Author Archives: George

The erosion of the English language?

I saw this picture the other day and was fascinated by the slogan.

cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo shared by gcouros

Now I know that there are other issues with the advertisement, but I am going to focus on the use of the acronym “LOL” in the ad.

As I drove by this, I could just hear the arguments regarding how the english language has eroded with the use of acronyms in sentences. Many people of my generation and older, might not even know what “LOL” stands for (laugh out loud) or what it even means. Yet language continuously evolves and grows, and to be honest, many people now would be totally comfortable with what is written in this ad. Are the people that don’t understand what “LOL” means becoming illiterate? How wrong is it to use this in this ad?

Then I found this picture.

What do the two images have in common?

When I have asked some people, they do not see the similarities. Yet, the term “Scuba” is also an acronym (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), but just one we are comfortable with because we grew up with it.

I guess we have been screwing up the language for a long time. Or, does language just continuously evolve?

Thoughts?

Removing Barriers and Educational Technology

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I was recently asked to share my thoughts on the current state of educational technology and the connection it has to education in British Columbia (for a BC website). Here are some of the questions that came my way with my responses below.

What are you currently obsessed with at work right now?

One of my big focus areas is on how we give both teachers and students a voice in their learning. We live in a world where we all have the opportunity to share our thoughts instantly with the entire world, but schools have traditionally kept that learning within the confines of the building and have only shared during “special events”. If we give our students an authentic audience, we give them the opportunity to make a difference in their own lives, as well as the lives of others.

Tying into that notion is the idea of “entrepreneurship”. Students are creating some pretty amazing things in schools, whether it is in an art class, technology course, or english. How do we give them an opportunity to share their ideas to actually learn how to make a living doing something that they love? One of the things that I looked back upon during my time in the faculty of education was that we spent a lot of time learning how to “teach”, but no time learning how to actually get a job teaching. I believe that students should not only have great opportunities for learning in school, but we need to teach them how to create opportunities for themselves.

How is technology changing the face and pace of K-12 education?

Information is abundant and as Daniel Pink discusses in his latest book, it is not about accessing information, but about curating it. When you have access to all of the information in the world, there is obviously some great stuff, and some stuff that is of a poor quality. How are students critical of what they see, and how do they reflect and share? Too many schools are worried about students “googling” answers on test because that would make them “cheaters”, yet as adults, we would be considered resourceful if we did the same thing. What we do with the information is much more important now than simply finding it. We need to look at how students are not only consumers of information, but creators of content as well. That is where the real learning happens and technology gives us the opportunity to be able to share easily with the entire world.

What are some of the smartest teachers doing in this space?

Many teachers are looking outside of their schools and classrooms for new ideas to inspire and engage their students. Nothing in our world seems as stagnant as the “curriculum”, and many educators are learning to continuously embrace change and bring it into their classroom. They are looking at what successful organizations outside of education are doing and bringing those experiences to their students. They are not only making learning relevant, but real. There are teachers in pockets that are doing this, but many of them struggle with the politics of school and administrators that sometimes encourage risk, yet do not model it. As Chris Kennedy states, administrators need to be “elbows deep in the learning” with their students and faculty. In the area of British Columbia, Surrey School District (SD36) has been making some tremendous strides in becoming a “culture of innovation”, but I am guessing that even in their situation, they never feel like they are “there” and are striving to continuously get better. Learning constantly changes and grows and the best organizations continuously grow and adapt so that they can always excel.

What opportunities are there for collaboration and transition between K-12 and higher ed given current technologies?

With learning having the ability to be so visible in our time, K-12 and higher education need to spend a lot more time working together to improve education for our students. You often hear K-12 complaining that universities are out of date and are forcing schools to go to an old model (grading practices are a prime example of this), and many universities are saying that students are not coming into their schools with the skills that they deem valuable. Instead of talking about each other, they need to spend more time working with each other and figuring how to do best for the students, and not take the easy way out. Within our school division, we are looking at working with our university to work with teachers to give them an idea of the skills that we expect them to have and be able to teach their students. We are hoping that we can build a partnership to learn from each other and really have education take the next step.

What are some of the challenges? (BC’s Privacy Legislation any others?)

The privacy laws in BC are outdated and holding schools back significantly. They often talk about data being stored in the cloud as being “unsafe” but it seems that it is more about controlling it from an outsider perspective. These policies were created in a totally different world and are now holding schools back to help students understand and thrive in the world that we live in currently. This is similar to the outdated election laws in 2011 and how many became subversive because of those policies.

If provinces were really about “moving education forward”, they would look at removing barriers, not putting them in the way.

The First Step to Change

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I get a lot of emails asking about creating the conditions for change and recently was asked, “As a new principal, what is the first step to create a better learning environment in our school?”

Here is my answer…do nothing.

Too many times people walk into buildings and have some great ideas and they start trying to tweak this, and change that, etc., yet that often alienates the people that you want to get better.

What I would strongly suggest is that you sit back, watch, learn, and figure out what people are great at already and build from there. You will build relationships and people will trust that when new initiatives begin popping up in your school that you already value their skills and abilities. Also, this will create a team approach as opposed to the “admin vs. teacher” culture that is prevalent in many schools.

“It takes far less energy to move from first-rate performance to excellence than it does to move from incompetence to mediocrity.” Peter Drucker

3 Ideas To Inspire Change

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The talk of change in education is actually the one constant. There is no doubt that education could and should get better, yet the reality is that when we state this about the system we work in, we can either be a part of the problem or solution. Starting with what we do ourselves is the first step in improving schools.

Yet if we are to help move others, it is tough when work feels like “work”. If your goal is to simply get a paycheque, and not changing will still get you to that goal and you are in no threat of losing your job, why change? Many initiatives are thrown at us in education, yet there is no deeper reasoning “why” this is happening and people believe that simply waiting things out will mean that if you don’t change, you will eventually become relevant again.

In my last few years, I have really tried to help people bring an emotional connection to the work that they are doing so that it is moving from a job to “their passion”. I do my best to help people feel invigorated in their work as leaders have created that same feeling for myself. I am nowhere near successful as I would like to be, but everyday I continue to grow and learn. I work quite a bit but it rarely feels like a job; I love what I do. The work that I do is something that I want to do, not something I feel like I have to do, or even worse, feel like that it is something that is being done to me.

Focusing on helping people move forward as an administrator, I have done a lot to study “change” and what helps to move people. Here are some of the things that I have tried to focus on in my work.

1. Strengths Based Leadership - It is really to find a person’s deficiencies, but it is imperative that you find their strengths and build upon them. For example, let’s say I wanted to encourage blogging with staff. It would be very easy to say something similar to:

“We need to start using technology in similar ways to what the rest of the world is doing. It is important for our students that we start blogging.”

Or…I could say something like this:

“I was watching you with your students today and was so impressed in the work that you did in the lesson and how engaged the students were. I wish other people in our school , along with the rest of the world, could see the work that you are doing because it would really help improve their own practice. Would you be open to sitting down with me and writing a blog post to share what you did today? I think so many people would benefit from what you have to offer.”

Interestingly enough, the end result is the same, but the focus on getting there is much different. Showing people they are valued will go a lot further than simply pointing out their weaknesses.

2. Helping to define the “why” - I would honestly say that the Simon Sinek’s talk on how great leaders inspire action has been one of the most influential videos that I have ever watched and I refer to it often. When any initiatives are implemented in schools, the first question I had as a teacher is “why do we have to do this?”. If you are unable to articulate why you are doing what you are doing, is it worth doing?

If you want people to be inspired to move forward, creating a connection on why this will be better for students is imperative.

“…our behavior is affected by our assumptions or our perceived truths. We make decisions based on what we think we know.” Simon Sinek

3. Autonomy and Purpose - Another hugely influential Ted Talk on my career was Dan Pink’s talk on motivation. He talks a great deal in his books on the notion of autonomy in our work place:

“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.”

Often though his focus on “purpose” is often ignored. Purpose is hugely important in moving people forward. In my own work, I want to know that I am doing something bigger than myself and I am contributing to a greater good. As leader, it is imperative that we help people understand their roles in making our vision come alive, not by them fitting into a space, but that their skills are what will take our organization to the next level. I have talked before regarding the notion of “school teacher” versus “classroom teacher”, and I believe when we act as if these are all of our kids, schools will be a much better place, and educators will focus a lot more on improving what they do.

“One cannot lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Change for the sake of change is not a good idea, nor will it be sustainable. We have to be able to help people build upon what they already do great, understand the “why” of change, and help them become a part of something bigger. We also have to be comfortable with them moving from their point A to their point B, not expecting everyone to be at the same point at the same time. Continuous learning and growth is what we should expect and embody.

What’s the measure?

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So I read this post this morning and something made me feel really uneasy about the following excerpt:

This week, the Missouri legislature will vote on a proposal to tie 33% of his evaluation to test scores and to add student surveys to his evaluation. He writes:

“Each year, I allow my students to critique me and offer suggestions for my class. I learn a lot from those evaluations and have implemented some of the suggestions the students have made. But there is no way that eighth graders’ opinions should be a part of deciding whether I continue to be employed.”

Okay…so maybe eighth graders are not the best way to evaluate a teacher is effective, but shouldn’t there be some value in what our students say about our teaching? Nowhere in the article is an alternative suggested.

There is also a pushback to not letting test scores be a part of “teacher evaluations” because of all of the variables that are part of a child’s life. If a child is not eating in the morning, how well do you think they will do on a test?

One of the comments on the same post said the following:

If administrators would do their job and spend time in the classrooms evaluating teachers, they wouldn’t need 8th graders to do it for them.

Interesting since some people question if we even need principals in the first place. What if the principal is terrible? How important is that evaluation?

I am not saying that I have the answers (far from it) on what would be the proper form of evaluation for an educator, but I think that there are a combination of things that we should be looking towards. All I know is that with all of the pushback against using test scores, student evaluations, etc., I am not hearing many alternative solutions. I think that in every job, there is accountability to some degree and “teacher autonomy” does not mean we are not accountable, but what does it say to the public when we only say what doesn’t work?

Within Alberta we have a “Teaching Quality Standard” and a “Principal Quality Standard” that is used to evaluate an educator until they get tenure. I think there are some great things in this framework but I am always curious about the use of this framework later in a teacher’s career. Do we still look at it? I am not out of the profession and I am evaluated as an administrator every few years based on my effectiveness. I honestly value this feedback and use it for my own growth. I know the criteria that I am evaluated on and what I am expected to do and actually use my blog as a portfolio for my growth and learning.

All I know is that as educators (myself included) if we say what doesn’t work, shouldn’t we also be giving some options on what does work? As educators, we have a voice and we have to use it to help create the solutions and be proactive, as opposed to simply allowing others to create them for us.

So with that being said, what would you suggest as the best way to evaluate the effectiveness of an educator? I would love to hear the thoughts of others on this, both in and out of the profession. We can’t just say what doesn’t work.

Suggestions?

What Teachers Do

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Cia de Foto

I had some pretty bad moments as a student. I have no idea what happened to me in grade 7 and 8, but I was like a kid from another planet. I went from a sweet and innocent child, to a tyrant that was always getting into trouble.

Mrs. Oleksyn, my principal during that time, had to put up with a lot of my issues. In one class, I was continuously being disruptive and bothering others, and she told me that I was not allowed to go back until I apologized which I refused to do. Literally a day later, with no apology, she sent me back knowing that I would not budge. I even punched her in the stomach (seriously) when I thought she was someone else on the playground. Yes, I punched my female principal in the stomach when I was 13. Although it was accidental, you could see that I was not on a good path.

Mr. Dutchak was my Algebra teacher in high school which was one of the subjects that I struggled with the most. What does a kid (or people) do when they struggle? Either try to be invisible or become a pain. I am not the invisible type. I did everything to be a pain and jerk as a kid to him because, looking back, I struggled with the subject.

Both of these teachers put up with so much because of my insecurities, dealing with growing up, and just being a brat.

Both of these teachers were also at my father’s funeral and made sure that they came up to me (and my family) to give their condolences and tell me how highly they thought of my father.

When many cut down teachers and say things like they get paid too much or they do it for the “holidays”, just know that at the same time a teacher is probably visiting one of their students in the hospital, watching a little league game, coordinating a trip and spending their weekends with students as their coach, or reaching out to them when they are dealing with something like I dealt with. Not just the “good” kids, but the ones that were like me. They see past the kid they are at the time, and they focus on the adult that kid (with guidance) could become. Neither Mr. Dutchak or Mrs. Oleksyn gave up on me when it would have been really easy to do just that. They were actually there for me (and my siblings) during the toughest time of my life, twenty years after I left school.

Are all teachers like this? Nope. But a ton of them are and they are the people that inspired me to become a teacher, and still inspire me today.

To those teachers, I say both “sorry” and “thank you”.

To people outside of the profession, just remember that many teachers do much more than teach a curriculum. They help develop people.

When You Outgrow Leadership

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“Anyone can run away; it’s super easy. Facing problems and working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”Unknown

With the infusion of social media into our everyday lives, along with educators using to connect and learn from others, the expectations in our own circumstances has been raised. Through sites like Connected Principals (full disclosure…this is a site that I created and which many contribute), the role of principal and how it is done in other organizations has become increasingly transparent. People have access to what leadership looks like, and many want more guidance to reach a higher level in their own careers. In working with many “high-flyers” both in and out of my organization, one of the consistent things that I see in all of them is the craving for mentorship. They tend to be “sponges” and want to soak in as much as they can, learn from it, and lead because of it. Often though, this mentorship can be lacking in their own situation and leaves a person with a couple of choices; leave or flounder. I would like to hope that every principal and superintendent is amazing, but as in every field, there are those that are lacking.

Make your intentions transparent

Some want to become a principal and some want to stay in the classroom their entire career and be the best teacher possible. Leadership is essential in growing both, yet often our goals are not known by those that we work with. Simply asking for a time to sit down from your leader and talk about what you would like to do or where you would like to go is the first step in getting to your next level. We often assume that our leadership does not know what we need, but sometimes the reason is because we have never had an open conversation and shared our aspirations. It is hard to be on the same page if we have no idea the direction.

Empowering your leader

Insecurity can lead to serious issues in both our personal and professional life, and leadership is a tough position that can really exponentiate those feelings. It doesn’t happen with all leaders, but it does happen. We often want to feel valued by our leadership, but how often do we try to show how we value the person above us in the chain of command? Simply asking questions such as, “what do you think?”, or “what would your suggestions be to get to the next level?”, shows that you value their opinion. Communication and relationships are always a two-way street and we have to treat them that way no matter the hierarchy.

Find mentorship

Whether your are getting what you need in terms of mentorship from your own leader, an outside mentor is always beneficial. Not simply someone else in your building, but more important, someone outside. When we spend a lot of time in one place, we often become oblivious to the things that may jump out to others. A different perspective can help us grow and bring more leadership within our own organizations and be crucial in our own development. Asking advice, listening to stories, or sharing difficulties with someone else may help to open your eyes to new solutions that are not currently being brought into your line of sight.

Moving forward

I am blessed to have many great mentors within my own school division, but I often benefit from connecting to principals and superintendents from around the world to get a different viewpoint and to hopefully help my own growth. Many are not in my situation, but as we ask students to find solutions to their own problems, we need to do the same or ourselves. There will be no growth if all we do is complain that our current leadership is not cutting it; that is simply a waste of time. The best educators find a way to get the mentorship that they crave for their own growth in their current situation, or they leave and find it somewhere else. We always have choices.

3 Important Trends That We Should Focus On in Schools

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Esparta

In our world, parents and students now have access to the same information that educators do, and the hope is that this would improve the learning that happens in school. The reality of this is though, that educators have access to information outside of schools and we should be looking towards different organizations and industries, and what they are focusing on and improving their practice. Many educators are doing this now, and you will see things like Google’s “2o% Time” implemented at both the classroom and organizational level with great success. As educators, I really believe we need to look both inside and outside of schools to create the best opportunities for our students.

Here are a few focus areas outside of education, that we should be looking at in schools and make more explicit in our practice.

1. Research and Development

Having a conversation at a recent meeting, the presenter continuously talked about “R & D”, while many sat in the room curious to what the initials stood for. Why is that? Why do we put such little emphasis on “Research and Development” in schools, while others organizations put a much larger emphasis in this area:

“Anthony S. Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has estimated that other fields spend 5 percent to 15 percent of their budgets on research and development, while in education, it is around 0.25 percent. Education-school researchers publish for fellow academics; teachers develop practical knowledge but do not evaluate or share it; commercial curriculum designers make what districts and states will buy, with little regard for quality. We most likely will need the creation of new institutions — an educational equivalent of the National Institutes of Health, the main funder of biomedical research in America — if we are to make serious headway.” (From “Teachers: Will We Ever Learn“)

Obviously, research is a component of what we do in our classrooms, but are we creating from that process or are we simply reporting? Teachers should be continuous learners and active research should be a component of this (obviously administrators should be finding time to ensure that this happens), and we are more likely to create this experience for students if we experience this ourselves. Actively researching best, new and innovative practices, would only improve our schools.

We spend a lot of time having our students look back at the past, but how much time do we give them to create the future?

2. Entrepreneurial Spirt

The term “entrepreneurial spirit” is something that has been a focus for Alberta Education:

“Entrepreneurial Spirit: who creates opportunities and achieves goals through hard work, perseverance and discipline; who strives for excellence and earns success; who explores ideas and challenges the status quo; who is competitive, adaptable and resilient; and who has the confidence to take risks and make bold decisions in the face of adversity.”

Or their simple definition for students:

“I create new opportunities.”

I have seen many amazing things that have been created in schools only because I happened to be in the school. If students are able to develop an “app”, should they not also have some understanding of how to market it as well? This just not go for the “business minds” in school, but in any and every aspect. A student can be the most amazing artist, but if no one ever sees their work, could they ever end up doing this for a living? I am a firm believer that we should try to give opportunities for students to follow their passions and hopefully make a living from what they love.

Dan Pink shares his belief that all people are in some capacity need the ability to be able to “sell”:

“Physicians sell patients on a remedy. Lawyers sell juries on a verdict. Teachers sell students on the value of paying attention in class. Entrepreneurs woo funders, writers sweet-talk producers, coaches cajole players.”

If you think back to your own post-secondary experience in becoming an educator, were you ever actually taught on how to get a job? This is more important than ever with “digital footprints” becoming a large factor in how people in all areas are getting jobs.

We want our students to be able to create amazing things; how do we help them share those creations?

(Check out SCH Academy’s “Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership” to see a very innovative program that is really trying to push the envelope in this areas.)

3. Leadership Development

This is probably a no-brainer for many, but still something that schools need to focus on for their entire community. When I talk about “leadership”, I am not thinking of “being the boss”, but the ability to empower others and be a part in creating a positive culture. I also believe that leadership has to do with ownership, and things that we do in isolation also help us in this pursuit (Sir Ken Robinson is considered a “leader” in education but how many of you know of any affiliations that he has with any single organization?).

Developing leaders should be something that we continue to focus on, or the first two areas that I have discussed will end up being moot.

Although there are “electives” in schools in the above areas, should there not be elements of each in the work that we do everyday? As stated before, this is not just about students, but for it to be successful, these are initiatives that should be available to educators as well. Experience is the best way to create new learning, and if our staff does not understand this, how will our students? We should also look at what we do already in these areas and make some of these initiatives more explicit to our public. Changing the terminology from “staff days” to “Research and Development Day” (or whatever the time length), better communicates the work that we are trying to do, and perhaps creates a better focus for ourselves on what we are trying to do with our professional learning time.

Although a lot of these terms are related to “business”, I see them as valuable opportunities for learning and to create opportunities for our students, not only in their future, but also their present.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Looking Forward To?

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Foxtongue

When I was in grade 9, I always remember hearing about the cool project that you would do in Mr. Still’s grade 10 class that had to do with learning about war and peace around the world. In the project, you would become a fictitious country and each day you were given scenarios of what was happening around the world, then discuss with your group what you would do next. Each decision had a consequence, and could lead to more violence or peace. You also had to guess what the other countries would do in situations, and base your responses on these uncertainties. Our class made it 6 days before we went to an all out World War. I remember how excited I was about this project, how exhilarated I was during the process, and how it lead me to major in European History in university.

The next year, I anticipated Mr. Bellamy’s class project where you would create a product, and do all of the advertising for it to try and sell it to others. People would walk out of the class loving this experience, and I remember distinctly creating a new “shoe”, and the accompanying commercial with the release of the product (which had me dunking off of a trampoline which would probably not go over well in a school now in our litigious society!). This project, again, was one I looked forward to, loved doing, and led me to have a huge interest in media and advertising, even as an educator.

Both projects lived up to their billing and had some impact on what I do now. Although I am not in “sales” or a politician, both of these experiences show up in some capacity within my career and I am thankful for the opportunity to take part in these meaningful learning opportunities.

With that being said, I honestly do not remember much else about my time in high school in classrooms, outside of those projects. Of course I remember fun times with friends, playing sports, acting, etc., but I do not remember much about any other distint projects. Of course I had great teachers that made a huge impact, but these things stick out in my memory.

So when we look at our own classrooms, what do you think gets kids to wake up early in the morning, excited for what they are about to take part in during the day? We don’t often look enough at our classrooms as a place where students should want to be, and we treat them as a place they have to be. Every teacher should be, and hopefully goes into the profession to make a difference, not just “teach”.

So are you one of those teachers that has a classroom with these types of projects, or will it be an experience that kids soon will forget? In my opinion, these types of meaningful learning experiences (that took a lot of work yet were highly engaging) should be present in every classroom. This is where we go from “pockets of innovation”, to a “culture of innovation”.

What is the learning event(s) that kids look forward to in your classroom?

So Much More Effective

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by kevin dooley

Jimmy Casas is my hero.

I was able to sit back, and watch one of the most effective principals I have ever seen in my career. Seeing the pride that he had in every element of his school, whether it was in the displaying of student work throughout the school, ensuring that the floors were so clean that you could eat off of them, or treating every single person in his school like a family member (staff, students, visitors, everyone), I was so impressed with what he was to everyone, and what that led to in his school.

As he ensured that I was checked into my hotel, a former student that worked the front desk refused to shake his hand, because he HAD TO come around and hug him for all that he did to ensure that the kid was successful. The former student told me the story of how he was kicked out of school 3 times, and at 20, he came back and asked for another chance to get his degree and promised he wouldn’t screw up again. He didn’t, and he graduated. It takes a special kind of person to be able to kick someone out of school three times, yet have that same person come back to hug him, and that is the kind of person Jimmy emulates.

I saw this love and care in every interaction Jimmy had, but one moment stood out to me. As they have a “no-hat” policy in the school (which I had been brought up and taught as a sign of respect), Jimmy passed a student wearing one. As he looked at the student, the student smiled and Jimmy said, “If I had the hair you did, I would never wear a hat.” As the student smiled and took it off while surrounded by his friends, Jimmy acted in awe of the student’s beautiful hair and made him feel special in a time where he could have easily embarrassed him in front of his peers. He had the same end result if he would have scolded him, but this way was so much more effective.

As I sat and watched interactions like this over and over again, it reminded me of my parents and how they have always went out of their way to make everyone feel special. I likened Jimmy to my dad, as he acted like a successful restaurant owner that everyone loved because of how he made them feel. Although everyone felt special, they also knew Jimmy had extremely high expectations of them, which I am guessing they meet more often than not.

If every principal and leader carried themselves this way, schools would all be the places we dream of them being one day. Thank you Jimmy for the invitation, but more importantly, the inspiration. You are amazing to people, and that should not be the exception, but the norm.

The Principal of Change

Stories of learning and leading