Tag Archives: Alberta Education

10 Expectations From Students

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Carolyn Cameron, one of the most open and progressive principals I have ever known (she was also my former boss), shared the following video regarding student expectations for school.  The first point was that it was important to build relationships and know students as individuals.  The nine other points are things that I really believe in, but it was great hearing it from a student perspective.

Although this is a video that will bring attention to a book that is being sold, I think that it is a great conversation starter with faculty and students.  Interestingly enough, it was released around the same time the Jeff Bliss video was being shared.  Perhaps a much more positive way to start the conversation not only on what students look for in the classroom, but also may give some thoughts on how to give students this voice and take action based on what they have said.

Student voice is important but it is essential that if we ask them to take the time to share their thoughts, that we also show progress in what they have asked.

Ownership and Leadership

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by VinothChandar

When I first started teaching, I remember a student election that was quite controversial.  One of the “bad” kids decided to run for president and he was very likely to win.  This was not a kid that cared about necessarily improving the school, but wanted to prove that he could win the election because that is how little “student leadership” meant to the students.  His platform was run on the idea that he would win the election, and then do nothing.  He eventually bowed out but he had made his point. To be honest, the student council was a joke to many and this student was just proving it.

So why did the kids consider it a joke?  Most likely because student leadership in school had no real ownership over anything (at the time).  Yes they would organize dances (based on how many we would let them have and only if teachers would supervise), but other than that, there was not much the students could do.  They had no say in how things were taught in school or could they really talk about how they would want to learn.  There were a lot of active kids that would organize things, but only if they were allowed.

Without ownership, there can be no leadership.

When I came to my current school division, I remember my first principal putting me “in charge” of technology within the school.  I had heard similar sentiments before, yet when it came to decisions in my past schools, I was not asked for input.  That was a role for administrators, not for “teachers”.  Throughout the year though, I was continuously asked by my principal on my thoughts, and saw my input not only being valued, but also use for implementation.  At the end of the year, when the budget was put together, I was asked to look after the technology portion and make the decisions for purchasing.  At first I was astounded by being able to “oversee” this, and my principal simply told me, “I have hired you for your knowledge in this area and it only makes sense that you make the decisions.”  My dedication to the school rose exponentially because now if initiatives succeeded or failed in this area, it was my responsibility.

I continuously have been given leadership opportunities within Parkland School Division that are tied with the ownership over the process and results.   When I became principal, my hours were much longer, because I cared a ton about the success of the school, but I was okay with this because I loved what I was doing.  With that being said, my focus was to transfer the ownership to our school community to build leadership.

When I realized how much more job  satisfaction I had, when I was trusted to help move our school forward (in all my positions), I wanted to give as many people that same ownership that I felt and continuously develop leadership.  Not only did my staff lead our professional development, but they also defined the goals for the school.  If the goals were not achieved, it was on all of us, not just the principal.  People stepped up and did an amazing job for our school.  There was no more “passing the buck” to someone else; these was our goals, our implementation, and we all shared in the success and failures.

We often talk about developing leadership, but if people do not have the opportunity to own it, how far can they really go?

Engaging Parents in the Learning Process

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by bestlibrarian

“The role of parents in the education of their children cannot be overestimated.” ~Unknown

When you ask parents from any country in the world, what they ask their children at the end of the day about school, their question is very similar:

“What did you learn today?”

The disconcerting thing is that the answer is almost always exactly the same.

“Nothing.”

With some of the work that we are doing in Parkland School Division, we are really trying to engage parents in the learning of their child by opening the door into the classroom.  Through the use of blogs, twitter, and other social media outlets, the question can change to something similar to, “I saw that you were learning about (blank) today; can you tell me more about it?”

Different questions usually get different responses.  Improve the question and you are more likely to get a better answer.

Parent Participation vs Parent Engagement

Although the more parents can have a positive presence in our schools, the more they will build relationships within the school community, engagement is something different.  Children are shown to have a much better chance at success if their parent is actively engaged and reinforces the learning that is happening in the school.  Case in point; if you want to improve your child’s reading, read to them at a young age and model what you want to see.

Yet as students get older, many parents are uncertain about the learning that is happening and feel uncomfortable with the content.  The benefit of a lot of learning in our schools today is that it is not solely focused on learning content, but skills and process which are important aspects in a learner’s development.  Being able to engage in the process with your child, like reading, will help improve their learning.  That type of engagement brings learning to a different level in the home.

Are we becoming illiterate?

One of the most influential articles that I have read was by Will Richardson on the notion of expanding literacy. In it, Will discusses The National Council of Teachers of English definition of “21st Century Literacies”, and how many adults, not just kids, are becoming or illiterate.  For many, the notion of literacy boils down to reading and writing, yet it is much more.

“Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literacies—from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms—are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of individuals and groups.” NCTE

So with that in mind, what are parents doing at home?  Are they creating websites with their children, assessing what is good and bad information, creating videos and podcasts, and so on?  The majority of our students see the Internet as a place of consumption, not creation.  We need to shift that focus.

Mitch Resnick challenged this notion of consumption when he stated:

“We wouldn’t consider someone literate if they could read but couldn’t write. Are we literate if we consume content online, but don’t produce?”

Based on this ever-changing definition, we have to ask, “Are we literate?”

Keeping Kids Safe

People are quick to jump on using these new types of technologies as either “dumbing down” education (David Crystal’s research shows that reading and writing improve through the use of mobile devices as opposed to the other way around) or that kids will be unsafe.   The reality is that schools in partnership with parents, need to guide children to not only be safe, but to leverage these technologies so that children will have opportunities that we did not.

Carlene Oleksyn, a parent and pharmacist, has immersed herself in the use of social media, not only for the benefit of her own learning, but to ensure that she safely guides her children.  In a recent post on her blog titled, “The Talk”, she shares a conversation that she has with her children:

It started like this:

“Boys, when I need to hire someone do you know what one of the first things is I do?”

Nope, they had no idea.

“I google them,” I said. “I see what they post on Facebook, Twitter, blogs. If they have posted anything that is calling someone else down, is sexually inappropriate, or if they’ve made blatantly disrespectful comments on other people’s postings, I would tend not to hire that person.”

The difference between Carlene and many is not this talk, but it is the credibility that Carlene has from immersing herself in using these technologies herself.  By having a Twitter account, blog, amongst  other things, she has learned how to keep safe by stepping out and looking around first, as opposed to simply letting her kids run wild when they reach the age they are allowed to use social media based on a company’s terms of service.

From her experience, she is able to give some very relevant advice:

I think as parents we need to do three things for our kids:

  • Be aware of what our children are doing on the internet

  • Be on sites with them and teach as they go.

  • Be examples with our own digital identity.

Carlene understands that the world is changing, so she is taking advantage of the learning that can be done while helping her children navigate some murky waters to find a much more positive place.  She is setting a high standard for her kids not only through her words, but through her actions.

Concluding Thoughts

Kids existing online is not enough.  Many schools talk about the notion of “digital citizenship” but simply being a “citizen” is not the heights we should be aiming for offline, so why is it online?

Through my work, I have tried to focus on the idea of “Digital Leadership”; the notion of using the technologies that we have to make a positive difference in the lives of others.  I try to model this simply by writing this post and trying to build more awareness of the opportunities that technology affords parents and children in learning.  Some kids are doing amazing things.

Millgrove School was recently highlighted on Global TV for their work on trying to use social media for learning, but by doing good for their community and hoping to inspire others around the globe.  Isn’t that the standard we should be aiming for as school communities?

To be successful, educators do not only need the support of parents, we need their engagement.  The door is opening more every day to your child’s classroom.  Are you ready to step through?

5 Reasons Your Students Should Blog

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Image from Bill Ferriter at: http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2012/12/what-are-you-doing-to-make-sure-your-students-are-well-googled-1.html

Image from Bill Ferriter (@plugusin)

As a school division, we are deep into developing blogs as portfolios with our students.  To do this with approximately 10,000 students is a major undertaking but the work is important and I really believe that students should have a space to share and reflect on the work. This should not be unique, but the standard.

With that being said, as a school division we have decided to use a blogging platform (Edublogs)  for student portfolios, as it can be used both as a “learning portfolio” (here is what I am learning right now) and a “showcase portfolio” (here is my best stuff).  Through my own experience both blogging, and using my blog as a portfolio, I have seen some powerful benefits of blogging that would directly benefit our students.

  1. Open Reflection – How many times do we actually just sit down and take time to reflect on what we have learned? How many times do we go to a conference and it is speaker after speaker after speaker, with no time to sit down and reflect on what we have learned?  Instead of simply dumping information into our brains, we have to take time to think about what we are learning and make meaningful connections.  Blogging has been hugely beneficial in doing this for myself because I have seen the benefit of sitting down, writing, and reflecting on what I have learned while also learning to create an emotional connection to the information.  Through being totally open, I have had the opportunity to learn from the comments and advice of others as well, which has helped me refine my own ideas.  By allowing our students to openly reflect, we do not only see what they learn, but they can learn from each other as well.
  2. Developing Literacy with Different Mediums – Blogging is a great way to write and share ideas, but there are many other ways that students can share content through this platform.  Using a site like SoundCloud can give students an easy opportunity to share their actual voice with the world. YouTube is an obvious one, but even presentations through SlideShare are helpful to tell stories in many different ways.  The nice thing about a blog is that basically anything with an embed code can be placed into that space.  This gives many different opportunities for students to share their voice while becoming fluent in “21st century literacies“.
  3. Student Voice – Building upon the last point, giving students a space to share their voice is extremely important.  Blogging should not only be “school related” but “learning related”.  In a blog, you may learn a lot about not only what students are learning in school, but what they are passionate about and hopefully how we could serve them better as educators.  In a world where everyone can have a voice, isn’t essential that we teach students how to use this powerful medium to share theirs in a meaningful way?
  4. Creating an Open Archive of Learning – At any point, I can go back to the beginning of my blog and see where I have learned.  Almost 600 posts later, I can see how I have grown and what my thought process has become and how has it developed.  I have seen the power of this by recently looking at my Twitter archives, but that is in only 140 characters.  Through my blog, I am able to look more in depth into what I have learned, and if I tag and categorize it properly, I am easily able to google my own work, as can anyone else.  The opportunity to search that this medium provides makes it a lot easier to go back and revisit what I have learned in the past, as opposed to flipping through notebook after notebook, trying to find something extremely specific.  Can you imagine googling your work from your childhood?
  5. Developing a Positive Digital Footprint - Recently I spoke to a university class on the notion of developing their digital footprint, and I simply suggested that they learn openly, and their footprint will happen.  It has been suggested by Will Richardson that our students should be able to be “positive google”, by their name, by the time they graduate and I would totally agree.  What are we doing as a school to promote a positive footprint?  I wish that I could say that I had the foresight that when I first started blogging that this would happen, but after doing it for several years, I realized that this is only one, albeit very important side-effect of writing a blog.

To be honest, not every student will take to blogging the way that we envision as teachers, and to be honest, that is okay.  If we make them do it the way we think it should be done, they might have trouble adopting this past the school setting.  That being said, if we do give them the freedom to write or share not only what they are interested in, but also share it how they like, it could develop into something very powerful that will also give them an authentic audience.

Why do you believe students should blog? If they aren’t, why not?

Learning to Care

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cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by Noukka Signe

Recently reading the Seth Godin book titled, “Stop Stealing Dreams”, one of his stories really stuck out to me.  He talked about the low number of people that can actually find Greece on the map and how this would be a growing concern for many.  What he talked about was not necessarily a lack of knowledge, but a lack of something else:

“…the problem isn’t that we haven’t spent enough hours memorizing the map. The problem is we don’t want to.”

Huh.

I think about my own work and I have actually really focused on moving away from teaching anything without focusing on why it is important first.  I never just start showing people how to use Twitter, but actually show them why they should care to learn it in the first place.  My whole focus has been on why we should do something before I even start to do it.

Do we do this enough schools?  Does the curriculum that we have to get through give us enough time?  Do we do this enough in our staff meetings?  I have seen far too many meetings start with simply doing a learning activity without any discussion on why it is important in the first place.

Think about anything that you have learned in a deep manner; did you care about it?  What made you care in the first place?  Even thinking about my best teachers, not only did I know they cared for me, but they also made me care for the subject matter in a deeper sense that I wanted to learn about it, not that I felt I had to.  Even the stuff that I memorized and aced as a kid (100% on my “Parts of a Microscope” test!), I probably could tell you nothing about now, unless I cared about them.

How do you get your students to care about what you are teaching, and maybe, more importantly, what if they never do?  Will they ever really learn if they don’t ever really care?  Not care about learning, but care about what we are teaching.  The notion of having people care is not only about how we teach, but how we lead.

Thoughts?

3 Things That Show Strength, Not Weakness

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by phalinn

As a student, I had a specific notion of what a principal should be and in my head they were similar to the “Wizard of Oz”; a person that hid behind the curtain but had all of the knowledge in the world.  I would say that when I became a teacher, that notion carried over.  They would always have the answer and be the place where the “buck stops”.  Working closely with my last couple of principals though, I saw something much different that threw me off.  When I became a principal, I understood why.  Being in the middle area of both age and experience on my staff, yet being the “boss”, I knew that there were a lot of people that knew a lot better that I did  in specific areas and I would be foolish to not tap into their knowledge.

Many new to leadership might see that this mindset actually shows weakness but I believe the opposite.  Being “smart” now doesn’t necessarily mean “knowing the answer” as much as it means knowing where to get the answer.  This is not just a “Google” thing, but more of a trait that leaders need to have.  The best leaders tap into the people around them and depend upon their collective intelligence as opposed to the intelligence of one.  Stephen Johnson so eloquently discusses this:

“This is not the wisdom of the crowd, but the wisdom of someone in the crowd. It’s not that the network itself is smart; it’s that the individuals get smarter because they’re connected to the network.” 

Johnson’s statement applies to both online and offline interactions.

So with that being said, here are a few things that I believe leaders should be able to say in the work that they do every day:

1.  Great leaders can say “I don’t know”. 

This element of leadership is as important in leading a school as it is for teaching students.  There are so many questions out there that it would be impossible to have all of the answers.  Leaders should be connectors and I know that I am comfortable with the answer, “I don’t know…but I can tell you a great person that could probably help you.”  To me, it is more important that the person gets the best information, not only the information that I know (which can be limited!).  I also see being able to say “I don’t know”, as an opportunity to bridge connections between different staff members.  I want our staff to value the expertise and learning of each other more than anything, and if I am glad to help facilitate these relationships, even if it is at the cost of looking like I do not know something.

It is more important to build relationships for me than it is to know all of the answers.  More need to see the opportunity presented when you are able to say, “I don’t know.”

2.  Great leaders ask for help.  

I have always been known to ask questions. Lots of questions.  My superintendents have always told me that they are always a phone call away and that if I need help, to just call. So I did (and still do).  The way I see it, I would rather do it right the first time and have asked as opposed to having to go back and fix a mess.

The thing is, I do not just ask for help from people that I report to, but to really anybody.  I have people that I go to often for guidance and assistance when I am not sure of something, or I know that they simply have more expertise than I do.  In return, they have also asked help from me.  My suggestion is that you should both be a mentor and have a mentor, but always understand that in either situation you can ask for help.  Risk taking is important, but I also believe in learning from others that have already done the work.

3.  Great leaders say “yes” when they are unsure.

I remember asking to have a blog in my classroom many years ago and I was told “no” because of the uncertainty of what this could bring.  Although I was the tech lead in the school, I was not trusted to try new “tech” things.  It didn’t seem to make much sense.

Dean Shareski shared this post a few months ago and it has clarified this process to me.  In the video, the story is shared that when someone asks to try something that their advisor is unsure of, the first reaction is basically no.  When he asks the next person their thoughts, his response is, “If you are asking me if it’s a good idea, I don’t have very much information, all I know is that one of my star faculty members is in my office and he is really excited, so tell me more.”  This is much different than simply saying “no” and is much more empowering.

What this takes me back to is the notion of the “speed of trust”.  If you are uncomfortable with something, you still have to allow the people that are willing to do the work to go out and try it.  I have seen this lack of trust kill innovation in schools, but I have also seen the opposite reaction promote it with great success.  It is not only saying “yes” when you are unsure, but also asking, “how can I help and support you?”  Saying “no” might come off firm, but it takes more strength to trust someone than it does to have none it all.  I try to embody this so that my educators will have the same mindset when working with their students.

It is strange to me that I sometimes hear that people believe that these three elements show that the leader lacks confidence, when I believe it shows something much different.  If a leader can say “I don’t know”, they are showing that they are comfortable with that, opposed to pretending they know something where they have clue, which has “insecurity” written all over it.  Not only do these factors show “strength” but they promote trust, and that is the foundation of any strong school culture.

(Central) Office Hours

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by USDAgov

For almost two years, I have been in central office and at some times, have found it quite challenging.  I am someone who likes to move around, hates sitting in one place for too long, and enjoys being around kids.  What I don’t like is meetings.  Never have, and never will.  Honestly, I understand the point of having a meeting but not for longer than 45 minutes, with the maximum being an hour.  They are just not my thing.  With that being said, there is a necessity to meetings to ensure that as a “central office” we are removing as many barriers from our staff as possible, although the opposite does tend to happen in some places.

I always try to focus from the view of a teacher.  Creating a 50 page social media guidelines for your staff is a little much and the likelihood of people even reading it let alone understanding it, is very low.  That is why I took one version of this document and adapted it into three pages. I, as a teacher, would probably read that, especially if I used social media.

So in a conversation with a close friend who has a similar position to myself yet is new to the job, told me that she is tending to “wander”.  I felt the exact same thing when I started.  I would be sitting in my office, get up, and start to walk around yet had no idea where I was walking to.  I had done the same practice when I was a school principal and would go sit with students, but there were no students in my building.  It was quite the adjustment.  I felt lost and honestly, could get bored easily.  It was not like I did not have work to do, but I was just finding that sitting in an office was a little much.

I needed a change.

What I have decided to implement in the last few months in my position is basically establishing “office hours”, similar to a practice that I know many professors use.  The problem is with a school district that spans over 100 kms, it didn’t make sense for a teacher to come to my office for help, so I decided to go to them.  With that in mind, I would contact a principal from a school and tell them that I was simply going to do my “office work” at their school and I just needed a space to work.  Knowing that I would be in the building, I encouraged the principal to let all teachers know that I would be there and that they were more than willing to come and see me with any questions about the initiatives that they had, or anything else that they thought they would need help with.  The door was not only open, but the door also moved a lot closer.

As I have gone through this process, I have had a variance of experiences.  Sometimes no teachers will visit, so I will just spend time in their classrooms.  Not in the “walkthrough” fashion, but I would just sit down and spend time in the classroom.  Of course I would be trying to learn from the way they taught, but I would also still have to do some of the office work that comes with the position.  The difference in our world now is  that I obviously can do that work from anywhere in the world.  There is no better place to do it than in a classroom.

In this past week though, I spent an afternoon at a school and the principal had me booked solid with individual teachers that could basically ask me whatever they wanted.  Some of them asked about Twitter, some had questions to make their practices easier and more streamlined, one had a question about putting a yearbook together, and finally, another teacher asked me about portfolios for kindergarten students.  Through these “on the spot” interactions, I was able to either help them or lead them in a direction where they could find more support.  The cool thing about this though was that they weren’t only learning from me, but I learned a great deal from the conversations that I had with them that were totally impromptu.  Because of the conversations that I had with the other teachers, when I was asked about early year digital portfolios, I finally came up with a solution which I have been struggling with for literally years.  If I did not spend the day there, I would have still been struggling, but now I am doing a workshop on this with our early year teachers in April.  I was so excited and grateful for these conversations as they were a great learning opportunity for myself, not only the teachers that had the questions.

So when I look back at the things that I struggled with in my role (not moving around and missing kids), I feel now that I have figured it out.  I have set up “office hours” with other schools and will continue to do them as long as I am in our central office.  I don’t want to have that awkward “walk through” anymore in our classrooms.  I would rather sit and get to know staff and the kids much better and really, I don’t need to be in my office the same amount of time that it was needed years ago.  I feel like I am finally finding what works for me in this position and I am hoping it works for the schools as well.  I haven’t been able to do this in all of our schools (we have 22 sites) but that is the plan.

This might just work.

 

 

The Bigger You Are, The More You Should Connect

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by jurvetson

“The challenge here is not to do social media better. The challenge is to do our organizations better.” Notter and Grant

I had a meeting with a very talented teacher named Jennifer Hollman the other day at a very small school named Keephills.  The total population of students at the school is 47; the student population for the entire school division is almost 10,000.

I recognized her but had to ask myself if I had ever met her in person.  We have talked a lot online and I have read and shared a lot of work, knew what she had taught (Science – she loves Bill Nye), and had connected with her a lot, but I could not for the life of me remember if I had met her face-to-face.  Although I was quite embarrassed that I wasn’t sure about meeting her in person, what was pretty amazing was how much I knew about her teaching and what she had done with her students.  This is something that wasn’t possible in my world a few years ago, and now I am learning a ton about teachers that I may have never met.  Yes, they do need to be sharing their work through social media, but I am glad that I am able to connect and learn with them, and get to know more about many of our teachers who are willing to share their great work.

Would I prefer to get to know each teacher and student in our division in a deep way in a face-t0-face setting?  Absolutely.  Is it possible? Not really.

What I love about the work that is happening in Parkland School Division, is that I am getting to know so many teachers through the connection of social media.  I watched today as two teachers who had never met in person, were elated to finally connect in a session that was delivered at our central office that they both happened to be attending.  Social media isn’t the only way to build relationships, but it sure can help if used effectively.

Yet I see some organizations and leaders continuously tweet in one direction. Sharing articles from the “big thinkers” and “learning from Finland”, yet not connecting with their own staff.  Are we missing a huge opportunity to connect?  It sometimes seems that you tweet your stuff only, that you can quickly become “spam” to your own organization? Is it not imperative that we share and connect with the people that are at least using our school or division hashtag?

Larger school districts and their ability to “change” and be “innovative” have come into question lately.  I get that the bigger you are, the tougher it is to connect with many educators, yet those relationships are just as important in a giant school/district as they would be in a smaller school?  Doesn’t social media give us a new way to learn more about those people on the “front lines” than ever before?  Yes, smaller schools and districts can maybe spend more time with the face-to-face conversations, but I would doubt that educators in larger districts would value the relationships with central office any less.  Dean Shareski talks about larger districts and what could be taken as a “lack of trust” due to the size of the “machine:

“If you’re reading this and you’re from a large school or district and yet you’re happy with the freedom teachers have to make change and innovation, feel free to comment and help others see that it’s possible. For the most part, I’m stumped as to how the red tape can be removed. To me it comes down to trust, autonomy and leadership. There are some great leaders in larger jurisdictions that are humble enough to recognize they don’t have all the answers. That’s what often leads to trust and autonomy. However, leaders need other leaders and too often it just doesn’t trickle down.”

You cannot build trust with your community if you have never had any type of conversation with them.

Take a look at Elisa Carlson’s twitter feed.  She is a central office administrator in the largest school district in British Columbia, yet often shares the work of her own teachers, and connects with them often.  I have seen in person with Elisa, how her connection online has enhanced her relationships offline.  She is taking advantage of this opportunity as she should.  Chris Kennedy, Superintendent of West Vancouver schools constantly supports and shares the work of his school district.  I remember a point in my career that I couldn’t haven’t even imagined a superintendent talking to me, let alone sharing my work openly with others.

The “big guy”, should always try act like the little one.  Connect with people. Take advantage of the free tools that you can utilize to hear voice in real time, not when you plan a stakeholder session that once or twice a year. A simple acknowledgement here and there can go a LONG way in building a stronger and more trusting community.

As I think about how big schools and districts can be, we have to less “automation” and more “personalization”.  Technology can either dehumanize or humanize; it depends how we use it.  The “social” is really the most important part of “social media” and we need to take advantage to not only share what we are learning, but to build connections in new ways.

As I think about the constant development of technology in our society, I am reminded of this quote:

“We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.” Charlie Chaplin

If used correctly, that “machinery” can bring us more “humanity” than ever.

Learning “With” vs. Learning “About”

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Tawheed Manzoor

“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
–The Matrix

I sometimes get these secret emails or direct messages from some pretty amazing thinkers in education, talking about how they feel really constrained by the leadership in their schools.  Sometimes after speaking, I get teachers in near tears thinking of “what could be” in their schools if only their administrators started reading blogs, looking at twitter; just something to push their learning.  It seriously hurts to see the pain in the eyes of these teachers because they just want to do what is best for kids, yet they are feeling extremely constrained.  They feel they are not in a situation where they can serve students in the way they feel would help them best in the future.  The paradox that they face is that they stay and be frustrated or leave and feel they have abandoned students that need their help.  This is an extremely tough situation.

The misconception for many is that if you start using social media, you are focusing on “technology” and not really what is important in schools.  I will be terribly honest; every time I am referred to as the “tech guy”, I cringe on the inside (and sometimes on the outside as well).  I am very comfortable with technology, yet I am extremely focused on school/district culture, building relationships, leadership and learning.  Those are my passion areas. My use of social media helps me learn about those things, not just about technology.

Stepping Back

About four yeas ago, I did not blog, read blogs, or really read much anything other than “From Good to Great”; I only looked into the really popular books and felt that this was enough for me in my leadership pursuits.  I could tell you about what I did in the classroom as a teacher, but I drew upon my own experience only, and not the experience of others.  Teaching was always something I was comfortable with and I did not spend 18 hours a day at school.  My students did well on exams, I felt comfortable connecting with parents and students, and it just came easy.

Then I jumped into Twitter.

Then I ignored it for a year.

Then I tried again.

Then it stuck for good.

I look back at that time when I started reading and learning from so many educators and felt like taking the “red pill” that opened Neo’s eyes in “The Matrix”.  It was like this whole new world had opened up and I had started connecting with actual practitioners sharing their work as they went.  I did not have to wait for a publisher to put something out after a year.  A person would post about what they did “today” and I could read it that night.  The notion of “just in time learning” was now something that was going beyond technology, and into all areas of school.  

As I felt more comfortable consuming, I then started creating and sharing myself as well.  It took awhile, but I wanted to be able to give back to so many other educators that gave me so much in my own learning.  I wish that I could say that this just came easy and I got it the first time I tried, but it took me awhile.  The most important trait that I had during this time was that I wanted to learn.  As I look at any successful educator, that trait is so apparent.  The best ones always want to learn more and once I started to connect on Twitter, so many opportunities to grow and become better became apparent and accessible.

Present Day

It is funny, but as I write this, I just received a direct message on Twitter from a good friend (who lives nowhere near me but we have built a connection through social media), that said the following:

Our people have great intentions. I just don’t think they have any vision. Frustrating.

This is a problem.  Many get so frustrated with posts like this that I am writing right now, because they feel people need to be able to go at their own pace, and be comfortable with learning, and I get that.  The difference is that when you are the principal or superintendent, shouldn’t teachers and others be at least a little impatient?  The teacher that wrote me this note is not only a great writer, but a great teacher (I have seen her in action as I know being a great writer about education does not make you a great teacher) and her district is probably going to lose her sooner rather than later.  The scary thing is that I am not sure they would know exactly what they would be losing.  I am positive they know she builds great relationships with students, but I am not sure they understand that she is churning out kids that are solid learners, not simply kids that have mastered school.

One of my mentors has said to me, “my patience with kids is endless, but with adults, not so much.”  What about our leaders?  Our role needs to go on beyond saying buzzwords such as “21st century learning”,”success for every child”, and “lifelong learners”; I want to know that they can articulate what a classroom, school, and more importantly,what learning could look like today.

Here is the thing…I don’t think that anyone has the “best” answer for this, but are we as administrators the “problem finders and solvers” that we want our kids to be?

Moving Forward

There is so much more to school than simply the use of technology.  Relationships are the foundation of any good school and as Kelly Christopherson shared with me, each community is unique and it is important we recognize that.  There are lots of opportunities for leaders to openly learn, and I have done my best to share these strategies in the past with others.  What is extremely important though is that we recognize the difference between “learning about technology” and “learning with technology”.  Leaders need to understand that distinction.  The second statement opened my eyes to things that I honestly never knew existed in all elements of learning and leadership, and I believe has led me to do my best to help others learn along with me.

Still, as many educators may be frustrated with what they feel may be a lack of “vision”, it is important that we still talk to our administrators and help them to see the learning opportunities that are out there for them.  You don’t have to be “above” them in the food chain to have a conversation.  Sometimes they just don’t know what they don’t know.  I have said many times that people should not complain about something that they have never talked to their boss about.  Take the time to sit down with them because honestly, they want to do what is best for kids as well; they may just not see what you do.  Once you do that, the next move is theirs, and I am again reminded of a quote from the Matrix:

I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.

In my own experience, it took several times for me to see the door, but when I finally walked through, I feel I saw different and better opportunities for our kids.  When leadership gets that, often those doors will really start opening for others as well, including our students.  To me, that is all the reason I need to keep trying.

Points of Emphasis

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by toolstop

I was a basketball referee for several years, and loved being able to take part of the game. Since I was too slow to play anymore, reffing seemed like a logical fit :)

One thing that I found interesting about being a referee, was the amount of preparation there was put into learning certain key aspects of the game every single year.  During any single season, we had a few key “points of emphasis” that  EVERYONE would focus on during the season.  This was made known to not only the refs, but also the coaches and teams as well.  All aspects of being a ref were important, but we would all work to get better in one to two elements to build knowledge and skill in those specific areas. We would all have conversations about our overall reffing after games, but we would always revisit those specific aspects that were a focus.

Interestingly enough, I wrote a post recently entitled “8 Things to Look For in Today’s Classroom“, and I noticed that both Amber Teamann and Jesse McLean made comments either on my blog or to me directly, regarding not focusing on all eight things, but actually focusing on one to two things during the year and really getting strong in those areas as a group.  Not simply glazing over and focusing on all, being masters of none, but actually having a specific focus on elements that the staff would choose that they would work on.  That immediately took me back to the notion of the “points of emphasis” and made me think about how after one year of focusing on those 1-2 things, the skill of all of our referees in those areas would be phenomenal as a whole.  The skills would not disappear, but would become second nature and part of your toolkit.  The next year, you would focus on new aspects, while having major strengths in those other specific areas.

So as I look at both the “Teacher Quality Standards” and “Principal Quality Standards”, I wonder how much better we would be if we all talked about 1-2 elements of that practice and really master those aspects?  As I continue my work and share what I am looking for, I have seemingly focused this year on the notions of student voice  and meaningful creation as major “points of emphasis” in what I am looking for and have discussed this with staff.  I have seen tremendous strides in this area, as well as have collected meaningful examples from staff and students who have pushed in this area.  Next year, I plan to make this extremely visible in the work that I am trying to do as I believe that focusing on 1-2 areas will really help to push our schools towards transformation.

It may not be as fast, but it will be much deeper.

Thoughts?