are growing and developing our teaching and understanding. These are the relationships that those teachers not engaged DO NOT have.

Showing other teachers all the tools isn’t what is needed. Helping them develop relationships and make connections is. We can show and demonstrate, rave and mandate; it will not bring others to question, grow and adopt. We have many examples of educators who are beginning to delve into using these tools. Overwhelming them with the possibilities just pushes them away. Helping them to build their own networks, seeking out teachers who, like themselves, are testing the water and encouraging them to continue in their own lifelong learning will empower them to develop even more. Not all of them will see the benefits of all the tools they encounter but the relationships they develop during this process will go further, I believe, to bringing about powerful change than any tech person can hope to do by themselves. Maybe that’s the lesson we need to take with us as we continue to approach those around us, showing them the power of our networks and the learning that these networks encourage. As was posted tonight on twitter

kolson29 finished watching really bad movie, off to bed. Twitterverse very different from even a week ago…….more “conversations”, less telling.

Let’s invite others to start their own conversations, starting where they are and moving forward instead of where we want them to be.

Don't tell the students but the revolution has begun

To say I've been remiss in posting would be a bit of an exaggeration. I've been completely lousy these past few months. However, I’ve been able to catch up on some of my reading this past week although I still am looking forward to Christmas and the time to do some more reading with reflection along the way. One post that caught my attention was over at Jennifer Dorman’s cliotech. Her post Re-Learning Curve discusses an article by Mark Pesce examining the whole idea of giving all secondary students a laptop.

Pesce has some interesting thoughts about what change this will bring -

curriculum designers have to accept the computer as a powerful, flexible, ubiquitous tool that can be integrated into the curriculum’s DNA.

The curriculum must be redrawn, so that computers are integrated into it, becoming a potent tool alongside the textbook and the chalkboard

Most teachers are digital immigrants, struggling to croak out a few words, while their students are fluent natives, rabbiting on in a language most teachers only haltingly understand. Dropping computers into that mix precariously flips the balance of power from teachers to students, unless educators are given the resources and the opportunity to re-educate themselves.

Other than the abuse of the immigrant/native metaphor, which really needs to  be buried or something so we can move forward but I digress, Presce has really identified the key problems with what is taking place in education:  curricula and its designers are still using the “knowledge presenting” model of design instead of the “knowledge understanding” model. In the first, teachers are to present knowledge to the students and then students are to present back to teachers what they remember.

EARLIER this year, a secondary school teacher from Adelaide told me about his physics class. “I was lecturing about current topics in physics,” he said, “when one of my students corrected me.” One of the theories he quoted had been recently disproved by an experiment, the results of which were reported in Wikipedia. The student, with one ear to the lecture and one eye on the universal web encyclopedia, helpfully provided the update. “How can I stay ahead of the kids?” he wondered.

In the presentation model, there is no hope. There is no way one teacher or even a few are going to be able to stay ahead of the knowledge curve that is going on. Heck, even my own system of gathering knowledge is changing as I move from doing a particular search using google to asking a question within the networks to which I belong and then using the responses to drive my future searching and learning. With students and their ability to use networks, knowledge gathering and the sharing of information becomes much easier.  (*Note -  we do have to work with students to help them identify information that is reliable and help them develop literacy skills beyond reading and writing.) Students can find the information and report it back to us with ever increasing ease. The shelf life of knowledge teaching is almost up.

Instead, curriculum designers need to identify the knowledge to which students need to be exposed and then go further to identifying something they need to understand from having this knowledge. How they demonstrate that understanding can be determined in a number of ways and may actually require something besides a test. And, giving teachers some credit, I think they know this very fact. Teachers no longer believe they hold the keys to knowledge. In fact, I don’t think they ever really thought that but, instead, have been confined by a system that was designed to bring knowledge to the masses. Unfortunately, we accomplished that goal a hundred or more years ago and have been trying to figure out what to do since then with very little change because no one has been able to agree on what to do. Now, for the first time, we are not being confined by the knowledge anchor. Instead, we are free to explore knowledge and create - and it scares the goosebumps off of people in charge. Really, it does. It replaces the holy grail of power, the test score, with something less definitive but much more useful, understanding.

And this is where I disagree with Pesce. I don’t think it is the students who will be driving the revolution. In fact, the revolution has already started and continues to grow in strength. In more and more classrooms around the world, teachers are communicating, sharing, talking and collaborating using technologies. Yes it seems slow to those who have been pushing from the beginning but, as more and more teachers come to realize that the knowledge is there for the taking, they are seeking ways to develop understanding and, eventually, turn to some type of technology in order to facilitate that process.

The revolution has begun. It is taking place in classrooms around the world and being discussed in blogs and other social networking systems to which teachers are being drawn. Teachers won’t need to stay ahead as they create networks of professionals who will help one another learn and share the new knowledge and begin to develop ways to help students develop understanding.

I believe what is holding the whole revolution from taking off is the lack of teachers who have access to quality hardware, open access to information and, most crucial, the freedom to teach for understanding. With this, the revolution would be over before wikipedia knew about it and no teacher would have to worry about trying to do the impossible - know it all!

(net)work-a-holic

As school began, I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow my network connections to interfere with my work. As last year came to a close, I was finding that much of my evening was spent checking the various networks of which I was part and keeping up with the ever-growing RSS feeds in my reader of choice. Once the summer began and I was able to “denetwork”, I realized that there had to be a better way to stay connected and informed without spending all that time checking out networks.

Now that school has begun, I know that I cannot devote as much time to my networks as I did last year.  For many of us who have been at this for a little while, we’ve come to recognize particular names that belong to many of the networks . In fact, I see the same names on my Twitter as on Facebook and in the Classroom2.0 network. I’ve come to rely on these people for feedback and input but I sometimes wonder if there is more out there. That is when I usually start looking for a new network of some kind to latch onto, hoping to find new faces and get new perspectives. I know that there are many educators out there who have much to add to our conversation.

Many of these people are blurkers (blog lurkers) who have yet to find their voice or who don’t feel comfortable blogging about what they are doing. They are unsure of the technology or feel they don’t have anything to say.  That is where those people who are working in networks can help by inviting some of them to join our conversation. I don’t really care which network people use or how they join the conversation since, if the present networks are any example, people will find others pretty quickly.

What does this mean for leaders and administrators? I guess the one thing that it has meant for me is that I have greatly reduced the amount of time I spend in the networks. Although it is good to make contact with the people that I have met, I still need to make sure that I am not becoming  a network-a-holic, creating work through just over networking myself. Networking is important in any job but, as educators, once we escape the darkness of the cave there seems to be an over-zealousness to get involved in as many different networks as possible. As educational leaders, we must realize that teachers will do this and we need to work with them to ensure that they don’t become overwhelmed with all the great contacts that can be made.

This may seem trivial to many but as I prepare to begin working with each of my staff to help them with planning with technology as a focus, I hesitate in suggesting they pursue some of the networks just because of this very danger. I want them to be excited and eager to pursue different opportunities but I also know the dangers of being “too” connected, if that is even possible?

I offer this up because I realize that many teachers are just beginning to understand the power of networking and such things as blogs can have. Students, of course, have realized this already and most of them are no longer “wowed” by the various networks of which they are part. There is great power in bringing together students across space to interact with one another. Teachers, by comparison, haven’t dealt with the “wow” factor yet. This is one area that, in the near future, will need to be watched, I think, as present teachers are introduced to networks with other teachers.

Are you motivated?

Schools are beginning to reawaken after a summer siesta - in North America and parts of Europe anyways. I’m still three weeks out from starting day and in the midst of a major house reno so I’m not really thinking too much about school although it has drifted across my vision a few times. The work on the house has taken me away from my pre-summer attachment to the “Wrinkled world” and I’ve found that it has been refreshing to do other things. Having said that, I have noticed a recent trend in the Twitter talk of late. It seems that many of the educators are not really looking forward to their first day sessions with motivational speakers and the like.

Why Motivation?

When I put out the question regarding what might my subject be for this post, I received this response:

Maybe you could write about why we are subjected to motivational non-education speakers the first few days of inservice?

The light bulb went off. Why indeed. What is the reason for having educators listen to a motivational speaker on the first day of school? In my limited experience, teachers don’t need motivation to start the year. If anything, they need something about February or March. However, what is even more interesting is why there seems to be a universal truism that teachers need to listen to non-educators during these times. What is the reason for bringing in people outside the educational sphere? Do they have something that educational speakers lack? Is there a lack of “good” educational motivational speakers?

With the question now smoldering in the back of my mind, I went back to my house renos. I do quite a bit of thinking while I’m renovating and the next few hours had me pondering this whole idea of the need for motivational speakers from outside the educational realm. And the more I thought about it, the more it perplexed me to why we’re not listening to another educator of some sort. Do we really need that motivation to begin our year? Do we need the slogan to carry us through the year? Aren’t teachers some of the most motivated people around? Or….

are the years of public bashing of education and educators taking their toll. We continue to see teachers shortages all over with it getting worse not better. We lack the presence of male teachers in elementary settings and, it seems, it is beginning to be a worry in the middle and high school setting also. We see new teachers trying the profession for a few years and moving on. Is there indeed a lack of motivation in educators? Or is this a perceived lack that really isn’t true?

As a leader in a relatively small school, I am able to talk with the teachers about such things as PD and the first day sessions. Now, it’s not that they don’t think that this time together with other teachers from other schools isn’t good but, because it is at the beginning, some feel it would be better spent at the school doing things that are priority for those in the building. They feel that working towards building a great start to the year might be the best motivation of all. They want to  have things ready for that first day with students, wanting to set a particular tone that will carry them through the year. To them, that is motivational.

Maybe we’re trying to hard to bring the corporate world into the schools by offering these first day motivationals. We see places like Toyota and Wal-Mart brining in motivational speakers for their employees. However, with the number of talented people who work in a building, maybe we could find a way to tap these talents to offer an in-house motivational day, setting a tone for the year, an expectation of what could be and where we can go together. What if we did this with the kids the first day? What if, instead of starting right into the year, we began with a motivational day for students? What type of reaction would we get? What if parents were invited to come to the day at the school and teams of teachers were to give “motivational” sessions on a variety of topics? Could we mix students and parents? Could it be we need to reevaluate our purpose for the first day sessions? Bringing someone in to motivate teachers might be less effective than providing the other partners with motivation for the school year. I wonder if the SRC would be willing to lead a motivational set for parents?

No Lack of Motivation

As I see it, teachers are usually motivated for that first day. They are wanting to start the year and begin to set the course for the upcoming days. They are there because they want to be there and want to help students. They are motivated to do and to try. They don’t lack motivation - those that do don’t last long and no amount of motivational speaking will change that. During a time when education seems to taking some serious heat about student test scores and student achievement, is it really necessary to bring someone from outside education to motivate the educators?

Your Motivation

So, what is your motivation? Do you need motivating in some way? Does your staff? If asked, would you be able to put together a day that would inspire and motivate the people in your building? Do you know where there is a need for motivation? As leaders, we have the responsibility to the staff, students and parents in our school communities to make sure that each group is motivated. If we see one, or part of one, group that is not motivated, can we provide that “motivational day” that will light the spark?

Well, back to the renos. I have a whole set of cupboard doors to work on. What’s my motivation for this? Knowing that, at the end, someone I love will be happy. That motivation, in a sense, is what we do at schools. It’s not the monitary rewards or other things that gets me to go to school. It’s knowing that, maybe, someday, what I am doing today will impact these students a some point in their lives. When and how I have no idea. Just as these renovations really won’t change the monetary value of the house a whole lot in a small town but, seeing how the people in my house enjoy their new surroundings and spending time doing the work, hoping that time will influence them some time in the future, that’s the motivation. The final product will be nice but the act of doing is what is important.

This year, as I begin to prepare to head back to school, I’m focusing on the actions of what I do and paying attention to the journey. So, what’s motivating you?

Sifting for Shifting

Douglas B. Reeves in his book The Learning Leader discusses The Law of Initiative Fatigue.

The Law of Initiative Fatigue is my adaptation from the term originally used in the Harvard Business Review. The law states - When resources of time, money and emotional energy are held constant while the number of old, continuing and new initiatives rises, organizational implosion is inevitable.

Reeve goes on to state that:

When leaders cling to previous initiatives while attempting to add new ones, they can experience some apparent early success. … [but] enthusiasm gives way to organizational overload, which is precipitously followed by burnout. Not only will the new initiatives fail under such circumstances, but the energy and resources available to old and continuing initiatives are dangerously compromised as well.

Reeve gives some great examples of ways that schools can reclaim time within the building. What struck me about this whole part was that, as leaders, we sometimes fail to see that we are living examples of this law in action. For me, I have noticed that I have taken on many new initiatives without taking time to reassess what I am doing, parring back and deciding what is vitally important and what can be 1) eliminated 2) given to others to do 3) rolled into a new initiative so no new workload is added.

I don’t know about anyone else but, as a leader, I sometimes become so enthused about new initiatives and ideas and add them to what I already doing because I see the potential they will have for the students. In particular, I have noticed that in the last six months or so, I have added many new technology tools and strategies to my repertoire but have not taken the time to fully incorporate them in my teaching and so I was trying to do more in the same amount of time. I have added new methods of supervision but I have not taken the time to completely incorporate a new method of reporting back and talking with teachers. I have taken on new roles within the school division without fully reflecting on what each role will mean to my time commitments. I have begun new projects with the School Community Council without, again, reflecting on what they add to my time commitments. There are a number of books that I want to read and articles that have peeked my interest that I have yet to get to even though summer is here. I have joined a number of networks (Ning, Facebook, MySpace) that all take time. Besides these, the school division is focusing on a number of initiatives that require my being a leader for my staff in a number of areas. None of this includes the extra-curricular that I coach or time with my family. By the end of school, I was feeling extremely drained. However it was not until I did a principal evaluation with my staff at the end of the year, did I see, through a few comments from teachers in my building (who are very perceptive) that I was taking on too much. Each of the things I was doing seemed to be important and, when I looked at my calendar, were doable.

As I’ve been working through the first two weeks and reflecting on what Reeves is saying, I’ve realized that the Law of Initiative Fatigue is, in fact, very real and has affected my ability to be an effective leader. This means that in order to reduce the number of demands on my time and focus on the areas that will bring the greatest development, I will have to sort through what I “NEED” to do and what, although it might be important, can be delegated to someone else or needs to eliminated. So how do I go about this?

I’ve decided that I needed to choose areas that will reduce my time and prepare to focus on key areas.

Area 1 - School division focus

The school division has chosen to focus on reading and math curricula and PLC’s for staff development. As I have mentioned, I have a number of areas that I have been focusing upon but I have decided that these three educational areas will be where I concentrate and focus my energy. That will entail me helping teachers to make sense of the data when it arrives, working to identify key areas of concentration, comparing it to our last set of data and celebrating what we have been able to do well. I will continue to build my understanding of PLC’s as they relate to our school and look for ways to involve community in building links to what we are doing within the school.

Area 2 - Professional Development

The first thing that I am going to do is work on a daily journal. This way I will track what exactly I am doing. This will allow me to see where my time and energy is going and will help me to focus on the areas that I have identified. It will also give me a chance to reflect on how I spend my time each day. Not that every moment needs to be full and accounted but to ensure that I’m remaining focused. I do have a tendency to become “focused” on one thing at the expense of others. This, I believe, will help me to manage my precious time.

I will continue to blog and discuss what I am doing and what I see as being important in education. I find that the feedback and discussion that takes place is incredibly helpful and challenges me to “stay the course”. Besides that, the ideas and insights that I come across help me to grow and learn which is essential to me being an effective leader.

Reading - I have decided that, although there are hundreds of great books that I could read, I don’t have the time. I will focus my reading on leadership growth and development, PLC’s and staff development in the areas of reading and math. As the educational leader, I want to be a help to my staff and assist them in their growth and development and focus on improving the learning in the school.

Conferences - I’m not sure what I will do here but I know that I will again focus on the areas of learning that are central to the division initiatives.

Mentoring - I have been working with my Superintendent, using my Administrator’s evaluation, to key in on particular areas that were identified by the staff. Reeves points out that:

Leaders need not, indeed they cannot, be every dimension themselves, but they can and must ensure that every leadership dimension is provided by some member of the leadership team. [these dimensions are described later in the chapter]

At present I am the official leadership team but I know that there are particular people within my school whom will be able to fill various dimensions within the context of the school community. That is why I chose to have the Admin evaluation completed by my staff. They are the people who will be able to give me the clearest picture of where I have strengths and where I need to grow and look for others who have that strength.

I am mentoring our Teacher Association President this year. Being vice-president, I will be able to assist her and offer her some insights from my tenure in various local and provincial positions. My goal here is to assist her to become the leader she can be and be able to look for people who will be able to fill the roles that she needs.

There you have the first two areas I will be concentrating on this year. My next post will look at the areas of School, School Community Council, Teaching (my own) and Supervision. As I have done here, I will outline what I plan to do to bring focus for myself this year in these areas. If you have any comments, feedback or ideas, feel free to drop them off. I’m open to suggestions or critiques (as long as they are progressive with a focus on growth!)

Summer Lemonade

I’ve just enjoyed a fresh glass of lemonade. The summer has been a very hectic one. I’m doing way more work building houses that I thought I would be and this has really cut into the time I was expecting to be doing other things. I have not been keeping up with my reading or my writing as I had planned but, I’ve learned, that’s sometimes how it goes. See, in a life before education, I worked in the construction sector as a painter. It evolved from a summer job to a company with 20 employees then back to a two man operation. Since entering the education field, I’ve kept up my skills, redecorating and remodeling each house that we have moved into each time we move. Since moving to our present community, I have done some work in town which has led to the present situation in which I am building houses that, eventually, I will be painting. I really didn’t plan that this “2nd” job would take up so much time.  With the heat and the days being rather long, I’m usually wiped by the end of the day which means very little online activity and absolutely no blog posting.

However, one of the benefits of this is that I’m learning all sorts of new skills that will help me along the way. I get to work with my hands and work in a totally different environment. It has removed me from the educational world that I spend so much time in throughout the year and gives me a different perspective on how things look according to the people with whom I work. I also found this was the same when I was painting, working in various new building projects where the individuals had a different perspective on how things looked given their background and what they did. I often worked with people who were immigrants and their stories and views were very interesting.  These people were very good at what they did - good enough to make a living. I knew that I could make a very good living doing this but it wasn’t challenging me intellectually. I wasn’t being pushed to think and try new things or experience new ways of doing things. The money was very good, probably what I make now but the hours were long and I just didn’t think it was where I belonged.

Now, 17 years later, I know that I made the right decision. I am constantly learning new things and getting to experience life through a great number of different avenues. It has allowed me to stay connected to what is going on in technology and how technology is shaping and affecting people’s lives. It has allowed me to move to different locations and experience the different areas of this great province, Saskatchewan and meet and make some great friends along the way. However, it’s always good to get back to do some work and get out of the educational environment and realize that, for the vast majority of people, how I see the world is not how other people see the world. In fact, in the past two weeks, I have been reminded on a number of occasions that what surrounds me daily and is the world in which I live isn’t the reality of other adults.  They work with other adults and their is a structured hierachy, however loosely structured it might be. So, as I work with the crew, they remind me that here, I’m the student and the results are immediate, observable and have consequences. Like, who knew that 1/4 inch could be so important! It’s just a 1/4 inch!

What we do in schools is so far removed from what I’m now doing every day. Although our students need to learn how to read, write and do math, they also must learn to work in an environment that is totally opposite to what they are doing now. On the job site, everyday is a collaborative effort to get things done. Without knowing who does what job and accepting that role, things take twice as long to complete and there is often things that go wrong. (note 1/4 inch is a big deal!) So what does this have to do with school?

Everything! We continue to discuss and talk about how we want to see schools change and move away from the current model but, as I’ve been reading, I wondering what model will replace it? What will we do in schools that is going to radically change how our students are educated that will introduce them to the skills that they will need? How will they learn to work collaboratively using new technology. (Like how to run a power nailer without nailing your shoe to the floor!) Will they have the ability to ask questions and listen so that mistakes, when they happen, build their experience and take it to the next “level”? How do we teach them to problem solve in a dynamic manner so that they can use previous skills to solve problems and apply previous knowledge to new and unique situations?  Our present system does not do this as it is focused on knowledge retention for the sake of testing. We add new ideas to the present system like PLC’s or other such things but we continue with the same system, just with a new paint job. The underlying foundation is still the same and it needs to be changed.
Like Greg Farr, I believe that it is time to for action. After having many conversations the young men with whom I am working one of which is still going to school, I’ve learned many things  about school and what they have found lacking - and what was good. But, I’ve also learned that school is not providing them with the skills that they will need after they leave school - new technologies being just one of these. To wait any longer is just to prolong the current situation. Like Greg, I’ve been thinking about how I, as the school leader, will be required to move away from the status quo, helping teachers to broaden their experiences and look at school and education in a different manner. Really, this post is the prelude to my next few posts as I establish what I, as the educational leader in the school, will need to do to bring about changes that will directly impact student learning and not just for tests.

I’m off to reread Greg’s and do a bit of reflecting.  Maye I’ll just pour myself another tall cool glass of lemonade before I begin. After all, it is summer!