LeaderTalk

Diversity

Our fourth- and fifth-grade choir is made up of some select students who have demonstrated musical aptitude and an ability to perform in a large group setting.  Today, they performed at our town's MLK celebration event.  They did their usual fabulous job, but what struck me especially today was the amazing diversity in the backgrounds and lives of these kids.  In addition to their diverse racial makeuip , I counted:

• A boy with a learning disability
• A girl who has experienced homelessness
• A barrel racer
• A recent immigrant
• A national wrestling champion
• A boy with AD/HD
• A couple of TAG kids
• A girl whose mother regularly uses methamphetamines

And yet, despite these differences, they performed with an impressive unity of sound.  These kids are just good together.  It wasn't their backgrounds that brought them together, but their collective commitment to a single purpose. 

In the classroom, we celebrate these kids' successes and put an arm around them when they're down.  We don't expect less from a student because of their background.  Sometimes we need to work harder to help them get reach their educational potential, but we never let them get away with giving less than their best.  I'm reminded that, on this MLK day, we expect excellence from all of our kids.

Education Association warns against social networking

(Cross-posted at RickScheibner.net)

Stephen Rahn recently shared this post by Ben Wildeboer on Google Reader.  Apparently, the Ohio Education Association is advising its members to not join social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook.  And if members do belong to those sites, they advise removing them as soon as possible.  According to eSchool News, the dangers they cite include the potential for students and teachers to interact inappropriately, and the chance that a student might create an imposter site and post inappropriate material on it. 

Huh?  Is the education association led by people who are so out of touch they don't even know what their newest and youngest members are up to?  Or am I being naive, and this a reasonable attempt for the OEA to protect its members?  Most of the young teachers I've seen hired the last couple of years just use social networking as a way of life.  They've grown up with e-mail and IM, and networking sites are just a natural extension of those tools.  For my way of thinking, teachers who get caught up inappropriately in the lives of their students are going to try to do that, with or without MySpace.  And if privacy is an issue, simply use the internal safety measures that those sites already have in place.  For the record, I have both MySpace (for family and friends) and Facebook (for professional networks and blogging acquaintances). 

Here is the full article from Ben:  » Social networking sites pose “dangers” for educators? Sustainably Digital

Technorati tags: educational technology, teaching, learning, classoom 2.0, social networking, Ohio Education Association

Discipling Bloggers

We were discussing communication and organization at a staff leadership meeting just before school started this year.  At one point, somebody (not me) suggested we have a staff blog in order to help improve and promote those areas.  Needless to say, my ears perked up.  I've got a few blogs of my own, in addition to my contributions here at LeaderTalk.  I casually mentioned that I was familiar with blogging, and could probably put something together that would work for us.  That made me an expert, so I was hired.

As soon as I got home that evening, I registered a domain name for us, got some hosting, and downloaded the latest version of WordPress.  I got everything connected, and in about 15 minutes we had ourselves a blog.  I was excited about this.  I got our Leadership team to get a few posts up, and just this week we launched it to the rest of the staff.  We're officially a blogging school.

Quite a few of my staff have read blogs, but hardly any of them have left comments or actually have a blog of their own.  Their interest level has really grown just in the last few days.  They are really taking a look at it and starting to contact me for a username and password so they can get involved. One of them, who had never left a comment before, did so on our new blog.  She said she was nervous to actually do that first one, and would need to work up the courage to create her own post.  It will be interesting to see how their posts go from "Hi there I'm really glad to be here" to something of deeper meaning.  This blog will eventually become our own, and will ultimately tell the story of our staff this year.  I'm really looking forward to that kind of growth.  We're still a ways from learning how to use a Reader, although I have left instructions up for that as a page.  Baby steps, though.  This is fun to watch.

Soccer education

Cross-posted at rickscheibner.net

Our kids love to play soccer.  Rain, heat, wind, you name it, nothing keeps those kids off of the soccer field every time they go outside.  I've even seen them try to get a game going on top of four inches of snow.  One of the great things about being a counselor at an elementary school is that I get to go hang out with these kids for a good portion of their recess times.  I have my own recess duty that I cover every day, but I also make it a point to catch up with the other grades throughout the week as well. 

This being my sixth year at my school, I've been able to follow our new fifth graders since they were in kindergarten.  When they were a lot younger, they played soccer like most little kids do.  They bunched up in a big group and chased the ball around the field the entire time.  Every once in a while, the group would get close to the goal and somebody would get lucky and knock the ball in.  Some time around their third grade year, they figured out that if they spread out, they could pass the ball to each other a little more efficiently and have a better chance of scoring a goal.  Now that they're in the fifth grade, I see them actually trying some more advanced team concepts.  Passing the ball in a triangle, kicking to a strategic spot in a corner kick, things like that.  They're doing what they see their dads doing and what they've been taught by their league coaches.  And with that many recess games under their belt, it's paying off. 

I think education in general is like that.  We get what we need at school, but we pick up so much of our learning from elsewhere, too.  We don't just learn reading at school, we see our parents and siblings reading, we get things from television and the computer, then take those concepts and put them to work again the next day at school.  It's a learning cycle, and one that happens best with good teachers, consistent practice, and supportive parents and mentors around us. 

Technorati tags: soccer, teaching, education, classroom, reading, k-12, recess, learning

Getting the gig

I'm still a year away from having my administration license, but I went ahead and applied for a late-opening VP job in a neighboring district a few weeks ago.  I interviewed this past week, and frankly, wasn't real happy with my own performance.  I did really well on some of the questions, particularly in the ones that dealt with student services and staff relations.  However, I was obviously unprepared for the questions that required me to discuss such things as curriculum and instruction at any length.  I've got some things to work on.

Needless to say, I didn't get the gig.  I did, however, come to realize a few things about myself and my career through the process.  Specifically, I have a better idea now what areas I need to work on as I do my practicum this upcoming year.  My own principal is especially knowledgeable about the areas of curriculum and instruction, so I am blessed to be able to work under her for another year in order to get that information.  In addition--and this is a question I'm going to bring up at a cohort meeting in the future--I'm not sure I can accurately and succinctly articulate my own leadership style.   I'm told I'm a good leader, and I've certainly been put in a position of leadership at my own school and school district, but that may take some time and contemplation on my part to be able to formulate what that means for my professional life.  I was frankly a little surprised by this question; I don't believe I've ever been asked one like it in an interview before.  In retrospect, though, I should expect to have some knowledge of my own leadership style before taking an administrative position. 

So there it is, my very first interview for a school principal position.  A somewhat humbling experience, yes, but one that I can use as a learning experience to get to the next level when it gets that time.  That time just isn't right now.  Oh, and if you superintendent/HR-types would like to throw some advice my way for how to come across well in a future interview, I'm all ears.

Hero in the Hallway!

Check out this powerful anti-bullying video on YouTube. Hat tip to Stephen Rahn for bringing it to my attention.

Link to YouTube - Hero in the Hallway!

Technorati tags: YouTube, bullying, education, teaching, students, kids, k-12, classroom, schools

Book Review Follow-up

Many of you have followed my review/reaction to The Inner World of the Immigrant Child by Cristina Igoa, who has left comments on this post.  She and I have also been exchanging emails, and she is writing an epilogue for a subsequent edition of the book.  Part of that epilogue will include 1995-2005 information about the students that she portrayed.  Igoa writes:

I followed these same kids for 10 more  years..1995 until 2005. The results will come out in an Epilogue. 

I would appreciate your giving me some feedback on what you and your students (who have read the book) like me to include in an Eplioque.

So how about it?  Many of you read Ms. Igoa's landmark ELL book in your coursework to become a school administrator.  What would you like to see in an epilogue to this book? 

The Power of Blogging in Education

First of all, thanks to Scott for extending this invitation for me to blog here.  I think this is a much-needed resource in the field of school leadership and administration.  It's my privilege to be a part of this project.

Just last night, I was reminded why this is such a great tool for us as educators.  Many of you probably took a class in English Language Learners, and if you did, you may have read the book The Inner World of The Immigrant Child, by Cristina Igoa.  You may also know that Ms. Igoa immigrated to the US from the Philippines as a young child.  She pursued a career of teaching students from other countries throughout her life, and her book is considered an important work in the field of ELL education. 

I took this class several weeks ago, and I wrote a reaction/review of that book as a requirement for the class.  I posted it on my blog for other students in my cohort to see.  Just last night, Ms. Igoa herself visited my blog and left us a comment about a particular point that had been made in one of the posts.  It was also a point that we had discussed in class. 

Had I just typed up this assignment in Word and only handed in a paper copy, this discussion and the author's own perspective never would have seen the light of day.  Through blogging, the learning experience extended well beyond the confines of time and space of the actual class.