What was I thinking?

This past week I received a tweet from RashKath telling me she had rewared this blog with the Thinking Blogger Award. Rashmi Kathuria has been a mathematiques teacher since 1994. She created Passionate Teacher’s Ning and has been doing some great work connecting and sharing with teachers all over the world. She has a great site for anyone teaching math.

I am very honoured that someone like Rashmi would think that highly of what I am doing here on my blog. Rashmi says

  Kelly Christopherson, a principal in a K – 12 school in Saskatchewan. He is a great administrator , educator helping and guiding teachers to use techology in classrooms . His posts are inspiring and very close to our daily life routine realities. He is guiding many teachers all across this globe on Passionate teachers ning also. Read his discussions, you will surely experience a new thing.

I am very honoured that Rashmi would pass this on to me.

About the award
The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote. (I couldn’t get the badges or the link to work!)
In addition there is a note: “Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all – blogs that really get you thinking! “

Five bloggers

This was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in a while. To pick only 5 bloggers that make me think was not an easy task since all the bloggers on my RSS Feed do that. In no particular order:

 Dean Shareski - I ran into Dean’s blog when I first began blogging. Since that time, I’ve had the pleasure of attending a few of his workshops, participating in a few online connections and learning from his vast experience with technology. Dean writes about a wide variety of things, has a great sense of humour and great knowledge about technology tools. He is one of my “must read” bloggers (he has some great dessert recipes and pictures of beautiful golf courses!)

Alec Courosa - Alec is a professor at the University of Regina. Through the various networks that Alec and I inhabit, I’ve found Alec’s technological expertise and his willingness to try new technologies to be a great help. Because Alec teaches a Master’s class that one of my colleagues is taking, I’ve been able to have a sneak peak into his classes and his teaching and he is one that walks the talk.

Susan Funk - Susan is a classroom teacher in Saskatoon. I met Susan through her blog and then f2f at a conference. Susan has just returned to the classroom after taking time off to do graduate work and it is great to have her perspective on school life as someone who is working daily with students in a setting that isn’t really condusive to technology use. The great thing about Susan’s writing is that it doesn’t just focus on technology but on many other aspects of teaching, particularly reading. It is great to travel along with her as she struggles with the different issues that she has in her class.

Principal’s Page - micsmith is listed in his biography for those who have nothing to do. All I can say is that if it every happens that micsmith becomes unemployed, he could write comedy. (Gaging from his one entry, this is not a far off possiblity - being unemployed)  I visit his page regularly because of his humour, wit and uncanny ability to make me feel like a small kid again (I only wet my pants once!) For me, he captures the administrator’s life with comedic accuracy. Laughter is good for the soul – this site does my soul good!

Glenn Moses - Glenn is a vice-principal in a charter school and is responsible for the e-learning of the school. I really don’t remember when or where we crossed paths but it sure has been great for me. Glenn discusses a variety of things on his blog with some of the topics focusing on technology while others examine a variety of educational issues.  As Glenn states in his short bio

 Glenn Moses is an assistant principal and teacher. He is trying to turn high school into something meaningful, figure out the best ways to teach students online, and make sure that all students have access to online content. It’s a takeover, not a makeover.

I appreciate Glenn’s honesty and his desire to do what is best for students. Great reading.

Each of these educators has had an effect on me as an educational administrator and are important people in my network. Give them a read!

Why are you a principal?

Last week I had the pleasure of hanging out at the teachers’ convention with Rob Wall, a teacher, techguy, Posse member and all round good guy. We had some great discussions about technology, kids, teaching and other parent stuff. On Friday, as I was dropping Rob off, he asked me “Why do you continue to be a principal?” or something like that. We had been discussing the various things that go on at schools and I was lamenting about some of the bigger issues that I was facing in the upcoming weeks.

Truth be told, I can’t remember my answer but it was something like:

I became a principal because, as a teacher, I wasn’t able to affect changes like I wanted. I knew that I wanted to help children and being a principal would allow me to help them in a different way. I remain a principal because, despite some of the things that go on, I think I’m the best person for the position and I want to make a difference because, at the end of the day it’s all about what’s best for the students. I don’t believe anyone else could do as good of a job as me.

Now, that may sound a bit big headed but since our discussion, I’ve been mulling that question over, turning it around and around because it is something that is at the core of what I believe as an educator. You see, to be an educator for any other reason really doesn’t make sense to me. For one thing, you sure could do better in the financial realm if you were in a different profession. Given how the demands on educators have continued to grow, there are less demanding fields of work where not everyone is an expert. Teaching is not for the faint of heart.

To help children is the core of what it means to be in the educational profession. To serve others knowing that much of what you do will go unnoticed is a reality with which educators live and teach. Like other fields of service, educators are a cornerstone of any society no matter what form they take within that society. They have the incredible task of passing on the knowledge of the society. It is a daunting task and often not appreciated.

Now, as a principal, I’ve learned so many things and grown in so many ways as a person in order to meet the expectation I set for myself of helping children to be their best. Sometimes it is a wonderful thing, like when a student tells you how much they have been influenced by you. Other times, it can be very difficult as you walk that line trying to help someone without pushing them away but knowing that you can’t drop your expectations. Trying to find something that will connect in order to pull forth the positive that you see within that person can be very difficult and trying. Sometimes, you have to draw that line in the sand and stick to it.
As a principal, I’ve learned that being liked by everyone is not possible. In fact, there may be people who don’t like you because of the stand you have to take. It is during those times, when you are sometimes alone, that the core of what you do needs to be clear as it will be tested. If that core is not solid, you will have a very hard time withstanding some of the things that take place as you take that stand. Over the past few years, I’ve learned that not everything you deem to be important is seen the same way by others around you and to take a stand on everything will really just wear you out. You will become a statistic. However, you will need to stand firm at times and that is when your core is so important.

Being able to reflect on “What is best for the students?” and make your decision based on that is vital, I believe, to being an effective educational leader. There will be times that you will not be leading but will be required to be a strong supporter and allow others to use their talents. During these times, people need to know that you will give that support without conditions. During the times when you must lead, knowing what your core belief is vital to how you manage and work through the situation.

Why am I a principal? Honestly, some days I’m not sure. As an educational leader, it sometimes feels like I’m trying to herd chickens in a tornado. What’s the point? I’m going to end up bruised, covered in feathers and other stuff and more chickens will just come to replace them. It’s at those times that I really have to reflect on the core – what’s best for the child? Making a decision during those times and standing firm will be a test. Thus far, I’ve been able go to that core and it has stood firm. Do I always make great decisions? Nope. Do I sometimes make BIG mistakes. Oh yeah. Learning to admit mistakes, take time to reflect and honestly say your sorry to a child is one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had. (I’ve done it more than once.) Knowing that, as a child, they may not let it go is difficult and will test your core when you have to look past the defiance to see the person before you.

Why am I a principal? I’m not sure. I didn’t even consider becoming a teacher until I was married and needed to find a career that would support a family. To this day, I’m not sure why teaching was where I ended up. Many people say they always wanted to be a teacher. Not me. In fact, in school I pulled some pretty nifty stunts, well they were nifty when I was doing them. Now, I often rely on that experience now when dealing with students – knowing that some of what they do is just adolescent judgment which is just not completely developed.

Why am I a principal? I really can’t give more of an answer than I gave to Rob. Truthfully, I’m not sure. It’s a combination of many different things. I sometimes wonder if I really have the talents to be in this position and if what I’m doing is really making any difference. Really, it is ironic, in a kind of twisted way, that I ended up where I am, doing what I do. Many of my school friends still laugh and just shake their heads. “Really, a school principal?” Big chuckle and much head shaking.

Why am I a principal? Because…. that’s who I am. Rob, thanks for asking.

Wrestling the invisible

I took some time to do some reading last week during our February break. There were many great posts and ideas that are circulating via my RSS Reader but three posts really caught my attention. The first was Linda’s post about the difference she sees between “front line teachers” and those who are contributing to the edublogosphere discussions. The second is a set of posts by Nancy McKeand and a take on an artcile about teaching. The third is a post by Dave Sherman which looks at good teaching.

Each of these, in their own way, reflects on how technology and new tools impact what makes a good teacher. Linda’s view is very personal, something that I really appreciate. It gives me something to reflect upon as someone who is working toward building the skills of the teachers with whom I work. I like her comment that

My day has enough ‘must know, must do, must respond, must quantify’ in it that I look at my PLN to create humor in some difficult, stressful situations.

Her post is honest and forward which I appreciate. She expresses her thoughts about the use of technology from the perspective of a full-time teacher who is working at capacity. She is much like many of the teachers that I know and with whom I associate. The comments on the post reflect more of the same. It is vital that people outside the daily teaching arena listen closely to these voices. My friend Susan has expressed some similar thoughts after returning to the classroom this year. Her post looks at how she is trying to bring different aspects together and how difficult it is to do now that she is in the classroom full-time.

For now, my classroom is completely wireless, yes, no wires at all. Unplugged. Oh, I have the one computer in the corner. I try to keep up the school website and my class site but it is not what I was dreaming of last year. I’m not sure how to do it. The lab is in a state of disrepair and the six computers in the library might make stations possible but they are down the hall and around the bend so it’s a struggle to get all of us there and purposeful at the same time. I need… I need time to think it out, plan for it, find a small chunk that I think might work.

I continue to read what Susan has to say because she is someone who I know has the desire and knowledge to merge web2.0 tools and the classroom. Her posts, not all are this subject, allow me to better appreciate someone who, although not in my building, is close to home and has similar demands as do the teachers in my school. With Linda, they really highlight what many teachers are feeling. As someone who is looking to be a champion of Web2.0 tools, it is this type of insight that gives me food for thought.

Nancy’s posts are great for the original discussion on What makes a good teacher?, the comments and then the following post that stretches this a bit further. In this day and age of fast and furious change, we really need to watch what we expect of teachers and how we begin to evaluate what they do. The two big questions at the end:

  The big question now is whether – after 20 years of being told exactly what and how to teach – there are enough teachers ready to be “creatively subversive”?

Also, after years of being told in precise detail how to teach, will teachers feel ready both to devise their own way of teaching and engaging students and also constantly to evaluate and adapt their own teaching methods.

These two questions are really at the heart of what we are asking teachers to do no matter what it is we are asking them to do and without the proper amount of time for teachers to reflect – in the bathroom between classes is not adequate time by the way – the outcomes will not match what we know is possible. Now, there are some teachers that are doing great things and are great examples of what can be achieved but, unless we listen to the teachers like Linda and Susan, we will be doomed to follow the path of previous school change ideas.

Finally, Dave Sherman’s post. Dave’s post really focuses on what is paramount in good teaching.

 Good teaching in the 21st century is not about technology. High quality teaching is not just about blogging, creating wikis, or podcasting. Yes, those are a few of the tools or options available to teachers, but there are so many more. Real teaching is about creating opportunities for students to become involved in critical thinking, questioning, problem solving, inquiring, researching, and authentic learning.

I couldn’t of said it any better. Thanks Dave! In a time of constant change and increasing responsiblilities on teachers, how do we expect them to bring about changes through refelction if we don’t somehow give them the time? To be a teacher during this time is to step forward and take the whole of the social fabric of society on your back. The public expectation of teachers has grown while the amount of time for reflection and professional growth has not. We have students with a myraid of challenges in the classroom, expect teachers to differentiate for students and now begin to use a host of new tools without giving them more time to do so.

Yes, I know that using the tools will help with time and it’s use within schools and the classroom. But time has become this invisible combatant against whom the various levels of education are all trying to battle but from different sides with no one really making any progress. Because no can agree howor what  this time opponent looks like, we end up in a match against each other without gaining any ground. What is the old adage “To go fast, first you have to go slow.” Yes there are many educators adopting the tools but there are many good teachers who are able to reach their students through other means. If one of the greatests tools for helping teachers improve their teaching is self-relflection, are we giving them the necessary tools to do this?

The potty-training theory of technology

I am the parent of 7 children. My oldest, almost old enough to scare pedestrians legally, and the potty-training escapades have not yet faded from my over-full memory bin. Since that time, my wife and I have survived 6 children learning to use the bathroom at the appropriate time. Now, we have 4 girls followed by three boys. This is an important detail that will later come back into this discussion.

Learning to use the bathroom, a new and exciting piece of technology for a toddler, is somewhat like learning to use new technology of any kind but, especially, I think, technology in education. Really.

For instance, my two oldest daughters are very close in age. The oldest, the one now getting ready for the Indy 500, was somewhat of a stubborn young thing. Being good parents, we read all the information we could find on raising children and what was the appropriate time for all the “firsts”. So, when we read that we should begin training, we nervously began planning our venture with the new technology. Now, my grandmother had some very sage advise that, unfortunately, we didn’t listen to at the time. It was “She’ll start using it when she’s ready.”

So we began. We purchased the newest of technological gadgets - a mini-potty with it’s own reading center and toilet role holder. People were so impressed with our purchase. (A friend of mine even tried to use it but that’s for another time.) We showed it to her. Let her sit on it to read, put toilet paper on it and showed her how to use it. At 2 years old and very advanced for her age, we figured she would seamlessly transfer to this new technology. Boy were we wrong!

You see, like all children learning to use new technology, showing them HOW to use it does not mean they WILL use it as it is meant to be used. In fact, there many lessons to learn from this little adventure. Firstly, there is no “right” age for learning to use this technology. Our 2 year old was nearly 3 when she used it. And, it had nothing to do with us “teaching” her. She would drag the potty into the living room and set up shop, sitting on it and watching tv, reading, colouring and using it as part of her house play but not once did it get used for its designed purpose. Her sister, 18 younger than her, was more interested in using it for training than she was. We’d bride her, get mad, get frustrated and all the rest. We even had her go without a diaper for awhile hoping that she’d get the idea. All that happened was that we had quite a few messes to clean up and our daughter was becoming traumatized. Here it was, two professional teachers trying to figure out how to get their daughter to use the bathroom – and we were out of ideas. Finally, defeated, we just let her continue as she was, diapered and happy.

Now, we were fairly traumatized as parents. How did we fail? We had the newest techynology. We read all the right materials and asked others who had successfully managed this technology use. Visions of our daughter, leading a life on the streets with all its horrible images haunted us. We even thought about seeking counseling in order to know what to do and to deal with our failure.

That Christmas, at a family gathering, her cousin - the same age as her pointed out to her that only babies wear diapers. We returned home and next day the diaper disappeared and the potty was in full use. No training pants, no accidents. One day diaper, next day potty trained. By introducing her to someone who was within her own peer group who had an influence, the conversion to using the new technology was easy – she had the knowledge it was the incentive that she needed.

The rest of our girls followed a similiar pattern of technology adoption with few setbacks. In fact, when our first son was born, we didn’t give this matter a second thought. The technology was the same but, ahem, the user was a bit different. (Note, if someone can invent a shields for the toilet sides, there would be a lot of parents with boys who would invest in them!) Now, the biggest change, besides the aim, was that boys tend to wait until the last minute second nano-second before making their dash. This is where my I learned that some technology users can adapt if there is the right pressure. See, my oldest son came dashing through the living room, obviously having to use the washroom (firm grip on front of pants), going first to the main bathroom, the ensuite and then starting downstairs only to be told it was being used. He returned to the livingroom, doing a new type of rain dance then spied something that would suffice. He dashed out the diningroom doors onto the deck, grabbed a pail and proceeded to use that, in full view of our company, to do the job. With much of the technology being open source, this type of innovative use is happening all the time where people, seeing a need and needing something to replace the old standard, are able to adjust things at the moment to create something new.

Right now our third boy should be beginning to train but, being veterans at this now, we know that starting something too early or not at the right time will just lead to untold accidents and much frustration. See, it’s winter here and everyone is pretty much bundled up like small perogies. When in training, the number of garments worn directly corresponds with the success of training. More than two layers, failure is highly probable so, for the time being, we’re okay with the way things are and, given that summer is about 5 months away, figure that by that time he’ll be more than happy to get into training much like some people who don’t want to look at technology. They see that the world is passing them by and finally figure that they should give it a try. Once they do, they don’t like to go back and look for ways to use the technology – kind of like having to use the washroom in every town you pass through when on a road trip. Is all the technology the same? (How come we don’t have a standup one in our home?)

Much of life, I’ve found, is really just more sophisticated versions of learning to many of the things that children learn to do in their early years. Could we make it through life not being able to use the bathroom? I guess but it sure would reduce the number of people we interact with, limit our social network and probably isolate us to a point that we’d have to figure out a way to change. So, next time you see one of those really cute pull-up commercials, just remember that on tv, no one pees off the deck!

Functioning in a state of overload

The last few days I’ve spent some time just reacquainting myself with what is happening on the different social networks that I follow, adding some comments and thinking about what is being discussed. One conversation that caught my attention was at the Fireside Conversation ning where Connie Weber shared an article about reading. This article discusses that, with the overload of information, there is less deep reading going on and more of the skimming and scanning going on. People have less time for indepth reading as they try to keep up with the amount of information that is piling up.

Now, I can relate with what this article says as I found it to be very intimidating not only trying to keep up with the amound of information that was coming my way but also trying to keep up with the rate of change that was taking place with the tools that were being used. I was trying to read and add information to my RSS, get up to date with new tools that were entering the stream seemingly on the hour plus teach and be an administrator, coach and then have some sort of family life. Safe to say I was overwhelmed and beginning to wonder if all the hype was worth the added stress. And, if I was having trouble,  can you image what other educators who weren’t using technology would feel like if this were thrust upon them, even a bit at a time. With the number different things that are coming at educators from all sides, an overload of information is not what they need. So how does one manage in this time of information overload and do more than just skimming and scanning or drown in the tsanumi?

FOCUS

The first thing that I’ve learned is that you need to have a focus for what you are doing. Whether it’s using a new tool or looking for ideas for classroom use, you need to focus what you are doing. There are so many different tools that to try to keep up with all of them means that you spend most of your time just finding and accessing them. One way to avoid this is to find some people who are using different tools and follow what they do. I like Read/Write Web site, Jane’s page and go2web20. These sites help me to keep up without having to search and try things all by myself.

PLN

I also suggest that you develop your Personal Learning Network to include different people who are using different tools in their work. People like Stephen Downes, Scott McLeod, Dave Cormier, Alec Courosa, Glenn Moses,  Dean Shareski, Kim Cofino,  Steve Dembo, David Truss, Alan Levine , mctoonish and Injenuity. These are some of the people who I look to when it comes to new tools and using these tools in an educational setting. Of course there are many more people who I follow and who are using tools in exciting and innovative ways but it would take way too long to list all of them. For a better idea, check out my twitter.

READ

This is where you need to sift carefully and select with care. In this time when everyone is an author, one must be selective about what one selects. I try to keep my options open by having a number of peopole in my RSS feed who offer ideas and suggestions about what to read. Vicki Davis, Sharon Peters and Lisa Parisi are some of the people whom I turn to when looking for reading ideas. I have become very selective in what I read. For instance, I am taking a class on reading strategies so I am now looking for information the has that focus. I also subscribe to Educational Leadership and, if their monthly focus is geared toward something that would be of use for me in my work, I take time to read through the artciles and look at some of the information in the bibliographies. I also make sure that I spend some time reading for recreation – fantasy fiction is my escape.

PODCASTS

Podcasts are another great way to get information. I use the iTunes library to supplement my learning. I would suggest that you also look at Wes Fryer, edtechtalk and WoW20 for great information on learning and the use of technology in education.

There is definitely an informational tsunami taking place. As educators, it is important that we develop our networks. By using these different ideas to narrow the selections that come our way, one can spend more time going into more depth with our reading. However, it is important to realize that we also need to spend time away from the grid in order to remain focused on areas that interest us. By focusing on specific ideas and using other people as sources for our learning, we don’t have to do all the work ourselves. No one can keep up with everything and to try just divides our attention. Educators working in classrooms do not have the time to sift and sort and do not have time to search through the plethora of information that bombards them. By being selective, one can begin to manage the information instead of it being so overwhelming and daunting.

Opening the door and building a network

My it’s been a busy week. We’ve had all kinds of things going on – a winter storm Friday 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.

Stay tuned as I will once again be reintroducing the New Faces posts where I highlight a blog of someone that I’ve just discovered.

Let’s meet them at the door

I’ve been really busy of late with all the things that go on in the life of a parent, principal, coach and community member. My senior boys basketball team is showing signs of becoming a real contender – which means that we have to play more – with more nights away. I’ve also been working very hard on getting some of the policies for our school ready – reworking areas that just don’t seem to fit. I’ve been expanding my use of various web2.0 tools including such things as Jing, VoiceThread, Animoto and other tools. Now this is because I’m hoping to do a session at the upcoming Tlt Conference in Saskatoon in May. I am focusing on tools that can help administrators to become more familiar with what is available and begin to use the tools in their own lives. I’m hoping to use Jing to create a Jingcast of some of the tools I hope to use plus add to my admin wiki some of the things that I am learning and working on during this time.

Tonight, after reffing and coaching a bball game, I was able to sit in on Alec Couros university class using Ustream. During this time, one of the participants, nnoakes, asked a really good question about the whole networking idea. George Siemens, who was guest presenting on Connectivism, had just mentioned some of the major educational bloggers in his presentation. The question posed was something like:

How does the network open up for new people as most of the people mentioned refer to one another in their writing and their own network includes one another.

I also wonder this. I recall a commment that once directed me to some advice on becoming more widely read. It included commenting on other bogs, writing regularly, keeping the topics current, referring to what you’ve read and so on. Well, I must say that it’s a lie, as far as I’m concerned. Many of the big names were there at the start and continue to grow their readerships because they were there at the start – and rightly so. Some have done some great work with connecting classrooms and including technology in their teaching and this has grown their readership. Some have interesting comments and make controversial comments which brings them readership. The rest, well, we write on, sometimes having a good post that draws attention from readers or we manage to be noticed by a blogger with a large reader list which brings in readers.

As the number of teachers who enter different networks grows, it will be interesting to see how things pan out. I know that I’ve seen the frustration in a number of bloggers who find it very disappointing that it is so hard to get comments or interaction. Having commented on a number of blogs, I know that it takes a great deal of time to do this. Some say it pays off in attracting readers. I’m not convinced. I’m not convinced that, like all other areas of our society, there won’t be just a few major players whose writing is followed by many while many of rest will continue with a very small readership, occasionally attracting readers because of this or that.

My reasons vary but mostly come down to this:  most of the big name bloggers are not full-time teachers or school building administrators and are outside looking in. There, I said it. There is only so much time in a day, there is only so much time to do reading and commenting and many are finding that to be committed to a network requires time that many teachers do not have. So, if you are a well known figure, you can pop in and out of twitter and leave a few posts and then not appear for a day or two and people will respond to you. The rest need to build and nuture our networks – commenting and building, building and discussing, discussing and sharing. Any time away and our network moves on – not really leaving us but not allowing us to just drop in.

Now, we do make some personal connections, especially if we can meet f2f with people from our network. This really adds to the relationships, strengthening the bonds but, like most teachers, the chance of attending a major national conference and meeting these people is, well, not that likely. Those who do get this chance, appear to build and strengthen their network in ways that are different than others. With many of well known names, they meet one another at these conferences to get reaquainted and reconnected. Their conversations have references and such that those not attending cannot share. It may not create an exclusive network but it does affect those who are involved. So for others trying to get involved, it becomes even more difficult as they try to make sense of it all.

Maybe we need to really go out of our way to help those just joining the community and network. Mentor them and introduce them to different educators. Really share ourselves with them instead of allowing them to find their own way. The idea similar to what happens with new teachers. Those who have mentors tend to develop in a much different way than those who learn by trial-by-fire. Education, unfortunately, is know for the latter and not the former. For so long, we have not opened the doors to new people but instead allowed them to make it on their own. Maybe, as we explore these new venues and tools, we need to toss open the doors and do more than just invite them in. We need to meet them at the door and help them find their way. We need to check in on them and see how they are doing and share cool ideas or tools with them. Those of us who have some experience, need to share that with others and maybe go beyond just our blog sharing. Maybe we need to meet them at the door, welcome them and help them with what they are doing. It’s one thing that does work in school.